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Since we have a baptism coming up this Sunday, I thought I would get you thinking in that direction. Below is a generalized version of a letter I might write to parents explaining the significance of bringing their child forward for the sacrament of baptism. Please know that I understand that we have a diversity of understanding in our congregation about baptism. We have people who see baptism from a more Baptistic perspective, and I respect that. If for some reason it is hard for you to see what we call an infant baptism as a baptism, then I invite you to view it as a dedication, translating the process into those terms if that would be helpful to you, respecting the fact that we see it as a baptism. Baptism is actually a fairly complex issue biblically, one worthy of study, and one where we need to exercise grace towards one another. Dear Mary and John, I look forward to the baptism of Baby Jane this coming Sunday, and to seeing all of your family. I hope you are having a good week. I wanted to make a few comments about the meaning of Baby Jane's baptism, and let you know what will happen the Sunday she is baptized. As to Sunday, I will ask the two of you, Baby Jane, and whoever else might be standing with you, to come forward. I will say something to the congregation as to the meaning and significance of the sacrament of baptism. I will say a prayer of thanksgiving for you and your family at that time. Then I will ask you, by way of several questions, to reaffirm your faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. You will be asked to declare before the congregation your intention to raise Baby Jane to love God and to serve Him, to the end that she may one day come to commit her life to Jesus as well. Then the members of the congregation will be asked to affirm their intention to undertake responsibility to nurture Baby Jane in the ways of the Lord. At this time I will give a brief charge to both the parents and the congregation as to the significance of their own vow just made to nurture Baby Jane in the things of God. Then I will take Baby Jane and baptize her, after which I will say a prayer for her and for you guys. Then you will be able to sit down! Infant baptism is either a strange mystery or a superstition for most people. Some parents like to hurry and baptize their child so that if the child dies he or she will be sure go to heaven. This is the superstitious approach. Many non-Christian parents oddly enough want us to baptize their children for just this reason. Some want to baptize the child because there is the belief that baptism grants the real entry of the child into new birth. They believe that baptism brings about death to sin and entry into life. They believe that the baptism confers upon, grants to the child, the forgiveness and cleansing which the water signifies. This is a crude way of expressing the Catholic perspective. Some see what we do with the infants as not baptism at all, but an act of the parents dedicating the child to God. Baptism is reserved for believers only, those who can confess Christ with their lips. John and Mary, both of you are professing Christians. Through you profession you are included in the visible, corporate, people of God, the church. Through you, by being a child of a professing Christian, Baby Jane is also included as part of the people of God on the earth. I of course believe that you are not just "professing" Christians, you really are Christians. You have really believed, and you have really been grafted into Christ. Through Him you have become children of God. You are forgiven, reborn, cleansed, and justified. You have experienced the invisible reality of what the water of baptism signifies. As believers, you may well remember how and when the gospel came to you. Someone -- a parent, a preacher, a friend, a youth leader -- someone extended the promise of the gospel to you, that if you trusted in Christ you would be saved. This was an "if, ...then" promise. If you believed, then you would be saved. As it says in Acts 2:39, this promise was not for you only, but also for your children. Baby Jane is now included with you in the family of God. She too is part of "God's people." This doesn't mean she is saved. The people of God, the church, consists of wheat and tares. We cannot know for sure how our children will turn out. But she receives all the promises and benefits that come with being in the church, having the teaching, the life of Jesus modeled. She receives the blessings of a Christian home, of Christian influences, of corporate worship, of pastoral care, etc. But she too needs Christ. The very same promise of the gospel which was extended to you is extended to her as she grows up. Her baptism signifies that promise. It is like God's guarantee that if she believes she will too be saved. The water signifies cleansing, new birth, salvation. These are all guaranteed to her when she herself turns to Jesus. She must on her on go from being a part of the visible church through her parents, to being part of the invisible church through God's work in her heart. The water of baptism is like a sermon to you and to her and to everyone else who may be watching. It says that Baby Jane needs what the water signifies. She needs forgiveness and cleansing. She needs new life. It tells her where to find these things. The promise of baptism tells you and Baby Jane that as she entrusts herself to Jesus, these invisible realities will be hers. Baptism for Baby Jane is like an engagement ring from God. Some think of it as like a brand or stamp of ownership. It says that Baby Jane now belongs to Him. She is set apart for Him. She receives His sign of ownership. She is included in His people in the world, that large body or group of professing believers and their children. She can one day turn away from Him, but she will be doubly responsible if she does. By bringing Baby Jane forward for the sacrament of baptism, you are recognizing the truth of God's ownership of Baby Jane. You are giving Baby Jane, or dedicating her, to God. You are acknowledging His ownership of her. She belongs to Him, not to you, and you are being given temporary responsibility for her. He is entrusting her to you, to raise her unto Him, and for Him, and to serve Him, to teach her the difference between God's ways and the ways of the world. He is not entrusting her to the state, to the Sunday School program, to the school, but to you. God will hold you accountable for your commitment to treating His property with care and love and working to turn her heart to Him. She is like a gift which you are fashioning and preparing for Him. You must be faithful to this charge. God will hold you accountable to this. This means that not only must you teach her and expose her to the means of grace, to the word, to worship, to the life of the church, but you must also in a human sense treat her with honor and love and respect. In her early years you are in a sense God to her. How she understands you and your love and care for her will effect how she sees God. How you are, how you act and speak and live, to her, to one another, and to others, will make a bigger impression upon her than what you say. Both however are important and necessary, the teaching about Jesus and the modeling of Jesus. Because of this, you have a huge responsibility as her parents to raise Baby Jane up to love and obey God. As she is raised in a Christian home, receiving the benefits of the word and worship and sacraments of the people of God, seeing the Christian life lived out in your lives, she will likely grow "naturally" into the love of God and into commitment to Jesus. You must not look upon her as a little pagan, waiting with baited breath for that day when she prays the sinners prayer. You can trust in God's timing and His secret work in her heart. Nor do you look upon her as automatically saved. But you can have a heart of yearning yet optimistic prayer that as she grows up God will consummate his engagement to her, so to speak, by renewing and regenerating her. This could happen when she's one or twelve. You pray and work yet all the while rest in His care for her. No matter how good a job you do, and no matter how faithful you are, you cannot save Baby Jane. Only God can do that. But you can pray with a sense of expectation that His intention is to do just that. Ultimately you must rest in this confidence, even as you work hard to be faithful. I hope this helps. If you have any questions, please call me. Thank you for the privilege of being a part of Baby Jane's life in this way. Sincerely in Christ, Pastor Joel |
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