Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
November 10, 2002
WHY BAPTIZE?
1 Corinthians 1:11-17
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My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed for me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this. One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas” [that is, Peter]; still another, “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except for Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say you were baptized into my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel -- not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
(1 Corinthians 1:11-17, NIV)
Listen ... do you hear that gurgling sound? That gurgling means we are a compassionate Baptist church. It’s not really for our church, it’s for the Congregationalists. They built a beautiful new church in Chester but they neglected one thing, a baptistery. And the reason is that Congregationalists baptize babies. It turns out that Kevin Fiedler, their pastor, went to my seminary and so he knows that Baptists are right. And so they decided to have a believer’s baptism by immersion in our church. That gurgling sound is the heater which is put in there so when they step in it’s not 32 degrees Fahrenheit [i.e., freezing]. We are a loving Baptist church.
Baptism is something that many people will associate with us, for an obvious reason -- that’s where we derived our name. We are Baptist. There’s a lot of humor attached with baptism, perhaps because it’s a rather dramatic event and a lot of things can go wrong with it. But it is distinctive for us as it was distinctive for Jesus Christ himself. As many of you know, he had a cousin 2,000 years ago. His cousin’s name was John, better known as John the Baptist, and John started something unique, or at least partially unique.
The Jews at that period did have a baptism service of sorts. When a “dirty” pagan wanted to become a Jew they had to wash off all that dirty crud from their former life, so they were baptized. But John came along and he said, “You know what? In God’s eyes, every single one of you is dirty. I don’t care if you’ve been a Jew all your life. You need to be washed.” So he began something that Jesus continued, that baptism is for everyone who says they believe. You can’t just be born (in a human way) into God’s family. You have to make a decision about it. And when you make that decision, you show it by being identified with him through that ceremony.
Baptism has been done to a lot of people down through the years. Is baptism something you should consider? It can certainly be a divisive issue. For many Christians, it’s required for membership in the church and many other functions.
This week I took my bride on a date night, and we went to see “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” I can tell some of you have seen it as well. There is one part of this movie that really got my interest. A young American man wants to marry this good Greek girl, and all good Greek girls go to the Greek Orthodox Church and want to get married there. The premise of the whole movie is they must get married or her life will be an empty loveless tragedy.
Well, she finds her handsome hunk but he is a Plain Jane Protestant, not even an active Protestant, and her family is heartbroken. He can’t be married in their church because he isn’t a member of their church. So, he submits to their baptism. They have a little kiddie pool that they put in this beautiful sanctuary, and he kneels in it, and he is wearing what looks like swimming trunks, and they pour water on him and it appears they do a three-fold baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And it’s only the family watching this, and one of them turns to the other and says, “Can you believe the garbage he’s putting up with?” It’s obvious he’s only getting baptized for one reason. He loves this girl. He’s not professing any faith in anything. It’s like, if she wants it, I’ll do it, so she can have her big fat Greek wedding. Many people think that we kind of have that attitude. You know, you’ve got to do it our way or it’s the highway. You want one of our girls? Well, you’ve got to get dunked.
Even back in Corinth, baptism divided the church. As a matter of fact, Paul emphasized how few people he baptized. The issue wasn’t really baptism as much as it was the divisive party spirit that was engendered by that. But baptism was certainly an issue. And it’s still an issue that divides denominations. As many of you are aware, in the Baptist church, we baptize by immersion. You give your testimony, and you are thrust under the water. Other denominations baptize little babies. Some of you have done it both ways. How many of you were baptized as little babies? I see a lot of hands going up. (Me too.)
Some of you, you’ve only been baptized as baby. You’ve never gone through the Baptist way of doing it. Well, in our church, we’ll accept people that have been baptized in other denominations. But if you’re only baptized as a baby but you can give a testimony of a genuine born-again experience through faith in Jesus, you are counted on the membership roll as sort of a half-Baptist, what we call an Associate Member. So we put this stigma on you that lasts for the rest of your life. You are marked as a substandard Baptist.
You know, there are some Baptist churches which will only accept a baptism done in another Baptist church. There are others that will only accept a baptism done in their particular church. So, if you were a fully baptized member of a different Baptist church, that ain’t good enough. You’ve got to do it our way, by me. It’s gotten to a point that some churches like the Salvation Army don’t’ practice baptism at all. (You may not realize that the Salivation Army is not just a good little clothing center. It’s actually a church with regular church services. They preach the gospel but they don’t do communion, and they don’t do baptism because they feel it divides people. And they don’t want to do anything that pushes anyone away. So, they just eliminate it all together.)
