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At Sandals Church, our vision is to be real with ourselves, God and others. This channel features sermons and teaching from Pastor Matt Brown and other members of the Sandals Church preaching team. You can find sermon notes, videos and more content at http://sandalschurch.com/watch
I'll never forget a phone call I had with my best friend. I didn't realize it at the time, but this became a critical moment and a critical conversation that led to my whole life being changed. I had known him since we were two years old, we grew up together. He was someone I've known my whole life, and we're 21 years old, he gives me a call, and he's like, hey man, I want to talk to you about something. I'm like, alright, he's kind of like slow to speak a bit, and so I go into the garage, I sit in my little Honda Civic, and he's like, so I got to ask you a question, I'm like, okay, go ahead, what do you get asked me? And he says, I'm going to get baptized, and I want to know if you can help me understand what I'm about to do. Now here's what you got to understand, we're 21, I'm not a Christian yet, but I think in his mind, because I went to the private school my whole life, and he went to the public school his whole life, that I'm going to have some kind of decent answer for him as to what baptism is. And so thankfully by the mercy of God, I don't remember a lot of what I shared, because I don't think it convinced anyone to get baptized, but he remembers some of that conversation, and he got baptized. Now what was really impactful for me was that I could not shake this conversation, because again here's my best friend, I've known him my whole life since we were two, and all of a sudden he's going to follow Jesus. And we used to run around in the daycare center together, we were running the playground together, like we ran things since we were two, and now he's a Christian, and he's willing to take this so far that he's going to take a bath in public. And I'm like, okay, sounds good, let's go with it. And I was so puzzled, but it actually led to me being radically changed, watching him be different, watching him take this step to follow Jesus. But I would imagine for a lot of us we find ourselves in a somewhat puzzled moment too, like in the modern moment today, in the modern world, we look at baptism and it might look strange, it might sound strange, and we might even talk about it, and even strange or kind of way. And I totally get that, it's the modern world right now. But keep in mind though, that at the same time, in this modern culture we find ourselves living in, people are constantly trying to understand who they belong to, and to have an identity, to know who they are, to have something that makes them feel secure and safe. Why is that? Because I think baptism strangely offers us an answer, that's who an identity. Baptism at the core is all about telling you who you are, and who it is that you belong to. Now for some of us, maybe you were culturally baptized, and by that I mean like your grandma got baptized, or your parents got baptized, so they baptized you as a very young kid, like it just happened to you. And maybe for others of you, you kind of went through like a season of guilt or shame, and like you just felt like, I gotta get cleansed, so let's get wet at church, right? So you got baptized, and you're unsure as to all of that. But wherever you might be today, my hunch is this, that all of us need baptism more than we think we do. That as you step into the waters, something happens to your very soul, as you come to understand who you belong to, who you actually are. And so with that in mind, let's read together from Matthew 28, I'm gonna ask that if you're willing and able, wherever you're at, that you would just pause, take a moment, and stand for the reading of God's Word, Matthew 28, and then I'll pray for us. Jesus says this, then the 11 disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When Jesus saw them, they worshipped him, but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. This is the Word of the Lord. Let's pray together. Spirit of God, as we have gathered here today, we want to take a moment, God, in prayer, to acknowledge that you have gathered with us, too. We ask now, God, that you would speak to us from your Word, that you might give us ears to hear, in eyes to see, and that you would open our whole self up so that we might receive all that you have for us, as we think about what it means to belong to you and to step into the waters of baptism. Would you do work now? We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you so much. You can all be seated. Well, as many of you know, we are coming off just an incredible Easter weekend, a Sandal Church. It was an amazing, amazing experience as we collectively received the good news that Jesus, in fact, is alive. And that change is absolutely everything. At all of our campuses and even with many of you, a part of our online community, we saw just a profound, beautiful response to the good news that Jesus is alive. Now what? What do we do with that? What do we do with the resurrection? Which is precisely why we read Matthew 28, because the end of his gospel captures not just the resurrection of Jesus, that he beat death, but that he also goes now on mission. Now I don't know about you, but if I were to come out of the grave, I would be looking for a handful of things, namely my enemies, I'd be looking to deal with some people, I'd be looking to get some power, right? I'd just beat death. Who can stop me? Who can stand in front of me? But Jesus tells his disciples to meet him on the mountain, because he's going to leave, and then he's going to send them out. He's going to commission them. And what I love so much about this encounter is that Matthew notes that as they saw him, some people