Baptism (1)

“Or 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 in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Rm 6:3-5)
 
Introduction
For the last few months, we talked about Jesus’ teachings about the last day. And today, I want to talk about one of the most important rituals in Christianity--℗baptism. Along with communion, baptism is considered one of the rituals that gives Christians a sense of belonging and identity.
 
There are two weeks left until Easter and there will be a baptism ceremony the week after Easter—April 7th. So, if you haven’t been baptized yet, I think it’s a good chance to think more deeply about what baptism is.
 
As you can see from the name of the denomination that our church belongs to, the Southern Baptist Convention, we consider baptism as one of the most important values in regard to one’s faith in Jesus. In our denomination, baptism is considered one of the strongest proofs of faith and the means of grace, which all who believe in Jesus should undergo.
 
But it doesn’t mean that you don’t have faith in Jesus if you’re not baptized. However, if you really have faith in Jesus, I would say, there’s no reason not to be baptized because it was commanded by Jesus Himself and it gives you more confidence in your faith and identity as a Christian.
 
Baptism is an important way to confess our faith in Jesus publicly. Even Jesus Himself was baptized by John the Baptist before He started his ministry in earnest.
 
And, after finishing His work on the cross and being resurrected, Jesus commanded His disciples to ℗go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. That was the last command given to His followers before He ascended to heaven. We call it the Great Commission. 
 
So, we can say that even though it is a person who conducts a baptismal ceremony, it is actually God who works through it because He is the one who enacted baptism as an official way to confess our faith and receive His grace.
 
The Meaning of Baptism
So, then, what is baptism? How can we define it? Why is it important in Christian faith? These are the questions I want us to think about and answer in today’s sermon.
 
The Baptist Faith and Message, which is the collection of beliefs of the Southern Baptist Convention, defines baptism this way. Let’s read it together.
 
“Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.”
 
Here, we find some important aspects of baptism. Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water. It is conducted under the authority of the triune God—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. And, it represents believers’ faith in and union with Jesus Christ, who was crucified, buried, and risen from the dead.
 
Now, let’s dig deeper into each of these aspects.
 
1. The Immersion of a Believer
First of all, Christian baptism is the ℗immersion of a believer in water. This describes the biblical way to conduct a baptismal ceremony.
 
There are different methods of baptism according to different denominations. For example, when I was baptized in Korea, I didn’t go into the water like we do in this church.
 
The pastor simply sprinkled water on my head, saying, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” That was it. It was simple and quick.
 
I’m not saying that that kind of baptism is wrong. Not all churches can have a baptismal font. And, what’s really important in baptism is the meaning behind it, not the way we do it. So, it’s understandable to use a simplified version of baptism, such as sprinkling.
 
But we should at least know that the Bible clearly defines baptism as the immersion of believers in water. Whenever you read about baptism in the New Testament, it refers to full immersion in water.
 
The Greek word used in the New Testament for baptism itself implies this method. The original Greek word for baptism, baptizo, is most clearly understood to mean the complete immersion of an object or a person in water.
 
So, there’s no doubt that believers were fully immersed in water to be baptized in the New Testament. It was the way Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.
 
Matthew 3:16 says, “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water.” (Mt 3:16) That Jesus went up out of the water during His baptism implies that He was immersed in water.
 
So then, we might ask, “Why is being fully immersed in water so important in Christian baptism?” It is actually very significant because of what the action represents.
 
2. Union with Christ’s Death, Burial, and Resurrection
Full water immersion represents a believer’s ℗union with Jesus Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, which are essential factors of the gospel.
 
The Bible says that Jesus, the Son of God, came to the world in human form to save people from their sins. We call this the ℗incarnation, which means “The Word became flesh” (Jn 1:14).
 
Then the question is, why did the Son of God have to become flesh like us? Was it necessary for Him to do so in order to save us from our sins? The answer is yes. Jesus chose to come to earth in human form because that was the only way to save us from our sins.
 
