Word of Salvation – Vol. 37 No. 44 – November 1992

 

Baptism Sermon

 

Sermon by Rev. H. De Waard on Malachi 4:4-6

Readings: Malachi 4:1-6; Luke 1:5-17

Singing: 103A, 130,434, 428, 197,477.

 

Dear Congregation, beloved in Christ the Lord,

It is a proud and happy moment for young parents to hold their baby for baptism.  Their happiness, their future, their hopes and dreams are wrapped up in this little bundle of joy.

Parents present their children to the Lord because they want these children to belong to God.

But what is even more important is God stooping down in love, saying: `Parents, I will be your God and also your child’s God.’

Baptism is God communicating love.  God is always doing that.  When Adam and Eve had sinned God came to them, calling: ‘Adam, where are you?’

He found the guilty pair and made provision to save them.

But in that relationship of love, we humans, all of us, are asked to respond.  We are not totally passive.  There is nothing worse than apathy.  There is nothing worse than people listening to the Gospel week after week and stifling a yawn.

God deals with us as unique, intelligent beings who can respond, communicate and love.  God treats us that way because we are created in his image.  That’s why we are always communicating, for good or ill.  We can express love as well as hate, acceptance as well as rejection.  Faith or unbelief.

God is speaking to us today through this service of baptism.  He is looking for the response of faith from young and old alike.

So it was in Malachi’s day too.  At that time the people of God were lukewarm at best.  They were nominal Christians.  They served God for what they could get out of Him.  And God was not amused.  He said: ‘I want to see the reality of you spiritual life in your attitude towards each other, possessions, worship, family living.  ‘

In chapter 4 God promises to come in judgement.  The proud and wicked would be destroyed, but they who remember the Lord, the faithful lovers of God will live forever. (Vs.2)

So the need of the hour was for young and old, parents and children to return to the God of the covenant in a faith commitment.

That’s why the end of Malachi speaks about

            BRIDGING THE GENERATION GAP.

We see 1.  the need for it

      and 2.  the certainty of it.

When I speak of generation gap here I am using it in a very special sense.  I am not talking about the fact that young people love to listen to Madonna or Jimmy Barnes while older people go for Mozart or Handel.  I am not talking about the fact that young people will only wear Levis 501 while older people go for whatever happens to be on the shelf.

Mind you, these relatively unimportant things do create a lot of tension in the home.  Right.?

Even in the church there is a generation gap.  Kids and young people love the racy style of ‘God has spoken to His people’, while older people may prefer the dignity of ‘O God our help in Ages past.’

I visit many of our churches and it is the same story everywhere.  Some older (and sometimes not so old) people tend to resent the rapid changes that occur in the church.  They find it hard to cope with and some honestly think that God does not approve.

Different likes and dislikes are not the deepest problem.  These issues can be overcome with tolerance.

The real problem occurs when there is a difference of fundamental commitment.  You all know families where mum and dad are sincere believers, while their children just don’t care.  Every Sunday becomes a problem.  The teenage children don’t want to go to church!  They don’t care too much for the Gospel.

You find this generation gap in the Bible.  For example, Jonathan and his father Saul.  Jonathan was committed to God’s covenant and therefore sided with David, God’s anointed king against his father Saul who had forfeited the blessing of God.

You see it in the parable of the prodigal son.  The son wanted to throw off the confinement, the drudgery of home and make it on his own in the world.

In Malachi’s day the same problem occurred.  In chapter 2:11 we read of Jewish boys marrying heathen girls.  Through these girls, foreign gods were introduced.  Idolatry became common.  Can you imagine the tensions?

`Son, I don’t want to see this girl in my house.  It’s an insult to our Lord,’ dad would say.  The son would respond in anger: O.K. Dad, if you are so narrow-minded not to be able to accept this Moabite girl, then I will leave too.’

When there is no shared commitment to God, the covenant blessings will not pass from one generation to the next.  If parents do not demonstrate living faith, their children will be left in spiritual and moral darkness.  Then these children will never know Christ as the light of their life.  And that’s a curse! (vs.6)

Note that the last word of the Old Testament is curse.  If the spiritual apathy and the broken relationships are not healed, a curse will rest upon the land and its people.

The only way for the generation gap to be bridged is by a return to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

It is no wonder therefore that the end of Malachi is a call to remember the law of Moses. (vs.4)  That is foundational to everything else.  This does not mean that we simply follow the rules of God blindly and then God should be happy with us.  No!.  That’s impossible.  We cannot do it.  There is no righteousness to be found in us.  (Romans 3)

Recall how Malachi 1 begins with the words: I have loved you!.

God’s love precedes the law.  Because God loves us, we want to follow His ways!.  His love is so great that it demands our response of obedience.  This wonderful love of God is shown above all in Jesus.

God so loved us that He suffered and died on a cross.  A father or mother would do anything for the well-being of their children.  If necessary they would give their bone marrow or a kidney if it would save the life of their child.  In the same way God has given His Son in death.  Baptism points to that – it points to safety, deliverance, being covered by the blood of Jesus.

God began to fulfil His promise with the sending of the prophet Elijah.  He was the sign that God would come in blessing and judgement. (vs.5)

Who is this Elijah?  We need not wonder about the identity of Elijah.  Jesus identified him.  John the Baptist came in the power and spirit of Elijah.  He pointed to Jesus: ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.’

He prepared the way for the coming of Jesus.  Luke 1:17 – `He will go before the Lord… to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous.’

He called on young and old alike to do a complete U-turn of their heart and mind, to turn from a self-centred way of life to a God-centred way of life.  As then so now the hearts of many people are set on the wrong things: pleasure, money, friends, food.  If there are any such people here, I would urge you: `Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness…!’

In view of the fact that Jesus has appeared as the royal King, we are called to repent and believe.  Old and young, let us all renew our commitment to Christ and celebrate the great feast of reconciliation as symbolized in baptism this morning.

Beloved congregation, I need to ask: `Do we and our children have a common faith commitment?  And is this a reality in our homes?  Parents, do not forget that children grow up in families.  In the family children see faith modelled in the lives of parents.

As parents we may have a lot of repenting to do.  How often have I piously insisted that my kids follow certain rules and then disregarded these things myself?

How often have I spoken of the impact of God’s grace (even from the pulpit) and then found I lack the experience of it?.  As parents we have to stop pretending and start being honest and open.  It is in the family that children are loved to become emotionally and spiritually mature or they are scarred for life.

Young people, are you following in the footsteps of your parents in commitment to the Gospel?  Your parents have no greater desire than that you should be a faithful follower of the Lord.  They are interested in your education, your health and relationships.  But most of all they want to hear you say: ‘I love the Lord.’

And if your parents fail you at times, forgive them.  We will then be delivered from the curse of alienation and separation from God and one another.  The generation gap can be bridged.

Jesus Himself is that bridge.  He gives power to his people to walk in the ways of His covenant.

So parents, let me ask you a searching question: What do your children see in your house?  What are the values they pick up?  How do you deal with anger?  Is there a lot of harsh criticism?  Is there compassion and prayer?

And you teenagers and young people: What really matters to you?  What are your standards, morals, priorities?  What really matters to you?

I want to urge you and plead that we as parents and children should embrace one another in the bonds of faith.  As members of God’s family let us strive to encourage one another in faith, hope and love.

May the baptism of these children today be another encouragement to us to bridge the generation gap.

AMEN