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(Rev. Sylvia Griffiths)
“ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ”
(the words of Jesus in Matt 28:19)
The final theological belief that Australian Baptists are committed to notes that we believe in “ The two ordinances of the Lord Jesus Christ, namely Baptism and the Lord's Supper, which are of perpetual obligation: Baptism being the immersion of believers upon the profession of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and a symbol of the fellowship of the regenerate in His death, burial and resurrection; the Lord's Supper being a memorial, until He comes, of the sacrifice of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. ” This is probably the most controversial of the theological statements that Baptists include in their doctrinal basis.
Jesus endorsed two religious practices that Australian Baptists believe they should follow, 1. Baptism, 2. the Lord's Supper (or Communion) .
Baptism occurs once. Baptists believe that Baptism by full immersion most accurately demonstrates a believer's faith and participation in Jesus' death, burial and resurrection. As a person enters the water, they symbolically display their death to their old life without Jesus, they are “buried” under water and then rise again to their new life with him (e.g. see Rom 6:3 – 11) . For this reason, Baptists believe that the best way for a new believer to publically demonstrate their faith in the good news of Christ is through Baptism by immersion.
Digressing slightly, most Baptist constitutions stipulate that a person can only become a member of the church if they have been baptised by full immersion. However, it is acknowledged that this is not always possible (for various reasons) . Therefore an increasing number of Baptist churches are making allowances in their constitutions for those unable to be baptised by full immersion and / or those from other faith traditions.
The Baptist Union of Victoria (BUV) has a model constitution for churches to use. The constitution has a section that allows membership to those who've been baptised by full immersion only. It has an alternate section that allows exceptions to this rule.
Back to our ninth doctrinal belief: the Lord's Supper is practiced more regularly than Baptism. Jesus sacrificed his life so that whoever believes in him and accepts him as their Saviour and Lord is saved. So we eat broken bread together to remind us that Jesus' body was broken for us. And we drink juice together to remind us that Jesus' blood was shed for us. Jesus encouraged his followers to continue this practice until he returns as a reminder of his sacrifice for us in the past, a rededication of our lives to him in the present, and as a declaration of our faith in his coming again in the future (e.g. see 1 Cor 11:23 – 26) . Australian Baptists practice communion as a memorial (or reminder) of all that Jesus has done for them. It reminds us of how far short of God's perfection we fall and our desperate need for Christ our Saviour who makes peace between us and God. Christ's perfect sacrifice makes us acceptable to God and fit for eternity with him, as long as we continue to believe and trust in Christ.
Digressing slightly, back to the subject of the constitution, although a Baptist constitution stipulates:
a) the mode of Baptism (in the case of our constitution, this means Baptism by full-immersion only)
b) conditions for membership (in our case, the constitution stipulates only those who've been baptised by full immersion can become a member of the church) ,
current Baptist constitutions (including ours, and the BUV's model) say nothing about who may or may not receive Communion. Instead the constitution reminds us that Communion provides an opportunity for us to enter in to close fellowship with Jesus in order to rekindle our love for him and rededicate our lives to him. It is up to the individual believer (or in the case of a child it is up to them in conjunction with the believer who has brought them to church) to determine whether or not they will take Communion. We are to judge only ourselves in this matter.
Thus concludes our contemplation of what Baptists believe as outlined in the Australian Baptist Doctrinal Basis. Hopefully this eight week series has helped you to better understand the essence of what we believe (and where there is scope for differences of opinion!).
(Rev. Sylvia Griffiths)
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
Last week I wrote of Josiah's love of Colin Buchanan's music. A number of Colin's songs help children to learn bible verses. One of them has the lyrics: “Jesus said I am the way (oo-cha, oo-cha, oo-cha-cha) ; Jesus said I am the truth (oo-cha, oo-cha, oo-cha-cha) ; Jesus said I am the life (oo-cha, oo-cha, oo-cha-cha) ; Jesus is the life (cha-cha) ; Jesus is the truth (cha-cha) ; Jesus is the way (cha-cha) ; the only way to God; singing way-oh-way-oh John 14:6 (cha-cha) way-oh-way-oh John 14:6 (cha-cha) .…” It's a very catchy number that has ensured I remember the actual bible reference for these familiar words.
John 14:6 is a good one in support of number seven of the nine theological beliefs that Australian Baptists are committed to. Statement number seven notes that we believe in “ the necessity, in order to know salvation, of repentance towards God and of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. ” In other words, we believe that salvation is dependent upon an individual's repentance of living life without Christ as their Lord and Saviour and upon their faith in the good news about him (e.g. see John 3:16; Rom 5:1 – 21; 10:9 – 13) .
