Is baptism necessary for salvation?

This week we are looking at a part of the second half of the seventh statement that comprises our doctrinal statement as a church, which focuses on what we believe as a church when it comes to baptism. Yesterday, we looked at Jesus Christ command for His followers to celebrate baptism.

We talked about the reality that when we see baptisms occurring in the Bible, we discover that baptism is an outward act that serves to publicly identify one as being a follower of Jesus.  A person who is being baptized is publicly proclaiming “I am a follower of Jesus who desires to be a part of a community of believers who will encourage me and hold me accountable”.

You see, evangelism is not a separate activity from discipleship. Evangelism is the first step of discipleship, where a person responds to what God has done for them through Jesus life, death, and resurrection by believing, trusting and following Jesus as Lord and Leader. And baptism is a step that occurs after a person becomes a follower of Jesus as a way of identifying with Jesus as His follower and with the kingdom mission that He has given us as His followers.

Today, we are going to address the reality that for many, you may have grown up in, or have experience in a church community that communicated that baptism was necessary for salvation. In other words, to be saved and experience a relationship with Jesus you must be baptized.

So is that the case? Do you have to be baptized to be saved and experience a relationship with Jesus? We discover the answer to that question a few chapters earlier in the gospel of Matthew, beginning in Matthew 3:13-17:

Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?" But Jesus answering said to him, "Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he permitted Him. After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased."

In these verses, we see Matthew introduce us to a man who was called John the Baptist. Now when Matthew called John the Baptist, it wasn’t because he was a Baptist instead of a Methodist or a Presbyterian; he was called a Baptist because of what he did. John wasn’t a Baptist, he was a baptizer.

And John the baptizer had a message; repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. If John the baptizer was communicating this message to us today in the language that we use in our culture, his message would sound something like this “Repent, recognize and feel remorse for how you are living life. Change your attitude and your mind towards the trajectory of your life, because God is coming soon. The kingdom of God is approaching and will be here soon”. Matthew tells us that one day, as he was proclaiming his message and baptizing people who were identifying with his message, Jesus approached John the Baptizer.

Now I want us to take a minute and imagine ourselves as John the Baptizer. Let’s take a minute and place ourselves in his shoes. You have been proclaiming, “God is coming, the kingdom of Heaven is coming”, and there right before your eyes is the promised one of God, the Messiah Jesus. And then the Messiah, who you have just been saying will provide a greater baptism that people will publicly proclaim and identify with than yours, asks you to baptize Him?

John responds to his situation by stating “I have need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me”? You see, John the Baptizer recognized his need for identification with the message of the kingdom and responded by wanting to have Jesus baptize him.

Yet Jesus replied to John’s request by saying “permit it at this time for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness”. But what does that mean? And why would Jesus, God in a bod, who lived a life without any selfishness, sin, or rebellion, without a need to change the trajectory of His life, want or need to be baptized?

 You see, Jesus told John that He wanted to be baptized not because He had ever sinned; Jesus wanted to be baptized because He wanted to identify Himself with selfish, rebellious and sinful people, even though He never sinned. When Jesus stated that He fulfilled all righteousness, what Jesus was saying was that He fulfilled all the requirements necessary to be our rescuer and deliverer from sin.

And one of the ways that He did that was through this act of baptism. This act was Jesus way of identifying Himself with us so that He could allow Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful life so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. And we see God the Father’s response to Jesus desire to identify with us in verse 17. We see all three members of the Trinity present as the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus to empower Him to accomplish His mission of revealing the kingdom of Heaven as God the Father stated “this is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”.

You see, baptism is not about salvation; baptism is about identification. That is why we do not baptize infants or young children here at City Bible Church, because we believe that a person needs to be old enough to be able to make the decision to believe, trust, and follow Jesus as Lord and Leader and understand the meaning of baptism before participating in baptism.

And just as we discussed last week with communion, baptism visibly and tangibly expresses the gospel.  Baptism is not something we do to be saved; baptism is something we do because we have been saved in obedience to Jesus command. This is what is meant by the statement in our doctrinal statement “Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.”

And in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Bible called the book of Romans, we see the Apostle Paul unpack how baptism visibly and tangibly expresses the gospel. We will look at that section Friday...

The Connection Between The Great Commission and Baptism...

