Best of 2020's - Why is Baptism Central to the Christian Life? (The Centrality of Baptism)

Baptism is anything but a throw-away topic for Christians.  It is Central to our daily walk and gives us hope as we see it for what it is.  Today, we learn that baptism is a Covenant Sign of Initiation.  Baptism for the believer becomes the “starting line” so to speak for the disciple of Christ.  And just in case you were wondering, a “disciple” according to John, is simply a life-long learner. 

About John

John Fonville is Pastor of Paramount Church in Jacksonville, Florida. Paramount Church is part of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). 

The Him We Proclaim Podcast features the preaching and teaching ministry of Dr. John Fonville at Paramount Church. This resource aims to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to all people. The gospel cannot be assumed. An assumed gospel will, in time, become a denied gospel. Thus, each generation must rediscover the paramount truths of the gospel and apply the gospel's implications to their own day and age. Him we proclaim (Col. 1:28)!

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HWP Announcer 

Hi, this is the Him We Proclaim podcast. These are the messages of John Fonville, you're listening to Season Five called two keys to spiritual growth. Here's message number 10 called The Centrality of Baptism.

John Fonville 

By way of introduction to look at this, let me just kind of get you a context for understanding baptism and the sacraments and the evangelical culture in which we find ourselves living. When it comes to exhortations to spiritual growth, evangelicals have founded as many biblical means of grace satisfactions penances as medieval believers did, prior to the Reformation. Let me just give you one example of an extra biblical means of grace that has a central role in the weekly liturgy, the weekly worship service of the Southern Baptist Church in which I grew up in. Perhaps you didn't grow up as a Southern Baptist, but you might, I think, be able to identify with this extra biblical means of grace. This man made right. Each week in the liturgy of the church where I grew up in there was a manmade right called rededication. How many of you have ever heard of come to church and go through rededication just about every hand. When I grew up every Sunday and Wednesday night and on Wednesday night, even at the midweek service, if there was a fight over the budget, because usually Wednesday night midweek service, if you're a committed Christian boy, you show up for the midweek service, and all you did was fight over the budget. But even then, at the end of the liturgy, the pastor would always extend a call to everybody to come rededicate themselves. Let me explain to you historically rededication, rededication, historically speaking is nothing more than medieval pennants. And is enacted as accompanied by all sorts of satisfactions. rededication is more like a weekly New Year's resolution. It was for me nothing more than getting back into God's good graces. And so in my tradition, growing up in my Southern Baptists revival list, ik tradition, rededication would be accompanied like this, there's weeping. A prayer is prayed after the minister and the minister would say, if you really mean it, pray this prayer with me. Right? And then tears are expected to be evidence of washing away of all your recent failures. But though not not overtly voice, the implicit belief was that when you have blown it, when you have grown cold, when you have grown and different in your Christian life, this act of rededication which is a satisfaction, which is your promise to God, to really get serious this time. This time, I really mean business when I come forward. This act of satisfaction and penance would move God to compassion, and it would bring you back into his good graces. And so yet each time we all went forward week after week after week to have this crisis rededication. You know, we'll lay it all down on the altar. As soon as we laid it all down, we would pick it all right back up and take it back to our seat. Because when we left church, we would blow it again. And when we blew it again, we would start to feel really guilty. And so this whole endless enslaving cycle of penance starts all over again. No, King Solomon said this in Ecclesiastes chapter one, verse nine, there's nothing new under the sun. This form of enslaving manmade religion is not altogether different from the prescribed methods of penance in the medieval church. And this is the ironic thing about evangelicals. evangelicals are put off by the term sacrament, as if it's some kind of throwback to Roman Catholicism. put you out there actually practicing Roman Catholicism called rededication. And so like the evangelical Protestant reformers, we need to strip away from the church, all these manmade sacraments, which fight no biblical warrant in the Scriptures whatsoever. And what we need to do is to recover and make central in our church is in our churches and in our lives. The divinely instituted means of grace which our Lord has given to us, to nourish us, to strengthen us and to assure our faith. This was the goal of the Protestant reformers. The goal of the evangelical