The
Baptism of our Lord January
11, 2015
Romans
6:1-11 Wanted .
. . Both Dead and Alive!
Dear
fellow redeemed,
The
lawmen in the old westerns didnt mince words.
*
If you were an outlaw and you were
wanted for murder, you could pretty well predict
how
that poster would read underneath its depiction of your face: Wanted . . .
dead or
alive!
*
No trial was necessary. Your verdict had been issued some time
ago.
You
were found guilty, except that you later escaped from jail.
*
In any case, the quicker your
reign of terror was brought to an end the better.
You
simply had to be stopped by whatever means possible.
*
Of course, it might not have
seemed especially reasonable bringing you in alive.
Presumably
it would be much easier to kill you rather than to bring you in kicking and
screaming.
*
A very similar story is told
about you as a believer; one whos been baptized.
No trial is necessary. No.
Its not you who has already been judged. Its your Savior!
*
In fact hes already died for
you. But hes also risen from the dead and is very much alive.
And
now, your Lord desires to see the same thing take place in you.
* He doesnt want you dead or
alive.
God wants you both dead and
alive. He wants you dead to sin but
alive in Christ.
*
Its all on account of your
Baptism. In the words of Paul: So
you also must consider
yourselves
dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Most
people in the religious world, however, are convinced that it must be one way
or the other.
*
God must want you either to do
some dying or to do some living.
Either you must die because you have
some sin to get rid of or you must live because
youve already put your sin behind
you. You cant major in both living and
dying!
*
So lets talk about the religious
alternatives here.
We
begin with the many who are focused only on living; on hearing the Gospel with
no
Law. The preaching of the Gospel, in their
opinion, has given them license to live as they
please
since theyre no longer threatened by death.
*
St. Paul makes reference to them
in the opening verse of our reading.
A number of parishioners in Rome had
cheapened God grace by using it as an excuse to
continue in sin.
*
The logic went something like
this: Well, if our sin reveals how great Gods grace is
inasmuch
as his grace covers every sin we do, then sinning more will only increase Gods
grace
so that we benefit from his grace even more!
* In other words, let us step up our
sinning so that good things may come to us!
Two wrongs make a right! If Gods going to forgive us every time,
lets give him an even
greater reason to forgive us! The Lord looks better. Were still saved. Everyone wins!
*
Well, obviously Gods grace will
not benefit the hypocrite, which is why the apostle
confronts
the issue head on. 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?
Its
the same question many may ask themselves today.
* People
cheapen Gods grace by using it as an excuse to do as they please.
Calling
themselves Christian, they argue, If God saves me by grace; if he wants me
just
the
way I am, well then, I guess the way I am is acceptable, even if I choose this
path!
*
Imagine using this logic with
regards to your physical health.
You argue to yourself, My brother
is a doctor. This gives me reason to eat
whatever I
want
whenever I want. I may even drink myself into oblivion should I feel so
inclined.
*
After all, if my arteries get
clogged or I have a heart attack, Ill always have my brother
to
fall back on to perform the necessary surgery.
*
The argument doesnt sound so
different with regards to our spiritual health.
1) If
Holy Communion offers me forgiveness for all my sins this past week, then I
guess Im
good for another week to continue
living the same way. Having received my
dose of grace,
I may now go out and commit the very
same sin all over again.
2) Or
if as the apostle says, Baptism now saves you!
(1 Peter 3:21), well, I guess I can miss
the divine service and the Sacrament
a little longer.
* If
the Lord is my Savior, I dont have to desist from this sin today, for I can
always be
forgiven tomorrow. Im living in a state of grace after all!
We
may be reminded of the thinking of the lawman.
The
outlaw is gunned down since its the easier way to come by that great reward.
*
Weve got this idea that if we
crucify our old self, as St. Paul puts it, or drown the Old
Adam, that our sinful flesh is going to remain
dead.
We dont have to worry about
bringing him in kicking and screaming.
We may receive our reward and go on
our merry way.
*
Unfortunately, as surely as the
Old Adam is drowned and dies through Baptism by daily
contrition
and repentance, so does he reemerge each and every day.
