Today is Baptism Sunday.

We are a Baptist church and we practice this ordinance called baptism. That should not come as a shock to anyone! Baptism of one of the cornerstones of what makes us a Baptist church.

Some trace the history of Baptist churches back to Amsterdam in 1609 as the Separatists left the church of England. As the Baptist church spread, it formed two groups in England: General Baptists and Particular Baptists. The terms general and particular references their view on atonement – the doctrine that caused the greatest divide among them.

Eventually, Baptist doctrine spread to North America and the First Baptist Church of Providence, Rhode Island was founded in 1638 as THE first Baptist church in America. I love this little write up:

“Roger Williams had been holding religious services in his home for nearly a year before he converted his congregation into a Baptist church in 1638; this followed his founding of Providence in 1636. For the next sixty years, the congregation met outside in nice weather or in congregants’ homes. Baptists in Rhode Island through most of the 17th century declined to erect meetinghouses because they felt that buildings reflected vanity. Eventually, however, they came to see the utility of some gathering place, and they erected severely plain-style meetinghouses like the Quakers.”

https://wikivisually.com/wiki/First_Baptist_Church_in_America

Today, 387 years later, if you look up the list of just national Baptist organizations in the US alone, you will come up with no less than 62 of them. American Baptist, Conservative Baptists, Independent, Regular, Reformed Baptists…. The list goes on. NCF is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Baptist association in the country.

SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION is the Largest single baptist association in the world!  Its 2025 Annual Church Profile (released May 2026) reports:

– 12,331,954 members

– 46,608 cooperating churches

~ 4.46 million weekly attendance (up 3.63%)

– 263,075 baptisms (up 4.96%, fifth straight year of growth)

Baptist came out of the reformation and stood out on the foundation that baptism has certain marks or characteristics that are significant and should be adhered to.

Baptists form a major branch of Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing professing believers only (believer’s baptism, as opposed to infant baptism), and doing so by complete immersion.

There are other dominations that practice baptism of professing believers by immersion, such as the Assemblies of God, Christian & Missionary Alliance, United Pentecostal and others. Jews for Jesus actually teach that believer’s baptism by immersion is a Jewish practice as well. However, the Baptists have made it one of the cornerstones of their faith and practice.

Two Baptist Distinctives

Let’s focus on the two distinctives mentioned regarding the practice of baptism specifically.

1. Baptism is for people who have professed faith in Christ. (professing believers)

The books of Acts is very much the story of origins for the church. In that book, we have many references to baptism – the most references of any book of the Bible. Here are just a few:

Acts 2:38 CSB

³⁸ Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:41 CSB

⁴¹ So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them.

Acts 8:12–13 CSB

¹² But when they believed Philip, as he proclaimed the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. ¹³ Even Simon himself believed. And after he was baptized, he followed Philip everywhere and was amazed as he observed the signs and great miracles that were being performed.

Acts 18:8 CSB

⁸ Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, along with his whole household. Many of the Corinthians, when they heard, believed and were baptized.

There is a very specific order here: they believed and were baptized. They repented and were baptized. There was a confrontation of the gospel and a response to it that preceded the act of baptism. Baptism does not save us, it is something that takes place after we are saved.

Baptism is a rite of those who are old enough to understand their need for the Messiah and that have repented of their sins and believed in Jesus. This is what we refer to as believer’s baptism.

NOTE: an infant does not have the ability to understand their sinfulness nor to request forgiveness of that sin or place their faith in Jesus. There is not a direct reference in the scriptures to the baptism of infants.

2. Baptism is to be by immersion.

What do you think of when you hear the word, “Dunk”.  [donuts, basketball, oreo, what about church?]

Baptism is a transliterated word. What that means is that the people who translated the Bible, choose to take the original Greek word, baptizma, and give it an English spelling. This happened with the first English translation of the Scriptures by Wycliffe in 1382. It has been kept that way ever since.

βαπτίζω The word baptism means “to immerse”, dip or plunge.

In the Bible it is most often referring to immerse or “dunk”. In non-biblical literature of the first century, it was also used of a blacksmith taking hot metal and plunging it into the water to harden it.

I think, if we simply translated the word rather than transliterating it, there would be a lot less confusion on the matter.

There is not a single reference to sprinkling with baptism, nor is the Greek word for sprinkling mentioned in our New Testament in regard to the act of baptism. It is very specific that the word immersion (baptisma) is used.

What if someone cannot be immersed?

That is a valid question! It is actually one that the earliest teachings of the apostles addressed, and one we still hold to today.

Didache 7, c. AD 100 (dates proposed range from AD 50 to 150; most settle near the turn of the century).

“Baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in living [running] water. But if you have no living water, baptize in other water; and if you cannot in cold, then in warm. But if you have neither, pour water on the head three times.”

