Baptism

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met Church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our [email protected] we would love to stay connected with you throughout the week through social media, so be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter Now. Enjoy the message. [00:00:24] Speaker B: Well, good morning and happy Memorial Weekend to you. So excited that you're able to join us on this holiday weekend. And of course, if you're not here, you might be looking at us through that screen right there. We don't see you, but you see us. Thanks for joining us. And I think before we get too far along in the message today, it's more than appropriate for us to take a moment and recognize, bring honor to any current former members of our armed services. So if that's you, would you please stand up so we can recognize you and give you a round of applause? Thank you. We are so thankful for all that you've done. It's like the adage says, that all gave some, some gave all. And so that is not lost on us. So we're thankful that you have said yes to the call of serving our country, to protect our freedoms, many of which we already have or will enjoy this weekend. Maybe you already have plans. How many of you are planning on having a barbecue? You're gonna have some food, chow down, enjoy yourself, indulge a little bit. Maybe you're going to enjoy some. Some time with your family. Perhaps go to an amusement park. I know we went to one last night. Maybe you've heard of it. Nebraska Furniture Mart. Been there. Free admission. I'm pretty sure when we went there last night, there were folks who bought coffee from the little place downstairs. And the only reason they went was to have some social time sitting on those couches. And I don't blame them. If Nebraska Furniture Mart was closer by, I'm pretty sure I would visit at least once a week, bring my laptop and just do some emailing. That's amazing. Magical place. How many of you plan on going to a pool? Maybe it's a community pool. Maybe you have a pool at your house. You're gonna be poolside. Poolside. Okay. Now, I think we'd all agree that when it comes to getting into the pool, there are two different types of people, okay? The first group of people are those who, whenever they go to the edge of the pool, it doesn't take long for them to throw Caution into the wind, and they just jump right in. How many of that is you right there? You like to maximize your splash, especially those who are sunbathing. You like to let em know that you're there. Okay, I see you. That's me. I'm all in. I've got an obsessive personality, so I just, I jump right in there. How many of you, though? And you know who you are, you're an apprehensive bunch. You go up to the edge of the pool, you survey the water. How many waves are there? Is there enough space for me to make sure that I'm not encroached upon? How many people are in, how many children are in the pool? And after waiting for about two hours, you decide to step down ankle deep in the water. And you wait a while and then you get in about knee deep. And then you wait a while and then you get into about your waist and you wait a while and then you get in all the way up to your armpits. Ha ha ha. And after about four hours, you finally decide to get into the water. Come on, raise your hand if that's you. You take your time getting into. Okay, that's actually most of us. That's not surprising. There really are two different types of people that get into the water. And the second group of people, they're at a greater risk, it's that when they get into the water ankle deep, they're at risk of stopping, of just getting stuck and developing the mindset of, you know, I've kind of changed my mind. It's, I value my comfort over going all in. Now, some of you who more so identify with the first group, whenever you heard the invitation given to you by God that you could be found, you could be forgiven of sin, that you could receive his spirit, be made brand new, you heard the message of the gospel of Jesus, his love, his grace, his mercy. You jumped all in. You said, I've heard enough, say no more, Jesus, I'm yours. And then the other group of people, and maybe not necessarily a correlation between your pool habits and how you respond to Jesus, but there is that second group of people who maybe when you heard the exact same message of the gospel of Jesus, that maybe you took your time and got in about ankle deep. Now what I want you to know is both ways are appropriate and acceptable. And maybe there's some wisdom in taking your time. In fact, Jesus said, who builds a building without first calculating? And so I think there is some wisdom. Before you decide to follow Jesus, you Ask yourself, am I willing to pay the price? Because following Jesus, if it costs you nothing, you're not following Jesus. So it's okay to take your time, but you gotta be careful that you don't get in ankle deep with Jesus and then get stuck. You get stuck in your relationship with God. And so my hope today and my prayer is that we're gonna move from ankle deep devotion to Christ to cannonball commitment. Come on, somebody. Then we're gonna go all in when it comes to our relationship with Jesus. And I'm here to tell you that a church that is made up of people who are all in, that's a healthy church. That's a healthy church. Healthy churches are made up of healthy people. And healthy people are all in on the idea of following Jesus. And so today, as we continue this series called Healthy Church, we're gonna look at another aspect of a healthy church. And we can trace this idea all the way back to the very beginning of, of when the church was first born. And so the subject that I'm gonna teach on today is healthy churches. Baptize healthy churches baptized. Now, if you've been with us even for just a short while, more than likely you have probably seen a baptism unfold on this stage. Usually right over there in a portable hot tub on wheels. It's like a jacuzzi on wheels. It's a portable Baptist tree. In fact, we had a couple of people get baptized last weekend. And we have dozens, literally dozens, and not making up that figure, dozens, scheduled to follow Jesus in baptism this summer. I wanna share with you some stats that I hope you get fired up about. That's your cue to clap. Okay. This is gonna be really exciting. Well, that was a preemptive clap. Wait till I delivered the statistics. But I love your enthusiasm. It's like looking in a mirror. I love this. Okay, so all the way up from January until now, so just beyond the first quarter of the year, we've had 39 people say yes to Jesus and get baptized. Come on now, that's exciting stuff. Isn't that amazing? 