Statement number eight of our doctrinal basis notes that Australian Baptists believe in “ t he resurrection of the dead, and the final judgment of all people by the Lord Jesus Christ. ” In other words, all people past, present and future will one day stand before Jesus and be judged by him. He will decide our eternal destiny once and for all (e.g. see Acts 10:42; 17:30 – 31; 2 Tim 4:1) .
Last week I mentioned during my sermon that Robert Frost claimed he could sum up everything he'd learned about life in three words. They were quite simply: “it goes on!” This life is not all there is. We plan for our retirement, but do we plan for eternity? Beyond this life, life continues. Faith in Christ secures our joyous eternal future with him.
(Rev. Sylvia Griffiths)
“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life .” (Tit 3:4 – 7)
Josiah loves the music of Colin Buchanan. Colin (once a teacher and Play School presenter) is a country music singer who's developed “Aussie Praise for Kids”. Colin is gifted in putting bible verses and Christian teachings to music in a way that kids LOVE. Every morning, Josiah gets up, points to the stereo and sternly waggles his finger until we put on one of Colin's CDs. Then he smiles, claps and moves to the music.
One of Colin's songs is called “Big Words That End In SHUN.” It teaches kids the meaning of words like: “salvation,” propitiation,” “sanctification” and “justification”. Today's Australian Baptist belief includes some of these big words. We believe in “ the immediate work of the Holy Spirit in the regeneration of men and women, in their sanctification, and in their preservation to the heavenly Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. ” This basically means that we believe God gifts new believers in Christ with his S pirit who simultaneously rebirths them spiritually (e.g. see John 3:3 – 8) . Thus we're regenerated / made alive in the Spirit. God's Spirit cleanses us (i.e. forgives us) for our ultimate sin of living without Christ and the sins we committed up to that point. The Spirit dedicates us to God, making us at peace with him. The Spirit commences his sanctifying work – i.e. transforming us bit by bit into Christ's image (e.g. see 2 Cor 3:18). This work, which continues right up until our death (provided we remain in him) , saves us to spend eternity in the heavenly Kingdom of Jesus (e.g. see 1 Thes 5:23; 1 Pet 1:1 – 16) . The Spirit is vital to Christ's ongoing work. Praise the Lord!
(Rev. Sylvia Griffiths)
“ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord .” (Rom 6:23)
We continue in our series through the nine beliefs outlined in the Australian Baptist's Doctrinal Basis . Just a reminder that I'm writing this series because we're all attending a Baptist church and it's nice to remind ourselves what the denomination believes. We're up to belief number 5 which is a bit of a mouthful: Australian Baptists believe in “ t he salvation of men and women from the penal consequences and power of sin through the perfect obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ, His atoning death, His resurrection from the dead, His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and His unchanging priesthood .”
In a slightly expanded nut-shell: no human is perfect (e.g. Rom 3:23) , yet God is (e.g. Isa 6:1 – 5) . We continually sin against God by acting against his will and character in thought / word and deed. The power that sin has is to separate us from God (our Creator in whose image we are made) . The penal consequences of sin is eternal separation from God (e.g. Rom 6:23) . We needed to be liberated from the power of sin and its penal consequences. So God sent his Son, Jesus, to be our liberator, reconciler and ticket to spending eternity with God (e.g. Gal 1:3 – 5) . It was in obedience to the Father that Jesus – who was perfect – was legally crucified by sinful men (e.g. Matt 20:18 – 19). Jesus sacrificed his life for ours to pay the penalty of our sin. God then raised Jesus from the dead (e.g. Mark 16:6). He was seen by many witnesses (e.g. Acts 3:15) . Eventually Jesus returned to heaven to reclaim the full powers of his divinity (e.g. John 20:17; Acts 1:9 – 11; Heb 10:12). Jesus has the sole right to be our ultimate, eternal minister who is able to save us from the eternal penalty we deserve for our sin (e.g. Heb 4:14 – 16; 5:1 – 10; 7:22 – 28) . Rather than spend eternity without God, thanks to Jesus we will spend eternity with God. Hallelujah!
(Rev. Sylvia Griffiths)
“… all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God .” (Rom 3:23)
Nobody is perfect… but Christians are forgiven (hallelujah!)
We are up to the fourth doctrine in our series through the nine theological beliefs outlined in the Australian Baptist's Doctrinal Basis. That is: Baptist's believe in the fallen, sinful and lost estate of all people . Said another way, none of us are perfect.
