A Permanent Ring

Baptism is a wedding ceremony. Paul says that as many as have been baptized have put on Christ. Baptism is a permanent ring that goes on to our finger and can never be shaken off, never lost, never removed. But as all of us know: merely having the ring, merely going through the ceremony does not guarantee that you will be a faithful spouse, that you will be a loving husband, that you will be a respectful wife. What the ceremony guarantees is what you are called to, what God has called you to. If you are married then you are called to be a faithful husband, called to be a faithful wife. And so baptism is God’s public announcement that this individual is called to be a Christian.

Just as a woman takes the name of her husband in marriage, so too we take the name of our Lord Jesus in baptism. Our name is no longer Adamson, son or daughter of Adam. Our name becomes Christian or Christianson, son or daughter of God in Christ. Just as it is absolutely necessary for the grace of Jesus to be living inside us in order for us to be faithful to our marriage vows, the same thing is of course true here. In order to be faithful to our baptismal vows, we must have the living Christ inside of us. We must have a true and living faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us.

There are many who are baptized who do not have this faith. There are many who are trying to be Christians, like trying to get a car to drive without an engine. They’ve washed and waxed the thing very pretty, and they can’t figure out why it won’t move. Well, here’s the thing, it doesn’t drive without an engine. And the engine is the person of Christ dwelling in you.

And so today, Robert and Anna, you bring your son to God in obedience because he belongs to God. And you are confessing that He needs Jesus to live inside of Him, and God is promising today to be his God just as He has been your God. So teach your son to trust in the Living God, the God who came for him in Jesus Christ, and teach him to remember this day as the day he was married to God and was called to be a Christian.