SPEAKER_00: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Doug.
SPEAKER_01: We will be celebrating, if I've counted correctly, ten baptisms a little later in our service.
SPEAKER_01: These are exciting and stimulating days in the life of the church, so I want to prepare us for what we will see and hear before these folks testify before us what Christ has done for them.
SPEAKER_01: As a church, we have spent November considering the lessons for the local church from New Testament letters to the churches.
SPEAKER_01: We've covered Galatians and Colossians and Philippians.
SPEAKER_01: We don't have time this morning to cover an entire New Testament book as we have the last few weeks, but I don't want to depart entirely from that method this morning.
SPEAKER_01: So I'd ask you to consider this morning with me God's design for baptism from the letter to the church in Ephesus.
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians is a well-known New Testament book among Christians, but there's a surprising amount that we don't know about the book of Ephesians.
SPEAKER_01: It's commonly referred to as a prison epistle because Ephesians chapter 3, verse 1, says that the apostle Paul was a prisoner of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: In chapter 4, verse 1, he refers to himself as a prisoner of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And again, in chapter 6, verse 20, he says that he was an ambassador in chains.
SPEAKER_01: So very clearly he was writing this letter to a local church while he was imprisoned for his faith.
SPEAKER_01: But we don't know which community Paul was imprisoned in when he wrote this letter.
SPEAKER_01: That little detail plays a big part in when this letter was written and sent, because Paul was imprisoned for long periods in different communities, at least twice, and maybe even as many as four times.
SPEAKER_01: There's another detail that factors into the date of this letter.
SPEAKER_01: You remember that the Apostle Paul went on three missionary journeys.
SPEAKER_01: His first one was the shortest and the quickest.
SPEAKER_01: Then he went on another one that expanded that territory, and then he went on a third one that was the longest.
SPEAKER_01: The Apostle Paul stopped briefly in Ephesus during his second missionary journey.
SPEAKER_01: Then, on his third missionary journey, he spent nearly three years in that city, ministering to the believers in Christ there, building up the church.
SPEAKER_01: And then it was after that third journey that he was later imprisoned in the city of Rome.
SPEAKER_01: Now, you wonder, why do we need to know all of that on a baptism Sunday?
SPEAKER_01: Let me show you.
SPEAKER_01: Notice what the Apostle Paul says in chapter 1 of Ephesians verse 15.
SPEAKER_01: He says, For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you.
SPEAKER_01: Because I have heard of your faith.
SPEAKER_01: Now, if we flip over to chapter 3 and verse 2, it says, I'm assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see what's happening here?
SPEAKER_01: The Apostle Paul is indicating that he does not have firsthand knowledge of their faith, but he's only heard of it.
SPEAKER_01: He's assuming that they have heard of him and his apostleship.
SPEAKER_01: So placing those statements after Paul's three-year ministry there doesn't add up very well.
SPEAKER_01: So we can eliminate Paul being imprisoned in Rome after his third missionary journey.
SPEAKER_01: It's not then, it's somehow before he spends three years in the city of Ephesus.
SPEAKER_01: Again, in chapter 4 and verse 20, he speaks of the way that they have learned Christ, assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: If he had spent time there already, Paul would have known what they were taught and what they were have already learned.
SPEAKER_01: So it appears that this letter is written in the early days, the early months, maybe in the early years of the church in Ephesus.
SPEAKER_01: As a church, as an assembly of believers, they're still an infancy in learning Christ, in knowing Christ, in following Christ.
SPEAKER_01: That means the church likely had the same struggles as all local churches.
SPEAKER_01: Particularly in what it means to be a Christian.
SPEAKER_01: And then in what it means to know how to be a Christian in the church, in the community, and in the world.
SPEAKER_01: So many of the things in this letter address those exact details specifically for the people in that ancient city of Ephesus.
SPEAKER_01: Now we only have time to focus on one detail this morning, in chapter 4, verse 5.
SPEAKER_01: But I'd like to read, beginning in verse 1 of chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.
SPEAKER_01: How?
SPEAKER_01: With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
SPEAKER_01: For there is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
SPEAKER_01: This is a statement of unity, which verse 3 makes clear.
SPEAKER_01: Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
SPEAKER_01: You see, this young church is comprised of newer believers in Jesus who are being urged to live in a manner worthy of the calling of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: A manner of living that is distinctly different than the unchristian way of their city and of their world.
