Wanna see a cannon ball baptism? Click this

All I can say to that is …. sweet.

But about baptism in general…

for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. – Galatians 3:27

Baptism started for the Jews after they returned from their captivity in Babylon. That was a long time ago, back when books like Nehemiah were written. They returned from captivity in Babylon, rebuilt Jerusalem, and about that time began to baptize the Gentiles who converted to Judaism. For them, it symbolized a person’s commitment to leave their former nation and their former way of life, and to be purified for service to God.

Years later, John the Baptist started using this Jewish tradition of baptizing Gentile converts, only He used it for everyone who made the commitment to renounce their sins and commit themselves to God. John also baptized with the idea that Messiah was coming so He was preparing them for the Messiah.

Jesus continued the same practice – even getting baptized himself, and had His disciples baptize people as well. Eventually, according to the book of John, more and more people started coming to Jesus to get baptized…

Although as John 4:2 says:
Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples,

Jesus didn’t baptize personally, just like the apostles including Paul didn’t like to baptize people themselves. I imagine if they had, people could claim their baptism meant more than someone else’s.

“You got baptized by Bill over there? Well, Bill might be a good guy, but I was baptized by Paul!”

“Paul? Paul ain’t nothin. He’s a dork.”

“I got baptized by Peter!”

“Oh yeah? Jesus over here baby.”

Even today, would you rather get baptized by some no name guy or get baptized by Rick Warren himself? Would you rather get baptized by a preacher or priest, or just some regular Christian?

In the Bible, the more famous you were, the less likely you would baptize anyone so it wouldn’t cause a problem.

Paul would even write in I Corinthians 1:13-15:
“Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name.”

In God’s family, any of you who are members can induct someone else. All of you who belong to Christ, all of you have clothed yourself with Christ, can take someone else to the changing room and show them the garments of repentance. Why not? You should know where they’re hanging.

It’s not titles that make the difference, it’s the fact that Jesus lives in you, Jesus works in you, Jesus sometimes speaks through you, and Jesus can baptize through you as well. You don’t need a seminary degree no matter what the guys with seminary degrees say.

Or do you think that only the 12 apostles baptized 3000 people on the day of Pentecost?

The Book of Acts records baptism after baptism, salvation after salvation. The Holy Spirit was poured out on group after group. There are always a few questions that come up, and hopefully, we can find a few answers.

Was it immersion or sprinkling? The word in the Greek means to wash, to make fully wet. In the Old Testament, the corresponding Hebrew word nearly always meant -to dip. The priest would dip his finger in the blood of a sacrifice (Lev. 4:6), a hyssop would be dipped in water (Num. 19:18), to dip bread into vinegar (Ruth 2:14) to dip the end of a staff in honey (I Samuel 14:27), and Naaman who dipped seven times in the Jordan River (II Kings 5) which also referred to this as “wash in the Jordan,”

To the Jew, the idea of dipping or washing was what baptism would be all about. It was more than sprinkling.

God told Naaman to go wash or dip seven times in the Jordan. I don’t know about you, but when I tell my kids to go wash and they come back merely sprinkled… they have to go back and do it again.

Nevertheless, there aren’t strict instructions in the Bible on how to baptize, but getting thoroughly wet, like we do here at our church when we immerse someone, fits the Bible’s examples and it represents the idea of washing away my sin. When someone comes out of the water it symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus and living a new life. Or… like Romans 6:4 says:

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

So that’s why we do what we do, but the real point isn’t the method of baptism, the point is what it represents.

I made a decision to belong to Jesus. Just like the Gentiles would be baptized when they converted to Judaism, just like the people who came to John the Baptist would make a commitment to leave their old life of sin behind, and just like the people on the day of Pentecost who heard the message of Jesus and became His followers… when you realize you’re a sinner, when you make the decision in your heart that Jesus will be your Lord and your Savior, when you decide that you are willing to leave everything in your old life, in your worldly life behind to follow Jesus, then you are ready for baptism. It’s a public display of your commitment.

As Albert Barnes (one of the great commentators on the Bible) wrote:
He who comes to be baptized, comes with a professed conviction that he is a sinner; that there is no other way of mercy but in the gospel, and with a professed willingness to comply with the terms of salvation, and to receive it as it is offered through Jesus Christ.

You see, I get baptized because I’ve decided in my heart that I’m going to follow Jesus. Baptism shows the world that I’ve joined God’s team.

It’s a humbling experience to go under the water, but that is indeed what we must do. Humble ourselves. Great and small, intelligent and less intelligent, popular and unpopular, all go under the waters of baptism, all have confessed the same Jesus as Lord and Savior and all have made the commitment in our hearts to turn from sin and belong to this family, this Church, this Savior who hung on a cross between two thieves and even at the darkest hour, gave one of them the promise that he would have eternal life… why just one? He was the only one who asked.

It’s that Jesus who we have clothed ourselves with…