The Sacraments

 

What are the Sacraments?

 
 
 
Jesus initiated two sacraments, symbols, for his people to participate in. As a church, while understanding that these are not necessary for salvation, we do emphasize their importance to the Christian life.
Baptism is commanded by Jesus (Mt. 28:19) to be administered to people after they make a profession of faith. A believer, after publicly professing faith in Christ and assimilating themselves with Christ, are baptized in the Name of the triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is a visual picture of being united with Christ. In addition to this, baptism pictures: the cleansing or the washing away of our sins (1 Cor. 6:11), dying to sin and self and being raised to newness of life (Col. 2:11-13), and being freed from our bondage to sin (Rom. 6:1-4). As Christians, we are united to Christ, and to all other believers, in fellowship with one another (Gal. 3:26-19), and baptism is a picture of that.

The Lord’s Supper, or communion, is the other sacrament instituted by Christ, and it also is a way of symbolically uniting ourselves with Christ and our fellow believers. This is when we eat the bread and drink the wine (or grape juice), and it’s to be observed until Jesus returns, in remembrance of his sacrifice on the cross. The bread and the wine represent his broken body and shed blood for the forgiveness of sins. We partake with thankful remembrance, and we rejoice hopefully, as we look forward to the day we partake in the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:6-9)

It’s worth noting that these sacraments are for believers only. They serve to strengthen our faith and our relationship to Christ; for non-Christians, they have no use.

 

The Gospel

 

 

The Bible

 

 

Sacraments