03.06. VI. Administering The Church Ordinances
VI ADMINISTERING THE CHURCH ORDINANCES
LET no pastor imagine that the administration of Ordinances is a matter of minor moment. The conspicuous place they occupy in Scripture, as well as in church history, suggests their prime importance.
It is not my purpose, at this time, to discuss the Ordinances themselves in any exhaustive or even adequate manner. That perhaps belongs to Pastoral Theology, and often takes on the form of Polemics; but the administration of the Ordinances is a subject on which there should be essential agreement as between careful, earnest students of the Scriptures. THE ORDINANCES ARE TWO
They are Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper.—There are some ecclesiastical bodies that add one or more ceremonies, insisting that they also are ordinances; but such contentions find little Biblical defense. The Ordinance of Baptism, while apparently instituted by John the Baptist under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, was approved by Christ when, at the Jordan, He demanded the same for Himself at the hands of His servant John. The Ordinance of The Lord’s Supper He Himself originated “on that night before He was betrayed” and so far, at least, as His divine approval and employment were concerned, Christ stopped with these two.
He was no ceremonialist! The most amazing thing of past and present-day church history is the multiplied ceremonies that characterize certain denominations, and in this matter Rome is not the only offender. Her unbiblical creations and supposed ornamentation have been copied by those who have popish tendencies and high-church proclivities, so that, if Christ were to return to the world and enter certain churches, seeing their strange performances,—if Divinity could wonder, —He would have occasion to “marvel” as He compared them with the simple, straightforward principles and practices of the New Testament Church. The Scriptures determine the order of the Ordinance-Occurrence.—Baptism, of course, comes first. The Lord’s Supper comes afterward. This fact was typified in the Old Testament, for the priest who was approaching the Lord came first to the Laver, and later to the table of Shew Bread—great Old Testament types of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In the New Testament, the Church, in its origination as recorded in Acts 2:1-47, adhered to the same course. We find at Pentecost that they repented and were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ first, “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: . . . And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
(Acts 2:41-42) Unquestionably “the breaking of the bread” is the second Ordinance.
Those people, therefore, who refuse the first Ordinance and insist upon the second have no Scriptural basis whatever for their course; and those ministers who invite to the Lord’s Supper men and women and children, who have not been both regenerated by the Holy Spirit and baptized biblically, wholly exceed their authority; and it is such a ministry that has wrought irreparable wrong to the Church of God by introducing into it not only the unbaptized but the unregenerate as well.
Since Baptism is a symbol of death, burial and resurrection to a new life, (Romans 6:4-5), it is not surprising to discover that those who refuse or fail to biblically administer it should shortly neglect and even eventually come to deny its spiritual import,—regeneration. This leads us to state that— THE ORDINANCES ARE TYPICAL Baptism typifies death, burial and resurrection. This is not a denominational interpretation.
Paul, in his letter to the Romans, said in plain language, “We are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk, in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection”: (Romans 6:4-5)
It would be difficult to conceive a type of more transcendent testimony. Baptism is, in itself, a sermon indeed, and it is a sermon upon the greatest of the essentials; Death to sin; Burial of the old life out of sight, and the Resurrection to a new life in Christ Jesus. By biblical Baptism we preach the most essential experiences of Christianity. The Lord’s Supper signifies Christ’s sacrifice and our sustenance.—In the bread we are asked to behold His Body. That broken bread speaks of the blessed Body that was broken for us. In the cup we are asked to witness the reflection of His blood, the precious blood that was shed for us. Men may lightly esteem the breaking of His Body. In fact, Isaiah said that they did do so. “Surely we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” (Isaiah 53:4)
But, our superficial judgment is reproved by the essential fact, “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) In the cup, crimson in color, as the wine was, we are asked to see the blood that flowed in the veins of God’s Son, man’s Saviour; the blood, without the shedding of which, there was and is no remission. Can it be possible for any man or woman to go through life, conscious of having been saved at so great a cost to God’s Son, without a keener appreciation of life itself, and especially of all obligations to the Saviour?
It also suggests the believer’s sustenance, and so it does; for, as we partake of these elements they become symbols of that which sustains the flesh. Bread and wine were the common forms of daily food in the land where this Ordinance was instituted. It was not difficult, therefore, for His auditors to understand and easily comprehend the Master when He said: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” And still further, ‘‘Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.” (John 6:51; John 6:53) In other words, the life that is not sustained by a vital relation to Jesus Christ as Lord is like the branches that, cut away from the vines, are cast away, and in their dead and dry condition are gathered and burned.
He is our life. “In Him we live and move and have our being.” Apart from Him we can do nothing; we are dead!
I come finally to the major objective of this brief chapter of advice: THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE ORDINANCES
Baptism can be biblically and beautifully administered.—There are those who justify sprinkling and pouring on the ground of order and convenience. They think those methods are more genteel and are capable of comfortable and attractive administration. This conviction is deepened whenever immersion is badly administered.
I have seen, not scores, nor yet hundreds, but thousands of people baptized; and it is a somewhat pathetic confession to make that I have seen, in my long life but two ministers perform the service both biblically and beautifully. The first of these was the late Dr. Allen Tupper of Broadway Baptist Church, Louisville, Kentucky. Another, notably worthy of mention, is Dr. James Whitcomb Brougher, formerly of Tremont Temple, Boston. From observing Dr. Tupper’s method of Baptism I learned and adopted my own practice in the matter. In forty-five years of constant baptizings I have never yet experienced an unpleasant episode in the water, nor witnessed one single smile of derision excited in connection with the same. On the contrary, no part of the worship in the House of God has been more often or constantly blessed to the good of all present than baptism properly administered.
Permit me to employ here two or three “don’ts” and then to follow with some positive and practical intimations:
1. Don’t slap people into the water, sloshing it by the vigorous and sudden dip.
2. Don’t so baptize as to strangle and excite a cough.
3. Don’t permit conditions that will make possible the clinging of the candidate to the administrator, or any foolish performance on the candidate’s part.
These are some of the things that have brought the most sacred of divine symbols into certain disrepute. My own method is to meet back of the baptistry all the candidates for baptism. When they are lined up, ready to receive in turn the Ordinance, I have a minute for their instruction, and uniformly say the same three or four things:
1. Stand erect in the water with the hands clasped in front at the waist, and the eyes closed. (The symbol of death.)
2. When the formula is pronounced and the baptism is undertaken, don’t sit down in the water with the idea of helping; for it only hinders. Don’t bend your neck forward or throw your head backward, but keep your head on a straight line with your body, your whole frame rigid and ready to rest the same at the neck in the hollow of the administrator’s hand.
3. Don’t hold your breath; for if you do your capacity in breath-holding may end while you are under water, and you will struggle. Breathe naturally, and be assured of the fact that you cannot strangle, since just as you go under the water I lay my left hand over the mouth and nose, covering both and keeping the water out of the same.
4. Have a handkerchief tucked into the neck of your baptismal robe where the administrator can lay easy hold upon it, and with it wipe your wet face when you come from beneath the baptismal wave.
5. There will be a helper standing a foot or two in front of you when you are lifted from the wave. Give him your hand and he will help you from the Baptistry.
6. Obey these instructions, but stop with them. Don’t attempt to add a self-baptism. All endeavors on the part of the candidate to aid the administrator hinder and detract from the beauty and solemnity of the service.
7. For myself, let me remember that this Ordinance is to be slowly and quietly administered. I employ this formula, after quoting an appropriate passage of Scripture, “In obedience to the command of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and upon your public profession of faith in Him, I now baptize you, my Brother, (John Smith) in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!”
After the formula is finished there should not be a single sound, and certainly not a ripple in the wave, nor a nervous gesture.
Baptism, when thus administered, is beautiful; and every witness of the same is profoundly impressed with its symbolism and its spiritual significance. The Lord’s Supper is fairly prescribed.—An intelligent administrator by the careful reading of Matthew 26:17-30 will be impressed with the original setting of the same, as he will also be with its spiritual significance, and soul impress.
One should do his best to repeat, as far as possible, the conditions of mind and the administration of the elements that characterized that initiatory rite. This can be done in a brief talk on the significance of the ordinance. If the people are led to feel that, in the breaking of the bread, they have the type of the broken body of their Lord, and in their partaking of the cup they are tasting of the fountain of life itself, namely the precious blood of the Son of God, reverence will characterize the whole ceremony.
And, when that is accomplished, and the Bread and the Cup have first been prayed over in thanksgiving to God, and later in turn passed to the people, only a profound impression of the price with which we are purchased can prevail.
While there is no absolute necessity on this matter, my own feeling of reverence with that original institution is such that I always prefer to have the Ordinance end as it ended originally, “And when they had sung an hymn, they went out . . .” (Matthew 26:30) OUTLINE OF CHAPTER SIX ADMINISTERING THE CHURCH ORDINANCES Introductory word—This matter important.
I. THE ORDINANCES ARE TWO a.They are Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. b.Scriptures determine the order of the Ordinances.
II. THE ORDINANCES ARE TYPICAL a.The Lord’s Supper signifies Christ’s sacrifice and our sustenance. b.Baptism symbolizes death, burial and resurrection.
III. THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE ORDINANCES a.Baptism can be biblically and beautifully administered. (7 points to be regarded) b.The Lord’s Supper,—the creation of a testimony.