At the church where I serve, we have been looking at what we believe as a church as it is contained in the doctrinal statement of our church. This week, I would like for us to go back and look again at the seventh statement that comprises our doctrinal statement as a church.

This seventh statement addresses what we believe as a church about the church. This statement summarizes the answer to the question “What is the church? Who can be a part of the church? And what is the church supposed to be doing?" So let’s look at this seventh statement of our doctrinal statement together:

We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.

Now, as we talked about last week, earlier in this series, we looked at the first part of this statement, where we discovered that what we believe about the church matters because the church is the vehicle that God uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world and to advance His kingdom mission in the world.

This week, I would like for us to spend our time together covering part of the second half of this statement, which refers to baptism and the Lord’s Supper, or communion. Last week, we focused on communion, where we discovered that what we believe about communion really matters because communion proclaims the message of the gospel as we experience God’s presence in community with one another.

This week, as we come to the conclusion of this series, I would like for us to focus on baptism. As we have talked about throughout this series, to fully understand what is being communicated in this statement, we first need to understand what all the church mumbo jumbo talk words in this statement mean.

So, let’s take a few minutes and unpack the phrase “The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper,” As we discovered last week,  when we use the word ordinance, this word refers to a specific authoritative decree or command that has been given by someone. So with this sentence, we are saying that Jesus Christ, by an authoritative decree, commanded that His followers celebrate baptism.

We see Jesus give this authoritative decree in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew. So let’s look at this decree together, beginning in Matthew 28:18:

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you;

Now whether you regularly attend church or whether this is your first Sunday in church; whether or not you regularly read the Bible, you are probably at least somewhat familiar with what Jesus says here. You are probably familiar with Jesus words here because this is one of the two sayings of Jesus that are described with the adjective great. This statement is often referred to as the “Great Commission”.

Jesus here is giving His followers a mission; and that mission is to make disciples of all nations. In other words, as followers of Jesus, we are to strive to make disciples, or followers of Jesus, as we are living our day to day lives in the spheres of influence that we have been given. Now a natural question that arises here is “well how are we supposed to make disciples? And how do we know that we are actually being successful in making disciples?”

First, we are to make disciples by going to those who are far from God. Whether at home, at school, at work, or in our relationships; in whatever sphere of influence we have; we are commanded to live our lives as missionaries that are engaging, investing, and inviting those who are far from God to become followers of Jesus. You do not need to go to a foreign country to be a missionary. As followers of Jesus, we are called to be missionaries wherever we are. And in your day to day life, God has already positioned you in areas of influence where you can be a missionary to those who are far from God.

Second, we are to make disciples by baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Third, Jesus explains that we are to make disciples by “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you”. Now the word observe, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to persist in obedience.

In other words, a disciple of Jesus will naturally grow in their faithfulness and obedience to Jesus over time. While there may be occasions where a follower of Jesus commits sin, a follower of Jesus, over time, will live a life that is becoming more like Jesus in character and conduct. And as followers of Jesus and as a church, we are called to create environments where people are able to understand and embrace the message and teachings of Jesus in a way that results in their spiritual growth and spiritual good.

    Now a natural question that could arise here is “Well Dave why would Jesus command us to be baptized? Why is baptism such a big deal?” If those questions are running through your mind, I just want to let you know that those are great questions to be asking. You see, when we see baptisms occurring in the Bible, we discover that baptism is an outward act that serves to publicly identify one as being a follower of Jesus.

A person who is being baptized is publicly proclaiming “I am a follower of Jesus who desires to be a part of a community of believers who will encourage me and hold me accountable”. The reason why Jesus commands His followers to be baptized is that a major part of discipleship is to be used by God to bring those who are far from God to a place where they place their confident trust in God’s transformational activity and publicly identify themselves as a part of the community of faith that is investing their time, talent, and treasure in God’s kingdom mission.

You see, evangelism is not a separate activity from discipleship. Evangelism is the first step of discipleship, where a person responds to what God has done for them through Jesus life, death, and resurrection by believing, trusting and following Jesus as Lord and Leader. And baptism is a step that occurs after a person becomes a follower of Jesus as a way of identifying with Jesus as His follower and with the kingdom mission that He has given us as His followers.

