Baptism

I want to invite you to open your bibles with me to Philippians chapter 1. And when you get to Philippians 1, lets go down to verse 20 together….. There are two words I want us to explore. One is life, and the other is death. Today, we're going to baptize people into the faith, and this is going to carry over until next week as well. So, as we read this verse, I want us to pay close attention to how Paul uses the words life and death. You ready? Lets read God’s word together… 20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:20-21) I'm learning to love God. And I believe you are too. The Christian journey is learning to love God, and to love others, and to make him known throughout the world together. That's our calling. Our purpose. But early on in my faith, I recognized that it's not easy. And I need to tell you up front, what I'm about to share with you is personal to me. I'm going to share with you my own struggle. My struggle for joy in the Christian life. My struggle with what it means to live a holy life in the middle of everything else that's going on.

The Universal Desire So, let's begin here. I've always wanted to be happy. I mean, who doesn't, right? I can't not want to be happy any more than I could skip eating for two days and not feel hungry. It's just part of being human. But here's where it got complicated for me. There was this tension warring inside me, and I couldn't figure out how to make sense of it.

The Tension It felt like there were two paths in front of me, and I could only walk down one. Path One: God's Glory On one side, there was God's glory. And what is God’s glory? It’s the beauty of all that God is—His holiness put on display, His goodness made visible, His love and power shining through everything He does. God’s glory is the public showing of His worth. In Isaiah 43:7, God says He created us “for my glory.” That means every breath we take, every step we walk, every word we speak was designed to point back to Him—to show that He is better, greater, more satisfying than anything else in the universe. Stage One: Salvation... For Me My faith began like this: I was made and created for salvation. That's where it started for me. Jesus died for my sins. I needed to be saved. I accepted that. I believed it. And for a while, that was enough. Still, conflict and hardship came, and I made this salvation about me. Jesus saves me, for me to be comfortable... and that, church, is nowhere near what the Bible says…

Stage Two: Worship... For Me Because then, after a while, I came to this deeper conclusion: I was made and created for worship. Not just to be saved, but to worship the one who saved me. To give my life back to God in gratitude and praise. And that's true. That's absolutely true. But I even made that for me... Did I like the worship music? Was it comfortable to me? Was church meeting my needs?

Stage Three: Extending God's Glory But then, as I've grown in Christ, I've learned something even bigger: I was made to extend the glory of God. Not just to receive salvation. Not just to worship in the safety of the sanctuary. But to carry his glory out into the world. To make him known. To live in such a way that people see my life and say, "There's something different here. There's something worth paying attention to." It's what Paul says in verse 20: "Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death." My whole life—the way I live, the way I love, even the way I die—is supposed to magnify Jesus. To make him look as glorious as he actually is. And when I realized that... it changed everything. But it also made the tension worse.

Path Two: My Desire for Happiness Because, on the other side, there was this second truth: I wanted to be happy. That was part of what it means for me to be human. I couldn't just turn that off. I had desires, and joys in my life that I would go back to. They fed me. I wanted to feel alive. I wanted satisfaction. I wanted joy that went deeper than just getting through another day. I wanted to wake up in the morning and feel like my life mattered, like it was going somewhere, like there was something worth being excited about. I guess, when I think about it... I wanted purpose. But I wanted that purpose to feed my happiness. And I mea, that can be very selfish of me…. But I couldn't make that desire go away. No matter how hard I tried. No matter how much I told myself I was being selfish or immature or unspiritual—the hunger for happiness, and joy was still there.

