Colossians 2:16-23 - Liberty in Christ

The Moravians, an early evangelical group more than a century before the Reformation, had a saying. “In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity.” Paul has been teaching up to this point on the first part, essentials. Now he turns to the second part of the Moravian motto, non-essentials. And in non-essentials, there is liberty.

Pray & Read:  Colossians 2:16-23 

Contextual Notes: In the letter to the Colossians, the key verse is 2:6-7 where Paul encourages the Colossian believers to grow deep as disciples of Jesus Christ. In verse 8 he encourages the believers to be careful of hollow and deceptive philosophies of living that are floating around, even within the church. Why would you want to be sucked into that deception, Paul says, when you have Christ, the fullness of Deity (2:9-10).

In verses 11-15 he describes Christ and the power of the Cross as giving us the ability to put off the sinful nature (2:11), of dying with Christ and being raised with him (2:12), of being made alive in Christ (2:13), of having our criminal record expunged (2:14), and of triumphing over the powers of darkness (2:15).

        Now Paul moves from theory to practice. How does all this talk of Christ and philosophies (2:4, 8) work out in real life? The people advocating the erroneous teaching were demanding that people keep their rules and abstain from certain things like certain foods, and that if you are really spiritual you will celebrate certain special religious days (2:16).

Key Truth: Paul wrote Colossians 2:16-23 to teach the Colossian Christians that freedom is found in Christ, his reality, our holding fast to Him, and our identifying with Him..

Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about freedom in Christ.

Sermon Points:

1. Liberty is in the reality of Christ (Col 2:16-17)
2. Liberty is in holding fast to Christ (Col 2:18-19)
3. Liberty is in identifying with Christ (Col 2:20-23)

Exposition:   Note well,

1.   Liberty is in the reality of Christ (2:16-17).

a.   “Do not let anyone judge you”: Paul is addressing the Jews in the church who were mocked by the Gentiles for their observances.

b.   Why? They are a shadow of Messiah (not as English versions say, “only” a shadow) (2:17) The whole letter of Hebrews corrects that idea. But a shadow is not a bad thing. Shadows call out the faith and hope in the soon coming Messiah. By faith Abraham saw Christ’s day and was glad (John 8:56) Isaiah saw Christ’s glory and spoke of it (John 12:41; Isaiah 53).[1]

c.   APPLICATION: When we see the shadow of someone or something, we know that the reality is not far away. Shadows are not a bad thing. They are good things. They warn us of the immanence of someone or something near to us. The Old Testament isn’t either. Yes, it casts a shadow of the coming Messiah, and in his first coming there were many fulfillments of prophecy. But the majority of OT prophecies concerning the Messiah have not taken place. In that sense, we still live with the shadows of the OT forms, and glory to God, knowing the shadows are being cast tell us that the coming of the Messiah is imminent; it is near. Jesus’ preaching message in the gospels was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

d.   Are you prepared for the reality of the coming of Jesus Christ? If he returned today unexpectedly, would you be ready? Would your friends be ready? Would your family members be ready? Jesus is coming back, and when he does, it will be to sit as a judge and execute judgments from his father David’s throne. Are you ready?

2.   Liberty is in holding fast to Christ  (2:18-19).

a.           The worship angels was ill-placed adoration based on religious, nonbiblical rules.

b.           False humility is really overdone pride.

c.           “What he has seen”/ or “what he has not seen” (ἃ or ἃ μὴ?): Despite the strong Alexandrian witness, the inclusion of “Not” has a vast geographically and textual family dispersion. I go with including “not.” It makes more sense that it was left out of a copy in one textual family than that it was added in a number of geographically and textually disparate manuscripts. Further, the use of ouk in F and G demonstrate that a copyist realized negation had mistakenly been dropped by an earlier exemplar.

d.           This is the language of visionary mystics. Paul is warning the Colossian believers not to fall for anyone’s supernatural visions that are not in submission to Scripture.

e.           Worshiping the inferior, not the Head. Thus promoting disintegration instead of unity (Eph 4:16). In unity is divine growth as each in love plays its part.

f.            “Disqualify” (v. 18) should be condemn or ‘decide against.’

g.           APPLICATION: Often times we worship our own visions of what we want, and our desires are placed in an idolatrous place of worship in our hearts. When we place our own visions ahead of the Head, we cause disintegration of the Body’s unity. When I force my way of thinking on another or a group of people, I am placing myself above the Head. If your vision is of the Lord, it will work out, and no circumstance or person can stop it in the end. So chill, in non-essentials, give liberty, and you will find liberty as well.

