Introduction
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper: Protestant Christians practice only these two Sacraments, what we believe to be “visible signs of God’s invisible grace”. Roman Catholics, however, practice seven Sacraments: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, but also Confirmation, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Ordination, and Marriage. We Protestants don’t believe these others to be Sacraments because we believe the Sacraments are for every Christian and the Bible doesn’t tell everyone to get married, and because the Bible doesn’t call each and every Christian to ordination. We don’t believe Confirmation is a Sacrament because Confirmation is so directly connected to Baptism, so much so that for all those not baptized as infants, Confirmation is an integral part of their Baptism ceremony. Likewise, Penance is intimately connected with the Lord’s Supper as the mercy and reconciling benefits of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross are ministered and renewed to believers through each serving of the bread and the cup.
So as we gather today to ordain and install men and women among us to the offices of elder and deacon we are not participating in a Sacrament but we are setting men and women apart to those special roles and services in the Body of Christ to which God has called them and – by the Holy Spirit – has empowered them to fulfill.
Mark 1:1-11 [NLTse]
This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. It began 2 just as the prophet Isaiah had written:
“Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way. 3 He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear the road for him!’”
4 This messenger was John the Baptist. He was in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. 5 All of Judea, including all the people of Jerusalem, went out to see and hear John. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River. 6 His clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey.
7 John announced: “Someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to stoop down like a slave and untie the straps of his sandals. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!”
9 One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. 10 As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”
Baptism: Sprinkling in a font gives us a picture of washing; immersion in a tub or stream can convey the idea of death and new life. Either way we are stuck focusing on the physical dimension of these acts: Washing and cleansing, or dying and new life. And yet John the Baptist makes clear that his baptism – showing that we’ve repented of our sins and turned to God to be forgiven – is merely preparation for the Christian life. John made clear that Jesus’ baptism, baptism with the Holy Spirit, that’s the doorway into Christ.
It is too easy, I think, to be distracted by the physical aspects of baptism and think this to be a ritual of having our sins forgiven, but Jesus’ baptism shows us that what is truly happening here – because our sins have been forgiven – is the boundary between Heaven and earth is being torn open and the Holy Spirit coming upon us to pour into us God’s love and to pour into us God’s salvation, everything the Scriptures says are ours by faith.
Mark 15:33-41 [NLTse]
33 At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. 34 Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
35 Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. 36 One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. “Wait!” he said. “Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down!”
37 Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
39 When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!”
Sermon
In the Jerusalem-Temple of Jesus’ day there were two rooms: The Sanctuary (also called the Holy Place) and the Most Holy Sanctuary (also called the Holy of Holies). The two rooms were partitioned off from each other by two massive curtains: Each 60 feet high and 30 feet wide, and each 4 inches thick. These two curtains together were spoken of as “the curtain” or “the veil” and kept those outside the Temple and those priests ministering in the Sanctuary room separated from and from seeing into the Holy of Holies, where God’s presence dwelt.
As with Baptism, it can be so easy for us to look at the physical aspects of the Lord’s Supper – speaking of the bread as the body of Jesus and of the cup as the blood of Jesus – and think we are going through a ritual to merely remind ourselves of Jesus’ sacrifice. But in His Word God tells us that Jesus’ sacrifice tore down the dividing curtain, tore apart that which separated us from God’s holy presence, opening us to an unhindered relationship with the Father!
The Lord likes to tear things apart for us. In Exodus the Lord tore open a pathway through the Red Sea. (14:21) In Isaiah (48:21) the Lord speaks of satisfying Israel’s thirst by tearing open a rock where water gushed out.
God is asking us to believe that He’s torn open the skies in our baptisms to equip each of us with power from Heaven. Likewise He”s asking us to believe that He’s torn open the dividing curtain so that now all who have faith to draw near have unhindered communion & fellowship with Him.
As you come forward to share in the Lord’s Supper later in our Worship, put your hand in the font-water and see the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending upon you like a dove in your baptism. Hear the voice from Heaven saying, “You are my dearly beloved, and you bring me great joy.
What is it that separates you from God? Is it a habit or a practice that you just can’t or won’t give up? Do you not pray enough or read the Bible enough? Are you unworthy and you know you’re just not good enough? As you eat the bread, and as you drink the cup, know that the curtain has been torn away: Everything that could ever separate you from that holiest of places where Almighty God lives has been torn away. All that’s left is your entering and enjoying sweet friendship and fellowship – sweet communion – with Him.
(And after Worship, if you are not sure whether you have received the Holy Spirit or not, please come to the front to be anointed and prayed for by the elders gathered here.)