Sermon Tone Analysis

Galatians 3:26,27; Romans 13:14

 

! Introduction

            What an exciting day this is.

For those of you who are being baptized, it is scary to give your testimonies, but a wonderful day in which you will be encouraged in your faith and also be encouraged as a person.

For parents, it is a great day of rejoicing at what God has done in the life of your child.

For us as a church, it is a day when we are grateful that the work we have done in teaching you through SS and youth is bearing fruit.

You are demonstrating that you have accepted Christ and you are embracing Christ’s body, the church, and are making a covenant with us as a congregation and we are glad to have you working together with us.

As we so rejoice, it is a good time to think about the meaning of baptism and the commitment which you are making in baptism.

When you sign up for a baseball or volleyball team, that has pretty significant implications for the weeks coming.

It means that you have made a commitment to attend practices, to stay in shape and to attend the games.

In return, you get to enjoy playing the game.

When you get a job and agree to work for someone, you make a commitment to be at work when the other person asks, to stay as long as he asks and do what he asks.

In return, you get a pay check and enjoy your job.

Today you are making a commitment to Christ and to His body the church.

What does this commitment mean?

This morning, I would like to look at two passages in the Bible which talk about the commitment and what it means.

Galatians 3:26,27 and Romans 13:14 are connected by one word – the word clothed - which helps us understand what baptism means and what the commitment you are making today means.

!

I. Clothed With Christ

!! A. What Baptism Means

            I invite you to turn to Galatians 3:26,27.

These two verses help us understand the meaning of baptism.

When we read in verse 27 that those who are baptized have put on Christ, the question may be raised, “what does baptism do, does baptism save us?” Reading much of the rest of the Bible, including verse 26, we know that it is not baptism or any ritual act which saves us, but rather faith in Christ.

This is particularly important in the context of this passage.

The verses preceding this talk about the law and how we are not under the law any more.

It is a wonderful and important matter to realize that God has prepared this amazing gift for us.

The eternal God who lives in heaven, who does not need anything has nevertheless chosen to create human beings.

Even though those human beings have rejected Him, he loves them so much that He sent Jesus to die on the cross and raised Him from the dead in order that he could forgive their sins and give them eternal life.

God loves you, each one of you who is being baptized today, and each person in this sanctuary today and indeed each person in the world.

His love is very great.

So great that He is willing to make a deep sacrifice so that you can be free of the guilt of your sin and can have hope in eternal life.

We do nothing to earn this tremendous gift.

It is given to us by the grace of God and the only thing that we need to do to receive it is to have faith in Jesus.

We just need to believe that Jesus is God’s son, that He came to earth to die and rise for us and that He will keep His promise and give us the gift of salvation.

Well if we are saved through faith, then what is the point of baptism?

Many times in the Bible, faith and the act of baptism are spoken of in one breath.

It almost seems as if they go together.

What relationship do faith and baptism have?

We have already established that it is faith which allows us to experience the gift of God.

Baptism does not save us, but it is still very important.

Baptism is important as a sign of the faith we have.

Probably one of the best verses to explain this is Romans 10:9,10, where we read, “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”

This verse helps us understand that faith is demonstrated to be real when it is declared.

We can say we believe, but if we do not declare it to others, if we do not make it known, it remains by itself and we can change our mind and there is a question whether it is real.

When we are baptized, we are making the declaration to everyone that faith is real in us.

Declared our faith through baptism not only demonstrates that it is real, it also helps us stand firm on it.

If I decide to dye my hair red, I can decide and undecided without any implication because the resolve was just in my own mind.

If, on the other hand, I tell others I am going to die my hair red, then if I don’t keep that resolve, they will ask me about it and wonder why I didn’t keep the word I made.

When you are baptized, you are making your commitment public and it helps you keep the commitment you have made.

We are saved through faith and demonstrate that faith through baptism.

!! B. What Baptism Does

But the verse isn’t about that commitment.

Baptism is assumed, it is in the past for those to whom this is written because it says, “all of you who were baptized…” The exciting part of this verse is what happens to us when we are baptized.

These verses tell us two things that are true about the person who has been baptized.

!!! 1. Sons of God

            First of all, we are told that by this act we become children of God.

The word “all” is important in this context.

In verse 28, we find that there is no one excluded.

Previously, the path to God was severely restricted and Jewish people had a definite advantage in getting to God.

Now, however, that advantage is removed and all people, no matter which nationality, are able to be children of God.

There are also no restrictions regarding economic and social status or gender.

All…every person who has faith is a child of God.

And what a blessing to be called children of God!

It means that we belong to God’s family.

Every family has parents and our parent, our Father is God Himself.

Today there are many families in which “father” is not a very good image.

But if we think of the best image of a father, the one who cares for us, supports and protects us, helps us and guides us, then we can be very glad that God, the creator of all things is our Father.

We belong to Him and can come to Him and know that He will always care for us.

It means that Jesus Christ is our brother, because He is “the Son of God.” Just as brothers can communicate, fellowship and support each other, we can enter into that kind of a relationship with our brother, Jesus.

It also means that we are brothers and sisters with each other and of course that has many implications for the blessing of being family.

When we become Christians, we become children of God.

!!! 2. Clothed With Christ

            Verse 27 gives us another blessing regarding what happens when we are baptized through faith in Christ.

It says that we are clothed with Christ.

The verb tense in this passage is indicative, which means that it indicates what is.

That is a wonderful thought.

We aren’t talking about a possibility, about a hope or a wish.

When we are baptized, we have put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

What does it mean to be clothed with Christ?

Clothing is close to us, it hangs right next to our skin.

We don’t generally carry clothing, we wear it.

What a wonderful picture of our relationship to Christ.

When we are baptized, when we have declared our faith to the world, we put on Christ and He is close to us.

Wherever we are, He is right there with us.

Clothing covers us.

When clothes was first introduced in Genesis, it was used to cover the shame of Adam and Eve’s nakedness.

We still use it for that.

Sometimes people use clothing to make themselves look better, to protect themselves from the sun or the rain or even to change the way they look.

Being clothed with Christ means that the shame of our sinful self is covered and God sees Jesus and therefore sees us as clean and pure and Jesus protects us from the wrath of God.

Clothing identifies us.

Have you ever been in a crowd of people looking for a friend?

One of the first things you may do is look for the clothing that he is wearing.

If he has a distinctive jacket, you can quickly spot your friend by the jacket.

To be clothed with Christ means that we can be identified by Christ.

People can see Christ in us.

Clothing is often the first thing people see about us.

When we are in Christ, He is the first thing that people see about us.

So what do we look like when we are clothed with Christ?

Very simply put, Jesus is with us wherever we are and wherever we go, people see Jesus in us.

We manifest the presence of Jesus everywhere.