3.   Liberty is in identifying with Christ (2:20-23)

a.           Legalism leading to perdition. You can live with a lot of

b.           Being dead with Christ means that we should no longer be conditioned by the interests of this world. Such asceticism actually serves to indulge the flesh, the old regenerate nature.

c.           Paul is citing Isaiah 29:13: strong human tradition often means that the heart is far from God. (Jesus cited it in Mark 7:5-13).

d.           These are not about the OT but about rules that people make up. It is a power-play by some who need the boost to their self-image. It is manipulation and akin to witchcraft, not true humility.

e.           APPLICATION: Rather than subduing the body, asceticism simply redirects expressions of the sinful nature. Ascetics may not indulge in promiscuous sex, but their pride and contempt their feel for those less disciplined is just as much sensual indulgence – just as much an expression of the flesh – as promiscuity would be.

Invitation:

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[1] R.C.H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians et al, 126. Found in Stern, 611.

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Colossians 2:13-15 - Alive with Christ

Opening thought:

As a farmer in Thailand, Muangmol Asanok often made less than $500 a year. So he couldn't believe his good fortune when a recruiter came to his village offering three years of farm work in North Carolina at a rate of more than $8 an hour. He mortgaged his farm to get the recruiter's $11,000 fee, said goodbye to his wife and infant son and headed to Johnston County -- where he says he became a prisoner in a storage building beside a rural highway.

Asanok is one of 22 Thai men suing the former owners of a Wayne County labor contracting company, saying the owners stole their money, failed to pay them for their work and held them captive with threats of violence.

        From August to November 2005, a recruiter from Million Express Manpower, a former labor contracting company out of Mount Olive, NC, lured 30 Thai men to work in Johnston County, North Carolina with a promise of earning $16,000 a year for 3 years. The recruiter charged a fee of $11,000 for each man to "secure" their job abroad.

Once they arrived, the labor contractor confiscated their passports and visas. "After about a week living in a motel in Benson, they were moved to a small storage building in Dunn, behind the home of Seo Homsombath, a native of Laos who is president of Million Express." "Homsombath at first contained the men by telling them that, without passports, police would arrest them if they left the property. Later, he showed them a gun, according to both Asanok and the lawsuit. A relative or employee was always at the house to guard them, Asanok said."(Asanok is one of the Thai workers who sued Million Express) 

"Homsombath delivered food, but it often wasn't enough for all 30 men, Asanok said. They had no kitchen, so they cooked outside on a portable gas burner. By mid-October the farm work ran out, and Homsombath took the workers to New Orleans, the lawsuit says. They spent a few weeks in a condemned hotel, badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina, without electricity or clean water. During the day, the lawsuit says, they demolished parts of the hotel they lived in. Asanok said he spent his days tearing down walls and hauling piles of destroyed carpet out of the hotel." "The Thai workers, including Asanok, say they were never paid for their work in New Orleans. Some were so broke, the suit says, that they trapped and ate pigeons."[1]

That, my friends is bondage. It is involuntary servitude. It is slavery.  Asanok had become a human trafficking statistic.

Liberation from slavery and bondage and victory over the enemy is what Paul writes about in today’s lesson.

Pray & Read:  Colossians 2:13-15

Contextual Notes:  We have been looking at Paul’s letter to the Colossians this fall. In today’s verses from Colossians 2, Paul continues with his teaching from verses 11-12 that we have been cleansed and raised with Christ.

Key Truth: Paul wrote Colossians 2:13-15 to teach the Colossian Christians that they have moved from being dead in sins to alive in Christ. 
Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about being alive in Christ.

