Baptism

Good morning, Watermark.

That was good, that was good.

We're awake this morning.

It's great to see you guys here today.

I'm going to grab a stool so I can put my water on it.

You know, some of you I know really well.

Some of you today is my first time ever seeing your face.

But regardless of who you are, I know something about you.

I know that you want somewhere to belong in life.

And I know that because that's very basic to what it means to be a human.

We want somewhere to belong.

And that desire drives so much of what we do in life.

It's why a five-year-old cuddles up against her father on the couch

because she knows that with her father in her family is a place where she belongs.

It's why a 15-year-old starts to rebel against their parents

because they know I want somewhere new to belong

and I need to create separation between the place I've always belonged and myself

so that I can begin to belong somewhere else.

It's why we work crazy long hours at the workplace

because we need to prove to our boss that they made the right choice in hiring us

and that we belong here.

It's why people get married because there's this promise

that there's this one person and for the rest of your lives

you are going to have at least one person that you will belong with forever.

However, this desire to belong is basic to what it means to be a human.

Old or young, rich or poor, all of us have this desire to belong somewhere.

And today, we're here to celebrate belonging.

When we celebrate baptism, we are celebrating the fact that we belong.

We're celebrating the fact that we belong in a relationship with God

and we're celebrating the fact that we belong in a relationship with each other.

So first, we're celebrating the fact that we belong in a relationship with God.

Now, in today's passage, in verse 6,

Paul talks about how there's one God and Father of all.

That when you have a father, you belong in the family.

Baptism is about the fact that we belong in God's family.

And if you're not a regular in church, that might seem weird.

Like, doesn't God just love everyone?

Doesn't everyone sort of belong with him?

Isn't he a father to everyone?

Well, yes and no.

Yes, in the sense that God created us in his image.

God made us for a relationship with himself.

That God created us all to know him.

So in that sense, yes.

However, as the creator, as the one who made everything,

we owe God total allegiance and obedience in everything in life.

And you and I, again and again and again and again,

fail to give God the allegiance and obedience that we owe him.

Silly illustration of what this looks like in my life.

God says don't lie.

In my early days in Watermark,

I believed that my job security

and my ability to belong here at the church

depended on how many teenagers I could get to show up at events.

And so we would have an event,

and the turnout would maybe be a little lower than I was hoping for.

And I'd go in for a meeting with my boss,

and he would say how many kids turned up the other night.

And I had counted while the kids were there

and knew that the number was, say, 13.

And I would always round up.

I would say, you know, we had about 15 to 20.

And I would justify it to myself by being like,

yeah, 13 is about 15 to 20.

You know, technically I'm not lying.

But what was I doing?

I was skewing the truth and misrepresenting it

so that I could make myself look better than I was

because I wanted to belong.

I wanted him to know that he had made the right choice in hiring me.

And so I misrepresented the facts to make myself look better than I was.

And here's what happened when I chose to lie.

I was looking at this situation,

and I was saying, you know, God says not to lie,

but I know better than God.

I know better than God what's good for me, what's best for me.

I don't want God to tell me what to do.

I can handle this myself.

I make a better God of my life than the God of the universe does.

And so I'm going to live by my way.

And this attitude of saying, I know better than God.

I'm going to do what I want is what the Bible calls sin.

It's this attitude that tries to replace God

and set myself up as God

rather than worship the God of the universe.

And it's not just lying.

He also says things like, don't steal.

Don't get angry at other people.

Children, he says, don't disobey your parents.

Over and over and over again,

each of us has this response of sin towards God,

this response of saying, don't tell me how to live my life.

Let me be God.

You just stay out of my way.

And every day, each one of us puts these barriers

in the way of our relationship with God,

so much so that in Ephesians chapter two, verse one,

Paul says that we were children of wrath,

that we were dead in our trespasses and sins,

that we were completely separated from God.

We were hopeless.

And so what happens?

How do we get from there to chapter four, verse six,

where it says that God is our father?

Well, some people think the right response of God

to our sin is for him to just ignore it, overlook it.

You know, if he really loves me,

then he won't get upset at me

for doing things that are wrong.

But that doesn't work.

Because my sin impacts other people who God loves.

And if God cares about these other people

who my sin affects,

then he has to do something to me because of that.

Think of it this way.

