WEBVTT 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:08.460 You know, there are certain words in the church 00:00:08.460 --> 00:00:13.539 that have a lot of weight. Some words that immediately 00:00:13.539 --> 00:00:16.699 conjure up different ideas, different thoughts, 00:00:17.320 --> 00:00:20.820 different feelings. And one of those words is 00:00:20.820 --> 00:00:23.980 baptism. For a lot of people it brings up different 00:00:23.980 --> 00:00:27.160 questions. For others, it brings up disagreement. 00:00:28.120 --> 00:00:31.300 And for many, it brings up memories of pressure, 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:33.640 of feeling like they had to make a decision they 00:00:33.640 --> 00:00:36.299 were not ready for, and wondering if they had 00:00:36.299 --> 00:00:39.880 to defend something. But before we go any further, 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:41.659 I want to be clear about what we're doing today. 00:00:41.820 --> 00:00:45.259 This sermon is not about trying to rush you or 00:00:45.259 --> 00:00:47.719 corner you or try to face some form of decision 00:00:47.719 --> 00:00:51.700 in your life. Instead, it is a sermon that is 00:00:51.700 --> 00:00:54.560 meant to cause us to slow down, to take a breath. 00:00:54.909 --> 00:00:57.630 And to remember where baptism comes from and 00:00:57.630 --> 00:00:59.710 why the church spoke about it the way it did. 00:01:00.390 --> 00:01:02.789 And if you're feeling uneasy already, it doesn't 00:01:02.789 --> 00:01:05.269 mean that we're doing anything wrong. It just 00:01:05.269 --> 00:01:07.310 means that maybe we're approaching something 00:01:07.310 --> 00:01:11.090 that matters and we know that it's something 00:01:11.090 --> 00:01:14.849 that's important. You see, oftentimes the things 00:01:14.849 --> 00:01:17.909 that are most important to move forward are the 00:01:17.909 --> 00:01:19.689 things that may make us uncomfortable while we 00:01:19.689 --> 00:01:22.719 go through it. When I used to teach sixth grade 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:26.000 math, go ahead, I know many of you are flinching 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:28.859 already at that phrase, there were moments I 00:01:28.859 --> 00:01:32.319 could see trouble coming before we even got started. 00:01:33.019 --> 00:01:36.219 And one of those was algebra. Now you may be 00:01:36.219 --> 00:01:38.079 saying, wait a minute, you just said sixth grade 00:01:38.079 --> 00:01:40.260 math. I thought algebra was in eighth or ninth 00:01:40.260 --> 00:01:44.680 grade, but... you actually start learning algebra 00:01:44.680 --> 00:01:47.579 in sixth grade. That's the point in time where 00:01:47.579 --> 00:01:50.180 you realize that all of those numbers that you 00:01:50.180 --> 00:01:51.959 were finally starting to get comfortable with, 00:01:52.340 --> 00:01:54.439 all of a sudden there's a letter in there. Why 00:01:54.439 --> 00:01:56.780 is there a letter in there? Is it a typo? How 00:01:56.780 --> 00:01:59.640 does this make any sense at all? And there were 00:01:59.640 --> 00:02:02.500 times whenever I would have to sit down in the 00:02:02.500 --> 00:02:05.099 class and just make them pause for a moment. 00:02:05.239 --> 00:02:07.079 There was one girl that I knew was gonna cry. 00:02:07.370 --> 00:02:09.349 All right, she was just gonna cry. I knew it. 00:02:09.370 --> 00:02:11.889 I kept the tissues over to the side. I did it 00:02:11.889 --> 00:02:15.330 as kindly as I could. But I would sit with this 00:02:15.330 --> 00:02:17.069 class and say, you're not going to like this. 00:02:17.750 --> 00:02:21.270 You're going to feel frustrated and you may feel 00:02:21.270 --> 00:02:24.469 annoyed with me. I'm sure it's not the last time 00:02:24.469 --> 00:02:27.909 that anybody was ever annoyed with me. But you 00:02:27.909 --> 00:02:30.389 know, that's okay. And what I told them is if 00:02:30.389 --> 00:02:33.780 we want to get where we're going, We have to 00:02:33.780 --> 00:02:36.539 walk through this together. I was not about to 00:02:36.539 --> 00:02:38.639 pretend as if this was gonna be easy, but I was 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:41.580 asking them to trust that the discomfort was 00:02:41.580 --> 00:02:44.960 part of the learning. And that's sort of like 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:48.199 today. Some of what we're gonna do is gonna stretch 00:02:48.199 --> 00:02:50.520 our feelings on what we've thought about baptism. 