Many of us at Crossroads believe in Jesus and are following Him.  So what is next?  Now that we made the decision to follow Jesus, what is the first thing Jesus wants us to do?  Funny Jesus doesn’t tell us to do much.  He doesn’t tell us to read our Bibles everyday, go to church four times a month, or to pray daily for half an hour (although those are good things).  He doesn’t tell us to eat healthy or exercise.  He did give us two “tools” to help us follow Him; Baptism and Communion.

Baptism
Sadly few churches do Baptism (or Communion) really well.  The truth is we have overcomplicated it and made it a bigger deal than it really is.  Whether you’ve heard that baptism involves sprinkling or dunking, kids or adults, every Christian agrees that Jesus wants people to be baptized (Matthew 28:19).

No one knows for sure where John the Baptist got the idea of baptism.  Historically there was a SMALL Jewish group who practiced something like baptism when a Gentile wanted to join their group, but how or if John was aware of this group is uncertain.  In any case, John the Baptist was the first baptizer that the Bible talks about.

Baptism symbolizes “dying” to sin and “resurrecting” into a life following Christ (Romans 6:1-4).  Biblically baptism always occurs at the BEGINNING of a believer’s walk with Christ.

That is why we do not require a handful of baptismal classes before being baptized.  Biblically there are no hoops to jump through or criteria to be filled before baptism.  You don’t need to be “prepared” or “feel ready”.  It’s simple, are you gonna follow Christ? Yeah? The first step is to be baptized.

Communion
The second “tool” Jesus gave us is Communion.  The New Testament links Communion with the Jewish Passover, a time when the Jewish people remembered how God saved them from slavery and made them into a people.

Meals are a reoccurring theme in the Bible.  God promised Abram a son during a meal (Genesis 18), the Passover was a meal, the Lord’s Supper was a meal, and Revelation talks about a banquet.  And that list is by no means exhaustive! When we read 1 Corinthians or the Last Supper narratives, Communion was obviously a full meal.  It involved fellowship and worship.  Today – usually due to restrictions placed on us by church facilities – Communion is usually incorporated into worship service.  We do our best with the facilities that God has given us while keeping an eye on the ideal.

Communion forces us to stop and remember.  We remember the agony Jesus suffered due to our sin.  We remember that we are saved by grace, but that grace cost Jesus so much.

I believe that, prior to taking Communion, Jesus would have us stop and ask ourselves “is everything alright between me and my brothers and sisters?”  While this isn’t explicit in Scriptures, how we relate to one another around the Communion table is important to God (1 Corinthians 11:17-34).  You cannot love God and hate your brother or sister (1 John 4:20).  Communion should be observed as a church family.  We eat the bread together and drink the cup together, remembering Christ’s sacrifice and anticipating Heaven’s banquet.