7-13-08 Baptism: Wet and Clean

Have you ever thought much about water? I don’t know about you, but I take water for granted. I use water everyday, but I don’t really think about it much at all. I think about water a lot when the electricity goes out and our pump doesn’t work, but even then, I’m usually just thinking about what an inconvenience it is to not have water come out of the faucet.

Water . . . it is our most basic need isn’t it. What are our basic needs? Food, Water, shelter, maybe clothing, but we die fastest without water. We die in three days without water. Water is an essential part of life, but we don’t think about it much.

What do we use water for? We cook with it. We bathe in it. We clean with it. Some of you heat your houses with it. We water our gardens and plants and pets with it. Without water most of the items in our homes would not exist. Every living thing is made up of water. You and I are 90 percent water. We recreate with water – skiing, tubing, wake boarding, just riding on water. So much of life is comprised of water.

One of the things that isn’t easily remembered about water is that we are born in water. There is a common phrase among women pertaining to water that women say just before they’re going to give birth. What is it? Yeah, “My water broke”. We grow in water and we are born in water and because of these things, we are going to talk about why we are baptized in water and the significance of these actions.

Some are sprinkled, splashed, others are dunked, some baptize when they’re infants and some when they’re adults, but all the methods of baptism use water, an essential ingredient for life.

Now. . . the feelings that we have about baptism are usually founded upon how we were raised. If we have any feelings about baptism, they usually stem from those things that we learned when we were growing up.

People come to the church, and they say, I want our child to be baptized, and I say, “How come?” and most people have no idea how to answer that question, other than, “Well, because that’s what we’re supposed to do – right?” But wouldn’t it be great if we knew a bit more about what we were doing when it came to baptism and why it’s an important part of life?

I mean, one of the things that I used to hate when I was a kid was when my parents would say something like, “Go to your room” and I would respond to them, “but why?” and they would respond with, “because I said so! I hated that! I hated that! That wasn’t an answer. I wanted to know why! And so this morning we are going to be looking at what’s behind this great command of Jesus

Jesus said, Go therefore and make disciples (followers) of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Matthew 28:19 (NRSV)

One of the main reasons that we baptize people is because Jesus commanded us to baptize people. . . but that doesn’t answer any of the questions that I have like, “Why do we baptize or What does baptism mean and Who is baptism for? Or should we baptize infants or adults or both? 

I want to state from the very beginning that we as a leadership team are not united in how we see this issue, so let’s look at the ideas here and then we’ll share where we’ve decided to land as a church.

 The roots of baptism began a very long time ago and they start with something totally different than baptism. It began with a promise that God made to Abraham. God said:

 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12:2-3 (NRSV)

So, God has a plan. It’s a pretty cool plan! The small part of the plan is that God wants to bless Abraham. God wants to bless individuals. But God doesn’t stop there. God is bigger than that. God’s plan is that he wants to bless all the families of the earth.

Now, God wants to deeply bless Abraham, but in order for this to happen, Abraham had to be willing to follow God. If you know the story (Gen. 11:26 -), Abraham had to leave his homeland, he had to leave all those whom he loved, he had to follow God, and God never told him where he was going. Much like your life and mine, Abraham had to trust God with his life. And if that wasn’t enough, the wager for Abraham got even  bigger. God said,

This is my covenant (covenant is like a binding contact), which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old. Genesis 17:10-12 (NRSV)

 A covenant is a binding promise – it’s a vow – it’s a lot like a wedding vow between a husband and wife. Now, I want you to see something here. God says, this is my covenant, which you shall keep – God is serious about this promise – and this promise is between me and you and – this is important – your offspring after you. This promise does not only affect you, but it affects your children.

 Who does God want to bless? Is it just Abraham, no. God wants to bless all the families of the earth.

 Circumcision was done to children soon after they were born and to men who were not circumcised as children. As a child you were circumcised by your parents to signify that they wanted you to be one of God’s children. As an adult, you were circumcised if you decided to follow God, the Father, of heaven and earth.

What symbol of marriage does a husband and wife give to each other to signify their vows? Rings! Abraham didn’t get so lucky there . . . The sign for his covenant with God was circumcision.

Now, 1 John 4 says that “God is Love” and isn’t it interesting that God’s symbol for his covenant with Abraham would be in a place that every time he or anyone of his descendants made love – both he and his wife, they would be reminded of the covenant with God and every time that they made love they would be reminded that they were God’s and they would remember to teach their children, those conceived by love, about God and his love for them and remember to teach them about God and to follow his ways.

Have I said anything about baptism yet? It’s coming! Circumcision is the first part of God’s plan. Circumcision is the shadow of something bigger.

Everything went well and good for a while, but then the whole circumcision thing became a tradition; it became a rut, and the people forgot about what circumcision meant, and they just began to circumcise because that’s what God said they were supposed to do, but they slowly stopped following and trusting, and loving God.

The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Isaiah 29:13 (NIV)   

 As human beings we are weak. We make promises we can’t keep. We try to do good, but we rarely prevail for long. We make new years resolutions, but few come to anything. We try to change ourselves, but somehow we often fail.

 God saw this from one generation to the next and he said I need to help them – they’re just not making it. Apart from me, they can’t make it, and so God said to his people: 

The day is coming when I will make a new covenant (a new promise or a new vow – think of marriage) with the house of Israel and the Lord your God will circumcise your heart – what’s God going to circumcise? The heart! – and the heart of your descendants – who are our descendants? Our children – so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live. Deut. 30:6 Jer. 31:31(NRSV)

In order that you may . . . LIVE! God wants you to live. God wants you to have a great life. God wants to redeem you and your children and he wants you all to be who he created you to be. He wants you to be GOOD as he created you in the beginning.

Ok, so let’s talk about circumcision? What is it? Who normally circumcises? People. Who’s doing the circumcising in this verse? God. What is he circumcising? The heart. Why the heart? Love.

Circumcision is no longer going to be something that is done to the outside of us, but now it’s going to be something done to the inside of us. God’s going to circumcise our heart – he’s going to change our heart. And why is he going to change our heart? In order that we might live.

God saw the condition of our lives – the hurt, the darkness, the loneliness, the sense of failure and it’s as if he said to himself, I made them for SO . . .MUCH . . .MORE – there living in hell, but I made them for heaven, and so he vowed to help us in the future.

Then one day a prophet shows up by the name of John and he started preaching about the kingdom of God and he began to baptize people.

And he said, “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Matt 3:11 (NIV) 

Why did John baptize the people? He baptized them for repentance – for the forgiveness of their sins. The water was a symbol of washing – a symbol of cleansing. Jesus was the one that John was speaking about. The One whose sandals he was not worthy to carry.

John the Baptist or John the baptizer baptized thousands of people. Jesus and his disciples baptized thousands of people. The early church baptized people everywhere. The question is why? Here’s the deal.

We were created to have a relationship with God, but we sin. God is without sin, but all of us have sinned. None of us are perfect, and in order for God to enter our lives, in order for God to enter us and change our hearts and set us free from the things that enslave our hearts, our sins had to be forgiven.

The water used in baptism was a symbol of cleansing. Why do you take a shower or a bath? Because you are dirty, right? God not only sees the outside of us, but he sees the inside as well. God looks at the inside of me and he says, “Adam, you need a bath.” The inside of you is dirty. I didn’t make you this way.

The water that we use in baptism isn’t special water that cleans the inside, but rather it is a symbol of what God’s promises to do on the inside – of what God is doing to the heart.

Just before Jesus ascended and went back to heaven, the Holy Spirit came upon the early church (Acts 2) and Peter began to boldly preach and after he finished:

…they (the people listening) were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, 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 is for you and your children and for all who are far off–for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2:37-39 (NIV)

Do you notice the phrase, “they were cut to the heart?” The writer used this language to remind us of God’s new covenant – the circumcision of the heart. People were no longer called to circumcise the outside as a reminder of their promise to God, but instead, God was going to circumcise their heart so they could remain faithful and so they could be blessed as he created them to be. Then Peter beautifully ties in what we are to do when God circumcises our hearts. We are to be baptized as a symbol of God’s love, grace, and forgiveness. We are to be baptized as a sign of our dedication, commitment, and love to our Father.

Think of it this way. God wasn’t just giving them a wedding ring to wear as a reminder of their marriage vows, because we all know that wedding rings don’t keep a marriage good, right? What keeps a marriage good? A committed heart. Circumcision was like a wedding ring, but it wasn’t enough, so God circumcised their hearts, so that they could stay true.

Baptism is a sign and seal of the circumcision that God does to our hearts, so that we can see him, hear him, follow him, love him and be blessed by him. And God does this not just for our us, but also for the benefit of our children.

God said, way back with Abraham that if he would trust him and if we would follow him and if he would love him then God would bless him and all his children. The promise in baptism is exactly the same, but instead of circumcision, God calls us to be washed in the act of baptism.

We are called to be receive forgiveness of our sins that God offers to us as a free gift, and this is necessary so that God can enter our hearts and empower us to follow him. God cannot come into a heart full of sin. God is holy! Baptism is about God’s grace, about God’s promise to us. God wants to bless us and he wants to love us, but he calls us to make promises to him – promises of love, of dedication, of commitment, of trust, and of love.