The Problem And here's where the problem came in. Somewhere along the way, I picked up this picture of God as this tyrannical parent. Someone who would force me into what he wants, whether I liked it or not. You know—"Put your will on the altar. Die to yourself. Stop wanting what you want and just do what God wants." And honestly? That version of God never felt like something I wanted. It didn't feel like good news. It felt... heavy. Oppressive, even. As if faith was a dog collar meant to control. And I couldn't shake the feeling that wanting joy somehow made me less spiritual. Like if I was doing something good because it brought me joy, then it didn't really count. The God-centeredness of it was compromised. So there I was, caught between these two truths. God's glory demanded everything from me. And my heart desperately wanted to be happy. And I couldn't see how both could be true at the same time. The Breakthrough And over time, what I have recognized was this... The Christian life is a struggle to see and savor Christ as an all-satisfying Savior. That word "struggle" is important. Because it's not automatic. It's not like you wake up one day and suddenly Jesus is more satisfying to you than everything else. A Word to Those Being Baptized For those of you being baptized today, we're going to say you're dead to sin and alive in Christ. And that's true. When you came to faith in Jesus, and the blood of Christ covered you, something real happened. You were made new. The old you—the one enslaved to sin, separated from God—that person died. And you were raised to new life in Christ. But here's what I want you to know: being dead to sin and alive in Christ doesn't mean the struggle is over. It means the struggle has just begun. Because now you have to learn what it means to actually live like someone who's dead to sin. You have to fight to see Christ as more satisfying than the things that used to satisfy you. The approval of others. The comfort of control. The pleasure of getting your own way. Whatever it was that you used to run to for happiness—you now have to wrestle with whether Christ is truly better. And that's the struggle. It's a daily fight to see and savor Jesus. To believe he's enough. To trust that he's better than everything else this world offers. The Breakthrough and The Battle How Everything Changed But then, I came to these two verses, which changed everything for me. Look back at verse 20 with me. Paul says his one all-consuming passion is that Christ would be magnified—honored—in his body, whether by life or by death. And I remember reading that and thinking, "Yes. That's what I want. I want Christ to be seen as magnificent through my life." But I'd never really followed Paul's logic into verse 21. I'd never paid attention to how he connects these ideas. Watch this. As soon as Paul says in verse 20 that Christ can be magnified in his life or his death, he immediately gives us verse 21: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." See the connection? "To live is Christ" corresponds to "by life" in verse 20. And "to die is gain" corresponds to "by death" in verse 20. Paul's showing us how Christ becomes magnificent in both his living and his dying. And here's where everything clicked for me. For so long, I thought pursuing my happiness and pursuing God's glory were two different things. That I had to choose. But Paul shows us something completely different here.

Understanding Death as Gain Let's just focus on the death part for a moment. Collapse verses 20 and 21 together and read it like this: "Christ will be magnified in my body by death... for to me to die is gain." Now when you die, everything's gone. Your spouse is gone. Your kids are gone. That dream retirement you've been planning? Gone. Your hobbies, gone. Sex is gone. All of your pleasures, your body itself—until the resurrection—all of it, gone. Until the resurrection, your body and all of its pleasure are gone. So, what does Paul mean that all this loss can be called gain? He tells us in verses 22 and 23: "If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better." Did you catch that? "Far better." When Paul weighs everything this world has to offer against being with Jesus, he doesn't hesitate. Death is gain. Because Christ is far better than all of it. And here's what finally broke through for me: Paul's not just enduring death out of duty. And he's not just looking for his own happiness. No, he genuinely desires Christ more. And that's what makes Jesus look glorious. Think about it. If I'm desperately holding onto this world, and then death comes and tears it all away from me, what does that say about Christ? It says he's not enough. It says I'd rather have what I'm losing than what I'm gaining. And so this struggle—duty or happiness—had taught me something crucial: If my happiness is found in anything else other than magnifying God, then I'll always be torn. I'll always feel that tension. Because either I'll resent God for taking away what makes me happy, or I'll feel guilty for wanting to be happy instead of just doing my duty. The Human Struggle And I bet that's you too. I mean, I'm human. You're human. And all we've ever known is this life. We live in a fallen world. Unstable. Corrupt. Full of trouble and sorrow. Every single one of us is marked by that fallenness. We carry it with us. We see it in our relationships, in our disappointments, in the way things never quite turn out the way we hoped. And here's what I want: I want to love freely. No reservations. No holding back. No wondering if people will reject my love or if they'll let me down. I want to love fully, without fear. And just as important—I want others to experience that kind of love with joy. But here is the heart of my conflict: The only way I've learned to do that—the only way I've found to love like that—is to finally find my joy in Christ... in Christ alone. Which means this... (lower tone) I must die, each day, and every moment to all other joys in my life, so that Christ can be my gain. I am dead to sin, and now, I am alive in Christ.

