Baptism

Good morning, and welcome to Church of the Advent.

My name's Jeff, and I'm one of the pastors here.

If you're new or this is your first time,

thanks for joining us.

I would love to meet you at the front steps

after the service.

Before we get to the sermon this morning,

we just want to create some space briefly this morning

to pray about the events of last weekend,

specifically the attempted assassination of President Trump.

We didn't get, because of the timing,

we didn't get a chance to pray about this

in the worship service last Sunday,

but we wanted to pray about it this Sunday.

Of course, we always grieve and lament any act of violence

that brings about injury or loss of life

of people made in the image of God.

But the reason why we want to pray about it this morning

is we recognize that many of us might be feeling

a particular kind of anxiety or dread

with this particular event,

wondering about what comes next in our national life,

knowing that this was committed against a president

and all of the implications that follow that

in the midst of what is already an extremely heated

and divided political moment in our country.

So we just want to take a couple moments

and do what the church does best

and take a couple minutes to pray for our nation,

for our church, and our world.

So join me in prayer together.

Amen.

Lord, first we grieve and lament this act of violence

and the loss of life and injury that occurred.

Every person is first and foremost made in your image,

regardless of their title or position.

And we mourn whenever that image is threatened,

and we know that you mourn as well.

We pray for comfort for those grieving the loss of a loved one,

and we pray for healing for all those who were injured in body or mind,

including President Trump.

We pray for our country as a whole,

that you would preserve our common life together as a nation

and sustain us in peace.

We pray that this act would not beget any further acts of violence,

but rather we pray that it would lead to a humbler discourse in our politics,

a more gracious tone in our debates,

and a more generous spirit toward those with whom we disagree.

We pray this especially for those who speak publicly

or hold elected office,

including President Biden,

Mayor Bowser,

the D.C. City Council,

and all those who represent us and serve us in public office.

Give them courage to live lives of moral character,

even when it's inconvenient.

And give them wisdom to lead in the complexity of this moment

in ways that bear the fruit of unity,

peace,

virtue,

and the common good.

We also pray for our church

using the words of the Book of Common Prayer.

Increase, O God,

the spirit of neighborliness among us,

that in peril we may uphold one another,

in suffering tend towards one another,

and in homelessness, loneliness, or exile

befriend one another.

Grant us brave and enduring hearts

that we may strengthen one another

until the disciplines and testing of these days are ended

and you again give peace in our time

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

And I can think of few things

to transition to

and to talk about next

than baptism.

In a moment,

we are gonna have the joy

and opportunity

to celebrate

the sacrament of baptism

and to hear the story

of a changed life,

of God's power

to save

and to redeem

and to transform.

And so,

we thought that on a day

when we're celebrating

a baptism,

we would reflect together

for a few minutes

on God's word

and what God's word

has to teach us

about baptism

and what it means for our lives.

Maybe you're here this morning

and you're not a Christian

or you haven't been baptized

or you're still trying to figure out

what you believe.

I hope that this can bring some clarity

this morning on what baptism is

and what it means

and what is offered to you

should you choose to respond

to the good news

about Jesus Christ.

Maybe perhaps you've been following Jesus

for a long time.

I hope that this is

an encouraging reminder

about the significance

of your own baptism

and how it continues

to shape our discipleship

to Jesus

and our life together

as a church.

So we're gonna briefly look

at a couple things

about baptism.

We're gonna look

at the story of baptism

and we're gonna look

at the meaning of baptism

and look at what baptism is

and why we practice it.

So first of all,

the story of baptism.

The story of baptism.

The easiest answer

to why we do this thing

called baptism

is that because Jesus

commanded us to.

In Matthew chapter 28,

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

the Great Commission,

he says,

all authority in heaven

and on earth

has been given to me.

Go therefore

and make disciples

of all nations,

baptizing them

in the name of the Father,

the Son,

and the Holy Spirit.

And on one hand,

this would be sufficient.

If the Lord Jesus

has commanded us

to do something,

then we should obey

and follow him.

But of course,

Jesus is not speaking

in a vacuum here.

There's a background.

There's a greater story

behind this command

and there is a greater story

behind baptism.

And it's the story

of God's covenant relationship

with his people.

God's covenant relationship

with his people.

A covenant

is that special

kind of relationship

where people

willingly bond

themselves to one another,

bind themselves

to one another

in a sacred bond

of love

and trust

and obedience.

And the thing

about covenant relationships

is that covenant relationships

always involve

a covenant promise

and a covenant sign.

