Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Matthew 28:19-20
Why must someone be baptized as a believer in order to join a local church, such as Crestview? Because church membership is a public affirmation of someone’s public profession of faith in Christ. Jesus has appointed baptism as the way his followers publicly profess their faith in him. A church cannot affirm the profession of someone who has not yet made that profession. No doubt, there are many important and legitimate ways believers should be public with their faith, but baptism tops the list. Baptism is where faith goes public.
Baptism is how you publicly identify yourself with Jesus and with his people (Acts 2:38-41). It is how you visibly signify that you are united to Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:2-4) It is how you become identified before the church and the world as one who belongs to the Triune God (Matthew 28:19). It is a command of Jesus, and therefore, a matter of obedience that expresses submission to Christ’s Lordship (Matthew 28:19-20).
Baptism is how a new believer shows up on the church’s radar screen as a Christian. Baptism is like a jersey that shows you are now playing for Jesus’s team. Because of this purpose which Jesus has assigned to baptism, a church may publicly identify itself only with those who have publicly identified with Jesus in baptism.
Baptism is a wordless vow, a symbolic promise to follow Christ in the fellowship of his church. The Lord’s Supper is another wordless vow, in which you repeatedly own Christ as your Savior and his people as your people. On one level church membership is ongoing admission to the Lord’s Supper. No one can renew his vow to Christ who has not first made that vow in the form appointed by Christ. No one can be identified with the body of Christ who has not first identified with Christ and his body. Baptism necessarily precedes the Lord’s Supper like entering the front door necessarily precedes sitting down at the family meal.
What about infant baptism, or for that matter, any baptism that might have taken place prior to being converted? If baptism is where the faith of a disciple of Jesus goes public, then any baptism that took place prior to conversion, regardless of the person’s age, is not baptism. Those who have been “baptized” prior to their salvation need to be baptized – for the first time – as believers. The first baptism was not baptism at all, and a believer who has not yet been baptized needs to obey Christ’s first command in order to enter his church.
We saw a wonderful example this past Sunday. I cannot help but wonder if there may be others in a similar situation? Obedience to Christ is never wrong. It may be humbling, but it is never wrong. I also wonder if there are new believers, who have been saved recently, who need to go public with their faith? The water is in the pool. Contact me if you need to be baptized (thomas@crestviewbaptist.org).
For His Glory,
Pastor Thomas
(Article adapted from Going Public: Why Baptism is Required for Church Membership, Bobby Jamieson, B&H Publishing group, 227)
