The Gospel
and the Ordinances (or,
The Ordinances: Seeing and Believing)
(Various Bible texts as noted below)
Introduction: We will wait until next week to return to our
series in Mark. Today I’ve decided to devote the message to the ordinances, as
we’ll have a baptism and also celebrate the Lord’s Table together. I want to focus the sermon time today on
explaining the two ordinances we observe: what we are doing and why. We call
them “ordinances” and not “sacraments,” because it is our understanding that
they don’t impart grace, nor are they necessary for salvation. However, there
is a spiritual element, in that as an act of obedience we are expressing our
submission to Christ, and the symbolism of the ordinances can deepen our faith.
Faith comes by hearing, and what we must have verbally in the Gospel
message can be reinforced visually in these ordinances when they are
explained according to Scripture. These ordinances, given by the Lord to the
church, symbolize the unity of the body and our common faith.
Baptism
proclaims publicly that we are a part of the Covenant Community, the Church,
and illustrates our union with Christ in His death and resurrection. Communion
is a visual reminder of the substitutionary death of Jesus. We affirm salvation
by grace alone, through faith alone, in
Christ alone. Ordinances don’t save us. They don’t complete our salvation. We
are saved by grace through faith in Christ. But the ordinances can “stir up”
our faith as they visually invite us to consider the Gospel message. J.I. Packer
said,
“As the preaching of the Word makes the Gospel
audible, the sacraments [we would say the
ordinances] make it visible… Seeing is believing…”
We see the ordinances of believer’s baptism and the
Lord’s Table referred to from the beginning of the NT church. There are at
least five purposes…
1) Obedience: These are actions through which we obey
Christ. In the Great Commission, the call by Jesus to the church is to “make disciples,” which includes a call
to baptize. With respect to the
Lord’s Table, Jesus said “Do this…” We’ve
seen that faith and obedience go hand in hand in Scripture.
“He who believes in the Son has
eternal life. He who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the
wrath of God abides on Him…” (John 3:35,36).
What is faith? Believing God, taking Him at His
Word. Faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ. Faith alone saves, but
the faith that saves is not alone!
2) Remembrance: It is a commemoration, an act in which we remember
Christ. That is certainly true of the Lord’s Supper (N.B. the connection with
Passover). Baptism also invites us to remember the death and resurrection of
Jesus. Part of the reason for the ordinances seems to be to keep the Gospel in
front of our eyes, as symbolically it is worked out before us. The Bible makes
the Gospel audible, the ordinances make the Gospel visible. They help us
remember. That ties in with…
3) Instruction: The ordinances are an opportunity to preach
Christ. We hold that as New Testament believers we have two ordinances. Israel,
on the other hand, had many rituals that they were commanded to carry out. The
purpose was similar in some respects. We read in Deuteronomy 6:20-24,
20 "When your son asks you in time to
come, 'What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules
that the LORD our God has commanded you?'
21 then you shall say to your son, 'We were Pharaoh's slaves
in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand... 24 And the LORD commanded us to do
all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he
might preserve us alive, as we are this day…”
When your child asks, “Daddy, why do we sacrifice
these lambs?” or, “Why
do we build these booths?” you
have an opportunity to teach, to show them the significance behind the act, to
remind them of the deliverance that God has wrought and the promises He has
made. As we baptize believers as a public profession of their faith in Christ,
it is not just an ancient ritual. It is a testimony. As we take part in the
breaking of the bread, and drinking the Cup, it is not only a ceremony that we
have traditionally done. Both ordinances visually accompany the preaching of
the Word and illustrate the Gospel. It is a divinely ordained “object lesson”
that can move our hearts and deepen our faith.
4) Worship:
It is a participation in which we identify with Christ, we celebrate His act of
love on our behalf, in which we feed on Christ. We rejoice with those who are
being baptized, as we recall our own experience of faith.
5) Anticipation: We proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes, we remember
His resurrection and look forward to our own resurrection when He returns. It
stirs our faith and our hope!
The BIG Idea: The Lord has given the
church two ordinances, as a visual representation of His saving work on our
behalf.
I. The Gospel is “Good News”
because the Lord made it possible for sinners to be reconciled to God. We’re
saved through hearing and believing the Word, not through the ordinances. Saving
faith is the prerequisite of participating in both.
Before we can
understand the “Good News,” we have to understand the bad news. Since the
rebellion of Adam and Eve, since the Fall, humans, apart from Christ, have been
separated from God. Paul said “Therefore,
just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so
death spread to all men because all sinned…” (Rom 5:12). We were born
sinners, separated from God, by nature children of wrath, without God and without
hope (see Eph 2:1-3).
But God, who is
Holy and Just, is also rich in mercy. He did for us what we could not do for
ourselves. The Apostle John put it this way 1 John 4:9-10…
“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has
sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son
to be the propitiation for our sins.”