The Battle Ahead You see, to those of you being baptized today, there's going to be a battle. And I bet most of you have already felt this battle. But this battle is a battle to see and savor Christ as an all-satisfying Savior. But here's what you need to understand: This isn't a battle to perform. It's not a battle to achieve some spiritual milestone or prove how committed you are. The battle is this: Can you see Jesus clearly enough to find Him more satisfying than everything else? And here's the problem—and I want you to really hear this— (building intensity) The reason that's a battle is because this world keeps offering you broken cisterns. Jeremiah 2:13 says, "My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water." That's what sin is. Sin isn't just breaking rules. Sin is the choice to drink from empty wells when there's a mountain spring right in front of you. It's choosing the relationship that can't satisfy you over the God who can. It's choosing the approval of people who don't even know your name over the approval of the One who calls you His beloved. It's choosing comfort, or control, or success—things that will one day turn to dust—over Christ. And the only way to win that battle— The only way to keep choosing Christ over those broken cisterns... is to keep seeing Him clearly. To keep tasting Him. To keep experiencing Him as better. This is why you have to die daily. Not because God is cruel. Not because He wants you miserable. But because every single day, something or someone is going to try to take Christ's place in your heart. And if you don't kill it—if you don't put it to death—it will slowly edge Jesus out... until you can't see Him anymore. And I want you to know... this is what you're going to face in your faith.

A Word to Those Being Baptized So with that in mind, before we begin these baptisms, I want to take a moment to speak directly to those of you being baptized. Baptism isn't just a public display. Or some kind of spiritual ritual or tradition. It's a declaration. That's why people celebrate... because at some moment, God's love met your heart, and you gave your life to Christ. And so, you're making a declaration about death. You're saying three things.

First: "I'm Dying So Christ Can Live Through Me" Paul says when you die, everything's gone. Your spouse—gone. Your kids—gone. Your career, your reputation, your hobbies, your body and all its pleasures—until the resurrection, all of it, gone. And yet Paul calls that gain. Why? Because he's already died to finding his satisfaction in those things. He's already loosened his grip. He's already experienced Christ as "far better." So baptism is you saying, "I'm dying today. I'm dying to finding my life in approval. I'm dying to finding my security in control. I'm dying to finding my joy in comfort.” Alb ause, “Christ is better than comfort. Christ is better than control. Christ is better than life itself.” You know what your thing is. The thing you've been holding onto as your source of life. And when you go under that water, you're saying, "I'm letting it go. Not because it's evil, but because Christ is better." But here's what makes this glorious—you're not just dying for the sake of dying. You're dying so Christ can be seen. Paul's whole passion in verse 20 is that "Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death." His death isn't just about him going to heaven. It's about making Jesus look glorious. And how does death make Jesus look glorious? When Paul can look at losing everything and call it gain because getting Christ is worth it. So when you go under that water, you're saying, "My death isn't about me. It's about making Jesus look as magnificent as He actually is." Every time you die to something competing with Christ—every time you choose Him over approval, or comfort, or control—you're magnifying Jesus. You're showing the world, "Look how good Christ must be if I'm willing to let go of this, or that... for Him." That's what makes Christ look magnificent in your death—when you can let go of what everyone else thinks is essential, because you've found something more satisfying. That's the point of baptism. Not just "I believe in Jesus." But "Jesus is so satisfying that I'm willing to die to everything else so people can see how glorious He is.”

