Drive In Church Recap

Sunday, Aug 2 – Drive In Church

Baptism Intro

People will sometimes ask me” Why should I be baptised?” Great question. 

In Matthew 28, Jesus leaves final instructions on what the components of carrying out His mission in the world will look like.  He says “teach them – those who say yes to following Jesus” teach them everything I have commanded, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  So we see that baptism is part of the journey of following Jesus just like learning to obey Jesus is.   

In Matthew 3, Jesus himself was baptised, Jesus’ disciples were baptised (John 3:22-26), and the early Christians were baptised as a normative practice in the book of Acts.  Baptism has been part of the church since its inception.   

Theologically, the New Testament makes a strong connection between passing from death into new life in Christ and the acts of baptism.  (see Romans 6:1-10, Col. 2:12, 2 Cor. 5:17).  The act itself signifies movement from the past (ending our ties with the old life), into the present. Baptism is also as a declaration of allegiance because it proclaims our future identification with Christ and the ultimate conquest of death (see 1 Cor. 15:26, 55-56).  In this way, baptism also functions as a meaningful testimony to a watching world. 

So we have two people here today who desire to follow Jesus with their lives and who want, as a part of this journey, to go into the waters of baptism.  I want you to meet Tom and Jessi. 

Guys, this is your 1 year anniversary of coming to Jericho Ridge, right? I first remember meeting you last year at the Community Open House we had last August long weekend. 

Tom, why don’t you go first and tell us a little bit about your life, your relationship with God and why you want to be baptised.  Then we’ll hear from Jessi and it is our privilege and joy to baptise you both. 

COMMUNION Intro

  What a joyful privilege to bear witness to the transforming work of Christ in Tom and Jessi’s life today, friends.  We also want to celebrate a second ordinance this morning since we are all gathered here corporately and that is communion. 

Both baptism and communion are public ways in which we bear witness to our participation in the family of God.  Together, they outwardly and visibly portray what is going on in our lives internally… they give public expression to the realities of our faith in God. 

But while they share many similarities, they are also slightly different.  Baptism is something that you do once, often toward the start of your Christian journey.  And the Lord’s Supper, or communion, is celebrated repeated.  Baptism is celebrated BEFORE God’s people and the Lord’s Supper is celebrated in community WITH them. 

And community is important.  We’ve always known this but the time in which we live is bringing this home in new ways.  That’s why this is more than just a cup of juice and a relatively stale, non-gluten free cracker in a hard to open package…. This is a statement of community in a time of isolation. 

When we partake of this bread, which represents Christ’s body which broken for you and for me, you are saying “I am a participant in the Body of Christ, the church”.   I’m going to invite you to open the top and let’s eat together.   

When you take this cup, which represents Christ’s blood shed for the forgiveness of sins, you are saying “I choose life over death”.  Let’s drink together.    

To accept Christ is to accept and love God’s people. Our discovery of new life in Christ should lead us to confess our faith through baptism and entrance into a visible community of believers.  And that community of believers eats together, even when we can’t share a full meal together.   Even when we can’t be together in all the ways we are accustomed to.  We are still a family.  And I want to say as your pastor, that I am grateful for each and every one of you. You are a loved and valued member of this family and I’d hug you if I could.  Thank you for being part of this expression of it at Jericho Ridge. 

It can be easy in this season to think about all the things we don’t have or can’t do and we can get discouraged or chippy or sad or bitter. But baptism reminds us that the Spirit of God is still at work in the world changing lives and you and I get the wonderful privilege to bear witness to that if we choose to fix our eyes of Jesus. 

And communion reminds us that we are participants in a family that has a past, a present and a future.  When we participate in the Lord’s Supper, we sit in union with one another as family members around a common table. We look back to the work of Christ, we look today at those around us in this parking lot and say “I choose to be with you and for you”.  We also look forward in time and anticipate the day of the final homecoming of all God’s people. Revelation 21:3 declares this: “Look, God’s home is now among God’s people! God will live with them, and they will be God’s people. God himself will be with them. 4 God will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”” (Revelation 21:3).

Friends, let’s worship together and declare the truth that your life, my life, our lives as a community are fixed and focused on Christ and Christ alone.