But John offered even these people a way out. John said they needed to rethink what God desired and change their ways. He said that if they would promise to change their ways He would baptize them by washing them in the River Jordan. And through this baptism, their sins would be washed away, giving the sinners a fresh, clean start. And so, the word spread about the man the crowds called John the Baptist a hundred miles in each direction, beyond Jerusalem in the south and beyond Galilee in the north. And the crowds began to grow, as people loved this wild man who spoke boldly against the leaders of the established Jewish order.
Matthew 3:13-17
One day, John recognized that his cousin Y'eshua had arrived. Y'eshua was just a few months younger than John, and was much more polished. The interesting thing about this meeting is that Y'eshua, the man the Romans called Jesus, asked to be baptized by John – and John said that he, John, needed to be baptized by Jesus, for John always felt that Jesus was the holier of the two men, even though at the time Jesus was just known for being a minor carpenter in the tiny town of Nazareth near the Lake of Galilee, while John had national fame as a preacher.
Jesus answered John, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” And then John baptized Him.
Why was it necessary for Jesus to be baptized? For that matter, what are the purposes of baptism?
To understand, let’s go back even before Jesus and John were born on this earth.
Around 150 years before Jesus, a document was written. It talked about making pickles. Yes, pickles. The document explains the pickle-making process and is our first known use of the word baptizo, the Greek root of the word baptism. The word refers to the changing of the essential nature of the cucumber by the action of the salt and the vinegar. And there IS a significant change. I can't stand cucumbers, but I love pickles. How many of you as children thought that pickles were something different from cucumbers?
Notice that a cucumber rots quickly, but a pickle can be kept in the pickle juice for months, even at room temperature. Remember the pickle barrel at the old stores? How does this work?
The vinegar washes away and kills the bacteria and mold that would destroy the cucumber. The salt also helps to clean the cucumber and makes it taste better, stronger, and prepares the cucumber to deal with the rot that might infect it.
Later, the word baptizo was used to refer to the cloth dyeing process, and also to the process of purifying objects for worship and general usage. In Mark 7, some translations talk about the Jews baptizing pots and pans and even dining couches. Clearly, you don't immerse a dining couch. So the word does not require immersion, but can also be used for the sprinkling of purifying water or the pouring of water.
This use of water for purification goes back a long time. In the Old Testament, in Exodus 30, we find this passage:
17 The Lord spoke to Moses: 18 “Make a bronze basin for washing and a bronze stand for it. Set it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. 19 Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and feet from the basin. 20 Whenever they enter the tent of meeting or approach the altar to minister by burning up an offering to the Lord, they must wash with water so that they will not die. 21 They must wash their hands and feet so that they will not die; this is to be a permanent statute for them, for Aaron and his descendants throughout their generations.”
Washing for cleanliness – and for purification – was required of the high priest and his family before the sacrifices were to be performed. This practice dates back to the time of the escape from Egypt, or about 1600 BC.
By the time of Jesus, the concept of baptizing or washing for purification was well-established. Jesus’ disciples are chewed out for not washing their hands by a group of Pharisees one day. In many Jewish synagogues from the time, we find what we would call a baptistery – a cistern of water with an inlet and an outlet – the Jews of this time felt that what they called “living water” was necessary, water that flowed, however slowly.
But John had taken baptism to a whole new level, declaring that baptism would give anyone who repented a new start in life, a clean slate with God.
Then, the sinless man Jesus walks up to John and asks to be baptized. John recognizes that Jesus is sinless and says that it is Jesus who should be baptizing John. But Jesus says that Jesus must be baptized “to fulfill all righteousness”.
Jesus had walked from Nazareth, tens of miles, to John’s location, and thus He showed us that we often must endure an uncomfortable journey when we want to go nearer to God. If you want to find God, you must go to God rather than expecting God to walk to you.
What can keep us from being baptized? Which sins are too bad and prevent us from being baptized?
