Baptism

This morning we've celebrated a baptism, and it's always good to reflect on that as well. So this morning we're going to be talking about baptism. Before I start, however, I want to humbly ask that this is not a divisive issue. We have a church full of people from various backgrounds, different understandings, different methodologies when it comes to baptism. And so I hope that this explanation of where I stand, where we stand, is something that will at least be helpful or beneficial to you. But then I will let God and yourself be involved in that discussion.

So we've just witnessed a beautiful and a very special moment in Carla being baptised this morning. And so it's a good opportunity for us to have a chat about this. Whatever your church background is, whatever your view of baptism is, I want to encourage you that this is not something that will hinder you in any way to be a member, to be a partner in our church here at Open House. The second thing I wanted to say is that our church, and this is a correction that I sometimes have to give people, our church baptises our church baptises infants. Both.

Adults and babies. And I believe that scripture has a lot to say about that. And we're going to be working through some of those things. Firstly, in the New Testament, we see that baptism replaces something called circumcision as an integral part of God's story of salvation. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul teaches that baptism is the fulfilment or the expression, the full expression of circumcision.

The covenant of God's grace. Covenant is a promise that God made. The covenant of God's grace with Abraham was initiated in Genesis 17. And that was done with an act called circumcision. The cutting of the foreskin of every male, every male boy, when they were eight days old.

In establishing this initiation into God's people, God made this promise through the sign of the circumcision. Genesis 17:7. I will establish My covenant. I will establish My agreement. I will establish My promise as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

But then Jesus comes in the New Testament many thousands of years later, and there's a difference. Now we have an Old Testament and a New Testament. But the promise doesn't change. The Apostle Paul doesn't do away, and in his explaining of this, the Apostle Paul doesn't do away with a covenantal promise that was made in Genesis 17 with circumcision. In fact, he captures the essence of the meaning of God's grace and the sign of it when he links it to baptism.

Colossians 2:11-12, again up on the screen says this: In Him, that is Christ, in Christ, you, all believers, were also circumcised. In the putting off of the sinful nature, however, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men, but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism. So Paul makes a connection between this Old Testament promise and something new that has happened in Christianity. Now, in other parts of scripture, we know in the New Testament that physical circumcision is no longer practised. Paul was very strong.

If you've ever read any passage in the New Testament of his writings, he was very strong. You just have to read Galatians, the whole book of Galatians, to understand this. Physical circumcision is no longer a requirement, is no longer needed. There is no power in it. Paul goes to great lengths to point out that you did not have to be circumcised in order to be a Christian.

But he says the promise behind what this sign or this symbol represented is still very much in effect. But it was always, he reminds everyone, it was always a spiritual reality, not something that was confined to the physical. In Romans 2:29, Paul says that a man is a Jew inwardly, and circumcision is a circumcision of the heart by the spirit, not by a written code. A Jewish person was usually a male was usually circumcised, but that did not mean he was a Jew. That did not mean he was part of the people of God.

It was to do with how his heart was. It was to do with his relationship with God. It was a spiritual reality, Paul says. And Paul would later argue that the new outward sign of this everlasting covenant with Christian with Christians is now baptism. So it's important to remember that although we celebrated a very physical outward tangible sign this morning, it is a symbol of a spiritual reality.

Baptism doesn't save. Baptism doesn't save. Water cannot, will not ever wash away sin. It points to something, just like circumcision did. But now the next question is, what does it point to?

Well, baptism is a promise, and it's a promise of God. It's a promise from God. What we saw this morning is the gospel story played out. God gives grace to undeserving people. That is the message.

God gives grace to undeserving people. As helpless as a little baby is to save herself from someone who would want to harm her, as helpless as a little baby is to feed herself or to look after herself, so helpless we were in our sin to save ourselves. And whatever you believe about the age of baptism, of when it should happen, whether someone should be dunked or someone should be sprinkled, this thing you must believe. You could never save yourself. And you did not choose God first.

He chose you first. In the water, we hear the promise that God makes, just as He made in the circumcision. I am your God. I want to be your God, and I want you to be My people. I want you to be My child.

I am your God. Trust in Me, believe in Me, and believe in the cleansing that I will provide in My son Jesus. In Acts 2, the Apostle describes baptism with virtually the same language. Listen to this. Take note of it.

The Apostle Peter describes baptism with virtually the same language as what we find in Genesis 17 of circumcision when he talks about baptism. Listen to this. Acts 2:38-39. Peter said to the crowd, "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.

The promise, the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off. For all whom the Lord our God will call." And so we find this very important link between God's covenant, His promise in Genesis 17, and the unfolding story of God's people in the wake of Jesus' death and resurrection. At Open House, we don't just baptise children. We don't just baptise children of believers, we baptise adults too, as they come to faith.

And the only difference is that they might come to faith from non-church backgrounds. They are non-church, they are non-Christian, they didn't have believing parents. But this is the key thing: whether you are young or old, the meaning of baptism is still the same. It is a promise. It is not your response to God.

It is not you saying, "I have chosen to be washed by the blood of the saviour." It is a promise from God to you. I will be your God. Now you become My child. What we see in baptism is the continuation of that ancient promise made to Abraham in the circumcision.

That sign was so important to God's people for so long. Why would God simply end that promise? What happened to the spiritual significance of circumcision? What happened to that? Was it done away with in Jesus?

What happened to that promise? Well, in baptism, we say we believe that the promise continues. Circumcision was a sign that sin needed to be cut away. In the flesh, sin is cut away with it is done.

But baptism is a sign that sin needs to be washed away. Circumcision pointed to the coming messiah who would do this. Baptism points back to the messiah. Circumcision said, "One day God will do this." Baptism says, "God in Jesus Christ has done this."

The promise is connected with the baptism according to Acts 2:38-39. But see how it includes children as well. Why? Because if this is God's promise to His people, if it is because God has chosen first, not us, then God can promise to a child as well as an adult. No mention by Peter is made of a required age or a profession of faith with respect to children of these believers.

I should mention though that we therefore also believe that not all children should be baptised. Only children of believing parents, part of God's community. It cannot simply be a traditional thing where we dunk a few babies and loosely label them Anglo-Saxon Western Christians. They've been put into a church and now they're Christians for the rest of their life. That's not what Christian baptism represents either.

What we're saying is that this is a community thing that's happening. It's a community of God thing, the family of God, keeping the promise from one generation to the next. This is a sign for one generation to the next. And so we baptise only children of those who have met and spoken with a pastor and have professed their faith as they did again this morning in Jesus Christ. And so the practice of baptising children as part of the household, we also see as the book of Acts unfolds, the early church grows.

We see that often entire households were baptised. As the Holy Spirit led people to faith, we see in Acts 10 with Cornelius, we see in Acts 16 with Lydia and Philippi that it wasn't just Lydia, it wasn't just Cornelius, it was Cornelius' wife, Lydia's husband, the entire household, which would have included the slaves and the teenagers and definitely the kids in this moment of baptism. In fact, in all the instances of baptism in the book of Acts, except for the Ethiopian eunuch who couldn't obviously have kids, mum and dad will explain that to you kids. In all the examples we have of baptism in the book of Acts, it was entire households that were baptised.

Lastly, the thing I want to say is a warning, something we have to be very careful about. Our position on baptism, in fact, anyone's position on baptism, should never reflect that someone who has gone through baptism is saved. That is never the sign of salvation. This is called baptismal regeneration, and it's a heresy. No one is saved by the baptism.

In order to be saved, Carla, that little baby, must possess her own personal faith in Jesus as saviour. But there's a special promise that is on her life, that God's eyes will never wander too far away from her, that God has connected her within a community that will love her, that will grow her, that will train her in discipleship and faith. God's promise to that baby and to their family is not that she will definitely be saved, because we know that even in the Old Testament, with circumcision, not everyone in Israel was saved. Not everyone in Israel was obedient. Some of them broke the covenant with God.

They chose to live apart from God. But even these people had a special place in God's heart. Even these sinners had a special place in God's heart. In baptism, whether it be a child or an adult, the initial seeds of faith may or may not happen at the same time as baptism. Someone baptised as an adult may not be a believer until afterwards.

And I've heard stories of people who were baptised who didn't fully understand the gospel and only got it afterwards, but they still regarded their baptism as a significant sign from God. But at the same time, we cannot believe or we cannot say that a baby is definitely not a believer. If faith is imparted by God, if faith is a gift solely given by God, a baby may be a believer from the very early stages. In fact, John the Baptist, the Bible says in Luke, John the Baptist had the Holy Spirit in him while he was in the womb. So we cannot say this.

And therefore baptism cannot signify whether someone is saved or not. It is simply a sign of the offer that God gives. I want to be your God. I want you to be My people. What that means is just like someone may be baptised now or at 18 or at 40, they may never step foot in church again.

And a baby that is baptised now will not necessarily become a Christian. They may choose to break the covenant with God and go their own way. But God this morning has put His name and His promise on Carla, and He recognises her as part of the wider community of God, a community that has now chosen to include her in its life and worship and service to God. A community who has promised to teach her, and this is something we have to take seriously as adults, as Sunday school teachers, as catechism teachers, as elders, as mums and dads. We have promised to teach her and to train her in walking with God and to remember all His promises.

We have to remind her that His eyes will not wander too far from her, and our prayer should be for her along with her parents, that God will reveal Himself to her. And then Carla comes to a point in her life where she will want to profess that faith of hers at a later stage where she can do this. And we are having a profession of faith in the coming months too, of people who will profess their faith in Jesus Christ. And that moment will be a great celebration where they will recognise, as well as we will, the full circle where the effects of this baptism becomes realised, where we can say where they can say, "I have come to accept that God is my God, and I want to be His child." So what we have celebrated today is a promise.

And so we hear God speak today saying, "Carla, I will be your God. Carla, I have sent My son to rescue you from sin. Carla, I am calling you to believe in Me, to trust in Me. Your baptism shows I love you. Your baptism shows I love you."

That's the one thing baptism does guarantee, and that's the promise that Jesus Christ has come for us. He did not wait for us to love Him. He did not wait for us to choose Him. He did not wait for us to receive Him before He bore those nails. No.

The Bible says while we were enemies, while we were still sinners, Christ died. God's covenant promise made thousands of years ago are fulfilled in Christ Jesus without our intervention, and that's grace. All the riches of Christ, all the expenses are by Jesus at no cost to me. And wherever you stand on baptism, however convincing I've been this morning, this truth remains, and this is something that I hope is not negotiable. The baptism wonderfully reflects grace, a promise given to us before we could understand or we could know just how much God was willing to sacrifice for us.

It is a promise of God's grace made through the blood of His son who washes all our sin away. Let's pray. God, we thank you that you are a tangible God. A God who loves to show Himself in significantly beautiful physical representations of symbolism. Lord, and we see this morning in this sacred sacrament, a sacrament practised for thousands of years, Lord, from one generation to the next.

We see this beautiful example of sin being washed away, of the offer of salvation and redemption. Father, I pray for all of us sitting here who may not know You in this way, who have not experienced Your deep cleansing of our sin, Your deep cleansing of our hearts. Father, I pray for all of them. I pray, Lord, that You will reveal Yourself in personal, intimate ways, that You will reveal Yourself as their God and their Father. Lord, I pray that through this, we may also, as believers, take up our responsibility, Lord, to lead this church in truth, to know Your word, to know Your scriptures, to know You very deeply and personally.

That we may be examples to our kids, to our teenagers, to our grandparents even, of what it means to be a Christian. Lord, help this church to do what it has promised. Help this church to continue to be a shining light, Lord, to our neighbours and friends around us. And Father, lastly, I want to pray for those around us who, Lord, who should know You. Father, I pray that this church may be so full of new adult teenage believers that need to be baptised, Lord, that have never been baptised, that have never grown up in a church before, Lord.

That this church may be so full of them, so welcoming of them, that we will almost forget the issue of baptism and of when that should happen and where. Father, I thank You for Your word. I thank You for the richness of it. I thank You for its continuity, for that golden thread of grace from the beginning to the end. Thank You, Lord, that Your promise always remains, but that Your mercies are new every morning. In Jesus' name. Amen.