Introduction

“If you’re able, please stand.” Reading 1 Pet. 3:21–22; 1 Cor. 11:23–25. “Thanks be to God.

My wedding ring. A kind of sacrament. A visible sign and seal of something far more important than the ring itself. The ring by itself has monetary value, but that’s all. But the ring when it becomes a sign and seal is pointing to something infinitely more valuable—my marriage.

This morning we’ll be thinking about the two sacraments of the church, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These, too, are visible signs and seals. Simple ceremonies we do that point to things infinitely more valuable. They are “VISIBLE SIGNS OF AN INVISIBLE GRACE.”

Sacraments (or ordinances) have a practical side, but also a deeply important spiritual side. This morning we want to see both.

The series: The Church: A New Society. Why are we preaching this series?

A few months ago, we sent out a proposal regarding child members at Cornerstone. That is, a proposal for how to think of children who are baptized at the church. The basic idea of the proposal is that in the New Testament, there is a connection between FAITH/CONVERSION, BAPTISM, and BEING A PART OF THE CHURCH.

As we had various conversations about our proposal, it was clear the elders needed to think through more of the practicals. But also, it seemed like some important truths about the church were getting lost. The church is a spiritual reality long before it’s a practical reality. The visible, practical side is real! But that spiritual reality is deeply important. It’s the foundation. We want our understanding of the spiritual nature of the church to drive our understanding of the practical side of the church.

There’s no formal procedure of church membership in the Bible, of course. But the building blocks are there:

• We talked about the keys of the kingdom a couple weeks ago. Part of the keys of the kingdom involves removing those who are unrepentant in certain sins (Matt 18:15–20). But you can’t be REMOVED from the church unless you part of it before that.
• We are called members of the body of Christ. And that’s not about our function. It’s about what is spiritually true of Christians. They are members of Christ’s body. He’s the head, we’re the body.
• Over 50 times, the Bible commands us to treat “one another” in a particular way—love one another, serve one another, build up one another. That requires a committed relationship.
• And then there’s all the places where the New Testament refers to a particular church gathering at a certain place and time. The church is the people. But those people gather at a certain place and time.
• All the essential building blocks are there for a conviction about church membership.

And the basic New Testament of church membership is this:

A Church is made up of Christians, and Christians are to join local churches.

Who were the members of the church in Jerusalem in Acts 2? The thousands saved and baptized on the day of Pentecost. And what did the thousands who were saved and baptized on the day of Pentecost do next? They joined the church. They were “ADDED” to the church in Jerusalem.

But what about children? Children are to be raised in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, and a church should be very committed to that task. A church is to make disciples of all nations, and that includes the nation within our own homes!

There’s a teaching and training of children that the church does, even if those children are not Christians.

But that’s different than calling them “members of Christ’s body” and thus true “members of the church, the body of Christ.”

But once a child or any person is converted, things change. Then they are a true member of the body of Christ, and so it’s good to consider whether they should be identified as a member of a local church.

Again going back to the keys of the kingdom, though, part of what the church does is to clarify what it even means to be a Christian. A Christian believes certain things and practices certain things.

And when that faith and practice is observable to others, it can become appropriate to think about baptism. Baptism is part of what identifies a Christian as a Christian. A baptized person is someone who has made a profession of faith and is identifying publicly with Christ.

The basic pattern for the saints in the New Testament is to be converted, then be baptized, then be part of a local church. Baptism is the sacrament that we do at the beginning of our Christian life.

And then when we’re part of the worshipping life of the church, we take the Lord’s Supper with our brothers and sisters. The Lord’s Supper is the sacrament we do often throughout our Christian life. It’s an act of REMEMBERING what Christ has done for us. It’s more than just remembering, but it includes that.

What we’ll see in this sermon, is that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are similar in what they require of the participant. Both require sincere faith and true understanding. Not PERFECT faith and COMPLETE understanding. But sincere faith and true understanding.

Our sermon: (1) The Sacraments; (2) The Sacraments as Signs and Seals; (3) The Sacrament of Baptism; and (4) The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.

