2022-03-13 – Ordinances of Our Faith
Matthew 28:18-20 – Ordinances of Our Faith
This morning I will start out with a question for you to consider. How did you first come to be a Christian? As you ponder that question, I would suggest that most people initially come to Christ because of some kind of personal experience. Whether it be it physical, or emotional, or even a spiritual experience, something that drove you to really consider your spiritual condition and your eternity. Although there are exceptions, most people don’t first go through an intellectual deliberation before stepping into their faith walk. Like Jesus suggests, this Christian walk isn’t intended to be just an intellectual exercise. He said “we are to have the faith of a babe” and that alone should cause us to want to step into our Christian journey. Brothers and sisters, I am here to tell you, that faith journey is both wonderful and amazing. And overtime the Holy Spirit will cause you to want to dig deeper into Scripture and become part of the fellowship with the church, to figure out what this Christian walk is all about and what is your part in it. Our bibles say that God chose you before the foundation of the Earth. It says your name was written on the Book of Life before you were even conceived. That is part of what the Bible calls a mystery, of which we will never fully understand until we are with Jesus in Heaven.
The second part of your conversion experience is what we are going to talk about today. The first part is you coming to the Lord and giving up your agenda and taking on God’s agenda. That saving grace experience is totally between you and God alone. But after that, then it is time for you to plug-into God’s Family of believers. This past Wednesday we talked about “Why Church Matters”. As stated last Wednesday, you don’t have to join a church to be a Christian. However, God’s Holy Word makes it very clear, that if you truly are a Christian then your heart’s desire should be to become part of the local church body of believers. And when you join up with that church body of believers, then you will want to adhere more to God’s commands and ordnances that Jesus gave for His church body. And that is what precisely we are going to discuss today, The Ordinances of Our Faith.
You might be asking yourself, what is an Ordinance? Mostly the only place you might hear that word Ordinance used is in regard to the laws of the land. The majority of ordinances deal with things like maintaining public health and safety, zoning, public behaviors and the general welfare. Examples of ordinances would be those related to noise in your neighborhood, snow removal, pet restrictions, and zoning regulations, just to name a few. [SLIDE]
Definition of ordinance (Webster)
1: An authoritative decree or direction. 2: An Order or law set forth by a governmental authority. 3: A municipal regulation; 4: Something ordained or decreed by God; or a prescribed practice, or ceremony.
In regards to our church and faith, Southern Baptists observe two ordinances: Believer’s Baptism; and the Lord’s Supper that we partake of on the first Sunday of the Month. We have an agreed upon standard called the Baptist Faith & Message. Where Article seven of the BF&M addresses our SBC Church Ordinances. [Show Pamphlet] [SLIDE]
VII. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
“Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.”
“The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.”
That is the foreground of our Southern Baptist adopted Christian Ordnances.
I would encourage each of you to pick up a copy of the BF&M and become familiar with what is proposed in that agreed upon standard for our wonderful church.
Now I will endeavor to go just a little deeper into the background for each of those two Ordnances. Throughout the scriptures it says that God wants us not to be unwise. I also present this so you can know what you know and share the why’s and the wherefores to others as these topics might arise.
First let me address The Lord’s Supper. When we partake of it on the first Sunday of each month, we generally only present a brief introduction to its meaning and purpose. This morning we are going to see for ourselves how Scripture addresses the topic a little more in detail so that you might better understand and appreciate what it is all about. The first text I would ask you to turn to is in John 6:47-57. You can find that in your Pew Bibles on page 947.
At this point in scripture, Jesus is just getting started in His three and a half year ministry. He had just fed the 5,000+ people that He was teaching in the wilderness and now uses that dynamic to present this teaching to those that were listening.
