What is Baptism?

What is Baptism?      March 25/26, 2017

Scripture: Romans 6: 1-14

Today we are continuing our What Is? Sermon Series, where we are preparing for Easter by exploring some meaningful words and practices that help deepen our faith and experience of Jesus Christ. Today we’re asking the question, What is baptism?

William Willimon tells a story about receiving a call from an angry father while serving as Dean of the chapel at Duke University. His secretary buzzed him and said that there was a man calling who was terribly upset. Willimon said, “I figured as much.” He asked if it were one of his many, thought-provoking sermons that upset the man. “No,” his secretary said, “we haven’t had any response to your sermons. . . . This man is mad over something you have done to his daughter.” Willimon was puzzled and told his secretary to put him through. The father began by saying, “I hold you personally responsible.” “For what?” he asked. The father replied, “My daughter. We sent her to Duke to get a good education. She is supposed to go to medical school and become a third generation doctor. Now she’s got some fool idea in her head about Haiti, and I hold you responsible.”

Turns out, his daughter was involved in the chapel, various campus causes, and was one of the organizers of a spring Mission trip to Haiti. The father said, “She has good grades and a chance to go to medical school...now this.” “Now what?” Willimon said. The father shouted into the phone, “Don’t act so dumb. Even if you are a preacher, you know very well what. Now she has some fool idea about going to Haiti for three years teaching kids there. None of this would have happened if it hadn’t been for you. She likes your sermons and you’ve taken advantage of her at an impressionable age. Now she’s got this fool idea about going to Haiti!”

 At this point, Willimon said he was getting a tad energized himself. So he responded, “Now just a minute. Didn’t you have her baptized?” The father replied, “Well, yes, but...” “— And,” Willimon continued, “didn’t you take her to Sunday School?” The father stammered in reply, “Well, uhh sure we did. But we never intended for it to do any damage.” “Well, there you have it,” Willimon said. “She was messed up before she came to us. Baptized, Sunday-schooled, called. Don’t blame this on me. You’re the one who started it. You should have thought about what you were doing when you had her baptized.”

I first heard that story when we had our oldest daughter baptized. You should’ve thought about what you were doing when you had her baptized. That’s why we’re talking about baptism today. The father’s experience probably is more common that what we think. I’ve talked with lots of folks who don’t remember their baptism. Maybe they were young and didn’t have much of an idea of what was going or why they were baptized. And some were baptized as adults but never clearly understood why. Some never thought baptism was anything beyond getting a little water sprinkled on the head. Maybe you’d place yourself in one of those categories. For those of you have never been baptized, I think you’ll find today’s message meaningful. It might even inspire you to take that step toward baptism. And for those of you who have been baptized, I hope that today’s message will reignite your faith and inspire you to live out your baptismal calling. So let’s think about what we’re doing when we baptize.

In the 5^th Century, St. Augustine, one the early church fathers began to describe certain church practices as “sacraments.” Now, if you grew up in certain Christian traditions, you’ll know different tradition recognize a different number of sacraments. For instance, the Catholic Church defines seven church practices as sacraments. In the Methodist Church, we have two: baptism and Holy Communion (which we’ll talk about next week). These practices are important moments in the life of faith, and they each point to the same idea: an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. 

Sometimes words simply aren’t enough to express the ways God is moving in our lives. And sometimes we don’t have the right words to fully tell the story, so we have to use other means. That’s the idea of a sacrament. It’s like a picture, which some have said is worth “a thousand words.” In baptism, we use actions that help paint a picture of God’s activity in our lives. We use words to say, “Hey, God is up to something in my life,” and those words are important. But we also use water, and we lay on hands and we surround the newly baptized person in Christian community. And those actions help us tell the story of how, in the father’s words, God is messing with our lives. So what is going on in baptism?

Well, one of the primary images baptism conveys is that of spiritual death. To help explain this, I thought you might be interested to see an ancient baptismal pool. (SHOW PICTURE) In ancient Christianity, baptismal candidates would spend a good deal of time preparing for their day of baptism, because in many ways, baptism was marking a kind of death. Whether it was 40 days or a year, the candidates would enter a season of preparation and on Easter Sunday, they would enter from one side as if they were leaving behind an old way of life. Some would even shed their clothes as a way of saying, “I’m leaving everything behind, because that’s no longer who I am.” And they would descend down the steps, into the water, and the water would cover them like dirt on top of a grave. It was very much a sign act meant to proclaim that a death had taken place, a death of who I once was, a death to the old ways of life that used to consume me.