Second: "I'm Joining Christ in His Death and Resurrection" Now, here's the foundation that makes all of this possible. Romans 6—listen to this, this is glorious—Romans 6 says, "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, we too might walk in newness of life." Oh, do you see what's happening here? When you put your faith in Jesus—at that moment of saving faith—something real happened. Something massive. You were united to Him. Joined to Him. What's true of Him became true of you. So when Jesus died, you died with Him. When He was buried in that tomb, you were buried with Him. And when the Father—in all His glorious power and majesty—raised Jesus from the dead, you were raised with Him too! Raised into a completely new kind of life! Now, faith is what united you to Christ. Faith is the means. But baptism—baptism shows that faith. Baptism says that faith. Baptism dramatizes what happened spiritually when you received Christ. The Wedding Ring It's like a wedding ring. When you say, "With this ring I thee wed," you don't mean the ring makes you married. No! The covenant-making vows make the marriage. The ring shows the covenant. It symbolizes the covenant. It displays the covenant. Let me tell you what I mean. When I lost my wedding ring, I was devastated. Not because the ring was the marriage—my 20 years of marriage to my wife didn't end when I lost that ring. But that ring was my outward sign of the inward union to Alicia. Twenty years of hardships, of loss, love, care, tears, struggles... it was on my hand for all of it. That ring bore witness to something real. Something precious. And losing it felt like I'd lost a visible reminder of everything we'd walked through together. That's what baptism is. It's not what saves you. Faith in Christ is what saves you. But baptism shows that faith. It displays your union with Christ to the world. "I died with Him. I was buried with Him. I rose with Him." Listen, you can't have resurrection without death. You can't have new life without burying the old one. So when you go under that water, you're not creating something new. You're confessing something that already happened. You're acting out what happened spiritually when you put your faith in Christ: Your old self of unbelief and rebellion died, and a new you of faith and submission came into being. You're saying, "Jesus, You died to bring glory to Your Father. You died to deal with my sin. And I died with You. I'm done living for myself. I'm done with my sin. I'm done with everything that competes with God getting the glory He deserves." "You took me down into Your death so You could bring me up into Your life. And that life? It's not about me anymore. It's about making the Father look as glorious as You made Him look.”

Third: "I'm Committing to Fight This Battle Daily" Now here's what you need to understand—and this is crucial: Baptism isn't the end. It's the beginning. Just as Christ was buried and raised, you're being buried and raised in this baptism. When you come up out of that water, you're stepping into the newness of life that's already yours in Christ through faith. But that new life? It's a battle. Every single day, something or someone is going to try to take Christ's place in your heart. The approval of others. The comfort of control. The pleasure of getting your own way. Whatever it was that you used to run to for happiness—you now have to wrestle with whether Christ is truly better. And if you don't kill it—if you don't put it to death—it will slowly edge Jesus out... until you can't see Him anymore. This is why you have to die daily. Not because God is cruel. Not because He wants you miserable. But because the only way to keep choosing Christ over those broken cisterns... is to keep seeing Him clearly. To keep tasting Him. To keep experiencing Him as better. So when you come up out of that water today, you're not saying, "I'm done. I made it." You're saying, "I'm starting. This is day one of dying daily so Christ can live through me. This is day one of the battle to see and savor Jesus as better than everything else." Next week, we'll unpack what that new life actually looks like—what it means when Paul says "to live is Christ." But today? Today is about the death. It's about letting the old you drown. The version of you that lived for your own glory. That chased your own satisfaction. That was building your own little kingdom. That person goes under the water today and doesn't come back up. What comes up is someone new. Someone whose life is Christ. Someone whose glory is God. Someone who's committed to fighting the daily battle to see Jesus as more satisfying than everything else this world offers. The Choice Remember what I said at the beginning—I wanted to love freely, without fear, without holding back. And the only way I found to do that was to die daily to everything else and find my joy in Christ alone. That's what you're choosing today. You're choosing the death that leads to life. You're choosing the loss that leads to gain. You're choosing Christ. To live is Christ. To die is gain. Let's baptize. *