Baptism And The Lord's Supper Series

*Show the American flag* What does this flag mean to you? Why is it important? What does it stand for? Is it really that big of a deal? If I spilled some juice here this morning, would anybody have a problem if I used this old flag to soak it up? What if I used it to dry my car after I washed it? Anybody have any problem with that? Okay.

How about your wedding band that is on your hand right now? Would anybody sell me their wedding band for $20 bucks? $100? What's your price? Why not? I need a ring to connect a lure onto some fishing line. Can I borrow one maybe? Why not? It's just a piece of metal.

The American flag is just a piece of cloth and your wedding band is just a piece of metal but both are very, very important and precious symbols, aren't they? Why do we put so much emphasis on symbols in our society? Because what they represent is important to us. The flag helps us to not forget our ancestors and the sacrifices they made to keep us free and our wedding bands help us to always remember our spouses and the love they have for us. A wedding band is also a notice to everybody in the world that, hey big boy, this gal is off the market. Right?

They are just symbols and in and of themselves, as a piece of cloth or a piece of metal, they aren't worth very much. They aren't worth fighting and dying over, that's for sure. But as symbols of what are important to us, they would be worth fighting and dying over. They are that important because of what they represent.

As we continue our sermon series on what we believe, we have come to look at two symbols of the Christian faith. They are just symbols and you can get to Heaven without doing either one so surely they aren't that important, right? Why even talk about baptism and the Lord's Supper if they are just symbols? Well, they are both symbols to help us remember and dwell on and celebrate what God has done for us through Jesus...and they are both commands.

So, we partake in both because we are commanded to but also because we want to. If you saw the flag fall over, would you need a command to go put it back upright? Do you need your spouse to command you to wear your ring? Of course not. You do both because of what they mean to you. You respect the symbol because you respect what it symbolizes.

We have two symbols to look at and so we have two passages of scripture to look at. First, I would ask you to turn to Matthew 3:13-17 to see why we use baptism as a symbol of what God has done for us. And in a minute, we will look at 1 Corinthians 11 to learn more about the Lord's Supper. We base our beliefs on the Bible, including beliefs about baptism and the Lord's Supper. The Bible records that the New Testament churches practiced baptism and the Lord's Supper, in that order and as symbolic. These churches were made up of people who had been saved and baptized. And so, we believe that this same pattern should be followed today.

And we base our beliefs about baptism and the Lord's Supper specifically on the teachings of Jesus. Baptists often use the word "ordinances" in referring to them because they were ordered or commanded by Jesus himself (Matthew 28:19; Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24-25). Some people call them "sacraments" but that has the connotation of them being required for salvation and nowhere is that taught in the Bible. So, we have two ordinances that we follow, baptism and the Lord's Supper, so let's see why they are so important.

Let's start by reading Matthew 3:13-17 and we will see Jesus Himself getting baptized, which, right away brings up some problems. The setting is the very beginning of the ministry of Jesus. He is about thirty years old and living in Galilee and he makes the trek over to the Jordan River where John the Baptist has been ministering for about six months or so. And do you want to guess what John's main ministry was? Baptizing people. And John baptized people for the forgiveness of their sins so right away you can see the problem with Jesus being baptized by John. And it was not lost on John that Jesus was sinless so let's see what happens.

Matthew 3:13-17 says, "Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."