October 15, 2017 sermon - Baptism - Ephesians Series – Part 1 – Ephesians 1:1-6
I speak to you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
And I speak to you today, on a joyous day that marks the baptism of 6 adults and the dedication of one infant in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Baptism is a sign, a symbol, and an important marker of the life of a follower of Jesus. It is a sign of a person’s inclusion in the Body of Christ, the church, which is the hands and feet of the risen Saviour.
Baptism is a rich symbol of following Jesus down to the depths, the grave, and rising from the grave to new life in Jesus, rising to resurrection life in Christ our Saviour.
Now this transformation, this conversion does not occur at baptism. It occurs when we place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ and when we accept Jesus Christ personally as our Lord and Saviour.
That’s when we are born anew, born again in the language of Jesus, the language of Scripture.
A seismic shift occurs in our life when this happens, and the pathway, the future, the trajectory of a person’s life is altered when they accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.
And a mark of belonging to Jesus is that we live our lives with Him as our Lord and our Saviour. He is our King and we are His people. Amen?
And as His people we love Him. We focus our lives on Him. Jesus said: “If you love me, you will obey what I command”.
And what was the commandment that Jesus gave to His disciples after He rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father?
He said to “Go into all the world and make disciples, baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”. Mt 28:16-20.
Since that was first spoken by Jesus, His Church has done just that.
So today Karen and Muriel and Faith and Kibari and Sharon and Dave will be baptized.
Muriel will also dedicate Emmanuel to the Lord, promising to raise him in the love of God, the knowledge of God, the fear of God.
This promise too contains a blessing for Emmanuel’s future. That he will grow to know Jesus personally even as he experiences what the life of a believer looks like and feels like, as he is raised and loved by Muriel and her family.
So, this is a joyous day. It is a day that brings honour and glory to Jesus, even as many are baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit today. (Pause)
Message on Ephesians:
And so we look at our Scripture today, which marks the beginning of a new series on the Book of Ephesians that we will be looking at together over the fall.
Verses 1 and 2
Paul speaks to the church at Ephesus with tenderness and love.
There was generally one church in towns scattered throughout what we call the middle east, most of them Paul had planted himself.
It would be like Paul writing: To Church at the Mission in Toronto if we were the only gathering of believers in this city.
It is a letter from Paul. More importantly it is God’s message through Paul to all churches and all followers of Jesus. So we should take it as such.
And Paul identifies himself and addresses the letter to the “Saints, the faithful” that are in Ephesus. That’s a curious phrase that we can bump into and wonder what he means.
Was he speaking only to the best of the best? Was he speaking only to the super-Christians in the church?
History has altered the meaning of the word ‘saint’ to mean an especially holy person through whom miracles were done by God, and some traditions even pray “to” those called saints that those people, who have passed on to glory, might pray to the Father on their behalf.
That’s what history has done to the word “Saint.
But that is not at all what Paul means. What does Paul mean by the term “Saint”?
In fact the term “Saint” appears to have been an ordinary way to refer to a genuine believer and follower of Jesus. It does not mean a person who is especially holy.
It does mean a person who has been made holy through the blood of Jesus Christ, through the sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son.
The word “Saint’ does mean the people who make up the church as they live out their lives in love and obedience to Jesus, by His grace.
So that is our hope: not that we are righteous or holy enough, but that we trust in Jesus and in His sacrifice for our sins to be the sole basis for our salvation and our eternity with God.
We’ve been made holy through no effort of our own; but the very natural and organic thing that happens to a follower of Jesus is that she or he starts to become like Jesus.
More and more we grow INTO our identity in Jesus, and so we reflect His holiness in our attitudes, behaviour and our character.
In verse three we read “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Paul writes this beautiful statement of the blessing knowing full well the difficulties that we face in life. He wrote this and other very similar things while in a dark, dank prison.
So he wasn’t speaking of his external life. He was speaking of his internal life.
And what he’s about to do is gush. He’s going to talk about what God sees and feels and knows about Jesus, and also about what God sees and feels and knows about us, each of us who are followers of Jesus.
A few things to point out: he talks about “every spiritual blessing in Christ“. The truth is, there are no true spiritual blessings outside of Jesus.
There are emotional highs, there are better days than others, there are joyful moments perhaps that can exist outside of Jesus.
But the spiritual blessings he speaks of have to do with knowing Jesus. With loving Jesus, and growing in our understanding of how profoundly we are loved by God.
With living in service to Jesus, always open and desiring to be used by Him to bring His blessing to others.
Remember the Way of Jesus that we studied earlier this year. The second marker is: “I am being sent by Jesus to bless others and invite them to follow Him”.
