-Family habits/practices

-Christmas was a BIG deal in my family growing up! We’d have a whole services before we were allowed to open presents. This was in addition to whatever church services we were also a part of. In my younger years, I latched on to this and planned out the whole thing (mostly so I’d know exactly how much time was left before I could open presents). 

-Got together with my cousins this year, we pulled out the same lyric sheet we’ve used since before I was born.

-Summer time at the cabin, 4^th of July, Thanksgiving, every family has celebrations that mark the changing of seasons, but in the family of God, what are those things? How do we mark time according to God’s plan?

READ/PRAY

-Last week we looked at the reality that God has always had a people he’s called out from the world to be His representatives to the rest of the world (Jesus says we’re supposed to be salt and light: preserving and shining into the darkness)

-3 markers that must be in place to be considered a church: preaching the gospel, regular celebration of the sacraments (or ordinances, we’ll get to that), and church discipline. 

-Preaching of the gospel is commitment to the Word of God, church discipline is something I’ve talked about before (Matt. 18 gives clear instructions), but what are the sacraments of the church? And how many are there? Because if any of you have any Roman Catholic friends, they would tell you there are 7 sacraments (the word matters greatly, but hold on to it): 

-When Protestants came along, and with it a renewed focus on God’s Word alone, the question became how many did Jesus give us? 2 (very small minority say 3, based on John 13:14 “So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” Most Protestants have argued that’s a call to service, not an ordinance)

1. What is an ordinance? 

-What term should we use? Historically, it’s been either a sacrament or an ordinance, and I use them interchangeable, although generally Protestants have preferred ordinance to sacrament to distinguish our beliefs from RCC.

-Sacrament refers to a mystery, the mysterious way grace is given from God to his people. Ordinance refers to “ordained” and attempts to bring the focus on the things Jesus ordained for His followers to do. 

-The other piece to note is what makes these sacraments effective? Is it merely taking a shot of grape juice and tiny cracker getting grace? RCC would say yes, we would say no: it’s connected to the Word & faith

-What does the EFCA say? Here’s statement 7 of our SOF, notice the later half of this statement: 2 ordinances, express the gospel (connection to God’s Word), requirement of faith, and they both “confirm and nourish” that is they do something. 

-There are spiritual realities/implications to literally everything we do, that was one of my biggest takeaways from the series in Revelation last year, we’re either actively living out the realities of heaven, or we’re actively living out the realities of hell.

-And we see this playing out in real time around us right now! Rise in people who say they’re “spiritual but not religious” or I was just reading this past week about people who believe in miracles has gone up for the first time in America in years! That’s where Paul will say “whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God,” we’re supposed to do everything as a way of living as citizens of heaven, not citizens of earth. 

-This should excite you! It excites me! Because it means everything we do has a deeper meaning and significance than any of us realize. We have the opportunity to live holy, set apart lives which has bearing on our eternal existence. That’s why what we do on earth matters! Friends, the way you spend your time, the way you spend your money, the way you spend your words all are loaded with eternal significance. 

-Which is also true of the sacraments or ordinances. Seemingly normal, insignificant things that are loaded with massive spiritual implications and meaning. Things that God has chosen to bind His people to each other and to Himself! Practices that Jesus began and connect us all the way back to Him, practices that tie us to all of the church throughout all of history.

• Baptism 

-First is baptism, because it’s meant to be one of the first steps of obedience for a Christian. If you read through the NT you see faith connected to baptism repeatedly, and it all starts with Jesus in the great commission at the end of Matthew.

-What’s the sign that someone is a disciple? Baptism! Notice that it gives us 1 instruction too: in the name of the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit)

-Initially, baptism was immediate. As soon as someone was saved, they looked for water to dunk them in. As time went on, they started realizing that some people were claiming conversion for cultural influence, so they added a season of catechesis, education and training in Christianity to ensure that those who wanted to be baptized were truly saved and walking with the Lord.

-However, because of this intimate link between salvation and baptism, one of the debates was whether or not someone who wasn’t baptized was actually saved! One debate was imagine that someone confesses that Jesus is Lord, and on the way to the waters of baptism, they fall and break their neck and die, will they be with Jesus? Yes – salvation comes by faith alone in Christ alone apart from anything else, BUT that doesn’t mean that baptism is an optional tag on for a Christian. 

