Excerpt from the sermon I preached at Elijah's baptism.
We have come today to replay an ancient picture.
For going on 2,000 years, believers have gathered about a body of water to witness
this very same baptism. You have an ancient heritage, church. You don’t have to
go search out your genealogy to find a connection to your past. Here is your
connection.
Upon baptism you will join the ranks of
Peter, James, John, Andrew, Stephen, Philip, Apollos, Timothy, Paul, and those men and women who followed their doctrine. Every church planted that sent out its own men to preach the word, make disciples and baptize them as the Lord's churches spread like wildfire. Down through the ages and through the dark valley of
persecution. Across the continents, men have confessed their sins, trusted in
the Christ, and followed Him in baptism.
Starting in a muddy river in Israel by a man sent from God, to
Jerusalem, through Samaria and Asia. Down southward to Africa and westward across
the mountains plains into the land of the Barbarians believers were immersed upon
profession in Christ and united with the church. On to Europe, then to the Americas
this same ordinance was give for the same purpose. Age after age, church after
church acting out this drama, making this confession, Jesus Saves.
Silently, yet publicly proclaiming that
Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. Confessing that Jesus Christ,
the eternal Son of God, the Word made flesh, came, born of a virgin and entered
into His own creation to save His people from their sins. We declare in baptism
that the Godman was nailed to the cross and was the Lamb of God, the
substitutionary sacrifice and completely saved every single person for whom the
sacrifice was intended. On that terrible afternoon, Jesus cried it is finished
and gave up the ghost. And,
behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;
and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.
Jesus, the Lord, the Saviour, the King, the
Christ was dead. They took his lifeless body from that wretched tree and laid
His lifeless body in a rich man’s tomb. Sad, dejected, and faithless, the
disciples had given up in despair.
But lo,
at the dawning of the first day of the week, the two Mary’s came to the tomb
but the stone was rolled away. They were terrified, but the angle said “Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek
Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come,
see the place where the Lord lay.” The reports were
flying about, the tomb is empty! Jesus had risen! He met with them, spoke with
them, ate with them, and preached to them. He was alive! He had the power to
lay his life down and he took it right back up. This same Jesus, in His same
body spoke to these same disciples, bodily risen and forever defeating death
for those He had died and risen for.
The same Jesus who had the power to raise
himself from the dead has the power to give life. To give life to the dead to
raise them from spiritual death unto spiritual life and to one day raise their bodies
from the dirt.
As a church, we are to go with this message
of the gospel and preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins in Christ. We
have been charged to make disciples and baptize them. We baptize them symbolizing how we are made
disciples. As Jesus died, was buried, and was resurrected – we symbolize that
in the water. We are buried in baptism. As Jesus rose from the dead for our
justification, we come up out of the water raised to walk in newness of life.
Baptism symbolizes what Christ has already
done. We baptize the believers, the disciples of Jesus to show the world that
we have died to the old life (repentance) and have been born again and are new
creatures in Jesus.
