In the fall of 1970, as a nine year old boy, freshly saved and scrubbed after an exciting week of “Thief In The Night” movies and little boy prayer at Frontier Bible Camp that summer, I climbed down into the warm watered baptistry of the lovely, old Maynard Baptist Church and was immersion baptized by the right, feisty Reverend Wesley Thompson. I honestly believe I meant every promise I made to God that night, even though I didn’t fully understand them and haven’t lived like I meant them. My Sunday School teacher, Marge Tuninga, and others said I should do it and so I did it and now I’ve got that part of the whole Christian deal over and done with...right? Check the block on that little bit of religion; what’s next?Aside from when I’ve had to, I’ve never really preached much about baptism over the years. Mainly I’ve avoided the subject because other people spend too much time arguing about it. For some reason, baptism is one of those pesky, contentious issues bringing out the cussed crankiness in church people. This crabby conversation keeps us in different buildings on Sundays. People argue about how and when we’re supposed to do it. They argue about its proper relation to local church membership. They argue about what fancy theological labels we’re going to use for it and who gets to be in charge of it. Yada, yada, yada! I guess I just got sick of all the fighting and so, mostly, I dumped the whole subject for years.
But that’s a bad idea because baptism is a beautiful metaphor; a powerful declaration. I sincerely believe our enemy the devil would like nothing more than for us to drop the subject permanently. And as I watch the cheap grace, empty, irrelevant, narcisstic, truthless, toothless, lukewarm, nauseating, self-absorbed “easy-believism” passed off as genuine Christian faith all around our world these days, I wonder if baptism isn’t something we ought to be preaching and teaching almost constantly. Perhaps spending regular moments prayerfully pondering baptism will help us understand how we’re supposed to be doing almost everything else as Christians.
Turn to Matthew 3. Skipping almost the entire childhood, adolescence and young adult work life of Jesus, the Gospel writer Matthew jumps decades forward between the last verse of chapter 2 and first verse of chapter 3. At the time of these wilderness baptismal events, there have been no powerful prophets in Israel for over 400 years and now, shouting loudly from the exact same wilderness area from which God spoke so many times in the past, comes the loud, counter-cultural voice of one of God’s very special saints, the wild man prophet, John the Baptizer. Rebellion, revolution and the possibility of sweet revival are in the air…the Spirit of God is once again hovering low over the waters.
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'" John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
This is an enormous baptismal and spiritual moment! All the gospel writers skip almost all the stories of Jesus’ early years, and we’re apparently none the worse for wear, but not one of the Gospel writers skip this pivotal baptismal moment. And they don’t because this baptismal passage is our great declaration in the wilderness; it declares almost everything we believe.
Baptism Is Repentance
Baptism shouts our repentance. Baptism declares to the world we have seen the error, the evil and the arrogance of our sinful ways and we have turned away from it. We have seen the hand of God writing His scary warnings on the walls of our life and we don’t want His words of condemnation coming true over us. We are utterly repentant; wanting God to change our lives before it is too late to change our lives. LORD, light the refiner’s fire in me right now!
When John the Baptist yelled at the pious religious folks in verses 7-9 of our passage and called them a “brood of vipers,” he insulted them in the worst way imaginable. He made it crystal clear genuine repentance was the only ticket into the baptismal waters. And we know from Herodutus and Plutarch that the ancient world used to believe vipers killed their mothers by eating their way out of them at birth. And so to be called a brood of vipers was to be called a “motherkiller.” “You people have eaten the very ones who gave you life! Who told you to come out here and flee the coming wrath? Just because I’m real popular with the people right now, just because it is trendy to come out here to the crazy, hairy, foul-smelling prophet in the wilderness for baptism, doesn’t mean the significance is in the water. Don’t think this is all just one more empty religious ritual to add to your other pious, empty rituals!” Baptism is about genuine repentance, remorse and rejection of sin. It is about walking away and walking right! It is asking the Spirit to light His refining fire! You can come to these cleansing waters only if you are willing to truly repent of your sins. Baptism shouts our abject and utter repentance!
Baptism Is Preparation
Baptism shouts preparation. Baptism is about intentionally preparing a way for the King and His Kingdom to come into our lives. This is what the famous quotation from Isaiah is all about in verse 3, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.” In the ancient world, roadways in the wilderness were only prepared and repaired when the king himself or only his highest officials were planning to travel on them. And so John refers to this ancient quotation from Isaiah because he wanted people to understand baptism as this sort of a preparatory event. In baptism, we are responding to the grace offered to us by intentionally preparing a way for the King to come to us, visit us, and make His home with us. LORD, start the fire now, burn away the chaff now – make a pathway in my life for Your glory to come!
