Baptism Message
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to First Baptist Oakboro. I want you to know this morning that whether we are inside…or outside…you are in the midst of a people with whom you can connect to grow in Christ and reach out for His kingdom. I’ve got to tell you: I have been excited about this day for a very long time. Baptisms are always an exciting affair in the church – especially in a Baptist church – and many of these have been coming for a few months. Some of them have been on tap even longer than that. This is a particularly exciting day for me personally because two of my own boys are part of the bunch. Being able to baptize is special. Being able to baptize your own kids…well…that’s part of what makes being a pastor worthwhile.
Well, this morning we are going to worship the Lord. If you are a guest with us this morning, I want you to know that you are getting to see what it looks like when the church functions like the church. What we are going this morning is about as central to who God made us to be as we can get. I would be remiss, though, if I didn’t invite you to join us Wednesday for Bible study. If you have elementary-aged kids, they are having a skate day at SK8 City on Saturday the 25th. You can reach out to Nate to get signed up for that. And, don’t miss next Sunday when we will kick off a new teaching series taking a fresh look at who God has made us to be as a church. If you’ve ever wondered that, or are in the process of connecting and want to know more, you won’t want to miss a single Sunday in the next four weeks! This is a good time to be a part of what’s happening at First Baptist Oakboro.
9/11 Reflections
Before we go forward together, though, we cannot forget what we as a nation promised ourselves we would never forget. Twenty years ago yesterday, our nation was attacked. We learned suddenly and violently that what people believe matters. A group of men driven by a barbaric, evil worldview, hijacked four different airplanes with plans to use them as weapons of warfare. Three hit their marks, one was taken down by the incredibly courageous passengers on board when they learned what was happening to the nation. Two of the planes were flown into the World Trade Center’s twin towers, and one, the Pentagon. By the end of the day the lives of 2,977 souls were lost. Some of those were on the planes; some of those were in the buildings; too many of those were first responders who courageously, selflessly sacrificed their lives to save others. In the years since, many, many more lives have been lost because of the events of that fateful Tuesday morning.
It was an event that would define a generation. I don’t even have to ask you to think about where you were when you first heard the news because you knew the moment I brought it up. You can still see everything around you in your mind’s eye. You may even be able to hear the sounds and smell the environment.
Nothing in the world has been the same since that day. It changed just nearly everything. But one thing it did not change is our God, and His commitment to our good. Those attacks were evil, and much has unfolded in the world since and because of it that has not been good. But amidst all of this chaos, His kingdom has continued to advance. His good plans have continued to be revealed. Lives have been transformed; communities renewed and restored. The church has grown even in the places where the Islamic worldview that drove the attackers is dominant.
Over the last several days many stories have been told and remembrances given. Yesterday, at Ground Zero, the names of all those who died in the attacks were read. Memorial services happened across the nation. This is as it should be. We cannot change the past; we dare not be controlled by it, but we can remember it. We can remember it, pray for those who are still impacted by it, and commit ourselves to living out the worldview that brings with it the promise of a day when such evil is banished from creation forever.
Today, then, I invite you into a moment of silent prayer for those who were and are affected by the events of that day. As you do, we will lower our flags in honor of those who lost and sacrificed their lives on that day. Then, in a moment, I will pray for us all.
Although there was much wrong on that day, today we still look forward to the day when the kingdom will come. Today in particular, we celebrate the lives of those who have committed themselves to being a part of that kingdom; the kingdom where our mourning will be turned to dancing, and our weeping to shouts of joy. Let us all worship Christ the King who will bring that day with Him when He comes!
Baptism Message 9-12-21
This is a good day. Even setting all of my incredibly proud dad feelings aside, today is a good day. Today we are celebrating the growth of the kingdom of God in as direct and practical a way as we possibly can. Today we have baptized eight individuals in obedience to our Lord’s command. Now, different faith traditions believe different things about baptism. I’ve talked with you before about what we as Baptists believe, but let’s just refresh that for all of our sakes.
Baptists believe that baptism is a symbol. It doesn’t save anybody. Rather, it is a proclamation of a salvation that has already happened. In baptism we are symbolically taking part in Jesus’ death and resurrection. As we go under the water – something we consider of particular importance because that’s how Jesus did it, and that’s what the word actually means – we are buried with Him. As we come up out of the water, we are raised with Him to new life. That’s why I say the words I do when dunking folks under the water. I say they are buried with Christ and raised to new life. That’s not because those words are somehow magical. They are descriptive of what the person has experienced and is proclaiming to the world.
