On a recent Saturday, I was watching my grandson. I had a wedding to do that evening, so I was in the bathroom shaving, while Andrew drew pictures in the dining room. Then I heard: knock-knock-knock-knock!
I said: “Andrew, was that you making that noise?” He said, “No!” Then I heard him run for the front door. I ran after him, wiping shaving cream and water from my face. He was already at the door. “Don’t open that door!”, I said. He looked back at me and said, “I’m trying to help you!”
At our house, most people we know come to our back door. When someone knocks on the front door, it’s usually salesmen, politicians, or the occasional non-Christian cult member. So I really didn’t want my grandson to open the door before I got there.
Wiping my face and hands one last time, I squeezed between my grandson and the door, and opened it to see a young man in a t-shirt, shorts and a ball cap, standing on my porch. I opened the storm door a little—with Andrew trying to push past me to see who it was – and I said, “Can I help you?”
The young man replied: “I’m Nathan Watts. I’m Ernie Sherer’s grandson. I was wanting to know if you’d baptize me.”
Now let me tell you, that’s never happened to me before. In fact, I don’t know of a preacher that that’s ever happened to before. Preachers spend a lot of time explaining the Gospel to others in one way or another, trying to get them to believe in the Lord Jesus, and then be baptized. We get told “no” a lot.
Sometimes, people will pray a prayer to receive Christ, but then not be baptized, for one reason or another. (Maybe they’re afraid the preacher will get baptism confused with communion, put them under the water and say: “Drink ye all of it.”)
So for someone to knock on my door and ask, “Would you baptize me?”, is pretty unusual. Unique, even.
With Andrew hanging onto my leg, asking “Who is it? Who is it?”, and me reeling slightly from the suddenness of the request and my racing memory, I decided to cut to the chase. I thought, “If he’s going to be that direct, then so will I.” So I looked at Nathan and asked him: “Well, have you ever trusted in Christ as your Savior?”
You see, we believe the Bible teaches that it isn’t baptism that saves you. (Saved in the Biblical sense means that you know your sins are forgiven and that you will not fall under God’s condemnation, i.e., you are saved from God’s just wrath upon your sins.) No water in any tank or river can save you; only Jesus can do that. If you haven’t put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you can be dunked under water, but you won’t get baptized. You’ll just get wet. Faith in Jesus comes first; then you are baptized in obedience to the Lord’s command, as a symbolic act declaring that you are a believer in Him.
(This is why Baptists call it “believer’s baptism”. It’s also one reason why Baptists dedicate babies, but we don’t baptize them. Belief in Christ has to come first, and a baby isn’t able to make that decision yet. Plus, as much as we want our children to be saved, we also believe the Bible teaches that no one else can make that decision for you, not even your parents. You have to make that decision yourself. That’s what Baptists call “individual soul liberty”.)
Normally, I explain all this to someone in an extended sit-down conversation. But this wasn’t a normal situation. Nathan asked me point-blank: “I was wanting to know if you’d baptize me?” So I asked him point-blank: “Have you ever trusted in Christ?” And he told me, yes, he had, as a kid at our old church building downtown.
About this time I think the Lord whispered to my heart: “You really should invite him in.” So I said, “Come on in!” He stepped inside, and my grandson pulled on his pant leg and said, “Hey! Did you know my grandpa is a preacher?” And Nathan said, yes, he did know that. I said, “Andrew, I think that’s why he knocked on the door!”
Then Nathan told me he was visiting his Grandpa Ernie here in Linton for the weekend, but that he had to leave Monday to return to Pennsylvania where he was going to school. He said he’d recently been reading his Bible more, and realized that he needed to be baptized. And he said, “I’d really like to do this where my grandpa could see it.” I thought that sounded like a great idea. Ever since Andrew came along, I’ve been a proud and delighted member of “the grandpa club”. And I thought Ernie should be able to see his grandson be baptized.
So I made a quick phone call to our church custodian, Nadine, to ask if she could possibly get the baptistry cleaned so we could use it the next day. She told me it was already clean. She’d gotten it ready for another baptism, which had been postponed due to unforeseen circumstances. So, it was all ready to go. God bless Nadine! I told Nathan, “I think that’s the Providence of God!” We decided that we’d baptize him at the close of the evening service the next day.
After Nathan left, Andrew and I went over to the church and I showed him how to close the drain and flip the switch that turns on the baptistry pump. In fact, Andrew flipped the switch himself. Then we went up and sat on the steps of the baptistry, to watch the water for a while, to make sure it was filling up. (I’m never 100% sure I’ve turned the drain knob the right direction.) When we saw the water reach a certain point, we left it to fill up the rest of the way. (The baptistry is designed to fill up, shut off the water automatically, then kick on the circulating heater to warm up the water over the next few hours. And let me say again, from the bottom of my heart: God bless Jarred Kincaid for installing the new heater in the baptistry. Nobody is more thankful for that than me!)
I did stop by the church on my way to the wedding, to make sure the baptistry hadn’t overflowed into the choir loft. (It hadn’t.) And the next day, Nathan and I did get a chance to sit down and talk for awhile.
Our Sunday evening service is sparsely attended these days, at least in part because our AWANA ministry needs so many of our people to help teach the children— a worthy reason. But that evening, many of Nathan’s extended family came to see him be baptized. They had as many or more than our regular group! Then, before the baptism, they brought in about 20 of the AWANA kids to watch, too. Nathan had a pretty good crowd of witnesses that night!
Before Nathan and I went back to change for the baptism, I invited Nathan’s family to sit up in the choir loft. When we came down into the tank, they were all sitting there, intently watching and videoing or taking pictures. You could feel the love and support of this family for Nathan, and their joy in what he was doing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ernie look prouder!
Baptism doesn’t really take very long. But after I immersed Nathan and lifted him up out of the water (which is a beautiful picture of the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus), we stood there in the water, and together with the congregation we sang “Blest Be the Tie That Binds”. Nathan went to change out of his wet baptismal garments, and then I did something else I’d never done before: I stood there, in the water, and talked for about 20 minutes with member’s of Nathan’s family, most of whom I hadn’t seen since Jovene’s funeral. When Nathan came out a few minutes later, fully dressed, I was still in the tank!
After I’d changed back into dry clothes, Nathan’s family was still out in the sanctuary, taking pictures with him. The whole atmosphere was just happy! And it was a wonderful way to end the Lord’s Day.
You pray for Nathan, every now and then, when God brings him to your mind. I’m sure glad Nathan knocked on my door that Saturday! Maybe, you need to knock on my door? Or call me on the phone. Or talk to me after a service. If you do, and we determine together that you have believed on the Lord Jesus, well…Andrew and I can turn on the baptistry for you, too!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Pastor David