Sidney UMC - Baptism of the Lord Sunday - 01/09/22 - Sermon - “Baptism and the Holy Trinity”

Sunday 01/09/22 - Sidney UMC 

Sermon Title:           “Baptism and the Holy Trinity”                              

Old Testament Scripture: Isaiah 43:1-7                                        

New Testament Scripture: Acts 8:14-17

Gospel Lesson: Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

           I have heard expressions my whole life like, “Time just flies by,” or “You blink, and you miss it,” or “Where did the years go?” There are plenty of statements and expressions that remind us that this life on earth goes by quickly. This does not mean that every day of our lives is easy or that every moment of our lives is great, but it does seem to go by quickly, doesn’t it? This is why there are expressions like, “Remember to stop and smell the roses along the way.” The idea that time just seems to fly by sometimes.

          With this said, the twelve-day season of Christmas ended this past Wednesday January 5^th. The actual day of “Epiphany,” or the day that many churches celebrate the visit of the Wise Men or magi to Christ was this past Thursday January 6^th. As a result, after church today once again, we are undecorating from the seasons of Advent and Christmas. Just like that time just flies by.

          Time also flies by in the gospel narratives for Jesus’ childhood. As many of us know, only the gospels of Luke and Matthew that tell the story of Jesus’ birth. Then we of course have the story of Jesus being left behind in Jerusalem after the Passover, at age 12. Mary and Joseph found Jesus after five days in the great Temple in Jerusalem and brought him home to Nazareth. We have Jesus’ birth, Jesus at 12-years old in the temple, and then today Jesus getting baptized by his cousin John the Baptist. Talk about time passing quickly! Or we can insert another common expression here, “Kids, they just grow up so quickly!”

          On this our Baptism of the Lord Sunday then, we will be talking about Jesus’ baptism and also the significance of Jesus’ baptism. In fact, until the age of thirty years old, we have Jesus’ birth, Jesus in the temple and twelve years old, and today he is thirty. After his baptism, Jesus will endure temptation in the wilderness for 40-days, and 40-nights, and after this, he immediately begins his three-year public ministry here on earth. To put it another way, Jesus did not start his three years of ministry on earth, ending with his crucifixion at age thirty-three, until he was baptized. Jesus did not reveal that he was messiah or the savior until after his baptism.

          In my ten years of ministry, and in serving five churches now, I have been able to do many baptisms. Sometimes I baptize babies, children, or adults. Sometimes I sprinkle water, and there is also baptizing by immersion, or going under the water and back up. I want to talk some this morning about Christian Baptism and why it matters.

          To begin with, as Christians, everything we do, whether its baptism, or Holy Communion, or worship, and or etc. is all designed to draw us closer to Christ. Our scripture for this morning from the Book of or the prophet Isaiah, reminds us that God loves, created us, and is always with us (Isa. 43:1-7, NRSV).

          In our reading for this morning from the Book of Acts once again, some Samarians had been baptized in the name of Jesus but had not yet received the Holy Spirt of God. Peter and John laid hands on these converts, and they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-17, NRSV).

          So, the big questions to ask ourselves this morning are, one why do we as Christians do baptisms? The second question that we can ask ourselves is this, what is proper way to do a baptism? The last question that we can ask ourselves is why are there variations among the way various Christians Church understand and perform baptisms?

          What is very clear, is that for the last two-thousand years of the history of the Christian Church, is that baptism is significant in every Christian Church I have ever encountered or studies. Even so, how a pastor or a priest performed a baptism, and differences there in, used to be something hundreds of years ago that some people killed each other over.

          In the Salvation Army Christian denomination and in Quaker or Society of Friends Christian denomination, these two churches do not have a water baptism. Why? Well let us look once again our gospel of Luke reading for this morning. It says starting in Luke 3:15 once again:

¹⁵ As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, ¹⁶ John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire”           (Lk. 3:15-17, NRSV).

          So, some Christians denominations, like the Salvation Army and the Quakers use scriptures like this to say Jesus was baptized by water, but everyone else will be baptized by the Holy Spirit. Meaning they do not believe that they need to do water baptisms, but instead they believe that they only need the baptism of the Holy Spirit of God coming upon them and into them.

          The majority of Christians once again though, whatever the kind of Christian they are, have for the last two-thousand years practiced water baptism. Baptism is all throughout the New Testament, and many churches, like the United Methodist Church baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Why do we do this? Well in the gospel of Matthew in chapter 28, Jesus gives us what is now called “The Great Commission”. In Matthew chapter 28:18-20 it says:

¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ 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, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”                           (Mt. 28:18-20, NRSV).

          This “Great Commission” from Jesus Christ to his disciples, and to us, is the general formula that the vast majority of Christian Churches use in performing baptisms. Different people and different churches interpret some of the scriptures differently, and this has led to differences in the understanding of baptisms in different churches. Every single baptism that I have ever performed has always been done saying in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

          In looking at how our gospel of Luke scripture for this morning ends once again, we have a beautiful and a perfect picture of the Triune God. In one scene we have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all present and together at the same time. Let us hear once again from Luke 3:21-22 for this morning. Once again it says:

²¹ Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, ²² and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased”                        (Lk. 3:21-22, NRSV).

