A Baptised Person
25 Oct 2024
Have you thought about your baptism recently? How much thought do you give it?
I’m not asking if you spend lots of time remembering the service itself. For some, I’m sure it is a very precious memory. For others, we can’t remember it at all, because it happened to us before we started forming conscious memories, having been born to Christian parents, recipients of the covenant promise.
What I mean is - do you see the significance that you are a baptised person?
It is striking how often the fact a Christian is a baptised person is emphasised in history and in the Bible. So often, the New Testament letters use “baptised” almost as a synonym for a Christian. If you read the writing and sermons of the Reformers and the Puritans they will often make reference to it. The fact that you have been baptised (as an objective fact) is far more important than your subjective feelings in the moment of baptism. It should help us daily.
Why? I want to encourage you with a few reasons.
First, if you are baptised it tells you something about your identity. At baptism you are baptised in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is a sign that you are no longer simply you (as you were born), but you are you, in the Lord. The water points to all that the Lord does in the gospel - in washing away sin, and anointing you with his Spirit. It should only ever be done once to us - showing us the once for all nature of Christ’s work.
The Lord assures you in baptism that the great promises of the gospel are true for you - promises which are radical, which go to the very core of who we are. He knows we are weak and so need visual aids to assure us of his love and his work. You may not remember your baptism, but you will know you have been baptised (I don’t remember my birth but I know I’m born!) So let it teach you about all that Christ has done, and the radical change he makes. You don’t need to say it out loud, but whenever some asks you about yourself make sure you remember “and I am a baptised person!"
Second, if you are baptised it tells you something about your privileges. There is the immense privilege we have in our relationship with the Lord. If we have his name on us, and if the truths of the gospel are true for us and we are “in Christ”, then we can come to the Father in prayer. So often we hold back because of a lack of confidence and awareness of our sin. But when you do that, remember your baptism! You have the Lord’s name on you. The water that was on you points to the cleansing the Lord has done to you. Let your baptism remind you that you come to the Lord not because of anything you do, but because of what He has done. Let it be a daily visual aid giving you confidence.
It also speaks of your privilege as part of the church. Baptism, like communion, is not simply a private act. It is given as the initiatory sacrament of the church (see Matthew 28 and Acts 2), and shows we are part of the visible church on earth. And so as we come to the Lord’s table, what gives us the right to come? Christ does of course, and we must have faith and repentance. But it is also the meal of the church, the meal of the baptised (this has been recognised by every Christian denomination through history). So at the table, as you come, remember your baptism! Let that assure you, along with the reading of God’s word, that Christ has washed you and brought you near so you can be fed by him.
Third, if you are baptised it tells you something about your responsibilities. Do not misunderstand anything I have written. It would be wicked to turn baptism into some kind of mere religious symbol - as if the act alone makes us right with God. It is a sign, and we must make sure we continue to go where the sign points. Just like the preaching the God’s word we must respond with repentance and faith. It will either soften us or harden us.
The older Christian catechisms talk about the need to “improve our baptism”. This is strange language. Of course, it does not mean that we can in any way “improve” on the gospel or what God has done. But it is an older way of saying that our baptism should leads us to trust Christ more, to believe his word, to live a life full of repentance and faith, turning from sin and fight temptation. As we do that, we do it recognising that the gospel promises are true for us, that those actions are not our works achieving merit, but are Christ’s work in us.
If however, we are content simply to be baptised, and to live life as if it makes no difference not listening and obeying the Lord, but thinking the water alone makes us right with God we are in serious danger. Far from being a blessing, our baptism becomes a sign of judgement over us - just as the religious practices of Israel were in the Old Testament when they made no difference to their lives.
So think about your baptism. Remember you are a baptised person and all that means. Let it be a visual aid daily preaching to you the gospel, and your identity in Christ.