I'm married.

I'm walking down the street with my wife.

Some guy walks up to her and starts saying

just horribly offensive things to her and shoving her.

And I just stand back and I'm watching.

And finally, after a few minutes of this,

the guy walks away and my wife comes over to me

and she's like, what were you doing?

I'm like, well, you know, I was just watching.

She's like, why didn't you stand up for me?

This did not happen in real life, by the way.

This is just an illustration, an example.

She comes up and she's like, why didn't you defend me?

And I say to her, well, you know, I wanted to.

I just, I really love those guys

who are picking on you so much.

I didn't want to do anything to hurt them.

Now, what should her response be in that situation?

No, I'm not showing love for them.

I'm showing apathy for her when I do that, right?

If I say, I just really love those guys so much,

I didn't want to do anything to hurt them.

Her response should be,

your love for me should lead you to defend me

in this situation, right?

And in the same way,

if God looks at all the things that we do

that hurt the people that he loves

and he ignores it and says,

well, I love you too much to do anything about it,

then what he's really saying is not, I love you.

What he's really saying is, I don't care about them.

He's saying, they're not worthy of my love.

And so I'm not going to defend them.

I'm not going to protect them.

I'm not going to take care of them.

And so because of that, God, if he truly loves humanity,

he has to defend us and stand up for justice

against those who hurt us and attack us.

But here's the problem.

We're the ones who hurt us and attack us, right?

When I tell a lie or when I steal or when I get angry,

I'm not doing those things in a vacuum.

I'm lying to people that God loves,

typically with the goal of harming them

or at least getting myself an advantage at their expense.

When I steal, I'm stealing from people who God loves.

When I get angry, I'm getting angry at people who God loves,

which means that if God truly loves them,

if God truly cares about them and cares about justice,

his love for them requires him

to respond against me with justice.

And that means that every single one of us

is in a terrible, terrible situation

because God can't just look past our sin

and say, oh, well, don't worry about it.

But God loves us.

He loves us and he doesn't want to destroy us,

even though that's what we deserve.

And so what does he do?

He comes up with a solution.

He sends his son to the earth

who lives a perfect life that we could never live

and is murdered for it.

And here's the great irony

of what happened in the trial of Jesus.

See, every time I do something wrong,

it's typically with the goal of belonging.

I lie because I think the truth will make me not belong,

so I tell a lie.

I get angry because someone mistreated me

and made me feel like I don't belong.

And so now I want to either do something to them

to get them to change their mind

or do something to them to get them to feel

the same way that they made me feel.

And what happens with Jesus is

he steps into this picture.

He lives this perfect life.

He gets arrested and put on this trial

that just made a mockery of the judicial system of his day.

And at his trial, every single person there

except for him is acting in terrible, terrible ways

because they want to belong.

They bring in these witnesses who tell lies

about what they've seen him do and heard him say.

And they tell these lies

because they want the crowds to like them.

They have these crowds of people shouting out,

crucify him, crucify him, kill him.

And these exact same crowds a week before

were standing in the city welcoming him,

saying, save us.

What happens to change you from shouting out,

save us one week to shouting out, kill him the next week?

You have a desire to belong and realize that

you have to change your tune if you want to belong.

Pilate, the guy who was in charge of giving the sentence for Jesus

and making a judgment about whether he was innocent or guilty,

he stood up in front of the entire crowd and he said,

I find no guilt in this man.

He's innocent.

He should go free.

And then someone reminds him,

you know, if you have that type of attitude,

you might not belong in government too much more.

Your boss might take you out of power.

And so Pilate says, fine, you do what you want.

My hands are clean, but you do what you want.

And they took him away to kill him.

And it's not just people who are against Jesus.

Peter, one of his best friends,

he's there watching this whole trial.

And he lies about the fact that he's ever even met Jesus

because he doesn't want to stick out from a crowd

in a way that's going to get him hurt or maybe even killed.

And in all of this,

everyone is doing these things to try and get themselves to belong

with the crowd around them.

And in the process is murdering God.

And in the midst of this whole thing,

Jesus is the only one who's focused on belonging with God,

not the crowd.

And he gets killed for it.

But what the Bible tells us is that in that process,

Jesus was rejected on our behalf.

All of the rejection,

all of the alienation that we have deserved

for everything we've ever done wrong,

he took on himself in that moment.

