Session 6: Ordinances for Believers

Knowing what it is we here at Hickory Corners Bible Church believe and how it is we operate is important. HCBC Basics is a condensed class to look at our statement of faith, and how it is we apply what we believe to our church life. This session will focus on the ordinances given by Christ to believers.

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By way of review, we’ve been working from the most basic foundational elements, of Scripture, of God as the holy Trinity consisting of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. From there, we’ve delved into the doctrine of man, of the total depravity of each and every person on the face of the earth from the moment of their conception, being conceived in sin and in desperate need of saving. We’ve then worked through the doctrine of salvation, demonstrating that salvation is available by grace alone, through faith alone, in the finished work of Christ alone; that God has demonstrated that He is not only just, but also that He and He alone is the justifier of all who have faith in Christ Jesus. And, we’ve looked at length at what Christ Jesus gave Himself up to bring us into, namely the church, certainly the universal church made up of all believers everywhere, but more specifically the local church through which He nurtures and cherishes as His precious bride. And certainly, we’ve looked at the essential elements of the local church, the active, participating members who it is made up of, and the elders among them who shepherd them.

So it is only right that as we turn to consider how we ought to be living in this present age within the church, namely in the ordinances of God for believers, the commands that Jesus Christ has given to His church. And you will find that many classic theologians consider these commands to be an extension or alternately a part of the doctrines regarding the church.

O Lord our God, Supreme Ruler of the worlds both Visible and Invisible, our hearts are drawn out to You for Your amazing grace freely bestowed upon all who are Yours, for bringing sinners such as we to the saving knowledge of You and Your kingdom. We bless You for establishing these Your ordinances for the church of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Teach us this day to see in them Your loving purposes, to rightly grasp the breadth and length of their design, to draw near and obey that we may testify before all men your lovingkindness, that we may bring glory and honor to Your blessed Son. Amen!

Ordinances

We need to be very clear about our language today. We here at Hickory Corners Bible Church hold to the view that these things we are talking about today, namely baptism and communion, are specifically “ordinances” of God, clear and specific commands given by our Lord Jesus Christ. If you come from a different background, you may recognize these as having been termed sacraments. They are called this because many in the early church viewed these things as a mystery hidden from ages past which revealed divine grace, so when the Bible was translated from Greek over to Latin, the mystery, or μυστήριον, was translated as sacramentum, a Latin term used by the Roman culture to describe secret rites for initiation, since these activities were indeed used for ushering in new Christians into full membership of the church. The idea of the sacrament was further crystalized by Augustine of Hippo, so that by the fifth century a “sacrament” was defined as “an outward and visible sign of an inward and visible grace”, a definition still used by the Catholic-type churches today.

And because of that encompassing definition, the various catholic sects identify baptism, eucharist, and other certain ritual acts that a person can do mechanically as a “sacrament” through which they can merit grace.

And yet, there are many in certain protestant traditions, such as Reformed church adhering to the Westminster confession of faith, that refer to these 2 activities as “sacraments”, yet define a sacrament as “a holy ordinance instituted by Christ in his church, to signify, seal, and exhibit unto those that are within the covenant of grace.”

So, those who refer to these things as sacraments nearly universally view them in one sense or another as a “means of grace” to the doer of them. And, we take exception to that root concept, because we understand that grace, by definition, is nothing that a person can ever deserve, for it is something that is bestowed upon a person contrary to what they are owed. We believe, if you recall from our prior session on the doctrines of man and salvation, that the only thing any person deserves or is owed is the wrath of God poured out on them for their sin. So when we speak about grace, whether we see it in the long-suffering forbearance of God in meting out that wrath, or the forbearance of God as He passes over sins previously committed when He saves a person, both are a result of His grace, both are equally undeserved.

And so when we talk about ordinances, we are talking about particular commands that Christ gave to His people which symbolize their faith in the finished work of Christ Jesus, and also their obedience to His commands – thinking of this in terms of “if you love Me, you will keep My commandments” of John 14:15, and 1 John 5:2–3, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and do His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.”

In other words, these ordinances are opportunities for those who are Christ’s, to express their allegiance to Him in a tangible, visible manner.