worshipped and others doubted. Take note of that, because I think that's also true of the Easter experience, the Easter weekend, the Easter story. Some people hear that Jesus is alive, their whole life can change, they can become new, and they believe they worship, they get excited and they're transformed in that moment. Others, they still have questions. They still doubt, even like those who are on the mountain there, some doubted. And here's what I want us to consider that both worshipers and doubters can both become disciples of Jesus. In other words, your questions, your doubts don't have to drive you from Jesus, they can actually draw you closer to him. He invites all of us to consider what it looks like to become his disciple. Even if you have doubts. I experience this in my own life, as I'm growing as a Christian, I realize my questions are growing too. Like I might get more mature, hopefully by the grace of God, I'm better as a Jesus follower, but I still have questions. I still have doubts. I still have things that I'm wrestling through. And what I find to be so helpful in my journey with Jesus is that where I don't get answers, I get him. I get his presence. I get his people. I get things that help secure me as I navigate just the mystery of life. And so first and foremost, as we come off just a grand weekend, seeing what God did through our church and through men, thousands of churches around the world, be mindful that people are still wrestling. People are still trying to navigate what this all means for life, and the good news is Jesus calls them to still follow him too. And in so doing, he says that all authority under heaven and earth has been given to him. In other words, this is Jesus in the first person saying, I am Lord. Over everybody and everything I am Lord, therefore go and make disciples. Now disciples in the Greek means Mothateus. That's how you say it. Can you guys say it? Mothateus. All right, look at you all, man. You want to summon Aryan stuff. The word basically means learner. Learner. Now we don't have a great English equivalent, but one that people often use is student or apprentice. So when you think about what is Jesus doing after the resurrection, after he beat death, he's looking for learners. He's looking for people to become his students, to become his followers, to embrace his way of life as their own way of life. That's what Jesus is looking for. And so let me ask you, what would you say you're learning the most from right now in your life? Like who are your teachers? Who are the talking heads on your phones that you love to scroll to? Oh, let me get their take on this. Let me see what they have to say. Because my concern as a pastor is that certain voices have crept into the church and become dominant teachers who have no business speaking about the life of a disciple of Jesus. We have a teacher, friends. His name is Jesus. And there are certain individuals who come in the shape of political talking heads, cultural commentaries, and we can be drawn in. And so ask yourself, is Jesus your teacher? Are you his student? Is his way of life filling your life so that you are following him? And the first sign that you are, in fact, a student apprentice, according to Jesus, is that you get baptized. You get baptized. You see, this is how the journey of Easter becomes the journey of your life. You step into the waters of baptism. And in so doing, you are announcing that something new is happening in your life. Now, what exactly is new? What's exactly happening? That's what we're going to talk about. Because what is baptism? Plain and simple. As easy as I can say it, is this? Baptism is a symbolic act that's announcing a few things. It's a symbolic act, first of all, that it announces that your life is now connected to Jesus' life in that you're united to Jesus. I am united to Jesus. When he uses that phrase there in Matthew 28, baptized in them in the name, he's saying that God is weaving your name into his own name. God identifies with you and I when we get baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It's not just that we claim no other names but his name, but it's that Jesus himself identifies with you and you identify with him. You are united to him. You have a new place to belong. You have a new loyalty. Listen now, you have a new allegiance. Your allegiance lies with him. So when you're getting baptized, you're publicly saying that my whole self and life belong to Jesus. And this is why in a lot of ways this act is much like a wedding ceremony. When two people come together and two become, as scripture says, one, because you know, when you meet someone and you fall in love with him and you want to get married, the proposal sure is great. You probably spent too much money on it. You plan it. You stress over it. But the proposal is just one step. Right? When someone asks me when did I get married, I don't name the proposal day. I don't give them that day. I say December 3rd 2011. I got it right, Ashley. Right? Because that's when we got married. That's when I went public with my unity to Ashley. My whole life is now in her hands and hers and mine. It's that moment when it happened. Imagine for a second like someone tells you, hey, I really like you. I love you. Like, let's get married, but let's just not tell anyone. It's not this, you know, we're not going to do anything about it. Like, you got to ask, do you really love me? Because you want this to be known. And so listen now, baptism is to your relationship with Jesus, what your wedding is to your relationship with your spouse. Is that significant? Theologians have this word called union. And that's what this is after. You are uniting yourself to Jesus. And I don't know about you, but every single day I need to be personally reminded that I am united to Christ. Like, when I get up in the morning and I feel the weight of the day and who I am and who needs me, I got to first be reminded that I belong to Jesus. When I get on the freeway, God help us in Southern California. I need to be reminded that I belong to Jesus. When I deal with people, I got to be reminded that I belong to Jesus. Because if we're not careful, there are movements in the world. There are powers that work in the world. There are people and groups of the world that are drawing us in, enticing us to belong to them, to give our allegiance to them. And we've got to say, with all the confidence, if we've been baptized, no, no, my allegiance is first and foremost to King Jesus. That's where my allegiance lies. It's Christ over everything else. Christ over everything else. Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone is to whom I belong. That's where my allegiance lies. It's where my loyalty goes. Now, I got to be careful and clear. Because in life, we have all kinds of different, you know, harmless forms of allegiances. Like, we like particular brands. We like particular kind of foods or restaurants. Like, we have parts that things that we just align with that are like, yeah, this is the part of who I am, this is the part of my life. And they're harmless, right? Some of you have brand allegiances. I have a significant sports allegiance. I'm a diehard Laker fan to the court. And here's the thing, you cannot change my mind about this. And there are some days where it does not make sense. Like, the stress to my neurological system is so unneeded. But I'm aligned to them. My allegiance is to them. And here's the thing. Here's what you need to know. The Lord is a Laker fan too. He's a Laker fan. I'll prove this to you. There's a scripture. Here it comes. The Lord, L-A-W-D, the Lord is close to the broken hearted. And the broken footed. A broken feet, whatever, however you say, right? And as a Laker fan, yes, we have tons of glory. Seventeen titles. But we also have a lot of suffering. And the Lord is close to us. And our favorite players are regularly hurt. Broken feet. But that's where my allegiance lies. But there are dangerous forms of belonging in the world today that we need to be able to name and say, no, I have been baptized and I ultimately belong to Jesus. We need to be able to say Christ over family. The confusing words of Jesus, if you don't hate mother and father, you can't be my disciple. Now, wait a minute, Jesus. That's a little harsh. But wrestle with what he's saying about who you ultimately prioritize in your life. Christ over myself. Jesus has died yourself. Pick up your cross and follow me. I've got to submit my own desires, my longings, my dreams. Sit under Jesus as Lord. Christ over country. Let me say it again. Christ over country. I belong to a nation. I am grateful for where I'm at. But I have a king and a kingdom who I ultimately answered to. Christ over now, the power of sin. So that the things in my life that have gripped me, haunted me, continued to leave me down dark roads no longer have the same power over me. Christ over those things too. Listen to Paul's language in Colossians 2 where he says, having been buried with him in baptism, buried with him in baptism. In other words, when you step into the waters, you step into a cemetery. You are identifying with the death of Jesus. And Paul goes on, in which you are also raised with him through your faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. Death and resurrection are symbolized in you going down, coming back out. He goes on to say, when you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us. He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. Now, pause. Here's what I love. Paul, in talking about this document that was nailed, he's speaking about first century imprisonment. This is the imagery he's calling up. In other words, you could have been thrown into prison for debts that you couldn't pay. And over your cell would have hung what you owed and what the punishment for what you owed is going to cost you. And Paul is saying, in Christ, he took that off your cell door and he nailed it to the cross so that all of those things are now gone. And he disarmed the powers and the thores. In other words, the dark forces that work in this world have no more claim on you. In other words, you don't have to answer any more to the power of sin in your life or the penalties. And it's all gone. It's been buried with him. Everything, your past addictions, your failures, your envy, your jealousy, your pride, your lust, all of it is now dead. It's dead. The sin done to you, the abuse, the betrayal, the infidelity, the harm, the ways that people have excluded you. All of that is done too. It's all gone. What you once were, you no longer are in Christ. You are brand new. Your brand new in him now. Christ over the power of sin, the power of your past, all of it has been buried. You belong to him. You belong to Jesus. You're reunited to him. And I share this with you because I think, I don't think, I know that many of us, I think are tempted to forget our baptism. We're tempted to forget what we went through and who we are now in Christ because we so easily define ourselves by our past, what we once were, what we once did. So much so that we tend to go back to that old place in our thinking, in our acting, in our relationships. And so as a pastor, I'm concerned that some of us are at risk of forgetting our baptism, forgetting who we ultimately belong to. In the same way that I wear a ring as a married man, or as I celebrate my anniversary every December 3rd, you need to renew your vows and remember your baptism. Like for those of you today who are being baptized, write this date down. Don't forget who you are. You are new now. You are united to Jesus. Even more so, this symbolic act announces that we are united not just to Jesus but to Jesus' family. Like have you ever