Now maybe you grew up in, or have experience in a church community that communicated that baptism was necessary for salvation. In other words, to be saved and experience a relationship with Jesus you must be baptized. So is that the case? Do you have to be baptized to be saved and experience a relationship with Jesus?

Tomorrow, we will discover the answer to that question…

Communion proclaims the message of the gospel as we experience God’s presence in community with one another...

This week, we have been looking at the seventh statement that comprises our doctrinal statement as a church. This seventh statement addresses what we believe as a church about the church. This statement summarizes the answer to the question “What is the church? Who can be a part of the church? And what is the church supposed to be doing?" So let’s look at this seventh statement of our doctrinal statement together:

So far this week, we reminded ourselves that what we believe about the church matters because the church is the vehicle that God uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world and to advance His kingdom mission in the world. We then saw Jesus give an  authoritative decree regarding the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, or communion,  in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Luke.

We talked about the reality that, unknown to the disciples at the time that they celebrated the Passover, Jesus was establishing what we know today as the Lord’s Supper or communion to reveal the reality that He was the ultimate Passover lamb whose sacrifice on the cross enables God to pass over the selfishness, sin, and rebellion of those who believe, trust and follow Him as Lord and Leader.

We then looked at how communion visibly and tangibly expresses the gospel in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of 1 Corinthians. Beginning in 1 Corinthians 11:23, we discovered that when we celebrate communion in community with one another, we are doing two things. First, when we celebrate communion, we are publicly proclaiming the message of the gospel.

Second, when we celebrate communion in community with one another, we experience the Lord’s presence in a more powerful way. Communion is a visual portrayal and remembrance of what occurred some 2000 years ago at Calvary. This morning it is communion that brings us back to the cross. It is the cross that unites us with Christ and it is the cross that unites us with one another in community as part of His body, the church.

We talked about the reality that when we celebrate communion, we are remembering that the same price was paid for all of humanity to rescue humanity from our selfishness, sin and rebellion. And because we are all united as one in Christ Jesus, it is the centrality of Christ that draws us to community that we celebrate in communion. We are drawn not only to connection and communion with God; we are drawn to connection and community with one another. And communion serves as a reminder of the connection and community that we were created for.

Today we will focus on the reality that because communion was divinely designed to serve as a reminder of the connection and unity that we are to have in community with one another, anything that attempts to destroy or disrupt that unity brings consequences. We see Paul lay out this reality in 1 Corinthians 11:27:

Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy   manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. ²⁸ But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. ²⁹ For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.

In verse 27, Paul explains to the members of the church at Corinth that whoever participates in communion in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. Paul’s point here is that every person will be required to give an account to Jesus for the selfishness and rebellion that they have committed against Him by participating in communion in an unworthy manner. And because of this reality, Paul commands the members of the church to examine themselves before participating in communion.

Now a natural question that could arise here is “well Dave, how can we participate in communion in an unworthy manner? And what are we supposed to examine?” First off, we can participate in communion in an unworthy manner if we participate in communion without having a personal relationship with Jesus. As a church, we do not believe that the celebration of communion results in salvation. In other words, we do not celebrate communion in order to be saved and rescued from our selfishness and rebellion. We celebrate communion because we have been saved and rescued from our selfishness and rebellion.

And because of the nature of what communion is; because communion is a proclamation of the message of the gospel by followers of Jesus in community with one another, if someone was to participate in communion without having a personal relationship with Jesus, this is what they are saying: “I am with all these people who are followers of Jesus who think that Jesus is God in a bod who came to earth and lived a perfect life and died on the cross for their sins so that they could experience forgiveness and a relationship with God, but I personally don’t buy it”.

Second, we can participate in communion in an unworthy manner if we have areas of selfishness and rebellion against God and others that we have not addressed and confessed. This is what Paul is referring to in verse 29, when he states that “he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself is he does not judge the body rightly”.

If Paul was sending this message to us in a text message or email, this verse would sound something like this; whoever participates in communion condemns themselves to punishment if they do not evaluate and pay careful attention to their lives in communion with God and community with one another. You see, so often we read these verses and view the idea of examining ourselves as a time of taking inventory of any sin  that I may have vertically with God. 