[SLIDE] John 6:47-58 47 “Truly I tell you, anyone who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” [SLIDE]
52 At that, the Jews argued among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. 54 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, 55 because my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna your ancestors ate—and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”
Isn’t that an amazing text? Imagine if you were there with Jesus that day and hearing this for the first time. You must understand that they were told over and over again, that by just the touching blood it would be a sin and you would be considered unclean. Now Jesus introduces this radical concept of the Lord’s Supper or Eucharist elements to the disciples and us early in His ministry, and then He put it in practice at the end of His ministry right before He put Himself up on that cross of Calvary. By the way, the word Eucharist latterly means “Thanksgiving”. In that idea, I find it very comforting and appropriate. Now this next set of verses are referred to as the “Lord’s Supper” event. Please turn to
Luke 22:7:7-23 [SLIDE]
7 Then the Day of Unleavened Bread came when the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.” 9 “Where do you want us to prepare it?” they asked him. 10 “Listen,” he said to them, “when you’ve entered the city, a man carrying a water jug will meet you. Follow him into the house he enters. 11 Tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks you, “Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ 12 Then he will show you a large, furnished room upstairs. Make the preparations there.” 13 So they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
I read these verses to show the correlation with the Passover festival, where the Israelites were saved before escaping Egypt. In that Passover event, those that put the blood of a lamb on their doorposts, the angel of death passed over them. Jesus now is presenting Himself to them and us as our Passover Lamb. Verse 14 continues:
[SLIDE] 14 When the hour came, he reclined at the table, and the apostles with him. 15 Then he said to them, “I have fervently desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you, from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” [SLIDE]
19 And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 In the same way he also took the cup after supper and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. 21 But look, the hand of the one betraying me is at the table with me. 22 For the Son of Man will go away as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!”
Right after this Lord’s Supper event, Judas betrayed Jesus to the Jewish authorities and Jesus was subsequently arrested and crucified as our Passover Lamb, but then later rose from the grave and defeated Death.
So, what Jesus referred to at the beginning of His ministry, He now demonstrates for them and for us at the end of His ministry. That is the beauty of the Bible. It is amazingly true and it is amazingly consistent.
So that is how the Lord’s Supper or Communion got started by Jesus Himself. So, we now observe this ritual or Ordinance in our church in remembrance of what Jesus did for us, and because He told us do it.
The Apostle Paul later wrote for the churches, some instructions in this regard. I have captured just a few for you to consider this morning. [SLIDE]
1 Corinthians 10:16-17 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, since all of us share the one bread.
Then in chapter 11, Paul quotes again the Lords words directly, then starting at verse 26 he adds some instruction and a warning for us.
1 Corinthians 11:26 “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 So, then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.
So what, you might ask, is “an unworthy manner”? I will give you some brief suggestions. If you are not a Christ follower, then you should not partake. If you have not been baptized as a Believer, then you should not partake. If you are engaged in unrepented or habitual sin, you should not partake. If you harbor evil thoughts, then you should not partake. Anything that separates you spiritually from being in Communion with the church body should cause you to withdraw yourself from observance. So when that happens, and it happens to us all at times, just let the elements pass you by. Lower your head and pray about your situation instead. It is a personal thing between you and God alone, and we should take this seriously brothers and sisters. I hope all this resonates with you. [Pause]
Now let us talk a little more briefly about the Ordinance of Baptism. Each of the Gospel Biographers (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) wrote about the Baptism of Jesus. For that event signified the start of Jesus’s ministry. The word Baptize or Baptizo in the original Greek literally means to immerse, submerge. I will first read the account of Jesus’s Baptism and then further illuminate it. I chose the book of Matthew for this reading, chapter 3:13, page 857 in the Pew Bibles. [SLIDE]
It reads:
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14 But John tried to stop him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?” 15 Jesus answered him, “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John allowed him to be baptized.
16 When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.”
You may know that this is one of several places where all three persons of the Trinity Godhead are present. If you run across anyone who doesn’t believe in the Trinity, this is a good place to start a discussion on the matter.
