Well, good morning, I say to you again,
welcome to Church of the Advent,
especially if you're joining us for the first time.
We are delighted that you're here.
This is a wonderful Sunday
because we have an opportunity to celebrate baptism.
We'll have a couple of people baptized
a little bit later in the service,
and that's very appropriate for this time of year.
We're in the season of epiphany,
and that's one of the themes of epiphany is baptism.
And so I thought it would be appropriate
to spend some time this morning
before we actually do these baptisms
to talk about baptism.
It's something that I've preached on a few times,
but I've never actually preached specifically
on infant baptism
and why we would do the practice of infant baptism.
So that's what I wanna look at this morning in particular.
All Christians, virtually all Christians in the world
agree that we should baptize people
once they come to faith in Jesus.
So that's not really up for debate.
But there is a disagreement
over the children of believers.
What should we do there?
Some people believe we should baptize them,
and some do not.
Why would we baptize a baby
before they are old enough to come to faith
to choose to follow Jesus for themselves?
So that's what we're gonna be talking about this morning.
Now, a couple of caveats
that we have to hit right up front.
Caveat number one,
in our church,
we have people on both sides of the issue.
It's one of the great things about our church,
one of the things I love about our church.
A lot of people in our church
have not come from an Anglican background
or come from a background
where this was the case.
And so this is an area
where people in our church disagree.
And this is an area
where faithful Bible-believing Christians can disagree.
So the good news is,
everybody's welcome here.
As an Anglican church,
infant baptism is normative for us.
But there is freedom for those who disagree.
So ultimately, we encourage parents,
we leave it up to parents
to decide before the Lord
how to raise their children in the faith
and the role that baptism plays.
But I do think that this is something
that we all need to understand.
And there are probably people here
who have always agreed with infant baptism
but never really understood why.
Or maybe they agree with it for the wrong reasons.
And so I think it's important to spend time on it.
That's caveat number one.
Caveat number two,
this sounds like a super niche topic
that only applies to Christian parents of kids.
It is, in a sense.
But it's also something that I think,
hopefully you will agree
after we spend some time on it,
applies to every single person in this room.
And in fact, it's something that applies
to every single person in the world.
Because the fact is,
if you understand baptism,
you begin to understand the heart of God.
The purpose of baptism is to put on display
for the world to see the very heart of God.
The fact that God loves you
and the lengths to which God will go
that you might belong to him
as a member of his family.
And so my hope is that
wherever you are in your journey,
if you're a Christian parent
about to have a baby
trying to figure out what to do,
or if you're somebody
who just walked in off the street
and you're not a Christian
and you're like,
I think I picked the wrong Sunday.
Regardless of where you are,
my hope and prayer is that this,
by the end,
you will see why this is relevant to all of us.
So what we're gonna look at,
essentially, in a nutshell,
is that all of this is about a promise.
It's about a promise.
It's about a promise given by God to Abraham,
signified in Israel by circumcision,
and signified in the church by baptism.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you for your word
and as always,
we come with our own hopes and expectations,
needs and distractions.
If our hope only rests in our wisdom
and our strategy
and our highest thoughts,
then Lord, we are lost.
But our hope rests in the truth
that we just celebrated at Christmas,
that you are Emmanuel.
You're the God who is with us,
a God who speaks to us,
a God whose word is living and active,
a God who desires to renew our hearts.
And we pray that through your word this morning,
you would do what only you can do.
In the power of your spirit,
in the name of Jesus, amen.
All right, so the first piece of this
is to understand
that all of this begins with a promise
that is given by God to Abraham.
In order to understand baptism,
we have to understand the origins
of the gospel itself,
which is the core hope of Christianity
and the thing that really sets Christianity apart
from all of the other religions and philosophies,
ancient and modern,
that attempt to offer hope to the world.
Because other religions say
that the only way to have a relationship with God,
the only way to gain the blessing of God,
is to earn it.
