Tailgating & Baptism

YEEHAH!!! It's official - baptism is now a cultural celebration on the level of a Clemson University football game. Bring your grill, RV, pop-up tent, big screen TV and party before baptism. That is precisely what NewSpring Baptist Church in Anderson, S.C. promotes.

"We invited people to come tailgate before the baptisms like they would before a football game," said Tony Morgan, chief strategic officer (?) at NewSpring in Anderson, S.C. "People brought their RVs and set up tents. There were televisions going with people watching football games before the baptism service started," Morgan told Baptist Press. "People brought grills and they were making food for themselves and sharing with others. It was pretty fun." The church, which is about 20 minutes from the Clemson University campus, set up three above-ground pools in the parking lot, and two pastors in each pool took about 90 minutes to baptize the 562 people, Morgan said. Morgan believes it's entirely appropriate to party before a baptism because the ordinance is a celebration. [see entire article]

While I agree that baptism is a celebration of one coming to faith in Christ, it is much more than that. It is a ceremony that demonstrates one's union with Christ through His death, burial, and resurrection. While I am sure it has happened before, I don't think most church members would be comfortable tailgating prior to a wedding ceremony.

Further, the solemnity which should surround the ceremony is lost in this atmosphere. It is not unlike one church a few years ago that actually baptized children in a fire truck, complete with sirens, bells, and fireworks.

At stake in the casualness that surrounds a "celebration" such as this (along with the Lord's Table, I might add - see 1 Corinthians 11:17-34) is the twofold purpose of baptism is lost. Mark Dever wrote the following in A Theology for the Church, recently published by Broadman & Holman:

Baptism functions as both a confession of sin and a profession of faith for the believer. Faith is professed in Christ and the objective realities of Christ's death, the gift of the Spirit, and the final resurrection, all of which are depicted in baptism. Furthermore, it testifies to the subjective experiences of confession and forgiveness, spiritual regeneration, and the newly discovered resurrection hope. Baptism portrays the Christian's union with Christ, and therefore with other Christians and the church (see Rom. 6:1-14) [p. 787, emphasis mine].

While baptism serves as a visible demonstration of one's faith in Christ (which is celebratory), it also serves as an outward confession of sin. This is where a "celebration" in the form of a tailgate party falls miserably short. May we all have a passion to baptize. I pray that all of those baptized that day have truly come to faith in Christ. But does this type of display identify more with Christ or the world? Would the "celebration" not have been as joyous inside the church? Do sinners see their need for a Savior while sitting around preparing their hearts for kickoff? May we heed the warning of Paul concerning the Lord's Table and apply it to the ordinance of baptism as well.

Understanding the Flock

Greg Thornbury asks the following question in the context of ministering to the postmodern, "How does a pastor minister to people whose lives pivot on the trivial and the profound - all within the space of a minute?" [A Theology for the Church, (B&H Publishing Group: Nashville, TN, 2007) 66]. The question itself is profound and not trivial (I guess I am in a good minute!). His question defines our culture, our congregations, our households, our vocation, our education, etc. In other words, our entire worldview today teeters back and forth between that which is trivial and that which is profound.

In biblical language, this might be translated as pivoting on the things of this earth and the things above, teetering between the temporal and the spiritual, walking by sight and not by faith. On any given Sunday we have people from all walks of life enter into the doors searching for something. Some are certain, some assume, some presume, and some are not at all sure what it is they are seeking. But all of them, from the sure to the unsure, from the illumined to the desperate, are at church because it is the one place on earth that should be spiritual, that should be profound and not trivial in worship toward God.

Thronbury then makes the following assessment, "The current question before church leaders revolves around how to best preach the truth of the gospel to a generation that seems simultaneously confused by, and yet oddly drawn to, spiritual things" [66]. In our postmodern age, this certainly does define the pastor's task. The pastor must not only prepare sermons that speak to different ages, both physical and spiritual, but also that address those that are puzzled yet curious about the Christian faith. This is a tall order in and of itself. This is the profundity of the pastorate in 2007.

But I would like to take Thornbury's assessment to the next level. The task of church leaders today also revolves around how to best preach the truth of the gospel to a church generation that seems confused by, and yet oddly drawn to, earthly things. While individuals are responsible for their own actions, the church today is partially to blame here because the power of the gospel and the truth of God's Word have been so trivialized on Sunday. Worship as defined by God in His Word has been replaced by entertainment and called worship. Worship for Him and about Him has been replaced by worship for me and about me. Yes, culture has influenced our worship as well. And this speaks only to Sunday. The pastor must recognize that for the other six days of the week (and half of the seventh day) congregants are bombarded with the things of this world. Our challenge is to help our people recognize that they cannot live daily in the profundity of God if they only give themselves to be saturated in the truth on Sunday. They cannot walk with the Lord while being shaped and molded by the trivial six days and hope to be conformed to the image of His Son on one only. How is it that our churches today are strangely drawn to earthly things?

Freedom!

Freedom. You will hear this word more than once today. All Americans remember the day that America's freedom was attacked. I was sitting in my den watching the coverage of the first plane that struck the World Trade Center as the second one crashed into the adjacent building. I was numb. I could not believe what happened. Yet I remember immediately thinking that this was no coincidence. This was a planned attack. And from that day forward, words that were not part of the American vocabulary became daily household words. One of those words is freedom, which to that point was taken for granted by many Americans and abused by others who associate the freedom of a republic with individual rights which, ironically, often infringe of the freedoms of others.

Which brings me to the thought I had this morning concerning freedom, sovereignty, and rights in relation to God. We who hold the doctrines of grace so dearly understand (at least as much as our feeble minds have been instructed by the Holy Spirit) that God is absolutely sovereign in all things and man is not, including one's salvation. Man often struggles with what J. I. Packer designated an antimony, two apparently irreconcilable truths concerning the Scripture's teaching on salvation - God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. However, in contemplating the doctrines of grace, one must begin before the TULIP, with what precedes all that God does in salvation. One must begin with God's sovereignty, or God's freedom. In relation to man's salvation, is God free or is man? (I encourage you to read James White's excellent book The Potter's Freedom for a full treatment of this doctrine). You see, God's freedom is at stake in our discussion about salvation. But unlike our freedom as Americans, which was brutally attacked on Sept. 11, 2001 by ruthless terrorists, God will not allow His freedom to be attacked. He will not allow His name to be profaned. God is sovereign. God is free. Forever and ever. Amen.

Praying with Anselm

I ran across this prayer from St. Anselm this morning. May this be our heart's desire as well!

My heart's voice is to Thee, my Lord and eternal King, Christ Jesus. The work of Thy hand dares to address Thee with loving boldness, for it yearns after Thy beauty and longs to hear Thy voice. O Thou, my heart's desired One, how long must I bear Thy absence; how long must I sigh after Thee, and my eyes drop tears? O Lord, all love, all loveable, where dwellest Thou? Where is the place of Thy rest, where Thou reposest all joyful among Thy favourite ones, and satisfiest them with the revelations of Thy glory? How happy, how bright, how holy, how ardently to be longed for, is that place of perennial joys! My eye has never reached far enough, nor my heart soared high enough, to know the multitude of the sweetnesses which Thou hast stored up in it for Thy children. And yet I am supported by their fragrance, though I am far away from them. The breath of Thy sweetness comes to me from afar.

- from St. Anselm's Book of Meditations and Prayers