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One interesting finding that is observed when studying the traditioned Fundamentals of the Faith is the absence of the ordinances.  Fundamentalism, which is more of an historical eccumenical movement that is claimed as heritage than a principle, could not have included the ordinances because the ordinances are distinctively Baptist and the “Fundamentals” are very broad and even acceptent of Protestantism.  The ordinances are distinctively Baptist in that they distinguish Baptists from all others and identify our churches as New Testament churches.  I wan’t you to think about the ordinances for a moment with me.  Are they really that important or has tradition just made too much of them?  In I Corinthians 11:2 we find exhortation to “…keep the ordinances”.  Now, who is to say what these ordinances are?  Since an ordinance is something that has been ordered to do we automatically think of all that is told for us to do (and not do) in the Scriptures.  We are told to love, not steal, not to kill, to pray and so forth.  These are technically ordinances given to all but Paul was speaking to a church as a body when he told them to keep the ordinances.  Why is one of our Baptist distinctives “Two ordinances – baptism and the Lord’s supper” when we have been given a great commission?  Wouldn’t that be an important ordinance as well?  To answer that question we must understand that such commands as prayer and love are individual actions.  Witnessing, though carried out thru the authority of the local church, is also an individual action that one can do at any time and at any place.  However, there are two ordinances that must be carried out by the church as an assembled body – baptism and the Lord’s supper.  These are the ordinances that we are told to “keep”.  Now only the Lord, and no man, could have come up with such seemingly strange yet unique ordinances.  We have two ordinances that (carnally speaking) consist of immersing people in water and consuming an odd meal for the simple sake of remembrance.  The Lord gave us these particular ordinances because THEY ARE unique and identify us with Him.  Baptism signfies His burial and resurrection and the Lord’s Supper shows the Lord’s death.  It is important that we “keep the ordinances” because regardless of our standards, our preaching or our evangelistic efforts it is these ordinances that most strongly indentify us as New Testament churches.  I’m afraid there has been a wrong emphasis and, in some cases, no emphasis at all on the ordinances.  I personally witnessed a total absence of observing the Lord’s supper for over 3 years in a “mega” church.  There’s just not time to do those things when people are going to hell I guess because “we have to keep the main thing the main thing brother”.  Now baptism is on the opposite side of the emphasis pendulum.  We have emphasized baptism (or the numerical count thereof) to the point where it has lost it’s pure local church meaning and purpose and has only become a means of proof to backup our numerical conversion claims.  Some may think they properly emphasize the Lord’s Supper by observing it every week or once a month (which is not necessarily too often) but that often belittles the importance of it by making it nothing more than a tradition.  Now we know that one day there will be a one world government that is married to a one world church.  It is generally believed and is obviously true that many groups and denominations are apostatizing into what will become the one world religion.  We know that many non-Baptist groups, though dropping denominational names of doctrinal distinction, preach some semblance of the gospel and take stands on social and moral issues.  There is a universal plea to tear down the walls of doctrinal differences for the purpose of unity in Christ.  This of course will lead to the one world religion.  Should we drop our ordinances of baptism by immersion and a memorial form of the Lord’s supper for the sake of unity in Christ when those very ordinances picture the purpose and glory of Christ like nothing else?  Have no doubt my friend that Satan hates the ordinances because of what they mean.  If Satan can get us to drop our ordinances that identify us with his enemy, Jesus Christ, then we will become nothing but churches in name only that will have no distinctives.  We will become like generic canned goods and manilla envelopes that fit in with all other churches AND WILL BE RIPE FOR THE PICKING WHEN THE ONE WORLD RELIGION COMES AROUND because we have lost our distinctives.  Oh Satan is subtle to get us focussed on other things so that we will forget about the ordinances.  To “keep the ordinances” means to study them, teach them, practice them, defend them and, if it must be so, to die for them.  Study Baptist history and you will see that many have died for the ordinances (when there was no disagreement over the “Fundamentals”) but we don’t even practice or care about what others died for.  Don’t forget the ordinances, but keep them!

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