As you can see from her age and stage of life, Adeline won’t really have a clue—never mind a choice—about what is happening to her this morning. She will receive Christian baptism in the form of the sprinkling of water without choosing it herself. Instead, it is being chosen for her by her parents.
Some Things Are Chosen for Us
That idea may feel strange or even troubling to modern ears. But it is not new. In the Old Testament, circumcision was chosen for boys without any choice on their part. Now before we start worrying that a serious violation of a child’s will or autonomy is about to take place—and before we feel the need to call social services—it’s worth remembering a simple fact: having things chosen for us is a basic reality of life.
Did you choose which family you would be born into? Did you choose your surname? What language you would grow up speaking? What citizenship you would have? Of course not. There are many things in life that are chosen for us long before we are capable of choosing anything for ourselves.
Religion Is Chosen for Us
The same is true of religion. Even those who insist they are not religious—those who identify as secularists or atheists—still raise their children within a particular worldview. They do not give their children a neutral position and say, “Decide later.” They raise them in their understanding of the world, reality, truth, and meaning.
The fact is that some things in life are chosen for us by our parents: our family, our language, our citizenship—and yes, even our religion. That is simply the way life works. And that is what is happening here this morning.
Andrew and Ali are choosing something for Adeline. They are publicly declaring it through the ordinance of Christian baptism. As we will hear in a moment, they are vowing to set her apart and to raise her in the Christian faith.
Baptism and Teaching in the Great Commission
Jesus says in the Great Commission:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and disciple all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
Notice the two means of Christian discipleship that Jesus gives us in the Great Commission: baptizing and teaching—both of which, in the case of children, are not chosen by the children themselves. This is exactly what Andrew and Ali are choosing for Adeline this morning. They are choosing for her to be baptized into the name of God—the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And they are choosing to raise her to know and to obey everything Jesus has commanded.
The Sign and Meaning of Baptism
Today, Adeline’s initiation into these things will be marked by Christian baptism, by the sprinkling of water. There is nothing special about the water itself. And yet, the water reveals and symbolizes something profoundly special.
It reveals the cleansing that is being offered to Adeline through faith in Jesus Christ.
This sign is given to her now so that it might be a means of grace—used by God to bring her to saving faith in Jesus Christ, to unite her to Christ, and to lead her to obey all that He has commanded. By placing the sign of Christian baptism upon Adeline, her parents are saying to this church and to the world: Our daughter is set apart from the world for God. She belongs to Jesus Christ and to His church.
Choosing What Is True, Good, and Beautiful
Yes, all of this is being chosen for her without her choice—because some things in life simply are. The question is not whether we will choose things for our children. We inevitably will. The real question is what we will choose for them.
Will we choose what is true? What is good? What is beautiful, wholesome, and beneficial?
And what could be more true, more good, more beautiful, more wholesome, or more beneficial than raising a child in the gospel of God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ?