In 2012, Jefferson Bethke posted a YouTube video titled, Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus”. It blew up the internet and received attention from outlets like CNN and CBS. As of this week, it has been viewed 35 million times. Why the attention? Well, spirituality is popular, but religion–not so much. When we think of religion, we think of rules, dogma and institutions. After all, how important is the church? Is not Jesus all that matters anyway?” As Christians, we must ask ourselves one very important question: Can Christians do fine with God and without the church? To answer that, we need to think carefully about what the Bible says and specifically Jesus’ teaching on the church. By doing so, we learn that the church is not optional, but central go God’s plan. In today’s message, we will consider the first ordinance, Baptism, and the five ways that Baptism shapes the church. The first way is….

Baptism…by the church

So, what exactly is baptism? The answer is that believer’s baptism is both a church act and a believer’s act to publicly identify with Jesus and His church. Believer’s baptism is a visible line, communicating who’s in and who’s out of God’s kingdom. It is the public affirmation of a believer’s faith by the church (Matthew 16:13-19; 18:15-20). Now, we must acknowledge that Baptism itself does not determine salvation; only one’s personal trust in Christ alone does that (John 1:12, Romans 10:9). However, using the keys of the kingdom, the local church affirms or denies a new believer’s confession (Matthew 16:13-19) and conduct (Matthew 18:15-20); hence, the church  uses the keys of the kingdom when they affirm a believer in baptism. As Matthew 28:18-19 states, the authority by our King is to go, to make disciples, and to baptize. For a born again and confessing Christian, Baptism is your spiritual passport of the kingdom of heaven. Baptism is a swearing in ceremony; that person is a publicly recognized member of God’s kingdom. Furthermore, because of the church’s affirmation, a believer’s baptism admits him/her into a local church just as our previous brothers and sisters were in the early church as we see in the following verse: So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls (Acts 2:41). Brothers and sisters, in a world of individualism and in a culture that prizes individualistic expression, the Bible is clear that baptism is not an individual’s act but the church’s act….

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