Recharge | The Church: Why We Do What We Do

Every Sunday we see people pass through the waters of baptism. Regularly we come around the Lord's Table together. But have you ever stopped to ask — why? What is actually happening in these moments, and why does God call the church to do them together?

In this Recharge! message, Pastor Daniel Justice opens Romans 6 and 1 Corinthians 11 to walk through the two ordinances God has given the local church — baptism and communion — and why they matter far more than ritual or tradition.

Every baptism is a resurrection story. Every Lord's Supper is a reminder: you didn't save yourself. And both are meant to be experienced in community — because the Gospel was never meant to be lived in isolation.

This is a warm, grounded message for longtime believers who want to recapture the meaning behind familiar practices, and for anyone who's still figuring out what it all means.

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Transcript

Welcome And Recent Baptisms

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, good evening. Oh my goodness. Was this what it was like up here a minute ago, Mark? It was better? So it's me. Okay. My goodness. Let me try one more time, okay? Good evening. Okay, that's there we go. All right. That's a little better. All right. Man, I thought Jason maybe told you guys to like rough up the guy that's in here taking his spot tonight. Make him make him feel a little uneasy. But no, uh, Pastor Jason is away for a few days. Much needed time for him just to get a chance, just to pray, spend some time with the Lord, hear from God about what he's doing here in our midst and and what we want to see him continue to do. Amen. Aren't you guys excited about what God is doing here at First Baptist through our church right now? I hope we never, never get tired of just seeing how God is working. And what about this past Sunday? All the baptisms. Was that not amazing? I've heard from so many of you guys this week just talking about how powerful that was and how special that was, just to see that immediate obedience that, hey, today is the day where you can publicly uh profess that you are a follower of Jesus. And to see nine people between the two services take that step to publicly identify with Jesus was a special, special thing. That was a wonderful, wonderful time uh this past Sunday. Amen. All right. Well, tonight we're gonna continue uh in our our Wednesday night series just talking about what is the church? And what is it that we do as the church? What is it that God has called the church to do? What are we to be about? Are some of the things that you guys have been talking about on Wednesday nights, and we're gonna continue that tonight. And tonight we are going to look at what the church is doing in two very specific things that God has given specifically for the local church to do, and that is what we would call the ordinances that the church is supposed to practice, and that would be uh baptism and the Lord's Supper, or baptism and communion. So that's what we're gonna talk about here in just a moment. But what is it about that that is so important? Why would God have us do those things? That's what I want us to talk about tonight for a few minutes. And one of the big reasons for that is we need to see the gospel, right? We don't just need to hear it taught. We also are very visual people, amen. And so I think there are times that we as human beings, we need to see pictures of the gospel. And so when we think tonight about baptism and the Lord's Supper, we're gonna understand tonight that one of the reasons God has given us the ordinances that we practice on a regular basis here, uh, and it's one of the reasons the church does these things, is so that we have these visual pictures and reminders of the gospel and what it does. Because that is the reality, is that we need to see it, not just to hear it. We need to be able to see it. So the first question I want to say, I want us to look at tonight, is to say, then what is it about the ordinances that are so important? Why do we have them? When we have these visible displays of the gospel through the ordinances, the first thing I want us to do is just look at what they are quickly for just a minute and see some scriptural foundation for the ordinances. Because the first thing I want you to understand, these are not just physical signs. Uh, they're not just rituals, but they're also not salvific in nature, right? Baptism doesn't save. Taking the Lord's Supper, right, does doesn't save. There's nothing mystical or magical that happens when we take the Lord's Supper, and there's nothing that makes us more secure in heaven by being baptized. So the ordinances are not rituals or things that we have to do to save us, but they are gospel pictures. So let's look at those pictures for just a minute. The first one being baptism. If you've got your Bible, look in Romans chapter 6. I want you to listen to verses 3 and 4. It's going to be up there on the screen if you don't have it there in front of you. Paul says, Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. So important understanding for us about what baptism is. It is this picture. The gospel is pictured in baptism. When someone steps down into the water like we saw on Sunday, it is this picture of death. Then when they go under the water, it's a picture of burial. And when they come back up, it's a picture of new life. So when we see that proclaimed in a Sunday, when we're gathered together, we are to remember what Christ did in order to purchase and to accomplish our salvation. He died, he was buried, and he rose again. And then we identify with that, and that is what, in a spiritual sense, takes place in us. When you see someone stepping down into the