More than a Moment in Time

The sacrament of baptism, which you all are about to receive, is a one-time event. It is not to be repeated. But this does not mean that what happens this morning stays here frozen in time. Even after the water dries from your head, the blessing and grace of God now rest upon you for the rest of your life. 

This is meant to be a great encouragement to you, especially when you sin, which if you weren’t aware, you most certainly will at some point in the very near future. Your baptism is an encouragement in the face of your sin because it is a continual reminder of the gospel. As the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 6, all who have been baptized in Christ Jesus are baptized into His death. And if you have been buried with Him in His death, then most assuredly you have been raised with Him by the glory of the Father, in order to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:1–4). 

So the charge to you each of you this morning is to not think of your baptism as a mere momentary thing. An event in your life that will at some point become something that happened long ago, when you were still very young. Just as you were born only once but celebrate your birthday yearly, so too you are baptized once but are to remember it and its meaning throughout all the days of your life. ¹

This is because your baptism today carries on with you into the future. You wear it daily as God’s covenant mark upon You, claiming you as His own. With each new challenge, each new stage of life, each new opportunity — never forget this great reality and comfort — that you have indeed been united to Christ by your baptism. And amen.