Celebrating Our Union With Christ | Baptism Sunday

Celebrating Our Union With Christ

Sacrament:-- from Latin, oath of allegiance; A rite believed to be a means of or visible form of grace. 
A deposit by two parties seeking to secure justice.
God – Grace Man – Faith 

Acts 2:41-42 “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” 

Ephesians 1:9-10 (ESV)“making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth in him..”

Baptism and Communion are powerful sacraments that participate in God’s eternal purpose. 
Baptism brings us into union with Christ and His body. 
Communion continually nourishes and celebrates that union.

Baptism is not a ritual to be performed but a dynamic that must be a present day and continuous reality.
Matthew 28:19-20 “…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…”

“Baptize”:-- to immerse, to submerge, to bathe, to overwhelm, to pickle, to produce a permanent change. 
Not just getting wet. 
An identification and a union with Christ that results in a genuine change.

Galatians 3:26-27 “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Colossians 2:10, 12 “So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority …  For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized …  In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities.”

Exodus 14:28 “Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained.”

Your union with Jesus brought you out of bondage. Jesus set you free.
Baptized into Christ. I am in union with Him.
 Free from bondage 
 Free from accusation
 Free from oppression
Jesus caused an exodus and brings you into FREEDOM.

Luke 22:19-20 “And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.’”

Covenant – a solemn agreement between two parties for the purposes of creating and maintaining a successful relationship.
You don’t take communion, you receive communion.

1 Corinthians 10:16-17 “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.”

Romans 12:4-5 “For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function,  so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” 

Member. Remember Dismember
“… members of one another.”
Colossians 1:27 “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Lords Table – Remember Me!
Not a call to commiserate his suffering or our sin, but a call to commemorate His triumph. 
  “It is finished!”
Eucharist:-- gratitude, thanks/grace

Baptism welcomes us into the household of faith as members of Christ.
Communion keeps us at the family table, strengthening the very union that fulfills God’s eternal purpose. 
One is the door into this mystery; the other is the sustaining meal.