water, you see that old person, that person they were before they placed themselves, before they gave their life to Christ. Their faith was placed in him. That person is dying. The Bible says that person is now uh being crucified with Christ and they no longer live. And that old man that or that old woman is buried. And then the Bible says that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. And so we see them come back up out of the water and we celebrate what has taken place in them, that they are now a new creation in Jesus Christ. It's this picture of adoption. It's a picture they have a new identity. Right? Their identity is now in Christ. When we baptize them and we celebrate, you know what the other things that we are doing? We are celebrating not only do they have a new identity, they have a new family. They're part of the family of God. They're part of the church, they're part of a body of believers. And we don't do it privately, do we? There are some people who would love that. You get the introverts who are like, could we just do this in a swimming pool in my backyard, please? I would love that if we could do it that way. And I love it. I'm like, no, no, no. Because you miss the point when you think that way. The point is this public, not only profession that you belong to Jesus, but that you belong to this body, this family of believers. And so baptism is this powerful picture of the gospel. We are publicly proclaiming what Christ has done internally in us. Amen. But then the second ordinance that the church is to practice, we find it in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. We would call that the Lord's Supper. Or maybe you call that communion. Listen to what Paul says about communion and the Lord's Supper and this ordinance that Christ has given to the church. I'm going to begin reading in verse 23. He says, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you. That the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and he said, This is my body, which is for you. For this, do this in remembrance of me. And in the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, This is the cup in the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Now, most likely you understand the significance of the elements that we take when we take the Lord's Supper together. Amen. When we take the bread, we are remembering the body of Christ that was broken, his hands and his feet that were pierced for you and I. And we are remembering his sacrifice. And when we take the cup, we are remembering his blood that was shed for us. We understand scripture, even from the earliest passages of the Old Testament, right? Talk about how the life is in the blood, right? And we understand that there is life in the precious, spotless blood of Jesus Christ. And when he shed his blood, it was to pay for our sin. And so we, every time we take these elements, we are remembering the gospel. We are looking back at the cross when we come around the Lord's table. But we are also not only looking back at the cross and remembering, but as this passage teaches us, right, we are to examine ourselves if we were to read on. So not only are we called to look back, to think about the cross, but we are called to look inward, to examine our hearts, to see if what we claim as our new identity, that we are followers of Jesus, to make sure that our life is matching this new identity that we proclaim. We're called to look inward when we come around the Lord's table. And we're also called to look forward. He says we are to do this until He comes. Until He returns. Do you know that, church, that every time that we come to the Lord's table and we look back and we remember what He did for us on the cross, we are also doing it with this hopeful anticipation that one day He is going to return and He is going to make all things new. And that we are ultimately gonna spend eternity with Him. Amen. Every time we come around the table, we are proclaiming these truths that the work of Jesus Christ is finished. Everything that was necessary for our salvation was accomplished by Him, not by us. So the local church is called. One of the things we do within the context of the local church is we practice baptism, believers' baptism, and we come around the Lord's table regularly to remember his sacrifice for us and to look forward to the day that he will return to gather his bride to himself. So why? Why do we observe the ordinances when the church is gathered? I mean, why do we not just do this at home? Right? I made, I made, I made a little bit light of it, but why don't someone gets saved? Why don't we just say, you know, if your child gets saved, you know, mom, dad, just do that in the bathtub, you know, and just let us know that you guys took care of that, okay? Check the box. They went under the water and they came back up. Right? Or why don't we just take the Lord's Supper around the dining room table every time we eat a meal as a family? Right? I mean, if we just we have the crackers and we have the grape juice and and we just let's remember the Lord's sacrifice. Why are we called to do these things when the local church is gathered? Have you ever asked that question? About what's the significance of doing it in this context among believers? I think there's I think there is a lot of significance and reason for why we do this. First of all, it's because the gospel is actually a community reality. Did you know, believer, that you are not meant to practice your faith in isolation? There's no category in scripture for a lone ranger Christian. We are called to live life together. We're told we're part of a body, and the hand can't exist without the arm, and the arm can't exist without the shoulder, and so on, and so on. So the gospel is meant to be