39 people. Hey, let me tell you why we count numbers. Because every single number has a name, and every name has a story. And every story is a part of God's bigger story of redemption and restoration. And so we would celebrate just as emphatically for one as we would for 39. But there's more. In one year's time, in one year's time, from May 2024 unto today, we've had 90 people go public with their faith ages 5 to 63. Come on now, clap your hands and say a good amen. Isn't that good? I hope we never grow tired, that we never allow it to get lost on us. How incredible it is to see God move amongst his people. That people have hearts that are ripe and ready to respond to the gospel and that we see them respond accordingly by following Jesus in baptism. And here's my hope today. My hope is that many of you, many of you today will make that decision to go from ankle deep devotion to cannonball commitment by choosing to follow Jesus in baptism. Let's start here in Acts, chapter two. And by the way, the book of Acts is not just a historical book. It's actually a prototype for the church, which includes the church today. So In Acts chapter two, we find the day of Pentecost has arrived. That's 50 days after Easter, the day that Jesus rose from the grave. Fifty days later, the disciples are, they're in an Airbnb in Jerusalem. Just as Jesus told them. He said, go, go in the room. I want you to gather together and I want you to wait. How many know? Sometimes God makes us wait for his blessings, for, for, for God's goodness to come into our lives. Sometimes he doesn't have us on the instantaneous plan, sometimes he has us on the installment plan that we've got to be patient and wait upon the Lord. And so that's what they do. They're in this upper room and they're waiting on the Lord for him to honor his promise to what? To send the Holy Spirit. And so in a matter of moments, this rushing wind comes into the room and all the disciples, the scripture says all the disciples, not just the favorite ones, not just the gifted ones, all the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in tongues. Now there's an allowance here and we're gonna unpack this today, but there's an allowance in terms of what that actually means. Was it a spiritual language, a heavenly language they prayed in? Or was it the ability to speak languages or dialects that they had never been educated in? These were not linguistics majors. So there's an allowance there. We don't to get into it today, but just know that they are filled with God's spirit. They are praising God, they are prophesying, they are declaring the promises of God. And it must have been an incredible commotion because the Bible says there was this large number of God fearing Jews who had gathered together in Jerusalem to celebrate the festival and they overheard this commotion, so they come over I mean this huge crowd of people, thousands of people, they come over to this room and to their bewilderment the Bible says that they're hearing these disciples, these Gentiles, these Galileans, they're hearing them declare the oracles of God in a language that they could understand. Now again, maybe it was the speaking in tongues and it was tongues of fire and it was this unintelligible language that the Holy Spirit used for these hearers to be able to interpret in their own native tongue. Or perhaps they were speaking a dialect that was foreign to them but familiar with, to the God fearing Jews that were there. But either way they were perplexed that these ordinary, untrained, uneducated Galileans were able to speak with such boldness and that they could hear it in their own dialect. There are many dialects represented. These Jews came from all over the world. And then here's an amazing question that they asked. And this is a question, by the way. It's one of two questions that you and I should ask. Every single time that we're sitting in a service, we're reading Scripture. Anytime God's word is presented, there are two questions we should always ask. And here's the first one. They looked at each other. What does this mean? What does this mean? Everything that I'm hearing and I'm seeing, what does this mean? That's what we should ask God. What does this mean about your character, your nature? And what does this mean for me? And then Peter, this same Peter, this cowardly Peter who not too many days prior, how he didn't even have the courage to be able to speak openly and honestly to this little kid who, who challenged him in the shadows of the night, saying, don't you follow Jesus? And he no, not me. The same Peter who denied Jesus three times now, oh, now he's stepping up and stepping out, being filled the Spirit, and he's speaking with boldness and he tells them the gospel. He shares with him some prophecies of Joel and he tells them about how Jesus of Nazareth, he came and he died just as was prophesied and he rose again. And anyone who will print and turn to Jesus will be saved. And listen to how they respond in Acts chapter two. This is where we pick up in the story, verse 37. When the people heard this, that's the good news of Jesus, they were cut to the heart. That's the conviction of the Holy Spirit. And they said to Peter and the other apostles, brothers, here's question number two. What shall we do See, it's not simple enough to just ask, what does this mean? See, God doesn't want us just to have understanding. He wants us to have action. What does this mean? Okay, respond to the gospel of Jesus. Okay, what do we do with that? And here's what Peter says. This Peter replied, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Oh, I love this promise. This promise is for you. That's the first generation church, but not the first generation church only. Who else is it for? And to your children and to all who are far off, we fall into one of those two categories. For all whom the Lord our God will call. Those who accepted his message were baptized. And about 3,000 were added to their number that day. Somebody say that day, that day they were added. I'd say that's a good day. At church, Peter preaches his very first sermon. 