Do I Have To?
Do you have to be baptized to go to heaven?
This is one of the MOST common questions people ask me. And I understand the question. I’m not sure it’s the best question. But hang on to that question and let’s come back to it in a moment.
Last year our family got to go to the Houston Rodeo. It was a great experience. It wasn’t our first rodeo but I would not say that our family is a rodeo family. We love watching it all, the bull riding, the barrel racing, and the Mutton Bustin’! Watching those kids ride those sheep is a lot of fun!
We love watching the rodeo but we don’t know how it all works, how they come up with the scores for this or that, and how they decide who wins.
But you know how this works, if you want to go to the Houston Rodeo at NRG, you can’t just go. You can’t just drive to the stadium, park your car any where you want, and walk in through the front door.
If you want to go to the rodeo you’re going to need something, something that is so important that if you don’t have it, they’re not going to let you in. You know what it is, you’re going to need a ticket.
Back in the old days, we had paper tickets. Nowadays, they just scan the ticket on your phone. But if you don’t have a ticket, you can’t get into the rodeo. You can’t see the bull riding and barrel racing and mutton bustin! You can’t walk through the corridors of NRG or experience all the sights and sounds of the rodeo unless you have a ticket.
Heaven as the Destination
Somewhere along the way, this is what has happened for us when we think about baptism.
Heaven has become the destination, the place we want to get to, the finish line we want to reach.
And it’s happened with good intention, we’ve read the scriptures, we see baptism after baptism happening in the lives of everyone in scripturewho comes to Christ, we read the words of Christ and the apostles teaching us to be baptized in His name so that we can receive eternal life. We want our kids to baptized and we want them to go to Heaven. We want our friends to be baptized and we want them to go to Heaven. YES!
But in a world that revolves around this idea that you have to have THIS if you want to go THERE…
If you want to go to the rodeo, you need a ticket.
If you want to get on that airplane, you need a ticket.
If you want to get into that game, that concert, that movie, that event, you’re going to need a ticket.
You have to have THIS if you want to go THERE.
Somehow, someway, with good intention no doubt, we’ve bought into the idea that IF you want to go to Heaven, you have to have your ticket. You have to be baptized. You have to check this box. You have to have THIS if you want to go THERE.
But what if our baptism isn’t a box we have to check or a ticket we need to get in order to go to Heaven, what if it’s about something more?
The Kingdom Of God
Thirty-Two different times in the Gospel of Luke, we read about the Kingdom of God.
Jesus said the reason He came was to preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Luke 4.43
He went around preaching about the Kingdom of God, teaching people what life is like in the Kingdom of God, and showing people what life is like in the Kingdom of God.
He healed the sick, cast out demons, fed the hungry, He even raised the dead.
Why? Because in the Kingdom of God, people are well, people are filled with the Holy Spirit, people are full and satisfied, and people are alive! There is no sickness, death, disease, demon possession, or hunger in the Kingdom of God. Everything is the way it’s supposed to be.
Some people experienced this, began to understand this, and as they did they literally followed Jesus. They wanted to be where He was. They wanted to live the life He was living. They wanted to be a part of His Kingdom. They didn’t fully understand what was happening or what it all meant, but they knew that they wanted to be wherever Jesus was. They were ALREADY experiencing what it meant to be a part of the Kingdom of God.
Others didn’t see it. They didn’t get it. They didn’t understand it. In the Gospel of Luke, the Pharisees were the ones who were continually opposing Jesus, questioning Jesus, and criticizing Jesus. They had heard Jesus teach and preach. They had seen the miraculous things He had done. But they were looking for a Messiah who would come and set up a physical Kingdom at a certain time and in a certain place. They didn’t fully understand what was happening or what it all meant, but they didn’t believe Jesus was the Messiah they were looking for.
And all of this comes to a head in chapter 17 of Luke’s gospel.
We Got Our Tickets!
One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the Kingdom of God come?” – Luke 17.20
In their minds, they had their ticket punched!
The Pharisees were not only experts of the Law of Moses, the Law given to the people at God at Mt. Sinai some 1500 years ago, they were experts at keeping the Law. Or so they thought. They wanted the Kingdom of God to come.
They believed that when it did, it would mean an end to this present age. It would mean an end to the Roman rule and occupation of their land. It would mean an end to all of that and it would mean the restoration of Israel, divine judgement of their enemies, and the establishment of God’s Kingdom here on earth.
And, in their minds, because they were experts at the law and experts at keeping and even enforcing the law of God, they were the ones who had their tickets in hand and would be ready whenever and wherever the Kingdom of God arrived!
So they ask Jesus, When is it coming? We’re ready. We’ve got our tickets in hand.
Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs. You won’t be able to say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already among you.” – Luke 17.20-21
When will the Kingdom of God come?
Jesus says, It is ALREADY here!
Kingdom Breaking In
Right before this moment, right before the Pharisees ask Jesus this question about when the Kingdom of God is going to come, do you know what happens? Do you know what Jesus did?
He healed 10 lepers of leprosy. An incurable disease. A disease that left these people as outcast from their families and their communities. Jesus healed them and told them to go home.
Do you know what he did before that? He taught his disciples about forgiveness and faith.
Do you know what he did before that? He taught them about being wise stewards of their money and that they should take care of the poor.
Do you know what He did before that? He told them three stories in a row about how much God loves lost people and that every time someone who is lost comes home to God, there is a party and a reason to celebrate.