thought about us to why you don't baptize yourself? You're saying anyone just try to dunk themself? Somebody else baptizes you. It's a passive act. You receive this act, which is why I think Paul lays out this picture for us there in Galatians chapter 3. He's wanting us to understand the role of being a part of Jesus' family. Listen to what he says. So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith. For you all, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free nor is their male or female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Then he goes on to say, if you belong to Christ, listen, now your Abraham seed, get into that in a second and airs according to the promise. Now the language here is baptized into Christ. In other words, this new position you hold is a position you hold that's over and against every other position you might hold in society. All are one in Christ. So when this act happens to you, you are actually brought into a family. Another person in the family of God baptizes you. A disciple baptizes a new disciple. So you might have a position outside of church, but in here there's neither Jew nor Gentile. That title doesn't matter. And here your family. Now Paul isn't listening now like trying to end all differences in society, but what he is saying is that those differences no longer become the means by which we measure ourselves or other people in the church. For we all won in Christ. This is a powerful counter cultural picture of what a family is to be. Now based on accolades, position, ethnicity, gender, we are won in Christ. And so I don't care how rich you are, how poor you are, you got to step into the waters. The same waters. You might have a beautiful corner office, top story, or you might sweep streets. You're the same in here. You're equal in here. We all get into the waters. We all do. Why? Because every single one of us in this moment, in this room and whoever's watching, we all share a desperate need for Christ. We all do. And the good news is that everything that is true of Jesus is now true of us as a family member. Everything true about him is now true about us as his followers and his children. And that unites us. And this is special for me, because this weekend I'm going to baptize my own son Eli. Which is pretty cool. Yeah. And you know, as a dad, there's a lot of things that hopefully you get to hear as a parent, hopefully they're good things. A lot of good things you get to hear from people, but there's nothing quite like carrying your son to share that he wants to follow Jesus. And asking him, you know, do you know what you're doing? Do you know why? He said, God, he said, Dad, I want to be forgiven by God. And man, for all the ways that I have just not been a great parent, great dad, that gives my soul life. Like he wants to be a disciple. I love that. And we're having this conversation the other day, we're on the couch, and I say, Eli, you know, trying to explain to this idea of family. And I said, like, I'm always going to be your dad. You're always going to be my son. But the Bible says that you now are a brother in Christ. Like we're not just a family, but we are in Jesus' family. We are in the family. The family that God has been making since everything went to crap throughout the world. We're going to be part of that big family now. And you have all kinds of, you thought you had a lot of aunts and uncles. You got way more now, right? And we get to be brothers. Like this is an amazing thing for you to experience, even as a nine-year-old. And he says, yeah, Dad, I'm like, oh cool, not the response I was like before. And then he said, Dad, when did you get baptized? And I said, 21, son. And he goes, 21, can you do some form? I'm like, oh my gosh. Trying to have a sacred moment. He quotes a Drake lyric. And I'm like, oh, at this moment, we're going to just move on. But man, here's the thing. When you look around at people right now, they're your family. They're your brother and your sister. They're who you belong to. And at some point, all of us step into the waters and have our souls transformed and introduced into this family. And in the same way that we would attend the wedding of a family member, hopefully we got invited. We should attend the baptism of our family members. We should prioritize them. We should see them as important to celebrate and acknowledge, man, we are one in Christ today. I want to celebrate you and honor you. And as we do, we join not just this family, but thirdly now, this symbolic act announces that I am united to Jesus' mission when he talks about going and making disciples. You know, we read there in Galatians 3, Paul uses phrase, Abraham's seed, a bit strange. Heads of the promise. What promise? What he's referring to back is here in Genesis 12. Maybe one of the most important passages in the Old Testament. God made a promise to a family. The Old Testament is all about promises made, promises kept. And God makes a promise to Abraham. And this is what he says, I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you. I will make your name great. You will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you, I will curse. And he says, in all peoples on earth, it will be blessed through you. To Abraham and Sarah who have no children, they are promised children. Children that will outnumber the stars. And this family lineage, the stars of children will become a blessing to the entire world. There's one particular heir from his family who fulfills this promise in his name is Jesus. And so when Jesus gives to us in Matthew 28 the commission, he is in fact reinstating the Abrahamic promise to bless the world. You see, to make disciples, to help people get baptized and to learn all that Jesus taught and to obey him is in fact to bless the world. They're not different things. They are the same thing so that when you