3,000 people respond to the gospel by repenting of sin, receiving Jesus. 3,000 people get baptized. 3,000 people are filled and sealed by the Holy Spirit. That's what I call a healthy church. Well, let me tell you a few things that I observed from this crowd as this has implications for us. Are you ready? There are three things that happened here. They heard the word, they asked, what do we do? And they responded. They responded with action. Number one, they heard the word, as you're hearing now, they asked, what do I do? We're unpacking that. And then they responded with action. The first two are very easy, you hear, and you ask, what do we do? The third, well, that's difficult. That's where a lot of people get really hung up. And we know this to be true. How many of you have ever turned a TV on and you heard an infomercial about exercising? You heard it, and then you went so far as to ask, well, what do I do? And they told you, well, for five easy payments of 1999, you also can have that. Remember the shake weight? You can have the shake weight and just shake it and it'll work wonders. Your whole body, whatever. But then there's the third step, the actual responding with action. How many of you know that the most difficult piece of machinery at the gym is the front door? Hello? Come on. They heard, they asked, what do we do now? And then once it was told to them what to do? Repent, be baptized, they actually did it. They heard, they asked, what do we do? And then they had the audacity to follow through with obedience. They didn't talk themselves out of it. They didn't make excuses. They didn't say, well, I gotta learn more, or surely I've gotta dig through the Scriptures to find out more about it. No, they immediately aligned their lives with the word of God. Know this. Faith comes from hearing God's word. That's what Romans 10 says. But James, the half brother Jesus goes on to say, don't fool yourselves into only hearing the Word. Be doers of the Word. Let's not just be hearers of the Word, let's be doers of the Word. If we only hear the word of God and we do nothing with it, it's like looking in the mirror, looking good, and you turn away and you go, what do I look like? Again, don't fool ourselves into thinking that hearing the word of God is all that God asks of us. No, no. He wants us to be hearers and to be. The crowd asked. They heard, they asked and they responded. And from that day, the church, it took off. It exploded. It's amazing what happens when God's word is preached with clarity. People have a sensitivity to hear it and ask, what do I do? And then they have the courage and the audacity to actually follow through with action, taking steps toward what God has directed for them. From the beginning of the church, we see followers. They adhered to this formula. Hear the good news, repent, be baptized, and always in that order. I'll give you dozens of examples, but I'll just rattle off a couple in my mind. Acts, chapter eight. That's exactly what the Ethiopian did. He heard the word of Jesus, he repented, he got baptized. It's exactly what happened to Cornelius in Acts, chapter 10. He was a centurion. He heard the word of the Lord, he repented, he got baptized. Same formula of Lydia. She was a business owner. She dealt with purple, purple cloth, purple fabrics. She heard the word of the Lord, she repented, and she got baptized. This is the formula for them, and this is the formula for us. So what shall we do? Do the same thing. We repent and we get baptized. That's what a healthy church looks like. Well, let's briefly unpack both of these terms. I want to make sure none of this gets lost in translation. Okay, we're going to look at both the word repent and baptize. We're going to break it down so that way everybody can walk away knowing exactly what was heard and exactly what to do. And then it's up to you to be able to Respond. Okay, we get our English word repent from the Greek word meta noe, meta no eo. I came up with a little mnemonic device to help me remember that. It kind of has a similar cadence as Lego my ego. How many know about those delicious waffles? Meta no eo. Lego my ego. It literally means to change. Help you out there to change mind. I'm changing my mind, particularly when it comes to sin. I've made up my mind about who I am versus who God is. I'm changing my mind. As I was thinking about this word metanoeo and repentance, what that looks like. This week, I was thinking about this memory that takes me back to my early part of my young adulthood. It was about 22 years and 30 pounds ago. When I graduated high school, I went off to the United States Naval Academy. It's a Memorial Day weekend, so I was like, I gotta come up with some sort of military example. And let me just tell you, this is all I got. And this is about as small as it is. So I went to the United States military. Excuse me, United States Naval Academy, right out of high school, was really excited about it. I wanted to play Division I football and play Notre Dame and all those things. I didn't really pray about it. This is before I actually had an intimate walk with Jesus. I loved Jesus. I wanted to follow Jesus. I just didn't know how to listen to Jesus, his holy spirit and obey. So I went there, my eyes real big. You know, Roger Staubach's an alumni, and I get to interact with all these people. It was awesome, okay? And then I realized about six months in, this is not what God has called me to do. But he allowed me to pursue that, to get my attention so that I could then get aligned with what he had for me. Now, just to make sure, you know, this is not made up, I brought a picture of my Naval Academy military id. Go and put that up on the screen there. There it is. Now, I want you to take notice that this is the beginning of boot camp. All right? This picture. Beginning of boot camp, which explains the grump face. Now, I wasn't really upset about most aspects of boot camp. I kind of enjoyed it. I wasn't, you know, upset about the sleepless nights and the rigorous physical activity and being yelled at for absolutely no reason. Just purely for the fun of those who are facilitating boot camp. But as you can imagine, and I'm gonna let you fill in the blank, what do you think was the most humiliating, terrible part of Boot camp, shaving the head, that was the worst. It was downhill from there. Have you ever taken your dog to the groomer and you're like, don't cut too much off. He's got a complex. Don't cut too much off. You pick up your dog and your dog won't even look at you. Can't believe you did this to me. That was me. I wanted to hide for days, but I couldn't. All right, so here I am, United States Naval Academy, and going through boot camp. And it was a lot of fun. And most of the days we do all kinds of physical activity and we learn all kinds of information. We learn how to march. So we would march for miles and miles and miles. And we would have to listen to, very attentively to the commands of a gunnery sergeant. Okay, the gunnery sergeant is the. I mean, he's locked in. He's the hard guy with just muscles upon muscles, with a nice brimmed hat. You've seen him in movies. So the gunnery sergeant would call out different cadences. And one particular cadence or one particular command was he would at any point in time say, to the rear, march. To the rear, march. So you'd be heading one direction, marching in formation. Come on, look at that right there. Still got it. When he say, and by the way, when I came home from Naval Academy, I squared my turns in the living room, in the kitchen. For years after that, if you've been in the service, you know you can't unsquare those turns. You can't unhospital bed, your mattress and your covers. Anyways, so I'm walking. And he'd say, to the rear, march. And immediately. Not after I thought about it a little while. Not after I've contemplated whether or not I should or shouldn't do it immediately, you would respond to that command by pivoting on the balls of your feet and go the other direction in sequence. That's meta. No eo. I changed my mind. I was going this way. A command was given. I'm doing a 180 degree turn. My mind is made up. The way I was going is not going to work anymore. I'm going this way. Metano e' oh. The Bible says that in Proverbs 14:12, that every way seems right to man, but in the end it leads to death. Born charting our own course, marching according to the beat of our own drum, but in the end, it leads to death. But if not for the voice of the Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit, saying, scott, I Created you. I love you. I came down from heaven to earth to seek you, to save you. I want you in my family. I died on the cross for your sins. I was buried three days later. I rose again. I'm offering you the free gift. Free gift? It cost me everything. Cost you nothing. Free gift of salvation. If you will repent. Metano e' oh, repent. Turn away from your sin. Turn to me. Jesus says, turn to me. Ask for forgiveness. Receive me unto yourself. Follow me. I will make you brand new that I will set a new course. I will be your true north. You follow me. I will lead you into abundant life. I will lead you to eternal life. Meta no eo. That happened to me when I was 15. Maybe it happened to you when you were 40, maybe you were 4. I don't know. But meta no eo, make no mistake about it. It's not. I'm gonna continue to go the way I wanna go. And Jesus, you join me on my journey. No, no, no. It's when he calls you, you pivot. You turn away from sin, you turn to Jesus and you follow after him. I'm going all in. Following Jesus is an all in proposition. Listen, Jesus did not die on a cross so we could be half in. He died on a cross so we could be. So we could be all in. Come on, clap your hands and thank God for holding U turns. Metano eo, it's a holy U turn. It's us changing our mindset. You can think about it this way if you like Lego my ego, you'll love this one. Whenever you metano e' o, you turn around, you turn to Jesus. You're breaking free from Burger King brain. Come on, you know the jingle. Let's sing it together at bk. Have it your way. You know it now. You don't ever eat there, but you know the song. So when you metanoel, you turn away from sin, you turn to Jesus. Here's what happens. You're breaking free from Burger King brain. It's no longer have it your way, it's have it Yahweh. Hello. It's no longer you rule, it's you rule. I'm small and on call. God, you are large and in charge. That's meta no eo, I'm turning away from sin. Listen, that's step one. Repent, believe in Jesus. Now step two is baptism. Baptism always follows salvation. It doesn't come before. Repent and be baptized, okay? Always in that formula. As long as you repent, trust in Jesus and then get baptized. You're following the biblical order. Now, some of you may be saying, what if I was baptized as a baby? I would say then that preceded your choice to follow Jesus. And I'm sure you already know this, but what happened was your parents made a choice on your behalf to baptize you. Now, I don't want to ruffle any feathers unnecessarily, and I don't want you to hear me say that being baptized as a baby was wrong. And