|
Return to 'Recent Sermons' | |
|
Why take a bath in public? |
|
First,
Jesus did it! Matthew 3:13-17;Mark1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22. So we do it as
followers of Jesus. Are called Christians because we are followers of Jesus. A
lot of what goes for Christianity in the press and, unfortunately, in many
churches and probably this church, is not what Jesus taught. But to understand
what we should be about, read the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament, (
part two of the Bible). Find out what being a follower or disciple of Jesus is.
So the first clue to what we call baptism is about following Jesus. Not just
being baptised but in every department of our lives. Why follow Jesus? Because
we have found that he brings life. Jesus is the one who makes sense of the
world around us. So if you think this baptism bit is crazy. Check out what
Jesus is actually like, rather than what others say about him. He is neither
mad, deluded or irrelevant, we believe he is what he claimed to be, the Son of
God and the one to rescue the world.
Secondly,
it reminds us we all need a bath! But the spiritual dimension to this is that
we all need our sins forgiven. We need a spiritual wash. You can't get to
heaven - we believe in heaven; we have a hope about our long term future - we
can't get to heaven like we are. We need a clean up, a spiritual bath. So this
baptism you witnessed, this morning, is a demonstration of a spiritual event
that has taken place. Michelle has had her sins forgiven. She has been invited
to be a friend of God, to have a relationship with the eternal spirit who
created us and has set out to rescue us from the mess we are in. So being
baptised is very much about having a bath! It tells us that we need a spiritual
bath!
Thirdly,
symbolically you have seen a death and resurrection. Jesus, as I guess you know
is famous for being crucified, being buried and three days later coming back to
life. What you saw this morning was Michelle identifying herself with that
historic event. Jesus' death is personal. He died in Michelle's and our place,
for our sins, not his own. And his resurrection is Michelle's new eternal life
and ours if, like Michelle, we have turned from sin to God and received his
rescue plan as a gift.
Being
a Christian is not about what you were born as, or what you are like or about
being good enough.
It is about receiving a gift you don’t deserve.
Our Good News is not that there is a way to God if you tick all the right
boxes, whatever they are, and live to please God. Instead God offers his rescue
plan free of charge, we call it grace. Becoming a Christian is asking God for
the gift of new life he offers and receiving by faith.
It is about forgiveness when you have nothing
but failure and sorrow to offer. Jesus came, he said, not to call the righteous
– people who think they can impress God with their qualities but sinners who
know their failures, admit to themselves that they are in the red, overdrawn and
over the overdraft limit as far as God is concerned. If you know you are in
that position, Jesus offers to trade places with you. He takes the rap for you.
And he offers his perfection as yours. That is why Baptism is a demonstration
of death and resurrection. His death becomes our death and his resurrection
becomes our rising to new life.
It
is about new life and hope when you have run out of options. This new life we talk about is very different
from what you might expect. When you invite Jesus to be your rescuer, not only
does he wipe out the debt you owe him but he sends his Holy Spirit to be your
guide and energiser. And that is not all. We have a very different view of
death. It is no longer the end of the road. Jesus said “God so
loved the world that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in
him has eternal life”. Not just a richer fuller life here on earth but the
expectation that the best is yet to come. So death is a doorway into a new,
never ending phase of your life. But the everlasting life begins when you ask
Jesus to be your rescuer or Saviour. The Bible does not have anything about
Peter at the pearly gates, checking you out to see if you came up to standard,
heaven is actually described as an open city. But nothing evil can enter
it. Only those who have received new
life as a free gift from God through Jesus can enter, because only they are
considered to have the approval and love that Jesus has.
What can we do? When the Church began, people
asked what can we do?, Peter replied “Turn
away from your old life and be baptised in Jesus’ name. Your sins will be
forgiven and you’ll be given the Holy Spirit… (Acts2:38)
A
similar sequence of events Believe –receive forgiveness , new life and the Holy
Spirit – occurs in the story of a senior official from Ethiopia, a Roman jailor
in Philippi in the middle of an earthquake and countless people throughout the
last 2000 years in every country in the world.
You
can choose one of three options
1. Decide this is crazy stuff and carry on
as you are
2. Think it sounds interesting but put it
off until you have more time to think about it.
3. Decide that here and now you want to
get to grips with what this free
forgiveness and new life in Jesus is all about.
Choose
carefully because unless you choose option three at some point in your life,
you will not enjoy eternal life at all, all you have left is hopelessness.
So
how does this Christian life pan out? What does following Jesus mean?
.
Jesus spent three years teaching and demonstrating God’s love in healings and
miracles. After the had died and risen again, he said this to his disciples:
Matthew 28:18-20
“All authority in heaven and on earth
has been given to me. Therefore 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. And surely I am with you
always, to the very end of the age.”
the church has one task
Go and make disciples of all nations.
And that
comes in two parts
1.
baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
2.
Teaching
them to obey everything I
have commanded you.
And a promise
And surely I am with you always, to
the very end of the age.”
I
need to translate a few of these words as you may not be familiar with church
terminology.
A disciple is a person
who follows Jesus, so the church’s task is to tell people about the Good News
as we have been talking about this morning so that they can respond to the love
of God and put their faith in him. Then, knowing their sins forgiven and the
presence of the Holy Spirit they live a life following what Jesus said and did.
Baptising, I don’t need to explain any more, you
have seen one - it is having a bath in
public. You now know why I baptised Michelle in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit. I was told to by Jesus!
Teaching them to
obey everything I have commanded you. Baptism is about beginning the new life.
Christians are on a life-long learning programme to be like Jesus. To imitate
him and represent him to friends and family. To do that effectively we are
constantly reading the Bible , asking the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth in it
and to guide us to how it applies to our life right now. Jesus teaches us to
pray to worship to listen to him, and to change our life-style so that we
fulfil our destiny.
So what are you going to do?
Carry on as you are
Put it off until you have more time to think
about it.
Decide that here and now you want to get to
grips with what this free forgiveness and new life in Jesus is all about. Begin
a life as a disciple of the one who loves you so much and , by the Holy Spirit
wants to spend the rest of your life with you and then on to eternity with him
in heaven.
If
want to become a Christian, then speak to me after the service. I will ask one
of the leadership to talk to you and pray with you. You can receive a gift you
don’t deserve, you can know forgiveness, you can know new life in Jesus.
If you want
to think more about it, take away the
booklet, come again next Sunday, and sign up for Christianity Explored – a
course designed to help you understand Christianity. We haven’t got a start
date yet but we are hoping to start it in the Autumn.