“What
Does Baptism Do?”
[Matthew
3:13-17]
May
5, 2024, YouTube/ Second Reformed Church
This Sunday, we remember the
baptism of our Lord. Jesus is about
thirty years old when He goes to John the Baptist at the Jordan and asks John
to baptize Him.
Just prior to Jesus ascending back
to His throne at the Right Hand of the Father, we read, “Now the eleven
disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.
And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and
said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that
I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age’”
(Matthew 28:16-20, ESV).
Why did Jesus instruct them – and
all believers – to baptize and be baptized?
Does baptism do something?
I wonder what answers we would hear
if we went around the congregation.
People have said, “We baptize our
children because it’s kind of like we’re dedicating them to the Lord, like
Samuel, so He will care for them.”
“We baptize our children because it
is a way to get the church to see them and teach them how to be moral – how to
be good people – by the time we come back to church for them around their
thirteenth birthday.”
“We baptize our children because
that’s how God saves them.”
No.
Baptism does one thing relative to
the infant who never savingly believes in Jesus Alone, and it does two things
relative to the infant who does savingly believe in Jesus Alone.
In the past, we saw Paul comfort
the Thessalonians by saying if you believe the Gospel – Who Jesus is and what
He did to accomplish salvation – you are one of the people given to Jesus for
salvation, you are one of the elect, you are really and truly, forever the property
of Jesus.
So, what does baptism do?
Let’s begin by asking what John the
Baptist was doing.
John the Baptist was baptizing
repentant people for the forgiveness of their sins.
Matthew tells us in the text just
prior to the one we read this morning:
[John
the Baptist said,] “I baptize you with
water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose
sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and
fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor
and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with
unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:11-12, ESV).
John
says he baptizes those who come to him repenting of their sins. John explains that just as water washes away
dirt, the waters of baptism symbolize – they are a sign – that forgiveness –
salvation – is only found through confession and repentance of your sins to
God.
Baptism
is a sign of the Gospel. Baptism
symbolizes that all humans are sinners and in need of forgiveness – of being
made clean. It symbolizes that
forgiveness of our sins is not something we can do – we must go to Someone Else
Who is sinless to have our sins washed away.
We must go to the One Savior that God has provided to repent of our sins
– to ask for forgiveness and promise to turn around – to not commit those sins
again – and that Savior – Who we know is Jesus – and He Alone – grants us
forgiveness through His work, His Merit, His Authority, His death, and His
resurrection.
This
is what baptism does for every person who is baptized – even the person who
never savingly believes – baptism puts the sign on them and before all those
who witness it – that you cannot forgive your own sins – you cannot make
yourself clean. Someone Else has to
cleanse you of your sins. And no one who
has received this sign can remove it.
But,
you can bear the sign and not believe.
Being baptized does not cause you to believe in Jesus savingly.
Now,
we turn back to this morning’s Scripture, as we notice that John the Baptist
doesn’t think it is right for Jesus to be baptized by him:
“Then
Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John
would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you
come to me?’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting
for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he
went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw
the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold,
a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well
pleased’.”
John’s
baptism is a baptism for sinners who recognize that they are sinners and repent
of their sin and want to be forgiven and know they need to look outside of
themselves for forgiveness.
So,
Jesus comes to His cousin, John, and asks John to baptize Him. Jesus comes to John, who was filled with the
Holy Spirit in the womb and jumped up and down in the womb in pure joy at
recognizing Jesus, the Savior, in the womb of Mary.
This
is John who exclaims and explains:
“The
next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, “After me comes
a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.” I myself did not know
him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be
revealed to Israel.’ And John bore witness: ‘I saw the Spirit descend from
heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he
who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit
descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” And I have
seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God’” (John 1:29-34, ESV).
John
certainly understood more after Jesus’ baptism, but he understands enough that
when Jesus comes to him and asks him to baptize Him, John says, “You are the
only One Who doesn’t need to be baptized – You have no sins to forgive – I need
You to baptize me.”
How
does Jesus respond?
“Let
it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”
What
does that mean?
What
is “righteousness”?
Righteousness
is being morally perfect, sinless, having kept all of God’s Law.
How
does being baptized by John help Jesus to be morally perfect, sinless, having
kept all of God’s Law – remembering that Jesus is sinless, and baptism is only
for sinners?
It
may help to remember that we read earlier that Jesus said that we are to go
out, preaching the Gospel, baptizing in the Name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit.
John
Calvin explains that there are at least four things happening in Jesus’ baptism
– in His fulfilling all righteousness:
First,
in being baptized, Jesus fully obeys His Father.
We
remember from our study of the Gospel of John that Jesus did not come to do His
own will but the Will of the Father.
Jesus came to save the people the Father gave Him by obeying and
submitting to everything the Father commands.
Jesus
says, “but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that
I love the Father. …” (John 14:31a-b, ESV).
Even
to the end, Jesus prays, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39b, ESV).
Second,
in being baptized, Jesus submits to God’s Law.
As
we have already seen, Jesus says we are to be baptized. Since Jesus has to be like us in every way –
excepting sin – to be our Substitute, He also is baptized.
Third,
in being baptized, Jesus consecrates and institutes baptism as a sacrament.
This
we see in the Great Commission.
And
fourth, in being baptized, Jesus makes baptism a seal of the believer’s
salvation.
Paul
writes, “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” (Romans 6:3-4, ESV).
And
now we understand the two things that baptism does for the believer: first, baptism is a sign on and to the
believer that Jesus lived a righteous life and died to pay for our sins, and
second, baptism is a seal of that salvation of and to the believer.
The
Heidelberg Catechism explains what the sacraments are:
66.
Q. What are the sacraments?
A.
The sacraments are holy, visible signs and seals.
They
were instituted by God
so
that by their use
he
might the more fully declare and seal to us
the
promise of the gospel.
And
this is the promise:
that
God graciously grants us
forgiveness
of sins and everlasting life
because
of the one sacrifice of Christ
accomplished
on the cross. (http://www.heidelberg-catechism.com/en/lords-days/25.html).
When
Martin Luther was feeling accosted by the devil with temptation, he would respond,
“I have been baptized. I am a
Christian.”
(https://yinkahdinay.wordpress.com/2017/01/26/luther-baptizatus-sum-i-am-baptized/)
In
other words, I have been baptized – I bear the sign of the work of Christ that
justifies and makes righteous all those who believe in Him. And I am a Christian – and that baptism is a
seal of my salvation because I am a believer in Jesus Christ Alone for
salvation.
What
does baptism do?
For
everyone who is baptized, it is a sign of what Jesus did – that He lived a
perfect life under God’s Law, died for the sins of everyone who would ever
believe, and physically rose from the dead, and ascended back to His throne.
And
for the believer, baptism is that sign as well, but it is also a seal – a
confirmation – an assurance – of that salvation. So we can look back on our baptism and
remember, as Paul says in Romans 6, that we who believe savingly in Jesus have
been buried with Him through baptism and have now been raised to new life,
which can never be lost or stolen away from us.
So
let us pray:
Almighty
God, we thank You for the sacrament of baptism that Your Son instituted while
He was on earth. We thank You that
baptism is a visual representation of the Gospel – it is a sign that says what
Jesus did to save His people. We thank
You that it is also a seal of the Gospel – that all we who have believed
savingly in Jesus can look back on our baptism and what it symbolizes and be
assured of our eternal salvation through the work of You Son. And we thank You for sending God the Holy
Spirit that He would cause us to believe in Jesus Alone for salvation. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment