A Panhandle Pastor's Thoughts: Baptize My Disciples

¹⁹So go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 28:19)

Good evening and welcome to the Panhandle, come on in and sit for awhile. Tonight’s topic, Baptism. Baptism it seems pretty straight forward and yet there is all kinds of controversy that swirls round it. Sprinkle or immersion, infant on not infant, required for salvation or a symbol of our devotion. Well I kind of talk about the last one. But my goal isn’t to answer some great theological debate, to be honest with you I don’t feel qualified to do that. My purpose this evening is to show you what Christ Jesus told us to do in as far as teaching others about Him. And then when they accept Christ Jesus as Lord and Saviour what the next step in their spiritual journey should be. Lets open God’s Word and do a little surfing.

What is Baptism? Applying water to a person, as an emblem of the purifying influences of the Christ Jesus through the Holy Spirit, and devoting themselves to God. Why do we get baptized? Because Christ Jesus has commanded it.

Christ Jesus said, “While you are going, make disciples of all the nations.” No matter where we are, we should be witnesses for Christ Jesus and seek to win others to Him. The term “disciples” was the most popular name for the early believers. Being a disciple meant more than being a convert or a church member. Apprentice might be an equivalent term. A disciple attached himself to a teacher, identified with him, learned from him, and lived with him. He learned, not simply by listening, but also by doing. Our Lord called twelve disciples and taught them so that they might be able to teach others. And so the preaching and teaching of the good news of Christ Jesus is still carried on today.

A disciple, then, is one who has believed on Christ Jesus and expressed this faith by being baptized. He remains in the fellowship of the believers so that he might be taught the truths of the faith (Acts 2:41–47). ¹

In the commission to baptize those who become disciples, Christ Jesus institutes the “threefold formula.” This is prior to the development of the doctrine of the Trinity in the early creeds, whether we regard it as expressed by Jesus Himself, or as written in this form later by Matthew. Accepting it as the form of Jesus’ words of commission, it holds Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together as three Persona by whom God encounters us in His love from all eternity and to all eternity. Matthew says we are to baptize “in the name of… ,” bringing persons into direct relation with God as we know Him: Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. When we think Trinity we should think “Threeness,” not a numerical or mathematical three; just as when we think of God as One we should think of “Oneness,” not of a mathematical or numerical one.²

As disciples of Christ Jesus we have been called to teach others about Him, His teachings, and His commands. If any of those we tell, and teach accepts Christ Jesus as Lord and Saviour, they are to be baptized as an outward sign of an inward change, and commitment to follow God the Father, God the Son (Christ Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit.

Well that’s about all for tonight, I pray that our Lord would bless you and yours. Thanks for dropping by.