And yet, if we are not exceedingly careful, we may have all our theology about baptism correct, but still be thinking about it in ways that keep it from being for us and the world around us what it is intended to be. Let me explain what I mean like this: For hundreds of years and well before Christianity burst onto the scene, baptism was practiced by multiple different religions. And in each of these, its function was roughly the same. It was a common rite of initiation.
This means that baptism has long marked a beginning point in someone’s journey with a particular group of people. That’s far more significant than it sounds. We live in a place where the culture of the church is still pretty strong. Well, in places where the culture of the church has been strong in the past, being a part of a church was viewed by many as something significant for religious reasons, yes, but also for social ones. When you were a part of a church, you could be a part of society. Because of this, in the minds of many folks personally, but also for, say, their kids and their grandkids, becoming a part of a church was a big deal. It meant you had arrived in society. Well, how do you become a part of a church? Practically speaking, the same way you become a part of any organization: you get initiated. Are you with me? How do you get initiated into a church? You get baptized.
You see where this is going, right? For many folks baptism has long been seen as an arrival point. It may have marked the beginning of a person’s membership in a church, but that in and of itself was seen as an end goal; and so baptism with it. Well, if you’ve got someone thinking that baptism marks the end of their journey rather than its beginning, then at the point they get baptized, they’re going to fairly well quit growing. They won’t really even try anymore. It’s the same mistake many young couples make in thinking the marriage ceremony marks the end of the journey rather than its beginning. When you reach the end of the journey, you stop journeying. If baptism marks the end of a journey, then when we achieve it, we stop journeying. To quote Jesus’ brother James completely out of context: My brothers and sisters, this should not be.
Baptism doesn’t mark the end of anything. It marks the beginning of a whole lifetime of following Jesus. Now, perhaps that journey started years before – decades even – but even in this case baptism is a reminder that the growing isn’t finished. Indeed, when we have planted ourselves in Christ, the growing isn’t ever finished until He has returned and we are fully perfected in His image.
Let me read for you some words Jesus spoke that don’t have anything to do with baptism, but everything to do with the necessity of our growing in Him. Jesus spoke these words when He and the disciples were on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane the night before the crucifixion.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.”
Now, there have been whole books written about these few verses and we don’t have time for that this morning. Very quickly, here’s what Jesus is saying: If you are in Him, you are growing. If you are not growing, then you are not in Him. If you pretend to be in Him, the pretense will be laid bare by the lack of growth in your life. If you are growing – that is, if you are demonstrating with more and greater consistency the character of Christ in your life – that’s evidence by itself of a transformed life. It is such evidence because such growth cannot happen without the power and presence of the Holy Spirit unleashed in our lives which only happens when we are in a right relationship with God the Father through Jesus. See how this all goes together?
What all of this means is that what you have witnessed this morning, what we have rightly celebrated this morning, is a beginning point. It is the beginning of growth. These baptisms by themselves don’t mean anything. They didn’t accomplish anything magical. No one became a follower of Jesus because of that water. It’s just normal water; there’s nothing particularly holy or even special about it. But when you add the Holy Spirit to the mix, everything changes. The change, though, isn’t on the outside. It’s on the inside. If the Holy Spirit through Jesus is working in your life – which is what baptism proclaims is happening – then that work will eventually be evident to everyone around you. It will be impossible to miss. The fruit will be there for all to see. If these things are not happening; if there is not fruit being produced, that’s a sign you are disconnected from Jesus and need to do some pretty serious self-evaluation.
I should note, though, that this growth won’t happen on its own. The Holy Spirit will absolutely work with you to make you more like Jesus, but you’ve got to work with Him too. He’ll enable you to work, but you’ve got to do your part. And doing your part means you are engaging with the Scriptures on a daily basis. It means you are developing a habit of consistent prayer. It means you are serving others in Jesus’ name. It means you’re sharing the Gospel with those who don’t believe it yet. It means you are actively connected to and involved in the church and not just when it’s convenient for you. In fact, let me just lay this on the line for you: If you claim a connection with the church and yet you miss worship more often than you make it because you’ve got other stuff going on, you need to take a fresh look at that connection you claim. The odds are good that you’re not growing like you should be because you can’t grow like you should be without the church. All of these are the things that will keep the soil of your life fresh and tilled so growth can happen. And when the growth happens, you’ll be showing the world you are connected to Jesus. You’ll show the world not that you have arrived, but that you are on the path to life. And that, my friends, is a very good place to be. So, whether you are freshly baptized, long past that momentous occasion, or still considering whether or not to take the plunge, may you plant yourself deeply in Christ and walk with confidence on the path to life, growing as you go, producing fruit that leads to more growth in others. There’s just no better place to be than that.