Baptism Sermon
Preached in Walton by Revd Bob Parker
‘I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.’
Psalm 139 v 14 (NIV)
Do you think the writer of this Psalm was right?
Or do you think that a certain Professor C.E.M. Joad was right. This is what he said:
‘Man is nothing but
Fat enough for seven bars of soap
Iron enough for one medium sized nail
Sugar enough for 7 cups of tea
Lime enough to whitewash a chicken coop
Phosphorous enough to tip 2,200 matches
Magnesium enough for one dose of salts
Potash enough to explode one toy crane
Sulphur enough to rid one dog of fleas’.
That might describe the substances, which are contained in the human body, but it is not very flattering, is it? Nor does it describe the whole story. Far from it. I prefer the biblical account
‘I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made’.
Praise of God is a natural response for He is the creator and the giver of life.
Recently a mother brought her newly born daughter to the Mission Church in Street. Her parents wanted to take the first available opportunity to thank God for her safe arrival. As you can imagine there were many people who wanted to see the new baby and to marvel at her tiny but perfectly formed body. All parents want the very best for their children and for Christian parents this will include Baptism.
But what is Baptism? It is a visible sign of something that is difficult to put into words. So we use signs to indicate important truths.
-
A kiss shows love;
- a handshake shows friendship;
- a salute shows loyalty;
- and at a wedding we give and receive a ring, which is a sign of marriage.;
Baptism shows that we belong to the Church. It is wonderful to belong, to know we belong to God and that we are precious to him.
‘I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made’.
Every one of us is unique. There is no one else exactly like us in the whole world! The dictionary tells us that the word unique means ‘being only of one kind, being without equal’.
But sometimes we forget this. Often we do things that spoil, stain and disfigure the loveliness that God made.
We call it sin.
That is why in Baptism we use water as a sign of cleansing. None of us, though wonderfully made, are perfect.
We have to say sorry to God for sins committed in order that we might receive forgiveness. That is why a Baptism service includes questions for parents and godparents to answer: ‘Do you turn to Christ? Do you repent of your sins? Do you reject evil?
We must make every effort to avoid falling into sin. We must do all we can to teach our children the difference between right and wrong and to set them a good example. The best way is to accept Christ and seek to follow Him.
Through Baptism we are brought into the Family, not only of the local church, but of the Church worldwide. But even this is not enough. All of us need to belong to the Christian Church if we are serious in our desire to follow Christ. But we also need to have a personal faith. The service of Baptism spells this out.
‘We who are born of earthly parents need to be born again’.
Jesus, in the Gospels, tells us that ‘unless a man is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God’.
Acts 4 v 13 tells us ‘Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved’. The name this text refers to is of course the Lord Jesus.
Later in the Acts the jailer at Philippi asks Paul & Silas ‘what must I do to be saved? The answer - ‘believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.’
I meet a lot of people who have been baptised but have not understood the further and essential need to put their trust in Christ. I hope that what I have said today will help you to do just this ... and encourage one another to follow Christ day by day.
A wonderful sermon given by Bob Parker at a Family Service and Baptism, in Walton. Thank you Bob for allowing us to print it.
|
Thursday 20th of November 2008
