Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
— Matthew 3:13-17, ESV

For a Baptist church, we aren’t very Baptist.  We do not play in any of the reindeer games of our denomination.  We follow the worship rhythms of Scripture and history, not entertainment and modernity.  We have more observances of the Lord’s Supper than we do baptisms, which is due to a combination of factors.  

We feature weekly communion, while most Baptist churches relegate it to once every quarter or year.  We do not offer high pressure altar calls at the end of our services that result in professions of faith and baptisms that prove to be ninety percent false.  And, until recently, our church was made up of a mostly older demographic.

These days we have young couples and children among us.  We have always had lost, unchurched, and unbaptized people around us.  So perhaps it is time for us to be a little more Baptist and put a little more emphasis on the beauty of baptism.

Baptism is a Beautiful Ceremony

I have been graced to see a lot of beautiful baptisms in my day.  My mother’s baptism was the catalyst that led me to Christ.  I was in the water with all four of my daughters when they were baptized.  On a mission trip I witnessed brave souls being baptized by immersion in the freezing waters of the Ob River in Siberia, Russia.  On vacation I visited a Presbyterian church where the Pastor confessed the racist past of the church, in bitter tears, then baptized their first ever black member, with tears of joy.  

On a study trip to Israel I watched some of my colleagues being baptized in the Jordan River.  I declined the opportunity, due to my belief in once baptized, always baptized.  Nevertheless, it was a most moving ceremony, taking place in the supposed spot where John the Baptist baptized Jesus.  

John the Baptist’s baptism of Jesus was meaningful.  

The humble John did not want to do it, but Jesus implored him by saying, “It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”   In other words, we have to do this, Jesus said to John, because baptism means some very important things to some very important people.

Baptism means you believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Lord.  Jesus believed this about Himself, didn’t he?  Yes, so He was baptized.  This is why Baptists practice credo-baptism, or baptism as a confession of faith in Jesus Christ.  I say this with grace and understanding towards our paedo-baptist brothers and sisters, because I understand at the baptism of infants it is the parent or parents who are professing their faith in Christ and pledging to raise up the child so that he or she will become a complete member of the covenant community.  However you do baptism, baptism must be done, because baptism is meaningful.

Baptism means you repent of sin and selfish control of your own life, and turn your life over to God to keep His commandments.  Jesus was sinless, of course, and needed no repentance.  But He did wish to identify with and set an example for the sinners He came to save.  And though Jesus did not have a selfish bone in His body, His baptism marked the end of his life as a free agent carpenter to enter the ring as a full-time Messiah, whose destiny was the cross.  “I surrender all” is a chorus that could be sung at Jesus’ and every other beautiful baptism.

The only way a person can be saved is to respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ with faith and repentance.  Faith and repentance are gifts from God.  Faith and repentance are commitments to Christianity.  Faith and repentance are put on beautiful, meaningful display in the act of a baptism.  Jesus paved the way.  

John the Baptist’s baptism of Jesus was ceremonial.  

As meaningful and mandatory as baptism is, we must also remember it is just ceremonial.  Biblical, evangelical Christianity has always rejected baptismal regeneration, for baptism requires human energy, it is a work, and salvation is by grace, not works.  But, we are saved to do good works, of which baptism is one, an integral and inaugural one.

Baptism did not make Jesus the Christ.  He was already the Christ.  Baptism let the world know that Jesus was and is Christ, Savior, and Lord.  

Baptism does not make you a Christian.  You are not saved because you are baptized, you are baptized because you (or your parents) are saved.  Baptism lets the world know you are (or your parents have every hope you will be) saved, Christian, following Jesus as Christ, Savior, and Lord.  

Baptism is a Beautiful Ordinance

The question of whether to baptize cute babies or conscientious confessors will never be answered until we all get to Heaven.  Scripture seems to favor one side, history the other, and when history ends according to Scripture, we will have our answer about baptism, although I’m not sure it will matter anymore.

Another debate between people of good faith is whether baptism is an ordnance or a sacrament.  An ordinance would mean baptism is symbolic, with no effectual power unto salvation whatsoever.  A sacrament would make it a means of grace, conveying God’s effectual power to save.  