-Gregg Allison quote. To be a Christian means working to obey and follow all of Jesus’ commands, one of which is baptism, and just to be frank, it’s probably the easiest of all of Jesus’ commands! How many of you have perfected “turning the other cheek.” Or perfectly “love your neighbor just as you love yourself”? 

-Just as I shared last week that church membership isn’t essential to be saved, I’ll say the same thing about baptism, it’s not essential to be saved, but it is essential to be obedient to all of Jesus’s commands (which Jesus also says in the great commission)

-What should baptism look like, and who should be baptized? EFCA is an anomaly here, because historically this has been a divisive issue in the church, and it breaks down between credobaptism or pedobaptism (creedal vs. infant), should we baptize babies or is it for believer’s only?

-EFCA statement

-That being said, I am convictionally a credobaptist and wouldn’t be comfortable baptizing an infant for a few reasons. First is the word “baptize” means “to immerse,” which is also what we see with Jesus. He was laid all the way under the water, then brought back up to a heavenly affirmation of His calling.

-Second is because of what we see throughout the rest of the NT in the connection between salvation and baptism. If it’s a picture of salvation, then it should take place after salvation. Think of what Peter says in Acts 2 after his incredible sermon where 3,000 people are saved, “Repent and be baptized.” That connection must remain together.

-The third reason is the picture baptism serves, which we see in Romans 6. Here Paul tells us that as we go down into the water, it’s like we were buried with Him, signifying that we have died to our old ways of living. The early church even went so far as to have the person being baptized take off their clothes in the baptistry, and then put on new clothes after their baptism to signify that they have crucified their old selves and put on a new person following after Jesus. And that’s the significant part, is that you don’t stay under the water (even though my son told me the last time we had a baptism that he didn’t want to be baptized yet because he was scared I’d leave him under the water), we are raised with Jesus, which gets us to a final picture of being washed clean.

-So why does the EFCA allow infant baptism? Because VERY quickly the early church moved to adopt infant baptism as a sign of the children being a part of the household of God. And since true, orthodox Christians have differed on this issue, the EFCA allows both. I have dear friends that are pastors who were baptized as infants and I could allow them to be full members of South Suburban without changing their baptism position, which I think is a gift!

-The last reason I still hold to believer’s baptism is because of the baptism instructions we read in one of the oldest writings on church order called “The Didache” (Greek for “teaching”)

-We see the Trinity command, notice “living water” which means moving, natural water. So important that in excavations under St. Pierre Cathedral in Geneva (4^th cent), they’ve found this baptistry: notice the water coming in, and a pipe to let it out

-Then cold water, but warm is acceptable. If none of that is good, get a water bottle on the head! AND fasting leading up to it! Not something to take lightly!

-So who should be baptized? Any and everyone who has put their faith in Jesus!

-Summary: baptism is the first marker, signifying that you have been buried with Christ, had your sins washed away, and raised up to the newness of life. But there’s 1 additional piece to it, that we get as we trace the continual development of Christianity. Nicene Creed (happy 1700^th birthday!) says: one baptism. 

-Meant to signify the entry into faith, thus it’s only supposed to happen once. How many times is a baby born? Once! Supposed to be the same thing with baptism. Unlike the next one, which is a regular and ongoing act meant to look back to our baptism.

• The Lord’s Supper 

-The first thing I want you to note is the connection between baptism and the Lord’s Supper (we’ll get to the names). The earliest instruction to the church says that only those who have been baptized are to participate in the Lord’s Supper. Why is that? 

-Because the Lord’s Supper is meant to be done carefully and sequentially. Remember, as Protestants we believe that there are 2 ordinances, and they are meant to be done in order: baptism as the entry, the Lord’s Supper as the ongoing reminder of the baptism we have celebrated, but it doesn’t make sense to celebrate one if you’re unwilling to celebrate the other, so baptism should happen before you take the Lord’s Supper, as far as the passage quoted, I’m not sure that’s the best verse, but the ordering does make sense!

-So let’s think about this further. First, the name. What should we call it? Communion, the Lord’s Supper, the eucharist, the breaking of bread? Our SOF calls it “Lord’s Supper”, but the what does that mean, and what do all the other names mean?

-Communion refers to “sharing” or “participation,” we are sharing together a cup and bread, we are participating in what Jesus told His followers to celebrate

-Lord’s Supper refers to the language in the Gospels that say after supper Jesus instituted this new rite that His disciples continued practicing together

-Eucharist refers to thanksgiving, which is what we’re supposed to do as part of this celebration together

-Breaking of bread is picked up from Acts 2 where it describes the practices of the early church

-All of these refer to the same event: where Jesus on the night before he was betrayed took bread and wine, elements of the Passover celebration that he shifted in focus from the Exodus to Himself. 