There are several different points in this small set of verses, where each has served as topics of multitudes of sermons. We are going to only brush on a few here today. In this, we can see how Jesus set the example for all of us in this act of Baptism. And like Jesus did this out of His own volition, we too should exercise our own free will. Let nobody convince you otherwise, it is between you and God alone, but don’t be surprised when they try. Notice Jesus says to John, “this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” It was good for Jesus and it is good for us as well. I find it interesting that scripture says John’s baptism was for the repentance of sin, but Jesus was the only human ever to be without sin. That tells me that Jesus did it to set an example for me and you.
This Baptism event effectively marked the starting point of Jesus’s ministry, but it also marked the ending point of John the Baptist. Shortly after this event, John the Baptizer was imprisoned and sadly martyred for his faith. John’s purpose was to prepare the way for the coming Messiah, and in that, he was a faithful servant indeed.
Another reason Jesus was Baptized was simply to honor His Heavenly Father God, and in that according to this scripture, “God was well pleased.” Likewise, ever since I was a little boy, I have always wanted to please my father. Maybe you too can identify with this. I wanted my father to acknowledge me and to tell me that he was proud of me. My father (James Grady Higdon) was a rough and tumble street fighting-trucker kind of guy. And even though he was only partly involved in my life through the years, I always desired for him to be proud of me. I loved my father, and I know in his own way he loved me too. Of course, Jesus loved His Father God very much as well, and He wanted to please Him, and to honor Him. And that’s what we do when we are Baptized.
God, through Moses gave us the Ten Commandments. You probably know that the Fourth Commandment is honor your father and mother. I think God considers that pretty important. That command is repeated in different ways about 30 different times in scripture. So, Like Jesus, you and I should live to honor our mother and fathers, but more than that we should honor our Father God in Heaven even more, because He surely is worthy, Amen?
This next complimentary set of scripture is given to us by the Apostle Paul. And this is the primary set of verses for our message today. Romans 6:1-14, (page 1001 in the Pew Bible). It reads:
1 What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? 2 Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection. [SLIDE]
6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, 7 since a person who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him. 10 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
In this small set of verses, you can see clearly the relationship of Christ’s Death, Burial, and Resurrection. And when a person gets baptized, it serves as a representation of those same blessed and ordained events. We die to self, then we are buried and resurrected as a “Born Again” new creation, under the Lordship of Christ Jesus. And even though we understand through scripture that Baptism isn’t a requirement for salvation, if at all possible, we should choose to partake in Baptizo immersion, as Christ did, to publicly proclaim our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ commands us to do the same, as what He personally demonstrated for us to do.
Finally we get then to the Great Commission. Saint Matthew recorded for us the last words of Jesus before He ascended back up to heaven. In Chapter 28, verse 18 he wrote that: [SLIDE]
18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 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 everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Go, Baptize, and Teach. Go, Baptize, and Teach
Go to everyone, not some people, or special people, but to all people of all nations. Baptize them by Baptiso (immersion). In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Then Teach them.. for you see, when you are Saved and get Baptized, the journey has just begone. And God wants to equip you for success. Just as you have been reached, and teached.. God wants you to start reaching and teaching yourselves. Jesus set the example, and Jesus commanded us to do this.
In the book of Acts, written by Doctor Luke, verses 2:41–42 says, “So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer”
That is our charge brothers and sisters, and that is what we practice in this church body. I pray you accept these Ordinances of Our Faith as your own. And I now pray that you all choose to carry out that Great Commission work for Christ’s sake and glory alone. Amen?
At the start of this message today I asked the question How did you first come to be a Christian? To that I will ask you to ponder that again. If you have made that decision, then thank the Lord for His leading in that regard and get busy doing the work He has called you to do. But if you haven’t yet made that decision, or if you haven’t yet chosen to be Baptized or haven’t yet decided to join the church, maybe today is the day for you to consider. On this Daylight Savings day, you might consider to bring the light of Christ more into your life for good. Please Stand.
Pray…