In the United Methodist Hymnal, page 33, we have a baptismal ceremony. It has a series of vows for a person to take, and provision that parents or guardians will answer for those who are not able to answer for themselves, such as young children or infants or the disabled.
About ten days ago, I was at the hospital with a young man who could not speak clearly because of a brain injury many years ago. We all knew that his hours on earth were limited because he had severe pneumonia. Although he had attended church and loved it when he was younger, he had not been to church in a while, so I asked if he had been baptized. He had not.
One day, John recognized that his cousin Y'eshua had arrived. Y'eshua was just a few months younger than John, and was much more polished. The interesting thing about this meeting is that Y'eshua, the man the Romans called Jesus, asked to be baptized by John – and John said that he, John, needed to be baptized by Jesus, for John always felt that Jesus was the holier of the two men, even though at the time Jesus was just known for being a minor carpenter in the tiny town of Nazareth near the Lake of Galilee, while John had national fame as a preacher.
Jesus answered John, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” And then John baptized Him.
Why was it necessary for Jesus to be baptized? For that matter, what are the purposes of baptism?
To understand, let’s go back even before Jesus and John were born on this earth.
Around 150 years before Jesus, a document was written. It talked about making pickles. Yes, pickles. The document explains the pickle-making process and is our first known use of the word baptizo, the Greek root of the word baptism. The word refers to the changing of the essential nature of the cucumber by the action of the salt and the vinegar. And there IS a significant change. I can't stand cucumbers, but I love pickles. How many of you as children thought that pickles were something different from cucumbers?
Notice that a cucumber rots quickly, but a pickle can be kept in the pickle juice for months, even at room temperature. Remember the pickle barrel at the old stores? How does this work?
The vinegar washes away and kills the bacteria and mold that would destroy the cucumber. The salt also helps to clean the cucumber and makes it taste better, stronger, and prepares the cucumber to deal with the rot that might infect it.
Later, the word baptizo was used to refer to the cloth dyeing process, and also to the process of purifying objects for worship and general usage. In Mark 7, some translations talk about the Jews baptizing pots and pans and even dining couches. Clearly, you don't immerse a dining couch. So the word does not require immersion, but can also be used for the sprinkling of purifying water or the pouring of water.
This use of water for purification goes back a long time. In the Old Testament, in Exodus 30, we find this passage:
17 The Lord spoke to Moses: 18 “Make a bronze basin for washing and a bronze stand for it. Set it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it. 19 Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and feet from the basin. 20 Whenever they enter the tent of meeting or approach the altar to minister by burning up an offering to the Lord, they must wash with water so that they will not die. 21 They must wash their hands and feet so that they will not die; this is to be a permanent statute for them, for Aaron and his descendants throughout their generations.”
Washing for cleanliness – and for purification – was required of the high priest and his family before the sacrifices were to be performed. This practice dates back to the time of the escape from Egypt, or about 1600 BC.
By the time of Jesus, the concept of baptizing or washing for purification was well-established. Jesus’ disciples are chewed out for not washing their hands by a group of Pharisees one day. In many Jewish synagogues from the time, we find what we would call a baptistery – a cistern of water with an inlet and an outlet – the Jews of this time felt that what they called “living water” was necessary, water that flowed, however slowly.
But John had taken baptism to a whole new level, declaring that baptism would give anyone who repented a new start in life, a clean slate with God.
Then, the sinless man Jesus walks up to John and asks to be baptized. John recognizes that Jesus is sinless and says that it is Jesus who should be baptizing John. But Jesus says that Jesus must be baptized “to fulfill all righteousness”.
Jesus had walked from Nazareth, tens of miles, to John’s location, and thus He showed us that we often must endure an uncomfortable journey when we want to go nearer to God. If you want to find God, you must go to God rather than expecting God to walk to you.