SPEAKER_01: As they live out their new life in Christ, they're to be eager to continue, to maintain, to keep up the unity that the Holy Spirit creates in the Lord's church.
SPEAKER_01: Why are they given that instruction?
SPEAKER_01: Because there is one body and one spirit and one hope and one Lord and one faith and one baptism and one God and Father overall.
SPEAKER_01: See, the Lord powerfully joins people to one body when he calls them to himself by faith in his death, burial, and resurrection in power over death, sin, and the powers of darkness.
SPEAKER_01: This is a distinction of Christians.
SPEAKER_01: There is a distinct oneness among those who genuinely follow Jesus, whether in the church in Ephesus, the church in Laodicea, the church in Colossae, the churches in Galatia, or the church in Grand Forks.
SPEAKER_01: Now I want you to consider this one question briefly.
SPEAKER_01: What is the Apostle Paul saying to this infant church about baptism?
SPEAKER_01: It seems clear that baptism plays a part in the church's unity as part of the unity created by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: But is the Apostle Paul talking about spirit baptism?
SPEAKER_01: That work of the Holy Spirit that we don't see, by which he takes an unsaved person and recreates them and now places them, baptizes them into the body of Christ?
SPEAKER_01: Or is he talking about water baptism, where we get wet with water?
SPEAKER_01: In case you're wondering, it's not a frivolous question, as if it doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_01: It's an important question.
SPEAKER_01: But as sometimes happens with questions like that, it's easy to become trapped between those two options and maybe not consider a third option.
SPEAKER_01: See, I don't think that the Apostle Paul wrote specifically about spirit or water baptism in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 5.
SPEAKER_01: I suggest that what he was writing about was what baptism represents.
SPEAKER_01: What it represents.
SPEAKER_01: You see, in the smaller context of Ephesians 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, baptism points back to the calling to which you've been called.
SPEAKER_01: Baptism represents, it says, I have been called to a calling.
SPEAKER_01: It points back to a reality.
SPEAKER_01: Christians have been called to Christ, by Christ, through the power of the Spirit, in the sovereignty of God the Father.
SPEAKER_01: That means they are called people.
SPEAKER_01: If you go back to Ephesians chapter 2, it makes it very clear.
SPEAKER_01: Ephesian Christians were called out from spiritual death in chapter 2, verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: From spiritual slavery to the prince of the power of the air.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 2.
SPEAKER_01: And from the passions of the flesh in verse 3, they were called out of separation from Christ to identification with Christ, beginning in verse 11.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision by Jewish people.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, you were separated from Christ, verse 12, alienated.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 13, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, in verse 22 of chapter 2, in him in Christ, you also are being built together into a dwelling place by God, or for God, by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: See, this entire letter, friends, can be summarized in two parts.
SPEAKER_01: Two parts that are extremely important for every local church, every local assembly of God's people.
SPEAKER_01: First, the apostle Paul wrote to a young church of infants in Christ to instruct them and encourage them in their identification with Christ the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We belong to Him.
SPEAKER_01: As a Christian, your first and foremost identification is not with your family in this world, not with your job, not with your bank account, not with your retirement, not with your vehicles, not with your home, not with anything else, but with the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for you.
SPEAKER_01: That's what the book of Ephesians is about.
SPEAKER_01: Secondly, it's not just about their identification with Christ the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: It is so that, secondly, that they would be trained, motivated, and strengthened to live out that identification with Christ in the power of the Spirit in a sin-darkened world.
SPEAKER_01: Let me show you.
SPEAKER_01: Two things identification with Christ and strengthened by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Just walk with me through your book, through your Bible.
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: Beginning in verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: In verses 1 and 2, these people are identified as the holy ones, the saints who are in Ephesus and faithful to Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: What does he say about them?
SPEAKER_01: Now, verse 3.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us.
SPEAKER_01: Where?
SPEAKER_01: In Christ.
SPEAKER_01: With every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us.
SPEAKER_01: Where?
SPEAKER_01: In him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
SPEAKER_01: In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved.
SPEAKER_01: In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: It's a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things.
SPEAKER_01: Where?
SPEAKER_01: In him, things in heaven and on earth.
SPEAKER_01: In him we have obtained an inheritance.
SPEAKER_01: Are you getting the gist here?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 13.
SPEAKER_01: In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Down at verse 16, I do not cease to give thanks for you.
SPEAKER_01: Because I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints.
SPEAKER_01: I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, so that you may know, know what?
