The Great Beginning

Sermon given at Grace UMC 5/15/16

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Scripture Reading:

^NRS  Acts 19:1 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. ² He said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?" They replied, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." ³ Then he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" They answered, "Into John's baptism." ⁴ Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus." ⁵ On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶ When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied-- ⁷ altogether there were about twelve of them.

Today we come to explore the day we celebrate Pentecost, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Disciples. What does it mean? Isn’t the reason that we get baptized in order to allow the Holy Spirit in? Or is that confirmation? So what’s the difference? So often, we ignore the answers to make up our own that are more acceptable than the ones we heard. What if the answer is one that causes us to have to rethink who we are and how we live our lives? Is that an acceptable answer to the question? Or do we just face that answer with indifference or refuse to ask the question in order to avoid the answer? So often we come to this doctrine of faith with our own preconceived ideas of what it means.

I have to tell you that the question of baptism is one of the most asked questions during the period of grieving when someone dies. Maybe the person who has passed away was never baptized. Does that mean they are not going to get into heaven? This is especially true of parents who are Catholic and their children have never been baptized. So what does it mean? Is baptism the source of salvation? Is baptism required for entrance into heaven? Once I am baptized, am I saved forever? Sometimes we have a tendency to water down the salvation story so that anyone can get in. Dr. J. Ellsworth Kalas writes about doctrine, “So often we preach and we teach the gospel in order to win people to a relationship with God from the perspective that if we teach it the way it is written, no one would want a relationship with God. So we water it down, dilute it once or twice with worldly things and then present it with ice cream and fudge toppings.” Have we done this with baptism and faith so that we no longer offend anyone?

Three women die and enter into a long line to enter heaven. St. Peter meets the first one and tells her to enter into heaven she must answer two questions successfully. The first is did she mind the long wait in line. Her reply was that she had spent her whole life anticipating this moment; a few moments in line did not change the anticipation. St. Peter asked her then to spell God. She said capital GOD. Good said St. Peter, you may enter. To the next woman he told the same thing and asked her about the wait in line. She said that a moment of waiting was a small price to pay for eternal salvation. She also was asked to spell God. Capital God she said. St. Peter opened the gate and welcomed her in. The third woman was also asked the waiting question. She complained bitterly. I’ve waited in line my whole life she said. At the grocery story, at the gas station, to vote, everywhere I went I had to wait in line. St. Peter asked her to spell Czechoslovakia.

A humorous story but one that may change the way we look at life, at baptism, confirmation and what it means to be a Christian. When we accept Christ into our life, do we allow Christ to change us or do we sit back on our belief that we are promised salvation and isn’t that what baptism was for? You have heard me say that one must give themselves totally to God just as God gave of Himself totally for us on the cross. Anything less is unacceptable. So let us explore the concept of baptism by the Holy Spirit. Jesus sat in a discussion with the great Nicodemus. Now Nicodemus was a great scholar in Jesus day and it is likely that Jesus teaching were causing him so consternation, a big word for what in the world is He talking about. So Nicodemus comes to Jesus to ask Him, what does it take to get into heaven. Jesus looks at him and says one must be reborn from above, born again is the collective phrase we so often use. Born again he asks, how can someone reenter the womb and be born again. See, even Nicodemus did not get it. 

If we explore baptism itself, we must of course explore it from a denominational perspective. I myself was baptized as an infant in the Methodist church, then at age 11 in the Baptist church through immersion, and then again at age 15 in another Baptist church through immersion. Somewhere along the line the two Baptist ministers felt that the baptism did not take I guess. So why do we get baptized? We do that in order to receive the cleansing power of God in our lives. Through the power of God and the cleansing power of water, God cleanses us of the taint of original sin. In other words, Jesus died for our sins on the cross in order that we could claim the promise of eternal life through our faith. Now many of you equate sin with the list that you have of sins, some stronger than others or higher on the list. But the truth is that Jesus died to allow us to be claimed for the one sin and one sin only. Original sin is the act of denying the will of God in our lives. 

Theologians are convinced that Jesus came to the river Jordan in order to have the taint of original sin cleansed so that he might begin his important ministry here on earth. And since the act of baptism is an act of God, it does not matter when it happens or how it happens. Now I have discussed with you previously the idea that we all need to be baptized and I believe that it is important to our lives. During baptism God claims us by name and we enter into the kingdom of God here on earth where we are in communion with others who have also been baptized and claimed. And we believe that what God does is perfect, in other words, those Baptist ministers, though well intentioned, missed the fundamental question and by requiring me to be re-baptized, caused me to question God. What God does is sacred and perfect and does not need to be re-done. Once baptized, forever baptized and no need for re-baptism.

What Paul is trying to tell us is that there is something even more important than baptism. That is our faith, our belief in Jesus the Christ as the salvation of the world! And it is that faith that sets us free from death and allows us to receive the promise of eternal life. God forgives us for that denial through the cross and then simply asks us to accept the offer. We do this through confirmation or our public statement of faith when we accept Christ in our hearts. NOT THROUGH BAPTISM! In fact, we could argue effectively and biblically that a person could die, never having been baptized, having confessed of their sins and asked for forgiveness and believing in Jesus as the Son of God, salvation of the world and Lord of all and that person would gain admittance into heaven. In early Methodism they even put a seat in the front of the congregation where you could sit if you felt so remorse in your sin that you thought you needed special prayer. Maybe we all need to sit in this seat of humility every once in a while.

But here’s the thing. If you believe that God does not make mistakes, then you know that baptism in any form is an act of God and it is good. So don’t let anyone or any doctrine cause you to believe that your baptism is bad, or it did not take or it needs redoing. And that is what Paul is talking about here. Paul is talking about faith. Paul is talking about what we believe. Paul is telling us that our world is upside down from the expectations of this world when we believe in Jesus. In a way, Paul is reminding us that something is missing if you have come to this place believing that you’ve been baptized and your soul is saved and redeemed for eternity and nothing else is required of you. A missing element can make a world of difference. When something crucial is missing it can have devastating effects.

If you don’t believe that ask:
a. A Chemist
b. Your mother when she is trying to make bread and discovers that the recipe calls for yeast and she has none. The missing element can be crucial.
c. The person who has worked for hours on the jig saw puzzle only to discover that the last piece is missing.
d. Or ask a student on test day when there is a 25 point question and you don’t have the answer.

Maybe the reason you have been baptized and maybe even confirmed and still feel like something is missing is because you’ve been filled with the wrong things. Maybe the cleansing power of water cleansed you of original sin and yet you refuse to acknowledge that the Holy Spirit is knocking at your door and you don’t want to let the spirit in. Is it possible that you have come here today missing something important and you have no idea how to connect with it, text it, or get it on Face book. What Paul is trying to tell us is that until we allow the Holy Spirit into our lives, we are not going where we want to go and when we do get there; we are going to be asked to spell something we have no earthly idea how to spell. And at that moment, we are going to know we’re missing something. But the good news is that we don’t need to leave that up to chance, nor do we need to wait for than moment to find our we’re missing it. Accept Christ in your hearts and invite the Holy Spirit to come in. That is what the Disciples did on this day that we celebrate. It is what Jesus meant when He told Nicodemus that he must be born from above. It is what Paul meant when he laid hands on the twelve. They had a great beginning that day. Why not start your new beginning today?