God’s love is proven in Jesus, even as we understand that he went to the cross willingly and endured that suffering willingly because he loves you, he loves me.
When Paul speaks of “the heavenly realms“, he speaks of our true home.
As believers in Jesus Christ, we have a heavenly citizenship.
Most of us in this room are citizens of Canada, which by itself contains many blessings, because Canada is just an awesome place to live.
But much more important is the fact that our citizenship and our allegiance must be to Christ who dwells in heaven at the right hand of the Father.
Philippians 3:20 says: “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body”.
Don’t ever forget, church, that your citizenship, your place of belonging is with Jesus.
Baptismal candidates who today will follow Jesus in the waters of baptism...don’t ever forget to Whom you belong, to Whom you owe your allegiance, Christ Jesus who has loved you with an everlasting love.
Next we have these verses:
4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he F3predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will - 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
First Paul speaks of something that is absolutely remarkable and that we should take precisely as stated.
And we should take it both personally as individual followers of Jesus, and collectively as this local church body, Church at the Mission.
My brothers and sisters, before God created the world, he had you in mind. He knew of your coming life, because He is God and He chose you to belong to Him before the world created.
He not only chose you to belong to Him. He chose you to be like Jesus, to be holy and blameless in His sight. Why?
It’s His pleasure to love you. It’s His pleasure to call you. It’s His pleasure to bestow upon you His glorious grace - His amazing and unmerited kindness and favour.
And He’s given that gift to you in the One He loves. God gave the gift of life to you in Jesus, through His life and death and resurrection. It’s the gift of spiritual life, it’s the gift of His presence in your life. In His presence we find peace.
Maybe there are things in our pasts that seem to keep us locked down, buttoned up and unable to move forward.
God has given to you in Jesus Christ the ability to really move forward in your life.
To all here who have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, who have believed that the death Jesus died He died for you, in your place; because of no other reason than that He loves you.
Because you have Jesus Christ living in you by His Holy Spirit, you have the ability to live an abundant life.
A life full of spiritual, deep down blessing. A life of liberty and unmitigated kindness toward others. A life that will change the world around you by the reality of Christ in you, the hope of glory.
A life of purpose and joy that comes in the receiving and the giving. Receiving…from God as He renews you and strengthens you and fills your cup to overflowing. And giving…as you bless others out of the abundance of the overflow of Christ that is in you.
In a few minutes we will begin baptizing those will come today prepared for this important step in their journey of faith. Right now though, as we do, you want to take a moment so that all of us can reaffirm our baptismal vows.
And so this is for all of us who wish to affirm our baptismal vows, both those who have in the past been baptized, as well as for those who are being baptized today.
Let us stand to say our baptismal vows:
Congregational Renewal of Baptismal Vows (This is a standard renewal of Baptismal Vows):
Let us join with those who commit themselves again to Christ and renew our own baptismal covenant.
The Baptismal Covenant
Pastor: Do you believe in God the Father?
People: I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.
Pastor: Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?
People: I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again
to judge the living and the dead.
Pastor: Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?
People: I believe in God the Holy Spirit,
the holy Christian Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Pastor: Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayer?
People: I will, with God’s help.
Pastor: Will you persevere in resisting evil and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
People: I will, with God’s help.
Pastor: Will you proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ?
People: I will, with God’s help.
Pastor: Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbour as yourself?
People: I will, with God’s help.
Pastor: Will you strive for justice and peace among all
People, and respect the dignity of every human being?
People: I will, with God’s help.
Prayers
Pastor: Let us pray for those who are affirming their baptism, and for all the baptized everywhere, saying, “Lord, hear our prayer.”
A person appointed leads the following litany.
Leader: That they may be redeemed from all evil and rescued from the way of sin and death; in your mercy,
People: Lord, hear our prayer.
Leader: That the Holy Spirit may open their hearts to your grace and truth; in your mercy,
People: Lord, hear our prayer.
Leader: That they may be kept in the faith and communion of your holy Church; in your mercy,
People: Lord, hear our prayer.
Leader: That they may be sent into the world in witness to your love; in your mercy,
People: Lord, hear our prayer.
Leader: That they may be brought to the fullness of your peace and glory; in your mercy,
People: Lord, hear our prayer.
Pastor: Into your hands, O Lord, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in your mercy, through
your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
People: Amen.
Silence may be kept. Then the pastor says,
Almighty God, we thank you that by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ you have overcome sin and brought us to yourself, and that by the sealing of your Holy Spirit you have bound us to your service. Renew in these your servants the covenant you made with them at their baptism.
Send them forth in the power of that Spirit to perform the service you set before them; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