And to prove that that's true,

God raised him from the dead three days later

so that we can have forgiveness,

so that we can have a place to belong with God forever.

And so Jesus purchases our belonging with God

despite everything we've ever done

to alienate ourselves from him.

And the Bible says that this forgiveness from God

is available to all of us who believe in him.

In this passage in Ephesians chapter four,

when it says there's one faith,

what that's saying is,

the one thing that all Christians have in common

is our belief,

our faith that Jesus rescues us,

that Jesus forgives us,

and he gives us a place to belong with God.

And so if you're here today,

God is offering you a chance to belong with him.

And that's what we're celebrating in the baptism

of these seven people today,

is the fact that God has given them a place

to belong with him forever.

And that is worth celebrating.

So that's the first thing we're celebrating in baptism,

the fact that they have a place to belong with God forever.

But it's not just celebrating

that they have a place to belong with God.

It's also celebrating that they have a place

to belong with God's people.

See, this passage in Ephesians four,

it's all about interpersonal relationships.

He talks about how we're supposed to bear with one another

in love, maintain unity,

how there's one body, one spirit,

one hope, one Lord, one faith,

one baptism, one God, one Father of all.

He's talking about unity.

He's talking about connection

between us and one another.

And that connection is something

that is purchased for us by Jesus on the cross.

And this connection that Jesus offers us

is very different than any type of connection

or belonging that we typically get in the world,

which is really good news for us.

Because typically in the world,

if I want to belong somewhere,

I have to prove that I belong there.

So in high school,

I wanted to belong on the baseball team.

And what it took to belong on the baseball team

is you have to go to tryouts,

you have to play really hard,

and you have to convince the coach

that you're one of the 15 or 20 best players there.

And then he'll tell you you belong.

So I wanted to belong on the baseball team.

I went to the tryouts,

and the coach said,

Eric, you don't belong.

And that's what it takes to belong in our world.

You have to prove yourself.

We want to belong in a workplace.

So we build up our CV for our entire career

so we can prove that we belong.

We go in and we spend the interview

convincing the boss that we're brilliant

so we can prove that we belong.

And then we get hired,

and we can't sit back and relax.

We have to prove day in, day out,

every single moment

that we continue to belong

because we've achieved it,

because we've put in the effort,

and we've made it work.

And here's the thing about belonging

with God's people.

There's nothing we can do to achieve it.

The standard is perfection.

We all fall short of that.

What we deserve is separation,

alienation, exile.

And yet God looks down at us,

he loves us,

he rescues us,

and he gives us a place to belong

with his people forever.

Not because of anything that we've achieved,

but because of what Jesus

has accomplished for us on the cross.

The fact that he purchased for us

belonging with God

and with his people.

And so we don't belong in the church

because we've passed this

moral achievement test.

We don't belong in the church

because we got an A in Sunday school.

No, actually, to belong in the church

requires us to admit

that we're broken and messed up people.

But we're broken and messed up people

who have received an incredible love

and been given a place to belong by God.

And the fact that we're broken

and messed up people

means that we're going to make mistakes a lot.

But the fact that we're here

because we've been rescued by a God

who loved us when we didn't deserve it

means that we now have power and strength

to love one another

and forgive one another

and walk with one another

when the people around us

also don't deserve it.

That's the nature of what this family is

that God has brought us into

and given us a place to belong in.

So today we're celebrating

the fact that these baptism candidates

have a place to belong with God.

We're celebrating that they have a place

to belong with us.

And I want to give a couple challenges here

in closing

to some different groups of people

that we have with us today.

First off,

if you're one of the people

getting baptized today,

my challenge to you,

celebrate this day.

This is an awesome day.

We're celebrating the fact

that you've gone from being alienated

from God to belonging with God,

from being alienated from God's people

to belonging with God's people.

And it's not because you've done anything great,

but because God looked at you

and he loved you

and he rescued you

and he did something great for you.

That deserves to be celebrated.

So celebrate that today.

Next up,

if you're here today

and you're a Christian

and you've been baptized already,

my challenge for you,

celebrate this day.

This is awesome.

We have new people

coming into our family.

This is,

if there's ever a reason to celebrate,

this is it.

God has rescued them.

God has made them

our brothers and sisters.

