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IN THE coming
weeks, we will look at some very basic basics, things
we should know, but possibly don’t; things it is never
too late to start doing. Basics for new and used Christians.
One
of the most muddled ideas among Christians is the idea
of baptism. It shouldn’t be so confused. It is confused
because the early Christians began thinking that it
was somehow magic, and would give a person salvation.
They didn’t see it as God’s gift to us when we need
definite and concrete actions to confirm our spiritual
decisions.
In the film, The Apostle, the preacher, Sonny, is running
from the law. He had lost his temper and struck a man
who was now fighting for his life in intensive care.
Sonny has nowhere to go. His church has thrown
him out, his wife has left him and taken the children,
he faces criminal charges, he has hardly a friend in
the world. He is desperate. He can only turn to God.
He is by a river side, so he goes down into the
water and baptises himself by full immersion as an apostle.
He is there for God to use. He may be a sinner with
criminal charges hanging over his head, his life may
be a total mess. But he hands himself over to the Lord,
and the next step is in his master’s hand.
Don’t you all go off to Cooks River and baptise yourselves
as apostles or prophets or evangelists or pastor–teachers
or as anything else. Nothing anywhere in the Bible says
that baptism makes you an apostle. Nothing in the Bible
says that you can even make a decision to be an apostle
or anything else. We all have to wait for and follow
a calling from the Lord.
But, despite the fact that that scene has no
Biblical basis, in a way, Writer-Director Robert Duvall
has captured a truth.
Sonny’s life has reached a crisis. He can no
longer go on as Sonny, the successful pastor-evangelist.
That life has to die; a new life — as the Apostle E.F.
— begins.
And that is exactly the issue when those 3 000
or so become believers on the Day of Pentecost. Their
old life has come to an end; a new life has begun. And
baptism symbolised that transition. Baptism said, “I
am dead; the old me has come to an end. But, by faith
in the risen Jesus, I rise again to a new life, a life
of fulfilling my potential in Christ.”
In fact, if you think over very carefully what
the film, The Apostle, says, it may even be hinting
that, until he comes to that crisis point, Sonny has
never really submitted to Jesus. It”s as though he knew
all the right words and all the right things to do,
he even prayed fervently, but suddenly he has to deal
with reality, an unpleasant, sordid reality — and he
repents heartily and mightily.
In our passage, Peter has just finished confronting
the audience with their complicity in the crucifixion
of Jesus. “It was your choice; by your own words and
by your support of your own leaders, you killed the
Lord of life.”
And they were broken-hearted — “cut to the quick”
as the old translators put it — and cried out to the
apostles for help to deal with their guilt. Here’s the
conversation:
...they
were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other
apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
AC 2:38 Peter replied, “Repent and
be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus
Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The
promise is for you and your children and for all who
are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
That is, Peter urges them to recognise and turn from
their sin, to be baptised to symbolise the end of their
rebellious, anti–Christ lives, and to start again under
Christ’s forgiveness and the Holy Spirit’s empowerment.
We Baptists agree on at least one thing: baptism
itself does not save you.
I have met good Christians who are unbaptised.
I consider their lives to be defective at that point.
Yet I have to admit that, in many other respects they
quite often show up the defects in my life at other
points. Most Salvationists are unbaptised. Most Quakers
are unbaptised. By strict Biblical standards, quite
a lot of Christians of all varieties are really unbaptised.
After all, in the Bible, baptism is by total immersion
and always something done after you believe in Jesus.
Yet their Christian devotion is beyond doubt, and their
commitment to Christian living and Christian witness
is clear and definite. Who could call them unsaved?
Who would make God out to be so unjust?
In fact, Jesus himself told Nicodemus, the Jewish
leader,
God loved
the world so much that he gave his one and only Son,
so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but
have eternal life.
There is nothing in there about baptism, only about
believing.
Again, he says,
“...Whoever
believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects
the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on
him.”
When Jesus does mention baptism, it is often in statements
like,
Whoever
believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever
does not believe will be condemned
It shows that Jesus expected baptism and faith to go
together, but he doesn’t say that the unbaptised will
be condemned, but that the unbelieving will be condemned.
Msgr Ronald Knox, who was a Catholic Biblical
scholar, and not very keen on Protestants, explained
it along these lines.
Every believer should be baptised, because there are
many passages in the Bible saying that we should be
baptised. However, he said that the issue is your intention
to be baptised rather than whether you have actually
performed the deed. For example, someone killed by a
car on his way to be baptised would certainly not be
condemned because he hadn’t received the sacrament.
Knox went on to say that a person wanting to
be baptised as a believer, but receiving baptism at
the hand of a heretic or even an unbeliever, would not
face rejection by God. And if the words used were incorrect,
the baptism is still valid, because the intention to
receive genuine Christian baptism is more important
than who does it, or whether it is correcly performed
in every respect.
I’m sure that Msgr Knox felt that failure to
be baptised was a very serious matter. He also said
that the faith of someone who claims to be a believer
but rejects baptism is very suspect. Yet, in effect,
he said that not baptism, but genuine faith, is the
real basis of salvation.
So if you believe, then you should be baptised,
even though it is possible for you to be a believer
and yet not be baptised.