Jesus walked 40 or 50 miles – yet we will not walk the distance from our seat to the front of the sanctuary to be baptized. Jesus stood in front of many strangers, knowing that He was the Son of God, the Man who was better than all the people on earth, asking humbly to be baptized. As Matthew Henry pointed out, Jesus knew that those who will rise high must begin low. Yet we will not stand in front of a few friends to be baptized. We want special treatment, a special treatment that Jesus never asked for.
I have a friend who is a strong, testifying Christian, who speaks to others of Jesus, but he has a certain pride and shame, for he has never been baptized and now feels embarrassed to stand in front of his congregation at his age and be baptized. He also feels he has a sin and he is embarrassed about that sin. I did get permission from him to baptize him if he is dying and unable to speak. But I hope that he gets over his embarrassment soon and gets baptized. For I may not be there when he dies. Then, will my friend ask for special treatment at the gates of heaven?
We are not sufficiently shocked when Jesus asked to be baptized. The closest we can come is imagining our favorite nationally known preacher, a Charles Stanley, a Joel Osteen, a T.D. Jakes, or a Franklin Graham comes into town, goes to a tiny local church and asks the pastor to baptize him. Why would Jesus, the Son of God, need to be baptized? “To fulfill all righteousness” He tells John. It was the right thing to do. Of course, Did you ever think that perhaps Jesus was baptized not so He would be able to become holy, but instead Jesus was baptized so all water used for baptisms might become holy?
In our area, we are influenced strongly by Baptist culture. To most Baptists, baptism is simply the declaration of who’s side you’re on, it is an ordinance, something commanded by the Bible, something we do because it is something Christians do. According to most Baptists, there is nothing deeper here than putting on a T-shirt which says, “I’m now a Christian!” Yet, amazingly enough, most Baptists have a couple of very detailed rules about baptism – you must be immersed, you must be of a certain “age of accountability”. Some Baptist groups also argue you must wear a white robe, you must be immersed in a creek, and you must be baptized by that particular church. They argue that baptisms don’t count unless you fully understand what it means to be a Christian believer, and so they will have you re-baptized if you want, and insist upon it if you were baptized at a young age.
But before the 1520’s, the concept of believer’s baptism, of re-baptism, of immersion being the only “right” way of baptism, did not exist. That was when the first group of people who would become the Mennonites and Amish were re-baptized. And everyone else, Catholic and Protestant alike considered it a heresy at the time.
What about all the Christians in the 1500 years from the time of Christ to that point? Were they all lost because they had been baptized as infants?
In the older churches, the Catholics, the Eastern Churches, the Ethiopian Church, even in the new Protestant churches like the Lutherans, the Presbyterians, the Episcopal, the Congregationalists, the Puritans, and then later in the Methodist and the Evangelical Churches, the United Brethren churches, baptism was considered holy, a sacrament similar to Communion, a place where God stepped in and interfered directly in the life of the one baptized. God did all the important work in baptism – the pastor simply applied the water and said some prayers, the person receiving baptism simply agreed to received the baptism, while God did the work.
We have a document known as “The Teaching of the Apostles” (or The Didarche), which was written sometime around the year 70. It talks of how sprinkling, pouring, or immersion may all be used. It also talks of how warm water may be used if cold water is not available. And we know from other early documents that in many cases the one baptized was stripped naked, with water poured over them, and then a cup of that water was given to them to drink, that they might be cleansed inside as well as outside. In the Eastern Churches today, those that look to Antioch - the town where Paul, Silas, and Barnabas taught, and to Alexandria in Egypt for their heritage, the early centers of Christian teaching, a week-old child is baptized by sitting them in a font, naked, and then cold water is poured over them from a pitcher. Even today.
Why so young?
Because accidents and illness happen, and we want our children to join us with God one day. Children and even infants are not free of sin – an infant is completely selfish, demanding everything, and has inherited the sin-rot that has been passed down from Adam and Eve, through Cain the murderer of his brother, through countless generations of people who have passed the sin-rot to each other, to their children, like a basket of peaches will pass a bit of rot from one peach to another throughout history.
