What is Baptism?

Below is the sermon I preached yesterday on Acts 8:26-40. Click here to read the scripture passage first.

Baptism and Teaching

A long time ago, someone once said to me, “You don’t just marry your spouse, you marry the family.” I think there’s a lot of truth in that statement. You don’t literally marry the family, but in being married to your spouse, you are now bound to their family. More than likely you will see their parents and siblings on most major holidays, you’ll have both the privilege and the burden of the advice they’ll give you, and in some cases you’ll see their family more than you see your family. When you get married, not only are you committing yourself to your spouse, but you are also being grafted into a new family.

Baptism is like that, it’s being welcomed into the family of God. We are incorporated into the body of Christ, the Church, through baptism. Baptism is the act of God claiming us as God’s own children. As we are claimed as part of this new family, we are given a new name. In baptism we are given the family name. That’s why when you are baptized the pastor will say, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” That is the name by which this family is known. This family is known by the name of the triune God we worship. Baptism, like marriage, is the way that we are welcomed into a new family. In baptism we leave behind our old identity and we take on the identity of the family of God.

In the United Methodist Church we baptize infants as well as adults. The reason we believe it’s acceptable to baptize infants is because we believe God is the primary actor in baptism. God is the one acting to pour out the grace of God on the person being baptized. We believe that grace of God is active and at work in our lives long before we can even recognize it, let alone accept it. It is this grace that helps us to realize that we even have a need for the grace of God in our lives. It is this grace that helps us to turn towards God and answer the invitation to be in relationship.

In Baptism, this grace acts to forgive us of our sins. Most of us have heard the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. While we aren’t being punished for their acts, that story does tells us about how humans have rebelled against God. It tells us about how that rebellion caused strife within humanity and we have wounded one another over and over again. In baptism, our wounds are washed and God continues the long process of making us whole.

When you put all of those pieces together, we realize that in baptism God claims us, cleans us, and names us. If you are ever feeling unworthy or unwanted, know that there is a God who wants to claim you, clean you and name you as God’s own!

As amazing as all that is, baptism is not the end of the story. We see in today’s scripture passage that teaching goes hand in hand with baptism. The Holy Spirit commanded Phillip to go up along side the Ethiopian’s chariot. As he does so, he hears the Ethiopian reading aloud a passage from Isaiah. So phillip asks him, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The Ethiopian responds, “How can I unless someone explains it to me?”

Baptism is this incredible act of God on our behalf. We can experience it’s power, but without someone explaining it to us, we won’t fully understand it’s meaning. If you were baptized as a youth or adult, then there’s some teaching that happens before you were baptized. Like Phillip explaining the passage from Isaiah to the Ethiopian. Somewhere along the line some had to tell you about the God made known through Jesus Christ. Someone had to tell you that this God was willing to be wounded so that you could be made whole. Someone had to tell you that you are valuable, that you have worth, that you are wanted by the One who created you. Like the Ethiopian in today’s scripture passage, sometimes teaching is what leads us to baptism.

But Teaching also happens after baptism. If you were baptized as an infant in the United Methodist Church then your parents, and the congregation, took certain vows on your behalf. They promised to raise you in the church. They promised to teach you what the values of this family are, the family of God. They promised to teach you how to live a Christian life and what it means to be a follower of Christ.

In confirmation you are then given the option to take those vows yourself. In confirmation you are given the opportunity to claim the family that first claimed you. In confirmation you are given the opportunity to claim the God that first claimed you. But you also take on the responsibility to continue to learn and grow in your faith.

But regardless of if you were baptized as an infant or an adult, there’s still more learning to do after baptism and confirmation. In the great commission at the end of the gospel of Matthew, Jesus says: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded.”

These are Jesus’ parting words to the disciples before he ascends to heaven. It’s his last opportunity to speak to the disciples in person and these are the words he chooses to speak. He doesn’t stop with telling them to spread the good news. He doesn’t stop with telling them to baptize them. Jesus himself finds it important enough that in his parting words to the disciples he tells them to teach the baptized.

When you get married, you know your spouse pretty well. But you certainly don’t know everything about them. Sometimes you’ll learn little things about the other person, like they make tacos differently than you do, or maybe they leave their shoes in the middle of the living room floor everyday, or maybe they have longer hair than you do and it is constantly clogging the drains. But mostly, you and your spouse are learning how to live in relationship with one another. It means that sometime you have to learn how to do things differently than you had done them before. It means sometimes you’ll have to learn new ways of reacting to certain things. It also means you will have to help teach your spouse new ways of doing things. You’ll have to help them understand your family dynamics and how to navigate particular circumstances.

Being a Christian, being part of the family of God is a lot the same way. We have been claimed and incorporated into a new family. But we will still need someone to help us learn how this family works. We’ll need to learn new ways of responding to things. Slowly over time we’ll begin to learn the dynamics of this new family. We’ll learn that this family is about forgiveness. When one of us is hurt by the other, we talk to them about why we were hurt, and then we forgive. We’ll learn that this new family isn’t just about taking care of yourself, it’s about doing what’s best for the family, for the whole community.

Jesus tells us to teach one another all that he has commanded us. We cannot do that on our own. Because so much of what Jesus teaches us is about how to live in community, it’s about how to be a part of this new family.

If we are not in bible study, with a group, how can we expect to even know what Jesus commands us, let alone live it out. If we are not in worship, how can we expect to recognize God’s presence at work in our lives at other times. If we are not active and present in this community, how can we expect to know one another’s burdens, let alone be able to encourage, lift up, hold accountable, or forgive one another.

Baptism is a wonderful act of God in which we are claimed, cleaned, and named. But is we are to fully understand that, and full live out that new identity, then we must continue to learn from one. How are you allowing the community to teach you?

Are you involved in a group bible study? Do you come to worship on a regular basis? Are you present and active in the community so you know what the needs are? Do you read scripture on a regular basis? If not, Why not? Why not?

We are a lot like the Ethiopian. How can we understand, unless someone explains it to us? How are you allowing the community to teach you?

Amen.