God set an important principle in the Old Testament about the forgiveness of sin. Leviticus 17:11 says, “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life” (Lev 17:11)
 
Because God set the life of a creature in its blood, only blood can make atonement for sin. That was the reason many ℗animals without defect were killed to make atonement for people’s sins in the Old Testament.
 
However, animal sacrifice couldn’t perfectly atone for people’s sins because they were not equal to human beings in terms of value. That’s why the Israelites had to make the same kind of sacrifice every year.
 
So, to perfectly atone for people’s sins, we need a being who can satisfy three criteria. First, it has to be without blemish or defect. Second, it has to have a ℗body to bleed. Third, it has to be equal to all human beings in value.
 
And, we know that there is only one person who can perfectly meet all three of these essential conditions for salvation—Jesus Christ.
 
He came to the world as the “lamb without blemish or defect” (1Pt 1:19) who had no sin. Jesus Christ was just like us because He had the same kind of body we have. As Paul said, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus” (1Tm 2:5).
 
And Jesus could atone for all people’s sins because He was the Son of God who could represent all human beings. Paul calls Him  “the second Adam or the last Adam” (1Co 15:45), saying, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” (1Co 15:22)
 
This is the purpose of the incarnation of Jesus Christ: to bear all our sins in His body along with their consequences and die on the cross, shedding His precious blood to make atonement for all people’s sins. But, that’s not the end.
 
After being crucified, Jesus was buried in a tomb. But, His ministry didn’t end in the grave. The Bible says that God raised Him from the dead on the third day. By doing so, Jesus gives us true righteousness that we could all have and enjoy by faith.
 
Paul said,  “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Rm 4:25), which is “for us, to whom God will credit righteousness - for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead” (Rm 4:24)
 
That’s the good news given to all people. Paul said,  “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1Tm 1:15)
 
So, the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ play a very important role in our salvation. That’s why we as Christians maintain that salvation is only found in the name of Jesus Christ because only He can save us from our sins.
 
The apostle Peter said,  “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Ac 4:12)
 
So, to believe in Jesus means that we accept everything I just mentioned earlier, His incarnation, death, and resurrection, as truth and receive Him as our Savior and Lord.
 
These three factors are to be clearly shown in baptism since the ceremony is to publicly proclaim one’s faith in Jesus. That’s what the full immersion in water represents.
 
Today’s Bible passage says, 
“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 in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Rm 6:3-5)
 
This is the most important passage that explains the true meaning of baptism. Here, Paul clearly states that being baptized means being united with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, which full immersion baptism symbolizes.
 
A believer’s immersion in water symbolizes the death and burial of Christ. And the believer coming out of the water symbolizes Christ being raised from the dead. So, full immersion baptism is a beautiful picture of what Jesus did on the cross and in the empty grave for our salvation.
 
Early churches thought of the meaning of water used in baptism in two ways. The first meaning of water is a tomb. Being completely immersed means that our old selves die and are buried with Jesus.
 
And the second meaning of water is a womb which gives birth to life. The water also serves as the water of life which gives us a completely new life in Jesus Christ.
 
So when we’re fully immersed in water, we experience death to sin with Jesus. But when we come out of the water, we also experience resurrection with Jesus. In other words, full immersion baptism represents believers dying to sin with Christ and being reborn in Christ. That’s what we publicly proclaim through baptism.
 
Paul said, ℗ “[You] [have] been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.” (Col 2:12)
 
This is what we declare through full immersion baptism. The Baptist Faith and Message states, ℗ “It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.”
 
So, through baptism, we show not only our faith in what Jesus did on the cross and in the empty grave but also our determination to be crucified with Him in our sins and live and walk with Him as His people.
 
Again, to believe in Jesus is to be united with Him in His death and resurrection. Paul beautifully describes this truth by using the metaphor of clothes. He said,
 
 “In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Gl 3:26-27)
 
Baptism can be defined as a ceremony through which Christians officially clothe themselves with Christ. But, to put on Christ, we first need to put off our old clothes of sin. Only then can we put on the new clothes, the clothes of righteousness given to us by our faith.
 