Sermon Points:

1. From dead in sins to alive in Christ (Col 2:13)
2. From burden of debts to freedom in Christ (Col 1:14)
3. From bondage to devils to triumph in Christ (Col 1:15)
   

1.   FROM DEAD IN SINS TO ALIVE IN CHRIST (COL 2:13).

a.   Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, gave two pictures there of becoming a Christian. The first was of circumcision, of stripping oneself of the sinful (fleshly) nature. The second was of death, burial, and resurrection. Now Paul uses a third metaphor, that of being dead in our sins and being made alive in Christ.[2]

b.   John 3:18: Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believedin the name of God’s one and only son.”

c.           APPLICATION: Have you gone from death to life? Have you been made alive in Christ? You ask me what that means. (Give the plan of salvation and invite them to respond at the end of the message.)

2.   FROM BURDEN OF DEBTS TO FREEDOM IN CHRIST (COL 1:14).

a.           The fourth metaphor is legal. It involves a court case against you  and me in the court of heaven for your sin.

b.           A χειρόγραφον (only here in NT) is a handwritten document, note, or in particular a signed certificate of debt whereby the signature legalized the debt (cf. Philemon 18-19), a promissory note signed by the debtor. Not only was  the χειρόγραφον  an accusation of guilt; it also constituted a threat of penalty because of human inability to discharge the debt. Most commentators suggest this is the Mosaic law itself (cf. Ephesians 2:15),[3] but this is a great misunderstanding. Christ himself said not one jot or tittle would fall out of the Law, so how could Chist blot out or expunge the inerrant, forever Scripture? He won't. It is not consistent with his character. So Paul is not talking about the OT Law. The context strongly points instead toward the transgressions writtenS down against them, which was opposed to us. The word was used at the time of heavenly books believed to have recorded every good and evil deed one does.

c.           ἐξαλείψα: "wiped out" denotes the erasure of an entry in a book, wiped out, expunged, obliterated, blotted out. Our transgressions have been erased, not the Word of God.

d.           καὶ αὐτὸ ἦρκεν ἐκ τοῦ μέσου: “He lifted it up, took it away.” Here Paul changes from participle to finite verb in perfect tense, “He has taken it away,” pointing to a present freedom from indebtedness after the complete obliteration of the bond. προσηλώσας αὐτὸ τῷ σταυρῷ; He set it aside by means of nailing it to the cross. He cancelled its validity by means of Christ’s death.[4]

e.           Isaiah 43:25: “I am the one who wipes out your iniquities and I will not remember them.”

f.            APPLICATION: What a clear picture of what Christ does for us. He has canceled our sin debt and covered every penalty with his blood, nailing it, as it were, to the cross. Have you had your spiritual debt paid? Or are there charges against you in heavenly court? One day you will be called to account for those charges. What will you say when you appear before the Judge? Will you be able to say that Jesus Christ paid your sin debt? Will he be your Advocate on your behalf? There is only one way that will happen. That is if you submit your life to Him.

3.   FROM BONDAGE TO DEVILS TO TRIUMPH IN CHRIST (COL 1:15)

a.            The fifth and final metaphor describing the significance of the cross is one of triumph. The last “in him” is the fifteenth so far in the letter and the fifth since 2:9. The focus is on Christ.

b.           ἀπεκδυσάμενος : He stripped them of their armor and power (disarmed them).

c.           ἐδειγμάτισεν ἐν παρρησίᾳ: The image here (as at 2 Corinthians 2:14 at the other place it is used in the NT) has the image of a tumultuous procession through the streets of Rome to celebrate a military victory, i.e., to lead as a conquered enemy in a victory parade.”[5]

d.           APPLICATION: Jesus Christ overthrew the enemy at the cross. We sing victory in Jesus, but we live like POWs, prisoners of spiritual warfare. We find ourselves bound in addictions, in rejection, in witchcraft, in what most people call mental illness. Are you trapped in that way? Psychologists can tell you what your problems are. Doctors can prescribe medication to knock out the symptoms. But only Jesus Christ has the ability to diagnose your issues and then remove the roots, not just the symptoms. Some of you would want to fall through the floor if anyone knew what you were going through. Christ is ready, willing, and able to minister to you with power and tenderness. Will you allow him to do that today? I stand ready to minister to you. Call the office and schedule an appointment with me to pray with you, counsel you, and show you what the Word says about your situation. You can meet me at the office or I’ll come to your home.

