Some thoughts on baptism
Ben and I were having coffee this morning, reading through Ephesians 1, and something struck me in Paul’s writing. In verse 22 Paul refers to the church of Jesus Christ as his body. And not only does he call the church the body of Christ, he writes that the church is the fullness of Christ. Whoa. The body metaphor has always been strikingly provocative for me but this is on another level. I know the church isn’t the same as Jesus, but Paul seems to be implying that the local church (remember he’s writing a local church in Ephesus) is a robust portrait of who Jesus is, what he’s like, and what he does. Wherever the local church plants its flag it seems the flag of Christ is planted. What an incredible privilege that is. And what a great and weighty responsibility to steward.
Declaring and demonstrating Christ through baptism.
This Sunday we will be doing a baptism! This will make our service feel distinct from our other services. Baptism is worth the service distinction. Not only is baptism a significant symbol for the individual being baptized—a demonstration of their spiritual rebirth, their new life in Christ, and profession of believing loyalty to King Jesus; baptism is also significant for the whole church. It is significant in two ways.
1. Baptism as community celebration.
Baptism is a profoundly communal expression. It symbolizes membership. No, I don’t mean we require it in order to be a member at our church. That’s small potatoes. That’s not the membership I primarily have in mind. I’m talking about membership into the spiritual covenant community of God. That’s a membership that only God can bring a person into. And that membership requirement is not something any person can satisfy on their own. The requirement is the shed blood of Jesus. The membership cost is the costly life of God’s only son. This makes Baptism a profoundly redemptive symbol and a precious time of communal celebration. Because once brought into the spiritual family of God there is true membership, true belonging. The belonging baptism symbolizes is a belonging to God first and foremost, and to one another as a result. And that reality is wrought by God, by his grace alone. This is why we don’t haze new members like a slap happy frat house. We celebrate new members with a warm welcome and enthusiastic affirmation. If they have faith in the finished work of Christ they have nothing to prove and we have everything to celebrate.
2. Baptism as community protest.
Baptism is also a public declaration that there is no other King that we will bow the knee to other than King Jesus. We are baptized into the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our membership is first and foremost a citizenship to God’s country, and subordinate to that is our citizenship to whatever earthly lands we pitch our proverbial tent. This has historically made the Christian people a pesky threat to tyrants, dictators, and demagogues, not least of which is Satan himself. A baptized people is a truly free people. This is why we pose a clear and present danger to the kingdom of darkness. This is because our identity is firmly carved into the stone-sure identity of Christ. No one can take that from us, no matter how antsy for power they get.
So we enter into another baptism Sunday as so many other churches have and will continue to do. But we don’t knuckle drag into a humdrum observation of the ‘same old thing.’ With wide eyed wonder we eagerly anticipate the moment when out of the waters our friend will burst, reminding us of the day when out of the grave we all will fly, meeting the Lord in the air to be brought to eternal life.