I'm not trying to knock your heritage or minimize it, experience or make light of it in any way. But you gotta understand is that baby baptism is not in the Bible. It's not in the Bible. Now, your parents do need to be thanked. We can celebrate their faithfulness. We thank God for the heritage that they created in your family, that they brought you before the church. They were just passing on a tradition that was passed on to them. And it really is a church tradition. It's not a biblical concept. It's a church tradition. And they put you into this situation where they're saying, I'm gonna raise this child where Jesus is front and center, and I'm gonna do everything I can to pave a path that they may walk down and choose Jesus for themself. And at some point in time, you got to an age where you were then able to make the choice for yourself as to whether or not you wanted to repent. Repent. Meta. No. Oh, and follow Jesus. But it's always in that order. Now, what age is a person able to respond to the Gospel? I don't know. It's not really about an age. It's about an understanding. It's about an understanding that's the reason why we have a kid's baptism class. We had 25 kids come to the baptism class this past Sunday. What? That was amazing. Amazing. We have that class so that way we can make sure they understand. And a lot of times we're relying on the parents to be able to discern whether or not there is a childlike baseline understanding. And it's a faith of a mustard seed. It's a basic understanding of sin. I know I've sinned. Most kids can understand that. And that Jesus came and died for me. He canceled out my debt. He rose from the grave. And if you'll choose to follow him, trust in Him. You will be saved. Here's what I find interesting. All times we're telling our kids, hey, follow Jesus. Follow Jesus. Follow Jesus. And then they finally go, I want to follow Jesus. And we go, you're too young. I didn't want to be that father that was like, hey, let's follow Jesus. Let's serve Jesus. Let's worship Jesus. And when they're, you know, five years, both my kids at five, six years old, they accepted Christ. I didn't want to say, oh, well, maybe you're too young. I don't want to be responsible for stifling what God was stirring. And so Jessica and I, we just had a conversation with them both. I got to lead my oldest daughter to Christ, and my wife got to lead our youngest daughter to Christ. In fact, my youngest daughter came to Christ because we laid a foundation, but also because she attended the baptism of her cousin Jackson. Yep, that's Jackson's parents right there. My wife's cousins. Otherwise, that'd be weird. Just a random person. Me, Jackson got baptized, and Angela's like, well, I want to get baptized. And we said, well, if you want to follow Jesus, you can get baptized. She's like, well, I do follow Jesus. Well, have you ever told him? Have you ever asked him to forgive you of your sin and accepted him into your. Into your life? He's like, well, I believe in him. Let's pray right now. And then she went to the class and got baptized. Okay, you see what I'm saying? So if you were baptized as a baby, that was a meaningful experience, but it's not biblical baptism. And so if you're baptized as a baby and you've chosen out of your own volition to follow Jesus, then you need to be baptized. You need to be baptized. Okay? We dedicate babies at our church, and we baptize believers. Now, when it comes to baptism, Christians typically fall into one of three camps in terms of method of baptism. There's three methods of baptism. There's immersion, which is to go all the way under the water. There's effusion, which is for water you poured over your head. And then there's aspersion. Aspersion, that is, when you're sprinkled. Now, those three methods are not necessarily all three equal. They're different. And I understand and respect why each denomination may practice their preferred method. I say preferred because it's not a principled method. I'll get to that in just a second. But I want to tell you the story about this little boy. He wanted his cat to be a Southern Baptist. And so he figured the best way of doing that is to baptize this cat by immersion. So he grabbed this cat, went over to the bathtub, filled up the water the tub, and inadvertently, some of the water splashed on the cat. And you know, cats are finicky, especially when water gets on them. So this cat was freaking out. The cat darted out of the arms and dashed down the hallway. And you could hear the boy shouting from the bathroom, fine, be a Methodist. See if I care. Now, I only share that story not to make fun of your tradition at all, but simply to say there is not unanimous agreement within the Christian household about the method of baptism. But we can know with a great degree of confidence what the method of baptism Jesus partook in and what the method of baptism every early Christian participated in. How well, you look at the word baptism in the Greek is baptizo. The word baptism in the Greek, the original language, is baptizo. Baptizo means to be immersed or to dip all the way under the water. And baptizo was a very common word in the first century. When we hear baptizo, or our English word baptism, we tend to associate it with a baptism, like we do at our church. But back in that ancient time, baptizo was commonly used. It was as common as when someone would take a cloth and they would dip it in a vat of dye. That was baptizo. It was baptizo. They're going all the way under the liquid, the dye, so that way the cloth, it went in looking one way, came out looking different. You see there, baptizo means to be fully immersed, to be plunged all the way up. And it's really no surprise that the biblical model for baptism is baptizo is immersion because of what it means to follow Jesus. It's an all immersive experience. I mean, if you want to learn a foreign language, experts will tell you what immerse yourself in the culture. Don't they tell you that you want to