There is no “age of accountability” mentioned in the Bible around baptism. But in Acts 16, we see this story:
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household. (NIV)
Notice that this passage talks about the baptism of the jailor and all his household. In that day, that meant Dad, Mom, children, the hired hands, the maid, their children, maybe Grandma. In a time before birth control, there were always infants around! John Wesley considered this passage as a critical passage to understanding that the churches had baptized children and infants from the beginning. And notice that the passage mentions the household repeatedly.
After all, would we deny baptism to someone who was deaf, unable to hear or to speak clearly? Of course not, we’d provide a translator, right?
Would we deny baptism to someone who was mentally unable to answer, a young man or woman, perhaps, who had a mental deficiency. Would we require them to understand, in detail, and be able to explain the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Would we require them to be able to explain the Apostle’s Creed before we would baptize them? Would we deny baptism to an older man or woman with advance Alzheimer’s? Of course not – we would baptize any of these on the say-so of a parent or guardian.
So why is it that we think it is appropriate to deny baptism to young children and infants? You probably would vaccinate them against polio, against whooping cough, against typhoid. You may vaccinate them against the measles, against the flu, even against chicken pox. Did you ask your child if they wanted those vaccines? Did you wait until they were old enough to understand how a vaccine worked? Of course not. You knew those vaccinations were important and necessary.
Baptism is a vaccination against eternal death – why will you not have your children vaccinated by baptizing them? Do you plan to wait and give them the choice to be baptized one day – which is also the choice to walk away from God, as many of our young people have done over the last thirty years? This choice may have made sense back in the day when the "choice" was actually between which Christian church they would belong to, Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian. But today that choice is between baptism - and no baptism in most cases. What does passing on this decision to your children this say about your faith in God’s ability to keep His promises? And how much do you believe that following Jesus is the right thing to do? Which other choice to you want to give your beloved children? In twenty years, do you want to be begging your son or daughter to be baptized? Or would you like to do it now?
I have a friend who is a strong, testifying Christian, who speaks to others of Jesus, but he has a certain pride and shame, for he has never been baptized and now feels embarrassed to stand in front of his congregation at his age and be baptized. He also feels he has a sin and he is embarrassed about that sin. I did get permission from him to baptize him if he is dying and unable to speak. But I hope that he gets over his embarrassment soon and gets baptized. For I may not be there when he dies. Then, will my friend ask for special treatment at the gates of heaven?
We are not sufficiently shocked when Jesus asked to be baptized. The closest we can come is imagining our favorite nationally known preacher, a Charles Stanley, a Joel Osteen, a T.D. Jakes, or a Franklin Graham comes into town, goes to a tiny local church and asks the pastor to baptize him. Why would Jesus, the Son of God, need to be baptized? “To fulfill all righteousness” He tells John. It was the right thing to do. Of course, Did you ever think that perhaps Jesus was baptized not so He would be able to become holy, but instead Jesus was baptized so all water used for baptisms might become holy?
In our area, we are influenced strongly by Baptist culture. To most Baptists, baptism is simply the declaration of who’s side you’re on, it is an ordinance, something commanded by the Bible, something we do because it is something Christians do. According to most Baptists, there is nothing deeper here than putting on a T-shirt which says, “I’m now a Christian!” Yet, amazingly enough, most Baptists have a couple of very detailed rules about baptism – you must be immersed, you must be of a certain “age of accountability”. Some Baptist groups also argue you must wear a white robe, you must be immersed in a creek, and you must be baptized by that particular church. They argue that baptisms don’t count unless you fully understand what it means to be a Christian believer, and so they will have you re-baptized if you want, and insist upon it if you were baptized at a young age.
But before the 1520’s, the concept of believer’s baptism, of re-baptism, of immersion being the only “right” way of baptism, did not exist. That was when the first group of people who would become the Mennonites and Amish were re-baptized. And everyone else, Catholic and Protestant alike considered it a heresy at the time.
What about all the Christians in the 1500 years from the time of Christ to that point? Were they all lost because they had been baptized as infants?
