What is Baptism?
This coming Sunday is The Baptism of the Lord on our church calendar. As I start my preparation I have come across a sermon I originally preached at Horne Memorial in Clayton, North Carolina. If I were to use it again I would certainly go through it making some changes. But here it is, in the form I preached it in 2006.
What is Baptism?
Alan Swartz, Horne Memorial UMC, January 7-8, 2006
Horne
Memorial UMC is a church that is made up of people from many backgrounds. We
have people who grew up Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic,
Episcopalian, Pentecostal, and some who grew up without any religious
background whatsoever.
There
is considerable agreement between these different denominations in what they
believe. But, there are then the differences. I feel it is important to
lift up our unique teaching on some distinctive matters because these
distinctive qualities often define the kind of people we believe ourselves to
be and strive to be.
For
example, in Holy Communion we practice open communion. This is who we are.
Just as we believe that the Good News is for all people, so do we open our
practice of communion to all people. We don’t ask that you be a member here, or
even of another UM Church. You may be Baptist, or Lutheran, or Roman Catholic:
you are invited to come. All we ask is that you respond to the call of God in
your life—that you intend to lead a new life in Jesus Christ.
This
kind of radical openness has historically made us different from Baptists,
Lutherans, and Roman Catholics to name a few.
===
Today,
I am speaking on the topic of Baptism. There are many aspects of Baptism we
share in common with other denominations. But there is also that distinctive
quality that makes us uniquely Wesleyan and Methodist.
Baptists
and many independent congregations in the south hold a strongly evangelical
view of Baptism. These Christians tend to refer to Baptism as an ordinance—that
is, a command from Christ—that must be fulfilled as a faith response of a
Christian. It is an acknowledgment of the New Birth done in you.
Then
there are the sacramental churches, such as the Lutheran, Episcopalian, and the
Roman Catholic who emphasize that Baptism is a precious sacramental gift of God
that conveys the saving grace of Jesus Christ in what is called Baptismal
Regeneration.
The
danger of the first view is that the focus is so much on the individual that
God’s grace-filled role and divine initiative in salvation is lost. The danger
of the second view is that Baptism (and the other sacraments) can be reduced to
being mere magical incantations.
Our
unique heritage puts us in the position of having a synthesis of these two
positions. We believe that Baptism is a Sacrament. A sacrament is “an outward
and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.” Sacraments are instituted
means of divine grace that have been established by Christ.
Wesley
held a rather high view of Baptism, believing in Baptismal Regeneration,
especially as it pertains to infants. He wrote...
Baptism doth save us, if we live answerable there to; if we repent, believe, and obey the gospel: Supposing this, as it admits us into the Church here, so into glory hereafter. (Works, X, 192.)
We
believe our children are born again through the act of Baptism. Now to those of
you who grew up in the Baptist tradition, that is probably a tremendous
stumbling block. So let’s break this down a bit. We would probably do well to
begin with the notion of what is meant by the word “converted.” When you talk
on any subject you have to be certain of what you mean by specific words and
terms.
Today,
most people use the word “converted” to speak of a one-time instantaneous
event. But in our tradition, we understand conversion to be the totality of
God's work in us throughout our lives. To Wesley, salvation is an ongoing
process. It is connected to our ongoing relationship with Jesus Christ. The
grace of Baptism covers us not only at our Baptism, but for our our entire
lives as we grow in holiness. (Cho 1972, 66–67)
In
this process we see three movements...
1.
the working of prevenient grace
2.
the transformation of the new birth
3.
our growth in holiness
We believe the Holy Spirit is at work in the lives of
all people. It doesn’t matter how good they are, or how bad they are. We are
beings created to spend eternity with God. There is not one person God wants to
exclude. God weeps for every lost person and so should we.
This
initial work of the Holy Spirit is prevenient grace. The Holy Spirit’s desire
is to woo every soul back into a loving relationship with our heavenly Father
who has lovingly and carefully made us all.
When
we were born we may have born poor, but we are rich in God’s love. We may have
been born to parents who didn’t love us or who abused us, but our heavenly
Father has had nothing but love for us as He constantly reaches out to us,
striving to make that connection.
We
misunderstand grace if we see it in impersonal terms. Grace can only be
properly understood in the context of a personal, living relationship with God.
Imagine
a friend has gone online and ordered some tickets for you to see a show or to
go to a ball game. The tickets are paid for. All you have to do is show up to
the “Will Call” window and claim them. But if you do not, the gift has been made
but is lost.