He sent His Son,
so that through Him, we might have life! Jesus so loved us that He came to give himself
on the cross for our sins. God gave a priceless gift, He gave His Son.
“Sending” is much more than simply indicating His first coming, but must also
include the purpose of His coming: He came “…to redeem those who were under the Law…” “Redemption” implies a purchase,
a price being paid. John 3:16 says God “…gave His only begotten Son…” He came as the substitute and
sacrifice for the sins of all who would one day, by God’s grace, turn to Him in
faith. Salvation is free to us, received as a gift, but it came at a tremendous
price! Jesus came to reconcile sinful
humans to a holy God. *The Lord
has given the church two ordinances, as a visual representation of His saving
work on our behalf. The Communion Table reminds us of what Christ has done for us. Baptism
symbolizes our unity with Christ who died for us and rose again. Let’s start
with…
II. Baptism symbolizes our
unity with Christ in His death and resurrection.
The command to baptize
was given by Jesus in the context of the Great Commission. Jesus said in
Matthew 28:18-20…
“…All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to
me. 19 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, 20
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with
you always, to the end of the age."
So, Jesus commanded us to baptize as we carry out
His mission in the world. We see that practice implemented from the
beginning in the Book of Acts. Referring to the response to Peter’s Pentecost
sermon we read in Acts 2:37-42…
37 Now when they
heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the
apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" 38 And Peter said to them, "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. 39 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." 40
And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying,
"Save yourselves from this crooked generation." 41 So those who received his
word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand
souls. 42 And they devoted
themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of
bread and prayer.
Paul spoke to the symbolism when he said in Romans
6:3-5,
“Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him
through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we
have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall
be in the likeness of His resurrection…”
Baptism as an ordinance is unique in that it happens once for
each believer, at the beginning of the Christian life. It publicly affirms our
faith in Jesus, our identification with Him in His death and resurrection. It
was and is the expected and normal response to believing in Jesus. In the
Great Commission Jesus commanded it, on the day of Pentecost, “As many as believed were baptized…”
That was the normal response of saving faith.
Please
understand that baptism is symbolic not salvific. Like the Eunuch in the desert in Acts
8:37f., we believe and are saved by the grace through faith, then confess Him
and are baptized as a public affirmation that we are followers of Jesus,
identified with Him in his death and resurrection (Gal 2:20). One young man
is taking that step today… as Kenny takes that step, think back to the time you
expressed your faith through obedience in baptism. And think of the Good News
that is the basis of our new life in Christ. Jesus came to satisfy the
righteousness of God. To give himself as our sinless substitute. He took our
sin, we receive His righteousness. By faith. The
Lord has given the church two ordinances, as a visual representation of His
saving work on our behalf. Baptism indicates
our unity with Him in His atoning death and victorious resurrection…
“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you:
that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24
and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "Take, eat; this is My
body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 25
In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is
the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance
of Me." 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this
cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. 27 Therefore
whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner
will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man
examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup…”
The Bread reminds
us of His body: John said, “…the Word was made flesh…” In I Cor 11:24
the NLT says, “…this is my body which is given
for you…” That is the sense of what Jesus was saying. The incarnation was
purposeful, intentional. He came to be the substitute, the atoning sacrifice
for our sins. God’s wrath had to be satisfied. He came to do for us what we
could not do for ourselves. Martin
Luther said “The mystery of the humanity
of Christ, that He sunk Himself into our flesh, is beyond all human
understanding.” Paul refers to this in Philippians 2:6-8 when he says:
“…though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a
thing to be grasped, 7 but
made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness
of men. And being found in human form, 8
he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a
cross..”
God became a man, to save humans. He came to give
himself so that fallen, sinful humans, could be reconciled to holy God.
The cup reminds us of His blood, shed
for sinful humans: Paul speaks to
the this when he said in Romans 5:8-9,
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were
still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been
justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”
In 8:32-33 of Romans he says, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,
how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” Let’s take a
moment to reflect on the amazing grace, the love beyond measure, that God has
shown toward us…
What
is God saying to me in these passages? Jesus
came to make possible the justification of sinful humans by a holy God. He gave the church two ordinances as a visual
representation of His saving work on our behalf. Baptism
symbolizes our unity with Christ in His death and resurrection; The Lord’s
table reminds us of His coming in the flesh and His dying for our sins, and
invites us to look ahead to His return and the culmination of God’s eternal
plan.
What
would He have me to do in response to these texts?
1) Have you recognized your need and turned in faith to
Jesus? If not, why not? T
2) Christian, do you
remember when you first believed? Remember
the step you took, by His grace, when He opened your heart and you put your
trust in Him? Have you publicly affirmed your faith in baptism? If not,
why not?
3) As we celebrate Communion, let’s remember what it
symbolizes. As we look back on His first coming, let’s choose to live in
anticipation of his return. Amen.
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