This act is our way of identifying our lives with the death of Jesus. In Christ’s death we proclaim that the power of sin is broken, that evil and wickedness no longer have mastery over us. Like the ark that carried Noah and his family away from the wickedness of the world or the parting of the Red Sea that made possible new life for Israel, our baptism emphatically proclaims that we have died to who we used to be and God is making us new. One of the ways we give flesh to this is to ask a series of questions at baptism. The first question we ask is this: Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world and repent of your sin? Baptism is a “no” to wickedness, evil and sin and a “yes” to God’s new life in Christ. So let me ask you. Do you? Do you renounce the wickedness in this world? Do you reject the evil that corrupts, kills and destroys? I can almost hear Bishop Willimon reminding the father, “Did you forget that she died to her old ways?”

A second understanding of baptism is that of the empowerment and filling of the Holy Spirit in our lives. If you struggled with the previous set of questions, then I have good news for you. You don’t have to reject evil alone, nor can you! In the account of Jesus’ baptism, we read that the heavens open and the Spirit of God descends upon him, and he is fully equipped to live out God’s call on his life. This also begins his public ministry. When we are baptized, we believe that God fills us with His Spirit, who empowers us to resist evil, to live a new life and take part in building God’s Kingdom. The second question we ask candidates is this: Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves? Here we are committing to not just avoiding evil, but standing against it by God’s grace. And we do that by relying on God’s presence, His Holy Spirit, in our lives. I’m reminded of Edmund Burke’s famous quote, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” This is what compels a medical student to go to Haiti. This is why we give of our time and energy to make a difference in our communities. Are you resisting evil? Are you standing with those who are oppressed? Are you crying out with those and for those who experience injustice? Are you building up God’s kingdom or are you building up yours? Again, I can almost hear Bishop Willimon asking the question, “Did you forget that gave God control of your daughter’s life?”

There is one final question we ask at baptism, and it’s this: Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your whole trust in his grace and promise to serve him as your Lord? Our baptism reminds us that we are no longer our own, that we have committed to living out God’s will for our lives, in God’s way and in God’s time. But following Jesus is a difficult calling, which is why baptism locates us in a community of faith. One of the most powerful moments I have as a pastor is take a newly baptized infant and walk her or him through the congregation. And as I do, I remind the congregation that we’re all in this together and we have a God-given responsibility to care and pray and teach one another. I’ll remind the people that together we are a church, and the newly baptized person has become a part of our covenant. As Jesus has loved us, we are called to love this person. And it’s our job, our calling, to be the hands and feet of Christ for that person. At some point in this newly baptized person’s life, he or she will make mistakes, fall into sin, or maybe even begin to question their faith. Or, they might even have a crazy to notion to quit medical school and instead become a missionary in a foreign country. And they need to know that when those moments happen, we’ll be there to love them through. That doesn’t mean we’ll be perfect (I don’t think that will ever happen), nor does it mean we won’t occasionally let each other down, but it does mean that by virtue of our baptisms we have been bound together in a life-giving covenant, and we live out this covenant together, for better or worse as brothers and sisters in Christ. So let me ask you: Have you put your whole trust in Jesus? Are you serving him as your Lord? Do you confess Christ as your Savior? And when you have those moments of doubt and struggle, will you remember that you are part of community that loves you? Again, I can hear Bishop Willimon saying, “Did you forget that baptism makrs a new life with Jesus as the center?” This is what I hope you think about when you remember your baptism.

I wanted to end today by praying together the Covenant Prayer of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement. Although this prayer wasn’t written specifically for baptism, it does convey the heart of our baptism theology: death to an old life, a willingness to follow the Spirit of God, and a commitment to living out God’s will. It might have done the father some good to remember the covenant that he and his daughter made at her baptism. And I hope it does us some good as well. Would you pray this with me?

I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside by thee.
Exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
Let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.