Expository Preaching Blog #32 – “You Can’t Get Baptized In My Church!”

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Many years ago, we were attending a church in Maryland. We had just moved back to the east coast from the Midwest. In the Midwest we saw a church that has struggled for over 50 years and had declined from 600 in attendance to down to under 100 people on Sunday morning. We preached and prayed for God to help this church in a city of 25,000 people. We saw God save dozens of souls over those 6 years. We saw dozens get baptized and added to the church. Attendance grew to almost 200 people on Sunday morning. We had many ethnicities and many languages every service. Several new churches were planted and God was honored.

Back to Maryland. It is very ethnically diverse and needs the gospel dearly as every state in the union does. The church we went to help in these areas had been around for a while. I personally knew a couple of pastors who had been there in years past. We were only there for a few months. The focus of the church was on behaviors not on the gospel. The pastor had been a personal friend of mine since before college days. But if you did not do things the pastor’s way you would be ostracized. I know because we very soon butted heads. My family and I stepped out and went on to another church.

In that church there was a single mom who had come to Christ. She went to the pastor because she wanted to be baptized. Most pastors would rejoice with this request. I certainly did. The pastor refused to baptize her because she wasn’t doing things the way he liked. He actually would not assist this young lady to obey the very command of Jesus Christ.

I get very frustrated when pastor’s put such restrictions on Christians who want to follow Biblical teaching. I believe many pastors are very much too restrictive when it comes to things like baptism, communion and marriage. (More on marriage in future blog.) They get so holy in their heavenly convictions that they are no earthly good to believers here on earth. Jesus spent as much or more time with publicans and sinners than He did with the Pharisees. He came to be a Savior to the lost. He came to preach the kingdom and not politics or earthly cares.

The only condition I see on baptism is a profession of faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. I have never turned anyone away from being baptized under any conditions. If I am wrong, Jesus can straighten me out after I leave this life. I will never apologize for trying to help a believer be obedient to their Savior Jesus Christ. I believe I am doing what God wants me to do. After all it is a direct command of Christ. That is a wonderful sermon to preach, verse by verse and thought by thought. Matthew 28:18-20 if you need the text. It is a great expository sermon!

Pastors, let’s be more focused on preaching the Word, teaching the Word and following the Word. Keep your man made rules out of it. Do what God wants us to do!

 

 

Rev. David Johnson

Former Pastor

First Baptist Church of Austin, MN

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