Everyone knows that pastor’s kids have issues. My girls are already starting to show signs of problems. A few years go Eden and karis were taking a bath. As I check in on them a few minutes later I see my four year old Eden pouring water over Karis’ head saying, “I Baptist you in the name of the Father, the sin, and the Holy Ghost.” OK, that was wrong on so many levels. For one, Karis has already been baptized, and scripture says there is only one baptism. Then, she was baptizing Karis into sin, which she needs no help with believe me, instead of the Son. And finally, she’s claiming to be a Baptist yet she’s practicing infant baptism! How many levels of blasphemy can one child commit! If you can recommend a good counselor I’m soon going to be in the market.
Today we do the most revolutionary thing of all in the church. We invite people lay down their lives to Jesus, to publicly declare their faith in him as the savior, to make his their Lord, and to be baptized into the church. Today we invite the church, all the church, all who put their faith in Jesus, to come to the celebration feast of the revolution- the table that Jesus left for us, the Lord’s Supper. Let me tell you, if you did not grow up in the church, if you are still exploring Christianity and wondering about all this Jesus stuff, this is going to be the weirdest service we’ve had yet. But it really might be our most wonderful. I’m telling you the truth- this frightens me, because I don’t want to frighten you away. But this is like the real thing today folks. This is real deal Jesus stuff. This is what makes the church not just a building, not just Sunday morning service, not just another group of people who gather for a reason. This is something that we have to talk about, because this, more than anything else, is what makes us the church. It’s what makes you and I a part of the body of Christ. It’s what makes us a living breathing, growing thing. Because things that are alive and growing need tow things: They need to be born, and they need to eat.
One of the things that amazed me the most when I became a father was the immediate, instinctive, and voracious appetite of all my kids. The were born with pucker power I liked to say- they just wanted that milk. They were made for that milk, and that milk was made for them. It is how they grow, it is how they are nourished, it is how they receive immunities, it is how they live- by their innate desire, and ability, to nurse. But more so, anyone who has had children and nursed, you know that there is so much more going on than just feeding. There is bonding. A physical, emotional, and even a spiritual bond if formed between the mother and the child, while the dad gets to idly sit by, still in shock from the whole birthing experience. But it really is amazing, to see the child nurse, to experience the bond that happens, the communion between baby and mother. It’s a beautiful thing.
Likewise, baptism represents our new birth in Jesus, and for as long as the church has been around, and been baptizing people into her, these new babes in Jesus come into the church, screaming, crying, and read to eat, ready to nurse, ready to bond. And by the instructions that Jesus left for the church, we have something to give them. They come into the new life of in the church, and they have that pucker power kicking in, and we say come to the table, come to the banquet set before you by our Lord Jesus Christ, come and eat, come and drink, come and bond with your savior.
The instructions are layout plainly for us in the Bible:
1 Corinthians 11: 23-28 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."
In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
Simply put- this is the story of Jesus told through participation. It’s EXPERIENTIAL THEOLOGY. It’s the story of Jesus told through the senses to taste and touch and smell. It’s a reenactment of the last night of his life. And to understand the fullness of this experience, we need to understand the context from which it was given to us
Jesus and his closest disciples went to Jerusalem to celebrate the holiest Jewish festival- Passover. A few of the disciples went ahead of Jesus and found a room that had been prepared in advance for them, just as Jesus promised. They went in a the evening started just like any Passover feast they had celebrated before.
There was the unleavened bread; there was the new wine; and there was the Passover lamb. But Jesus was about to transform the Passover into something new. He was about to bring the Passover to it fulfillment. They had no idea what was unfolding before them, but what they were actually witnessing, what they were taking part in, was the fulfillment of the promise and prophesy of the bible. That Jesus was about to become the Passover lamb. The innocent, perfect sacrifice for our sins.
He took the bread, he broke it and he said this is my body, broken for you, eat this in remembrance of me. And then he took the cup of the covenant, saying this is now the new covenant seal in my blood, shed for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me.