00:02:51.159 --> 00:02:53.120 It's gonna challenge assumptions, it's gonna 00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:55.780 raise questions, and that doesn't mean that we've 00:02:55.780 --> 00:03:00.259 been doing something wrong, but rather it means 00:03:00.259 --> 00:03:03.250 that we need to be honest enough to learn together, 00:03:03.530 --> 00:03:05.650 whether we've come from a background of infant 00:03:05.650 --> 00:03:08.490 baptism or adult baptism, wherever we may be. 00:03:09.169 --> 00:03:13.590 Because at its heart, a sacrament like baptism 00:03:13.590 --> 00:03:17.789 is actually fairly simple. It is God attaching 00:03:17.789 --> 00:03:20.930 his promise to something ordinary that you can 00:03:20.930 --> 00:03:25.150 touch, that you can see. Water, bread, wine, 00:03:25.629 --> 00:03:29.770 words spoken out loud. A sacrament is not magic. 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:33.699 The early church never taught that the object 00:03:33.699 --> 00:03:38.960 of a sacrament itself has power on its own. You 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:41.439 know, you could just touch the water and it doesn't 00:03:41.439 --> 00:03:44.780 automatically start shimmering and make your 00:03:44.780 --> 00:03:48.580 fingers turn to gold. But a sacrament is also 00:03:48.580 --> 00:03:51.580 not empty symbolism. It's not where the meaning 00:03:51.580 --> 00:03:54.460 depends entirely only on how much we understand 00:03:54.460 --> 00:03:58.689 or feel at the moment. As you may or may not 00:03:58.689 --> 00:04:01.090 notice from time to time, I have a giant chunk 00:04:01.090 --> 00:04:04.409 of gold on my right hand over here. That's because 00:04:04.409 --> 00:04:10.110 I'm a what? I'm an Aggie. There you go. The longhorns 00:04:10.110 --> 00:04:14.310 said it the loudest, I noticed. But you know, 00:04:14.409 --> 00:04:17.470 with it is, I have this giant chunk of gold on 00:04:17.470 --> 00:04:20.670 my hand. I don't wear a lot of jewelry. It's 00:04:20.670 --> 00:04:23.769 just not a thing for me. And I don't really have 00:04:23.769 --> 00:04:26.310 this sense that I don't know that it necessarily 00:04:26.310 --> 00:04:30.529 goes with my outfit per se. But for four and 00:04:30.529 --> 00:04:34.230 a half years, I was a part of a community that 00:04:34.230 --> 00:04:37.990 changed who I was. And I learned a lot. I grew 00:04:37.990 --> 00:04:41.509 a lot. There was a lot to it. And frankly, a 00:04:41.509 --> 00:04:45.029 lot of experiences that every time I wear this, 00:04:45.850 --> 00:04:49.589 it embodies that. It's a part of me in a way 00:04:49.589 --> 00:04:54.269 that every time I wear it and hold it, it stands 00:04:54.269 --> 00:04:57.850 out to me. But many of you have a ring on the 00:04:57.850 --> 00:05:02.069 other hand. Many of you have a wedding band that 00:05:02.069 --> 00:05:05.250 every time you hold it, it's not just jewelry. 00:05:06.410 --> 00:05:08.889 It's a weight because of the promise bound to 00:05:08.889 --> 00:05:11.579 it. I just did a wedding yesterday, and there's 00:05:11.579 --> 00:05:14.500 the whole part of the service where you talk 00:05:14.500 --> 00:05:19.279 about, with this ring, I thee wed. It's not I 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:21.199 thee wed, and by the way, here's a ring, it looks 00:05:21.199 --> 00:05:26.839 nice. It is actually holding and embodying what 00:05:26.839 --> 00:05:29.339 you are doing at that moment. You don't stare 00:05:29.339 --> 00:05:31.100 at it and hope it's going to glow during the 00:05:31.100 --> 00:05:34.180 hard times, but you also don't discard it and 00:05:34.180 --> 00:05:37.899 get a new one anytime the marriage feels strained. 00:05:39.470 --> 00:05:42.810 Sacraments work like that. God binds His Word 00:05:42.810 --> 00:05:45.389 to physical things because we are physical people. 