The verb is ἔκχεον (ekcheon) — pour out, the same root used of the Spirit in Acts 2. Note the structure: it’s a descending ladder of concessions. Running water → still water → cold → warm → and only if you have none of that, pouring.

Baptism is symbolic of what Jesus has done for us. Like so many other events in the Bible: the Exodus, Passover, Jonah, there are things that take place that point to the work of the Messiah.

Who was the first person in named in the Bible that baptized people? JOHN! John came immersing people in the Jordan River:

Mark 1:4–6 CSB

⁴ John came baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵ The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. ⁶ John wore a camel-hair garment with a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.

But he did this at God’s command and before Jesus was revealed as the Messiah and before He gave his life for us on Calvary.

Why would God use baptism as the act that John would perform? Because it pointed to the work of the coming Messiah, Jesus.

Colossians 2:12 CSB

¹² when you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Under the water, out of the water. Death, burial and resurrection to new life.

Romans 6:3–5 CSB

³ Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. ⁵ For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection.

While we realize that Paul is using the metaphor of baptism as burial, the metaphor only makes sense if we realize that baptism is immersion. When we bury bodies, we do not sprinkle or pour dirt on them; we cover them in dirt. Baptism cannot be a burial unless one is covered in water.

So, Baptism is for believers by immersion.

Why should WE be baptized?

It is cool that the early Christians were baptized. But is this still something that Christians are supposed to do? Was it just cultural for them or something for the church today?

1. Jesus was baptized to set an example

When Jesus began his public ministry, he went to see John the baptizer at the Jordan River. Though Jesus had no sins to be washed away, and nothing to repent of, the perfect Son of God chose to be baptized:

Mark 1:9–11 CSB

⁹ In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. ¹⁰ As soon as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. ¹¹ And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well-pleased.”

Jesus was baptized as an example. Jesus had no sin to repent of, but he was baptized as an example to us.

This is very similar to God “resting” on the seventh day of creation. It was not that God needed to rest, it was an example for us.

If the Son of Man, our Savior was obedient to be baptized, shouldn’t we?

2. Jesus commanded us to baptize new disciples

After Jesus rose from the dead, he visited his disciples many times. Just before we went to heaven, Jesus gave this command to the disciples:

Matthew 28:18–20 CSB

 ¹⁸ Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We are commanded to go, make disciples and baptize them. That means that if you and I are disciples, we need to be baptized and then we need to baptize others.

What does baptism mean today?

Do you belong to a club, organization, group? [crossfit, AMvets, PWOC, etc.]

We have a men’s ministry here at NCF, and someone recently purchased shirts for the guys that are a part of the group [show one]. BJ – if you want to grab these after service you can give them out out the next ManUp. When the guys wear these shirts they are saying that they associate with Jesus, with NCF, with the other men in the group. Associations can be very powerful and beneficial.

Baptism is an association with Jesus

It is a public statement of our lives being associated with Jesus. Just as circumcision was a physical act that demonstrated that someone was a Jew, or a Jewish proselyte, baptism associates someone with the Messiah, Jesus.

Galatians 3:27–29 CSB

²⁷ For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. ²⁸ There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.

Notice how this passage brings the Abrahamic Covenant into baptism? God’s plan of redemption was not just for the Jews; it was for all the peoples of the earth. And when we are baptized, we show that we are now one of the people of God because of the work of Jesus.

Baptism is a chance for us to publicly declare the goodness of God towards us! It is not that we have done or are doing anything great, it is that God has done something great in restoring our relationship with Him. He sent Jesus to die for us so we could live with him and for him. Baptism gives us a chance to declare to those around us the amazing grace of God and how it has changed our lives.

Conclusion

The Southern Baptist have a document called the Baptist Faith & Message. There are copies of it in booklet form on the bookcase in the back of the room. In that document, they have a very concise statement on baptism:

“VII… Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus…”

http://www.sbc.net/bfm2000/bfm2000.asp

I think that is a great summary of baptism.

It is beautiful that one of the first actions we can take in our new life in Christ, is to make a public profession of our faith in Jesus through baptism. That we have the privilege of making a public stand to say, “I’ll die for Jesus because Jesus died for me”.

If you have not yet believed, that is your first step. If you have believed, have you been baptized? If not, you need to be. If you have believed and have been baptized, are you walking in the newness of life that Jesus provides for us?

PRAYER.

After the service, everyone is invited to the Sauter’s home in Wanakena for baptisms and some lunch. You can follow the parade of cars that are heading that way.

I am thrilled that we have a group of 12 people today that are ready to declare the goodness of God and their desire to live their new lives for Him through baptism. I hope that you all will make the effort to be there an encourage them and celebrate the grace of God.