Prayer

I. The Sacraments

Let’s work through how we go from the time of Jesus and the apostles to our understanding of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

The starting point is in the teaching of Jesus. He commanded the church to do the two things we’re talking about in this sermon.

The night before he died, he commanded us to remember him through the Lord’s Supper:

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁰ And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. (Luke 22:19–20)

And then at the end of Matthew’s gospel, he commanded the church to baptize disciples:

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. (Matt 28:19)

The Lord’s Supper and Baptism were commanded by Jesus, and so we call them ordinances, something ordered by the Lord Jesus.

The name “sacrament” has a more indirect background. The word is from the Latin sacramentum, which was used to translate the word for “mystery” in the New Testament (mustērion). The word “mystery” in the Bible speaks to something hidden but then revealed by God. The gospel is called a “mystery” more often than anything else, because it was something hidden and then revealed by God.

The sacraments do speak of mysteries that God has revealed to us.

But the Latin word sacramentum also had to do with a person giving something in pledge when an oath was made.

That also connects how we think of the sacraments. They represent our pledge to God. We are his, and he is ours. When we’re baptized, we’re affirming a mystery revealed to us, but we’re also affirming that Christ is our King and Lord.

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are called “ordinances,” because they are ordered (commanded) by the Lord Jesus, and they are called “sacraments,” because they are both sacred and mysteries.

Application

II. The Sacraments as Signs and Seals – Rom 4:11–12

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are also called “signs and seals.” These come from Romans 4, where Paul is talking about Abraham’s righteousness by faith. Abraham believed in God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness (Rom 4:3).

Abraham believed God’s promises, then he was counted righteous, and then he was circumcised. That order is important.

Paul in Rom. 4:11 says,

He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. (Rom 4:11a)

For Abraham, circumcision was a “sign” of his “righteousness.” It was a sign of his faith and of God’s declaration that he was righteous.

The “sign” is a visible thing, in this case circumcision. But it points to an “invisible grace.” Augustine captured the idea that sacraments are “visible signs of an invisible grace.”

Paul also called circumcision a “seal” of Abraham’s righteousness. The idea there is that it was God placing his “seal” on Abraham to assure him. It was like a seal of approval, a stamp that says, this is the genuine article. It has been examined and is legitimate.

In the Old Testament, circumcision was a sign given by God to his people. In the covenant with Noah, the rainbow was a sign as well. A marker that declared for all to see that God’s promise is real and still holding.

You can hear that in our Trinity Catechism:

What is a sacrament, and what are the sacraments of the church?
A sacrament is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ, which is a visible sign of an invisible grace and a seal of the covenant of grace. The two sacraments are baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
(Romans 4:11; Matthew 28:19–20; 1 Corinthians 11:17–26)
Trinity Catechism

III. The Sacrament of Baptism – Col 2:11–12

We to look at baptism. One vivid passage that speaks to the meaning of baptism is in Colossians 2. What we’ll see in this passage is the connection between our salvation in Christ, true faith, and baptism.

Paul writes,

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, ¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. (Col 2:11–12)

Once again circumcision is mentioned. But now it is a “circumcision made without hands.” It was a work that Christ did for us spiritually.

In the early church, there were false teachers who claimed that a Christian needed to be circumcised. Sometimes those false teachers taught that you must be circumcised even to be saved.

In these verses it seems Paul is speaking to that issue.[1] Paul is saying we need a KIND of circumcision, but not the Jewish kind. We need the circumcision made without hands. It’s not a physical act. It’s a spiritual act. An internal act that happens “through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.”

Faith in Christ leads to us being united with Christ. And because we’re united with Christ, we’re united with him in his burial and his resurrection.

Notice the object of the faith here. Faith understands God’s power and Christ’s resurrection. Faith doesn’t grasp everything, of course. But it understands God’s power displayed in the resurrection of Christ.

But notice in verse 12, as he’s unpacking all of this, that water baptism is right there. We’re “buried with him in baptism.” And then he says it is “baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith.”