00:05:45.930 --> 00:05:49.329 We need physical things that we can return to 00:05:49.329 --> 00:05:52.290 and hold onto and look at whenever we feel like 00:05:52.290 --> 00:05:55.350 we're wavering inside, whenever our certainty 00:05:55.350 --> 00:05:58.870 has faded. What often surprises people though 00:05:58.870 --> 00:06:02.329 is that all the debates we think that there are 00:06:02.329 --> 00:06:05.449 for the sacraments, baptism and communion and 00:06:05.449 --> 00:06:08.750 other things that people ask about, They were 00:06:08.750 --> 00:06:10.829 not actually all that controversial for most 00:06:10.829 --> 00:06:13.589 of Christian history. The major debates in the 00:06:13.589 --> 00:06:16.569 early church were not about whether baptism actually 00:06:16.569 --> 00:06:19.569 did something as a means of grace. It was about 00:06:19.569 --> 00:06:22.389 whether or not people should live a certain way 00:06:22.389 --> 00:06:25.889 after receiving it. The fear was not that baptism 00:06:25.889 --> 00:06:29.949 was empty, but that it was so serious that maybe 00:06:29.949 --> 00:06:32.230 it should be postponed until someone was ready 00:06:32.230 --> 00:06:36.089 for new life that came after it. It was only 00:06:36.089 --> 00:06:39.970 much later that the concern about misusing it 00:06:39.970 --> 00:06:43.050 to avoid the need for true faith, it turned into 00:06:43.050 --> 00:06:47.250 a suspicion about whether God was acting at all. 00:06:47.769 --> 00:06:51.009 And when that happened slowly, baptism gradually 00:06:51.009 --> 00:06:54.189 reduced into just a symbol rather than a gift. 00:06:55.029 --> 00:06:58.149 Until today, people don't even know what to do 00:06:58.149 --> 00:07:01.560 with it often times. Understanding the timeline 00:07:01.560 --> 00:07:04.220 helps us realize that the discomfort that many 00:07:04.220 --> 00:07:07.860 people feel today is not ancient. It's only within 00:07:07.860 --> 00:07:11.519 the last few centuries. Imagine spending 1 ,500 00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:15.379 years where people are on the same page and then 00:07:15.379 --> 00:07:18.459 somebody changes their mind and then nobody can 00:07:18.459 --> 00:07:22.000 seem to agree anymore. But to understand it even 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:23.920 better though, we need to remember that baptism 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:27.360 did not begin as a Christian invention. All right, 00:07:27.459 --> 00:07:30.480 this is not something where John someday is standing 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:32.899 in the Jordan River and said, hey, you know, 00:07:32.920 --> 00:07:35.300 I'm going to splash people with water and tell 00:07:35.300 --> 00:07:39.120 them you need to repent. This actually came out 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:42.639 of Jewish life. In Judaism, water was already 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:45.779 a language that God's people understood. Ritual 00:07:45.779 --> 00:07:48.920 washings were done all the time to mark transitions. 00:07:49.399 --> 00:07:51.980 They were restoring people to the community life 00:07:51.980 --> 00:07:54.379 if they had been on the outside of the community 00:07:54.379 --> 00:07:57.699 for some reason. It was now something that brought 00:07:57.699 --> 00:08:00.300 them back in. When they were on the outside, 00:08:00.360 --> 00:08:03.680 they are now back in the community. It prepared 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:06.120 people that if they were going into a holy space, 00:08:06.339 --> 00:08:09.019 it's not saying my hands are filthy, I was like 00:08:09.019 --> 00:08:12.160 touching the ground. It's saying, no, I need 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:16.160 to be prepared for the presence of God. When 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:18.720 Gentiles converted to Judaism, being washed in 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:22.120 water became part of it. It marked a change of 00:08:22.120 --> 00:08:25.500 identity, a crossing from one way of life into 00:08:25.500 --> 00:08:29.540 another. And when families converted, the children 00:08:29.540 --> 00:08:34.720 got included too. Everybody. I will follow the 00:08:34.720 --> 00:08:42.879 Lord and my house. Covenant life was never