are a disciple going to work, you are to bless the world in your work. When you are a Christian, a disciple going into the home, you are to bless your home with your life in Jesus in your relationships. All the ways that you relate to food, people, events, it is as if Jesus is relating to those things themselves and you're to do so in a way that blesses everybody and everything. This is what it looks like to make disciples, to bring them into this moment. And this is the mission that we get to be a part of. Man, you, as you step into the water, as you say, man, Jesus, I belong to you and I am surrendering my life, my will, my dreams, to be a part of what you want to do. Because finally, maybe for the first time, you actually see what life has been worth living for. And you guys, this is not that hard. Know that sounds strange because sharing with people about Jesus feels terrifying in 2023. But I just think back, what happened if Donovan never calls me, my best friend? He's a young disciple, barely started following Jesus. Probably doesn't know where the New Testament's at. And he says, what do you think about baptism? As I've been thinking about that story and so grateful to God that Donovan called me, my best friend, man, he's called me a lot. But I am grateful for this call because he, whether he realized or not, was beginning to disciple me, you guys. He was beginning to show me the way of Jesus by doing what, simply sharing what was happening in his own life. Fredo, I'm getting discipled. What do you think? You went to the Christian school. It's good. But out of that combo, the spirit births something in my own soul because I couldn't make sense of why this man was following Jesus. But it drew me in. It drew me in. And I think there's a beautiful opportunity for all of us to begin to think about who's that person that you need to call? Text, invite over for a meal, have a conversation with, and just simply begin to develop relational equity, be curious about their life, and share maybe what God is doing in your life. And if there's an opportunity, share where you think God is working in their life. Because here's the great promise of the end of Matthew 28. I am with you always, even to the end of the age. In other words, God is constantly with his people and he is constantly present to people. All the time, he is closer to a synagogue and said that God is closer to us than we are to our own selves. And what oftentimes scares us to be on mission is that we forget Jesus is right there next to us. He is standing with you. When you're speaking, he's speaking. When you're not speaking, he's speaking. And when you're not doing anything, he's doing a million things. God is with you as you go forward. And so allow his presence, the gift of that statement. I am with you always, even to the end of the age, to be a mechanism that drives out fear and security and anxiety because man, there is no better life than the life of the disciple of Jesus who is helping to bring other people in and bless them. And so I want to encourage some of you today who maybe you're a Christian, you've been baptized, you need to remember your baptism today and to celebrate the family that you belong to. Others of you, I want to encourage you to take this step and to know the sensation of having your debt erased as you plunge yourself into the waters as you are submerged and baptized and the past has gone and the new has come to step into that opportunity because on the other side, it is awaiting a life that you can never possibly imagine. And just be open to the possibility that what you see and what you dream is just a tiny fraction of God's dreams for you, of his vision for you. When I walked into that garage to get on the phone with my friend, I had no idea the life I would ultimately step into. It's a profound one and this weekend I get to dump my son into that. This is a beautiful invitation for all of us to realize there is so much more in baptism than we need. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for this great invitation to receive your love, to receive Jesus dying for us on the cross that we can be forgiven and have a new life, have a place to call home in you. God, I pray that you would buy your Holy Spirit help people to take that step right now to be baptized, to announce to the world that they belong to Jesus and God would we once again renew our vows as a church that we ultimately belong to you. We belong to you and you belong to us. We love you. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Hey, Sandal Church Online. Today, as you got to hear, I talk about baptism and listen, we have not forgotten about you wherever you might be watching this. Maybe you're not close to a campus or you can't get to a Sandal Church campus. We still want to ensure that you take the next step of being baptized. And here's how you can do this. I want you to email me directly Alfredo Ramos at SandalChurch.com and we will. My team and I would love to help you take a next step and make sure that you get baptized on your journey of being the disciple of Jesus. And so please reach out to me. We'll follow up with you and make sure that this happens. Grayson Peace. Hi, I'm Pastor Matt Brown. Thank you so much for watching this content. The reason that we produce this content is to help you build an authentic relationship with God with yourself and ultimately with others. People just like you who are furthering their relationship with God. If you would like to transition from someone who just watches this content to partner with us so that we could produce that content, I would really like to invite you to go to donate.se. This is the best way for you to become a part of what God is doing at Sandal's Church to share this message of authenticity all across the globe. Thank you so much for your time and I appreciate your generosity.