I know even within our church, there have been issues raised by this and that’s why I’m bringing this up in this sermon series. Why do we do baptism the way we do? Why don’t we recognize the way other people do it? And one common objection that comes up is that if I am baptized in a Baptist church, in effect I’m repudiating my family. I was brought up in a good Catholic family. They were loving. They believed in Jesus. They took me to church every week. But then you’re telling me to go say to them, hey mom and dad, I spit in your face. I’m rejecting all that. I’m going to do it this way. I am exaggerating, of course, but you get the idea. Yet there are people in this church who told their parents that they were going to be baptized in a Baptist church and there was anger. The parents didn’t attend the ceremony because they saw it as a rejection.
We have other issues. If you want to get baptized in a Baptist church, you’ve got to talk to a whole bunch of deacons. Who are they to judge your life? What probing questions are they going to ask? There is often fear and trepidation on the part of the candidates. The truth is, our deacons and deaconesses are wimps. I mean they just fall all over themselves wanting to accept you. There’s really only one issue that they want to determine: Have you genuinely accepted Jesus as your Savior? Are you sincere as a Christian? They don’t try to see if you’ve reached 90% in your obedience and holiness. They’re not going to test you on deep theological questions. It’s not really that much of an ordeal but it causes consternation in candidates because they have to tell their story to a whole group of people, and then they are sent out of the room while the deacon board hashes out what they are going to do with you. People don’t like that.
And then to top it off is how we do the baptism itself. You have to stand in that water and tell the world your deepest personal spiritual experiences [our church asks baptism candidates to give their personal testimony as they stand in the water]. And I know some people think, “What if I choke up? What if I freeze up and no words come out of my mouth? What if I give my testimony and people rise up and say that’s not good enough? I don’t want to go through with that. Why should I have to go through with that?”
Well, certainly one thing we make clear in our tradition is that baptism is not going to get you to heaven. If you are not baptized but you believe in Jesus, you have all the benefits of heaven that any other Christian has, because the requirement for heaven is very simple in the Bible: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. It’s God’s gift to you. It’s grace. Jesus says, “I have done it. You just need to accept it.” And that of course is the other side of the coin. Jesus died on the cross for our sins and response is to believe in him and to repent -- and that makes you a Christian.
A lot of people say you have to be religious and you can’t do all the sinful stuff. Well of course you’re not supposed to do sinful things but none of us will ever be perfect. We will always need God’s grace. Even the good things we do will not qualify us for heaven. Righteous acts are our way of saying thank you to God. It’s gratitude. It’s not our entry fee to get in.
Baptism is not required for heaven. The classic example is the thief on the cross. One of the guys that was crucified alongside Jesus, he came to his senses. I think initially he must have been cursing Jesus as the other thief was doing. But then he said, “Wait a minute. We deserve to be here, he doesn’t. Jesus, will you remember me when you come into your kingdom?” What did Jesus say to him? “Today, you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). That thief had no opportunity to be baptized and yet he was saved.
Baptism is not required for salvation. And I would say church membership is not required to be a Christian. So, the issue naturally arises, why should we ask for more? Should salivation be the only thing required? In some churches that’s exactly the situation. They don’t have any demand for baptism and some don’t even have membership itself anymore. They just want to know that you’re saved. Now as Baptists we understand salivation is critical, salvation is where you start -- but that’s not the totality of your Christian life. When you become a Christian you start living a life of obedience. And among the main commands that Jesus has for us is baptism. It says in the end of Gospel of Matthew in Chapter 28, “Go and make disciples of all nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And that’s why we and really just about every other Christian group has been practicing baptism for 2,000 years, simply because Jesus tells us to do it. It doesn’t get you into heaven, doesn’t necessarily make you a better Christian, but we do it because Jesus wants us to do it.
In the book of Acts there are many instances of baptism. In fact every new group that comes into the church, it emphasizes that they received the Holy Spirit and then they are baptized in water. Paul, himself, is baptized three days after he was struck down on the road to Damascus. It took a few days to really congeal in his mind whether or not to be Christian, but when he made that decision, he was baptized. It is interesting that in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, he downplays baptism. He says I’m not called to baptize. He’s not saying it’s a bad thing to do, but he is emphasizing that preaching the gospel must be the real focus. Some leaders in Corinth were using baptism to pull people into their own little clique. It was a personal power play. Paul says that is all wrong. Christians have always realized it’s not who baptizes you that matters but the name you’re baptized into. So, if I baptize you and you find out later that I’m just a total hypocrite and a jerk, it doesn’t affect your baptism one bit because Jesus is the one who made your baptism worth something.
