Bible Text: Colossians 2:8-15 | Pastor: Eric Danielson | Series: Ordinances

This sermon looks at some of the historical background behind believers’ baptism, what it means, and who should get baptized.

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Outward Sign of Inward Reality
Colossians 2:8-15

I preached about Communion three weeks ago and today I’m going to be preaching about baptism. These are the two ordinances that we practice at East Lincoln and both are very special parts of the Christian life. What we do for baptism is well-known to many of you, but several of you are new to the church and haven’t heard much about it, so today I want to give a general teaching about it and encourage anyone that hasn’t been baptized as a believer to consider it – we have a special baptismal service at Clear Lake Park coming up on Sunday evening, August 5. Also at the end of the sermon I thought it would be helpful to hear from a couple of you that have been baptized, so you can share why it was special for you. So if you feel God prompting you to share, please do so at that time.

I was baptized as a believer when I was about 14 years old. My church had a picnic and baptismal service on Lake Florida in MN and I remember getting up and sharing my testimony then going into the water with my pastor who then baptized me. It was a significant experience for me as I wanted to publicly declare my faith in Jesus Christ – a faith that I was serious about and has changed the course of my life forever. My baptism was an outward sign of an inward reality. Something had changed in me several months earlier on a Sunday morning at church as the pastor was preaching. God caused me to be born again. He gave life to my spirit right then and there – that before then had been dead in sin. On that morning I felt deep conviction and sorrow for my sins against God and the realization and thankfulness that Jesus died for all of them. I also had the new desire to change my life – to turn away from sinful behaviors and start doing what was right. I believe it was the summer after that, or maybe a year later that I got baptized. It was the way I showed my church family what had happened to me.

This morning I want to talk about how baptism got started, what it means, and who should consider it. Baptism was originally practiced in Israel during the 1st century A.D. even before the church began. There were some Jewish groups who would baptize people as kind of an initiation, but the most popular practice of baptism at that time was done by John the Baptist. John came to Israel proclaiming that the kingdom of heaven was at hand; the Messiah was coming; and people needed to repent to be prepared for his arrival. Crowds of people flocked to listen to John and he baptized them as a sign of their repentance. Then Jesus began his ministry and his disciples did the same thing. People would come to be baptized as a sign of their repentance, a desire to be in right standing with God, and a readiness to follow the Messiah. For both John and Jesus, baptism was a preparatory act for what was to come.

Baptism became even more significant after Jesus died and rose again. John the Baptist had been executed and Jesus ascended into heaven, so neither of them were baptizing people anymore. But before Jesus left, he told his disciples in Matthew 28:19 that they were to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” So he made it clear that the practice of baptism was to be continued as people became his disciples. Baptism was the sign that they were part of the Christian community.

The first time this happened as part of the church was at the feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem where the Holy Spirit suddenly came upon the disciples and they were able to speak to foreign visitors in their own languages. Peter spoke to a large crowd of people that gathered and told them who Jesus was and afterward they were deeply convicted and asked the apostles what they should do. Peter told them what Jesus had told him in Acts 2:38: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus told Peter and the apostles to make disciples and baptize them, so when people responded to the gospel, that’s what they did. They baptized about 3,000 people that day. It was very simple. Baptism was the outward sign of an inward change. People heard the gospel, the Holy Spirit moved in their hearts and they decided to turn from their former way of life to follow Jesus and the sign that demonstrated that change was baptism.

You see the same thing happen at different times throughout the book of Acts as Luke records the expansion of the church into Samaria and the Gentile world. On some occasions when there was water available and the circumstances allowed, people were baptized as soon as they turned to the Lord. On other occasions there wasn’t water around or circumstances didn’t allow it. But throughout the NT you can see that baptism was a significant and regular part of the growth of the church that was linked to people’s decision to repent of their sins and follow Christ. It was a voluntary, joyful and willing decision by people who wanted to demonstrate what was going on in their hearts.

One of my favorite baptism stories is about an Ethiopian man who had been in Jerusalem to worship. As he was in his chariot on his way back home, he was reading from the prophet Isaiah and unable to understand what he was reading. So God sent Philip to him to share the gospel with him. Acts 8:35-38 tells the story like this: “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.” You can see that it was the Ethiopian man who was eager to be baptized and took advantage of the first opportunity. It was his joyful, eager, and voluntary decision.

So that gives us the historical background for baptism, but now I want to talk about the meaning behind it. There’s all kinds of symbolism in baptism, which is very intentional. Paul wrote about this symbolism in a couple letters. One was Colossians. In the city of Colossae, a man named Epaphras had come and shared the gospel with them and when they responded to it they were baptized. But that area was filled with confusing religious beliefs and teachings, so the new Christians, were struggling to understand Christianity. One of their struggles was that they believed false teachings about angels – that angels were made into gods of stars and planets and physical elements of earth, wind, fire and water. So out of fear they thought they had to worship these angels by following certain restrictions on food and drink and honoring certain holy days prescribed in the OT ceremonial law. They didn’t fully understand what Christ had done for them and that in him they weren’t subject to angels anymore and didn’t have to live as if they were. So Paul wrote to clarify these things and in doing so, he used their baptism as a way to help them understand.