And while we need to examine ourselves on a vertical level with God, we are also called to examine ourselves in terms of our relationships with one another on a horizontal level as well. When Paul uses the body in verse 29, he is referring to the body of Christ, the church. Paul’s point here is that when there is division and disunity in a church, as was evident in the church at Corinth, we risk taking communion in an unworthy manner. When we are involved relational sin and unresolved conflict that threatens the unity within the church and community with one another, we risk participating in communion in an unworthy manner.

That is how important unity and community is to the Lord. And that is why we celebrate communion the way we do here at City Bible Church. We desire to create the space and the environment where God can speak into our lives and reveal any areas where there is unresolved sin vertically with God or unresolved conflict and sin horizontally in community with one another. We desire to create the space and environment where people can ask forgiveness of God and one another in order to be able to take communion in a worthy manner.

We want to create the space where fathers can lead their families in prayer and where friends can pray together in small groups and experience loving community as they respond to what Jesus did to rescue us from our selfishness and sin. That is what is referred to in the final section of our statement, which states that though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.

In other words, with this phrase, we are saying that while communion is not a means of additional grace or salvation, which is by faith in Christ alone, communion encourages followers of Jesus and promotes spiritual growth in followers of Jesus as we create the space to experience God’s presence and power in a profound way. Celebrating communion in community is also a way to celebrate God’s activity throughout history and in the lives of people today.

Now this leads us back to the question that will run throughout this series, which is “Dave does what we believe about communion really matter?” And the answer to that question leads us to a timeless truth about why it really matters. And that timeless truth is this: What we believe about communion really matters because communion proclaims the message of the gospel as we experience God’s presence in community with one another.

You see, what we believe about communion really matters because when we celebrate communion in community with one another we are proclaiming in community that Jesus is God in a bod who came to earth to live the life that we were created to live but refused to live and die the death that we deserved to die so that we would have the opportunity to experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that we were created for. And what we believe about communion really matters because communion provides us the opportunity to experience God’s personal presence in a more powerful way as communion brings us back to the cross that unites us with Jesus and with one another in community as part of His body, the church.

A Reminder for the Forgetful...

This week, we are looking at the seventh statement that comprises our doctrinal statement as a church. This seventh statement addresses what we believe as a church about the church. This statement summarizes the answer to the question “What is the church? Who can be a part of the church? And what is the church supposed to be doing?" So let’s look at this seventh statement of our doctrinal statement together:

We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.

Yesterday, we reviewed that earlier we had looked at the first part of this statement, where we discovered that what we believe about the church matters because the church is the vehicle that God uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world and to advance His kingdom mission in the world.

We then began to look at the phrase “The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper,” We looked on as Jesus gave this authoritative decree in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Luke, in Luke 22:14-20.

We talked about the reality that as Jesus and the disciples sat down to celebrate the traditional Passover meal, Jesus did not follow the script. Instead of celebrating the Passover like it has always been done, Jesus took the unleavened bread and said “this is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me”. Then Jesus took the wine and went off the script again. Jesus made an incredibly strange statement: "This cup is the new covenant in My blood." To which the disciples probably thought to themselves “what is Jesus doing?” What does all this mean?”

You see, unknown to the disciples at the time that they celebrated the Passover, Jesus was establishing what we know today as the Lord’s Supper or communion to reveal the reality that He was the ultimate Passover lamb whose sacrifice on the cross enables God to pass over the selfishness, sin, and rebellion of those who believe, trust and follow Him as Lord and Leader. Today, we are going to look at the next phrase of our statement, which states that communion “which visibly and tangibly express the gospel.”

And in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of 1 Corinthians, we see that Apostle Paul unpack this reality. So let’s look at this section together, beginning in 1 Corinthians 11:23:

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; ²⁴ and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me." ²⁵ In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." ²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

Here we see the Apostle Paul reveal for us the reality that when we celebrate communion in community with one another, we are doing two things. First, when we celebrate communion, we are publicly proclaiming the message of the gospel. The celebration of communion in community with one another brings us back to the cross, when Jesus allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful life so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life.

That is what the Apostle Paul is referring to in verse 26 when he states “for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes”. Communion is a reminder that calls followers of Jesus to look back and remember all that Jesus did for us on the cross and to look forward to the reality that Jesus will return.