The Number

And we should be clear here, that we believe based on Scripture that there are two, and only two, ordinances. Here’s how we say this in a doctrinal sense:

We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ has left two (2) ordinances to be observed by the Church in commemoration of His person and work: water baptism and the Lord’s Supper. They are not to be regarded, however, as a means of salvation, nor a means of grace by which special merit is obtained.

Now, I have very frequently in this Basics class pointed back to the regulative principle, the principle that our beliefs and practices must of necessity always be based upon some precept or example taken from the rightly and accurately handled Word of God, just as Paul admonishes us along with Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15 to “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”

And it is due to that perspective, which sees the traditions of men, and even the writings of Godly men outside of Scripture, as at best a distant secondary advisor rather than as an equal or even greater authority; it is because of this that we take care in identifying what is an ordinance of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, compared to other things which may be good and may be helpful.

So, while the Roman Catholic Church at the reactionary Council of Trent may desire to put confirmation, penance, anointing of the sick, holy orders, and matrimony on an equal footing as baptism and the Lord’s Supper, we find no foundation for such things in Scripture, and so must reject such notions. And I would argue, as have others, that putting them on such an equal footing is rooted in the flawed thinking of the catholic concept of “sacraments” we discussed earlier. And, of course, you will notice that we in our doctrine deny and reject any such things even a place in our statement of faith here.

It is also important that we continue to underscore that we believe the proper doing of these things are reserved for those who are already saved, they are not a means of salvation, nor a means of some sort of added grace.

Questions:

Explain the difference between a sacrament and an ordinance. Why are we so emphatic that we are following Ordinances?

What is the Regulative Principle? How does that help us identify how many Ordinances have been given to the Church?

And so, we come to the first ordinance, water baptism.

Water Baptism

Perhaps the most significant question which divides the various churches and denominations who believe in salvation by faith in Jesus Christ is that of “who is baptism for?” Although most will equate baptism with church membership, some will also link baptism with salvation, which would mean there is a work to be done for salvation, an idea that we have already clearly rejected, Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast.” We reject any notion at all of baptism as being a necessary component of salvation.

And the question of who is to be baptized is also greatly swayed by how you view the church. Those who view the church as an extension or replacement of Israel, tend to look at baptism with a covenantal view which contends that since Abraham was commanded to circumcise the children of his household to usher them into the covenant, so should Christians baptize their children to help usher them into the new covenant.

This stands in sharp disagreement with what we see described in detail within Scripture itself, something we discussed here in Christian Life Hour in detail back in February and March of 2023 as we looked in great detail over several weeks in the series “The Ordinance of Baptism”, which you can see in full on our YouTube channel.

For here is how we say it in our Statement of Faith:

We believe those professing saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal Savior should be baptized by the pastor or some person authorized by the church, immersed in water in accordance with the Scriptural teaching, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit in accordance with the scriptural teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and one dying to self and his former life and rising again to a new life in Christ. Mark 1:9-11; Acts 2:38, 41; 8:36-39; 10:47-48; Romans 6:1-5

What we see everywhere in the New Testament, is that baptism follows salvation, it never precedes it.

For example, when we read Matthew 28:19-20,

Matthew 28:19–20 LSB

“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 keep all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

It’s pretty clear that “making disciples” comes before “baptizing them”. So we reject the idea of baptizing an infant as meeting a biblical definition of baptism, it merely means that you have a wet baby – nothing more. There is no spiritual value in doing so, and furthermore causes many people who think they have followed the command of our Lord, have not actually done so. It takes salvation for the image-picture of baptism to truly make sense to a person.

Turn with me quickly to Acts chapter 2, where we see just how seriously the apostles themselves took this command of Christ Jesus.

Here, we see the historical account of Pentecost, that great and mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit, during which we read Peter’s first sermon before the assembled crowd who interrupt his message in verse 37 with the anguished cry, “Men, brothers, what should we do?”