God has brought us together

and given us all a place

to belong with him.

And today

is an awesome opportunity

for you to remember your baptism,

to remember what God did in your life,

how he rescued you,

how he brought you in.

And made you part of his people as well.

Baptism isn't just something

we should do once

and then forget about it.

It's something we should remind ourselves of

again and again and again

and celebrate what God has done for us.

And today is an awesome day

for you to do that.

Third up,

if you're here today

and you're not a Christian,

I don't know why you came here today.

I don't know whether

you got dragged along by someone,

whether you got invited for the baptism,

whether you just rolled out of bed

and we're like,

I wonder what church is like.

I guess I'll go check it out today.

But I believe

that God has you here

because he wants you to hear

about what he has done for you

and about the acceptance

that he is offering to you today.

You know,

as you hear about this,

this opportunity to belong with God

and his people

and about baptism

and the celebration,

I don't know what your response is.

I think a common response

in our culture is like,

oh, that's nice for you,

but it's not really my thing.

That's a terrible response.

And here's why.

Because if what we're talking about here

is anything less than absolutely true,

you should not be celebrating

or cheering these other people on

as they get baptized.

You should be pitying them

and trying to convince them to stop.

Because what they're doing

is they're throwing away their lives,

chasing after a lie.

And you should not celebrate that.

However,

if this message is absolutely true,

then there's no room for you

to stand on the sideline as a bystander.

The only appropriate response,

if this is true,

is for you to join,

to become a Christian,

to commit your life

to following Jesus as well.

There's a man named C.S. Lewis.

You probably have heard

of the Chronicles of Narnia series.

He said,

Christianity,

if false,

is of no importance.

And if true,

of infinite importance.

The only thing it cannot be

is moderately important.

So my challenge for you is this.

Examine the claims of Christianity.

Examine Jesus.

Look at who he is.

Look at what he claimed to be.

And when you discover that it's true,

yes, I said when,

because I'm very confident

that if you take the time to look,

you will find that it's true.

Commit your life to following him.

And the final group

I want to challenge today

is if you're here today

and you say that you're a Christian

but you haven't been baptized yet,

I want to challenge you

to get baptized.

Because baptism is the way

that we say to ourselves,

to the world,

to God,

that we belong in his family.

Baptism is an awesome privilege

that God gives to his people.

And if you're saying

that you belong to God's people

but you don't want

to acknowledge that publicly,

I think you have to ask yourself why.

You know, being baptized

doesn't make you a Christian,

but if you're not willing

to get baptized,

you should really take a step back

and examine whether you are a Christian.

At the very least,

if you're not willing to get baptized,

you shouldn't be taking communion.

I heard a story recently

about this guy.

He'd been dating a girl

for several months.

And there were some issues

in the relationship,

but he said the thing that happened

that was like the last straw

is there was a picture

of the two of them.

He wanted her to put it online

so everyone could see

that they were together

and they were happy

and she didn't want

to put it online.

She didn't actually want

any evidence online

of the fact that the two of them

were together.

She said,

I'm happy to be in a relationship

with you,

but I don't want the world

to know about it.

And do you know how he responded?

He broke up with her.

Guys,

don't be like that girl

in your relationship with Jesus.

If this is something

that you say

is important enough

that you're going to trust in him,

then it's something

that's important enough

that you should be willing

to let others know

that you're trusting in him

as well.

So if you haven't been baptized yet,

my challenge to you

is get baptized.

I know it's a big commitment.

I know that it may cost you,

but guys,

it costs God his life.

To give you an opportunity

to belong with him.

Any sacrifice

we have to make in comparison

is going to be small.

And it's going to be

absolutely worth it.

Let's pray.

Father,

we thank you for your love.

We thank you

that you are a God

who looks at us

when we are at our worst

and doesn't wait

for us to change,

doesn't wait for us

to prove ourselves,

doesn't wait for us

to earn your love,

but who reaches out

to us in love

and rescues us

despite everything

we've done wrong.

God,

we thank you

for giving us a place

to belong with you

and with your people.

We pray that

today would be

an awesome day

to celebrate

what you have done,

to celebrate

the new life

that you've given

to these people.

We pray that we would be

a supportive community,

a loving community,

a community

that points each other

towards you.

In Jesus' name,

Amen.