“The Sacraments – Baptism”

Scripture: Matthew 3:1-12

For the next two weeks, we will be considering the significance of the two church rites, Baptism and Holy Communion, that United Methodism calls sacraments. Our Discipline tells us that a sacrament is “a visible sign or ceremony [that is] ordained of God.” And further, that “The sacraments were not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon, or to be carried about; but that we should duly use them. And in such only as worthily receive the same, they have a wholesome effect or operation;” (Article XVI of the Articles of Religion, Para. 104, 2012 Book of Discipline, pg 67)
The sacraments aren’t just something that we participate in because we think we should, or because others expect us to – they are acts that Jesus experienced, and then told us to do the same. They aren’t magical in nature, they aren’t intended to surprise us, and they should never be received in a light hearted manner, but instead, they are to become an important part of the life that God wants us to live - that we would be blessed by them, and that we should not only receive them in a respectful way, but that they should have a holy and life-changing impact on our lives.
And so we begin with Baptism.

Read Matthew 3:1-6

Baptism, at its most basic level, is about exhibiting a relationship with Jesus Christ. Some see this as a preparatory form of church membership, but that was never the intent – it is not about our relationship with each other; it’s about who we are becoming in Christ. Others see it as a means to salvation, but the truth is that baptism should always come AFTER we accept Christ as Lord and Savior, and is the “outward sign” of claiming Jesus as Lord. In a paper titled “Not By Water Alone”, published in Good News, July/August 1991, Bishop William R. Cannon writes “[John] Wesley ... says a person is incorporated into the Body of Christ, not through the ordinances of the church – baptism included – but through holiness of heart.” Wesley understood that baptism does little for us in faith. In fact, he put far more store in being “born again” than he did in baptism!

And for John the Baptist, baptism was about repentance, which in and of itself, is about setting the sinful life aside and claiming the holy one offered by God. But some in his day simply saw it as another form of ritual washing which was nothing new to Israel. The ancient “mikvehs”, or purifying “baths”, were used before many religious activities. The community of Qumran, as an example, had a couple of mikvehs in their commune which are believed to have been used by each individual several times each day - before every meal, before study, and possibly before other acts and tasks. The Pool of Siloam, located at the south end of the Temple Mount, (John 9:1-12) was a very large form of ritual bath used by many of the faithful before entering temple to worship. And converts to Judaism were also cleansed in this same manner.
But John took this concept of washing to a whole new level. He saw it as a sign of repentance, or turning away from the worldly and sinful life, which signified the cleansing of evil in the individual’s life in preparation for the arrival of the Kingdom of God. Verse 6 tells us that the people “confessed their sins”, repenting of the life they had been living, and it was only then that they were immersed in the Jordan.

For John the Baptist, for John Wesley, and for us as well, baptism was and is the acknowledgement that a person’s life had changed for the better. It indicated that they were now prepared to experience the arrival of the Kingdom.

Read Matthew 3:7-10

It’s interesting that Matthew writes that John addresses his “brood of vipers” comments to “Pharisees and Sadducees, while Luke (Luke 3:7-9) reports that it was made to the people in general. Either way, the reference was to the evil and “poison” that inhabited the words and actions and life of all who were coming to him. It wasn’t a reference to sly and slimy lives, but rather to the people who spread lies and false teachings that would lead to spiritual death for all who believed those words. “And every tree [life] that doesn’t produce good fruit [produces evil] will be condemned to eternal destruction.” Baptism showed that the life had changed, and that the “viper’s poison” had been neutralized.

In this, John is saying that it is the personal act of turning away from the old ways, and claiming the newness that God requires, that prepares us to embrace the coming Kingdom, and that baptism is simply the sign that it has come to the person.
Wesley would agree with the Baptist. He wrote “baptism is not the new birth: … for what can be more plain than that one is an external and the other an internal work: that one is a visible, the other an invisible thing, and therefore wholly different from each other. … There may sometimes be the outward sign, where there is no inward grace.”
Bishop Cannon adds in his “Good News” paper that “infant baptism anticipates the response of the individual to the call of Christ” later in their life. In some instances of infant baptism, the very fear that Wesley expressed comes true – that the parents want their baby baptized without any expectation of continuing their Christian education and development. As a matter of fact, our baptism liturgy addresses this very point –the individual claims that they have rejected the power of evil in the world through the freedom and divine power of Almighty God, and that they confess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. If that isn’t completely true, we see an example, on the part of anyone who takes this vow, of an outward sign with no inward grace.

Our two John’s would agree, I believe, that baptism is not the same as being born again, but that new birth is affirmed by the outward act of baptism.

Read Matthew 3:11-12

These last 2 verses refer to John’s act in the here and now, and the Lord Jesus’ actions which will occur in the Judgment. Remember that John’s baptism was about repentance – the preparation for the Baptism that Jesus would be bringing. With our new life by faith in Christ, the Judgment will bring us baptism by the Holy Spirit, but without repentance, without being “born again” (John 3:1-7), that final baptism will be destruction by holy fire.

And just a final thought on the Articles of Faith statement that the sacraments, and in particular Baptism, should be received in a worthy way, and then used in a like manner. In the encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus, he says that unless we are born again, we cannot see the kingdom of God. He doesn’t say that we must be baptized, but rather that we MUST be born anew. Later in that conversation, the Lord refers to being “born of water and the Spirit”. His use of the phrase “born of water” is not about baptism, but rather our first birth. We must be born twice – once in a human way, and then in a divine way.

It is this second birth that makes us worthy to receive baptism, and it is our second birth that leads us to use the sacrament – this “outward sign of an inner grace” - in our lives. And how are we to use the gift? We not only receive that “outward sign”, but we become an “outward sign” to the people of the world. In coming for baptism, we are claiming to be the “living stones”, or memorials, that we read about in Joshua 4:1-7.

Are we totally committed in faith? Are we “all in” for Jesus? If we truly are, we will be sharing our “inward grace”, as a paraphrase of the famous John Wesley quote says, “as often as we can, with as many people we can, in as many places we can”, and so on.
Baptism occurs in a moment within the church, but it symbolizes a life changing event that continues to bless us and others for the rest of our life.