I think baptism is a beautiful, meaningful, ordinance.  It is a fitting symbol for salvation, which is why the Savior Himself submitted to it.  Salvation gives life which is new and eternal, and baptism epitomizes the newness of it.

Baptism is a symbol of a New Covenant with God.

Jesus was circumcised as an infant, in accordance with the Old Covenant commandment.  As an adult, He submitted to baptism as the inaugural rite to the New Covenant.  Jesus was and is and always will be the perfect Jew and the perfect Christ.  

In the Old Covenant, you were saved by grace through faith in God, as God revealed Himself through the Law, the Writings, and the (canonical and non-canonical) Prophets.  In the New Covenant, you are saved by grace through faith in the gospel of the person and work of Jesus Christ.  This gospel was first put on display in His public baptism.  He came to be born, to die, and to rise again.

In the Old Covenant, you trusted in the one, true, and living God, who revealed Himself as Father.  There were prophecies and even pre-incarnate appearances of the Son and many manifestations of the Holy Spirit, but believers mostly pictured God as one person.  In the New Covenant, God reveals Himself more clearly as three persons in one, the Trinity, beginning here with Jesus’ baptism.  The Son was baptized, the Spirit descended like (not as) a dove, and the Father spoke. 

Baptism is a symbol of a new relationship with God.  

Perhaps you have a friend or family member who is a nun, monk, or priest in the Roman Catholic tradition.  You may have even attended the ordination service when they, at least the nuns, became “married to God.”  You may agree or disagree with such offices and practices.

But if you are a Baptist, or any other stripe of evangelical Protestant, you had a ceremony, too, in which you were married to God.  Your wedding ring is the waters of baptism.  It symbolizes a new, loving, lasting relationship with Almighty God that not even death can part.  

This “newness of life” (ref. Romans 6:4) is very personal.  This new life in Christ is also very corporate.  Baptism is the beautiful ordinance that symbolizes your personal relationship with Christ and your corporate relationship with Christ’s church.  

Baptism is a Beautiful Sacrament

Although I reject baptism as a regenerative power, I cannot deny there is power in it.  You cannot be saved by being baptized.  But, other people can.  The power is not in the baptism, but in the gospel, and when baptisms are performed, the gospel is preached.

I have already mentioned my mother’s baptism as the event that drew me to Christ.  The baptism itself and the clear gospel sermon offered at the service that day combined to hit me with “the power of God unto salvation” (ref. Romans 1:16).  Her baptism was a means of grace God used to bring me into His kingdom.  

Jesus’ baptism was a symbol and a sacrament.  It paved the way for His preaching ministry.  “And he said to them, ‘Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out’”(ref. Mark 1:38).  Jesus preached, people were saved, saved people were baptized.  This was the pattern of our Lord and it should be the pattern of His church today.

So, baptism is a beautiful ceremony.  It is an ordinance and a sacrament.  And, it should be conducted as often as grace allows for faith, and faith begins to follow Christ.  

To the unbaptized I quote this dialogue from Acts 8 which culminates with this exchange: “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?”  “If you believe with all your heart, you may.”  Do you truly believe?  Have you genuinely repented?  Then get baptized!

To the baptized I remind us all of Christ’s Great Commission at the close of the Gospel of Matthew:  “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  We must all be involved, praying, participating in worship, inviting people to Christ’s church, where they will experience the preaching of the Gospel, the observance of the Lord’s Supper, and hopefully a baptism more often than not.  

To the parents of children I commend you and challenge you to keep on keeping on.  As your children grow, keep them in the Lord’s house on the Lord’s Day.  Discuss with them the content of the Sunday sermon.  Explain to them the meaning of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  Do not pressure them in any way, just keep them before the Lord and let the gospel, through word and sacrament, do its work.

And to all of us in this un-Baptist Baptist church, I pledge as your Pastor to be more fervent in prayer, more faithful in my witness, and more earnest in my efforts to see people saved and baptized.  We will do it God’s way according to God’s word while trusting in God’s sovereignty.  But we will also urgently inform people of their responsibility to repent, believe, and be baptized.

May God shed His grace on our church so that we will see more often the beautiful ceremony, ordinance, and sacrament of baptism.