36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know beyond a doubt that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.” 37 Now when they heard this, they were acutely distressed and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “What should we do, brothers?”38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each one 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.39 For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far away, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”40 With many other words he testified and exhorted them saying, “Save yourselves from this perverse generation!”41 So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added.42 They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:36-42 NET).
Today we have some candidates who have come forward in this special service to be baptized. I want to share a few thoughts with you based on this passage in Acts chapter 2, which records the fact that after Peter’s sermon at Pentecost, some three thousand people decided to be baptized and were added to the church fellowship. My thoughts are addressed directly to the candidates.
- You are not being baptized because of who you are. You are being baptised because of who Jesus is. This baptism is not a reward for being good or faithful or obedient. People who are clean do not need to be washed. The three thousand people on the day of Pentecost learned that Jesus was God’s Christ and their Lord but that they had been responsible for putting him to death on the cross. It is a horrible thing to think that you are responsible for someone else’s death. Every culture on the planet condemns its murderers – particularly if they kill someone who is innocent or important. Here at these waters we all come to the realisation that we are responsible for killing the most innocent and most important person who ever lived.
- You are not being baptized because someone else needs it. Peter told the three thousand “Repent, and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” This baptism is not a family ritual that you participate in as a rite of passage, or to show your appreciation for your parents’ or grandparents’ faith. No, on that Pentecost Sunday, there were three thousand individual decisions to testify of their personal need for forgiveness. They were being added to the church, but the church was not the reason they were being baptized. Each of them had made a choice to die to their old life, and live a new life for Jesus. When they were buried in that water, they chose to bury their old lives in it. When they were raised from that water, it was to live new lives for Jesus.
- You are not being baptized because you are promising to give yourself to God. The promise for today is coming from someone else. On the day of Pentecost, Peter told the people gathered about what had happened to Jesus. He died, was raised to eternal life, ascended to heaven, and was “exalted to the right hand of God, … having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father” (Acts 2:33).” They had just experienced a miracle in which large crowds from many different areas had heard the gospel being proclaimed in their own languages. This miracle was the result of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Peter told the three thousand that day that God promised them the same Holy Spirit. I am telling you the same thing. Don’t expect to be the same after today. You are not just giving your life to God. He is giving his life to you.
LORD, thank you for these who have decided to testify of their faith in you today by being baptized in water. Thank you for your decision to cleanse them from their sins, raise them to new life, and empower them with your Holy Spirit. Amen.
jeffersonvann 