that's literally not Capitole, but historically, evangelical Protestant reformers, their goal was to read the church of manmade rights, manmade sacraments. Manmade man-made writes that our Lord never commanded, they wanted to read the church or that so that they could highlight the two Paramount means of grace that he actually had instituted. And listen, that would be baptism and the Lord's Supper, that is the two keys to spiritual growth. Holy Communion is the first key to spiritual growth that we looked at. So what we do, trying to be faithful to Scripture is that rather than the habitual manmade practice of rededication which is based on our promise to be faithful. What Jesus has instituted for us is this ongoing covenant renewal ceremony called Holy Communion, which is based on his promise to us to be faithful to us. The Sacrament of Holy Communion is sustaining grace. Holy Communion can be thought like this. It's the Daytona 500 comes every year right down the highway from us about 60 miles south. And so they're, you know, they're flying around this racetrack. I only watch NASCAR once a year, Daytona 500 last 10 laps, because that's the most exciting part where they're just going 200 miles an hour, two inches apart from each other crashing all over the place, and it's just exciting. But, but for that 500 mile race, they have to make pit stops, right? Because they have to refuel, they have to get new tires, they have to wash their windshields, they have to get a pit stop. Holy Communion is like a weekly pitstop. That's what the church is for Holy Communion is the pitstop in the race of the Christian life. So that we come to church to refuel, so that we can have grace for the journey of our sanctification. So in this sacramental meal, what we've learned is that God, the Holy Spirit comes to us and He reassures us every week of Christ continued faithfulness to be our Lord and Savior. And that strengthens and nourishes our faith. So that's what we looked at for the first nine weeks. But now we come to the second key for spiritual growth, which is baptism. The Sacrament of Baptism is very important for the growth of your faith. And we're going to spend the next several weeks maybe month or longer looking at baptism, because I don't know if you've ever been taught that you're supposed to use your baptism every day of your life to pursue the Christian life. It's not that you get baptized and then you're you forget about it. You use your baptism every single day of your life till Jesus comes back. And so baptism is very important for the growth of your faith. So if Holy Communion is sustaining grace, baptism is beginning grace. Just as the Lord's Supper replaces Passover, a baptism replaces circumcision. Circumcision in the Old Testament, was the sacrament of initiation. Baptism in the New Testament as the sacrament of initiation. Baptism is the sacrament of inclusion into God's covenant of grace imbibe baptism, what we're gonna see is that God promises salvation to those who trust Christ alone, who is freely given to us in the gospel. So I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 28. And let's just read the Great Commission. Matthew chapter 28. Let's look at verses 18 through 20. When Jesus has given His disciples a great commission, and listen to what he says to them, he says, All authority has been given to Me in Heaven on Earth, Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations. And here's the question, Jesus, how do we make disciples? How do we do this? Look what he says, baptizing them. That's the means of grace that Jesus Institute's for us to make disciples, a disciple is a lifelong learner. And so he says, Go therefore, and make disciples and here's the beginning grace, here's how it starts, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, the Holy Spirit. And here's the second teaching, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And he gives us the promise that this will succeed. He says, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. How do we make disciples Jesus and care of note this carefully? Jesus tells us that the means of grace that He Institute's for making disciples as baptizing and teaching is called Word and Sacrament. Word and Sacrament baptizing and teaching, that's Word and Sacrament. And so Jesus commands that converts to Christianity or to be baptized. Baptism is to play a central role in the life of a disciple. The disciple is a lifelong learner and disciple was made first by being baptized. And so that ism is very important for the growth of your faith as long as you use baptism, the way that God intended for you to use it. And so what we're going to do this week, and next week, maybe the following week is we're going to look at five vital truths about baptism. And these five vital truths about baptism underscore the central role that baptism plays in the believers spiritual growth. And these five vital truths about baptism will help you understand how God intends for you to properly use baptism so that you can grow. So here's the first line we're gonna look at is this baptism doesn't save. We're just gonna start with that one, baptism doesn't save. Okay? If you are going to use your baptism properly, you must understand