Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Sermon Text: Romans 6:1-11, January 12, 2020

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

The text this morning is from Paul’s letter to the Romans, the sixth chapter:
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 
Thus far the text.

My dear friends in Christ,
     The Baptism of Jesus is always an interesting festival to celebrate, because it always seems like no one knows what’s going on!  Not John, not the people, not us.  But, in reality, it’s one of these incredible things in the Scriptures that we hardly pay attention to.  We want to explore more of this so that we can see why it is that Jesus is baptized.

     Suffice it to say, Jesus is baptized for us.  He lives for us, He dies for us, He rises for us, He is baptized for us.  It’s the whole of His life that everything He says and does is for us, it’s for you.  It’s hard to see that, though, because we know what our baptisms today do and wonder with John, why does Jesus need to be baptized?  Jesus is the Son of God, the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.  He is sinless.  What does He need to repent of?  And, of course, the answer is nothing.  But, again, that’s because we have our Baptism, which the Lord gave us, and it’s hard to see Jesus’ baptism through anything but that lens, it’s so ingrained in us.

     John’s baptism was one of repentance.  The people would come to hear John preach, be convicted of their sins, and follow him into the water that they would be baptized.  It wasn’t the baptism that we have today.  It didn’t wash their sins away in the name of our Triune God in itself, but it was the first step that many would take toward that forgiveness through repentance, because where repentance is, there does forgiveness follow.  So, why did Jesus go to John for baptism?  For you.  In the waters of the Jordan, Jesus was ordained for His ministry and there brought to Himself all the sins of the world.  He brought them into Himself that He might bring them to the cross and crucify them, that we might be set free from them and that He would be judged in our place.  Through that cross, He gave us the gift of the sacrament of Baptism, that we might receive what He has freely given: the right to be called sons of God, and thereby inheritors of His own obedience to the Law.

     We’re going to break this out more through looking at Paul’s letter to the Romans.  Paul starts with a “therefore,” so we need to see what he just said.  He just told the Romans that sin reigns in death, but grace reigns through righteousness leading to eternal life through Christ.  What this means is that Jesus Christ is the righteousness that leads to eternal life, and, if we are in Him, we will be righteous.  But, of course, we still battle our sinful flesh, and so death will come on us for breaking God’s Law.  Paul picks this up by saying, well, if death is coming for us, why not just go willy-nilly into the world, doing whatever we want, including every sinful thing?  After all, if we’re in Christ, what’s the big deal?  Doesn’t God forgive sins?  And to that, Paul says never.  We should never live as if we are sinners, but always live as we are saints.

     He then asks the Romans, don’t you remember you’re baptized?  And if you’re baptized, you’re baptized into His death.  And if you’re baptized into His death, then you’re also raised into a new life.  What this means is that through baptism, the death of Christ comes to you and washes over you.  In a very real sense, the cross is brought to you in the waters of baptism and covers you in the blood of Christ, shed for you.  You died in your baptism, not an eternal death, but a death to sin, for the death Christ died was a death for sin.  But, as Christ did not stay dead, neither can you stay dead in that water, and so you rise to the newness of life, a preview of the resurrection of the dead that is coming for you.

     When Jesus is baptized by John, He sanctifies all waters for baptism, so that you can be washed for the forgiveness of your sins.  You don’t get nothing in the water; you get dead.  In the waters of John’s baptism, Jesus laid His life into the water and would not pick it up again until it as time for Him to be raised from the dead.  His death is in the water; His life is coming out of it.  And that’s what you have.  You have His death and you have His life.  If you have been united to Christ, you have been united to both.  If you have His death, and if you have died to sin, which is that you see to reject it and turn from your wicked ways, then you have His life, which is that you may begin to do that which is right and good.

     And if you have this unity with Christ, then the promise is for you that you will be raised to eternal life.  You are resurrected in a small sense in the water, but you are resurrected forever in Christ’s return to this earth.  In fact, in the haters of baptism, we give to Jesus, not only our sins, but also ourselves, that He might take us to the cross and be crucified with Him.  Our bodies are destroyed in the flood of Baptism that we are brought to nothing.  Sin is destroyed in our flesh, not that it doesn’t try to get back in, but it cannot hold your forever; God has made that claim on you.  By killing you in baptism, God has put a claim on you for your eternal life.  He has bought you back from sin and brought you into life itself.  You are freed.

     And not only that, but as Christ will never die again, neither will you.  This is why the church, really up until recently, only ever referred to the death of the saints as “sleep.”  “He’s fallen asleep in the Lord.”  It’s not that anyone thinks you’re actually sleeping, but that Christ promises that if you believe in Him, even though you die, yet shall you live forever.  Death in this life is nothing, it’s a portal, a door we enter into life with Christ forever.  Death can’t hold you in the grave; Jesus has won the victory over death forever; He is its Lord and not the other way around.

     All of this we find in the baptism of Jesus.  We see that He is baptized to get baptism started for us, He’s baptized to pick up our filth, He’s baptized that we gain His righteousness, and Paul tells us that He’s baptized that all His life is dedicated to His one mission, living for God and His will, which is to bring you do salvation forever.  So, too, are we bound in baptism to this will, that in our baptisms, we are bound over, dead to sin, but now alive in Christ.  In this way, our baptisms begin our Christian lives, shaping us as we seek to do the will of God, to love Him and love our neighbor.  We are to live holy lives in light of our baptism, avoiding evil and sin, and chasing after that which is good.

     This is what Jesus’ baptism is all about.  It seems complicated perhaps, but only because we make it so.  Really, it’s all about you, about Christ’s death for you and life eternal with you.  It’s all about Him taking your sin and giving to you His holiness.  It’s all about your baptism, you dying and rising in Christ.  It’s all about God taking your sinful flesh and giving you a heart disposed towards Him, taking the former things away and giving you the new, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.  Jesus’ baptism is all about you, and that we celebrate today, as He is revealed to all people as the Son of God, in whom His Father is well pleased.  In your baptism, Christ has made you now sons of God, in whom the Father is well pleased.  Hold on to your baptism; it is a glorious gift that will bring you to eternal life, and you never want to let that go.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

     Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord!  Amen.

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