WHY DO WE BAPTIZE?

What possesses anyone to do what Stephanie has just done? Who in their right mind would get into a large tub of water in front a crowd of people and allow themselves to be plunged into the water like that? 

Some might say, “Brainwashing! Stephanie has been brainwashed. The power of suggestion has been so strong that she’s done this thing. Look at the environment in which she lives - her brother was baptized, her sister was baptized, her parents follow God with all their hearts, soul and strength. What choice does she have?” 

No doubt Stephanie has been influenced by the godly examples set by her family members, and members of this church, but that’s far from brainwashing. Stephanie made her own choice and certainly all who are baptized have to make their own choice. None of us are to be baptized because it’s the thing to do. 

Other’s might say, “It’s a cult. You know those cults are always doing weird things and making demands on their people to do weird things.”

1.   Baptism is an act which Scripture calls us to practice

But of course that answer would be wrong also, for as we read Scripture we discover that baptism is not weird or abnormal for a follower of Christ. In fact it is an act which Scripture calls us to practice. 

Baptism is an act that Christ calls us to practice. He says, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19,20a)

In the book of Acts we read of when the crowd heard Peter’s first sermon about the reality of Jesus Christ they were cut to the heart and said to Peter, “What should we do? Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” (Acts 2:38)

In chapter 8 of Acts we read of a man who after hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ explained to him by Philip said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?” and Philip baptized him. (Acts 8:36-38)

In chapter 16 we see a jailer falling before Paul and Silas asking “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” After explaining the importance of belief and the truth of the gospel of Christ the jailer and his family are baptized. (Acts 16:31-33)

Baptism is an act that is required of Christ’s followers.

Two Views of Baptism

A Sacrament

Now there exists in popular thought today two views of baptism. One view holds that baptism is a sacrament meaning that baptism is seen as an act through which grace is actually bestowed on people. In the sacramentalist point of view, if you are not baptized then you have not received God’s grace. A sacramentalist will interpret Romans 6 literally. They will say that baptism actually unites us with Christ, it is a means by which we receive God’s grace. This why it is important for the sacramentalist to have their babies baptized. or in our modern lingo, to have them “done”, so that they will go to be with God. 

If they aren’t baptized then they won’t go to heaven. In fact in the Catholic theology unbaptized infants are consigned to a place called limbus infantium. There they do not suffer the pains and deprivation of hell, but neither do they enjoy the benefits of heaven. 

I cannot find any biblical basis for any such thought and believe that even though we are born with original sin in our hearts, everyone of us inherits Adam’s sinful nature, God’s grace is big enough to cover children until the day they are faced with the decision for or against Him. 

An Ordinance

The other way of looking at baptism says that it is an act commanded by Jesus so it is ordained by him. It is then properly understood as an ordinance, not a sacrament. It is not a means through which we are saved. We hold (and I say “we” because this is how Baptists interpret it) that we are saved by grace alone and not through any act that we can perform. There is no action that we can do, or any action that can be done for us by another human being that can bestow salvation upon us except for the saving work of Christ on the cross. Grace is the unmerited favour of God, and we do not merit grace by being baptized. 

Baptism then is not a sacrament, a ticket to heaven, an act which if we don’t practice we will be assigned to the fires of hell, but it is an act of obedience to the word of God. 

It follows that if baptism is an act of obedience, then the one who is baptized must be able to make a conscious decision for Christ. So we call our baptism “believer’s baptism”. We do not baptize babies because they cannot exercise faith nor can their parents exercise faith on their behalf. Faith cannot be inherited, nor can salvation. It must be a decision that each one of us faces as we grow old enough to understand.

2.   Baptism is an expression of and consequence of what God has done in our lives through Christ. 

This is the truth that we learn in Romans 6 verse 3 and 4: “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death.”

Baptism is a picture of what God has done for us and in us through faith in Christ. 

Do you realize the we have just witnessed a funeral of sorts? Let me explain. There exists in this world not one but two worlds. There is the world in which Satan rules and dominates. It is a world into which each one of us is born and remain until we decide to leave it. 

But there is another world, a kingdom that has nothing to do with the old world, although it seeks to redeem the old, nothing from the old world of darkness can be transferred into the new. It is a world, a kingdom, that belongs to God. It is an eternal kingdom, characterized by life, love, grace, joy and peace. 

There are two kingdoms then, one in which Satan rules, called in Scripture “the world” and the kingdom of God. 

This idea of two worlds should not be unfamiliar to you. We encounter the idea all the time in pop culture. The movie “The Matrix” speaks of two worlds. The book series, soon to be a major motion picture, called the Narnia series by C.S. Lewis speaks of two worlds. A new movie just released last weekend called “A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” speaks of one world doomed to destruction and death and another world filled with excitement and adventure and life. 

It is a scriptural truth. We live in a universe where there exist two worlds. 

And when you become a Christian, when you repent of your sin – that is to agree with God that sin is awful and ugly and ungodly – and believe in Christ we are “redeemed, rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.” (Colossians 1:13).

There are two worlds, two kingdoms. 

But before God can bring us into the new Kingdom, God must do an extreme makeover on us. He must make us new creatures. Unless we are created anew we can never live in the new kingdom of God. It does not matter if your parents belong to the kingdom of God , it doesn’t matter how good you are in the present kingdom of this world, you cannot live in the kingdom of God if you haven’t been created anew. 

Why?  Because Scripture says fish give birth to fish.  Ah, pastor, you mean Scripture says “flesh gives birth to flesh”. (John 3:6)

Yes that’s what it says, but we understand it better if we say fish give birth to fish. It means that a fish cannot give birth to a creature that is able to live outside of its usual habitat. So we have been born into this world, we of the flesh cannot give birth to another being that is able to live outside of its usual habitat of this world of sin, of death, where Satan rules. 

What is birthed in the kingdom of darkness must stay there. “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.”(I Corinthians 15:50)

You see God’s kingdom is a new Kingdom and nothing of the old can be brought into the new.  So how does God provide this extreme makeover for us?  The cross. 

The cross of Christ is God’s way of enabling us to escape from the old world and into the new world. God gathered up all that was of the old creation, all of the sin, darkness, and death and judged it and put it on His Son and crucified Him. Thus all of the old creation was put to death. The cross was God’s judgment on the old world, the old kingdom. 

So, now through faith in Christ all that is in us of the old world is put to death. Sin is put to death, the reign of Satan is put to death, death is put to death. 

In “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” Arthur, the main character has to escape this world that is doomed to destruction and death. How does he do it? He literally clings to his friend, and where his friend goes, he goes. 

So we, in order to escape this world have to cling to the cross of Christ. And where Christ goes, we go. He goes to death, we go to death. He died to the world, we die to the world. So Paul says in verse 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.” 

And in another place Paul says in the cross of Christ “the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14)  So God has spoken to us by the cross. He has pronounced His judgment on the kingdom of this world and on us. 

What then is my answer to God’s verdict on this old creation? I answer by asking for baptism, by having a funeral. This is what Romans 6:4 means – “We were buried with him through baptism into death.” 

So baptism becomes a picture of what Christ has done in my life. He has crucified my old self -and what do I do with my old dead self? Bury it. So if I am baptized, I proclaim my old self as dead and fit only for the grave.   That’s why we dip people down into the water - it symbolizes the reality that God has already brought about in my life – the death of the old world order in me. 

So there is an old world and there is the new world, and in order to enter the new world there has to be a funeral. God has already crucified me, but I must consent to be lowered into the grave. In baptism we are agreeing with God’s sentence passed on me in the cross of His Son. It affirms that I am cut off from the old world and belong now to the new. So baptism is no small thing. It means Stephanie has made a conscious break with the old world. 

This is what Paul means when he says in verse 2: “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” Paul is saying, in effect, if you continue to live by the way of the old world why be baptized? You should never have been baptized if you meant to continue living in the old realm, with the old master, and in the same old sinful way.

Baptism is a new birth 

But we have not only witnessed a burial we have also witnessed a new birth. The Verse 4 and 5 reads fully: “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. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.”

To be put to death is only part of the equation. We have died to the old world. But now also, thanks be to God, we have been raised to live in the new world, the Kingdom of God. We now have Christ’s resurrected life in us. You will notice that Stephanie did not stay down in the water. Her burial was real in Christ and symbolic in the water. But she came up out of the water and the transforming power of Christ has made Stephanie into a new creation. And her baptism testifies to that transformation.

Baptism demonstrates our union with Christ

You know Paul in verse 5 uses the phrase “united with Christ”. That’s what has happened to every Christian - they have become united with Christ. One scholar compares it to a grafting of an apple tree. It really is a miraculous process. Here is a tree that bears fruit the size of raspberry, with thick skin, big seeds. And here is a tree that bears wonderful luscious fruit, thin skin and small seeds. The farmer makes a cut in the poor tree and taking a small branch from the good tree inserts it into the cut, binds it up and leaves it to grow. 

How can one tree bear fruit of another tree? How can a poor tree bear good fruit? Only by implanting the life of one into the other. You are united with Christ, his fruitful life has been grafted into you through faith in his death and resurrection. 

This is the new birth. It is receiving life which I did not possess before. It is not that my natural life has been changed at all, it is that another life, an altogether new life has been grafted into me and you..

And baptism is a public testimony to that fact.