meant 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:48.200 to be an individual journey. Belonging came before 00:08:48.200 --> 00:08:51.340 the explanation. You see, this background matters 00:08:51.340 --> 00:08:53.500 because it shows baptism was already understood 00:08:53.500 --> 00:08:57.360 as something that God used Himself to place people 00:08:57.360 --> 00:09:00.039 into His promises, not just something that people 00:09:00.039 --> 00:09:03.000 did to try to make a statement. But even more 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:05.259 than this, John the Baptist was so disruptive 00:09:05.259 --> 00:09:07.759 because he wasn't just baptizing the Gentiles, 00:09:07.940 --> 00:09:11.059 which everybody else was okay with. Those Gentiles, 00:09:11.179 --> 00:09:13.399 yeah, you really need to make them clean. No, 00:09:13.559 --> 00:09:18.149 he was baptizing the Jews too. Because... people 00:09:18.149 --> 00:09:20.669 who already believed, they thought that they 00:09:20.669 --> 00:09:23.389 belonged because of their bloodline and because 00:09:23.389 --> 00:09:26.149 they were circumcised into it. And John says 00:09:26.149 --> 00:09:29.529 in Matthew 3, 9, do not presume to say to yourselves, 00:09:29.750 --> 00:09:32.710 we have Abraham as our father. In other words, 00:09:32.830 --> 00:09:36.950 your ancestry is not your guarantee. The covenant 00:09:36.950 --> 00:09:39.429 identity is not something to take for granted. 00:09:40.549 --> 00:09:44.230 See, John takes that boundary crossing act of 00:09:44.230 --> 00:09:48.120 baptism. and He applied it to all Israel itself. 00:09:49.500 --> 00:09:52.059 Baptism could not be reduced to just a personal 00:09:52.059 --> 00:09:54.519 testimony that served only for the people who 00:09:54.519 --> 00:09:57.720 didn't get circumcised at an early age. It was 00:09:57.720 --> 00:10:01.600 a call to repentance that placed everyone under 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:05.960 both the judgment and the promise. And then what 00:10:05.960 --> 00:10:11.779 does Jesus do? Jesus steps into the water. How 00:10:11.779 --> 00:10:14.889 strange was that for John? What are you doing? 00:10:15.129 --> 00:10:18.850 You don't need to repent. You don't need to try 00:10:18.850 --> 00:10:21.610 to make sure that you're showing your sins need 00:10:21.610 --> 00:10:24.830 forgiving. What are you doing? He doesn't need 00:10:24.830 --> 00:10:28.669 cleansing, but He enters anyway. Because He's 00:10:28.669 --> 00:10:32.830 identifying Himself with sinners like us, receiving 00:10:32.830 --> 00:10:37.000 the Spirit publicly like we do. From this moment 00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:39.659 on, baptism is no longer about the repentance 00:10:39.659 --> 00:10:42.460 that John proclaimed, it's about being united 00:10:42.460 --> 00:10:46.759 with Christ. And let's look at the New Testament 00:10:46.759 --> 00:10:49.860 for what it is, because the New Testament says 00:10:49.860 --> 00:10:53.480 that baptism brings salvation with striking confidence. 00:10:54.860 --> 00:10:57.840 In 1 Peter 3, 21, Peter says, baptism, which 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:03.000 corresponds to this, now saves you. not as a 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:05.179 removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal 00:11:05.179 --> 00:11:08.740 to God for a good conscience through the resurrection 00:11:08.740 --> 00:11:12.240 of Jesus Christ. Peter, true, he immediately 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:15.200 guards against the misunderstandings. It's not 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:18.519 magic water, but he does not retreat from saying, 00:11:18.519 --> 00:11:23.000 baptism saves you, because it connects us to 00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:26.519 the resurrection of Christ. And Paul, he does 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:29.639 much the same. In Romans 6 .3 -4 he says, Do 00:11:29.639 --> 00:11:32.200 you not know that all of us who have been baptized 00:11:32.200 --> 00:11:36.460 into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 00:11:36.580 --> 00:11:39.919 We were buried therefore with Him by