Baptism: Who Needs It?

Pastor Meyer’s Sermon

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our heavenly Father and from our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus, our Christ. Amen.

[Pastor drinking water.] Does anybody need any? Well, actually, as it turns out, we all need water. You see, our body is composed of approximately 70% water and water is the transporter of nutrients throughout the body and it’s necessary for all building functions in the body. In fact, water helps us to maintain our body temperature. And water, well, it acts as a solvent for the minerals and the vitamins that we take in so they can be broken down and taken to the cells so the cells can do their jobs. And while the body can live for about 5 weeks without food, well, the body can only live about 5 days without water.

And so it’s fitting that God would choose something so simple, something that’s so much a part of our lives to use as a part of His sacrament of baptism. And last week, as we dealt with the question of what’s the big deal about baptism, we discover that the big deal about baptism is the combining of God’s word with the water that destroys the old self and creates a new person, a new person in Christ. In fact, some would say that the baptismal font is both a tomb and a womb because we have the death of our old self but then the birth of a new person.

And so this week, we explore the question, “Who needs it?” In other words, who needs to be baptized? Now it’s a fair question and we would be quick to say, “Yes, everyone needs to be baptized.” But I want to listen in on Paul and Silas as they’re in prison. And we’re going to pick it up right after the earthquake when the jailer thinks everybody has left and actually everyone is still there. And this is what the jailer has to say, “The jailer called for lights and rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’” That’s a good question. What must I do to be saved? But did you notice the answer that Paul and Silas gave? Because, you see, they didn’t immediately go and say, “You need to be baptized.” They simply say, “To believe upon the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” And then the jailer took Paul and Silas with him to his home and began asking them questions about what were those things you were singing about while inside the prison in your prison cell? And Paul and Silas took time to teach the jailer and the family everything about Jesus and what Jesus had done for them and, in the midst of doing that, he felt moved, he felt a desire to be baptized.
Now the question I want to think about today is does he need to be baptized? And like I said, it would be easy for us just to say, “Yes,” but I would like to say, “Yes and no.” No? No, because Paul says if we believe that Jesus Christ is our God who came onto this earth to die for us on the cross, then we are saved. Our sins are forgiven and eternal life is given to us. It belongs to us. The bible never says anywhere that baptism is something that we must do to fulfill some kind of requirement to go to heaven.

But if we look on the yes side of the equation, does he need to be baptized, I would say yes that we need to be baptized because scripture commands us to. More specifically, Jesus commands us in scripture to build the church through baptizing and through the teaching of God’s Word. So followers of Jesus not only receive baptism themselves but they see to it that those around them are also baptized as well. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor from Germany during the period of World War II said it so well when he said that those who believe obey and those who obey believe. John tells us in his first letter, “This is the love for God to obey His commands and His commands are not burdensome.”

So baptism is something we need because it’s something that helps us to follow Jesus’ commands. But on a more practical note, baptism also is something we need because the bible describes it as life restoring. Now when you think about, when you think about all the materials and things God has given us, all the things we have on this earth, I would have to say that the most precious thing we have is water because, without water, we have no life. And so it’s not surprising that we can see the water relationship as an illustration for our needs to be baptized. And Peter picks up on this in his first letter where he says, “This water symbolizes baptism that now saved you also, not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God.” Most scientists, when they see water exists in an environment, they see it as almost a pledge, as almost a guarantee that life can also exist there. Baptism is God’s pledge to us that spiritual life can exist. God is pledging that, because of baptism, you can have a good conscience with Him, that He’s saying to us, “I don’t care what you have done in the past. You don’t have to be ashamed of yourself. You can look to me in the eye and know that I love you, that I accept you for who you are.”

And that was certainly what Michael needed to hear. I read about him in a newsletter entitled Mission Connection. Michael, the young kid, was involved in a drug-induced crime spree along with his brother that ended up where he killed a man. And afterwards, not only did he have to deal with the consequences of his own actions but he was continually dealing with his conscience of what he had done. And finally, he decided to go see a pastor and that pastor reminded him of another murderer who was told to arise and be baptized and wash away your sins. And remember, that’s what the apostle Paul was. He was a murderer. He stood beside and approved what was going on in the killing of the first Christian martyr, Stephen. And so Michael himself was baptized because he needed it. He needed to hear about God’s pledge for him. He needed to hear God saying, “You can have a good conscience toward me. I’m not going to hold your sins against you.”

So what sin troubles you this morning? What things have you done in the past that come to haunt your conscience? You see, there’s not one single person among us who can claim to be without sin. First John reminds us of that where John writes, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sin and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His words have no place in our lives.” So do you need to hear? Do you need to hear through those waters of baptism, God has made that constant pledge for you, that you can live with a good conscience? I know I need it. And I also need to know who I am. We all need to know who we are in God’s eyes. We need baptism because, in the waters of baptism, we are given a new name. When Jesus was baptized, the Father said to Him, “You are my Son whom I love, with you I am well pleased.” In baptism, we receive that same name. God says, “You are my son. You are my daughter. With you, I am well pleased.” You see, God has placed His name on us. He has marked us. We are part of His family. Are there any parents here that would forget they have their children? God would never forget His sons and His daughters.

