Baptism Matters

Romans 6:1-11
Sunday, 22 June 2008

Although it is no longer the case, as it was during certain eras in Christian history, that the method your church uses for baptism can get you killed, the ins and outs of baptismal mode and formula remain contentious issues within Christianity. Most all us feel strongly about our baptism, especially those who regard believers' baptism as essential. And we will argue vehemently that baptism matters, but we seldom remember what really matters in baptism.

This week's epistle calls our attention to the ongoing meaning of baptism as the preeminent symbol of regenerated life. Having been introduced to the super-abounding grace of Christ in chapter 5, the grace that looks beyond our faults, we encounter the challenge in Romans 6 of living the new life which that grace makes possible. Our death to the old life frees us from its sinful bondage. Our baptism is the rite by which we are initiated into Christ's burial. Having been united in a crucified death, we hope for resurrection in a glorified life. How many times and in how many ways can God tell us that the Christian life is a radical break from what we were before?

So much of the debate about baptism is a struggle to define what it means to come into the door, at the same time that it loses sight of what it means to live in the house of God. Don't get me wrong. Baptism is important enough to take seriously and to handle rightly. Baptism matters, indeed, but it matters because it marks the break between our old, sinful ways and our new, redeemed life. This life is made possible only by and in Jesus the Christ.

Sing, "Take Me to the Water" and remember your own baptism, reaffirming the covenant you made with God and before the community to live a new life in Christ Jesus.

Let us pray:
Life-giving Savior, although for many of us the occasion of our baptism has long passed, the reality of our new life in you remains before us. Teach us how to walk in the newness of life that our baptism symbolized. Refresh us again by a baptism of your Spirit. Make us new. Make us whole. Make us yours. We pray, in Jesus' precious name. Amen