baptism 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:43.460 into death. In order that just as Christ was 00:11:43.460 --> 00:11:45.480 raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:49.220 we too might walk in newness of life. Because 00:11:49.220 --> 00:11:53.840 of baptism. And in Colossians 2, 11 -12, Paul 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:56.799 shows baptism to be the new circumcision, saying, 00:11:57.500 --> 00:12:01.100 In Christ also you were circumcised with a circumcision 00:12:01.100 --> 00:12:04.500 made without hands by putting off the body of 00:12:04.500 --> 00:12:07.960 the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having 00:12:07.960 --> 00:12:12.820 been buried with Him in baptism, in which you 00:12:12.820 --> 00:12:14.899 were also raised with Him through faith in the 00:12:14.899 --> 00:12:17.620 powerful working of God, who raised Him from 00:12:17.620 --> 00:12:21.970 the dead. Baptism is the new circumcision. Circumcision 00:12:21.970 --> 00:12:24.269 was given to infants not because they understood, 00:12:24.309 --> 00:12:26.970 but because God promised to call people to be 00:12:26.970 --> 00:12:28.990 His own through it, which is why it was even 00:12:28.990 --> 00:12:31.889 ever a thing. How many people thought that it 00:12:31.889 --> 00:12:35.830 was just some corruption made up by a church? 00:12:37.970 --> 00:12:41.590 The church saw that this placed people firmly 00:12:41.590 --> 00:12:46.129 in God's covenant. But couldn't somebody be baptized 00:12:46.129 --> 00:12:50.120 as an infant? and then reject it and never follow 00:12:50.120 --> 00:12:55.360 by faith? Yes. But the same was always true of 00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:58.659 circumcision, too. Even as Paul wrote in Romans 00:12:58.659 --> 00:13:01.500 2, what is the value of circumcision? What if 00:13:01.500 --> 00:13:04.659 some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness 00:13:04.659 --> 00:13:08.460 nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means. 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:12.019 God is still working in someone's life from the 00:13:12.019 --> 00:13:15.240 beginning of their baptismal life through the 00:13:15.240 --> 00:13:17.340 Spirit and through the community. which is one 00:13:17.340 --> 00:13:21.000 of the main reasons why the church is not recommended 00:13:21.000 --> 00:13:24.379 to baptize infants when their families will not 00:13:24.379 --> 00:13:27.840 raise them to know Christ. For those who thought, 00:13:28.139 --> 00:13:30.620 I'll just baptize all the babies that I come 00:13:30.620 --> 00:13:35.139 across and God will just work. That is not how 00:13:35.139 --> 00:13:38.840 it is intended to be. And even beyond the apostles, 00:13:39.299 --> 00:13:42.000 the sacrament is also how the early church understood 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:45.840 it. Ignatius of Antioch spoke of baptism as participation 00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:48.659 in Christ. Justin Martyr described it as a new 00:13:48.659 --> 00:13:52.139 birth. Irenaeus spoke explicitly of Christ saving 00:13:52.139 --> 00:13:55.139 infants, children, adults alike through it. Even 00:13:55.139 --> 00:13:58.460 Tertullian, the one who did say we should probably 00:13:58.460 --> 00:14:02.480 delay baptism. He even saw that it was sacramental. 00:14:03.179 --> 00:14:05.679 He delayed it because it was so powerful and 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:09.759 binding. His concern was not that baptism had 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:14.000 no authority, but rather the opposite of taking 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:18.460 it for granted. It was only was Wingley and the 00:14:18.460 --> 00:14:21.259 Anabaptists in the last few centuries that we 00:14:21.259 --> 00:14:25.220 began seeing baptism as just symbolic. Across 00:14:25.220 --> 00:14:28.200 centuries the message is consistent. Baptism 00:14:28.200 --> 00:14:32.980 is God's act received over a lifetime. The debate 00:14:32.980 --> 00:14:35.539 was never whether baptism worked to connect us 00:14:35.539 --> 00:14:37.860 with Christ's death and resurrection in a saving 