You see, when Jesus made the statement “this is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me”, he is revealing for us the reality that communion has been divinely designed to help us remember what Jesus did for us to rescue us from the selfishness and rebellion that separated us from God.  Jesus commanded His followers to celebrate communion because Jesus knew that, as His followers, we have a tendency to forget. Jesus commanded His followers to celebrate communion because Jesus knew, that as His followers, we would need a tangible reminder that expressed visually all that God had done to rescue us through Jesus.

That is why we celebrate communion in a reverent, reflective and regular fashion here at City Bible Church. We celebrate communion on the first Sunday morning of every month and the second Sunday evening of every month because when we celebrate communion in community with one another we are proclaiming in community that Jesus is God in a bod who came to earth to live the life that we were created to live but refused to live and die the death that we deserved to die so that we would have the opportunity to experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that we were created for.

Second, when we celebrate communion in community with one another, we experience the Lord’s presence in a more powerful way. Just as a worship song may cause us to experience the Lord’s presence in a more powerful way though our voices: just as listening to a sermon may cause us to experience the Lord’s presence in a more powerful way though our ears: when we take the bread and cup, we experience the Lord’s presence in a more powerful way visually as we proclaim the message of the gospel in community.

Communion is a visual portrayal and remembrance of what occurred some 2000 years ago at Calvary. It is communion that brings us back to the cross. It is the cross that unites us with Christ and it is the cross that unites us with one another in community as part of His body, the church. That is what the Apostle Paul is referring to in verse 25 when he uses the phrase, that “this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood”.

This new covenant is the covenant which brings us personal forgiveness of our sin and the personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit that the prophet Jeremiah foretold some six hundred years earlier in Jeremiah 31:31-34;

"Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, ³² not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. ³³ "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of  Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ³⁴ "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

The cup of the new covenant shows God fulfilling His promises to all “from the least to the greatest”. Communion brings us to the place of seeing the fulfillment of God’s promise to bless all of the nations through Jesus, who was the fulfillment the promise that God made to Abraham in the book of Genesis. When we celebrate communion, we are remembering that the same price was paid for all of humanity to rescue humanity from our selfishness, sin and rebellion.

When we celebrate communion, we are remembering that as a result of what Jesus did for us on the cross that we can experience the reality of what the Apostle Paul wrote to early followers of Jesus in a letter in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Galatians. Here is what Paul stated in Galatians 3:28:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And because we are all united as one in Christ Jesus, it is the centrality of Christ that draws us to community that we celebrate in communion. We are drawn not only to connection and communion with God; we are drawn to connection and community with one another. And communion serves as a reminder of the connection and community that we were created for.

And because communion was divinely designed to serve as a reminder of the connection and unity that we are to have in community with one another, anything that attempts to destroy or disrupt that unity brings consequences. We see Paul lay out this reality beginning in 1 Corinthians 11:27.

We will look at these verses Friday...

The Origins of Communion...

At the church where I serve, we have been looking at what we believe as a church as it is contained in the doctrinal statement of our church. This week, I would like for us to go back and look again at the seventh statement that comprises our doctrinal statement as a church. This seventh statement addresses what we believe as a church about the church. This statement summarizes the answer to the question “What is the church? Who can be a part of the church? And what is the church supposed to be doing?" So let’s look at this seventh statement of our doctrinal statement together:

We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.

Earlier, we looked at the first part of this statement, where we discovered that what we believe about the church matters because the church is the vehicle that God uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world and to advance His kingdom mission in the world. We talked about the reality that what we believe about the church really matters because of the reality that even though God does not need us to do anything, God chooses to use us and invites us as followers of Jesus to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world and to advance His kingdom mission in the world.

We talked about the reality that when we gather together in genuine and authentic community to worship the Lord and listen to the message and teachings of Jesus; when we scatter into smaller groups throughout the week to grow in our relationship with God while developing encouraging relationships that foster accountability and spiritual growth in the community; when we serve the Lord by serving others through the exercise of our spiritual gifts in ministry; when we invest and invite others to explore the claims of Christ and the message of gospel through evangelism; we are the church.

The church is not somewhere we go; the church is something we are. And what we believe about the church matters because the church is the vehicle that God uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world and to advance His kingdom mission in the world.  

This week, I would like for us to look at the second half of this statement, which refers to baptism and the Lord’s Supper, or communion. This week we are going to focus on communion. Next week we will focus on baptism.