Now what happens at baptism? This is where there are numerous interpretations among Christian groups. Some groups believe that baptism essentially makes you into a Christian. Even if you are a baby the spiritual grace that is imparted through baptism makes you a Christian; the water is almost magical in that regard. Other groups, which we belong to, believes baptism is really like a special kind of skit. We are dramatically acting out something that describe what God is doing inside of us. If you want to use the big theological words, it’s the difference between a sacrament and an ordinance. A sacrament is a ceremony that imparts holiness. It’s like the water itself has special power. An ordinance is a ceremony, mandated by Jesus, that portrays a spiritual event but does not produce the inner reality; only our faith and God’s power brings that about. Communion is the same way. We don’t believe the bread and juice have any power in and of themselves. They don’t make you holy, but they remind us of the salvation Jesus gave his life to procure for us. Baptism does the same thing. It cannot produce that reality if that reality is not first inside of you.
Baptism is more than a rite of passage. For early Christians, baptism was always dramatic. Many people had not heard of Jesus before and the evangelists proclaimed the power of his words and deeds. People heard this, realized this Jesus could save them from their sin, and professed their faith in him. When they were baptized, many in the town would be looking on. You were joining a dynamic movement of people. Baptism was a bold decision back then.
Now, we come to our day. Many of us are brought up in Christian families. We go to church our whole lives. We kind of ease into the faith or may be just never ease out of it. And so it’s just part of life. As a matter of fact, even with Baptist churches, you can get to that point where you’re in the 7th or 8th grade and the pastor said we’re going to have a class on baptism. You go to the class. You followed the herd into the baptistery, and it is done to you. It is a ho-hum experience rather than earth-shattering.
Some churches preferred to make baptism a mass event. A little while back there was Pentecostal group called “The United House of Prayer for All People.” They claimed to have 3.5 million members. They were having a big church conference and to make it special they gathered 2,000 candidates for baptism in the parking lot of a church in Charlotte, North Carolina. They turned a fire hose on them. It was hooked to a hydrant and was turned to a fine mist so it didn’t hurt people. There were firemen there overlooking the whole thing, and they baptized them all just in one big swat. Just like that. I know there’s people in this church that would prefer to be baptized like that. You just hide in the crowd, get soaking wet and it’s done.
But one of the things that we stress in our church is that conversion is a serious matter. It’s hard, a very personal thing. And maybe you need to be more serious about your own spiritual commitment. For some of you, perhaps your religion is mostly stuff you have just not come to reject. You’re bought up in all of it. You said, yeah I have accepted it. I haven’t turned against it so I guess it’s still there. Maybe that’s your faith. If you think about it, why are you here? Are you here because your parents are sitting beside you, maybe in the pew behind you? Maybe they’re dead but their ghost is sitting on your shoulders saying you better be in church or you’re a rotten kid, no kid of mine. Perhaps, being here is just your habit. You’ve done it every week. People expect you to be here. But if you could be anywhere else with no backlash, no bad ramifications, where would you be right now?
I can imagine that even a sincere Christian would rather be fishing right now. But I also know that if you are a committed Christian, if salvation is important to you, you will seek out a church. This week I was visiting someone and we were talking about salvation. They said, well, you know, I can be a Christian and not be in a church, can I? And I said that’s absolutely true but if you are a Christian of any seriousness, you will seek out fellowship. You’ll want to be around other Christians. You will want to be spiritually challenged. Because the first thing that happens when you drift away from fellowship is you start losing that sharpness, that edge, that commitment. Maybe faith is still deep in your heart but as Christian you should want more than that. Faith should be at the center of all you are about. When a person is truly saved, it should change their spiritual perspective. It’s not something you haven’t gotten around to rejecting. It’s something you have chosen. It matters to you.
Baptism has power. It is a witness to other believers and to a wider community. I know that some of the baptisms that we have had in this church, we have people in this water you never expected to see in the water but they went. And there have been tears as people shared deep things about their past. It can be very emotional. It reminds us of where we once were as a young Christian. Maybe reminds us of where we need to be again. But every time we have a baptism, we’ve always had people in the church watching who are family members or friends or maybe even church attenders who haven’t accepted Jesus. Maybe their concept of being a Christian is warped or they think it just means being a nice person. But their hear someone else’s story of how they were saved and a light goes off in their own mind and they decide they need it too.
In Guayaquil, Equador, a bus driver named Jorge was hired to transport a small house church’s seven candidates for baptism outside the city for the event. He’s driving them along and they’re singing all these songs and they were singing so enthusiastically. Anyone who has been to Haiti or the Dominican Republic or Bolivia, you know what their singing is like. This bus driver had never heard singing like that. He actually turned back and said, this is great. Do you mind if I pick up some of my family members because I really want to share this. And so he turned about and got his family and they all piled in and there’s a whole bus load of his family and this church, and they get out to the river and they get down to the river bank, and they go into the water. They sing more songs. They baptized these seven people and when they’re done they looked and there’s Jorge standing in the water. He’s got this tears running down his cheeks and he’s saying, “I know I’m a sinner. Can I be saved?”
