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Ordinances: Baptism & The Lord’s Supper (4 of 4)
The Gospel: What Jesus Has DONE!
Luke 18:9-14; John 19:28-30; Ephesians 2:8-10; 1 Peter 2:24, 3:18
The Ordinances
Baptism and The Lord’s Supper experientially and tangibly proclaim the live-saving, life-giving, life-transforming message of the Gospel.
Baptism & The Lord’s Supper
Baptism and The Lord’s Supper visually and experientially proclaim the Gospel; they proclaim the finished work of Christ. They powerfully drive home what Jesus has DONE! Believers are spiritually nourished by deeply and experientially reflecting on the Gospel.
The Lord’s Supper
Observing the Lord’s Supper spiritually strengthens us through compelling us to ponder Christ’s sacrifice for us on the cross! As we eat the bread and drink the cup, we proclaim that His body was broken and His blood was shed for our salvation. Along with all believers we’re proclaiming that we’ve been blood bought.
Baptism
Baptism powerfully and symbolically proclaims our union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. Why should believers be baptized? To follow Jesus’ example, to obey Jesus’ command and to publicly profess faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.
Baptism
Baptism is an experiential and tangible illustration of what happened the moment we trusted in Christ alone for salvation. The New Testament Church obeyed Jesus’ command to baptize. Once someone came to believe in Jesus Christ for salvation, they were promptly baptized.
The Gospel message strengthens us; it grows our assurance of salvation and protects us from being led astray. Baptism and The Lord’s Supper proclaim Christ’s death on the cross, His victorious resurrection, His ascension into heaven and His promised glorious return.
Romans 3:23 (ESV) –
… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…
Romans 6:23 (ESV) –
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 5:8 (ESV) –
“… but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
The Lord’s Supper: Christ died for us. Christ’s body was broken and His blood was shed for us.
Luke 19:19 (ESV) –
“And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’”
Romans 10:9-10 (ESV) –
“…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
Romans 10:13 (ESV) –
“...everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Baptism is a lived-out profession of our faith in Christ. It symbolically proclaims our union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection.
Luke 18:9-14 (ESV) –
“He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
1. Placing trust in our personal religious achievements is a common temptation and we must also understand it’s a deadly denial of the Gospel!
Luke 18:11-12 (ESV) –
“God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.”
Luke 18:11 (ESV) –
“God, I thank you that I am not like other men…”
Luke 18:13 (ESV, emphasis mine) –
“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’”
1 John 2:2 (ESV) –
“He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”
Does the tax collector know he’s a sinner? YES! He understood and pleaded for God’s mercy. This has been described as – The Sinner’s Prayer.
Luke 18:13 (ESV) –
“God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”
Psalm 51:1 (ESV) –
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.”
The Tax Collector asked for God’s mercy and received it. The Pharisee who boasted about his good works didn’t go home right with God. Placing confidence in our religious achievements is poison. No amount of good works is sufficient to earn God’s favor. We can’t earn salvation!
The Lord’s Supper proclaims – Christ’s body was broken and His blood was shed to freely offer salvation to the world. We need God’s mercy and grace.
It’s scary how easy it is to start sounding like the Pharisee by focusing on what we DO. When we focus on our religious accomplishments rather than the grace of God, we’re increasingly blinded to the Gospel. This can start subtly but it quickly grows and leads away from the Gospel.
2. The Gospel is about what Jesus Christ has DONE!
1 Peter 2:24 (ESV) –
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”
1 Peter 3:18 (ESV) –
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit…”
Ponder the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ! And the story doesn’t stop there, He ascended into heaven and He’s coming back.
1 Corinthians 11:26 (ESV) –
“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.”
Romans 6:23 (ESV) –
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV) –
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:8-10 (NLT) –
“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”
The Gospel is about what Jesus Christ has DONE! When we come to understand this, we have a readymade tool to present the Gospel through the simple question – DO or DONE?
3. This brings us to a concise presentation of the Gospel – DO or DONE?
Romans 3:23 (ESV) –
“… all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”
John 19:28-30 (ESV) –
“After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
On the cross Jesus said – It is finished… Jesus Christ has DONE what we could never do for ourselves! He lived a perfect life and died on the cross a death He alone did not deserve, to pay for our sin, as our substitute. The penalty for our sin has been paid in full!
Do you want to know the difference between typical religious belief and Christianity? The difference is between the words DO and DONE! Religion says: DO these specific things and follow these rules in the hopes of pleasing God and the Bible is clear that we can never DO enough! Christianity, unlike all other belief systems, says – DONE!
We can never DO enough. Jesus Christ has DONE what we could never DO. He lived a perfect sinless life and died on the cross as our substitute paying the penalty that we deserve because of our sins. We all need to ask and answer: What is my personal response?