The Meaning of Baptism

Text: 1 John 5:9-13

Focus: Baptism

Function: to help people see what the symbol of baptism is all about.

⁹If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son. ¹⁰Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. ¹¹And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹²Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

¹³I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Good morning. Today we are going to talk about baptism. I choose this passage to introduce the theme, but I am a little bit hesitant because of the way we interpret “believe” and then it might sound like the arrogance of “we are in and they are out.” And I don’t want us to focus on that. Today, we focus on what it means to give our lives to Christ.

Because, in essence, Baptism is the symbol of our desire to live according to the teachings of Jesus. Baptism is the outward sign of the inward act to follow the way of Jesus.

The passage tells us that when we believe, God lives in our hearts.

So what does it mean to you to believe? (Later on, we are going to ask that question.)

The word “believe” is always followed with the word into.

It is a statement of trust. We believe into Jesus.

It is more than just believing that Jesus exists but it’s the statement that we trust in him.

Let us do an experiment. For those who are able and willing, for just a moment, would you please stand?

Okay, thanks.

Now, please sit back down.

When you were sitting down before you stood up, you knew that the chair you were sitting in would support you.

As a matter of fact, I guess that before you sat in the chair the firs time, you didn’t check it to see if it was safe, you trusted it because you have sat in the chair before.

That is what trusting Jesus is like. When you sat back down, you trusted the chair, and rested yourselves.

Our experiences with God lead us to rest in God and trust God more and more.

Baptism then, is that outward sign of our inward decision to trust, or rest, in Jesus.

We acknowledge that Jesus is here, living in our hearts and our Christian journey is learning to walk with Jesus here (point to heart), in our hearts.

The promise is that this kind of life will lead us to love one another.

Why do we trust Jesus? Because Jesus came to us from God and showed us how God wants us to live.

Jesus came to restore the world to God. He was killed by evil people for telling people to always love others. But he rose from the dead as the Christ and his death and coming back to life has made the way for us to have hope in living Jesus’ way. We don’t have to be afraid anymore. God now calls us God’s children.

This passage tells us that this new life from God is the way we are saved. And since Jesus has restored us to God, we call it “salvation.” Christ is the Savior of all. Those who trust in him get baptized as a symbol of their trust in Christ.