In the older churches, the Catholics, the Eastern Churches, the Ethiopian Church, even in the new Protestant churches like the Lutherans, the Presbyterians, the Episcopal, the Congregationalists, the Puritans, and then later in the Methodist and the Evangelical Churches, the United Brethren churches, baptism was considered holy, a sacrament similar to Communion, a place where God stepped in and interfered directly in the life of the one baptized. God did all the important work in baptism – the pastor simply applied the water and said some prayers, the person receiving baptism simply agreed to received the baptism, while God did the work.
We have a document known as “The Teaching of the Apostles” (or The Didarche), which was written sometime around the year 70. It talks of how sprinkling, pouring, or immersion may all be used. It also talks of how warm water may be used if cold water is not available. And we know from other early documents that in many cases the one baptized was stripped naked, with water poured over them, and then a cup of that water was given to them to drink, that they might be cleansed inside as well as outside. In the Eastern Churches today, those that look to Antioch - the town where Paul, Silas, and Barnabas taught, and to Alexandria in Egypt for their heritage, the early centers of Christian teaching, a week-old child is baptized by sitting them in a font, naked, and then cold water is poured over them from a pitcher. Even today.
Why so young?
Because accidents and illness happen, and we want our children to join us with God one day. Children and even infants are not free of sin – an infant is completely selfish, demanding everything, and has inherited the sin-rot that has been passed down from Adam and Eve, through Cain the murderer of his brother, through countless generations of people who have passed the sin-rot to each other, to their children, like a basket of peaches will pass a bit of rot from one peach to another throughout history.
There is no “age of accountability” mentioned in the Bible around baptism. But in Acts 16, we see this story:
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household. (NIV)
Notice that this passage talks about the baptism of the jailor and all his household. In that day, that meant Dad, Mom, children, the hired hands, the maid, their children, maybe Grandma. In a time before birth control, there were always infants around! John Wesley considered this passage as a critical passage to understanding that the churches had baptized children and infants from the beginning. And notice that the passage mentions the household repeatedly.
After all, would we deny baptism to someone who was deaf, unable to hear or to speak clearly? Of course not, we’d provide a translator, right?
Would we deny baptism to someone who was mentally unable to answer, a young man or woman, perhaps, who had a mental deficiency. Would we require them to understand, in detail, and be able to explain the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Would we require them to be able to explain the Apostle’s Creed before we would baptize them? Would we deny baptism to an older man or woman with advance Alzheimer’s? Of course not – we would baptize any of these on the say-so of a parent or guardian.
So why is it that we think it is appropriate to deny baptism to young children and infants? You probably would vaccinate them against polio, against whooping cough, against typhoid. You may vaccinate them against the measles, against the flu, even against chicken pox. Did you ask your child if they wanted those vaccines? Did you wait until they were old enough to understand how a vaccine worked? Of course not. You knew those vaccinations were important and necessary.
Baptism is a vaccination against eternal death – why will you not have your children vaccinated by baptizing them? Do you plan to wait and give them the choice to be baptized one day – which is also the choice to walk away from God, as many of our young people have done over the last thirty years? This choice may have made sense back in the day when the "choice" was actually between which Christian church they would belong to, Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian. But today that choice is between baptism - and no baptism in most cases. What does passing on this decision to your children this say about your faith in God’s ability to keep His promises? And how much do you believe that following Jesus is the right thing to do? Which other choice to you want to give your beloved children? In twenty years, do you want to be begging your son or daughter to be baptized? Or would you like to do it now?
In the Methodist churches, we also believe that the near-adult needs to make a decision - but that is the decision made during confirmation, as series of classes taught to allow the teenager to understand the faith. At that time, they can re-affirm their commitment to the church, taking on the vows for themselves that their parents made and followed through with for them when they were very young.
