You've seen it happen. Just last week, right here, up front.
Proud parents bring a newborn to the front of the church auditorium. Words are spoken. Scripture read. Faith is confessed. A hymn sung. And water poured, sprinkled on the head of the infant. Much joy is present.

Perhaps you've seen it with an adult. As with the parents bringing the baby, questions are asked and answered. Faith confessed. Scripture. Hymn. Water on the convert's head.
Again there is much joy. Again thanksgiving is raised to God, and congratulations offered to the recipient.

Either way, you've witnessed one of the highlights of the Christian life - the very sacred moment of Holy Baptism.

If you were with us last week you may remember that we explored the basic foundation of how Christian faith gets built within a person; some of the tools that the Lord put in place to shape and polish living Spirit-directed, Christ-honouring faith within individuals and communities.
We talked about preaching, about baptism and about holy communion -
the basics of what they are, how they relate together, and their place in the life of the Christian.

This morning, and then again tonight, we're going to build on that foundation. We'll explore the important tool in God's workshop of faith, the one placed in our hands by Jesus himself, and rendered effective by the unseen but very real work of the Holy Spirit, the one known as Holy Baptism. We'll ask --
- where did it come from?
- what does it signify for our lives?
- how does it work for adults;
- and tonight -- what about children and baptism?

To help us in that investigation of God's Word, I'd like to read with you some sections from the Heidelberg Catechism.
 
 

I THE INSTITUTION OF BAPTISM
The first time we hear of baptism in the bible is in the gospels when John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets, begins a series of revival tent meetings in the desert.
He preached to people that had lost their spiritual spark; grown lethargic in their love for the Lord; forgotten about what it means to be committed followers of the Creator of Heaven and Earth. He called them to repentance, to renewed faith in and reactivated obedience to God. (Mt 3, Mk 1, Lk 3).

Baptism was nothing new for that day. It was a common Jewish practice, originally given to Gentiles who were converted to Judaism, showing that people who were once out, were now IN; they were now part of God's dedicated community of believers.
John put a twist on it all by also baptizing Jews, showing that their unbelief and faithless lifestyle had, in God's eyes, put them on the outside.

Jesus was baptized by John, showing that He too was part of this great community, this special work that God was doing among His people.
John 3.26 tells us that Jesus and his disciples picked up this practice of John the Baptist and also baptized people, welcoming them into the new relationship with God, the community of believers fully devoted to the Lord's service.

Just before He went back to heaven Jesus commanded his disciples to continue the practice of baptism as follows: they were to go to an unbelieving world, make disciples, then baptize them, and finally lead them into a life of Christian obedience and faith.
"....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]

That's a command.
When someone enters the community of God's people they are to be given the sign of membership in that community, that family -- the holy sign of Baptism. And then they spend the rest of their lives living up to the call of that holy sign, the challenge which that sign puts before them -- the challenge of being fully devoted followers of God Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
It's like a wedding ring. Someone makes a vow to be joined body, mind and spirit to another person. After making that vow a ring is put on their finger as a sign of that vow, and as a way of sealing that vow -
- a ring which they will always wear;
- a ring that will forever remind them of the vow and serve as an ongoing challenge to live up to that vow to be singularly devoted and loyal to their spouse.
Baptism - you have been joined to the Lord;
You are part of His community of fully-devoted followers.
Don't ever, ever forget it!!
Live like it!
 

II THE MEANING OF BAPTISM
A/ MEANING #1: WASHING

There are two central meanings that the Bible presents to us in Baptism. The first is the one that the Catechism concentrates on - WASHING.
-- As the water touches our body, so it symbolizes that our lives have been touched by Jesus' blood.
-- As water cleans and refreshes skin, so baptism symbolizes that our lives are cleaned and refreshed by the Holy Spirit.

Many New Testament passages speak of baptism as washing. For example:
Acts 22.16 "Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins...."
1 Peter 3.21 "Baptism... now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ."
1 Corinthians 6.11 speaks of being "washed, sanctified, justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God."

Two important things here:
1/ to be washed by Jesus,
-- OR, as Heb 12.24 & 1 Pet 1.2 speak of it "to be sprinkled with his blood"... something that reminds me of the times that I sprinkle the symbol of water on the heads of new members in God's family --
to be washed by Jesus means to be forgiven of all sin. It means we stand before God without guilt, without the sentence of eternal death hanging over our head. We stand encrusted with the fallout of our stupid failures, our stubborn streaks, and our shameful moments - totally unworthy of even a moment of heaven's attention. We confess it to heaven, and in an act that is sheer grace, a monumental miracle, the result of His sacrifice on the cross -- Jesus tenderly, graciously washes that all away; the way a mother washes the dirt off her child's face when the little one falls. He presents us to the throne of heaven as clean, pure children of God; as His brothers and sisters.
Baptism is a watery sign that this has happened; a blood seal that this is sure. You can count on it. You can go to sleep tonight with the calm assurance that if you die during the night, your immediate destination is glory - a home in heaven.

2/ The water of baptism: Something I've found through the years is that while many people may realize this former point, not too many twig to the fact that the Bible not only talks about being "washed" by Jesus Christ, but it also speaks of being washed, drenched, showered on by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
And that drenching, showering, washing by the Spirit is tied closely to baptism (see, for example, Acts 1.5; 2.38; 8.12-17; & 10.44-48).

To be washed by the Holy Spirit means that we are enabled, empowered, to live a life that is pleasing to God. It means that we leave behind any way of life that brings tears to God's eyes, and shame to the name of Jesus, and that we enter a life of obedience and service to our heavenly Father.