Invitation: Will you respond to Him today? Won’t you respond to him now?

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[1] "Thai Workers Sue North Carolina Contractor": http://www.humantrafficking.org/updates/601. 

[2] James D.G. Dunn, NIGTC: Colossians and Philemon (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 162.

[3] Murray Harris, An Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament: Colossians and Philemon (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 107-8.

[4] Harris, 109.

[5] Peter O’Brien, Word Biblical Commentary: Colossians and Philemon (Waco, TX: Word, 1982), 128.

Today: Slavery in NC Triangle South

This weekend has been designated by the Salvation Army as the Fourth Annual International Weekend of Prayer and Fasting for Victims of Sexual Trafficking. (Also see here. And resources here.) These people were duped and do not want to be where they are. They are enslaved. 

Below are incidents of human sexual and labor slavery and trafficking in the Triangle area and south in North Carolina.

SEXUAL TRAFFICKING RING IN RALEIGH 

RALEIGH, NC – Valente Chavez Sanchez,23; Melania "Maritza" Corcino,43; and Jose Altagracia Deleon Corcino,25, operated a sex trafficking ring between 1997 and August 2004 in Raleigh, Fuquay-Varina, and Lillington, North Carolina. 

They trafficked the women and at least one 14 yr. old minor from New York, New Jersey and Maryland. Sanchez arranged the transportation of enslaved prostitutes from NY, NJ and MD. "The women typically would work a week in a brothel in Raleigh or Durham and then be exchanged for other out-of-state prostitutes. 

The price Sanchez paid for each new enslaved female was $130"(N&O). Women were kept "under lock and key" and were not allowed to quit. "Where the minor was found, there were armed guards at the house," Rangarajan said. Corcino "was barking orders and even offered her service [to investigators]"(N&O).

N&O, "Brothel Workers Enslaved"; "Three Accused of Operating Brothels"; "Woman Sentenced in Brothel Case"; ABC 11, "Uncovering Secret Brothels"; News 14, "Raleigh Man Pleads Guilty to child sex trafficking"

FIVE YEAR OLD BOY ENSLAVED FOR SEX

Durham, NC: Frank M. Lombard, 42, was arrested June 24, 2009, at his home in Durham, North Carolina. During an Internet chat, Lombard allegedly offered the child to the person he was chatting with, who was a task force officer from Washington's Metropolitan Police, the FBI said in a statement. Lombard is the associate director of Duke University's Center for Health Policy, but was placed on unpaid administrative leave, effective immediately, university spokesman Keith Lawrence said. The chat was initiated after a confidential source facing child pornography charges told authorities they had witnessed a man, allegedly Lombard, performing sex acts on a child over the Internet.

During the chat, according to the complaint filed against Lombard, he told the officer that he had performed multiple sex acts on the boy and that the officer could do the same if he came to Durham. Two children at the home, including the 5-year-old, were removed from the home by the North Carolina Department of Social Services, the FBI said. 

MEN ENSLAVED IN BENSON, DUNN, NC

"Thai Workers Sue North Carolina Contractor"

JOHNSTON COUNTY, NC – Between 08/01/2005 to 11/01/2005, a recruiter from Million Express Manpower, a former labor contracting company out of Mount Olive, NC, lured 30 Thai men to work in Johnston County, North Carolina with a promise of earning $16,000 a year for 3 years. The recruiter charged a fee of $11,000 for each man to "secure" their job abroad.


Once they arrived, the labor contractor confiscated their passports and visas. "After about a week living in a motel in Benson, they were moved to a small storage building in Dunn, behind the home of Seo Homsombath, a native of Laos who is president of Million Express." "Homsombath at first contained the men by telling them that, without passports, police would arrest them if they left the property. Later, he showed them a gun, according to both Asanok and the lawsuit. A relative or employee was always at the house to guard them, Asanok said."(Asanok is one of the Thai workers who sued Million Express) 

"Homsombath delivered food, but it often wasn't enough for all 30 men, Asanok said. They had no kitchen, so they cooked outside on a portable gas burner. By mid-October the farm work ran out, and Homsombath took the workers to New Orleans, the lawsuit says. They spent a few weeks in a condemned hotel, badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina, without electricity or clean water. During the day, the lawsuit says, they demolished parts of the hotel they lived in. Asanok said he spent his days tearing down walls and hauling piles of destroyed carpet out of the hotel." "The Thai workers, including Asanok, say they were never paid for their work in New Orleans. Some were so broke, the suit says, that they trapped and ate pigeons." 