As we have talked about throughout this series, to fully understand what is being communicated in this statement, we first need to understand what all the church mumbo jumbo talk words in this statement mean. So, let’s take a few minutes and unpack the phrase “The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper,”

Now when we use the word ordinance, this word refers to a specific authoritative decree or command that has been given by someone. So with this sentence, we are saying that Jesus Christ, by an authoritative decree, commanded that His followers celebrate the Lord’s Supper, or communion. We see Jesus give this authoritative decree in a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. So let’s look at this decree together, beginning in Luke 22:14-20:

When the hour had come, He reclined at the table, and the apostles with Him. And He said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, "Take this and share it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes." And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood."

Now to fully understand what is happening here, we first need to understand the context in which this event from history took place. On the night that Jesus would be arrested, Jesus and His disciples gathered together to celebrate the Passover. Now the Passover is the Jewish holiday that celebrates the Jewish people’s deliverance from slavery at the hands of the nation of Egypt.

If you are not familiar with the story, God, through Moses, asked the Jewish people to kill an unblemished lamb and mark their doorposts with its blood. Later that evening the Lord went through the land of Egypt and struck down all of the firstborn that lived in the land as a sign of judgment for their refusal to free the Jewish people. But when the Lord came to the houses of the Jewish people who had marked their doors with the blood of the lamb, He passed over their houses, thus the name of the holiday.

And the Jewish people, at the time of Jesus, found themselves in similar circumstances. The Jewish people were under the control of the Roman Empire and greatly desired to be freed from their control. The Jewish people also knew that God had promised them a rescuer, a deliverer, a Messiah. So the Jewish people were looking for the descendant of Abraham, from the line of David that would be the promised Messiah who would bring the Jewish people back to God and back to prominence in the world.

And now, Jesus, a descendant of King David, had entered into Jerusalem, on the Passover, which marked their deliverance from a previous situation of oppression. As Jesus entered into Jerusalem the crowds had shouted “Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”. And it is in this context that Luke brings us into this event from history.

As Jesus and the disciples sat down to celebrate the Passover meal, Jesus did not follow the script. Instead of celebrating the Passover like it has always been done, Jesus took the unleavened bread and said “this is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me”. Then Jesus took the wine and went off the script again. Jesus made an incredibly strange statement: "This cup is the new covenant in My blood." To which the disciples probably thought to themselves “what is Jesus doing?” What does all this mean?” After flipping the script of Passover, Jesus and His disciples traveled to the garden of Gethsemene, where Jesus was arrested. Jesus was then tried and killed at the hands of the Roman Empire by crucifixion. However, three days after being killed, Jesus rose from the dead.

You see, unknown to the disciples at the time that they celebrated the Passover, Jesus was establishing what we know today as the Lord’s Supper or communion to reveal the reality that He was the ultimate Passover lamb whose sacrifice on the cross enables God to pass over the selfishness, sin, and rebellion of those who believe, trust and follow Him as Lord and Leader.

That is what is meant by the next phrase, which states that communion “which visibly and tangibly express the gospel.” And in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of 1 Corinthians, we see that Apostle Paul unpack this reality.

Tomorrow, we will look at this section of this letter…

What we believe about eternity really matters because our response to message of the gospel determines where we spend eternity...

This week we have been looking at the tenth statement that comprises our doctrinal statement as a church. This tenth statement addresses what we believe as a church when it comes to how our response to Jesus determines our eternal destiny.

This statement summarizes the answer to the question “Am I responsible and accountable to God for how I live my life here on earth? And am I responsible for how I respond to the claims of Jesus and the message of Jesus? What happens after I die? And how does my response to Jesus determine what happens to me after I die?” So let’s look at this tenth statement of our doctrinal statement together:

We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to believe the gospel by turning to Him in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning the unbeliever to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace. Amen.

So far this week we have discovered that the person who places their confident trust in Jesus life, death, and resurrection will not be separated from God as a result of their selfishness and rebellion, but will experience the forgiveness of sin and the relationship with God that we were created for. And that is the good news of the gospel: God loved, God gave, so that those who believe and place their confident trust in Jesus would receive life in relationship with Him.