          In the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke they all talk about the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus, and we have God the Father speaking. In the gospel of John, we do not have a direct narrative of Jesus’ baptism, but we have John the Baptist talking about how after Jesus’ baptism the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove. It is clear that John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the gospel of John, but again it is not directly stated like the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

          So, all of this said, most Christian Churches baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Yet, even further why though do some Christian Churches baptize babies and children and some churches do not?

          Well, here is why, and here is why the United Methodist Church baptizes people from infants to any age that have never been baptized before. Before jumping into this though, I want to say that I love baptism by immersion. Baptizing a teenager or an adult in a river or another body water by immersion is awesome. Most infants and children that we baptize however, tend to be with the sprinkling of water. Due to this, a retired Pentecostal pastor friend of mine used to joke with me, “Do you all believe in John the Baptist, or John the Sprinkler?”

          In the United Methodist Church, like the Roman Catholic Church, and some other Christian denominations, part of the baptism is the bringing of a baby, or a child, or an adult, into the Christian Church. When someone receives a “Believer’s Baptism” by full immersion in the water, in some Christian denominations, they profess their faith in Christ, and then get baptized as a sign of their faith and their devotion to Christ. They may then become a professing member of that local church.

          Imagine though if baptism was not just a sign of your new faith and rebirth, and was not just a display of your devotion to Christ, but was something that now made you part of the universal two-thousand-year Christian Church? What I am trying to say is that if you profess your faith in Jesus Christ and repent, you can be forgiven of your sins and have salvation and eternity in Christ, but at the same time not be part a member of the universal two-thousand-year Christian Church.

          It is a tradition for many Jews for example, to get their sons circumcised as babies at eight days old. This is a sign that their son is now part of the Jewish tradition, and they are to raise their child in the Jewish faith. The child is certainly not old enough yet at eight days old to understand God or the Jewish faith, but circumcision is what makes the eight-year-old boy part of the Jewish tradition.

          What then makes somebody part of the Christian tradition, part of the Christian Church? What makes someone part the church universal and what is the sign, the sacrament, and the mark of a Christian? For Jews is circumcision and couple of other things, but for Christians it has always been baptism. In fact, in some Christian traditions, along with the waters of baptism, the baby, the child, or the person gets “Christened” with oil, or marked for Christ. That child or person is now part of our group, our church.

          In the United Methodist Church, we do baptisms only in public worship, as we are asking the parents, the God parents, and everyone present to love and care for this baby or child that is being baptized. We ask everyone present in worship to instruct this baby or child about Jesus and to pray for this child. The hope is that this child will accept the love and salvation of Jesus for him or herself when they are old enough to understand who Jesus is. This often occurs by going through confirmation, to profess and confirm one’s faith. If the person is old enough to understand who Jesus is, they first profess their faith in Christ first, and then are baptized.

          So, does baptism mean someone knows Jesus and has salvation? Baptism is the mark of a Christian, but faith and salvation is us repenting of our sin and turning to Christ. We do believe that we are all born into sin and brokenness, and in the waters of baptism we believe that this stain of sin is removed, but we do not believe that a baby needs to be baptized to not be eternally condemned.

In the United Methodist Church, we sort of have a baby dedication built into the sacrament of baptism, in that we baptize the child, all take vows to love the child, and hope that one day that child will accept Christ for themselves.

          Since baptism is the mark of the Christian faith though, we baptize babies and infants, so that they are part of the universal two-thousand-year Christian Church. You are not a professing Christian until profess your faith in Christ, but you can be part of the church through baptism.

Given this, can you be baptized and never accept Christ? Sure, of course you can? If someone repents and comes to Christ on there death bed, but are never baptized, they do indeed have salvation, but they have never received the mark of the Christian faith. Christian baptism is what marks us as being part of the Christian Church.

          When someone is baptized in the United Methodist Church then, we call them “Baptized Members,” but they are not yet “Professing Members,” until they make a profession of faith in Christ. This can happen through confirmation or just a general profession of faith. At confirmation, a person confirms that Christ was present at there baptism, and they confirm their faith in Christ.

          While some churches have “Baby Dedications” but hold off baptism until the baby grows up and professes their faith in Christ, there is a different historical view of what baptism is in some Christian denominations. Like a driver’s license is needed to drive a car, the mark of the Christian faith is baptism.

I have had some parents tell me before though, “Well Pastor Paul, I don’t believe in infant baptism, so what should I do?” I just tell them then to wait if they want. Historically though, baptism is the mark of the Christian faith. So, when we baptize a baby or a child, we are marking them for Christ, as Christians, hoping that one day that they will accept Christ for themselves.

          I had one seminary professor that often joked about churches that do baby dedications and believer baptisms only, versus churches that do infant baptisms and confirmation, that “you can pull your car into the garage, or you can back your car into your garage. The important thing is that the car gets in the garage.” Is it important to profess our faith in Christ? Yes. Is baptism important? Yes. How each Christian Church does it however varies, but almost all of them follow Jesus’ instructions in the gospel of Matthew, in “The Great Commission” telling us to baptize in the name of Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. This is what “Baptism and the Holy Trinity” means. Happy Baptism of the Lord Sunday. Amen.