CHILD SEXUAL ENSLAVEMENT IN FAYETTEVILLE, NC

FAYETTEVILLE, NC – Woman charged with prostituting a 14-year-old girl to support her drug habit. "20-year-old Sandra Panecka coerced the girl to run away from home in 2007 and then introduced her to drugs. They say Panecka eventually encouraged the girl to begin prostituting herself so they could both continue to buy cocaine. The victim says she was physically and sexually assaulted and was infected with sexually-transmitted diseases."

Stop Human Sex Trafficking

Source: http://www.slaverymap.org/

2010 Liberty University (Un)civil War Seminar

The 14^th Annual Liberty University Civil War Seminar

Theme: “Jine the Cavalry”:  The US and CSA Cavalry in the Civil War

Dates:  March 26-28, 2010

Times:                 

6:30 PM – 9:30 PM March 26

8:30 AM –4:30 PM March 27

9:00 AM—10:00 AM March 28

Location:            

March 26—Kickoff Banquet at Pate Chapel at the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA

March 26—Speaker Presentations and Artifact Displays at The Arthur S. De Moss Learning Center on the Campus of Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA

March 28—Period Worship Service at The R.C. Whorley Prayer Chapel on the Campus of Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA

Cost:                      (We will send you this info next week.) There will be a special discount for all members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, United Daughters of the Confederacy, and Sons of Union Veterans.

Contact Info:      434-592-4366 or klburdeaux@liberty.edu ; Kenny Rowlette, 434-582-2087

Speakers:            Dr. James I. Robertson                  (Key Note Address—Topic TBA)

                                Kent Masterson Brown                 (John Hunt Morgan)

Scott Patchan                                    (Phillip Sheridan:  The Man Behind the Myth)

Dr. Brian Wills                                   (Nathan Bedford Forrest)

Eric J. Wittenberg                            (Custer and the Calvary Actions at Gettysburg)

Jeffrey Wert                                      (JEB Stuart)

Horace Mewborn                            (John Mosby)

Clark Hall                                            The Battle of Brandy Station

Dr. Brenda Ayres                              Flora: Mrs. J.E.B. Stuart

Steven Alexander                           George Custer During the Latter Part of the Civil War

Delanie Stephenson                      Libbie Custer:  In the Shadow of Her Husband

                                Rev. Alan Farley                               Period Church Service (Sunday, March 28, 2009)

Other Info:         In addition to the speakers presentations, there will be a silent auction on Friday, March 26, 2009 to benefit the National Civil War  Chaplains Museum.  There will also be displays and vendors on Saturday, March 27, 2009.  Speakers will hold book signings.  Breakfast and lunch on Saturday also provided.

Lodging:             

Seminar attendees can choose to stay at either the Wingate Hotel or Days Inn at River Ridge Hall and receive special LU Civil War Seminar rates. They should mention the special Seminar rate when they register.

Here is contact info for the Wingate Hotel and Days Inn:

WINGATE BY WYNDHAM; www.wingate-lynchburg.com; Phone: (434) 845-1700 or 1-888-494-6428

DAYS INN at River Ridge Mall; www.daysinn-lynchburg.com; Phone: (434) 847-8655 or 1-800-787-3297

Early Church's healthcare debate

Are you a health care provider and Christian? You'd like this book.

As Christians join the rest of the country in jousting over the proposed changes to our health care system, one significant fact should inform the Christian debate: modern health care is a Christian invention. The reasons Christians developed the world's first health care system—as opposed to simply medical practitioners—are as relevant today as they were 2,000 years ago.

When an epidemic struck in the ancient world, pagan city officials offered gifts to the gods but nothing for their suffering citizens. Even in healthy times, those who had no one to care for them, or whose care placed too great a burden on the family, were left out to die.