00:14:37.860 --> 00:14:42.019 way. It was always, how do we live after grace 00:14:42.019 --> 00:14:45.019 had been given? It's one of the reasons why we're 00:14:45.019 --> 00:14:49.379 so afraid whenever young people go off and pursue 00:14:49.379 --> 00:14:52.379 the churches who want to take the gifts of God 00:14:52.379 --> 00:14:56.639 and make them into just lip service. As if the 00:14:56.639 --> 00:14:59.019 only thing that matters in your Christian life 00:14:59.019 --> 00:15:03.429 is what you decide to do with it. And this is 00:15:03.429 --> 00:15:05.870 why the church does not rebaptize people every 00:15:05.870 --> 00:15:09.309 time they fail or doubt their faith or wonder 00:15:09.309 --> 00:15:12.110 if they gave their heart to Jesus enough beforehand. 00:15:13.250 --> 00:15:15.629 For the young man whose online addiction causes 00:15:15.629 --> 00:15:17.990 emotional and physical distance from those that 00:15:17.990 --> 00:15:21.090 he loves. For the 80 -year -old man who is full 00:15:21.090 --> 00:15:22.990 of bitterness because his Christian life did 00:15:22.990 --> 00:15:25.889 not go the way he had hoped. For the child who 00:15:25.889 --> 00:15:28.129 finally connects the dots one morning and realizes 00:15:28.129 --> 00:15:30.590 that disobeying his parents is the same as sin. 00:15:31.159 --> 00:15:33.720 For the high school student who bullied his classmates 00:15:33.720 --> 00:15:36.799 for years despite all his Sunday school lessons, 00:15:37.299 --> 00:15:39.740 only to realize that not all of them recovered. 00:15:40.460 --> 00:15:43.399 For the 76 -year -old man who confesses to an 00:15:43.399 --> 00:15:45.980 eight -year affair after writing for decades 00:15:45.980 --> 00:15:48.259 about the Christian life to encourage millions 00:15:48.259 --> 00:15:52.320 while ignoring his own failings. Where do we 00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:56.419 draw the line of when someone has done the very 00:15:56.419 --> 00:15:59.940 sin that now needs baptism? because we're hoping 00:15:59.940 --> 00:16:02.539 that that's it and they'll never fail that badly 00:16:02.539 --> 00:16:07.200 again. What has gone wrong is not baptism. What 00:16:07.200 --> 00:16:10.220 has gone wrong is that we don't sanctify, form, 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:15.059 repent, and become humble. What has gone wrong 00:16:15.059 --> 00:16:19.299 is everything we've done after baptism. Re -baptizing 00:16:19.299 --> 00:16:22.080 someone, it just implies as if grace from God 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:25.580 fails. Instead of realizing we're the ones who 00:16:25.580 --> 00:16:30.750 ignored or forgot or resisted it. Re -baptism 00:16:30.750 --> 00:16:34.470 is treated like a shortcut. As if getting baptized 00:16:34.470 --> 00:16:36.870 again means now you're never going to mess up 00:16:36.870 --> 00:16:41.870 like that again. Instead of realizing that the 00:16:41.870 --> 00:16:46.230 answer was to truly come to repentance and reconciliation. 00:16:48.350 --> 00:16:50.769 Even for the one dealing with the affair, the 00:16:50.769 --> 00:16:54.250 answer is not re -baptizing or wondering if there 00:16:54.250 --> 00:16:57.330 was ever faith in the first place. The point 00:16:57.330 --> 00:17:01.190 is public confession removal, repentance, and 00:17:01.190 --> 00:17:05.170 maybe restoration if appropriate. Because baptism 00:17:05.170 --> 00:17:08.230 is not a badge that you lose when you disgrace 00:17:08.230 --> 00:17:13.230 it. Grace has not been squandered. Grace is something 00:17:13.230 --> 00:17:16.609 that is needed especially then. Because baptism 00:17:16.609 --> 00:17:20.650 does not make us immune to addictions and bullying 00:17:20.650 --> 00:17:25.990 and abuse. Baptism is the thing where we need 00:17:25.990 --> 00:17:29.519 to be convicted. and to realize how much we need 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:34.500 to change. The early church rejected that instinct 00:17:34.500 --> 00:17:39.000 very early. If baptism had to be repeated every 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:42.500 time we understood our sin more clearly, then 00:17:42.500 --> 00:17:46.380 we would be afraid to grow, because every time 00:17:46.380 --> 00:17:48.640 we would realize how much we need to grow, we 00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:51.319 would feel we need to be baptized yet again. 