You have to prove through your obedience
and your devotion
that you are worthy of the blessing of the divine.
Only the best get blessed.
That's the message.
But in the book of Genesis,
we meet a man named Abram.
And Abram is just like us.
He's flawed.
He's a sinner.
He messes up all the time.
And yet he's able to have the kind of relationship
with God that we all want.
He is loved by God.
He is extraordinarily blessed by God.
And it raises the question of,
how is such a thing possible
for such an obviously flawed individual?
And the answer is found in Genesis chapter 15.
God comes to Abram
and he announces his plan
to redeem and restore the world
through Abram's offspring.
I'm gonna build a community
as numerous as the stars.
And in Genesis 15 verse six,
it says this,
and Abram believed the Lord
and he counted it to him as righteousness.
And we cannot overestimate
the world-changing importance
of this statement.
God credits Abram's faith to him
as righteousness.
In other words, God says this,
even though that you're sinful
and even though nothing that you do
will ever make up for the degree
to which you have rebelled against me
and rejected me,
you'll never make up for that.
Even still,
if you're willing to trust me,
if you're willing to trust my promises
and believe them,
then I will cover your sin
and I will welcome you
into relationship with me
and I will give you all of the privileges
that would come with being
a fully righteous person.
I will treat you as though you were righteous.
And we say,
well how could God just overlook sin?
We'll get there.
So God offers Abram a relationship
based on faith,
not good works,
and he says,
I will,
if you have faith in me,
I will credit this to you
as righteousness.
So this is now,
for the first time in the world,
a relationship with God
that nobody has ever seen before.
You mean,
I don't have to earn it
through obedience and devotion,
but God wants your devotion.
God delights in your good works.
But your relationship
is now based on your faith in him.
It changes everything.
But it does raise a question.
Is this something
that only applies to Abram?
Or is this something
that God intends to do
for other people?
And at this point in the story,
we don't know yet.
What we then see
is that God makes
an eternal promise
to Abram
that he will do this
for anyone
and everyone
who comes to him in faith.
In Genesis chapter 17,
two chapters later,
God makes a covenant,
which is a formal agreement
with Abram.
And he essentially says this,
for all eternity,
from here forward
for all eternity,
when the conditions
of the covenant are met,
i.e. when you have faith in me,
that's your end of the covenant,
when the conditions
of the covenant are met,
meaning faith,
God promises
that he will forgive their sin
and credit their faith
to them as righteousness.
So God is saying,
my plan to renew
and restore the world
is going to be built
on this kind of relationship.
Your side of the covenant
is to believe in me,
to have faith in me,
and I will forgive
and welcome you
into my family.
And then God renames him Abraham
because he says,
as a result of this,
I've made you the father
of a multitude of nations.
Not just your descendants,
but a multitude of nations
are going to be blessed by this.
Because God's going to do it
not just for the blood relatives,
but for any foreigner
who wants to have
this kind of relationship
with God,
any non-Jewish person,
this is going to be open
to them as well.
And then,
God gives
an outward,
invisible sign
of this promise.
How are people
going to know this?
How are they going to remember it?
What's the way
that we're going to
stay focused
on this promise?
God says,
I'm going to give you
a visible mark.
I'm going to seal
this promise
so that you'll always know
that I keep my word.
And he gives them
the symbol,
the sign of circumcision.
And we say,
well, why circumcision?
That sounds kind of odd.
It's a bit barbaric.
It is barbaric.
In circumcision,
there is a shedding of blood.
Some blood is shed.
And this points forward
2,000 years into the future
when Jesus Christ would come
and when Jesus would shed
his blood on the cross,
which is infinitely more barbaric,
in order to pay the price for sin.
And you say,
well, that's how God is able
to cover and forgive
the sin of someone like Abraham.
Because God knows
that one day
he's going to send
his own son
to pay the price
for all of that sin.
And so,
even though they didn't know it
at the time,
those who were circumcised
for 2,000 years,
they were ultimately
putting their faith in Jesus.
