Hello! Pastor Chase here… doing a quick teaching on Baptism. Today we’re going to be looking at a few key facts about baptism… the meaning and importance of baptism in a Christian’s life; what happens during baptism; and the amount of baptisms there are.
#1: The meaning and importance of baptism in a Christian’s life
An excellent question! Baptism is something that Christians from all over the world believe in, but many have different ideas or understandings of. So here we feel the need to show what the Bible says about baptism, and what exactly it should mean to each and every single one of us.
First things first, the Bible makes it clear that baptism is super important. Jesus especially highlights how big a deal it is that every Christian should get baptized, if they can.
Matthew 28:18-20, “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.”
Here in this passage in Matthew we can see that Jesus wants all of His disciples to be baptized. So if you’re a Christian, and haven’t been baptized yet, just know that Jesus really wants you to. So much so, that He even got baptized himself to show how important it is.
Matthew 3:13-15, “Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?’ But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he allowed Him.”
See how Jesus says it “fulfills all righteousness”? That means that there will be an essential piece of Christianity that you will be missing if you do not get baptized. Now we have an important point to clarify here, the Bible DOES NOT say that you cannot be saved, or go to heaven without baptism. We see countless examples of people who have entered paradise without being baptized. However with Jesus making such explicit and specific commands, we highly recommend you be baptized if you can.
Baptism is not just a symbolic act, although there are symbolic elements to it. It is a spiritual action, a choice one person makes. To fully agree with Christ, to be fully conformed to his image and character. Baptism simply put, is a physical demonstration of what God has done in your spirit. Killed the old sinful person, and given birth to a new sinless person.
#2 What happens during baptism?
Another excellent question! Each part of baptism carries an enormous spiritual and symbolic significance. So let’s go through a person being baptized, then we’ll dissect each part of it together… ready? Here we go!
Garry decides one Sunday morning that he wants to be baptized, so he tells someone at the church, they give him a new set of clothes and walk him up to the full tub of water. Which has been filled for just this occasion.
Gary kneels down in the tub of water, a Pastor at the church asks him if he has accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He says “yes”, then the Pastor says “I now baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Jesus name.” The Pastor then dunks Garry under the water for a few seconds, before raising him up out of the water. Garry then walks out, a new sense of joy and revival pouring out of him.
So let’s take the symbols one at a time:
Kneeling Down: This doesn’t always happen, but can be a super important part of baptism, it symbolizes submission to God and His way of doing things. A verse that talks about this a little bit is found in James 4:7, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
It’s basically, telling God that you’ll obey and listen to Him at all times. You should’ve made this same profession when you got saved. But it’s always good to repeat it, especially during baptism.
The Question: Your pastor should ask you if you’ve made Jesus your Lord and Savior. This is important because without salvation baptism is just a fancy ritual, without the spiritual freedom of salvation baptism is of no effect. So it’s always good to check before doing it. A good scripture about this can be found in Romans 10:9, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Going Under the Water: This is the biggest part of baptism. The water going over you, the person. Some parts of Christianity like to sprinkle or just cover the head. Any of these are fine, but here at Bridge Church we like to fully submerge during baptism. Because of the symbol associated with it.
When Jesus was crucified He was buried inside of an unused tomb for three days. After those three days He rose from the grave, walking out and leaving it behind. This is included in all gospels, but just for fun we’ll use this example…
John 19:40-20:9, “Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby. Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.’ Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.”
Jesus was buried in the tomb, surrounded. In baptism we imitate this by surrounding ourselves in water. To symbolize that we were once dead, but now are not. Which leads us to-
Being Raised Up Out of the Water: This symbol dovetails with the previous one. Just as we were buried and dead, we now rise and are alive again. Just like Jesus, we now have the new life that Christ died to give us. Sin now longer binds us, and now that we have made the whole thing public, our local church can celebrate with us, and help us to be accountable.
Changing Clothes: This doesn’t always happen, but changing clothes symbolizes putting away the old sinful person, and taking on the new sinless person. Paul talks about this in Ephesians 4:22-24, “that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”
And that’s it! That’s the significance and meaning behind every element of baptism, and why we here at Bridge Church do it the way we do it. But we have one quick stop before calling it a day.
Did you know that there are two different baptisms?
#3 How many baptisms are there?
A good question! To answer this question simply and easily, there are two baptisms. One with water, and another with the Holy Spirit. How do we know? Well the Bible literally tells us so in a few places:
Mark 1:7-8, “And he preached, saying, “There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 1:5, “for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Acts 2:38, “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'”
So what does that mean? Does God suddenly make a different kind of water and we get baptized again? Well no, that’s not it. Remember, water baptism represents putting off the old man, Holy Spirit baptism represents something very different. It represents the Holy Spirit taking up residence in your heart. Basically that God comes and lives inside of you. We know this once again because the Bible tell us so:
Acts 2:1-4, “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
Here we can see the fulfillment of a promise Jesus makes to his disciples in John 14:15-18, “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
The Holy Spirit wants to reside in us and give us gifts to accomplish supernatural things. But we need to be cleansed from sin first. So once water baptism is done, you can then be baptized in the Holy Spirit. This can happen anywhere, all you need to do is ask for someone to lay hands on you, pray for you to receive the Holy Spirit, and then receive Him by faith!
And that’s it! That’s baptism in a nutshell, if anything here sounds odd or confusing, don’t worry Pastor’s Joel and I would love to speak with you more about it, be sure to come find one of us on a Sunday service.
God bless!
Pastor Chase Rashid
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