that baptism doesn't save is that crystal clear? Many people trust in their baptism for their salvation. They're trusting in their baptism rather than trusting in Christ. Baptism doesn't save Jesus saves. And so just like the apostle Paul, prior to his conversion, and all the Pharisees who placed their confidence in their circumcision and other external privileges, in the covenant community, some people place their trust in the external rite of baptism is that which saved them. Baptism doesn't say Jesus saves. So the pure administration of the sacrament of baptism involves rejecting this false idea that baptism is necessary for salvation. Right? We always have the classic example of the thief on the cross. He did not really have I mean, he could probably could have been sprinkled or poured on but at that point, he didn't really have an opportunity to get baptized. It was pretty quick like, Lord Believe me, Okay, I'm gonna remember you today would be with Me in Paradise and boom, he was dead. He didn't really have the opportunity. But ordinarily we do. But we'll come back to that in a couple of weeks. But the point is, baptism doesn't save and so the if, if you're to properly use your baptism, don't trust in it. Right. Roman orthodox communions, teach that baptism was necessary for salvation. Listen to the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church. This comes from chapter seven, paragraph 1263. It's a big catechism. It says as it says that my baptism all sins are forgiven. Now we would change it we would say by Christ, all sins are forgiven. By baptism will all sins are forgiven, original sin and all personal sins as well as all punishment for sin x, sign me up, right? See, like Holy Communion baptism is a sign and seal of the covenant of grace. Let me explain that. This is what my professor says. He says in the nature of signs and seals, they are not the thing represented and sealed. The water that you see in the baptismal font is not Jesus. It's water. Right? It's the sign is the seal. The embossed stamp, and the sign diploma is not one's education, nor is a marriage certificate, one's marriage. I've never pointed anybody to my marriage certificate that I received in Winston Salem in 1993. And said, everybody, here's Katherine. She's never said everybody hears, John. That's not the reality. That's the sign and seal of a greater reality that it points to. And so just as marriage certificate is not one's marriage, so baptism is not one salvation. The Holy Spirit creates faith in our hearts by the preaching of the gospel. Paul says in Romans chapter 10, verse 17, faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. That is very important that you get word of Christ there because it's not word of God is word of Christ, because that is the gospel that produces faith by the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit, taking the preaching of the Gospel creates faith in our hearts, by the preaching of the gospel and then listen, and then the Holy Spirit confirms he seals he guarantees he assures our faith by the use of the Holy Sacraments. The Holy Spirit creates faith through the preaching of the Gospel, the Holy Spirit confirms faith through the use of the Holy Sacraments. Do you see the difference? That's why the whole liturgy that we have in our church says, the service of the word and the service of the sacrament, the service of the word is the creation of faith, the service of the sacrament is the confirmation of faith. And so baptism is God's visible sign and seal a seal is a pledge and as a guarantee, it is a confirmation. That that we are as truly washed from our sin spiritually, as our bodies are washed with water physically. But it is not the outward washing of water itself, that washes away our sin. Listen to the apostle John. He says only the death of Jesus on the cross and the Holy Spirit cleanses us from all sin. First John chapter one, verse seven, the blood of Jesus His Son, cleanses us from all sin. First Peter, chapter three, verse 21, Peter writes, baptism now saves you, oh, keep reading. baptism now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, not the outward washing, but in appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of Jesus Christ saves you, too, to which baptism is the sign and seal of that resurrection. And so the sacraments do not work faith they and they reinforce faith, just as a wedding ring does not listen, make a marriage, it reinforces the love of that marriage. So that's the first final truth about baptisms. Baptism doesn't save Jesus saves. But second, baptism is a visible gospel. Baptism is a visible gospel. You to use baptism properly in your life. Don't ever remodel baptism into something that is a work you do. Baptism is not your work. It's God's gift to you. Baptism is a visible gospel, just as the Lord's Supper is a visible gospel. Baptism is pure gospel, it is not illegal, right. Baptism is a sign and seal of the righteousness that you have by faith, just as circumcision. Romans chapter four verse 11, was a formerly a sign and seal of the righteousness that Old Testament believers had my faith. This is how one author describes a baptism. He says baptism is a joyful sign of the gospel. It is a joyful