Peter’s response is telling:

Acts 2:38–39 LSB

And Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

Now, before we go on, this “for” in the phrase, “be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” does not mean “in order to have forgiveness”, but rather it means “on account of the forgiveness you already have”. Baptism with water is the only appropriate response to forgiveness which comes on account of that repentance! Let’s go on…

Acts 2:40–41 LSB

And with many other words he solemnly bore witness and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this crooked generation!” So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.

Do you notice the order? Receiving the word came first, then baptism in verse 41. Not just listening to the word, not even mere acceptance, but to consider the message as an obligation, repented of their sin placing all of the hope, both in this life and in eternity, it the truth of the message Peter had given to them. No longer did they look toward their Jewish lineage, their circumcision, or even the covenant with Abraham, for here in this moment they forever turned their back on all of those things, rejecting their identity before God as being defined by their Jewishness by being publicly baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, likely in the same mikveh pools used by the Jewish proselytes who were ritually ridding themselves of their former identities in favor of taking on the identity of a Jew, along with Jews desiring to ritually purify themselves. Baptism was an identity issue to the Jew, speaking always of separation and purification – even the baptism of repentance by John in the area around the Jordan was one of separation and purification.

You will also notice in our statement that we specifically call out immersion, and due to what other churches teach that has caused some angst and confusion at times, but we need to be clear that the Bible teaches only about a total immersion of the person, not simply dipping or sprinkling. The word used itself ought to settle the matter, βαπτίζω is used in one sense, and one sense only - to completely submerge in the manner of a ship that sinks to the bottom of the sea, or in a person who drowns due to going under the water and being completely engulfed by it. We get the word immerse from the Latin word immergo, which was identical in meaning to βαπτίζω, but due to the predominance of Greek throughout the civilized world and the technical clarity of βαπτίζω, it became transliterated rather than translated into other languages over time. What we don’t see used, anywhere in connection with Jesus’ command in Matthew 28, is to sprinkle, ῥαντίζω in Greek. And, if we look at the inward spiritual reality that this outward picture illustrates, it becomes even more clear.

Because when we look at the picture of the true union which water baptism represents, the answer to our questions becomes much more obvious.

Romans 6:3–4 LSB

Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

We’ve covered this Scripture in detail in our series “We Who Died to Sin”, available in its entirety on our YouTube Channel, but Romans 6 is a dry chapter; it’s not talking there about baptism with water, but rather our immersion into Christ Jesus, there not being any commands to do anything there, but rather a description of what is true of all who are in Christ Jesus. We were immersed in Christ Jesus as surely as a ship that sinks to the bottom of the ocean is immersed in water – our identity can no longer be thought of as separate from His, and that true immersion happened in a spiritual rather than a physical sense by joining us to Him in His death, burial, and resurrection.

Questions:

Read 1 Corinthians 1:14-17. What place does Paul give to baptism in comparison to salvation?

Read Matthew 3:1-17 and Mark 1:9-11. Although the baptism of John was one of repentance and not the believer’s baptism commanded in Matthew 28:19-20, it greatly helps us understand baptism in many regards. Where was it that Jesus was baptized? What was the reason for that location? Now read Acts 8:35-39. What was the water like that the eunuch saw? Why is this important to us?

Read Acts 10:34-48. The Holy Spirit falling upon these God-fearing gentiles was a result of their saving faith (1 Corinthians 12:13). What does this imply for how we ought to consider baptism with water? After reading these, what would you say to a person claiming to be a Christian but does not desire to be baptized by immersion? Does this speak of a church (assembly of believers) or just of random individuals being involved in baptism? Who is baptism for?

Read Romans 6:3-7. Why is baptism by immersion an important distinction for us?

Have you been biblically baptized as a believing Christian by immersion?

This brings us to the second ordinance, that of the Lord’s Supper.

The Lord’s Supper

The ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, sometimes called Communion, is probably a little bit more familiar to most people who have attended this church very long, and in some ways a little bit more straightforward. After all, here at Hickory Corners Bible Church our pastors remind us of these things on a monthly basis when we take communion together.