And so it’s no wonder that the jailer in Philippi wanted baptism for himself because, you see, he realized, just like water, that he needed it. But just as a loving parent never forgets their children, it’s no surprise that in our reading we see not only that the jailer was baptized but also his whole family was baptized. The jailer knew his children needed baptism, that he wanted these promises also to be for them, too. But the interesting thing about today is that there are some people who wonder why we even baptize children.

Eric Erickson, a well-known development psychologist, populized this particular phrase, “Born with a clean slate.” It’s the understanding that children are without any tendency to act one way or another when they’re born and they’re just merely influenced by the world around them. The thing is that this thinking has also entered into our understanding of who needs baptism, that children are not sinful when they are born, that they have a clean slate and they should wait until they can make their own decision to be baptized.

However, I want you to consider this particular statistic. 13 million children, 1 in every 5, are born in poverty in the United States but the reality is that every child is born in spiritual poverty. God makes no exception when He says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And we even read earlier in our service from Psalm 51, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. They, too, need a Savior.” And this is the power that’s in baptism.

Titus 3 talks about this, “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and the renewal by the Holy Spirit.” See, the person who does the actual baptism is the Holy Spirit. He can bring about the new birth of faith in the Savior. It is not something that we can do on our own. It is God who does the work of baptism so we trust that, just as this Spirit works faith in each and every one of us, then it too will keep its promise and work faith in our children as well.

Nothing says it better than in Psalm 22 where David writes, “Yet you, God, brought me out of the womb. You made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. From birth, I was cast upon you. From my mother’s womb, you have been my God.” So when should we baptize children? We should baptize them as soon as we can. Why wait to receive the gift from God? Why deny our children this gift?

Now this past week, as I was talking to a couple of people about the content of my sermon, they were just asking what I was going to be preaching on and they shared with me that, when their twins were born in the hospital, they themselves went ahead and baptized the twins because they were not sure if the twins would make it. And they were asking me, they were wondering if the children needed to be re-baptized. And that brings up two very interesting points, important issues that we need to talk about. First of all, who can baptize and is there a re-baptism?

First of all, in 1 Peter 2, Peter tells all Christians that you are a chosen people. You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation. So every one of us has the authority from God as priest to baptize. Now in the worship service, the congregation has set aside a pastor to do the baptisms but, in private, and also especially in emergencies, we all have that capability. We all have that privilege of being able to baptize. And so to baptize, you simply just put the water on the head and say, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And since baptism is something God does to us, through baptism, He’s forgiven us and He’s filled us up with His Holy Spirit, there is no need for a re-do. In fact, as Ephesians 4 says, “There is one Lord. There is one faith. And there’s one baptism.”
But at this time, I want to take a side step because whenever we talk about baptism, there is one agonizing question that also comes up and that is if an infant or a child dies before they are baptized, are they saved? The first thing I want to say is if you in your own life had to deal with this particular situation, my heart goes out to you. And if you have someone in your family or a friend of yours who has gone through this, I pray that you can continue to give them encouragement and support. But I want to just take a moment because scripture is not clear on what happens to a child if a child dies before baptism. But there are some things we can key in on throughout scripture. And the first one is in Jeremiah, God is talking to Jeremiah and God says in Chapter 1 at the beginning, “I had a relationship with you while you were being stitched together in the womb.” We also know as we go through scripture, our heavenly Father is a loving Father, that He cares for each and every one of us, whether we’re adults or children or even still in the womb. And we also know that the Holy Spirit works when and where it will and we even see that when we look at John the Baptist. When John the Baptist was still in the womb of Elizabeth and Mary, the mother of Jesus, came up and started to speak, John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit and began to leap in Elizabeth’s womb. So we know the Holy Spirit can even work inside the womb. And so when we’re faced with that particular difficult agonizing situation, we can take heart that God takes care of these children just as He takes care of each and every one of us and we still go about our lives bringing our children, bringing those who we know, maybe even bringing ourselves to be baptized because we know that this is not just some tradition we do just to do it. No, we know it is God at work in the water and that it is something we need just like we need water. We need baptism throughout our daily lives.

And so I have an encouragement for you and that encouragement is, as you leave the sanctuary this morning, there are two bowls of water, I’m sure you saw them as you were coming in, and my encouragement for you is to go up to one of the bowls of water and dip your fingers in the water and make the sign of the cross on your forehead to help you to remember that it is through your baptism, through the water of baptism that you are given life and that you are given life to the full. Amen.

Copyright 2008 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church