sign of the gospel. Baptism isn't neon light flashing gospel, gospel gospel, when you look up at this baptism of fire on every week, and when you watch baptisms and a couple of weeks in this church, that is the Holy Spirit using that sign flashing to you to you. Good news, good news. Good news. You are washed and cleaned from all your pollution and sin. And so like Holy Communion, baptism is God's sign and seal to us. It is not our sign and seal to God. Baptism signifies and seals God's promise, not our promise. What is God's promise? Listen, the Heidelberg Catechism question 69. Christ has instituted the outward washing of water, and has joined it with this promise. Just as surely as I'm washing outwardly with water, whereby commonly the filthiness of my body is taken away. So certainly I'm washed with his blood and spirit, from the pollution of my soul that is from all my sins. That's God's promise in baptism. All my filthy defilement before God that crushes my conscience, and bring shame to my life, and leaves me sitting in guilt has been washed away forever. That's what baptism tells you. So baptism and water points to the spiritual reality, the washing away of sin by the blood of Christ and the Holy Spirit. Paul and Titus chapter three, verse five says that the water applied in baptism is the outward and visible sign of the inward Washington of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. This is why baptism is often called the sacrament of regeneration. And so is the visible gospel baptism is a triune God's gift to us it is not our gift to him. The Sacrament of Baptism is intended by God, to feed our faith to comfort us to assure us that all our pollution, all the pollution of my soul has been washed away forevermore. And so the focus of this of this sacrament, what is the primary focus here it is, the primary focus of baptism must always be on what God has done for us what he is currently doing for us, and not only what we have, what we are or what we will be doing for God. So one of the things that I've learned as I've grown in my discipleship, which has been a painful, long journey, right? And it's taken me a long time to get this point. I am far less faithful than I thought I was. But Jesus is far more faithful to me than I ever believed that he would be. And that's what baptism teaches us. The psalmist says, you hear week after week after week in the call to worship Psalm 105. His loving kindness is everlasting. That's his steadfast love. What is that loving kindness, steadfast love is made a promise, and he'll keep it forever. He's made a promise and that promise is everlasting. His faithfulness to all generations. Baptism tells you that baptism confirms this. It assures you of this. And so what the baptized is primarily confessing and as not their undying devotion to God. What the baptizer being are confessing as God's unfailing devotion to redeem me, to cleanse me to sanctify me and ultimately, to glorify this weak, sinful believer? That's what baptism is confessing. But yet, how often is baptism presented primarily as our undying devotion to God? Well, if you're really serious, you can be baptized. Make your public profession and show how committed you are to this undying devotion to God and show them how faithful you are that remodels the gospel. We have grown up with this notion of baptism is solely our public profession of faithfulness to follow Christ. But baptism is first and foremost God's pledge of faithfulness to draw us It is His promises. and pledge of faithfulness to save us that draws forth our look response to be faithful to Him. First John, chapter four, verse 19, we'd love because it doesn't say we love God first, therefore He loves us. So when we were talking about baptism, what we could say is we are faithful we love because he first loved us we are faithful, because he is eternally faithful to us. Do you see the difference? So when baptism is set for solely as our public profession of faithfulness, we're really meaning that we're really radical. We're really devoted, we're really committed when when baptism is remodeled like this, from a visible gospel and to illegal work. God's work is remodeled into a work that we do God's pledge of faithfulness become solely our pledge of faithfulness, it becomes our public witness to show how committed we are. Does everybody see what I'm saying? You just remodel the whole gospel. And so this visible gospel becomes man centered rather than God centered. And so rather than baptism being a sign and seal that God comes to us in love and grace, placing his mark of ownership on us as his covenant people will look at that and a couple of weeks from the Great Commission we baptized in the name of we received the name of the Triune God on us forever. Rather than baptism being that baptism becomes something we do to show that we truly mean business with God. But when understood properly, baptism is a visible sign and seal of the gospel to show us that the Triune God means business with us. And it's all good business. That's all good news. And so because baptism is the visible gospel, guess what Christ's death, burial and resurrection lie at its very heart. The Paramount parts of the gospel First Corinthians chapter 