experienced in the context of community. That's why we do baptism when we're gathered, so that the church can celebrate what is taking place in other members of the body. That's why when we come around the Lord's table, we do that together because it's part of the family. We want the family to be together when we remember what Christ has done for us. In other words, we don't just belong to Jesus, we belong to his people. We belong to his body. And so these are things that we should do when we are together. Another reason that we're called to practice these things when we gather together is because the church is called to guard the gospel. We're called to make sure that there's not a polluted or distorted gospel being preached. That when we are talking about what Jesus did, that we're being very clear and we are upholding and we're faithful to the scripture about what it says about who Jesus is and what he did and how it is that we come to faith in him and how we know him. And so when we practice the ordinances together, we're making sure that we are proclaiming a clear message of who Jesus is. Not one that's watered down, not one that's distorted in any way. And without these ordinances, it can become abstract and unclear when we aren't doing these things together. But when we do that, we're giving testimony, amen. Like when you sit here on a Sunday morning and you see someone pass through these waters of baptism and you hear their testimony, right? And we celebrate and we cheer, right? We are we are affirming, right? We are saying, yes, I hear, I hear that Christ has changed you, right? I I want to give affirmation that I hear that you truly have placed your faith in Jesus and you are giving evidence that he has changed you. Amen. Yes, you are part of that in a very real way is the body of Christ. Another reason we're called to do this when we gather together is because we are prone to forget. Amen. Think about that old hymn, Come thou fount of every blessing, right? Every time I sing it, I think about that. Prone to wonder. Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Right? Our nature as human beings is to be forgetful. We can forget our new identity that we are professing through our baptism, and we can start to live for a lesser identity. So when we see baptism, it is a reminder of our identity, of when we placed our faith in Christ. When we come around the Lord's table, it is a reminder to us of we don't sustain ourselves, we don't save ourselves. It is only the blood of Jesus that that offers us salvation. So the thing that sustains us is Him, not ourselves. So every time we take it together, it is a reminder, Lord, I need you. We need you as a body. Christ has given us these ordinances because He knows how quickly we can forget the foundation that our lives are built on in Him. So we have these ordinances to practice and to celebrate and to see. They're an encouragement for us. Amen. For the believer. They encourage you and I. You should, every time you see someone baptized, you should just weep when you remember that moment when you placed your faith in Jesus and you followed him in baptism. Every time you take the Lord's Supper, it should be, Lord, thank you that I am secure in you. That I don't have to work for this to earn this, but this was a free gift that you offered me. And now I get to live my life in gratitude toward you. But, church, you know something else that's really special when we practice the ordinances together in this setting? That most of the time there are people probably sitting here in these pews with us who don't know Jesus. You know what we have the opportunity to do then? To point them to Him. They get to see the gospel on display through these things that we are practicing. And it it might be something that the Holy Spirit uses to open their eyes to see their need for a Savior. So the ordinances, as the church practices them, they are how we put the gospel on display. Every baptism is a resurrection story. Every time we come around the table, it's a reminder you didn't save yourself. It is the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's a reminder that we do this together, that we are part of a family. And God has called us to live in community, to worship together, to celebrate together, to bear one another's burdens, to lift one another up because that is what Christ has done for us. So I hope that the next time you see those waters stirred, and the next time we come around the Lord's table together, you recognize these are not just boxes that we check as rituals that the church has done for 2,000 years, but that they have great meaning and they have great significance not only with what we do, but where we do it and how we do it. And that it is meant for us to display and to, in a very real way, preach the gospel through these practices. Amen. God, thank you for your word. Thank you for your church. God, it is messy. God, we know that local church is messy. It is full of sinful people who are prone to forget, who are prone to wonder. But God, you God, you have instituted the church. God, you have shed your blood to purchase our redemption. You call us your body. You choose to use us to proclaim the gospel to those who have yet to hear and place their faith in you. And God, even through these practices and these ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper, you have called us to clearly demonstrate and profess the gospel and proclaim it. God, may we do so unapologetically. May we do so with clarity. May we do so with joy and thanksgiving so that all those who witness it would say, What a savior! That the people of First Baptist Church Bernie must save. Lord, we love you. We praise you in Jesus' name. Have a wonderful evening and a great rest of your week.