Matthew 28:18-20(NKJV) 18And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
The main purpose for the Body of Christ’s existence in the earth is the great commission. It is the prime directive from the lord of the church to his people. We are to go into the whole world and spread the message that God has reconciled the world to himself by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This commission is stated in a number of places in the New Testament, but we are looking at the account in Matthew.
The basic commission is to go in the world and “make disciples” or teach all nations. This implies something more than just converting people to a religious idea or point of view. Making disciples is a multistep process in the life of a person. The first step in that process is that they must be “born again.”
To be born again a person must believe in his heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and confess with his mouth Jesus as the lord of his life. (Romans 10:9) Both are required for salvation. True heart faith in the sacrifice of Jesus as the payment for your sins is essential. This cannot be a surface or mental acceptance of the idea that God could raise Jesus from the dead. The person who wants to spend eternality in the presence of God must believe with his whole heart that this did occur and that the sacrifice it represents is for his sinful nature personally. Nothing else will do.
The second part of Romans 10:9 is just as important. Salvation requires a submission to Jesus as the Lord and Master of your life. He paid for you with his blood. Your life belongs to him. His will and his future must become your will and your future. What he says you are, you must accept as true. What he says you can do you can do, but what he says you cannot do, you must not. He is the boss. That must become final for you. In exchange you get eternal life in the wonderful presence of the God of creation.
Once both these criterion are met, you are born again. You are part of the family of God and you are going to heaven. You are not yet a disciple. A disciple is a disciplined believer in Jesus Christ. He is one who is capable and willing to walk in the fullness of Christian privilege and Christian responsibility. He or she knows how to walk in faith towards the promises of God. He also knows how to discipline himself in order to keep from walking in sin. How does one become a disciple? Since making disciples is the commission we need to know.
Obviously, if you are not born again you cannot be a disciple. Evangelism is the thing that makes discipleship possible. However, if we simply lead people to Jesus and stop there, they will not be disciples. They will be converted babies in the faith. To make them disciples we must then do the rest of What Jesus tells us in Matthew.
The next point in his instruction is that we baptize them in water. It would be easy for us to see water baptism as a religious ritual; however, Jesus would not have included it here if it were not more important than that. Water baptism is the second step in discipleship because it is important to the process of overcoming the flesh. Romans 6 gives us some important insight.
Romans 6:1-4(NKJV) 1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Here Paul ties victory over sin with baptism. When we submit to water baptism we are outwardly demonstrating to the world, the devil and to ourselves that something has happened inwardly. We are burying that which is dead, the old man, and being raised up a new creature ready to walk in the new life of Christ made available in the resurrection. This is a symbolic act but it is more than that as well.
I have spent much time in India. It is very easy to get a group of Hindus to accept Jesus as God. They worship many gods; one more is not really a problem. The real dividing line for Indian converts is water baptism. It is here that they make a public declaration that they believe in Jesus as the one and only God of their lives. When they do this, they are subject to rejection by their families, loss of status and employment and even physical harm. We do not generally face these things because of water baptism, but we are still making a public declaration of the reality of our faith.
There is someone who does takes notice. The devil watches as we submit to water baptism. We are declaring to him, “I do not serve you anymore. Jesus is the Lord of my life and I will not submit to sin. I am dead to sin and alive to God!” When we do this by faith, I believe it releases a power that will help us resist the temptation of the devil.
I want to stress that the real key to the effectiveness of water baptism is faith. There is much discussion in the church world about what name is used in water baptism. It is my belief that there is only one name given by which men “must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) That name represents the whole Godhead. That name is Jesus. However, no matter what name you use, if baptism is just a religious ritual, it will have no real affect on your life. When we go under the water by faith, burying the old man by faith and come up from the water by faith in the resurrection, I believe heaven and hell both take notice. I believe the process affects our flesh.
This does not mean we are no longer capable of sin. It does mean that we have another “bullet in our gun” to help us resist sin. It also means that we have publicly declared that we believe the lifestyle of the bible to be right and that we choose to live that lifestyle. That public declaration will help us deal with temptation and even stop it in many cases.
Water baptism is an important step in the process of discipleship. I must note that I believe biblical water baptism is only for believers. A baby is not yet a believer, so if you were baptized as a baby or young child as part of religious ritual, but you had not yet become a believer in Jesus Christ as stated earlier, you have not been water baptized. You should find someone who will do this by faith as soon as possible.
I also believe that biblical baptism is by full immersion. Although some Jewish ceremonial washing was done this way, the Greek word translated “baptize” meant to be “fully wet.” How can a person become “fully wet” if they are only sprinkled with water. I believe that true baptism must include full immersion in the water.
If you have been water baptized, you need to go to the Lord and to the devil and reaffirm your faith in this experience. Salvation is the first step to discipleship. Water baptism is the second. Remind the devil that the old person that was alive before you met Jesus as Lord and savior is buried. You are no longer that person. You have been raised to a new life in Jesus Christ and that is who you really are.
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