00:17:52.680 --> 00:17:56.829 Baptized does not mark the end of sin. It marks 00:17:56.829 --> 00:17:58.910 the beginning of learning what to do when sin 00:17:58.910 --> 00:18:03.049 is revealed. It is not undone by failure. It 00:18:03.049 --> 00:18:06.990 is not fragile. It is not dependent on when we 00:18:06.990 --> 00:18:09.990 finally understand it perfectly because we will 00:18:09.990 --> 00:18:13.349 never understand the grace of God perfectly. 00:18:15.990 --> 00:18:19.009 But everything today raises our final and deeper 00:18:19.009 --> 00:18:23.609 question. What kind of a God would do this? How 00:18:23.609 --> 00:18:26.589 does God make any sense to do something like 00:18:26.589 --> 00:18:30.089 this with water? What kind of a God would make 00:18:30.089 --> 00:18:36.309 promises in such a way? The same one who says, 00:18:36.369 --> 00:18:39.809 behold my servant whom I uphold, my chosen in 00:18:39.809 --> 00:18:44.369 whom my soul delights. The one who says, a bruised 00:18:44.369 --> 00:18:47.230 reed he will not break, and a faintly burning 00:18:47.230 --> 00:18:50.670 wick he will not quench. This is not a God who 00:18:50.670 --> 00:18:52.930 waits for us to be strong before He's willing 00:18:52.930 --> 00:18:55.890 to act in our lives. This is not a God who demands 00:18:55.890 --> 00:18:58.710 clarity in our minds and our hearts before He 00:18:58.710 --> 00:19:01.670 gives us grace. This is not a God who crushes 00:19:01.670 --> 00:19:03.869 people because they don't have it all figured 00:19:03.869 --> 00:19:09.910 out. This is a God who gently, faithfully, persistently 00:19:09.910 --> 00:19:15.349 brings us to that place of faith. Isaiah reminds 00:19:15.349 --> 00:19:18.779 us... He will faithfully bring forth justice 00:19:18.779 --> 00:19:21.859 and He will not grow faint or be discouraged 00:19:21.859 --> 00:19:25.460 till He has established justice in the earth. 00:19:26.259 --> 00:19:29.559 Because God does not affirm our confusion, He 00:19:29.559 --> 00:19:35.460 leads us out of it. He claims us and then He 00:19:35.460 --> 00:19:39.200 reshapes us. He doesn't wait for us to reshape 00:19:39.200 --> 00:19:43.980 ourselves before He accepts us. And that is baptism. 00:19:44.759 --> 00:19:47.500 God does not wait for us to be strong reeds. 00:19:47.619 --> 00:19:51.480 He does not wait for us to burn steadily He binds 00:19:51.480 --> 00:19:54.759 himself to the bruised reeds and protects the 00:19:54.759 --> 00:19:57.960 flames that flicker He does not abandon his work 00:19:57.960 --> 00:20:01.839 when we resist when we doubt when we fail that 00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:05.779 is sacrament Baptism is not God standing at a 00:20:05.779 --> 00:20:07.500 distance hoping that we're finally going to get 00:20:07.500 --> 00:20:11.250 it right and then come into his kingdom It is 00:20:11.250 --> 00:20:13.230 God taking us by the hand and saying, you are 00:20:13.230 --> 00:20:22.170 mine, and I am not done with you. That is why 00:20:22.170 --> 00:20:27.549 baptism challenges us and does not destroy us. 00:20:28.150 --> 00:20:30.769 Because this is the same servant who stepped 00:20:30.769 --> 00:20:35.150 into the Jordan, received the Spirit, and now 00:20:35.150 --> 00:20:40.650 walks patiently with us. So today, Maybe this 00:20:40.650 --> 00:20:45.170 is a little unsettling for you. Good. The Word 00:20:45.170 --> 00:20:47.230 of God should always unsettle you just a little 00:20:47.230 --> 00:20:51.269 bit. Because it's a sign that God is still at 00:20:51.269 --> 00:20:54.730 work. It's not just what you have figured out. 00:20:55.910 --> 00:20:59.430 The bruised reed will not break. The dimly burning 00:20:59.430 --> 00:21:02.490 wick will not be quenched. And the promise spoken 00:21:02.490 --> 00:21:06.410 over you in water, whenever it happened, is the 00:21:06.410 --> 00:21:09.319 promise that He will not let go. because you 00:21:09.319 --> 00:21:13.599 are God's beloved child with whom he is well 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:16.299 pleased. Thanks be to God.