A Better Baptism

Have you ever seen a TV commercial that went like this: a clunker of a car putts along while other cars race past, leaving it in the dust. Finally its engine conks out, and the driver coasts to the shoulder of the highway, while a soothing voice comes on to say, “Our cars don’t run too well, but they make excellent gifts to charities.”

Or did you ever see a fast-food restaurant named “So-So Burgers” with signs in its  window that read, “The burgers are better…across the street,” and “We love to see you frown”?

Or did you catch any candidates in the recent presidential campaign say anything like this: “I appreciate your support, but my opponent will make a much better president, so I’m voting for him myself and think you should, too!”

Or imagine Bill Gates holding a press conference where he says, “Our Windows software is pretty good, but if you want a better system, get a Macintosh.”

We’re not too likely to hear that kind of advertising, are we? Everyone claims their own product or service is the best available, because they want your business. It makes sense for them to promote what they have to sell. We’re used to that self-promotion; in fact, we expect it.

That makes it all the more fascinating when we read what John the Baptist had to say about the baptism which he was offering to the people of his day. Crowds of people had come down to the Jordan River valley, responding to John’s call for repentance from their sins. The culmination of their repentance was to be baptized by John in the river, and many answered the call. It was to these people that John made an astounding announcement. Basically John said something like this: “This baptism you’re getting from me is okay, but just wait. Someone is coming soon who will have a far better baptism than mine.” Poor John. He sure wouldn’t have made it in the advertising business….or would he? Why did John downplay his own baptizing in favor of someone else’s?

John did so for two reasons.

First, the crowds were beginning to believe that John the Baptist could be the Messiah they had been expecting. The time was right, he was preaching repentance and forgiveness of sins, he called for righteous living in preparation for the coming of God’s Kingdom, John lived a holy life, and he even looked like a prophet –  dressed in camel’s hair coat and leather belt. And so the people began to ask each other, “Is John the Messiah?” John wanted them to know in no uncertain terms, that he was not the Messiah, but only the one sent to prepare the way for the true Messiah who was yet to come. John told them his own baptism was inferior, because he was inferior to Christ – unworthy to even untie Christ’s sandals.

The second reason John played down his own baptism was that the nature of John’s baptism was different from the baptism which Jesus would bring. Something different was taking place when each baptized someone. Let’s compare them:

1. John’s baptism: in one sense, what John was doing was not new to the Jewish people. Already, when a gentile converted to Judaism, he or she would be baptized as a symbolic act that their uncleanness as a gentile was being washed away. And for Jews, many would have repeated washings or baptisms to get rid of ceremonial uncleanness so they could go to the temple and participate in Jewish rituals. When John called for repentance of the people, he was asking them to repent more fully of their sins, but the actual act of baptizing them was not much different from what went before – it was a symbolic act, and primarily a human promise to turn away from sin.

2. Jesus’ baptism, on the other hand, was, and is, much more than symbolic. Jesus’ baptism is primarily an act of God by which God’s grace and forgive- ness are truly granted to those being baptized. It is an act of God because Jesus is God. It is also an act of God because the Holy Spirit, who is God, comes upon the person being baptized. They are baptized with the Holy Spirit and not just water. With the Spirit comes forgiveness, but also new life as one is reborn a child of God. Baptism is more than water cleansing the outside; it is also the Spirit of God cleansing and remaking the inside. We are never alone, for the Spirit lives within us: guiding us, enabling us to resist sin and empowering us to do works which are pleasing to God. Eternal life is promised to those who believe and are baptized, and we are told that our baptism joins us to Christ’s death, and to his resurrection. When you see all that Christ’s baptism brings, you can see why John pointed his hearers to look for the greater baptism to come.

It’s not that John’s baptism was bad. The Gospels say John spoke the word of God, and in Luke 20 – Jesus implied that John’s baptism came from God. And as we read earlier, Jesus himself was baptized by John.

But the superiority of Christ’s baptism was shown later on, in Acts 19, when Paul met a group of believers who had been baptized by John, but didn’t know anything about the Holy Spirit. Paul baptized them in Jesus’ name, and at once the Holy Spirit came upon them powerfully. You might say their baptism was upgraded!

In a sense, John’s baptism was the last act of the Old Covenant. Like the sacrifices of the Old Covenant, it brought remedy for sin to those who believed God’s promises. But also like the rest of the Old Covenant, John’s baptism was a temporary shadow of what was to come. Now that Christ had come to institute the New Covenant, the Old had to pass away. With the New came something better – a better baptism than what John could offer.

As baptized Christians, we have a better baptism. We have the baptism promised by John and instituted by Christ, a baptism with the Holy Spirit.

So why would you go back and trade in your better baptism for a lesser one? If you wouldn’t, that’s great, yet today there are many Christians who seem ready to do just that. They actually prefer the baptism of John. They certainly wouldn’t say they do, nor even think of it that way. But, the truth is: they treat their Christian baptism as if it were no better than John’s baptism, and thereby miss out on some of what Christ has for them. They make two major mistakes:

1. They forget that Christian baptism is mainly an act of God. Some Christians think baptism is a good work they are doing for God, like they’re earning Brownie points. Others, even entire denominations, deny that baptism has any real power in it. They call it an ordinance, meaning something we do because Christ told us to, as a sign of our faith, but not as a saving act of God. Worse yet, I’m afraid many people view baptism only as an initiation into church membership, like when I joined a fraternity in college, and had to walk around downtown Chicago at night, carrying a wooden sword and selling toilet paper at a penny a sheet to earn bus fare back to the college. (Fortunately I ran into a guy who bought the whole roll for $5.00!)  Baptism is a gracious gift from God, and he remains the primary actor in the drama. His blessings given are real, not just symbolic, and once we understand and accept this, we view our baptism with gratitude and certainty, because its value depends on the faithfulness of God and his promises, and not on our actions.

2. They forget that they were baptized with the Holy Spirit and not just water.

There are two groups that make this mistake. One group sees baptism as a symbolic action, a church ritual without any supernatural power. They don’t expect any real changes to occur except what the people do for themselves. It’s really sad they have that view and expect so little from God in the sacrament. Scripture describes them as: “Having a form of godliness but denying its power.”

The other group believes greatly in the power of the Holy Spirit, except they don’t think the Spirit comes during water baptism. They teach that there is a second baptism – a Holy Spirit baptism – which comes at some other time. And in their view, speaking in tongues is the evidence you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit.

While I respect their desire for spiritual gifts, this group reduces Christian baptism – that which Christ commanded us to do for all nations – with water – and relegates it to something no greater than John’s baptism, because like John’s they say it is just water and no Spirit.

But the New Testament knows just one baptism – Christ’s – complete with the Holy Spirit and the promise of forgiveness and new life. When a person is baptized, there may not be any outward evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work. But the greatest work of the Spirit is what takes place invisibly as the Holy Spirit regenerates and brings spiritual life to the person being baptized.

That is the baptism you have received – the one instituted by Jesus Christ, commanded by him, and empowered by his Holy Spirit. Don’t despise the great gift which God has given you, or trade it in for a lesser one. You have the better baptism, so rejoice and treasure it.

Now may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: Luke 3:15-22; Luke 20:1-8; Acts 19:1-7