Sometimes
we are fortunate enough to be born into a home of Christian believers who
desire that we be brought into this same covenant community. So, they have
their children baptized.
Yes. We baptize infants. We baptize people who are mentally challenged.
You do not have to understand the grace of God to receive that grace.
When
Peter calls people to be baptized, this is what he says...
We
are all called to enter into this relationship God. That relationship will
change and develop and mature as we grow older and grow in our faith. But it is
essential to remember that we understand salvation in the context of this
relationship.
Martin
Luther spoke of the assurance that comes from being baptized. He encouraged
people to remind themselves of their baptism in difficult times. He himself,
would say over and over, “I am baptized, I am baptized.” Whenever he felt Satan
was at work on him. (Gayoba 2020, 69;
Martin 2005)
Similarly, Karl Barth,
who came from the Reformed Tradition, spoke of the assurance of the word of
God: “I know God loves me, because the Bible says so.” (Olson 2013) Wesley on the other hand, didn’t speak of assurance this
way. To Wesley our assurance is found in the Witness of the Holy Spirit to our
spirits that we are indeed children of God.(Wesley, n.d.) Luther and Barth come from traditions that speak of
Assurance in objective terms while Wesley spoke of it in relational terms,
because salvation is a relationship.
There are real benefits to our baptism.
1. The guilt of Original Sin is washed away
Remember how the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of
Oz is destroyed by water. In the same way the Power of Sin is destroyed in
our baptism.
We need to recognize that baptism encompasses the entire life of the believer. It is only complete when you are fully conformed to the mind and image of Christ. (Cho 1972, 66)
2. We enter into the Divine Covenant
Remember
what a covenant is. It is something we enter into in a time of strength that it
may sustain us in weaker moments.
In the movie, The Lion King, when Simba has lost his
way the baboon takes him to the lagoon to show him his father. Simba sees the
reflection of himself, saying that it isn’t his father, it’s just a reflection
of himself. Rafiki says “Look harder, he lives in you.” When Simba looks again
he hears the voice of his father saying: “Simba, you have forgotten who you
are, you are more than you have become, Remember who you are...”
That is what covenant is about. That is why we use this day to renew that covenant: to remind us of our source of strength.
3. We are admitted into the church of which Christ is the head.
In The Lion King, Simba is presented to all of the
animals by the baboon. As a cub, Simba has no real idea about what is going on,
but the community understands: Simba is now a part of the community. This Unity
in community is an important part of what happens at Baptism. The Apostle Paul
speaks of the importance of this Unity to the Ephesians...
4. Our status before God is changed
In our tradition there is both a real change and a relative
change that takes place. The relative change is God’s act of forgiveness in
Jesus Christ—that is, by the work he completed on the cross. We call this
Justification—that is, to make right. God changes our status from being an
enemy of God to being a child of God.
The real change is the actual New Birth within us. We join John the Baptist in saying that there “must be less and less of me, and more of Christ within me.” We call this Regeneration—that is, born again. God changes us from being sinners into saints. It is not that no vestige of sin will ever be found in us. What it means is that Sin no longer has control over us. Romans 6:14 reminds that sin remains, but no longer reigns.
5. This grace remains at work in us as long as we do not quench the Holy Spirit
1
Thessalonians 5:19 tells us to “Quench not the Spirit” in the KJV. The NIV puts
it this way: “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire.”
Once
we receive this precious gift of the New Birth, our involvement becomes
essential. If the Marks of the New Birth (which are faith, hope, and love)
aren’t evident in our lives then we have lost this tremendous gift along the
way. The gift has been given, but it can also be lost.
When
we are living in sinfulness we have not availed ourselves of the gift given.
The first epistle of John is rather clear about this...
In O
Brother, Where Art Thou?, the three escaped convicts come across the surreal sight of a group of people dressed in
white, singing as they move mysteriously through the woods towards the river.
They follow, to find the people lining up to be baptized. Two of the three rush
into the water to be baptized. The first exclaims as he emerges from the water
that the minister had told him that all his sins have been washed away. Even,
he says, when he stole that pig for which he’d been convicted. One of the others remarks...
“But
you said you were innocent of that.”
He
responds, “I lied.... and that’s been washed away too!”
The
character shows a reformed character afterwards, including when he leaves money
for the apple pie that his friends steal from a windowsill.
