How are you? How is your week going?
Instead of being reminded of this past Sunday’s sermon of the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, we will look at what we will be doing this Sunday as a church. If you want to be reminded of the sermon, you can go online and check it out (http://newlifecolorado.net/).
This Sunday, during our second service (10:15am), we will be baptizing and confirming various people from our congregation. Two of our EM children will be among those who are getting confirmed! We rejoice with the Hans and the Kims for the confirmation of Noah and Kuyper!
We don’t believe that the sacrament of baptism saves. There is nothing special with the water. But it points to something special. It points to the Covenant of Grace that God has made with us. It points to the salvation that we have. And the promise that is for us is also for our children. That is why we baptize them. That is why we had 5 infant baptisms this past summer.
Infant baptism is not the end, but it’s only the beginning. The parents are called to love and raise the children to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Our denomination’s Book of Church Order says this:
By virtue of being children of believing parents they are, because of God’s covenant ordinance, made members of the Church, but this is not sufficient to make them continue members of the Church. When they have reached the age of discretion, they become subject to the obligations of the covenant: faith, repentance, and obedience. They then make public confession of their faith in Christ, or become covenant breakers, and subject to the discipline of the Church. (56-4)
The goal of infant baptism is to see our children take the faith passed unto them and make it their own. It’s with the goal of confirmation in mind. We want our children to say with their lips and hearts that they trust Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
We have such a privilege this Sunday to witness our EM children get confirmed in the faith. This is not just the fruit of their parents’ work, but it’s the fruit of the church being the community in which their children were raised. Ultimately, we don’t praise ourselves or the parents, but we praise the Lord for His grace and mercy. And we look forward to confirming our covenant children in the future!
Let’s rejoice together as a church for their profession of faith. Let us be reminded of the good news of Jesus Christ and His amazing grace upon our lives. And let us share the good news, not just with our children but with the whole world.
See you this Sunday for Lord’s Day worship. Pray for one another.
In Christ,
Pastor Tim
Photo credit: https://elizabethbaptist.org/blog/item/58-we-win-through-our-profession-of-faith