When God's character, as revealed to us throughout His Word, is our benchmark for perfection, we realise how short of the mark we fall. Compared to God, even the most ‘perfect' people we know are still far from perfect. Yet we often compare ourselves to others rather than God. This is an exercise in futility for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it means we're aiming for the wrong target. In archery, it is important to focus on the target you want to hit. This provides the best chance of hitting the bullseye. If you use a mirror to shoot at the target, you will dramatically reduce your chances of hitting it. When we compare ourselves to others, even the godliest people we know, we are using a reflection to hit our target rather than aiming directly for Jesus. No one is perfect so we need to look to Jesus to see how we should live, not others.
The second reason comparing ourselves to others is an exercise in futility is because it encourages us to fall in to the traps of either criticising or envying others. Jesus said that “envy” is evil and it defiles us (see Mark 7:20 – 23) . He also told us to beware of judging others (e.g. see Matt 7:1 – 5) . It's important to look to God in order to live his way, rather than imperfect people. It is equally important not to expect others to be perfect – no one ever will be this side of heaven.
Acknowledging how imperfect we are compared to God helps us to recognise how desperately we need Jesus and the Spirit's help to become more like him. Thus the importance of acknowledging the fact that everyone is fallen, sinful and lost without Jesus.
(Rev. Sylvia Griffiths)
“…The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.”
“Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Matt 26:63–64, NIV)
We continue to work our way through the nine key theological beliefs higlighted in the Australian Baptist's Doctrinal Basis. The third one notes that Australian Baptists believe in “ the deity (i.e. divinity) and incarnation (i.e. humanity) of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity.” Some world religions will state that Jesus was a man, but not God. Some sects or cults will maintain that Jesus is God but was not fully human.
Christian denominations share the belief that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine. Jesus laid aside the full extent of his divinity while he was on earth in order to identify with us (e.g. see Phil 2:5 – 11) . An analogy is a father playing AFL with his young child. A loving father will not use all of his skills and strength to play the game with their child. Instead they will limit their abilities in order to teach the child and help them to feel as though they have a chance at winning!
It was important that God came to earth in the form of a human (Jesus) in order to reconcile humanity to its Creator. Most of the year we reflect on the divinity of Christ and appropriately worship him as God. At Christmas and Easter times we are reminded of Jesus' humanity as demonstrated through his birth and his death. There are benefits of Jesus' divinity (e.g. “We can have real knowledge of God. Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9)” – Millard Erickson, Christian Theology , p. 720) And there are benefits of his humanity (e.g. we are assured that Jesus really does empathise with us and pray meaningfully for us – see Rom 8:33 – 34; Heb 7:25). What aspects of Christ's divinity and humanity are you grateful for?
(Rev. Sylvia Griffiths)
“ Go therefore & make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit ,” (Matt 28:19)
Jesus commanded his followers to go out and help others to seek and find him as their Lord and Saviour. Once they'd done that, they were then to baptise the new believers in the name of the Father, Son and Spirit. Note that the word “name” is singular, yet three names are given. In this statement, Jesus reinforced the fact that we worship one God, yet God is three in one. Thus we worship a God who is Triune. It's all a bit incomprehensible – yet we cling to the mystery of the Trinity in faith.
Some religions will accept God but not Jesus or the Spirit. Others might accept God and Jesus but not the Spirit etc. Christians maintain that God is three persons in one. Thus the Baptist Denomination includes in its Doctrinal Basis: we believe in “ the existence of one God in three persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit ” .
At Bible College , our theology lecturer commented on various
images used to help people reflect on the Trinity. His favourite
(and mine) is the three leaved Celtic knot. It is drawn with one (curved) line, yet it has three distinct leaves – thus it is three in one. That is why I asked Shobha if she might paint an artwork for our foyer representing the Trinity in this way. She did a WONDERFUL job.
Scripture contains three separate but interrelated types of evidence that help us to form a theological understanding of the Trinity. They include,
• Evidence that God is one (i.e. evidence for the unity of God)
• Evidence that there are three persons who are God
• Support that God is “three in one” (i.e. there are three beings who are separate and yet are also unified as one God)
If you would like more information, let me know and I will give you a brief document that I prepared on the Trinity for one last year's Bible Studies.
(Rev. Sylvia Griffiths)
“ All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work .” (2 Tim 3:16 – 17)
Last year I put a copy of the “ The Australian Baptist Doctrinal Basis” on our notice board. Any Baptist church affiliated with the Baptist Union of Australia (including ours) should agree with all of these beliefs (otherwise they risk being kicked out of the Union ). The list is expressed in theological terms understood by those who've undertaken theological study, but not necessarily understood by all people attending Baptist churches. Since you're attending a Baptist church, I thought it might be nice for you to know and understand what theological beliefs the Baptist denomination hold most dear. So I thought I'd start at the beginning and write a different weekly Link article on each of our beliefs.
The first belief is quite straight forward. That is, we believe in “ the divine inspiration and supreme authority of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments .” Said more simply: we believe that the Bible contains what God most wants humanity to know about Him, His interaction with humanity throughout the ages and His activity in our world. God inspired certain people to write the various books of the Bible (e.g. see 2 Tim 3:16) . But it is His word to us direct from Him. Hence the Bible is our ultimate written authority and its authority overrides any other.
That's why Baptists should believe that the Bible is the most important book for us to read. Other books may talk about the Bible, or about subjects addressed in the Bible. But they do not substitute for reading the Bible itself. I wonder how many Baptists have read the whole Bible? How seriously do we take the Bible? Seriously enough to sense a need to read it every day? When was the last time you read all of the Bible? It's not too late to join our 2010 Bible Challenge. Why not start today?
(Rev. Sylvia Griffiths)
“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“…I will hope in [ the Lord” says my soul ]
The LORD is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul that seeks him .” (Lam 3:22 – 25)
A few years ago I had the opportunity to create a “Centring Prayer” for a class at Whitley College (the Baptist Bible College in Melbourne ) . I decided to combine a few different techniques and concepts to come up with the idea of playing some soft Christian instrumental music in the background, while inviting people to enter in to a Biblical narrative in a new way. My desire was to help participants to reawaken their connection with God. The difficulty was finding music that was Christian, unrecognisable (to minimise distractions) and uniformly mellow.
I explored various Christian bookstores. It's easy to buy instrumental CDs. However they're generally instrumentals of well known hymns or Christian songs. Of the instrumental CDs that have unrecognisable tunes, it's difficult to find one where the pieces are all of a similarly mellow nature. Generally speaking it will be an eclectic mix of some up-tempo instrumentals and other more easy going pieces.
I finally had success. I found a beautiful instrumental CD called “Quietime: Devotion” by Eric Nordhoff which I use whenever I do a centring prayer (at deacon's meetings, Federation Village services, and this morning's service) . I use the same CD for background music at our Maundy Thursday prayer nights each year. It's a fantastic CD.
When planning last December's “Silent Night of Guided Reflection,” I felt that rather than using my normal “Quietime: Devotion” CD, it would be good to use a CD with Christmas tunes playing in the background. However I wanted to find an instrumental CD that would have uniformly mellow Christmas pieces on it (I don't ask for much do I?!) It's easy to find Christmas instrumental CDs – but to find one uniformly mellow is more challenging. I thought that if worst came to worst I would simply use my dependable “Quietime” CD for our “Silent Night.”
Things were unusually busy in November and I forgot about my desire to purchase an instrumental Christmas CD. However, Kieran's godson (our nephew) was having a dedication service for his son. A perfect excuse to visit Word Bookstore and buy a suitable Bible for Zane (our grand-nephew who was Christened).
When we got to Word, I suddenly remembered that I wanted to find an instrumental Christmas CD. I walked to the music section of the store and there on the first shelf I reached was “Quietime Christmas ” by Eric Nordhoff! I had no idea the CD existed. You have no idea how excited I was! I went to the instrumental section of Word to see if there were more copies… but there were none. I looked for other Christmas instrumental CDs but there were none others as suitable. It was a arbitrary CD on a random shelf that was not so accidental for me.
I asked the shop assistant if I could have a listen to the CD. As I sat with my headphones on I marvelled at my luck of finding the perfect CD at the right time so easily. Then I chastised myself because I felt that my marvelling at my luck indicated a lack of faith. I was reminded to look for God's activity around me in the every day things of life.
I believe God ordered that CD for me and made it jump out at me. I believe that God wanted to remind me of his love and care for me in that simple way. I believe that God wants us to look for him in the everyday things of life. He cares for us in an infinite number of ways that we're generally unaware of and every now and then he shows off in a way that prompts us to marvel at him and express our gratitude afresh.
Are you finding God in the every day things of life? Are you looking for him? Are you acknowledging his presence with you and care for you daily? Let's resolve to seek God afresh in the everyday things of life this year. “ The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning”
(Rev. Sylvia Griffiths)