Earlier this month my wife gave birth to the newest addition to our family, a beautiful, healthy baby boy named Gunner. With summer coming up, and with vacation time to spare, Joan and I are planning a trip to visit my parents in Missouri. As part of this trip, we will have the honor and privilege of having my brother, Shane, baptize Gunner.
I am so excited for this beginning to his life in Christ. And it has led me to look at my own baptism, what it is, what it means, why we do it, and why it is such a momentous event in the life of a believer.
In his first epistle to the Corinthians Paul draws a parallel between baptism and Israel's crossing of the Red Sea that I find particularly meaningful (1 Corinthians 10: 1-4).
The story of the Exodus is timeless. It starts with Jacob and his sons, who during a time of drought, moved with their herds and families to Egypt and settled in the land of Goshen. The land of Goshen is described as a rich, lush land where the Israelites prosper with such blessings that they grow into a great nation. However, at some point a pharaoh arises who reduces the Israelites to a state of bondage and slavery. Israel is in such a hopeless state that they believe that God has forgotten them. But Israel is not forgotten. God sends to Israel a man who has been set apart to free them from their bondage. Through a series of mighty works, God frees the Israelites and begins to lead them out of Egypt. Pharaoh, however, is not so quick to release them from his grasp. He sends his army to destroy the Israelites, finally catching up to them by the shores of the Sea of Reeds.
As Pharaoh's army draws up on the Israelite camp, the Israelites are desperate. Some are so despondent that they cry out to Moses, "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have brought us out into the wilderness to die?" Moses, knowing the power of the Lord, reassures them, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today...The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." It is at this point that God sends a great wind and parts the sea, allowing the Israelites to cross safely. In this act, God delivers the Israelites from death and slavery, and leads them to the land of blessing that had been promised to their forefathers.
The parallel that Paul draws here is striking. Like the Israelites, we have been reduced to slavery. They were slaves to Pharaoh, but we are slaves to a harsher master: Satan, sin, and death. They were incapable of saving themselves. We too are equally incapable of saving ourselves. They were sent Moses, who acted as mediator between Israel and God. We have been sent Jesus, God himself, who died for our sins, and was resurrected in victory over sin and death. They were saved by passing through water. We are saved through baptism and faith in Jesus Christ. They were brought into a land promised to them. We have a greater promise, the promise of eternal life with God.
Paul says of baptism: Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried 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 the newness of life. -- Romans 6: 3-4
Through baptism and through faith, we are transformed from slaves to sin and death, to children and heirs of God. We are washed through water and the promise that God has given us in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ, and made clean and whole.
In baptism we also receive another gift. In Acts 2:38-39, Peter tells us that we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is the Holy Spirit who creates faith in our hearts, teaches us, guides us, and sanctifies us. Paul describes the Holy Spirit as our down payment for our inheritance until we gain possession of it.
It is these blessings that we gain through baptism and through faith. It is for this reason that we bring our children to the baptismal font, washing them with water and the promise that God has provided through his Son. The promise to deliver us from sin, and make us his children. It is for this reason that we rejoice for the gift we receive in baptism.
But baptism is not just a promise. It is an obligation. Not for the recipient. Baptism is a free gift for the one who receives it. It is an obligation for the Church, all of the believers in Christ Jesus. In his parting words to the apostles Jesus provides them with the great commission:
"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: 18-20
Did you catch the obligation there? Baptism is not just a once and done event. It is a continuing duty and obligation for the Church to those who have been baptized. We are not only told to baptize, but to teach those who have received the promise to observe all that Jesus has commanded us.
As I get ready to baptize my son, it is a sobering realization. I have the obligation to my children to teach them to be disciples, to instruct them to be obedient to Christ. As much as baptism is a promise to the recipient from God, it should also be a promise from the Church to train and nurture those who have been baptized throughout their life in Christ.
This is why when we bring a child to the baptismal font, the parents or sponsors make a solemn promise. We promise that through our faith, which was a gift to us at our baptism, we too will bring them up in the knowledge of the faith in Jesus Christ.
God, thank you for the opportunity you have given me to baptize my son into the promises that you have made through your own Son. Help me to remember daily the promise that I was baptized into. Help me to be faithful to the calling and duty I have to raise my son in the faith you have provided, just as my parents were faithful when they did so for me. Help my children continue in the promises of their baptism, and be faithful to the obligation they will incur in the baptism of their own children. Amen.