Do you know what He did before that? Read Luke’s gospel and you know what you see over and over and over again? The sick are healed. They hungry are fed. The lost are found. The dead are raised. The demons are cast out. And Jesus teaches over and over again what life is like in the Kingdom of God.
These Pharisees had been around long enough. They could have seen it if they wanted to. They could have heard the message if they wanted to. But the kind of Kingdom that Jesus was ushering in couldn’t be seen by them. It wasn’t what they were looking for. But in fact, it was already among them!
Already Among You
And right there, Jesus says something really important that maybe you’ve missed before. I know I’ve missed it before. He says,
“For the Kingdom of God is ALREADY among you.”
The Pharisees, not unlike us, were waiting on a future Kingdom. They were looking for something different. Waiting on something different. Something that was NOT YET here. But would be here one day. And they had their tickets in hand. They were ready, or so they thought.
But then Jesus surprises them when He tells them… It’s ALREADY among you.
What in the world was Jesus talking about?
For several years now, my son Will and I have this tradition of going to Opening Day. We started this when he was 8 years old and have been blessed to do it every year. In 2017, we came here to Houston for Opening Day.
Some of you Astro fans may remember that year the Astros had acquired a couple of our favorite players from the Braves. Yes, in our house we’re Braves fans. Sorry about that. We can pull for the Texans and the Rockets. But our allegiance to the Atlanta Braves and the Auburn Tigers runs pretty deep! That year, Brian McCann and Evan Gattis had moved from the Braves to the Astros, so we got our tickets and we came to the game for Opening Day.
We were wearing our Braves gear and were excited for a great day. We got to watch Jose Altuve and several others take batting practice. And that year, by the way, the Astros won* it all.
Here’s the point, you can get a ticket, you can get in to see the game, but that doesn’t make you a fan. In order to be fan, a real fan, not a bandwagon fan, something has to change for you.
You know it when you see a real fan. They’ve got all the gear, their team is all they can talk about, they will paint their faces, stay to the final out, through thick and thin, the good and the bad, they’re fandom is unshakable!
Will and I got our tickets, we got into the ballpark, but we didn’t become Astro fans.
In the same way, you can be baptized, you can come to church, but that doesn’t make you a disciple of Jesus. In order to be a disciple of Jesus, a real disciple of Jesus, something has to change for you. Something has to change in you. Something has to change around you!
For those first followers of Jesus who were baptized into Christ, it was a true conversion experience. Everything changed for them because of what they believed. It was a true “TURNING POINT” baptism.
Who they are now is not who they were before.
You knew that because of the things they said and because of the things they did!
In fact, when you turn the page and read the sequel to Luke’s gospel, you see the story continue. And what do you see these followers of Jesus doing?
You see them filled with the Holy Spirit, preaching the Good News about the Kingdom of God, healing the sick, and baptizing people in the name of Jesus!
They were seeing what the Pharisees couldn’t see, the Kingdom of God was ALREADY breaking in. Jesus had taught them to pray,
“Father, may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.” – Luke 11.2
And now they weren’t just praying that prayer, they were partnering with God, participating with the Spirit of God,seeing God’s kingdom coming near, breaking into the here and now!
What they discovered was that the Kingdom of God Jesus talked about wasn’t just something that was coming one day,Heaven isn’t just a place you go to when you die if you’ve got your ticket! No! The Kingdom of God is ALREADY AMONG US.
Heaven is breaking into the here and now. The eternal life Jesus promised has already begun for those of us who consider ourselves followers of Jesus!
You see… The Kingdom of God is not a place, it’s a people. It’s not a location, it’s the way of life wherever you are living under the rule and reign of God. The Kingdom of God is wherever the people of God are gathered and living out the Gospel!
Your baptism isn’t about you getting a ticket to go to heaven when you die, it’s a TURNING POINT moment in your life where everything is changed about you, inside you, and around you. It’s about you stepping into living under the rule and reign of God in the here and now.
It’s about you living out the Gospel, the Good News that Jesus is alive and Jesus saves! And it looks exactly what it looked like when Jesus came from heaven to earth.
It’s about healing the sick, helping the hurting, setting prisoners free from the chains of sin and addiction, it’s about feeding the hungry, being near the brokenhearted, and sharing the Good News about the great love of God revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord!
You have been invited into a different kind of life, a different way of living, that changes everything for you eternally AND in the here and now.
There are no tickets to Heaven. There is just this invitation to live the baptized life. And here’s the promise, what begins in the here and now will continue into eternity for those who believe!
But if nothing changes for you, in you, after your baptism, are you really a Christian? A follower of Christ?
If your baptism checked a box or met some requirement you thought God had for you, or your parents had for you, but nothing changed for you, then what was your baptism really about?
If you’ve been baptized, are you living the baptized life? Can people see the evidence of the Kingdom of God in you, around you, among you?
If you haven’t been baptized into Christ, can we invite you to step into the baptized life? Don’t you want to be a part of what God is doing here and now in this world? Don’t you want to see what life in Christ is all about?
Good News
We live in a world where so many people outside the church and inside the church are asking the same question those Pharisees asked some 2000 years ago. When is it going to happen? When will the Kingdom of God come?
I’ve got good news. It’s already here! The Kingdom of God has arrived. There are many who can’t see it. But my prayer is that we can. That we can see the power and the presence of the Kingdom of God breaking into our lives, into our world, into our communities, and into our hearts. And that we can be a part of ushering in the Kingdom of God here in this place, in our homes, our city!
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