We know that ceremonies by themselves accomplish nothing. Baptism by itself does nothing. Faith is what unites us to Christ. But baptism is a picture of that burial and resurrection.

The key for us this morning is the way that FAITH and BAPTISM go together. Faith is what accomplishes the spiritual reality of union with Christ. But BAPTISM is a SIGN and SEAL of that spiritual reality.

Baptism in this case is the “visible sign” that points to the “invisible grace” of our faith and our union with Christ.

We see something similar in 1 Peter 3:21–22. Peter was talking about the flood of Noah, and the way 8 people were delivered through the water on the ark (1 Pet 3:20). They were delivered “through water,” he says (1 Pet 3:20). He turns from the waters of Noah to the waters of baptism:

Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²² who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. (1 Pet 3:21–22)

Now the waters of baptism are a sign of deliverance from the judgment of God. But Peter is quick to say here, that it’s not the water itself that is saving. It’s the waters of baptism when they are combined with “an appeal to God for a good conscience.” That’s what faith is, “an appeal to God for a good conscience.”

And then once again the resurrection of Christ comes into view. Our “appeal to God for a good conscience” is only effective because of “the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.”

An appeal for a good conscience can only work if you are appealing to God himself on the basis of the work of Christ. Otherwise, the appeal accomplishes nothing.

Such an “appeal to God” is faith reaching out to God for salvation. That language is helpful, though. It reminds us that part of saving faith is asking for God to save us, to cleanse us, to wipe away our sins.

Colossians 2 and 1 Peter 3 remind us of some important aspects of baptism.

First, there is an amount of understanding that’s required. A person doesn’t need to understand all the aspects of our union with Christ or the flood of Noah. But they need to understand the basic reality of our sin and the salvation offered to us in Jesus Christ.

Saving faith grasps the work of Christ—the Son of God living among us, suffering for us, dying for us, being buried for us, and then being raised again and ascending to the right hand of the Father.

Second, a baptism without such faith is an empty symbol. It is wearing a wedding ring when you never made vows and no one made vows to you.

Now we turn to the second sacrament.

IV. The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper – 1 Cor 11:23–34

The two sacraments of the church go together. The sacraments go together, one initiatory and one ongoing. Baptism is a thing you do once in your Christian journey, but the Lord’s Supper is something you regularly.

Let me read Paul’s words to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11:23–26:

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, ²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” ²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Cor 11:23–26)

Many of the times we take the Lord’s Supper we read these words from the apostle Paul. In this letter to the Corinthians, Paul has a lot of correction to bring. One of the areas of correction has to do with their practice of the Lord’s Supper. Instead of being a place to SUPPORT the unity of the church, it was becoming a place where the unity of the church was being RUINED.

Some were feasting at the table—even to excess with wine—before the others in the church even got there. They were treating it like some banquet in a pagan temple.

One of the key exhortations he makes in this passage is to take the Lord’s Supper only when “YOU (ALL) COME TOGETHER.” He’ll repeat that phrase, “when you come together,” 5 times in this passage!

But then Paul repeats the Lord’s Supper tradition he “received from the Lord.”

We read the familiar words of Jesus taking bread and breaking it and saying, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Paul’s words hear are closest to Luke’s gospel. No surprise, since Luke and Paul are often together in these years of Paul’s ministry. It’s easy to imagine Luke working on his gospel even while Paul is writing his letters.

The first thing said connects to Jesus’s body. The bread broken is to be a SIGN of Jesus’s broken body. The simple bread eaten is the “visible sign” that points us to the “invisible grace” given to us through the body of Jesus.

And then is the cup: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Now the “visible sign” is pointing us to the “invisible grace” of “the new covenant” in Jesus’s “blood.”

With the crucifixion of Christ, a “new covenant” was inaugurated by God with his people. The new covenant was promised to Jeremiah (Jer 31:31–34). When that new covenant was inaugurated, suddenly the covenant with Moses immediately became “the old covenant.”

The author Hebrews teaches that in Heb. 8:13:

In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. (Heb 8:13)

The heart of what makes the covenant with Moses the “old covenant” is that you could be a covenant member, even if you were not a true believer. You could be a member of the covenant community, even if you were not someone who was united to God through faith.