Why don’t we baptize repeatedly? Why don’t we re-baptize someone? Because I, for one, am not going to tell the perfect God of the Universe that God made a mistake once before when you were baptized. I hear adults say all the time – When I was baptized, I didn’t know what I was doing. Of course not. But God knew. God knew what He was doing and that’s all that is important.
But what do we believe that baptism does for us?
The Catholics believe that salvation only comes from within the church and baptism is the way you join that church. The Baptists believe we are baptized because we are ordered to be baptized, but it is nothing more than putting a sign on you that you have joined Jesus’ team. But we Methodists have a deeper understanding of baptism...
When we are baptized, God reaches into our heart and flips a spiritual switch. Now, instead of trying to do good for the wrong reasons, like avoiding hellfire, we can do good simply because it is good. Our hearts have been regenerated. In addition, during the baptism ceremony, just after the water has been applied, hands are laid onto us and the pastor prays for the Holy Spirit to come into the person. And it is God, acting as God the Holy Spirit, who completely changes our life from that point onward.
Now, we can listen and hear the Holy Spirit.
Now, we can receive guidance from the Holy Spirit.
Now, we can live forever because our natural spirit has been replaced with the eternal Holy Spirit.
At this point, we are now able to begin the walk down the path of holiness, reading the Word of God and listening to the Holy Spirit, as we follow Jesus and become more and more like Him.
But do I need the Holy Spirit? Isn't that a "Pentecostal" thing?
In Acts 8, beginning in verse 14, we see this story:
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
The people of Samaria needed the Holy Spirit for guidance. And the usual way that the Holy Spirit arrives is for a believer with the Holy Spirit to lay on hands.
Why don’t we baptize repeatedly? Why don’t we re-baptize someone? Because I, for one, am not going to tell the perfect God of the Universe that God made a mistake once before when you were baptized. I hear adults say all the time – When I was baptized, I didn’t know what I was doing. Of course not. But God knew. God knew what He was doing and that’s all that is important.
But what do we believe that baptism does for us?
The Catholics believe that salvation only comes from within the church and baptism is the way you join that church. The Baptists believe we are baptized because we are ordered to be baptized, but it is nothing more than putting a sign on you that you have joined Jesus’ team. But we Methodists have a deeper understanding of baptism...
When we are baptized, God reaches into our heart and flips a spiritual switch. Now, instead of trying to do good for the wrong reasons, like avoiding hellfire, we can do good simply because it is good. Our hearts have been regenerated. In addition, during the baptism ceremony, just after the water has been applied, hands are laid onto us and the pastor prays for the Holy Spirit to come into the person. And it is God, acting as God the Holy Spirit, who completely changes our life from that point onward.
Now, we can listen and hear the Holy Spirit.
Now, we can receive guidance from the Holy Spirit.
Now, we can live forever because our natural spirit has been replaced with the eternal Holy Spirit.
At this point, we are now able to begin the walk down the path of holiness, reading the Word of God and listening to the Holy Spirit, as we follow Jesus and become more and more like Him.
But do I need the Holy Spirit? Isn't that a "Pentecostal" thing?
In Acts 8, beginning in verse 14, we see this story:
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
The people of Samaria needed the Holy Spirit for guidance. And the usual way that the Holy Spirit arrives is for a believer with the Holy Spirit to lay on hands.
What can keep us from being baptized? Which sins are too bad and prevent us from being baptized?
Only our own choice keeps us from baptism. No sin is too ugly when we want to follow Christ. Later in the same chapter, Philip has been talking with a eunuch from Ethiopia about the arrival of the Christ. The Old Testament specifically forbids mutilation of this sort. Eunuchs were forbidden in the Temple. But beginning in verse 36, it says:
36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?”... And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.
36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?”... And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.
In the United Methodist Hymnal, page 33, we have a baptismal ceremony. It has a series of vows for a person to take, and provision that parents or guardians will answer for those who are not able to answer for themselves, such as young children or infants or the disabled.