Christians found this intolerable, and they set about to take care of these people and others similarly afflicted. They did so because, "Early Christian philanthropy was informed by the theological concept of the imago Dei, that humans were created in the image of God."

This led not only to a belief in the responsibility to aid others and the inherent worth of every human being, but also to a belief in the sacredness of the body itself. "It was to save the body that Christ took on flesh in the Incarnation. Not only the soul, which in traditional pagan thought was eternal, but the composite of body and soul, which constituted man, was to be resurrected."

The idea of imago Dei also led to a redefinition of the idea of the poor. Rights in a city or society were given to members, and all members received benefits. Those outside were offered none. Christianity, in addition to seeing all people as "neighbors," developed a special consideration for the poor. Just as God demonstrated in the Incarnation his solidarity with those who suffer, so the members of his "body" must demonstrate their solidarity with the suffering poor.

Whole book review here at Christianity Today.

Bob Cole on Psalm 1-2

Bob Cole, professor of Old Testament and Semitics at Southeastern Seminary, has posted an abridged outline of his report to the faculty on his sabbatical and work on Psalms 1-2. Check it out here.

Colossians 2:11-12 - Baptism in Christ

Opening thought:  For all the import of baptism, there seems to be a lack of interest, or even an embarrassment of this ordinance that gave us Baptists our name. Some Baptists as prominent and conservative as John Piper at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minnesota advocate loosening the rules to allow those baptized as infants join in membership without being baptized. Therefore the practice has become sloppy and haphazard, not filled with the fullness of meaning that was intended in the Scriptures. Today we want to examine what Paul says about baptism.

Pray and Read:  Colossians 2:11-12

Contextual Notes:  Last week we looked at the heart of Paul’s letter to the Colossians (2:6-8) of being a growing Christian. Today we look at one of those areas of growth, specifically the first area of obedience as a disciple, the ordinance of baptism.

Key Truth: Paul wrote Colossians 2:11-12 to teach the Colossian Christians the meaning and importance of baptism.

Key Application: Today I want to show you what God’s Word says about baptism.

Sermon Points:

1. Baptism is symbolic of being set apart to Christ (Col 2:11)
2. Baptism is symbolic of being raised with Christ (Col 2:12)

Exposition:   Note well,

1.   BAPTISM IS SYMBOLIC OF BEING SET APART TO CHRIST (COL 2:11).

a.           Here Paul uses the image of Old Testament circumcision as a lead in to teach the importance of baptism. As a great teacher, Paul moves from what they know to what they do not yet know. Circumcision was an image the Colossian Christians would have known from their Bible of the way God set apart his people in the past. He takes it a step further and says that there is a setting apart done by Christ in the removing of the body of flesh through the circumcision of Christ.

b.           Believers’ baptism is the immersion of a professing believer in water as an act of obedience, signifying that the saving transformation of God has occurred. The baptism of the believer is the first and important act of obedience for the believer. Through their baptism, believers declare their allegiance to Jesus Christ and to His people, the Church. It is a testimony to one’s 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.

c.           When a believer comes before the people of the church to make a public profession of faith in Christ as Lord and Savior, s/he is presented to the church as a candidate for baptism (Acts 2:41; 8:36-39; 11:47). Not until then. We don’t baptize infants, but only those of an age to make a credible decision of faith.

d.           When someone is baptized, he or she means that he has given himself to the Lord in faith for the forgiveness of his sins and the regeneration of his soul. In many countries, especially in the Islamic world, public baptism is a major event. It is a bold statement that one has become a Christian and quite possibly is signing one’s own death warrant.

e.           We baptize by immersion, not sprinkling, because the Greek word, baptizo means to immerse, dip, or sink. We do it to identify with Christ. We are baptized “into the name.” The book of Acts repeatedly links baptism with Jesus’ name (Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5). Baptism demonstrates the cleansing that has taken place in a person’s life. Ananias commanded the new believer Paul, “Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name (Acts 22:16). We identify with his Jesus’ acts of death, burial, and resurrection as well in our baptism in our verse here. So we have wrapped up in the act of baptism are identification, purification, and incorporation into the body of Christ.