So, let’s start with the doctrine:

We believe the Lord’s Supper (Communion) should be regularly observed by the assembled church as scripturally set forth. All those who have trusted Jesus Christ as personal Savior and are walking in fellowship with the Lord shall be welcome to join in this observance. Matthew 26:26-30; 28:19; I Corinthians 11:23-29

Now, there are some people that have argued that it is the duty of the pastor or the priest to withhold communion from people who are either not members, or who are, in the estimation of that church leader, not where they should be spiritually, whether through a lack of maturity or through some unconfessed sin or attitude. We disagree with this thought on account of what we read in scripture, both from 1 John 1 and also from 1 Corinthians 11:28-31, where Paul lays it out clearly and explicitly:

1 Corinthians 11:28–31 LSB

But a man must test himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.

The call here is not for an external examination, but specifically a self-examination. But in this is also a warning – if you do not judge yourself as to whether or not you do this rightly, God will judge you. 1 John 1:10 “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” certainly applied here, too.

What is it that we are to test?

1 Corinthians 11:27 LSB

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.

Now we need to be clear here, “an unworthy manner” does not mean a state if sinlessness, but neither is this some merely benign, old-fashioned warning not applicable in our day and age. The guilt pronounced here against those who do take communion in an “unworthy manner” is a dire one, with severe consequences. God can physically kill you if you do communion wrong, and it says right here in 1 Corinthians 11 that He has actually done so not out of spite, but rather in verse 32 we realize there is a very specific purpose for these dire consequences:

1 Corinthians 11:32 LSB

But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.

And so, that begs the question: what is a worthy manner? And we only need to look up to what has gone before to understand it,

1 Corinthians 11:20–22 LSB

Therefore when you meet together in the same place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, for in your eating each one takes his own supper first, and one is hungry and another is drunk. For do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you.

This isn’t a command that they should not eat the Lord’s Supper when they gather together, but rather a rebuke that when they get together it’s not for the purpose of the Lord’s supper. This is no praise, this is shameful to all who are involved! It is, in the language of verse 27, an unworthy manner.

Let’s continue on:

1 Corinthians 11:23–24 LSB

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was being betrayed took bread, 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.”

Now let’s be clear here, this refers back to John 6, just before Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ, in which Jesus caused great consternation amongst his disciples by first saying in verse 51, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and also the bread which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh”, doubling down in John 6:54 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” This so greatly troubled His disciples that many stopped being His disciples, leaving Him and no longer following Him, and it had even His closest disciples scratching heir heads so much that He had to explain to them that He was talking in a spiritual sense in John 6:63, “The Spirit is the One who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

Was His fleshly body broken? Yes. But the bread of the communion meal is an outward physical reminder of the spiritual reality. And so, we take the unleavened bread of communion in remembrance of His body which was broken for our sake, not His own.

1 Corinthians 11:25 LSB

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.”

Again, the same thing – an outward, physical reminder of the spiritual reality it represents.

1 Corinthians 11:26 LSB

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.

And finally, we must also realize that the Lord’s Supper is itself also a gospel proclamation. The sacrifice of the Son of God for sins is present, being a proclamation of His death. His burial, the certificate of death is implicit. The expectation of doing this only until He comes again, the point where we will no longer need to proclaim His death, for then we will be reunited with Him.

To deny these realities, to minimize the communion we have with our Lord and each other, to live our life outside of an expectation of His imminent return through living in a manner denying His purpose to destroy the work of the devil, to pervert the Lord’s Supper as the ritual saving a person rather than faith in Jesus Christ Himself – these are the bars we ought to be using to judge if we are partaking in the Lord’s Supper in a worthy or unworthy manner.

Questions:

Read Matthew 26:26-30. Who should participate in the Lord’s Supper?

Read 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. What do you think Paul was meaning when he warned the Corinthians about taking Communion in ‘an unworthy manner’? What should you be doing as you prepare to take Communion?

Read 1 John 1:6-10. Why does having sin in your life not make you unworthy to partake in Communion?

Considering these things, why is it important for us to partake in Communion?

So, there we have the two ordinances commanded by Jesus Christ for His church, both meant to point our minds and hearts directly to the Lord Jesus Christ; biblical baptism by immersion in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and the Lord’s Supper to proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.