A covenant promise

and a covenant sign.

So marriage,

for example,

is an example

of a kind of human

covenant relationship.

There are covenant promises,

the vows that husband

and wife make to each other

and then there's

a covenant sign,

normally rings.

And we see

throughout scripture

that the story

of redemption

is a covenantal story.

And you can only

really understand baptism

through that covenantal story.

It's a story

that begins

all the way back

with Abraham

in the book of Genesis.

After Genesis 3,

when things go wrong

with the rebellion

and the fall of humanity

in the garden,

there's this question

looming in the background

from Genesis 3

to Genesis 12.

And it's this,

how is God going

to restore his creation

back to its original goodness?

And so,

beginning in Genesis chapter 12

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

through Genesis chapter 17,

Genesis 17 · chapter mention

God begins

to answer this question

in the story of Abraham.

And he begins

to answer this question

by giving Abraham

a promise,

a covenant,

and a covenant sign.

A promise,

a covenant,

and a covenant sign.

In Genesis 12,

God gives Abraham

a gracious promise

that through Abraham's family,

he is going to bless

all the nations

of the earth.

That though all people

are alienated from God

and that creation

is fallen and broken,

God is committed

to bringing his salvation

and his blessing

to every nation,

all of creation.

It's a gracious promise.

And then in Genesis chapter 15,

Genesis 15 · chapter mention

God makes a covenant

that confirms this promise

to Abraham.

And if you have a chance

to read it later this afternoon,

Genesis 15,

or if you've read it before,

is this strange to us,

kind of strange to modern ears,

but this beautiful story

where God tells Abraham,

not only am I going

to keep my side

of the covenant relationship,

but I'm also going

to keep your side

of the covenant relationship too

because one day

you and your descendants

are going to break my covenant,

but I have already made

a provision for that.

So God makes a covenant

that confirms

his promise to Abraham.

And then in Genesis 17,

which was our Old Testament passage

that we read earlier,

God then gives Abraham

a sign of this covenant,

and it's the sign

of circumcision,

a sign that involves

the shedding of blood.

And God says to Abraham,

I want you and your family

to remember the promise

and the covenant

that I made to you.

And so I'm going to give you

a sign that you belong to me,

that you're my people,

and all of my promises

I have made to you are yours

if you embrace me,

if you embrace this covenant

relationship from the heart.

And those who receive

that covenant sign,

Abraham received it,

most of them received it

before they expressed

covenant faith.

And this is a key detail

that we'll come back later to

in the sermon.

But to summarize,

in the story of Abraham,

we see that God's story

of redemption,

to redeem a fallen world,

to restore his creation,

unfolds in the story

of Abraham through a promise,

a covenant,

and a covenant sign.

And this is crucial

to unlocking the meaning

of the whole Old Testament

because these realities

defined and shaped

the story and identity

and the mission

of the people of Israel.

And it's also crucial

to unlocking the meaning

of baptism

because it's this story

that's in the background

in Matthew 28

when Jesus gives us

the sacrament of baptism

in the Great Commission.

Jesus says,

I am the author

and the hero

in the fulfillment

of this story.

All the promises

to Abraham

and the people of Israel,

the covenant

that confirms those promises

and the sign

of that covenant

are all fulfilled in me.

In Jesus,

a new and better covenant

is here.

And it's a covenant

that both fulfills

and expands

God's covenant

with Abraham.

As Galatians chapter 3

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

tells us,

we,

all of the nations

of the earth,

we are the nations

and we are grafted

into Abraham's story

and Abraham's covenant

through Jesus.

And because now

the new covenant

in Christ

is greater

and more expansive

and the promises

are greater

and more expansive,

we therefore now

have a new

and greater covenant sign.

And Colossians 2,

11 through 12

shows us

that baptism

has replaced circumcision

as the sign

of the new covenant.

Listen to Colossians 2,

11 through 12.

In him,

that is Jesus,

you were circumcised,

but not with a circumcision

made,

with a circumcision

made without hands,

by the circumcision

of Christ,

having been buried

with him

in baptism.

Paul links circumcision

to baptism

because both circumcision

and baptism

point to the same reality.

The everlasting covenant

that God makes

with his people

through the blood

of Christ

shed on the cross.

And because the blood

of Christ shed

on the cross

fulfilled the sign

of circumcision,

in the new covenant

we now have

the sign of water.

Water,

something that pictures

washing and cleansing

and rebirth and renewal.