But with the new covenant, that is no longer true. At the end of the new covenant promise in Jeremiah 31, the prophet says this:

Jeremiah 31:34:

And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jer 31:34)

Truly knowing the Lord and forgiveness of sins: These are promises only true of someone rightly related to God by faith.

Christ in the Last Supper is telling us, “the shedding of my blood means the promises of the new covenant are fulfilled through me, and the era of the new covenant is now here.”

Then Paul says that with our eating and drinking we “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

The Lord’s Supper is a gospel remembrance, but it’s also a gospel proclamation. We “proclaim the Lord’s death.” We’re not hiding it or avoiding it. We’re proclaiming it.

But it’s a proclamation that sees a future day of the Lord: “until he comes.” He has died, yes. But he lives now. And he is coming again!

That reminds us, too, though, that faith is required for the person taking the Lord’s Supper. The person who eats and drinks is able to “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” Otherwise, the SIGN is not accomplishing what it was intended for. The Visible Sign is meant to be a proclamation of the Invisible Grace of both the Lord’s death and the Lord’s return.

As Paul continues, we can see even more that faith and understanding are required.

1 Corinthians 11:27–29:

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸ Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. ²⁹ For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. (1 Cor 11:27–29)

Now he presses into HOW we are to take the Lord’s Supper. We do it in a “worthy manner.” We “examine ourselves.” We “discern the body.” These are very intentional ideas. They require some amount of understanding and faith. We’re able at some level to look into our hearts and lives and “examine” them in the light of God’s Word.

“Discern the body” is a mysterious idea. Does he mean “discern the body” of Jesus? Does he mean “discern the body” of the Church, which is also called “the body of Christ”? I think the answer is, “Yes.” But with an accent on the Church.

The person taking the Lord’s Supper is able to examine himself and to have some awareness of the church and its unity.

The pointing of “examine himself” is to see if there is some sin in our lives which makes it hypocritical to take the Lord’s Supper. Perfection is not the standard. Acknowledging our sinfulness doesn’t make us hypocrites—it makes us honest. But living in unrepentant sin is to reject God’s Word and his truth that we are sinners in need of a Savior.

Unrepentant sin means continuing to sin when you know it’s a sin and there’s no real attempt on your part to stop the sin. Some sins have a real hold on us. Some sins we’ll fight till the day we die. But unrepentant sin means there’s no real attempt to stop the sin and do the things that will help you sin less.

That kind of sin pattern makes it hypocritical for you to take the Lord’s Supper.

What does all this tell us about the Lord’s Supper?

First, when you put all this together, it’s clear that taking the Lord’s Supper requires understanding and faith. Not perfect understanding. But some understanding. Understanding of what it is we’re remembering. What it is we’re proclaiming. Some ability to “examine ourselves” and the church around us.

Second, Paul makes it clear that we’ll take the Lord’s Supper often—where we’re only to be baptized once as believers.

Third, God wants us to be Gospel-centered Christians throughout our entire Christian life. What are we to keep remembering? The crucifixion. We never outgrow the need to hear about it.

Our sins are regular reminders of our need.

Conclusion

The sacraments are VISIBLE SIGNS OF AN INVISIBLE GRACE.

What about next steps?

Next steps for baptism:

Read Believe and Be Baptized. Talk to an elder. There’s no need to rush. A good understanding is necessary. Not a COMPLETE understanding but a good understanding.

Next steps for membership:

Be part of the life of the church. Come on Sundays. Visit a home group. Get to know the people. Take the members class.

Next steps for the Lord’s Supper:

This is a sacrament for Christians. And the best way to know you’re a Christian is that you’ve been baptized as a believer. If you haven’t been baptized, maybe start there.

And if you have, come ready. Come prayerful.

“Do this in remembrance of me.”

1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures. (1 Cor 15:1-3)

Prayer and closing song.

[1] On this idea see the commentaries of Markus Barth and Helmut Blanke (Anchor) and Arthur Patzia (NIBC).