Then Jesus was betrayed by one of his closest friends. He was handed over to a kangaroo court on trumped up charges, lies and deception. But Jesus willingly laid down his life as a sacrifice. He was hung on a cross and died. He was buried. His disciples all abandoned him. But the bible tells us that on the third day he rose from the grave. And when he appeared to the disciples. And one thing he did repeated as he appeared to his followers- he took bread, and he broke it, and it say in the bible, their eyes were opened.
My friend Doug once told a group a story of how his life was changed, and how he came to first understand what the Lord’s Supper is really all about. It was many years ago now, late in November just after American Thanksgiving. He and wife were driving home late at night when some snow began to fall and the roads became icy. Up ahead of them on the interstate they saw results of a terrible crash- what appeared to be a car that had hit a patch of ice, spun out of control and began to roll over.
They stopped the car and He jumped out and began to run towards the wreck. As he was running towards the wreck, others were already leaving. But they had a look of shock on their faces. They were saying things like, they couldn’t have survived that crash, and I can’t handle this I have to go, I just have to go. He came up to the car and found a young woman who was still in the car, and a young man who had been thrown out. The woman was screaming and crying in hysterics, trying to free herself, trying to get out of the car to the unconscious body of the young man. Doug’s wife ran around to the woman. She tried to comfort her while asking her about what had happen. She was just crying about the ice, and losing control, and crashing. In the air hung the strong smell of red wine, and she had to ask if she they had been drinking. She only a little bit. The wine was from a bottle that broke in the crash, a gift to them from her family, because they had just gotten engaged. The man was in the military and they were returning to the base after the holiday.
Doug went over to the young man who was unconscious, bleeding profusely, but still holding onto life. He tried to do what little he could, he took off his coat, he put it over the man. Doug is calling out for a doctor, for someone to call 911, for someone to get the police.
The woman who was in the car began to cry out to her fiancé, “Jason, I love you. Jason I love you. Somebody please help him. Somebody please help us.” And she just kept crying out “Jason I love you. Jason don’t you die on me. Jason don’t you leave me. Jason I love you.”
And while she was crying out, Jason died in Doug’s arms. The fire trucks and ambulances arrived, the paramedics took over, Doug and his wife were taken aside by the police and gave their statements. Then they got back in their car, and began to drive. In silence they drove while they desperately tried to process what they had just witnessed, and as they desperately tried to warm up. The hot air of the heater was pouring out onto them, and as it did it began to release the smell of Jason’s blood, and the wine that had broken and gotten all over them. And in the silence all they could hear over and over again was “Jason, I love you, Jason don’t you die. Jason don’t you leave me. Jason, I love you.”
That following Sunday, when Doug was in church, he came to the table, to the Lord’s Supper, and he saw the broken bread, and he smelled the juice from the cup, and he was flooded with emotion, and for the first time he really understood what it was all about.
And now, when we come to this table, we cry out to Jesus. We say Jesus our lives are spinning out of control. Jesus I can’t save myself and I am going to die without you. Jesus I love you. Jesus I need you. Jesus, don’t you ever leave me. Jesus I love you.
And then, as we take this broken bread, as we dip into this cup, we remember that Jesus’ body was broken for us, that Jesus’ blood was shed for us. And as we eat this bread and as we drink this cup we hear Jesus calling back to us, “George, I love you. George, I love you and I will never leave you. George I love you and I will always be with you. George I love you and I will give my body for you, I will give my blood for you, I will give my life for you. George, I am dying to be with you, and I will always be here for you. I will always be right here for you.
Folks, you want to know what the church is all about? It’s about a God who is so in love with you, so passionate about a relationship with you, that he gave his son for you. And his Son Jesus gave his life for you. And his Holy Spirit will come into your life. That is what the church is all about- it’s about knowing this God who knows us inside and out. It’s about loving this God who loves us with undying, everlasting, life saving love. It’s about loving Jesus because he comes to us as our savor and our Lord. It’s about loving his Holy Spirit and being filled with Him so we can be alive, so that we can be forgiven, so that we can be empowered, so that we can his people, so the we can be the body of Christ now, his hands, hit feet, his eyes, his ears, his voice in the world.
You want to know what the Lord’s Supper is all about- it’s about touching and tasting and remembering afresh, with all the emotion, with all the amazement, with all the joy of knowing that as surely as we eat the bread and taste the cup, Jesus will never ever leave us or forsake us, but is always here, right here for us, right here in us.