And so this

is the story

of baptism.

It's the story

of a gracious God

who makes a promise

to bless all the nations

of the earth

and who confirms

those promises

by dwelling

in covenant relationship

with his people

and who gives them

a sign

that they belong

to him

and that his promises

belong to them.

And so in light

of this covenant story,

a question comes

to the surface

and it's this.

In light of this covenant story,

what are

the specific promises

that the new covenant

sign of baptism

signifies?

What is the meaning

of baptism

in particular?

That's what we're

going to look at next,

the meaning of baptism.

At its core,

baptism is about

union with Christ.

Union with Christ.

That's what we see clearly

in places like Romans 6,

3 through 5.

Romans 6,

3 through 5 says,

don't you know

that all of us

who are baptized

into Christ Jesus

were baptized

into his death?

We were therefore

buried with him

through baptism

into death

in order that

just as Christ

was raised from the dead

through the glory

of the Father,

we too may live

a new life.

For if we have been

united with him

in a death like his,

we will also

certainly be united

with him

in a resurrection

like tis.

In baptism,

the Holy Spirit

unites us to Jesus

in a way that his story

becomes our story.

His life

becomes our life.

His death

becomes our death.

His resurrection

becomes our resurrection.

His ascension

becomes our ascension.

And someone who has

helped me understand

this well

is not a pastor

or a theologian

or a scholar,

but an NBA player

by the name

of Jack Haley.

Jack Haley

is an NBA player

that probably

most of you

have never heard of.

Almost no one

has ever heard of him

except if you

follow the NBA

closely.

Jack Haley

was a member

of the 1996

Chicago Bulls.

And the whole

1996 season,

Jack Haley

played a grand total

of seven minutes

the whole season.

The whole season

he had five points,

two rebounds,

zero assists,

zero steals,

zero blocks.

His season performance

was negligible.

But amazingly,

at the end

of the 1996 season,

Jack Haley

got a championship ring.

Why?

Well,

if you know

anything

about the 1996

Chicago Bulls,

you know

that although

they did have

a good team,

there is really

only one reason

why Jack Haley

got a championship ring.

And that reason

is Michael Jordan.

And I can almost

guarantee

you have heard

of that name.

Michael Jordan.

Jordan's

exemplary,

unrivaled,

stellar performance

on the basketball

court carried

the Bulls not to

just one championship

in 1996,

but to six

NBA titles.

And even though

Jack Haley

contributed nothing

to the Bulls'

performance that year,

he was united to,

he was grafted

into,

he was credited

with the story

and the performance

of an amazing

player named

Michael Jordan.

Our baptism

is Jesus Christ

placing his

championship ring

on our finger.

It's the covenant

sign

that the Holy Spirit

takes the performance

of Jesus Christ

and applies it

to us.

And all

of the covenant

promises made

to us in baptism

flow from

our union

with Christ.

Listen to some

of the promises

that the New Testament

tell us

that we receive

in baptism

through union

with Christ.

We are washed

and cleansed

and forgiven

from sin.

we are justified

before God

and have peace

with him.

We are adopted

as God's beloved

sons and daughters.

We are joined

to God's new covenant

family,

the church.

We are made

members of his

own body,

his bride,

his beloved.

We are filled

and sealed

with the Holy Spirit

who regenerates us

and gives us new hearts.

And we are given

an inheritance

of eternal life

and the resurrection

of the body.

And as a result,

what the Father

says

over his Son,

Jesus Christ,

at his baptism

in the gospel reading

that we read earlier,

Matthew 3,

the same thing

that the Father

says over the Son

in his baptism,

he says

over you

and me.

This is

my beloved

Son.

This is

my beloved

daughter

with whom

I am

well pleased.

The meaning

of baptism

is nothing less

than all the

spiritual blessings

that we have

through union

with Christ

by faith

and all of the

privileges that flow

from it.

we are

grafted

into

the championship

story

of Jesus.

And from all

of this,

I just want

to draw out

two brief

implications

about baptism,

about the story

and the meaning

of baptism.

I want to talk

about two implications.

One,

about baptism

as a sacrament

and about how

baptism impacts

our discipleship.

So first

of all,

what do we

mean when

we say

that baptism

is a sacrament?

There's a lot

of things we could

say.

Sacramental

theology is a

deep well.

But one of the

things we mean

when we call

baptism a

sacrament is

related to the

covenantal story

of Scripture.