The washing of the Spirit - His entering our lives and beginning to empower and rebuild them - that happens when we surrender to Christ. Baptism is a sign and a seal that we have the Spirit within us. It is a challenge to us (remember the wedding ring??), to continue to be open to His work;
to, as Eph 5.18 says, Continue to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Soak in His presence.
Follow His prompting.
Honour and obey His leading.
Ask for His continued power and purifying work.

That, then, is the first meaning of Baptism - being washed by Jesus in a cleansing way, and washed in a renewing, refreshing way by the Holy Spirit.
 

B/ MEANING #2: DYING AND RISING
Then there is a second picture that the Bible paints with baptism, namely dying with Christ and rising again with him.
For example, Rom 6.4 "We were therefore buried with [Jesus] 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."
Colossians 2 - same thing. It talks about baptism as dying to sin and rising to a life of obedience to Jesus.

It is the challenge part of Baptism.
You have been baptized. You are identified with Jesus Christ. You belong to Him. Now live like it!! Don't even begin to think about stuff that would make Christ frown. Stuff that is marginal or tinged in any way by impurity - don't even go there! Consider it dead, gone, out of the picture.
You've been baptized. Now live like it. Hunger for, search out and stick to, look for and put into action anything that you know would be a pleasure for Jesus to watch happen in our lives. Let it rise to the top.

Baptism - God's holy sign, His sacred seal on the lives of believers.
A sign and seal that most of you have received.
A seal on your existence.

The sign of Baptism - a symbol, a pointer to the work of Jesus Christ. Whether you think of baptism as 1/ washing or 2/ as dying and rising, it all points to Jesus hanging on a cross, suffering for us, paying the penalty for our sins.
It points to Jesus....
..... and then points to us saying "He did that for you. Believe it!"

The seal of Baptism. A seal confirms or certifies something - often an agreement or a promise. A wedding kiss is a sign of the love between bride and groom; when shared after the vows it also seals the promise they made. A handshake after a business deal is a sign that the deal is completed, but is also a seal that the deal will be carried out faithfully.....
.....unless your name is Yashin.
The seal of baptism points to Jesus....
..... and then points to us saying "He did that for you. Live it!"

In the seal of Baptism God binds Himself to us.
He guarantees that He is at work;
that He is faithful and will not desert His children;
that His promises are trustworthy;
that His salvation is certain and complete for all who believe.

I think that today especially we need to concentrate on this. We need to remember that first of all baptism is a God-initiated sign, a God-initiated seal.
It is God who plays the primary role.

I say that we need to focus on that because ours is such a self-centred age, an idolatrous age with the greatest idol being self, me, I. That's the way our world has gone and sadly, brothers and sisters, that mentality has snaked its way into the Church.
We have degenerated to seeing preaching as one person's opinions being passed to other people, rather than God's Message being proclaimed.
We have turned to seeing Lord's Supper as our act of remembering and taking part.
Worship becomes my act of getting what I want.
And in that whole vein baptism has come to be viewed as our action, our testimony of how we have responded to God's offer of salvation.
Do you see? Humanity-centred.

Truth be told, if you look through the pages of the scriptures to the liturgical symbols and ceremonies that God has given down through the ages to His people -- every one of them --
while they involve people, it is on a secondary level.
The main player is God.
He gives.
He speaks.
He acts.
He seals his promises to us.

In Baptism He puts his stamp of identification on us, declaring that we are a part of His great eternal family.
We as believers receive, and listen, and watch
We accept the grace-filled goodness of a forgiving, loving Covenantal Heavenly Father;
and THEN go out into life, responding to this holy sign and seal with determined and dedicated godly obedience.

The focus is God: His faithfulness, His work, His greatness.

One more thing -
through baptism, not only does the Lord tie us to Himself.
He also ties us to each other.

In earthly families our name ties us together.
In marriage, a husband and wife are tied together by their vows and their wedding rings.
In the family of God, we gain common identity from our baptism. As the bible says, "One Lord, one faith, ONE BAPTISM...." (Eph 4.5) That is why in our baptismal form, it is not just parents who make vows before the Lord.
It is everyone present who is a part of the Family of Faith.
 
 

And it is to ALL of us, as baptized community of Christ, that the Lord presents a huge responsibility.
The responsibility of pointing each other back to the Cross and the completed work of Jesus Christ. The responsibility to call each other to ever-greater faithfulness, ever more perfect imitation of Jesus, ever deeper into the drenching river-presence of the Holy Spirit, ever stronger in the new life that Jesus Christ has prepared for us.
Baptism - God's call to us to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil 2.12)

Oh, perhaps you can't always see it the way you can see a wedding ring.
The water dries up. But the fact remains. A fact that we're reminded of it every time we see another person baptized, like Matthew Dykstra last weekend.

Baptism - for those of you that have received it; hear God's call again.
For those of you that have never been baptized, let me challenge you to consider whether now is the time to receive it. Call me and I'd be delighted to help arrange that.

For those of you that have been baptized and find yourself saying, "You know, I don't think I could stand with a clear conscience before Jesus and honestly say that I've lived in a way that makes my baptism proud" take a few moments between you and Christ to turn things around this morning.

And for those of you who have been baptized as children, but never followed through with a public commitment to everything it stands for - you've never made a public confession of faith -- I'd like to challenge you to leave apathy behind, stand tall and proud as a Christian. Be open about it. Make that confession. Don't put it off. Give me a call this week and we'll work towards that together.