A Community of Faith - part 10
Grace for the Day
Today, as we look at the ordinances of the church, I don’t want us to make the mistake that they are merely rituals that we do for religion’s sake. In fact, if all they are to us are mindless ritual, then we have missed out on their very purpose. They remind us of the price paid for our salvation, and they also remind us of the grace given to us. They bring us back to the salvation we received however long ago and focus us on living this day renewed in Christ.
Baptism, of course, is the initiation of the new believer into the church and their fresh start, but it is also a reminder to those of us who were baptized long ago that we, too, still need the grace of God to renew us each day. The Lord’s Supper memorializes the death and resurrection of Christ, but it is also a regular reminder of our desperate need of grace. Each time we take it, we can reset our hearts and minds to walk in the new life Christ gives.
The ordinances are reminders of God’s grace and encouragement to live in the newness of life given to us by Jesus Christ.
Baptism
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.
Baptism is the act of obedience that symbolizes the believer’s faith in Christ. The picture of the person going under the water and then rising out of it mirrors the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus who died, went to the grave, and then rose out of that grave. The person is proclaiming their old life has died, and they are rising to live their new life in Christ. The spiritual reality of their new birth is visually represented through the act of baptism.
Baptism visually demonstrates the spiritual truth that has occurred in the heart of the new believer.
It’s roots go back to Jewish times, though its origins are a bit murky. What we know for sure is that just before Jesus begins His earthly ministry, John the Baptist prepares the way by calling the Jews to repentant baptism. Look with me at Matthew 3.
In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’”
Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Matt 3:1-11
John’s call is for repentance. Thus, when we look at why people are baptized, the first reason is:
Baptism is a public confession of repentance.
A person is baptized because they are coming before the congregation to tell everyone their old life of sin is done. They are following Christ now. The slate is clean—which points us to the second reason.
Baptism is a symbol of spiritual cleansing.
John says he baptizes for repentance, but the one who “is coming after me…will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Again, when we look at the Jewish practice of baptism, this point becomes more clear. The priests, and upon holy days the people, who wanted to enter the Temple had to become ceremonially clean. This cleaning process included a baptism. The people had to cleanse themselves of the corruption of the world before they could enter the presence of God.
Thus, with these two principles in place, we can see how the early Christians viewed baptism. It was a mark of repentance and cleansing. The new convert was shedding off their past and entering into the new covenant of Christ. Consider the eunuch in Acts 8. Philip is preaching throughout Samaria and is told to go down the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. There, he found an Ethiopian eunuch who had gone to Jerusalem to worship. The Ethiopian is reading from Isaiah when Philip comes upon him. They have a small group Bible study, and the Ethiopian believes in Christ. In verse 36, the Ethiopian says, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” The implied answer is ‘nothing’, because Philip commands the chariot to stop, and they both go to the water for the Ethiopian to be baptized.
This event is the pattern for baptism for the rest of the New Testament. A person believes in Jesus, and they are baptized. They pass from unbelief and death into belief and life, and they are baptized marking the event.
Now, I have spent some time on this point, because it is the beginning of our fellowship with one another.
Baptism is the first step toward true fellowship among Christians.
The new disciple has made a profession of faith and repentance, and they are telling the congregation they wish to join in the fellowship of the church. I want to give you one more word to reinforce the point—mikveh. It is the Hebrew word for ‘collected pool’ or ‘hope,’ depending on its context. When the Jewish person would go into the mikveh, they were binding themselves to God, much like the priests would bind themselves with yarn when reading the Torah. It was also a symbol of hope in that their hope was bound to God.
Jeremiah poetically summarizes the hope of Israel using this word in Jeremiah 17:13,
“O LORD, the hope (mikveh) of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame (or literally ‘dried up’);
those who turn away form you shall be written in the earth,
For they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.”
Jeremiah 17:13
The visual imagery Jeremiah is using is exactly like the symbolism of Christian baptism. The baptized believer is one who has placed their hope in Christ. They have bound themselves to Christ. And now, as they are bound in Christ, they are binding themselves to the Church. And that is why baptism is a prerequisite for church membership. If they are not bound to Christ, then they cannot be bound to the Church who is the Bride of Christ. The church must be of one mind.
The Lord’s Supper
The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.
The Lord’s Supper connects Christianity to its Jewish roots by being an extension of the Passover. Just as the Passover Lamb was the sacrifice for the Jews to avoid the plague, Christ is the Passover Lamb who prevents death for the Christian. Let’s take a look at Matthew 26.
Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.
When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.”
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.”
And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Matthew 26:17-30
First, because Jesus connects the Passover with His sacrifice, we can view this meal with the same reverent remembrance the Jewish people would have for Passover. In the Jewish tradition, the people hold Passover in order to remind themselves and celebrate how the Lord led them out of bondage in Egypt through His miraculous intervention. Additionally, they remember the plague that fell on Egypt and how the Lord saved them from that plague. They would have suffered the same loss as the Egyptians except God made a way to avoid the coming death plague. Just as the Israelites avoided the death plague by offering the lamb and covering their doors with the blood, we celebrate the Lamb of God who came to free us from the bondage of sin and keep us from death.
The Lord’s Supper is a memorial of the price paid for our salvation and freedom.
The second part of the BFM points us to the statement made by Jesus in Matthew 26:29. Jesus says that He will not drink of the fruit of the vine until he drinks it new in the Father’s kingdom. Before the day was over, Jesus was headed to the cross, and He knew it. He knew this was their last meal together. But, He also knew He would rise again. And, He knew one day He would return to gather all of us at the End. This message was passed from Jesus to the disciples, to Paul, and on to us. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 11.
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Paul gives the same pattern in the meal as found in the Gospels and adds that we “proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” When we take the meal, we are saying, “One day we will share this meal with Jesus, too, because He is coming back for us.” When we take the meal we are focusing our hearts and minds to the truth that God is with us, but we are also saying that one day the spiritual reality will also be a physical reality.
When we take the Lord’s Supper, we are memorializing the past, but also proclaiming the certainty of the future return of Christ.
Ordinances as Reminders of Grace
As we reflect on the ordinances of the church, I once again want to encourage you to view these as opportunities to remember God’s grace. Remember the price that was paid for your sin, but also remember that even those sins you committed since your baptism and since the last time you took the Lord’s Supper, those are forgiven too. Each day God offers us the chance to walk with Him, to listen to Him, and to live according to His purpose and design for our lives. No matter what you did yesterday, today you can live for Him.
This life has enough distractions. We are faced with the troubles of sinful humans. We face the need to care for our family. We face the desire to live a little more comfortably. We face the afflictions of disease. We concern ourselves with what we will eat or drink, or what we will wear. These are all valid concerns, but they are not what is most important.
The ordinances remind us of what is most important in life.
Jesus told us to seek the kingdom of God first, and let God take care of the rest.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6:33-34
So as we conclude, I’d like to give you time to reflect. Ask yourself:
What is my pursuit? What are my priorities? Are they godly?
What sin am I battling? Am I leaning on God’s grace to fight it, or have I given up the fight?
Who do I need to seek reconciliation with? Do I have brothers and sisters in Christ whom I’ve wronged or been wronged by? Have we forgiven each other?
Then, remember God’s grace—remember when He poured out His wrath on Jesus, His own Son, so that we can be saved. Praise Him and His mercy!