Many people have questions about baptism.  Can you believe in God without being baptised?  Yes.  Can you attend church and be involved without being baptised?  Yes.

Can you live a good life without being baptised?  Yes.  Why do some churches baptise children or christen them, and other churches, like our church, don’t?  We practise believer’s baptism, which means that a person is baptised when they are old enough to believe themselves, not just have their parents’ belief, and old enough to understand what it means

So, what difference does baptism make?  Why is it important – so important that Jesus was baptised, and he told his disciples to baptise people?  Why does the Bible say,

‘Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, and you will be saved’?  Romans 10: 9 
‘Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.  And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’  Acts 2: 38

Being a Christian is not keeping a set of rules.  It’s not trying to do your best.  It’s not just being a member of a church.  Being a Christian is a relationship with Jesus.

Some people say that if you are a good person and help others, and you don’t commit any major sins, you are OK with God.  But the Bible clearly states that no matter how good a life you live, no one is good enough to have a relationship with God.  We all do things that we know are wrong.   Even if we don’t do them, we think them.  And that's why we feel separated from God, because God is pure and holy, and we're not.  Fortunately for us that is not where the journey ends.

" God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." Romans 5:8

The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, has paid the penalty for all your sins.  You may think you have to lead a good life and do good deeds before God will love you.  But the Bible says that Christ loved you so much that he died for you, even before you knew Him.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

We don’t have to do anything to earn God’s love.  He already loves us – He created you, so why would he not love you?  All you have to do is ask God to forgive your sin and come into your life.  That means that God becomes a part of your life.  You ask him to take control of all that you are and all that you do.  Ask him to help you sort out the troubles in your life.  Surrender your way of doing things to God.  Ask him to show you his way of dealing with your life.

Thank him for the gift of knowing that you will spend eternity with him and that your physical death will not be the end of your life.  Your life is not destined to end up with the grave having the final word.

Baptism is the very beginning of this new life and like any relationship, it will grow and deepen over time.  Baptism symbolises the end of your old ways of doing things, of deciding that you know best about how to live your life, even though that means you end up in a mess at times.  Baptism is the beginning of a new life and doing things God’s way.  This decision affects your whole life.  It affects all other decisions.  It is the ultimate choice that we make about where our life is headed.  Those who have made that decision will never be the same again.

Baptism takes place in water because water is a significant symbol.  It sustains, refreshes and cleanses all life.  As we are washed with water, it is a way of a person burying their old life and being raised to new life, as a child of God.  Our old way of living is left behind, and we commit ourselves to live for God.

It’s like moving countries to live.  Imagine packing up and moving from one country to another.  You leave behind the laws of that country, the food, the environment, your work – everything.  You move to a new country where you come under the government of that country.  You have to get used to a whole new way of life, and it happens over a period of time.  In baptism, you are transferred from the kingdom of darkness where Satan is in charge to the kingdom of God where Jesus is in charge.

That’s what we celebrate in baptism.  When we baptise someone, we totally immerse them – going under the water means leaving the old life of sin behind.  It is like the burial of Jesus.  Coming up out of the water is commencing a new life.  It is like the resurrection of Jesus.