follow Jesus? You got to immerse yourself in Christ. And your baptism is a symbol of the immersion, the total covering. And so my question to you is, maybe you've been baptized, maybe you haven't. Here's the question. What area of our lives is off limits? We immerse portions of who we are, but not in totality. It kind of reminds me of that guy who is about to get baptized, and he walks up the steps, he steps in the water, and before he sits down, he goes, oh, wait, wait, wait. And he pulls out his wallet and he goes, okay, baptize everything by my wallet, right? Lord, you can have all of me, just not my money. What area of Our lives have we excluded from the immersion that Christ wants to pour out into our lives? See, as followers of Jesus, it's an all in proposition. What we're saying is, Lord, I want you to immerse my career. I'm baptizing my career in you. I'm baptizing my thought life into Christ. I'm baptizing how I handle conflict unto Christ. I'm baptizing how I respond online to Christ. I'm baptizing my dating relationships unto Christ. Lord, you have it all. Totally immerse me in who you are. Because it's no longer I who live. The Scriptures say it's Christ who lives in me. It's an immersive experience. So we get baptized not only because of the literal definition of the term. It means to immerse, to fully submerge under the water, but also because of the picture that it paints. Listen to what Paul says in Romans, chapter 6, verse 4. 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. Okay, picture this. The baptismal water represents a watery grave. I don't mean this like in a morbid sense, but when you get baptized, this is what the Lord has in mind for you to picture. Whenever you go under the water, you're supposed to picture that Jesus, after being crucified on the cross for the remission of sin, that he was buried in that tomb. You were buried in the watery grave along with Christ. And then as Christ on the third day received breath in his lung, and you come up out of the water to picture yourself, you also are raising to a new life. Not to go back to old habits, to old broken thinking, to old toxic relationships. No, we are being broken, brought back to a new life in Christ. That's what it is to be baptized. It's a funeral ceremony. But here's the thing about funeral ceremonies. In terms of baptisms, nobody's crying. Why? Because the dead person is actually about to be a born again alive person, figuratively speaking, that they were dead and now they're made alive. Now let me revise that. There is one who's crying, and that's the devil. Because when he sees a drug addict go in the water, he says, I lost another one. When he sees an angry, derelict, absent dad go under the water, he says, now a present, a caring dad, he's entered the picture in Christ. When there's a mom who's frantic and anxious and worried and gets baptized. The devil goes, oh man, now I can't torture her mentally anymore. Cause she's found and saved in Christ. It is a funeral ceremony of old you. And it's also simultaneously a birthday celebration of new you. Have you ever been to a funeral and a birthday the same day? That's what baptism is. So let me give you three quick reasons. Three quick reasons why we should get baptized. Number one, to do what Christ has commanded and follow his example. The first thing that Jesus did in his earthly ministry was to get baptized. The very first thing that he did was to get baptized. And in that moment, heaven split apart and the Holy Spirit descended like a dove and empowered to fulfill his mission. Listen to Matthew, chapter 3, verse 13. Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John, baptized baptizo. Okay, verse 16. As soon as Jesus was baptized Baptizo, he went up out of the water. Well, to come out of the water, you first have to go in even more of an underscore that he was baptized by immersion. He wasn't baptized because he needed to be baptized. I remember baptism represents old you being dead and buried or sin being washed away. Jesus was sinless. He got baptized to fulfill the plan and purpose of the will of God and to show you how important it is. And show me how important it is to model for us what our baptism should likewise look like. Look, baptism is the most basic step. It really is, is the most basic step when it comes to following Jesus. So that begs the question, what confidence do we have of growing in the Lord, of doing anything of significance and greatness for his name's sake if we won't faithfully follow him in this small step known as baptism? So can I ask you a question? What may be stopping you? What may be stopping you from following Jesus in baptism? Is it inconvenience? We just haven't found the right time in our schedule. I mean, you know, baseball season, I just can't really know what Sundays are going to be here, what Sundays are not going to be here. So I just don't really know if we can do that. And so it's just an inconvenient. Can I tell you it was inconvenient for Jesus to be baptized. He had to travel from Nazareth to the Jordan. That's 60 miles, no Uber in sight. It was inconvenient, but he did it because that was the right thing to do. Is it because of embarrassment getting on the stage? Everybody's looking at you. I mean, you get up here and these lights are bright, and you're like, is it a bit embarrassing? I don't want anybody to see my feet. You know, whatever it is. You're embarrassed to get up here, or is it because it's awkward? It is awkward. It's awkward. It's humiliating from the standpoint of, I mean, you're sitting in this water, people are staring at you, and all attention's on you, and you're about to go backwards under the water. That's an awkward thing to do. Let me tell you about it. There are times when I'll baptize individuals, and this has happened, like, on two or three occasions, whenever the person is so caught up in the moment and mortified even, and they forget to hold their nose. And because I care people. I care about people. I've