f.            ILLUSTRATION: But baptism is not when all this takes place. Baptism is the symbolic proclamation of what has taken place in the new believer’s life. A wedding is a similar picture of what I’m getting at in baptism. Just like two people who love one another, faith binds new believer and their Lord. The wedding is the occasion where that love is publicly celebrated, confessed, and confirmed. Just like baptism, the wedding doesn’t create love. It only expresses that the relationship exists and expresses it in a beautiful and solemn way. Baptism doesn’t create the faith and union with Christ. It confesses, celebrates, and confirms it.

g.           Baptism is an act of public commitment to one’s faith in Jesus Christ. It is an occasion ordained and begun by our Lord when one confesses that he or she has made a faith commitment to Jesus Christ.

h.           APPLICATION: Do you need to identify with Christ today? You first need a personal relationship with Jesus Christ before you can be baptized. Some of you have made that commitment to Jesus Christ and neglected the obedience to your Lord to be baptized as a believer. Today is the day to make that commitment to be baptized in Jesus’ name.

2.   BAPTISM IS SYMBOLIC OF BEING RAISED WITH CHRIST (COL 2:12).

a.           Baptism is a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and our participation with him in it. (Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4). We have died with Christ. We are dead to the world. We have been buried with Christ. The power and temptations of the world no longer reach us. We are raised with Christ to a new, resurrected, triumphant life in Christ.

b.           Baptism is an initial ceremony, a beginning for a Christian. The church’s responsibility is not over. It has just begun to teach and disciple and train that new believer in their faith and the word of God.

c.           APPLICATION: Some folks have objections to believers’ immersion. One question is about infant baptism or christening.

d.           What about infant baptism? If one has been baptized or christened as an infant, is that enough? The answer is no. Here’s why. Your infant baptism was a wonderful dedication by your parents of you to the Lord and his care. The Scripture does not command us to baptize infants but to be baptized or immersed as a public statement of our conversion to Jesus Christ.

e.           Some would take offense by asking, “Is what my parents did for me not good enough?” It was good at that time to dedicate you as a new member of their family to the Lord. It does not fulfill your obligation as a believer to announce publicly your allegiance to Jesus Christ through immersion, through the picture of death, burial, and resurrection.

f.            Some ask about those who cannot be baptized, like those confined to bed or mentally unable to handle the situation. In these cases, churches have voted wisely to allow sprinkling or pouring or, as our church constitution provides, placed “under the watchcare of the congregation.”

g.           Some would say, “Well, it is just not that important to me at this point in my life. I’ve been a Christian for many years now. I’m still going to heaven. I still have a relationship with Christ.”  Yes, you are still going to heaven. Baptism does nothing to enhance or detract from your salvation in Christ Jesus, but just because baptism is not important to you now does not change the command that Jesus gave to be immersed as a witness to your faith. We find that command in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19) and at Pentecost (Acts 2:38). “Repent and be baptized” is a command the church obeyed as the gospel went forth. Ephesians 4:5 assumes that all Christians share in “one baptism.” To resist immersion after your conversion is blatant disobedience to your Lord. It brings into question the validity of a commitment to a Lord that you will not obey.

h.           Some people marry spouses who are Baptist and attend the Baptist church with them but never submit to immersion. Those who do this show forth incongruency in their marriage. Will you marry such a one, yet not only in disobedience to our Lord Christ’s command in Matthew 28:19-20 to be baptized, you also do not follow the command in Ephesians 5:21 to married couples to submit one to another out of reverence for Christ. There seems to be more than a disobedience problem here. There seems to be a deeper attitudinal problem as well. What kind of picture of marriage and submission to Christ are you giving your children when you do not unite with your spouse and be baptized also?

i.             I’ve even met some people who won’t be baptized because their hair will get messed up in front of everyone at church. Now that’s just a little bit silly. Those same folks don’t mind having your hair messed up at the beach or when you go swimming in front of other people. More important, though, is that you are saying that your personal vanity is more important to you than your obedience to your Lord.

j.            Let’s be obedient to Christ’s command to be baptized. Will you?

Invitation: