Baptism

9.30am Sunday 13 January 2008

Readings: Isaiah 42:1-9; Matthew 3:13-17; Acts 10:34-43

Protestant churches recognise and observe only two sacraments in the practice of the their faith - Baptism and Communion. In our service this morning we are going provide teaching on the first, since the baptism of Jesus is one of the readings set down for this Sunday. We will consider the significance of this sacrament in the light of the Bible passages read, and its relevance to our lives as followers of Jesus. And as it also Communion Sunday, there will be an invitation later in the service to participate in the second sacrament, 'The Lord's Supper.'

Baptism has to do with initiation into the Christian faith, and Communion, or 'The Lord's Supper,' with remembering Christ's death and resurrection. We observe only two sacraments because Jesus gave specific instructions regarding these two things. In what we call 'The Great Commission' he said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."[1] If we were to translate the Greek for this verse literally it reads, "Going therefore disciple you all the nations, baptising them..., teaching them to observe (heed, observe practically, strictly keep) all things whatever I have commanded to you..." Notice that the only verb and therefore the primary command in this verse is to "disciple ... all the nations." The "going," "baptising" and "teaching" are all participles, and relate to the primary verb to "disciple." As we disciple people into their faith in Christ we are to go, baptise and teach. Baptism is the first step new believers take in becoming disciples of Jesus. It marks the beginning of the lifelong process of learning to follow Jesus. Mark's Gospel also implies the necessity for baptism when it says, "Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved..."[2] Here baptism is laid down as a requirement for salvation. We know from Luke's account of the beginnings of the Christian church in the Book of Acts that baptism was the recognised way in which people were initiated into the church. Beginning with the Day of Pentecost, there are at least seven occasions in Acts where baptism takes place.[3] Usually it took place immediately after a person believed. We practice baptism in the church today because Jesus instructed us to do so and because it has been part of the practice of the Christian church right from its beginnings.

Jesus, likewise, commanded that we observe 'The Lord's Supper.' When Jesus shared his final meal with his disciples, Luke tells us, "And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."[4] Again we learn from the Book of Acts that this became a regular practise for the church when they gathered together. In one of the brief glimpses we get into early church life we are told, "They devoted themselves to the apostle's teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."[5] This is a reference to their observance of what we now celebrate as Communion, and for the most part this took place in the early church along with a meal that was shared together. We can see from this that Baptism and Communion are not optional for a Christian. We cannot ignore them or neglect to practice them. We are to observe them in glad obedience to our Lord's commands.

The word 'sacrament,' that we give to these two practices of the church, is the word that is used for "certain rites and ceremonies of the church which have both an outward and visible aspect (a sign) and a corresponding inward and spiritual reality (what the sign signifys)."[6] The word is not found in the Bible but came into use in the later medieval period of the church. Both the sacraments of baptism and communion are significant in that they help us to understand what it means to be part of the Body of Christ. The focus of this morning's message will be on Baptism.

1. Where did Baptism come from? How did it come to have the place that it now has in the life and practice of the Christian church? If we look back to the time prior to John the Baptist's ministry by the river Jordan, the Bible show us that baptism took the form of ritual cleansings, such as when Aaron and his sons, who God assigned to be priests for the nation of Israel, first came to the tent of meeting, the Tabernacle, after Israel had left Egypt. They were to be washed before putting on the priestly garments.[7] After the Tabernacle had been dedicated, Aaron and his sons were to wash their hands and feet every time they entered the tent of meeting to go about their service so that they would not die.[8] There were also other requirements for God's people to wash themselves such as when they had come in contact with anything that was dead, be it human or animal.[9] Another occasion was when Naaman, the Syrian army general who came to the prophet Elisha to be cured of his leprosy, was told to wash seven times in the river Jordan to be healed.[10] And in the time immediately preceding the coming of Jesus, Gentiles who wanted to convert to Judaism were required to go through a ritual cleansing, along with sacrifice and, for the men, circumcision, before they could belong to God's people. So baptism for Jews was only required for a small group of people who had been assigned a special role in their worship of God, or when something had made a person unclean.

When John the Baptist's appeared on the scene, he put a new slant on the practice of baptism. It was taken to be the sign of repentance for the Jews themselves. This was a radical departure from what had happened up until this time. John preached a baptism of repentance. He said, "I baptise you with water for repentance."[11] It was to be the sign that someone had had a change of heart, and had turned from their old way of life to one that fulfilled the requirements of God.

This is still part of the meaning that baptism has today. Repentance takes place when you or I make a definite decision to renounce sin by turning from doing what we want, to doing what God wants in our lives. Living to please God becomes our top priority. Going down into the water and coming up again signifies the death of the old life and the beginning of a new life. It is acknowledging that we are sinners who have fallen short of all God created us to be, that the glory of God's image in which we have been made has become tarnished. We try to fulfil what God requires of us but fail again and again. Repentance is acknowledging that we cannot save ourselves and that our only hope is to come to Christ so that his Spirit can dwell in us and live his life through us, a life pleasing to God.

When Jesus came to John to be baptised it was different. Jesus had not sinned and therefore did not need to repent. This explains why John was puzzled when Jesus came to him for baptism since he had nothing to repent of. The testimony of the voice from heaven - "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."[12] - bears this out. John tried to persuade Jesus from being baptised saying that he was the one who needed Jesus to baptise him, rather than Jesus coming to him. So why did Jesus ask to be baptised? Jesus' words to John on this occasion provide the answer. He said, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness."[13]

I believe this suggests two things.

First, remembering how Aaron and his sons were washed before they assumed their priestly duties of offering sacrifices in the tabernacle, Jesus at his baptism is being set apart for the high priestly role he will exercise on our behalf. However, his role would be unique. Instead of offering up animal sacrifices for the sins of the people as the priests in that past had done, he himself would be the sacrifice for sin as "...the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"[14] This helps to understand the significance of the voice from heaven at Jesus baptism. In the Book of Hebrews it says of the role of the high priest, "No one elects himself to this honoured position. He's called to it by God, as Aaron was. Neither did Christ presume to set himself up as high priest, but was set apart by the One who said to him, 'You're my Son; today I celebrate you!"[15] The Book of Hebrews goes on to say, "While he lived on earth, anticipating death, Jesus cried out in pain and wept in sorrow as he offered up priestly prayers to God. Though he was God's Son, he learned trusting-obedience by what he suffered, just as we do. Then having arrived at the full stature of his maturity ... he became the source of eternal salvation to all who believingly obey him."[16] Jesus work as our high priest was unique, and it is because of this work, "...he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them."[17] God has wonderfully provided for us in his Son, Jesus, what cannot be obtained anywhere else - eternal salvation. It is this for which we give thanks when we celebrate Communion.

The second thing that we can understand from the words, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness," is that they tell us that Jesus' baptism was more than simply identifying himself with the sinners he came to save, and a prefiguring of what would take place through his death and resurrection. As has been shown, he did go through this on our behalf. What Jesus' words also mean is that he is the completion or perfection of what God requires of every human being. Jesus' baptism identifies him as the One who fulfils all that God intends for humankind, who brings to perfection all that God had desired from the beginning of creation. This understanding puts a far deeper meaning to baptism than the renouncing of one's sins, which is, of course, a vital part of it. It is also affirming our "being incorporated into Christ, who is the perfection of all God's will, and thus of being granted new life as a gift."[18] Christ is the one who completes us, who makes us all along what God intended us to be. It is this truth that gets Paul excited when he says in Colossians, "...you are complete in him..."[19] He uses a word that means to 'be perfected,' to 'be fulfilled,' to 'fully arrive.' When we have Christ within us we are covered with the righteousness of Christ. Paul elsewhere says, "God made him (ie Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."[20]I We receive this right standing with God through trusting in Jesus and all he has done through his death and resurrection.

One final point to note before we celebrate Communion: at his baptism Jesus received the Holy Spirit. It descended upon him in the form of a dove. That the Spirit came as a 'dove' is in itself significant. When the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples at Pentecost, tongues of fire appeared above them. Fire has always carried with it the aspect of cleansing. With Jesus it was a dove, again pointing to the fact that he was without sin. The 'dove' is also a symbol of peace, going right back to the day when the dove returned to Noah on the ark with an olive leaf in its beak.[21] Christ is our peace, for he has broken down every wall, the walls that separate us from God and the walls we erect between each other. Christ has united us together.

Jesus' life changed dramatically after his baptism. Up until this point little is known about him apart from the accounts of his birth and dedication, and the incident at the temple when he was twelve.[22] We know that he worked as a carpenter, and that there were other children in Mary and Joseph's family. Mark tells us that he had four brothers, James, Joseph or Joses, Judas and Simon, and that he must have had more than one sister as the plural form of the word is used. It was his brother James that later became the leader of the church in Jerusalem, and was author to the book that bears his name. Apart from this there is an absolute silence over Jesus' earthly life between his birth and his coming to John at the River Jordan. His baptism marks the watershed between living a life of obscurity in Nazareth to being thrust forth to centre stage. Although his life had always been consecrated to God, it was now time for him to begin the work he had been given to do and fulfil the purpose for which God had sent him. This is what the prophet foretold in our reading from Isaiah this morning. Through the power of the Spirit he would "open the eyes of the blind," "free captives from prison," and "release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness,"[23] the things that Peter also mentioned when he spoke to those in the house of Cornelius. From his baptism Jesus was engaged in the mission of God, and for that work he received the Holy Spirit.

This reminds us that God always equips his people for his work. That the Holy Spirit came on Jesus at this time stresses the absolute necessity of our being equipped the same. It is through the exercise of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that God's work is accomplished. It is the evidence of the gifts of the Spirit witnessed in changed lives and miracles of healing that validates the preaching of the good news. Only what is done in the Holy Spirit's power has eternal significance. This is what makes us effective and productive in our knowledge of him.[24] Jesus said, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit - fruit that will last - and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you."[25] Jesus at his baptism shows us that God wants to bestow upon us his Spirit to make Jesus real and to equip us to live and work for his glory in the world. After he was raised Jesus shows this is God's will when he met with his disciples. John tells us, "Jesus came and stood among them and said... 'Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.' And he breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.'"[26] Baptism means being set apart for the mission of God, just as it did for Jesus. So that we might do this well, let the Lord breathe his Holy Spirit on you today.