So, baptism gives us a strong identity as Christians. If we are clothed with Christ, what would we look like? How would other people see us? We will seem like Christ. It means that those around us can find the image of Christ in our lives.
 
But, that’s not the end. What we also realize after being clothed with Him through baptism is that there are a lot of other people who wear the same clothes along with the same faith in Christ, which means that we are united with not only Christ but also other Christians through baptism.
 
So, being baptized is like putting on a new uniform. As you may know, uniforms serve an important role in communities such as the military.
 
The first thing I did when I joined the military in Korea was to take off the clothes I was wearing and put on a military uniform instead. Before we ℗changed our clothes, my military unit was just a group of different individuals. But as soon as we put on the ℗same uniform, we started to feel a sense of solidarity and belonging.
 
Likewise, just as a common uniform unifies an army, so does baptism. By being baptized, we join the large, universal group of believers around the world as Christians. And an important characteristic of this new community in Christ is that there’s no discrimination at all.
 
After saying that we clothe ourselves with Christ through baptism, Paul continued,  “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gl 3:28)
 
In Christ, all the dividing walls of hostility and discrimination that have blocked our relationships with others are demolished. All Christians become the same in that we believe in the same Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. In other words, we become one body of Jesus Christ.
 
Paul also said in another verse,  “For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body - whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free - and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” (1Co 12:13)
 
So, today, we talked about the meaning of baptism. It is to publicly proclaim our faith in Jesus Christ, especially in His death, burial, and resurrection. It is also to show our determination to be united with Him in His death and resurrection. Through baptism, we die to sin and Satan and live to righteousness and God. Not only that, we clothe ourselves with Christ and join other believers who have the same faith.
 
These are the things that we should be always reminded to truly live as Christians. We always need to remember who we were before we met Christ and who we have become in Him.
 
We were dead in our sins, but out of His great love, God has saved us through His only Son’s precious blood shed on the cross. And God raised Him from the dead.
 
God did all these things in order to give us new life and salvation. If we believe in Jesus Christ and accept all these things as truth, the power of His precious blood immediately starts to take effect in our lives.
 
That’s what we proclaim through baptism—we die with Christ in our sins and we live with Him in the righteousness He freely gives us out of His love and grace.
 
Then, the question left to us is, “How can we continue to live out this amazing truth that we once proclaimed through our baptism?”
 
Even though you should only be baptized once, the endeavor to live out the truth we professed through baptism must be ongoing. Baptism is not the end—it marks the genuine start of our journey with Christ.
 
So, what’s really important is not whether or not we were baptized in the past, but whether we’re living out our faith in Jesus and are united with His death, burial, and resurrection.
 
I hope that all our minds and hearts are open to the truth of Jesus Christ and set on Him so that we may truly live out our union with Jesus Christ, and so that we may reflect who He is to the world through our lives.
 
Let’s pray.
 
[Closing Prayer]
Heavenly Father, we thank You for everything You’ve done in our lives. We remember Jesus’ death and resurrection and profess that they were directly on our behalf.
 
Lord, we don’t want to drift away from Your grace. We don’t want to lose sight of You. Please continue to remind us of Your grace and strengthen our faith so that we can surrender everything to You, including our lives and our wills.
 
We believe that Jesus Christ, Your Son, died on the cross in our place. We also believe that He rose again from the dead to give us new life. Let us firmly believe in Your Son and not be ashamed of professing our faith openly to others.
 
Again, we thank You for everything You’ve done and are doing in our lives. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
 
[Reflection Questions]
1. Have you been baptized? If so, what made you decide to be baptized? By which method were you baptized? How did you feel about it?
 
2. Why do you think baptism plays an important role in Christian life? What significance does baptism have?
 
3. Baptism is to be united with Jesus Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. What does that mean? What are some practical ways to show these unions through our lives?