They didn't know it.
As I shed a little bit of blood,
I'm putting my faith
in the ultimate shedding of blood.
So God tells Abraham
to be circumcised
and to circumcise
his entire household.
Every male in Abraham's house
and in every future generation.
So Abraham gets circumcised.
He's 99.
That's one of the reasons
we recommend doing it
a lot earlier.
He's 99.
And he circumcises his son Isaac
when he's 8 days old.
And again, we ask,
well, so why does he circumcise Isaac
when he's only 8 days old?
He can't possibly understand
the shedding of blood
and everything we just said.
When Abraham circumcised Isaac,
he's saying this to him.
I'm gonna raise you
and I'm gonna teach you
all about the love
and the truth of God.
And God has promised
to do for you, Isaac,
what he has done for me.
When you come to faith,
God has promised
that he's going to forgive your sin
and he's gonna credit your faith
to you as righteousness
just like he did for me.
And he's gonna adopt you
and make you his son
just like he did for me.
And how are you going to know this,
Isaac, as you grow up?
Your circumcision is a sign
and a seal of God's promise.
So don't just take my word for it.
God wanted you to have this sign
as a guarantee
that God will do this for you
when you come to faith.
Right, so for 2,000 years,
the sign of the covenant
was given to believing adults
and to their children,
the children of believing parents.
Did this save Isaac?
No.
Did this guarantee
that Isaac would be saved?
No.
It is simply God's promise
that if and when Isaac comes to faith,
God promises that he will do for him
what he did for Abraham.
I will forgive your sin
and I will welcome you into relationship
on the basis of your faith alone.
That's the promise.
So circumcision was a visible sign
given to the people of Israel
of God's pledge
to forgive the sins of the people
who put their faith in him.
And we say,
okay, well that's great,
nice Old Testament lesson.
What does that have to do
with today and the church?
After 2,000 years of waiting,
Jesus Christ comes into the world.
And he comes as a part of,
he enters into a family
descended from the line of Abraham.
Abraham, and he comes to fulfill everything
that God had spoken to Abraham,
everything that had been declared.
And he sheds his blood,
and he brings God's blessing to the nations.
And then after his death and resurrection,
Jesus stands with his disciples
before his ascension,
and he gives them their final commissioning.
Here's your life mission.
All authority in heaven and on earth
has been given to me,
Jesus says.
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'm with you
to the end of the age.
And not long after,
after Jesus then ascends,
the Holy Spirit comes,
and there's a massive outpouring
of God's blessing.
And the apostle Peter
stands up in the power of the Holy Spirit,
and he preaches to the multitudes,
and he tells the story of Jesus.
And they're all cut to the heart,
and they say,
what should we do?
What do we do?
And for the most part,
these are circumcised Jews
from various places.
And they say,
what should we do?
And Peter says this,
repent and be baptized,
every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ,
for the forgiveness of your sins,
and you will receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Be baptized in the name of Jesus
for the forgiveness of sins.
And the same promise
that God made to Abraham
is extended to the church.
They say, okay,
repent and be baptized.
Why should we be baptized?
Here's what Peter says.
For the promise
is for you,
and for your children,
and for all who are far off,
everyone whom the Lord,
our God,
calls to himself.
The same promise
that God made to Abraham,
that God made to Isaac,
that God made to all
of those generations of families,
all for 2,000 years,
Peter then says,
that promise is for you,
and it's for your children,
and it's for anyone
that the Lord would call to himself.
But the sign of the promise
will no longer be circumcision.
From the birth of the church on,
there is a new sign.
Same promise,
new sign.
The sign of the promise
will no longer be circumcision.
From now on,
baptism will be the sign
of God's promise.
After Jesus comes,
baptism takes the place
of circumcision
as the sign of God's promise.
Same promise,
new sign.
