Tomorrow night at 5 PM Church I’ll be baptising Jemima, one of our youngest 5 PMers!
What exactly is it that we’ll be doing?
At the very end of Matthew’s gospel, we read the Jesus’ words “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore 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 to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:17 – 20) There are approximately 100 uses of the group of “baptism” words in the New Testament. What do we make of this somewhat strange little process?
Baptism is part of being a disciple of Jesus.
Don Carson says of Jesus’ words in Matthew 28, “the New Testament can scarcely conceive of a disciple who is not baptised or who does not receive instruction.” Wearing a fire-proof suit and a helmet won’t make me a racing driver, but if I’m a racing driver, I’ll wear a fire-proof suit and a helmet. That is to say, while someone isn’t made a disciple of Jesus simply by teaching them what Jesus has said and baptising them, someone who is a disciple of Jesus will be taught about Jesus and baptised.
Thus, when Jesus instructs his disciples to go, make disciples, teach and baptise, the expectation is that the proclamation of the gospel will result in people coming to repentance and faith and undergoing baptism and instruction.
Baptism is a sign of God’s faithfulness to his promises.
It’s a helpful distinction to remember – that baptism is a sign of God’s promises to us, not a sign of our promises to God. More specifically, baptism is a sign of the covenant God has made with people. When God graciously draws people to himself, he brings them into a covenant relationship with himself. Everyone who was part of God’s people at any time through the story of the Bible was within the covenant that God established. God gives covenant signs, to prove his faithfulness to his promises, not to prove our faithfulness to him. The rainbow provided for Noah demonstrates this as does the sign of circumcision given to Abraham and his family. Both are visible signs of the truth of God’s invisible promises; to give righteousness to those who have faith and to preserve a people who are his very own.
These signs aren’t God’s stamp of approval on us to validate that we are truly believers, or that we are truly saved, but signs to remind us that our sins have been washed away and we can share in Christ’s death and resurrection.
“Don’t you know,” the apostle Paul asked the Christians in Rome, “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 (Romans 6:3-4)