-3 components: past, present, future. Past: tied to the Passover, the most significant even in Israel’s history. Celebrated annually to remember how God provided for His people in the midst of their slavery to Egypt. Each year, Israel was commanded to celebrate the night that God passed over their sins and brought death every firstborn son of Egypt. This was to point forward to the day when God would bring death on His own firstborn at the cross.

-Present: it’s a way of reminding of what God has done in our lives to save us and redeem us, and bring us together as 1 body and people.

-Future: Jesus also told us that He wouldn’t celebrate this again until He returns

-But what does it take for us to actually celebrate the Lord’s Supper? Can we use Oreos and Mountain Dew or do we need bread and wine? Let’s see what Paul says:

-The issue is divisions, which he says means what they’re celebrating “is not the Lord’s Supper.” (20) Which means one of the purpose of this celebration is unity.

-One of the purposes of communion is to demonstrate that we are united together in 1 body, even though all of us come from completely different backgrounds. Just think of what the church is supposed to signify: people from different background, countries, cultures, demographics, sexes, vocations all gathered around 1 thing: the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet how often are we divided over things that don’t matter in eternity? Money, politics, house, cars. Friends, none of that matter when we approach the cross. 

-But what’s the main thing about this celebration? Jesus “in remembrance of me” Do you remember Jesus as we partake of these otherwise ordinary things together?

-Spiritual things are taking place around us regularly, but we don’t have the eyes to see them. And somethings (Lord’s Supper) are meant to be spiritual realities of the gospel and do we realize that? Even in partaking in this celebration or thanksgiving, we’re proclaiming the realities of the gospel!

-But Paul goes on to explain what else we need to consider when we celebrate this:

-Unworthy manner. Growing up I always thought this was general sin, but Paul gives more instructions:

-Examine, recognize the body. Yes, sin is a part of it, but particularly Paul is talking about sin that leads to division in our body. Each time we celebrate communion we’re supposed to think about how this unites us together as a body and continue working to preserve the unity among our body. This isn’t just a “me and God” thing, this is supposed to be a “we and God” thing. 

-This gets to something I said last week: that church discipline is a subset of the ordinances, because the practice of excommunication is meant to be disinviting someone from participating in the means of grace God has given, including the Lord’s Supper. Historically, some pastors would interview the entire membership of the church before the Lord’s Supper and give tokens to those who could come, more could be said but I need to keep moving: 

-Sick and ill: something more than just a spiritual thing, it has physical implications too. Yes, this nourishes us bodily, but in the same way it nourishes us spiritually, it gives grace to us.

-Real celebration: 

-Welcome one another

-Gather together

-I don’t know about you, but if there was something God had given to us that we would allow be to receive God’s grace on a regular basis, I’d want to celebrate that as much as I could, wouldn’t you?

-Been thinking the past year about “Holidays” (Holy-days) and the way we think of time because of my trip to Geneva this summer. In Geneva, the church bells told people what time it was. Who tells us what time it is today? Apple? Google? Target? Amazon?

-What habits or practices help to shape and form us into followers of Jesus? What clocks do we keep to help us in following after Him? What if we started to arrange our schedules and practices around God’s plans instead of our own? Think of the way the early church changed their worship practices: Saturday to Sunday. If you’ve ever been a part of a church that changed service times you know how big of a deal that is! (Cheyenne moving 30 min back) 

-If the Lord’s Supper is supposed to be a marker of God’s people, wouldn’t you want to celebrate that more than 1/month? Moving forward, we’re going to be celebrating 2/month, and we’re going to change some of the ways we practice it, because historically people would come forward and receive the elements (more in Sermon Scraps)

-One last piece to note about the sacraments is who recognizes and affirms baptism and the Lord’s Supper? It’s not meant to be an individual act that is meaningful to 1 person, it’s meant to be done by THE CHURCH. 

-You can’t baptize yourself, it’s done as a sacrament of the church. You can’t take the Lord’s Supper by yourself, it’s meant to be a practice (marker) of the church, which means it can’t be done by yourself

-COVID conversation about celebrating communion alone with your family

-2 sacraments: baptism and the Lord’s supper as markers of His people. Have you participated in them both, and if not what are you waiting for?