SPEAKER_01: What is the hope to which he has called you?
SPEAKER_01: What are the riches of his glorious inheritance of the saints?
SPEAKER_01: And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might, that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.
SPEAKER_01: It's all about in him.
SPEAKER_01: With him.
SPEAKER_01: There's this identification, this connection with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ that he's emphasizing again and again and again and again.
SPEAKER_01: Now flip over to chapter 3.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: This mystery is that the Gentiles, the non-Jews, are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Jesus Christ through the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: So there's the unifying element, right, that brings this oneness, this unity about.
SPEAKER_01: It's in the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: It's faith in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, and the gospel is what is used to accomplish that.
SPEAKER_01: Chapter 3, verse 16.
SPEAKER_01: According to the riches of his glory, I'm praying that he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend.
SPEAKER_01: There's that word strength.
SPEAKER_01: To comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth.
SPEAKER_01: Do you ever think that it takes strength?
SPEAKER_01: Strength to know how great God is.
SPEAKER_01: And verse 19, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
SPEAKER_01: Chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 20.
SPEAKER_01: Speaking of the way they should have learned Christ, he says, verse 21, I assume that you've heard about him, and you were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Taught to do what?
SPEAKER_01: To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
SPEAKER_01: Chapter 5, verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children.
SPEAKER_01: Chapter 6, verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: Finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
SPEAKER_01: Now put all of that together with the statement about baptism in chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you, beseech you, I'm begging you to walk worthy of the calling to which you've been called.
SPEAKER_01: With all humility and gentleness and patience, bearing with one another.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, we have to put up with each other in love.
SPEAKER_01: Eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because there is one body and one spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call.
SPEAKER_01: There is one Lord, there is one faith, there is one baptism, and one God and Father of all.
SPEAKER_01: What is the Apostle Paul saying about baptism to that church in Ephesus?
SPEAKER_01: He's saying the exact same thing that he communicated to other local churches in the letters to the churches.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying that the one baptism is this internal reality of having been identified with the one Lord by means of the one faith.
SPEAKER_01: I'm no longer my own, for I've been bought with a price.
SPEAKER_01: Think about it.
SPEAKER_01: He said it to the Galatian churches.
SPEAKER_01: For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God.
SPEAKER_01: How?
SPEAKER_01: Through faith.
SPEAKER_01: For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You are all one in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He's talking about baptism, not from the perspective of, is this something that the Spirit does or that we do with water?
SPEAKER_01: He's not talking about those individual elements.
SPEAKER_01: He's talking about it as being identified with the person of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: He said the same thing to the church and Colossae, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith and the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: Philippians doesn't speak of baptism, but it does talk about identification with Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Paul said in Philippians chapter 3, verse 12, Christ Jesus has made me his own.
SPEAKER_01: So, friends, what do we take away from this as we hear from individuals what Christ has done for them?
SPEAKER_01: The local church must comprehend that baptism demonstrates that by faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross, the individual who is baptized is first and foremost saying, Christ Jesus has made me his own.
SPEAKER_01: I belong to him.
SPEAKER_01: And it's through faith that I have come to be his own.
SPEAKER_01: Then just as Paul talks to the Ephesians, they're saying, I'm now unified with you, the body of Christ, for the purpose of living out that faith in your midst.
SPEAKER_01: You now become an encourager, a strengthener.
SPEAKER_01: You bear with them in love, you lift them up and you strengthen them because as they're encouraged and strengthened, they begin to walk as children of light in a dark world.
SPEAKER_01: And to this infant church, the Apostle Paul brings all of that together and he says, Listen, remember who you are in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And remember what you do in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You live as lights in a dark world.
SPEAKER_01: That requires strengthening by the Holy Spirit and encouragement from the assembly of God's people.
SPEAKER_01: May we do that together this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Would you pray with me?
SPEAKER_01: Lord Jesus, we give thanks to you.
SPEAKER_01: We give thanks to you for these individuals who are going to be declaring to all of us this morning that they believe in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That they believe as they go down into that water, that they are being identified, connected with his death.
SPEAKER_01: That as they come back out, they are being identified with his resurrection because they believe that you raised him from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: And so we go and we live a new life.
SPEAKER_01: Lord bless them as they then seek to live out that life in a dark world.
SPEAKER_01: May you encourage us to strengthen them and one another through our encouragement.
SPEAKER_01: In Christ's name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.