Baptism: God's Gift - Acts 8:26-40

Water…is a truly precious gift from God…a gift we sometimes take for granted…many of us using it without thinking…at other times not realizing how important it is until there is none to be had.

Water…the waters of baptism…another gift that we so often take for granted…often not realizing its significance.  Beginning today, and over the next month, we will be examining this precious gift from God…the gift brought to us in the waters of baptism.  We will consider how it brings the gift of family, the gift of God’s forgiveness, the gift of a new life, and the gift of a new kind of living.  Today, though, we will consider simply the fact that it is a gift.

In the video clip it was noted that all of the water that we have on earth has been here since the moment of creation.  It ties into that scientific understanding that matter is neither created nor destroyed…once God has spoken matter into existence, it is there.  It may change states, but it continues to exist.  Consider the significance of that for a moment…in the great majesty of God’s creation, the water that we used this morning to place upon Andrew’s head was in existence when the Spirit of God swept over the waters of creation.

There is something even greater than matter, even greater than water, that is neither created or destroyed…a gift greater than could be imagined…a gift signified by baptism…it is the gift which makes all the other gifts possible.  It is the gift of God’s amazing, indescrible, incomparable, overwhelming grace.

It is the water of baptism that marks the reality of God’s grace in our lives.  Baptism is the outward and visible sign that we participate in that gives witness to the reality of how God is already at work on each one of us.  John Wesley called this notion of God’s grace working on us before we are even aware of it, prevenient grace.  Like the waters of our baptism that preexisted us, so too has God’s grace preexisted us, and even our awareness of it.

We see this so clearly in today’s Scripture reading—the working and moving of God’s grace before those involved know what is happening.

First, Philip is resting, possibly tired from all of the witnessing that he had been offering up in Samaria.  Among those Philip opened up to the reality of God’s presence in their lives was Simon the magician.  Anyways, Philip is resting and then an angel appears before Philip and sends him toward Gaza along a wilderness road.   Philip’s ministry to Simon had been God’s way of preparing him for what would happen next—though Philip was unaware God was doing anything.  God’s gift of prevenient grace at work.

On this road, Philip encounters a eunuch from Ethiopia.  This Eunuch was on his way back home and was a servant of the queen of Ethiopia.  Little does this man know that God is preparing him ahead of time for Philip’s arrival, but he sits in chariot reading from the prophet Isaiah…he doesn’t understand completely what he is reading, but it was reading of the prophet’s words describing the one who would be slaughtered like an innocent lamb.  We know the whole story, so we know that this reading is simply preparing the eunuch for someone to witness to him.  We know this is God’s prevenient grace at work because we know what is coming.

Philip arrives, the eunuch and Philip enter into conversation, and Philip begins witnessing to the eunuch as they travel in the chariot.    Then the next act of God’s prevenient grace is revealed for us to see.  As they are traveling, the happen upon some water, opening the door for Philip to baptize the eunuch.  A third act of God’s grace at work before anyone in the story was even aware of it.

I was at a birthday party with Joshua as I was working on today’s sermon.  Actually, I was sitting in the back corner of the area typing while the party was going on and Anita was being attentive to Joshua and what was going on around us.  However, as I would pause and reflect on the party, I started thinking, what better place to be working on this sermon….especially as I watched the birthday child open their presents.  I decided that what I was watching were obvious illustrations of God’s prevenient grace.  Here was a child sitting down to a table full of gifts.  He did not do anything to earn those gifts, they were his simply due to the fact that it was a birthday party for him…yet before he was even aware of these presents that he was getting ready to open, folks were preparing for his birthday, purchasing and wrapping the presents, and bringing them to the party.

As the little boy opened all the gifts, I realized that there was another parallel taking place.  Just as the little boy did nothing to earn those birthday presents, there is nothing that we can do to earn God’s grace.  Absolutely nothing!  I’ve heard several preachers put it this way, “There is nothing we can do to make God love us more and nothing we can do to make God love us less!”  God freely bestows his grace upon us…it is a gift that He offers, simply because we were born.

Just like the little boy opening all of those presents, we open up that gift at our baptism.   Here is where some of us may want to draw a difference…that the little boy knew what he was doing opening the presents but in our baptism today Andrew was not aware of what was happening to him.  Some would use this to argue for not baptizing until a person is aware of the significance and choose it for themselves.  However, because of our understanding of how God’s grace works, in the United Methodist Church we baptize all ages, regales of whether or not the person understands.  It is much like when Andrew will celebrate his first birthday.  Often he will not understand what is going what is going on, yet that does not prevent anyone from bringing him presents.  His parents will more than likely have to help him open some of those presents, that does not keep him from being given presents.

Today Jennifer and Jim opened this present up for Andrew, they have acknowledged the gift of God’s grace at work in his life…and like they will help him use any birthday presents he will open on his birthday, they have taken upon themselves vows before God and this congregation that they will commit their lives to making sure that Andrew makes use of this gift of God’s grace.

We, though, who have understood that that same gift has been given to each of us, have the choice.  God has given us this gift of his grace, and just like the little boy yesterday after opening those presents will get to choose whether he will use those gifts, whether he will play with those toys or whether he will shop with those gift cards, we are presented with the choice of what we are going to do with the gift of God’s grace that He has placed before us and in the next several weeks, we will examine how those gifts can be used.

If we are realizing today that we have taken this gift of God’s grace for granted, my friends there is hope.  Even more so than water, God’s grace can neither be created or destroyed…just as we cannot do anything to earn God’s grace, there is nothing we can do to make God love us more…and just as there is nothing we can do to make God love us less, nothing we can do to destroy god’s grace…it is never too late to use this gift that we have opened.  Even more so, if we have left the gift of God’s prevenient grace sitting on the table, if God has presented it to us and we have never opened it through the waters of baptism, it is never too late to open it.  God leaves it on the table, wrapped with the red ribbon of his son’s blood, waiting for us to open it.

All of this is God’s gift, freely given, waiting for each of us…are we ready to say, like the Ethiopian eunuch, “Look, here is water, what is to prevent me from being baptized?”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!  Amen!