We also discovered that God commands humanity to respond to the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel. We believe that all humanity is responsible for their response to the question “Who is Jesus”. We believe that all humanity is responsible for their response to Jesus message and teachings and His offer to rescue us from our selfishness and rebellion so that we can experience forgiveness and the relationship with God we were created for.

All of humanity will be responsible for their actions and their response to God based on the amount of revelation that they have received about God. Regardless of the level of our exposure to the claims of Christ or the message and teachings of the Bible, our consciences testify and provide evidence of our guilt or innocence. Whether it is the American who listens to Christian radio and podcasts and has five Bibles scattered around their home, or the pigmy who lives in the jungles of Africa, all will stand before Jesus to give an account of their lives.

For those who never read a Bible or heard the message of the gospel, they will be held accountable for how they respond to God’s general revelation of Himself through the creation and through their conscience. For those who have received God’s special revelation in the form of the letter that make up the Bible and exposure to the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel throughout history, they will be responsible for their response to the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel. And the standard is the same for all: perfection.

We also discovered that, based on the verdict of that judgment by God, all humanity will spend eternity in one of two places. Today, we will see that all humanity will be held accountable for all eternity for their response to Jesus message and teachings and His offer to rescue us from our selfishness and rebellion so that we can experience forgiveness and the relationship with God we were created for.  We see this reality in one of the final sections of the final letter that is recorded for us in the Bible, called the book of Revelation. So let’s look at that section together, beginning in Revelation 20:11:

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Here we see John give us glimpse into what will happen when Jesus returns to usher in the Kingdom of Heaven in its fullest sense and defeat selfishness, sin and death at His return to earth. To understand what is being communicated in these verses, we first need to ask and answer a few questions.

The first question that we need to ask and answer is “what is the Great White Throne and who is sitting on it?” The Great White Throne is the Throne that Jesus after He returns to earth will sit on as He judges all of selfish and rebellious humanity who rejected God and the things of God throughout history. The second question that we need to ask and answer is “what does John mean when he says the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life?” The phrase “the books were opened” refers to the books that record every activity of every human being throughout history. The phrase "and another book was opened, the book of life", is referred to as the Lamb’s book of life. That book records every individual throughout history who experienced a right relationship with God as a result of placing their confident trust in God.

Here John is revealing for us the reality that at the end of God’s story here on earth, every human being who ever lived will receive an eternal body and will stand before Jesus to give an account of the life that they lived while here on earth. For those throughout history who rejected God and the things of God and whose names are not found in the Lambs book of life, they will experience what is referred to in church mumbo jumbo talk as the Great White Throne Judgment.  This judgment seals their eternal existence in what John refers to as the lake of fire, or Hell.

Hell is a real and eternal place where those who have rejected God here on earth will consciously experience the absence of the presence of God and the physical and emotional punishment that will come from demons and the selfish actions of other humans in Hell. For those throughout history who responded to God’s transformational intervention and activity in their lives by placing their confident trust in God and who have their names in the Lamb’s book of Life, they will be judged and either receive or lose rewards based on their how they followed Jesus while here on earth and will reside for all eternity in the presence of God, worshipping, serving and living in the relationship Him and one another that they were created for forever. We see John reveal for us the reality of Heaven in Revelation 21:1:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."

The New Heavens and the New Earth will be the renewed creation that will fulfill the purpose that God had when He created the universe where we will dwell in the presence of God. Heaven is a real and eternal place where followers of Jesus will experience the presence and the relationship with God and one another that they were created for without all of the evil and corruption that resulted from selfishness, sin and rebellion.

Now this leads us back to the question that will run throughout this series, which is “Dave does what we believe about eternity really matter?” And the answer to that question leads us to this timeless truth about why it really matters. And that timeless truth is this: What we believe about eternity really matters because our response to message of the gospel determines where we spend eternity.

What we really believe about eternity really matters because the question is not whether or not you live forever; the question is where are you going to live forever. What we believe about eternity really matters because all humanity is responsible for their response to the question “Who is Jesus”.

What we believe about eternity really matters because all humanity is responsible for their response to Jesus message and teachings and His offer to rescue us from our selfishness and rebellion so that we can experience forgiveness and the relationship with God we were created for. What we believe about eternity matters because our response to message of the gospel determines where we spend eternity.

So, how have you responded to the question "Who is Jesus?"