Baptism Is Humiliation
But baptism also shouts humiliation. Think about it! Jesus Christ, the LORD of the Universe, Holy Son of the Most High God, submitting Himself to baptism at the nasty, sinful hands of a mere human being is one of many intentionally humiliating moments in the life of Jesus. John the Baptist was horrified at the thought he would actually baptize Jesus. He saw himself as unworthy of even being the slave of Jesus, unworthy of carrying the sandals of Jesus, much less serve as the baptizer of Jesus. And yet Jesus Christ insisted John do so because genuine baptism always requires humiliation. Jesus is modeling something here…
Baptism Is Obedience
But at the end of the day, perhaps the simplest and most important reason we submit ourselves for baptism is obedience. We do it for the same reason Jesus alluded to in verse 15, “Come on, John, let’s just do this thing because it is the right thing to do!” And Jesus’ famous commissioning words to His disciples in Matthew 28, which we will study next Sunday, we were given baptismal instructions even more explicitly. “Go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” Obey me in this! Even if we had no comprehension of the gorgeous significance of baptism, even if all these other declarations weren’t part of the baptismal metaphor, we should still insist on baptism simply because Jesus told us to do it. Baptism is simply about our longing to obey. Baptism is perhaps our first and most important declaration to the world of our radical desire to obey and follow God wherever He leads us.
Vernon McGee, in his commentary on the passage, tells the story of an old sea captain trying to get a young sailor to see his need of baptism. Getting bluntly to the point, the sea captain said, “Young man, baptism is all about duty or mutiny!” It really is just about that simple! Baptism is simply a holy duty. Jesus told us to! It is one of the first and probably the very least of our duties. Baptism declares our simple desire to obey. Anything else is mutiny!
Baptism Is Revelation
But then look what happens in verses 16-17 of the chapter. “As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Wow! And then if we jump over to the first chapter of John, where John the Baptist has a chance to more fully describe the moment, we read that “John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.’” At the moment of His baptism, Jesus is revealed to the world for what He is. This moment of Trinity, Father speaking from heaven, Spirit descending as a dove and Son obediently coming up out of the water is an absolutely enormous moment of special revelation. And baptism serves exactly that same function for us. What we really are is finally revealed for the world to see.
Baptism shouts revelation. Baptism rubs the crooked, sniveling nose of our enemy the devil in our wonderful escape from his clutches! Baptism reveals to the world that we are now seeking the pleasure of Almighty God above and beyond other things. Baptism shouts “I Am Second!” Baptism shouts our desire for Almighty God to say the same thing to us said to Jesus. “This is my child, whom I love; with him or her I am well pleased.” Baptism is revelation!
Baptism Rings The Bell
And because of all these other declarations, baptism is also one final thing. Baptism declares us battle ready! Baptism picks the fight; it declares our freedom to the pit! Do you notice what happens immediately after this glorious, revealing moment of Jesus’ baptism? I don’t want to stretch the significance of this, but do you honestly think it any coincidence the very first verse of the next chapter says Jesus was led immediately into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil? How interesting! Should it surprise us that the very next Bible story in Matthew, Mark and Luke is about the devil attacking our LORD? Baptism is our official beginning of the fight. Baptism rings the bell at the beginning of the boxing match.
Erwin McManus told a story years ago of a professional football player who had never obeyed the LORD in baptism because he was terrified of the ocean, where their church typically held baptismal services. As a younger man, he had seen someone attacked by a shark and had avoided the ocean ever since. And yet when he finally came to Pastor McManus and asked to be baptized somewhere else, Erwin McManus did something very wise. He looked this hulking football player in the face and said, “No man, you especially must make these declarations in the ocean! All baptism is about fearlessly facing the shark!” That baptism was a glorious day!
Folks; baptism declares us battle ready. Baptism joyously rings for the bell! Baptism faithfully shouts glorious and powerful things right into the crooked teeth of the shark!
Thirty-nine years ago, I climbed into these waters to declare my allegiances and to pick a nasty fight with the devil. I repented of my sins, prepared a way for the LORD, invited the Spirit to begin His burning, cleansing work in me, humiliated myself as I obediently identified myself with Jesus. I asked my LORD to reveal to me and to the world all I am and all He wants me to be. In a very real sense, I picked a fight! I rang the bell! I declared myself in full blown rebellion against the nasty, steaming shark who thought he had a pretty good grip on me. My loving LORD initiated me into something enormously bigger than I ever expected it to be. I had no idea I was saying and doing all that. Did you?
Or have you never been willing to pick this fight? Have you spent your entire life living like a frustrated spiritual spectator because you fearfully refuse to radically obey the LORD? It isn’t just baptism we’re talking about in all this, but radical, carpe diem discipleship you’ve never been willing to embrace. Baptism is the tip of the iceberg…
On the final Sunday of this month, we will give the opportunity to shout these freedom declarations. We’re going to have our baptismal tank filled and ready, and at the close of that service, if you’ve never obeyed the LORD in baptism or, if you would like, for whatever reason, to be baptized for a second, third, fourth or a fiftieth time, we will give you the opportunity to do so, no classes, no paperwork, no pesky religion whatsoever. We’re not going to argue about methods here, we’re not pushing for some step on a road to church membership (although it is here at Elim), we’re not talking about some tedious religious argument at all; not any of that stuff. We’re just talking about picking the right fight and making freedom declarations.
May we faithfully and joyously declare our heavenly rebellion! May our baptismal joy, our baptismal passion, our baptismal declarations strike fear into the evil heart of the beast! May our baptismal declarations become the beginning of our fully and radically baptized life!
Amen.
