Baptismal Exhortation, July 11

In the sermon this morning, we looked at the connections between Old Covenant sacrifice and New Covenant worship. The Levitical system sets the pattern for worship in the New Covenant. The sacrifice of animals is a figure, a picture of the true sacrifice, the sacrifice of praise that we offer in our worship.

Under the Old Covenant, worshipers were required to be clean when they gathered for worship. When Israel came to Sinai, Moses instructed them to wash their clothes and sanctify themselves for the covenant-making event. This was institutionalized in the rules of cleansing found in Leviticus. If an Israelite became unclean, he normally had to wait until the evening sacrifice was offered, change or wash his clothes, and wash his body. More intense forms of uncleanness could be cleansed only with sacrifice, but even then a bath was included. Someone defiled by touching a dead body would be cleansed with a special water of purification that contained the ashes of a red heifer.

We no longer do these things. And this is one of the glories and freedoms of the New Covenant. We no longer have to worry about attending funerals, or psoriasis, or having sex on Saturday evening. These things used to defile, but they no longer do. These things used to keep Israelites from the sanctuary, but they no longer exclude us from the presence of God.

Rather, we are cleansed and consecrated once-for-all. Instead of repeated washings, we have a single washing, one that is effective forever. Baptism is the NC fulfillment of all the OC washings and cleansings. It is a cleansing that does not need to be repeated, like the NC sacrifice of Jesus, which is also unrepeatable.

Though it is a single washing, baptism does what those OC washings did: Baptism brings us into the community of believers, admits us to the house of God, permits us to enter the Lord?s presence to worship Him. Baptism is the bath that brings the baptized into the liturgical community, and prepares us for sacrifice. That is the gift that Sophia Joy is receiving today: Through baptism, she is cleansed and consecrated as a member of the people of God, the people admitted into the presence of God, the joyful assembly of Mount Zion.

That blessing, like every blessing, comes with obligations. This child is being consecrated today; today, she becomes a saint, taking her place among the holy ones who enter the presence of God. But her consecration is also a calling and a vocation. She is holy, and she must live in holiness. She has been cleansed, and she must avoid all defilements and seek the cleansing of forgiveness when she does sin. She has been qualified to draw near to offer sacrifice, and she must offer her body as a living sacrifice, which is her spiritual act of worship.

And this baptism also places burdens on you as parents. You are responsible to teach her how to worship, not only to worship God with her lips but to train her and pray for her so that she will be a worshiper in Spirit and truth. You must teach her that her life is not her own, that she is consecrated and set apart to Jesus, and that her whole life must be one great liturgy of praise to God.