Read Colossians 2:8-10.
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

So Paul first warns them to not follow the false teaching about “elemental spirits,” which is a reference to angel worship. And he basically tells them that Christ is God and has authority over all angels and because they are in Christ, they don’t have to fear angels anymore. I think there were real demonic forces at work in their situation who would manipulate them with lies and accusations, making them think that since they were guilty of sin they had to do certain things in the flesh in order to be approved. So Paul goes on to tell them why they didn’t have to live that way anymore.

Read Colossians 2:11-15.
In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Paul tells them that because they were in Christ something happened to them. He refers to circumcision, but not the kind they were familiar with. He tells them of another kind of circumcision – a circumcision of Christ where he put off, or cut away their sinful body of flesh. The Christian is flesh and spirit and the flesh is the part of us corrupted by sinful cravings. But Paul says that through the circumcision of Christ, this was put off and he tells them how that happened in verse 12, referring to their baptism: “having been buried with Christ in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.” So their sinful body of flesh was cut off by Christ when Epaphras came to them preaching the gospel and they believed and were baptized. When that happened their old, sinful body of flesh was put to death and buried with Christ. Through his death on the cross, he paid the penalty for all their sins so that the sins of their flesh had no power to condemn them anymore. Their sinful body of flesh was counted as being crucified and buried with Christ. It could no longer be counted against them.

Paul expands on this in verses 13-15 saying that though they were “dead in their trespasses and the uncircumcision of their flesh, God made them alive together with Christ, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” So those angels or demons – those spiritual beings they thought they had to worship and appease, Paul says, “God disarmed them and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Christ.” Their sins and body of flesh were put to death with Christ on the cross and when Epaphras dunked them under the water in baptism, it was symbolic of that. And when he raised them back up again it was symbolic of how they had been raised to a new life with Christ. Just as Christ rose from the dead they too had been raised with him.

That is the beauty of what Christ accomplished for us in his death and resurrection and that is the beauty that the sign of baptism points to. It represents the death and burial of our sins with Christ when he died on the cross and our resurrection with Christ to a brand new way of life. That’s why baptism can be such an awesome and powerful experience for so many people. By going through that experience, it’s like they’re living out what’s already happened inside them. In talking with different people they’ve said if feels like they’re leaving their sinful body of flesh behind in the water and coming back up in the new life Christ has given them. Their sins are all washed away and they are set apart to serve the Lord and live for him. Now baptism doesn’t do that, God does that through Jesus Christ, but baptism is a means of grace God has given to help us experience that reality more fully.

Testimonies: At this time I want to open it up for some of you to share about your baptism…

So I encourage you to get baptized as a believer, out of your own willful decision, if you haven’t done so already. What we do at East Lincoln that seems to work best with our circumstances is to have a baptismal service every year where anyone that wants to get baptized can do so. We’re going to go to Clear Lake Park on Sunday, August 5th. We’ll start with a picnic together in the pavilion at 5pm and then we’ll gather by the lake to sing some songs and then each person who wants to get baptized will share a brief testimony of their faith in Christ. Speaking in front of a crowd can be very intimidating for some, so we make it easy by having you write out your testimony ahead of time and then you can either read it or share it that evening. After sharing your testimony, two elders will take you into the water about waste deep, have you plug your nose and then gently lower you below the water and back up again. Sometimes people have special needs related to water or physical impairment and we are happy to make adjustments as needed. We don’t want anything to stand in the way of your joy in baptism.

Now you may be thinking about this and wondering if you should get baptized… Generally speaking, anyone who is old enough to understand the gospel and who has committed their life to Jesus Christ is ready to get baptized. Most people fall into one of these situations:
• Some of you may have become a Christian recently and haven’t been baptized yet, so for you this is perfect – you have the opportunity to show through baptism what has just happened inside you.
• Some of you may not be new Christians, but may be new to this church and in previous churches you didn’t get baptized as a believer. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been a Christian; it’s never too late to get baptized. I know of people who have been Christians for 50 years before they decide to get baptized.
• Some of you are younger – maybe in Middle School or High School or even younger – and you became a Christian as a little kid but now you’ve reached the point where you want to take this meaningful step in your relationship with God.
• And some of you were baptized as an infant in another church, by your parents and a pastor or priest, but never by your own decision and you want to be baptized now as a believer, of your own choice. This happens all the time in our community because of the Lutheran and Catholic backgrounds that many people have.

If you are interested in getting baptized I encourage you to write your name on the signup sheet at the Info Table and to contact me to talk more about it. We want to help you take this significant step in your relationship with God.