So right then the deacons of the church went up and talked with him and they decided he did want to be saved, and they baptized him right there in front of his family and these other Christians. On the bus ride back he said, “I feel a special fire within me! I want my family to come to know Christ as well! Can you come to my house and start a church there?” They did. It was fifty-ninth home church that they’ve established in 10 months in that area. It is because people are seeing something real.
Baptism is a witness. Whether it’s in a church or whether it’s outside, baptism will always reveal the power of God to those who are watching. And sometimes it’s not just revealing it to outsiders or to our friends, maybe it reveals God’s power to us. Now the way our church does baptism you have to give your testimony and that concerns people. Sometimes I think their concern is they wonder. do I really believe this stuff? It’s not something to be done lightly.
As I watched that movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding and saw that young man going through it and looking at his young fiancée, I thought that really wouldn’t happen in our church. As soon as he heard he had to say something I’m sure he would freeze up. What do you want me to say? That would give us an opportunity to get to a deeper level. Baptism requires a personal commitment. And that’s not our church’s decision, that’s Jesus’ decision. I will accept a baptism from any Christian tradition as long as this person has professed their faith in Jesus as their savior prior to the baptism. I don’t care if they’ve been sprinkled or if a fire hose was used. I don’t even care if someone was baptized as a Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox. What matters to me is they have professed faith in Jesus to take away their sins, they are trusting in his blood alone to save them, and then they’re baptized.
What about the fact that these churches and the majority of them have baptized babies? I, myself, experienced that in my nominal Presbyterian family. From a biblical standpoint, what was done to me was really a dedication service. They did it in the name of Jesus. That was really their intent and even when Roman Catholics baptize a baby, they don’t really say this is a Christian. They’re really saying I hope he becomes a Christian. That’s why they have confirmation years later. And my feeling is why not just do it the way the Bible tells us to do it from the start? You believe and then you’re baptized. Belief and baptism are always associated together in the New Testament, no exceptions.
There are some things that baptism can’t do for you. The Bible stresses that the water itself has no magical power. In Matthew 3:7-9 it says without repentance, you’re not going to get saved even if you’re baptized. In 1 Peter 3:21, it says it is not the water washing your body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God that saves you. It is not the water but power of God than converts you and makes the salvation (and baptism) effective.
There’s something else that’s important. Baptism doesn’t make you a Christian and it won’t make you a better Christian. I think we all have seen someone get baptized and say all the important things and then their life falls flat. Jerome Engel is Southern Baptist preacher who was attending a church convention down South. He was strolling along the seawalk in Charleston, South Carolina, watching fishermen throw in their lines. It got his interest so he sat down and watched this guy pull in a big fish. Jerome said that this was the most repulsive-looking fish he’d ever set eyes on. It was a cross between a toad and bullhead. He didn’t know much about fishing so he asked the fisherman, “What kind of fish is that?” “They call that a Baptist fish, suh.” “A Baptist fish?” asked the preacher. “Yes, suh,” replied the fisherman, throwing his catch back in the water. “They call them that because they spoil so quick after you take ‘em out of the water.”
What a humorous indictment. Yes, everyone makes these great proclamations in the water but when you take them out they turn rotten and ugly. Now we know that’s not what is supposed to happen after baptism. In genuine baptism, we are identifying ourselves with Jesus Christ. That’s the essence of it. Many people take the next step and identify themselves with a particular church. Baptism and membership doesn’t have to go together but it often does.
You need to ask yourself, what about me? What is my commitment to Jesus? What’s my commitment to this group of believers? If you want to sit in our pews week after week, you don’t have to put a dime to the plate, you don’t have to talk to anyone, you don’t have to do anything. That’s fine as long as you are exposing yourself to the gospel. But when you heard the good news about Jesus, you have a decision to make. Are you going to believe it? And all I can say is what Jesus says. If you believe it, take the next step. Identify yourself with him publicly through baptism. Identify yourself with a Bible-believing church and live for Christ the rest of your life. That’s what baptism is all about.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 5674 “A Baptist Fish,” author unknown, from Chestnut Collection in Holwick’s Database.
#15781 “Sprayed With A Firehose,” by Rev. David Lemmons, LemmonsAid; http://www.hcis.net/users/dlemmons, contained in Fredericksburg Collection of Holwick Database. Original article is by Mark McWhorter from The Electronic Gospel Herald, Vol. 1, Issue 19, October 7, 1998.
#19207 “Joyous Singing Draws Lost Bus Driver To Christ,” by Brittany Jarvis, Baptist Press, http://www.baptistpress.org/; May 31, 2001.
These and 35,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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