Baptism is the headstone on the grave of your
old life and the birthday party of the new life which
is yours in Christ.
If you go through the New Testament, you will
find many references to faith and to baptism.
The 3000 who believed at Pentecost were baptised.
The Ethiopian Eunuch was baptised when he believed.
Paul was baptised a few days after he believed in Jesus.
In Romans 6, Paul writes,
6:3 ...don’t you know that
all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised
into his death? 4
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into
death in order that, just as Christ was raised from
the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may
live a new life.
RO 6:5
If we have been united with him like this in his death,
we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
6
For we know that our old self was crucified with him
so that the body of sin might be done away with, that
we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died
has been freed from sin.
The whole chapter covers material he has already
mentioned earlier when he discusses the results of faith
in our lives, yet suddenly he talks about baptism, not
belief or conversion. Clearly, Paul uses “baptism” as
an equivalent term to “conversion”. It seems that he
is so accustomed to the idea that a believer would always
be baptised that he can exchange the terms and everyone
still knows what he is talking about.
Yet, in I Thessalonians 1, he writes,
1TH 1:4 For we know, brothers
loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to
you not simply with words, but also with power, with
the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how
we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us
and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed
the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model
to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out
from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith
in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do
not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report
what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you
turned to God from idols to serve the living and true
God, 10 and to wait for his Son from
heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues
us from the coming wrath.
Not a word about baptism. But look at it! There’s
plenty about their belief, there’s plenty about
their repentance, there’s plenty about their obedience
to the Lord Jesus Christ.
It seems pretty clear that Paul talks about baptism
when he is thinking about the theological side of belief,
thinking about what our faith means in terms of our
eternal relationship with God. But when he wants to
talk about practical Christian living, he thinks about
faith and repentance and everything that makes up conversion.
In other words, baptism speaks to our religion
and faith speaks to our way of living.
When I was on a pastor’s retreat some years ago,
one participant — I’ll call him John — was in a real
mess. He was from a missionary family and his mother’s
father was also a missionary. It was the family tradition.
So when he was allocated to a church, they didn’t send
him to the suburbans, but sent him to be a church planter
about as far from Sydney as you can go, up near the
border. There wasn’t another Baptist Church within miles.
And it didn't take him long to realise that he was just
not a church planter.
To make matters worse, he found no fellowship
in the more settled churches in the district, and the
Christian Outreach pastor was struggling with his own
church and its issues.
Our friend felt terribly alone.
For several days, we tried to reassure him that
we would be available to him if he needed us. All he
had to do was ask.
But he didn’t truly believe it.
Finally, our leader said, “Go and get a blanket!”
A few of us went and got one.
“Spread it on the floor.” We did it.
“Now, John,” he said to our friend, “Lie on the
blanket.”
As soon as John was on the blanket, Mike got
us all to grab the edges of the blanket and lift it.
Suddenly, John realised that he wasn’t just hearing
our words of support — he was experiencing being supported
by us. He burst into tears and sobbed, and sobbed.
Baptism is very much like that.
- When you
need to feel that you have died with Christ, baptism
buries you.
- When you
need to feel your resurrection, baptism brings you
back to life.
- When you
need to feel that your life is out of your own hands
and in Gods hands, the hands of the one baptising
you reveal God’ hands to you.
- When you
need a marker to show where you crossed from death
to life, when you need a memorial where you left
the dominion of darkness and entered the kingdom
of light, that’s what baptism does.
- When you
need to experience the cleansing power of Jesus’
blood, baptism washes you.
But
it's not just for you alone.
- When the
church needs to see you are one of them, baptism
marks you as a member of the body, born anew out
of the waters.
- When the
church needs your affirmation of faith in Christ,
baptism declares it more loudly than any words can.
- When the
world needs to see that you have chosen disgrace
for the sake of Christ rather than all the fleeting
pleasures it can offer, baptism marks you as one
who now marches to the beat of a different drum.
Too many people today declare themselves believers,
but take no action. Baptism is the first act of faith.
Too many people seek pleasant feelings and uplifting
thoughts as a substitute for real faith. Baptism roots
us once again in reality and in brief suffering and
in the blessings to come.
John Wimber used the illustration of people who
assume that, having come to faith in Jesus, they are
in for the trip of a lifetime. They arrive at the docks
with their Hawaiian shirts and their brand-new Nikon
cameras slung around their necks, and, to their horror,
they discover that the ship they are about to board
is painted grey and has big white numbers on the bow.
Baptism is your declaration that you have enlisted
in God’s battle forces, that you are a person under
authority, that you answer to a Great Commander, and
always will, whether you live or die.
Do you truly believe in Jesus as Lord and Saviour?
Are you prepared to declare that faith and to make it
the centre of your life?
Then I urge you to be baptised. It is not a magic
spell, but it is a powerful ritual and a trumpet–clear
declaration that you belong to Jesus forever.
If you are ready to follow Jesus whatever the
cost, now is the time to make that decision plain.
Turn from sin; trust in Christ; be baptised.
These things are basic.
If Christ has spoken to you today and urged you
to respond to him through the waters of baptism, see
me straight after the benediction: I’ll be glad to talk
to you.
May God bless you in your obedience to him,
AMEN |