The Spirit, through the water of baptism, creates a responsibility upon the baptized because the radical gift of regeneration in the new birth has created a real response-ability. Thus, to rely upon one's baptism as though the new gift is an outward thing, rather than an inward change worked through us is to “lean upon a broken reed” (Blakemore 1996, 185)
We believe there is no need for rebaptism. Why?
Because, God keeps his promises even if we don’t.
Remember
the scene in Toy Story when Buzz Lightyear is despondent over finding
out he really is a toy. But he notices that on the bottom of his shoe, Andy has
written his name—ANDY. It marks Buzz. It lets Buzz know to whom he belongs.
Somehow,
I imagine all of Andy’s toys bearing his name somewhere on them. In the same
way we bear the mark of Christ when we are baptized. We can sin to the point of
needing to repent again and again. We can even go so far as to fritter away the
wonderful benefits of our baptism. But, regardless of how we break our
promises, God remains steadfast. God still sees the mark of Christ upon us.
===
Now, this comes back to what we were talking about when we
considered what the word “converted” meant. The question for us is not “Have
you been converted?” No, rather the question is always in the present tense:
“Are you converted?”
It
is not “Have you been born again?” No, rather the question is “Are you born
again?”
See
the difference?
Consider
these questions.
Does
the Holy Spirit dwell in you now?
Can
you say that you are growing in holiness?
You
see, holiness is not an act of response to God’s gift to us. It is “the very
essence of salvation”(Blakemore 1996, 186).
The mind of Christ is granted to the infant, not as a fully
realized actuality, but as a grace-enabled full potentiality. The saving
presence of the Holy Spirit, which gives new birth to the infant, continues to
be salvific (regenerating) if the baptized person lives a life that reflects
the saving relationship as this becomes developmentally possible. (Blakemore 1996,
186)
As believers bring a child for baptism into the “life of
God,” the church is used by the Holy Spirit as a sacramental vehicle. The Holy
Spirit, who is present in them, works through parents, God-parents, friends,
worshipers, and celebrants in their bringing the child to the altar of baptism,
and thereby to the regenerative presence of the Holy Spirit. (Blakemore 1996,
187)
That is why children must be carefully nurtured in the
Christian faith and community. That is why bringing children to church is so
important. That is why we need to deliberately spend time with our children,
loving them in the Name of Jesus Christ.
Wesley told his preachers
to spend time instructing the children in every place. He saw this as a
pastoral act, not an evangelistic one. Wesley instructs parents to instruct
their children in the things of God. Wesley wanted to see that children were
taken care of and nurtured in the Christian Faith that they might fully embrace
the life of holiness as they became able to claim the promise for themselves.
We acknowledge this in our practice of Confirmation and in other Renewals of
the Baptismal Covenant.
===
Now,
there may be some of you here today who have never been baptized. Perhaps you
feel the work of the Holy Spirit within you. Do not resist it.
Do
you remember what happened one day on a dusty road after Philip had shared with
an Ethiopian Eunuch about the Good News of the Gospel?
If you have never been baptized, I invite you to come down
now to be baptized. All of us are renewing our vows today and we want you to
share in this wonderful, precious relationship with the Living God—your maker.
===
Blakemore, G. Stephen. 1996. “By
the Spirit through the Water: John Wesley’s ‘Evangelical’ Theology of Infant
Baptism.” Wesleyan Theological Journal 31 (2): 167–91.
Cho,
John Chongnahm. 1972. “John Wesley’s View on Baptism.” Wesleyan Theological
Journal 7 (1): 60–73.
Gayoba,
Francis. 2020. “Martin Luther’s Understanding of Faith in Relation to Infant
Baptism.” Andrews Uniuersity Seminary Studies 58 (1): 65–83.
Martin,
Marty. 2005. “Luther: The Daily Gift of New Life | Christian History Magazine.”
Christian History Institute.
https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/luther-the-daily-gift-of-new-life.
Olson,
Roger E. 2013. “Did Karl Barth Really Say ‘Jesus Loves Me, This I Know....?’” Roger
E. Olson, January 24.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/2013/01/did-karl-barth-really-say-jesus-loves-me-this-i-know/.
Wesley,
John. n.d. “Sermon 11 - The Witness of the Spirit II.” ResourceUMC. Accessed
January 5, 2026.
https://www.resourceumc.org/en/content/sermon-11-the-witness-of-the-spirit-ii.
Comments
Post a Comment