You want to know what baptism is all about; it’s about giving our lives to the one who gave his life for us. It’s about dying to ourselves, and our sins, and to the horrible things we’ve done, and to the horrible things that have been done to us, and dying to the notion that we can save our selves and make ourselves and make a go of this world and this life ourselves. It’s about rising to new life in Jesus, being born anew, being born of the spirit, being washed clean and being found in Jesus. Before there was communication cards, or raising your hands, or any of this stuff, there was baptism. The outward sign of what has happened to us on the inside.
When we put our faith in Jesus and turn to him as our savior and Lord, it means the Holy Spirit has moved on us to have faith, to seek forgiveness, to confess Christ. We have been born anew and washed clean because of Jesus. In response we baptize with water. This doesn’t save us, Jesus does. This is just about being faithful to the one who saves us. This is about honoring what Jesus commanded. This is saying Jesus, since you died and made me new, I’ll be baptized cause you told me to.
And right now, we want to give you the chance to start life over again. To give yourselves to Jesus. To be baptized and to be feed!
Baptism and Dedication
Adult Baptism:
Jesus tells us very clearly the way to salvation- himself. All that is required on our part is repentance. All repentance means is that we turn from sin and turn to Jesus. _____, let me ask you...
"Do you turn to Jesus, believing in faith that he is the Son of God, the one who cleanses you from all sin, as your savior? And do you embrace him as Lord of your life, seeking to obey him faithfully in all things? Do You?"
Then I'll ask you to kneel, symbolic of laying your life before God. I'll ask you to bow your head in repentance and humility. I'll dip my hands in the water and lay my hands on your head as I say this:
“_____, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
"All of us who have been baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. Therefore we have been buried with him. And just as Christ was raised from the dead, so we rise to new life in Jesus. The old life is gone, and new live has begun! (Romans 6:3-4)"
Infant Baptism:
Acts 2 tells us, "This promise if for you, and for your children, and for all whom the Lord our God will call." Claiming that promise over their family, today _______ and _____ bring forward their child _____ to be baptized.
In bringing forward our children for baptism we humbly acknowledge none of us, infant or adult, can save ourselves. All of us must rely completely on the saving grace of our God. SO today we baptized _____ in prayerful expectation that the day will claim this baptism for him/herself as she confesses Jesus as his/her Savior and Lord.
Infant Dedication:
In the gospels Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of god like a child will never enter it.” And then he took the children in his arms and blessed them.
Today we want to bless the infants and children of Connections as well…
“The Lord Jesus bless you and keep you, may his face shine upon you and be gracious to you, an may you grow up to know him, to love him, to serve him and give you life to him as your Lord and savior.”
Now, in the spirit of Pentecost, I invite anyone else to come forward who would like to be baptized, who would like to baptize or dedicate their children to the Lord, or who would like to reaffirm their baptismal vows.
The Lord’s Supper:
Now we invite all who profess Jesus as their Lord and savior to come to the table of our Lord to share in this communion.
We ask that you simply come forward to the table closest to you. Take a napkin. Take a piece of bread. Dip the bread into the cup (please don’t get your fingers in the juice). Eat the bread and return to your seat. If you are not comfortable taking communion for any reason, please do not feel obliged, awkward, or judged. Simply sit and observe.
Please move from the front rows and progress towards the back. The band will play, I’ll pray, then we’ll sing a closing song.
_____
Testimony of Mr. Mike King…
For those of you who don't know me, my name is Michael.
There are infinite reasons for me standing here but I wish to share just one, one that I believe to be the foundation of this road I have chosen. The road that I have followed, and got lost so many times along the way.
That one reason is so simple, yet so profound. That I love the Lord, and that I trust that the lord loves me back.
I choose today to be washed of my sin and I choose that my daughter Lailah, and my Wife Andrea, grow in the knowledge that they are loved and protected by our God.
I would like to read to you Philippians 3 vs 13 and 14. These two very short sentences shot out at me the other day.
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind, and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win a prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
I would Like to end off with saying, Thank you Lord for all you have given me and for the gift of washing me clean of my sin.
Thank you so much!
Amen
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