Sermon About Baptism

Buried And Raised: What Baptism Declares About The Gospel

There is a moment in a baptism service when the water goes still, and the whole room seems to hold its breath. Something is happening that is older than any of us, older than any church building, older than any tradition. A person goes down into the water and comes back up, and the congregation watches and wonders and worships. But what exactly are we watching? What does this ancient act mean, and why does it matter so much?

Those are not small questions. They are questions the New Testament takes seriously, and they are questions worth answering carefully, joyfully, and honestly. Whether you are preparing for baptism yourself, whether you have been baptized and want to understand it more deeply, or whether you are simply here today with honest curiosity, this sermon is for you. We are going to let Scripture do the teaching.

We are going to look at two passages this morning. The first is Romans 6:1-11, where the apostle Paul gives us the most sustained theological explanation of baptism in the entire New Testament. The second is Matthew 28:18-20, where Jesus himself commands baptism and places it at the heart of the church's mission. Together, these texts will show us what baptism means, what it declares, and why it belongs at the center of Christian life.

Part One: The Command That Started Everything

Let us begin with Jesus. In Matthew 28:18-20, the risen Lord gathers his disciples and speaks words that have shaped the church for two thousand years. He says, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Notice what Jesus does not say. He does not say baptism is optional. He does not say it is a nice tradition for people who enjoy ritual. He places baptism directly inside his great commission. Making disciples involves baptizing and teaching. These are not two separate tracks. They belong together.

Notice also the name into which disciples are baptized. It is not a formula to be recited mechanically. It is a declaration of belonging. To be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is to be identified with the living God, the triune God who created the world, who entered the world in Jesus Christ, and who now dwells in his people through the Spirit. Baptism is an act of naming. It says, "This person belongs to this God."

And notice the context. Jesus speaks these words as the risen Lord. He has conquered death. He holds all authority. And from that position of total victory, he sends his people into the world with a mission that includes baptism. This is not a minor footnote. This is the marching order of the church.

Part Two: Going Under The Water

Now we turn to Romans 6, and here Paul opens up the meaning of baptism with extraordinary depth. He begins with a question that his opponents had raised against his gospel. In verse 1 he writes, "What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply?" It is a sharp question. If God's grace covers all sin, why not keep sinning? Why not live however you like?

Paul's answer begins in verse 2 with something close to astonishment. "Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" And then he appeals immediately to baptism. "Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?"

Paul's argument is this: when you were united to Christ by faith, something happened to you that baptism declares and depicts. You died with him. You were buried with him. And you were raised with him to walk in newness of life. Baptism is the outward picture of an inward reality. It is not the cause of that reality, but it is the God-appointed sign and symbol of it.

Look at verses 4 through 5. "Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection."

This is breathtaking language. Paul is saying that the story of Jesus, his death and burial and resurrection, is also your story if you are in Christ. You are not just a person who admires Jesus from a distance. You are a person who has been joined to him, united with him, so that what happened to him has happened to you in a real spiritual sense. The old self, the self dominated by sin and separated from God, has died. A new life has begun.

And baptism enacts that story physically. When a person goes down into the water, it is a burial. When they come up out of the water, it is a resurrection. The physical movement says what the gospel says. Death and life. Burial and rising. The old gone, the new begun.

Verses 6 through 8 press this further. "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him."

Paul is making a claim about freedom. The person who has been united to Christ by faith is no longer under sin's dominion. Sin may still tempt. The struggle is real and lifelong. But the power of sin to rule you, to define you, to own you, has been broken. You are free. Not free to do whatever you want, but free to do what is right. Free to love God. Free to walk in the newness of life that Christ has opened.

And then Paul closes this section in verses 10 and 11 with a statement that is both theological and deeply personal. "Since he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus."

Consider yourselves. This is a call to faith and to daily reckoning. Every morning, you wake up as a person who has died to sin and been raised to life in Christ. Baptism is the moment that was declared publicly. But the truth it declares is meant to shape every day of your life going forward.

Part Three: What Baptism Is And Is Not

At this point it is worth being honest and clear about what Baptist theology teaches, and also honest about the fact that Christians across history have understood baptism in different ways.

In the Baptist tradition, baptism is an ordinance. That means it is something Jesus commanded and the church practices in obedience to him. It is a symbolic act, not a sacramental one. Baptism does not save you. It does not convey grace the way a medicine conveys healing. It does not wash away sin in a literal sense. What washes away sin is the blood of Jesus Christ, received through repentance and faith.

Baptism follows faith. It is the public declaration of a faith that already exists. It is the believer's testimony in water: "I have died with Christ. I have been raised with Christ. I belong to him." This is why Baptist churches practice believer's baptism, baptism for those who have personally trusted Jesus Christ, rather than infant baptism. The symbol requires the reality it symbolizes.

Other Christian traditions, including many faithful and serious followers of Jesus, understand baptism differently. Some see it as a covenant sign, comparable to circumcision in the Old Testament, administered to the children of believers. Others understand it as a sacrament through which God genuinely conveys grace. These are not small differences, and they deserve honest engagement rather than dismissal. What unites all serious Christian traditions is the conviction that baptism matters, that it is connected to the gospel, and that it points to Jesus Christ.

In the Baptist understanding, baptism is not less meaningful because it is symbolic. It is deeply meaningful. It is a public act of worship. It is a declaration of the gospel in water. It is an act of obedience to Christ. It is a testimony to the watching world. It is the moment a believer says before God, the church, and the world, "I am not ashamed of the gospel. I belong to Jesus. I have been buried with him and raised with him, and I am living for him now."

Part Four: Belonging And Going Forward

There is one more thing Matthew 28 tells us that we must not miss. Baptism is not the end of the journey. It is the beginning. Jesus says, "baptizing them and teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you." Baptism leads into a life of discipleship, a life of learning, obeying, growing, struggling, repenting, and being renewed.

The church is the community in which that life is lived. When you are baptized, you are not just making a private declaration. You are joining a body of people who are all on the same journey. You need them. They need you. Together, you are the visible presence of the risen Christ in the world.

And Jesus closes his commission with a promise that is as warm as anything in Scripture. "I am with you always, to the end of the age." You do not walk this road alone. The one who commanded baptism, the one whose death and resurrection baptism proclaims, is with you every step of the way.

Conclusion

So what does baptism mean? It means that grace is real. It means that faith has a body, a visible, physical expression. It means that you have been united to Christ in his death and resurrection. It means that you belong to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It means that sin's dominion over you has been broken. It means that you are part of a community called to make disciples of all nations. And it means that Jesus is with you, now and always.

If you have trusted Christ and have not yet been baptized, this is a good day to take that step. Not because baptism saves you, but because Christ has commanded it, and because obedience to Christ is where the joy of the Christian life is found. If you are still exploring what it means to follow Jesus, we welcome you here. The gospel is open to you. Christ is not far from you.

The water is ready. The story it tells is the greatest story ever told. And the one at the center of that story is alive.

Sources Consulted

Schreiner, Thomas R. Romans. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Baker Academic, 1998.

Moo, Douglas J. The Letter to the Romans. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Eerdmans, 2018.

France, R. T. The Gospel of Matthew. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Eerdmans, 2007.

Hammett, John S. Forty Questions About Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Kregel Academic, 2015.

Nettles, Tom J. The Baptists: Key People Involved in Forming a Baptist Identity. Christian Focus, 2005.