Why Do We Worship God With Baptism?

Recently I have seen a number of articles on the Christian Forums I frequent asking, “What is the Big deal with baptism?” In the Memorial Sunday Morning Service my pastor did such a great job of explaining that the holiday was not about the survivors of the wars and exactly what the Ordinance of Baptism means. Admittedly using his sermon as my background material, I'd like to share.

Let's begin with verses copied fron the WEB.
Matt. 3:13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 But John would have hindered him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?”
15 But Jesus, answering, said to him, “Allow it now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed him. 16 Jesus, when he was baptized, went up directly from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming on him.
17 Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

In these verses we see that Jesus felt it to be necessary. God/Jesus, the only sinless being to ever walk on the Earth being Baptized, just seems wrong to most of the world. So let's go to why would God feel that it needed to be done;
1. God in the flesh of a man was on the Earth to pay the penalty for sin in the stead of every human that had ever lived, was living and would live but before He would submit to the death on the cross He needed to establish a pattern for all mankind to follow. We are baptized because we follow God!
2. Now, if you turn in your Bible to Matthew 28:19-20 you will see that when the LORD left us here that He commanded that we baptize folks. From this, in the light of the event in Matthew 3:13-17 Jesus was setting an example and not just that we need to be baptized but that like John, His human cousin, we were to Baptize!

Now let's talk for a moment. From what I have said here it is easy to run off in a couple of directions. First of all, do not run out into the street and grab the first passer-by, drag them into the bath-room and plunge them into the bathtub, submerging them in the name of God. First of all you just committed a string of crimes, not the least of which is Kid-napping! When we study the whole Bible we learn that there are a few things that must take place before the Baptism, not the least of which is the feeling of needing and wanting to follow Jesus.

There is another point that needs to be addressed also, the cleansing of sin! Jesus was not baptized for the cleansing of His soul. Neither, when we go under that water are our sins magically washed away. If you have not taken Jesus as #1 your Savior and #2 your Master, all you do in that Baptistry is to get wet for the pleasure of a lot of people. If you are baptized because you feel compelled to do it, pressured or because all your friends have done it, same result, all you did was to get wet! Twenty-five days before I was baptized I was overcome by the Holy Spirit and I did a great deal of repenting, led by the presence and urging of the Holy Spirit.

Now the final point of this post;
3. It Speaks of unity.

Please read Eph. 4:15-16. In our Baptist Church Family you are welcome on any day of the week but you are not allowed to become a member of the Family there until you are baptized.