So believing parents
were now called
to put the mark
of God's pledge
on their children,
not in the form of circumcision,
but now in the form of baptism.
Does it save them?
No.
Does it guarantee
their salvation?
No.
What does it do?
The same thing
that it's done
for 2,000 years.
It's a mark
of God's pledge
that when that child
comes to faith,
God will forgive their sin
and claim them as his own,
and they will receive
all of the blessings
of the covenant.
It's a sign
of God's promise.
And you say,
well, are we sure?
What's the connection
between circumcision
and baptism?
How do we know?
This is something
that Paul,
the Apostle Paul,
explicitly addresses
in Colossians chapter 2.
He's writing to Christians
who have been baptized,
but they've not been circumcised.
And there's a big question
in the church.
Well, should we also
get circumcised?
And if you really mean it,
should you get both?
Should you be circumcised
and then baptized?
And how does that work?
And here's how
the Apostle Paul answers this.
He says,
you don't need
to get circumcised.
Why not?
Because you're already circumcised.
You're already circumcised.
And they're like,
I'm pretty sure I'm not.
And he says,
no,
you bear the mark
of God's promise
through your baptism.
You've been circumcised
with a circumcision
made without hands
in your baptism.
And you say,
well,
why would God change the mark?
Why a new sign?
Well,
because Jesus has come.
Right?
For 2,000 years,
circumcision looked forward
to what would need to happen
as we shed blood.
We know that one day
blood will need to be shed
in an ultimate sense
for all of the world.
So we're looking forward.
Right?
Baptism looks back
and it says,
this is the result
of the fact
that Jesus' blood was shed.
The focus is not on the fact
that it's going to happen.
The focus is on
the effects of that.
The washing away of sin
through the shedding
of Jesus' blood.
Right?
The death to the old life
and the sin nature
and the raising to life again
of people in Christ
and the filling
of the Holy Spirit,
the fulfilling
of all of the covenant blessings.
So circumcision looked forward,
baptism looks back
and says,
because of this,
all of these blessings
are now ours
to enjoy.
So to pull all of this together,
all of this,
as I said at the beginning,
is about God's promise
that when someone expresses faith,
he will forgive sin
and claim them as his own.
This is a promise
that was given to Abraham.
It's signified in Israel
by circumcision
and it is now signified
in the church by baptism.
Same promise,
new sign.
Now I know some people hear this
and very understandably,
people say,
well, you know,
if this is true,
then why do we not have
any examples
of an infant being baptized
in the New Testament?
And I would say,
yeah, while it's true
that there's no specific reference
to an infant being baptized,
curiously,
every single adult baptism
that is described
in the New Testament
explicitly states
that they were baptized
along with their entire household.
So somebody comes to faith,
Lydia,
or Cornelius,
or Crispus,
or the Philippian jailer,
they come to faith
and it says immediately
they were baptized
along with their entire household.
In each case,
the adult comes to faith
and they're baptized
along with everybody
who lives in their home.
The only exception to this
is, of course,
the Ethiopian eunuch
who, for obvious reasons,
does not have a household,
does not have a wife
or children
because he's a eunuch.
Another question
that people will ask,
and again,
very honest question,
where's the verse
in the Bible
that tells us
we should baptize babies?
And I would say
there's not one.
There's not an explicit verse
that says,
you shall do this.
But I would also say this,
for 2,000 years,
God's people
put the mark
of God's promise
on their children.
For 2,000 years,
they put the mark
of his promise
on their children.
And then when we look
at church history,
the early church fathers
write about infant baptism
with the assumption
that it is a normative practice.
Origen actually writes explicitly
that the church received
from the apostles
the tradition
of giving baptism
to infants.
We have a liturgy,
a baptismal rite
from the second century
that includes
and assumes
the inclusion
of children
and infants
in the rite.
And then we see
that infant baptism
is universally practiced
everywhere in the church
through all of church history
up until after
the Protestant Reformation.
The magisterial reformers
not only upheld it,
but they actually
defended infant baptism
with a kind of
renewed biblical vigor.
So in light of all of that,
we would actually ask
the opposite question.
You know,
I would tend to think,
where is the verse
that tells us
we should not
baptize infants.
The theological position
that rejects infant baptism
is called
credo-baptism.
And it's the idea
that you should only
baptize people
after they come to faith.
And this arose
in the 17th century
as a part of
the English Reformation.
This is where
the origins
of this theology
really are found.
And this led
to the formation
of certain denominations
that remain
in our society today
and societies
all around the world.
And again,
I want to say,
I've sort of made
the argument for you,
but I just want to reaffirm
to all the brothers
and sisters
who hold to this position,
tremendous respect
for you
and for this position.
And this is an area
where faithful Christians
can disagree.
And in our church,
you're free
to hold either view
and we celebrate both.
because regardless
of your position on this,
we all share
the same motivation.
We take very seriously
our commitment
to raise children
to know the love of Jesus
and to follow Him faithfully.
That is the thing
that we all agree on.
Right?
And either view
can become distorted
if we're not very careful.
Right?
For people who believe
in the baptism of infants,
paedo-baptists,
there's a danger
for people
who practice infant baptism
to make the mistake
of believing
that baptism
saves our children,
that there is something
about the water
that saves them.
Or to make the mistake
of believing
that because they've been baptized,
it guarantees their salvation
at some point.
This is not only not
seen at all
in Scripture,
but it can actually lead
to a very laissez-faire attitude
when it comes
to raising
our children
in the faith.
It becomes a kind
of box that we check.
And that's incredibly dangerous.
It's dangerous
for the spiritual
well-being
of our children.
The responsibility
of parents
is crucial
for us
to have a right
understanding
of baptism.
The Bible teaches
that God works
through believing parents
to bring children
to faith.
1 Corinthians 7
has always mystified me.
Paul is writing,
imagine a scenario
where you have
a single parent
who has come to faith.
Their spouse
is an unbeliever
and they're looking
at their young baby
and they're thinking,
what is possibly
going to happen?
What hope do I have?
I'm the only Christian
in my household.
So Paul writes
to those people
and he says this,
because of your faith,
your children
are holy.
Does he mean
they're saved?
No,
but what does he mean?
They are set apart.
They are to be treated
as members
of the covenant community.
Your faith
covers them.
Right?
Your faith
covers,
and the sanctifying work
that God is doing
in your life
is flowing
into their lives.
So he's saying,
God will work
in their lives
through your faith.
And your faith
will cover them
until they're old enough
to express faith
for themselves.
And so when an infant
is baptized,
the parents
do two things.
And they're both,
you're going to see this
in just a moment.
First,
they make the baptismal vows
on behalf
of their children
because their faith
covers their children.
As the Apostle Paul writes.
And then,
they promise
to teach the faith
to their children,
to devote themselves
to the formation
of their children
until the child
is able to embrace
the faith for themselves.
And only then
are they saved.
And there's a prayer
in the liturgy
where we say,
we can only use water.
God has to baptize
with the Holy Spirit.
Only God can bring
this child
to saving faith.
And that's what
we pray for.
Right?
So the role of parents
is crucial.
There's likewise
some dangers
that come with people
who hold to a
believers-only
baptism position
or what we would call
credo-baptists.
There's a danger
in this view,
a danger of distortion.
It doesn't apply
to everybody,
but for some people,
there can be
an emphasizing
of the experience
of the baptism,
of focusing on
a desire for the child
to have the experience
and the memory
of it.
There can also be
a kind of
focusing on
the fact that
baptism,
because it's something
that we do
after we come to faith,
then the focus
of baptism
really becomes
our individual choice
and commitment
to God.
It's ultimately
a way for us
to pledge ourselves
to God.
And I've seen
the way this can
sometimes lead
to fear
and anxiety.
Do I really mean it?