About ten days ago, I was at the hospital with a young man who could not speak clearly because of a brain injury many years ago. We all knew that his hours on earth were limited because he had severe pneumonia. Although he had attended church and loved it when he was younger, he had not been to church in a while, so I asked if he had been baptized. He had not.
I asked if he wanted to be baptized, to squeeze his father’s hand if he wanted to be baptized. He gripped his father’s hand tightly. So I took a cup of water, a simple cup of water, water, that substance that is absolutely necessary for life - and baptized him in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I laid hands upon him and prayed that he would receive the Holy Spirit. The next morning, he went to be with Jesus and I preached his funeral yesterday.
Friends, do not wait until the end. If you are baptized today or next week, you will hopefully have years to grow closer to Jesus, learning new joys all the time, learning the feeling of love as the Holy Spirit speaks to you, learning how to enjoy life on this earth, that enjoyment that comes with the knowledge that you are going to be with God. Do not waste your life away from God's love.
If you have not been baptized today, if your children have not been baptized today, step forward, come up front and ask to be baptized. We will say the prayers, put the water on your head, and God will baptize you. You will belong to God and no one, no disease, no injury will be able to take you away from God. Your eternal life will be secure as long as you try to follow that path of holiness. For no sin is too great to keep you away from God except the sin of turning your back to God, of choosing to walk away one day. Yet even then, God will take you back if you but ask. Come forward to be baptized today.
About three years ago, my earthly father came to the VA for an Friday appointment. Afib was discovered and treated overnight. We drove him home the next day. I knew my father had never been baptized, so I asked him – Dad, would you like to be baptized? He said, “I don’t think I’m healthy enough to go down to the river.” I said, “we can just sprinkle water on you…it works too.” He said, “I’ll think about it.”
On Tuesday, he went to see his local doctor, double-checking his medicines, then walked across the street to the restaurant where his graduating class were planning their class reunion. He sat down at the table and collapsed with a major heart attack. He never regained consciousness and had irreversible brain damage. So a week later, a couple of hours before we pulled the plug, I baptized him with the assistance of two other pastors.
We don’t know how much time we have. If you believe that Jesus Christ was and is the Son of God, with the power and the love to give you eternal life, if you truly want to follow Him… then take the next step today and get baptized. Have your children baptized so you will all be together again in heaven. Get baptized "to fulfill all righteousness."
Friends, do not wait until the end. If you are baptized today or next week, you will hopefully have years to grow closer to Jesus, learning new joys all the time, learning the feeling of love as the Holy Spirit speaks to you, learning how to enjoy life on this earth, that enjoyment that comes with the knowledge that you are going to be with God. Do not waste your life away from God's love.
If you have not been baptized today, if your children have not been baptized today, step forward, come up front and ask to be baptized. We will say the prayers, put the water on your head, and God will baptize you. You will belong to God and no one, no disease, no injury will be able to take you away from God. Your eternal life will be secure as long as you try to follow that path of holiness. For no sin is too great to keep you away from God except the sin of turning your back to God, of choosing to walk away one day. Yet even then, God will take you back if you but ask. Come forward to be baptized today.
About three years ago, my earthly father came to the VA for an Friday appointment. Afib was discovered and treated overnight. We drove him home the next day. I knew my father had never been baptized, so I asked him – Dad, would you like to be baptized? He said, “I don’t think I’m healthy enough to go down to the river.” I said, “we can just sprinkle water on you…it works too.” He said, “I’ll think about it.”
On Tuesday, he went to see his local doctor, double-checking his medicines, then walked across the street to the restaurant where his graduating class were planning their class reunion. He sat down at the table and collapsed with a major heart attack. He never regained consciousness and had irreversible brain damage. So a week later, a couple of hours before we pulled the plug, I baptized him with the assistance of two other pastors.
We don’t know how much time we have. If you believe that Jesus Christ was and is the Son of God, with the power and the love to give you eternal life, if you truly want to follow Him… then take the next step today and get baptized. Have your children baptized so you will all be together again in heaven. Get baptized "to fulfill all righteousness."