15, that ism declares that our discipleship is essentially a dying, bearing and rising of life with Christ. This is what Paul teaches. And so turn to Romans chapter six. As we finish and conclude here, we can come back to this later, but just look at this for a moment, as we finish. Listen to what the Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter six, verses three through five. He says that our water baptism proclaims the good news of our union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. Christ's death, burial and resurrection lie at the heart of baptism. He says, Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus had been baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead, through the glory of the Father, so to we might walk in newness of life, for free, have become united with Him in the likeness of His death. Certainly, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection. And so Paul says, look as a holy sign as a holy visible sign and seal of the gospel. Baptism proclaims baptism assures baptism symbolizes our union with Christ and His death in his burial, and then his resurrection. Do you know why this is important for your spiritual growth? Here's why. Because union with Christ lies at the heart of your spiritual growth and discipleship. And that's what baptism proclaims to you. That's what empowers you to live out holiness. The key to living a holy life, the key to growing spiritually is living by faith in union with Christ. And so to keep God's law, your soul must be empowered out of the fullness of Christ. And the power to live a holy life is something that is produced in you by Christ. That is treasured up for you in him. And this is what baptism proclaims to us. And so through the Holy Spirit, gift of faith, we come into union with Christ and water baptism proclaims This union, it assures us of this union is strengthens this union. It preaches this union to us. And that is what empowers me to go forth and live in holiness, because that is Paul's entire context. And Romans six, shall we continue in sin, the grace may abound? He says, God forbid. Why? Because baptism teaches me that I'm in union with Christ, and that I've been raised to walk in newness of life, because I've died with Christ. I've been buried with Christ. And I've been raised as a new creation in Christ, I can't continue to live in sin, because I'm not like that anymore. And baptism preaches that to me. It confirms that to me, it assures me that this is true. And that's how you're empowered to live a holy Christian life. What does our baptism signify? And still Paul says it, it signifies the mortification the death of our old Adam, who we are now them. And then it signifies and seals the rising up of our new man in Christ. This is why Paul says we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that his Christ was raised from the dead, through the glory of the Father, so we to my walk and newness of life. And so Paul says, our baptism calls us preaches to us by grace, that we are those who have died with Christ, that we have been buried with Christ, and that all of our sin, all of our sin is washed away, and that we have risen again, with Christ to walk in newness of life, because we are now new creations. And so baptism plays a central role in the growth of your faith. It points you to the Paramount truths of the gospel, Christ's death, Christ burial, Christ's resurrection, it unites you to those effective works for your salvation, Christ works. It preaches this two years of visible gospel. And so listen, we are driven by good news and baptism. You see that we're driven by good news to obey all our fleshly desires, all these desires that we have in Adam are destroyed through our union with Christ through faith, and baptism proclaims that to us and drives us by this good news. And then it teaches us and calls us to pursue godliness of life, through union and communion with Christ. And that's what baptism is it is a visible gospel. And then, man, let's pray. Father, we thank you for the gift of baptism. We thank you that is a visible gospel that directs us not only to forsake the fleshly desires of our hearts. But we thank you that it calls us and proclaims to us and empowers us to pursue godliness of life through our union with Christ in his in his death and his burial and His resurrection. And just as baptism calls us to this communion, we thank You that now we enter in this communion through the sacrament of Holy Communion. And we pray that as we come this morning to receive your table, your sacrament your signs and seals, the bread and the cup, we pray that we would buy the power of your Holy Spirit, not only with you, but with one another in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. And so thank you for this visible gospel that preaches to us and confirms and assures our hearts of Christ in the saving benefits. And we pray on this and even the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

HWP Announcer 

Thanks for listening to the Him We Proclaim podcast with John Fonville. Him we proclaim as a ministry of John Fonthill of Paramount church in Jacksonville, Florida. You can check out his church at www.Paramountchurch.com We look forward to next time.