The covenantal

story of Scripture

shows us that

as a sacrament,

baptism is not

primarily about

the promises

that we make

to God,

but about the

promises that

God makes to

us.

Let me repeat

that.

As a sacrament,

baptism is not

primarily about

the promises

that we make

to God,

it's about the

promises that

God makes to

us.

Just like with

Israel and

circumcision under

the old covenant,

baptism as the

new covenant

sign is about a

gracious covenant

keeping God who

always fulfills the

promises that he

makes to his

people.

Yes, we

respond in faith

and trust and

obedience.

But the covenant

sign is not

primarily about our

faith or our

trust or our

obedience, but the

eternal unfailing

promises of God

offer to us by

grace.

Baptism isn't

about the quality

of our faith.

Baptism is about

the quality of the

object of our

faith.

And this is why

baptism is something

that is done to

us.

We are baptized

by someone else.

This is also why

the great tradition

of the Christian

church, Protestant,

Orthodox, and

Catholic churches

have baptized

children of

believers who have

not yet expressed

covenant faith.

If you're like me,

maybe you grew up

in a tradition or

you're familiar with

a tradition that

did not practice

infant baptism.

And so it might

be, if you're like

me, this might be

something new or

unfamiliar or

unusual to you.

But what I hope

you've seen this

morning is that the

covenantal story of

scripture shows us

that the promises of

God always precede our

faith.

Whether the covenant

sign is applied to us

as a three-month-old

or as a 30-year-old.

Yes, we respond in

faith and obedience,

but our faith is

always a response to

God's gracious

initiative that goes

before us even

before we've been

born.

In fact, it's God's

gracious initiative

that makes our faith

even a possibility.

That's part of what

we mean when we talk

about baptism as a

sacrament.

It's not primarily

about the promises

that we make to God,

but about the promises

that he makes to us.

Secondly,

if Christian

discipleship

had a theme song,

the title of that

theme song would be

Remember Your Baptism.

Remember Your Baptism.

What's striking about

Paul's letters in the

New Testament is how

often he repeats the

same message to

different churches who

are dealing with all

different kinds of

issues and problems.

He says, remember who

you are in Christ because

of your baptism.

You've been buried with

Christ in his death.

You've been raised with

him in his resurrection.

You've been seated with

him in his ascension.

Now, therefore,

be who you are

in him.

Live out of that

identity.

Obey God's commands

out of that identity.

Fight sin

out of that identity.

Worship

relates to your

brothers and sisters

in Christ

out of that

identity.

And I think even as

we think about what

we prayed about at

the beginning of the

sermon, about the

anxiety around the

political division in

our country, I can

think of few things

more needed in the

church today than the

need to remember our

baptism.

what if Christians in

the church today,

particularly the

American church, what

if we related to one

another more on the

basis of our baptism

than on the basis of

our politics?

What if our church

family, the church of

the advent, related,

what if we related to

one another more on the

basis of our baptism

than on the basis of our

opinions on any number

of issues?

It would change the

church and it might

even possibly change

things outside the

church.

Remember your baptism

is the theme song of

the entire Christian

life.

If you are struggling

with sin, remember

your baptism.

If you feel tempted

towards gossip and

slander, remember your

baptism.

If you feel yourself

isolating from Christian

community and corporate

worship, remember your

baptism.

If you're in the middle

of a conflict with

another brother or

sister in Christ or

wrestling with

unforgiveness, remember

your baptism.

If you're doubting your

faith, if you're

overwhelmed with shame

and self-criticism, remember

your baptism.

Why?

Because in baptism

we trust in a gracious

covenant-keeping God

who promises us every

spiritual blessing through

union with Christ, who

confirms those promises

with his own blood shed for

us and who gives us a

covenant sign that we

belong to him and he will

never let us go.

In our baptism we have the

assurance that our faith is

not rooted in the promises

that we make to God but in

the promises that he makes

to us not in the quality

of our faith but in the

quality of the object of

our faith.

And in baptism we see that

being grafted into the

story of Jesus means that

we are joined to his body,

to this covenant community,

to this new family called

the church.

And that regardless of our

politics or our opinions or

our race or class, who we

are as disciples and who we

are as a church is that we

are his.

We are his sons and

daughters.

We are his bride.

We are his body.

We are dead and buried in

him.

We are raised in him,

ascended in him, seated in

him, hidden in him.

We are secure in him.

We are forgiven in him.

We are accepted in him.

We are known in him.

We are beloved in him, in

Christ.

Let's pray together.