got a choice to make. I either allow them to get water up their nose or I grab their schnoz. That's awkward. I barely met these people. I'm grabbing their. I was like, how do I. You want tweezers? Do you want handlebar? Like, what do you want? Just tell me. Let's get this over with. And then when they get to about 45 degrees, that's when it gets real awkward. Some people, it's awkward being put backwards at about 45 degrees. They start to put up a little bit of resistance. And to make sure that it doesn't look like there's a struggle ensuing, I put a little more extra effort into it. That's where it gets fun. That's where it gets real fun. Because you can't do that normally and not get arrested for it. And so I enjoy it. I enjoy that part of it. It's really fun. What's stopping you from being baptized? Can I tell you this much? It will never be. Oh, you got to hear this. It will never be convenient to follow Jesus ever, ever, ever, ever. And oftentimes he will call you to do peculiar things. Bless those who hate you, pray for those who persecute you. Forgive as you've been forgiven. Love your enemies as you love yourself. Wives, honor. Honor your husbands. Honor your wives, as Christ loves the church. And wives, submit to your husbands as unto Christ. These are peculiar things. It will never be easy to follow Jesus, and it will never be convenient. Oh, I think about the Syrian Naaman who had leprosy, and he wanted to be healed. So he went and saw the prophet Elisha in 2nd Kings 5. And Elisha hears from God. And Elisha said, hey, God tells. Told me to tell you if you want to be healed of leprosy, you got to go dip seven times in the Jordan. Seven times. And Naaman's like, really? I got to go. I got to go. How inconveniencing. Seven times. I've got to go get in the Jordan River. And he walks away disgruntled until he realizes, if you want God's results, you got to do things God's way. And so he obeys and he dips himself seven times on Jordan. And then he comes out and the leprosy's gone and he has baby skin just smooth as can be. If we want God's blessings, then we have to be willing to follow God's commands. And sometimes we have Instagram culture. We're mixing that with how we follow Jesus. You know, on Instagram. One of the crazy things about it is you can follow whoever you want to, literally anybody. You know, you see someone who has this little cooking show follow. You see a professional athlete or celebrity follow. See someone has this really great exercises and stretches follow. But the minute they post something offensive, the minute they post boring content, you can just unfollow. And I'm afraid to say that sometimes Christians do that with Jesus. As long as Jesus is telling us to do things that align with our opinions, follow. But the minute Jesus tells us to do something inconveniencing, uncomfortable, or something even offensive, we're like, oh, unfollow. But I'm here to tell you that if we are only following Jesus when he agrees with us, we're following a figment in our imagination that we've called Jesus. Jesus doesn't say, what do you want to do? Can I join you? He says, come, follow me and step into life. So we gotta make sure that we follow Jesus with an all in proposition. And his position is very clear about baptism. He says, get baptized, follow me. It's not a recommendation, it's a command. The first thing he did for his earthly ministry was to get baptized. And the last thing he said before he ascended on a elevator of clouds to be seated at the right hand of the Father, to be our intercessor between us and the Father God. Before that, he said this command to his disciples and to us. Matthew 28. Here's what it says. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all I've commanded you, and surely I'm with you always to the very end of the age. Simply put, Jesus gave his followers a great commission. Not A great suggestion. It's not optional. If you're going to follow Jesus, we've got to follow him in being baptized. And by the way, baptisms in the New Testament were always spontaneous, immediate. Spontaneous and immediate. And the only prerequisite for getting baptized is that you're saved. So as long as you got that order correct, you've trusted in Christ your Savior, then you're ready to get baptized. It's not okay, I trusted in Christ and now I need to go to discover the Met, and then I can get baptized. Or I trust in Christ, but I need to read my Bible more. Or I trust in Christ and I need to work out my issues. Or I trust in Christ, but I really need to wait until Aunt Gertrude from Wisconsin come down for Christmas. Like, I'm sure she wants to be there to see. That's awesome. But he says, you trusted Jesus. Get baptized. It's the first step. Now, maybe you've been a Christian for 25, 30, 40, 50 years, two years, whatever, and you've missed that step. I want you to know that God's commands don't have expirations. Don't think for a second that that season has passed you by. It's never too late to obey God. Is it possible that God's blessings are delayed because your obedience is delayed? It's never too late to follow Jesus in baptism. Ever. It's not a recommendation, it's a requirement. It's an expectation. Okay. Number two. To demonstrate my life has changed. To demonstrate my changed life. In the first century, there were a lot of Christians who. They would enter into the river to get baptized wearing their old garments. And once they came up out of the water, they would take their old garments off. They'd send them down the river as an illustration that their old life is gone, never to be retrieved again. And then oftentimes they put on a new garment, a white garment to illustrate how they are made brand new in Christ. Their life has indeed changed. And number three, for time's sake, here we go. Declare my commitment publicly. Declare my commitment publicly. Baptism is a public proclamation of your identification with Christ's death, burial and resurrection. It's like a wedding ring. This wedding ring right here, I wear every day. This wedding ring is a symbol. It represents that for the past 18 years, I've been off the market, that I belong to Jessica. We've been married. This ring does not make me married. It communicates publicly that I am married. Baptism doesn't save us. It communicates that you are saved. It's A public proclamation. And Jesus is very serious about this. Or, you got to feel the weight of this. This is what Jesus says in Matthew 10:32. Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father. What Jesus is saying is, I want you to follow me and don't be ashamed of me. And some people will say, well, my faith is private. My faith is private. Well, that's fine. Pray privately. Get baptized publicly. We can separate the two. Jesus said, don't be ashamed of me. And what are we ashamed of anyways? We're ashamed that he died for us. I mean, think about that. If you're in the street and you're on your phone texting like you shouldn't be, but you're on your phone texting, and you don't see the oncoming traffic, and someone darts out of nowhere and pulls you out of harm's way. Can you imagine? After you get up and someone says, what happened? And you go, he saved me. I'm so ashamed of him. You wouldn't do that. That doesn't make any sense. Jesus doesn't want us to keep our faith private. He wants us to make it public. He says, you're a city on a hill. You're a light. Don't hide your light. Let it shine before men so others can see your good works and praise your Father who is in heaven. And by the way, the world can be as loud as it wants. It can say what it wants, do what it wants. You can be this one day and that the other day, and fluid and all that stuff. But Christians, shut your mouths. You stay quiet. World can be bolsterous and loud, but Christians stay quiet. And Jesus says, no, no, no, no. I don't want you to be annoying, but I want you to be public about who you belong to. Don't be ashamed of me. Let's not be ashamed of Jesus. Let's go public with our faith. Through what? Through baptism and beyond. Baptism and beyond. I'm gonna finish with this story. It's a story of Philip and the Ethiopian. Acts, chapter 8. Philip, he's traveling down the road. He sees this Ethiopian eunuch. It's unfortunate. That's the only characteristic we know about the Ethiopian. You can look it up later. It's kind of terrifying. So the Ethiopian, he's reading this prophecy from Isaiah 53. He doesn't know what it means. Philip comes to him and says, hey, do you know what you're reading. And the Ethiopian says, how could I unless someone explains it? Philip goes on to say, well, that's a prophecy of the Messiah, Jesus who has come and he's fulfilled all things. And he offers you eternal life by his death, burial and resurrection. Do you believe? And the Ethiopian says, yes, I believe. And they get back in the chariot and they check this out. You ready? Verse 36. As they travel along the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, that's the Ethiopian. Look, here's water. What can stand in my way? What can stand in the way of me being baptized? So Philip the Ethiopian orders that the chariot stopped and both Philip and the eunuch went down in the water and Philip baptized him. Here's the lasting question. It's the same question the Ethiopian asked. What's standing in your way? What's standing in your way to getting baptized? Nothing. Wherever you are in your walk with God, if you've never been baptized by immersion, the baptism of Jesus, the baptism of every early Christian, I don't want you to miss out on the blessing that God has for you. Be faithful. Follow him in baptism. In fact, we're gonna put a QR code up on the screen right now. All you have to do, take your phone out, scan it, and you'll say, yes. I wanna follow Jesus in baptism. I'm not ashamed of being a follower of Christ. I may have been baptized as a baby. I wanna be baptized in Christ as a believer. Maybe you were sprinkled. I wanna be immersed. I want Jesus to have all of me. It's not just some of me, it's all of me, all the time. I wanna follow Jesus in baptism. It's possible that God may be withholding a blessing. Not because he wants to, because he has to. He can't bless what's unblessable. He wants to bless obedience. And you, old you will be buried. And new you rises like a phoenix to follow after Christ. It's never too late to go back and take step one. It doesn't matter if you're already on third. You're hitting a home run in Jesus before you to score. You need to go back and tag, touch first base. And let's finish. Let's finish the race that he set for you. You can scan that. We'll contact you. We've had so many people want to get baptized that we're going to have a special baptism service in the summer after the 11 o' clock service. And we're praying that many people are going to come and follow Jesus in baptism. What an amazing day that's going to be. Lord, we love you and thank you so much for your goodness. Thank you that you have shown us the way to eternal life. It's through Jesus Christ alone, Father. Just like those disciples when they preached the message of the gospel and the crowd said, what does this mean? What does it mean to be baptized? It means to be identified with Christ. What do we do? We follow through. We take a step. We don't just. We move from ankle deep devotion and we're cannonball commitment. Here we go. We're all in, Lord. Cause you gave your all for us. So the least we can do is give our all for you. So I pray that the Lord that everyone in this room has never said yes to Jesus. They'll open their heart to Jesus, say, Lord Jesus, I know I've sinned. I believe you died for me and rose again. Come into my life, make me brand new and I will follow you. And the next step for them will be baptism. And what an amazing time will be for us to celebrate that. Hell lost another one and another person has been found in Christ. It's in his name we pray. Amen. [00:47:12] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week.