Baptismal meditation

Baptismal meditation May 22, 2005

Matthew 28:18-20: ?Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I command you. And, behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.?E

Today is Trinity Sunday, the beginning of the long season (or ?off-season?E of the church calendar that stretches between Pentecost to Advent. In many churches, this Sunday is devoted to meditations and teaching on the Triune character of God. I did not preach on the Trinity thus Sunday, but it?s fitting that we consider the Trinity a bit here at this baptism.


In fact, it?s almost more fitting that we meditate on the Trinity at a baptism than that we listen to a sermon on baptism. The Trinity is of course a Christian doctrine that all Christians must believe. But if we simply treat it as a doctrine to be believed, as something to check off the list of necessary Christian beliefs, we have not grasped the real significance of the Bible?s teaching. It is striking that the most obvious formulations of the name of the Trinity in the New Testament appear in relation to Christian practices. In Matthew 28, the Triune Name is the Name into which we baptize, and elsewhere in the NT, the Trinity is invoked as the Name by which we bless. The Trinity is not something merely to be believed in the head. The Triune Name is applied to believers in water and in benediction.

What does this mean, and specifically what does it mean for our understanding and practice of baptism? To unpack this entirely would take an eternity or perhaps two, but we can make a start in three directions. First, the Trinity is related to baptism because baptism is a Triune event. In a few moments, I?m going to pour water on Samuel?s head and he will be baptized. But that visible rite is not the most important thing going on here, and I?m not the most important actor in this rite. Instead, the Trinity is at work in this event. Because this baptism is authorized by Christ, when I performed this act with water, what is really happening is that the heavenly Father is engrafting Samuel into His Son through the power of the Spirit. For ?by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body,?Ewhich is the body of Christ. The church is not a social organization. It is the people who are united to the Son of the Father through the Spirit. By the sheer grace and mercy of God, we have been taken up into the Triune fellowship. And today Samuel joins that fellowship.

Second, the Trinity is involved because Samuel is being baptized in the Triune Name. From this day on, he is wearing a uniform, a badge, the badge that bears the name of Father, Son, and Spirit. As long as he?s in that uniform (which is forever ?Ethis is a uniform that can?t be removed), he?s expected and required to trust in God for everything and to walk in newness of life. He?s supposed to do honor to his uniform. Wearing the uniform and the Name is a privilege, but this privilege can turn into a judgment. If he turns away from following Christ he will bring on himself the curses of God.

Third, because we confess that God is Triune, we confess that God does not need us. Father, Son, and Spirit existed eternally in perfect fellowship, joy, delight and love. Out of the overflow of that love, the Triune God created the world. But the world did not fill up something that was missing in God?s life. God does not need anything that He has made. The name that Samuel will bear is the name of this sovereign God, a God who does not exist to satisfy our wants and desires.

Teach him that he is baptized, that he has the privilege of communion in and with the Triune God. Teach him that he wears the name and badge of the Triune God, and is therefore called to walk in faith and obedience. Teach him about the God he is called to worship and serve, the sovereign God of perfect Love, the God who is sovereign Love. Teach him that he was baptized into the Name of the Trinity, on this Trinity Sunday.


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