You know,
when I got baptized
at summer camp
as a sixth grader,
I really felt it.
But now,
as a sophomore
in college,
I'm really struggling.
And I don't know
if I mean it anymore.
And what does that
mean for me?
Do I need to get
baptized again?
And so some people
over the course
of their lives
will periodically
rededicate themselves
to God
because they feel
like they have
fallen away,
that they used
to mean it,
but they're not sure
what they think anymore.
And their Christian life
becomes a place
of anxiety.
Their baptism
becomes a symbol
of that anxiety
and fear
of how much
can I really
pledge myself
to God.
And I would say
if we understand
what we've seen
here this morning,
baptism is not
ultimately about
the promises
that we make
to God.
And that's good news
because we tend
to be really good
at breaking promises.
Baptism is not
about the promises
that we make
to God.
Baptism is about
the promises
that God
makes to us.
and God
never breaks
his promises
ever.
So for a child
who has been
baptized as an infant,
parents may be sad
but they may say
well they're never
going to remember
this.
They may not remember
when it happened
but they are going
to grow up
knowing that God
has put his mark
on them.
That God
has already
made a promise
to them before
they were even
conscious.
He's already
made a promise
to them
that he stands
ready to receive
them.
And so every time
children are called
to remember
their baptisms
what are they
remembering?
They're remembering
the fact that
God's posture
toward them
is this.
I'm ready
to receive you.
All you have
to do is ask
and I will wrap
my arms around you
and there's nothing
that you can do
that will put
that in jeopardy
because I've
already promised
that all you have
to do is come
to me and ask
and you're mine.
And I think
that's incredibly
powerful
for our children
to be reminded
of again
and again
and again.
Every time we do
a baptism
we encourage
all parents
of baptized kids
help them
remember their
baptism.
Tell them the
story of it.
Light the candle
that we give you
and tell them
all the details
of who was there
and what was it
like
and how did
you feel
and did you cry
and knock the
water over
and how
whatever happened
remind them
that story
and remind them
of God's promise.
The point
that I want
to leave
everybody with
I told you
if you're here
you walked in
off the street
you think
you made
a huge mistake
there's going
to be something
here for you.
Here's the point.
This applies
to everyone
here.
To understand
baptism
is to understand
the very heart
of God.
We can often
think that God
is sort of
standing back
vaguely
or even
significantly
disappointed in us
I gave you so much
and look what
you've done
with it
and that God
is kind of
waiting for us
to get it right
waiting for us
to get our act
together
waiting for us
to finally get
serious about our
faith
waiting for us
to finally
stop doing
all that junk
that is tearing
us down
and that God
is just kind
of waiting
kind of like
a frustrated
disappointed
parent
about ready
to give up
or maybe you
think that God
has completely
given up
baptism is
meant to be
a visible sign
and witness
to the world
of God's heart
it is meant
to be a public
symbol
it's not just
for our assurance
it's something
that puts the
gospel on display
for the world
to see
that God
wants you
to come to him
in faith
that God
stands ready
to receive you
with open arms
that there's
nothing that can
stand in the way
of that
if you're willing
to put your faith
in him
you can
and will
belong to him
for all eternity
it's an invitation
to the world
it's an invitation
that we have
the opportunity
to respond to
even in this
very moment
and I pray
that some of you
who are feeling
distant and
disconnected from God
will do just that
let's pray
Lord we thank you
for your grace
may your grace
and your promises
pervade our time
here
may your words
that are true
sink deeply
into our hearts
as we remember
our own baptism
and as we celebrate
the baptisms
this morning
use these
as a sign
of assurance
assure us
of your love
for us
and that we belong
to you
those of us
who are struggling
who are deconstructing
who are filled
with doubt
who are hopeless
or filled with despair
use baptism
to shore us
up
that it's okay
to fall apart
because we
are held firmly
by your grasp
and you'll never
let us go
we pray this
in your son's
holy name
amen
to you
you