*
And we must begin the entire
process all over again. We die to sin. We drown the Old
Adam. Each time kicking and screaming is the only
way hes going down.
*
Gods grace is not intended for
those who are focused on only living, that is, living with
their sin. Yes.
Were saved by grace as our sins are washed away.
*
However, as surely as were saints
so are we still sinners.
And guess what our sin promises
us.
In the words of James, What
is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time
and then vanishes
(James 4:14).
*
Focusing only on living is not a reasonable
outlook, for such living is bound to come to
an
end.
Many
in the religious world are focused on only living, hearing the Gospel and no
Law.
* Many others in the religious world
are focused only on dying, hearing the Law with no
Gospel. They dont think about living, for theyve
lost the will to live.
*
So, in their case, so they dont cheapen
Gods grace; they give up on his grace.
God
does
not want me as I am theyre thinking. And theres no way Im changing
things!
*
Their view is often traced back
to bad preaching, which stresses only the Law.
And it may have something to do with
not listening very well to John the Baptist.
* We hear that he proclaimed a
baptism of repentance and conclude that he came
preaching
only the Law and sin. We often forget to
listen to the part about him preaching
a
Baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
*
And thats when we may be led to
believe that the Christian life is only about contrition
and
guilt. We become relentless in our
efforts to turn over a new leaf.
But it always seems theres one more
leaf; one more step to completing our act of
repentance.
* We must die a little more, for were
still feeling guilty, like we havent done quite enough,
and time is running out.
Especially
susceptible to such thinking at times may be the elderly.
*
You make the observation that
your life is winding down and therefore that the next few
years
will serve as your final chance be someone special in the life of a given loved
one.
*
As time progresses and your gifts
in your opinion diminish, you begin to lose your
incentive. And as your life or your health takes a
sudden turn, you may even become
ambivalent
about whether you continue living or whether youre taken home.
* At best youre feeling torn.
1) Perhaps
your husband has died this last year.
2) Or
its looking likely that youll soon have to move and become shut-in.
3) Or
youve developed chronic pain in a certain joint or muscle and youre making
more and
more trips to the doctor.
*
Sometimes we feel torn, like we
have little reason for living.
Maybe death would simplify matters
for those whom we love most dearly.
We
may consider it somewhat disturbing at times the fascination some people have
with death.
*
The Walking Dead is horror
television series based on a comic book.
A certain sheriffs deputy awakens
from a coma to find a post-apocalyptic world thats
dominated by flesh-eating zombies.
So he sets out to find his family and he encounters
many other survivors along the way.
*
I guess its a horrifying
concept. Crossing paths with those who are both dead and alive at
the
same time; wondering whether you might be the next victim.
* Well, let me tell you about the real
fantasy.
Its the idea that being both dead
and alive as a believer is something frightening.
* But
heres what you should know.
Focusing only on dying is
unreasonable outlook, for when you die you also live.
*
And actually, we dont ever
have to dwell on dying, for as long as were living in fact,
every
moment of our life Christ has a
purpose for us living.
Lets
consider, finally, Gods alternative, as he wants us both dead and
alive.
God
wants you, not to specifically to end your reign of terror, but that he
may reign in you.
*
We consider todays Gospel
reading, and what Jesus heard from his Father.
And a voice came from heaven, You are my
beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.
* As Christs Baptism marked the
beginning of his ministry, we may imagine how comforting
these words were to him. Before he even begins to follow through hes
assured hell succeed.
Hell atone for the sins of the
world!
*
But his Baptism isnt just about
him. By Gods grace God is pleased with us through
Baptism.
Our Baptism, you see is where Gods grace makes us as his children.
He wants you the way you are,
despite your sinfulness, for he promises to overcome your
sinfulness by uniting you with
Christs death and resurrection, so that you might die and
live over and over again.
Thats
right. Some focus only on living. Others focus only on dying.
* However, the baptized may focus on
both dying and living.
That
is to say, we dont want to live so that we might only die.
We wish to die so that we
might live.
*
And just listen to the
Christians logic who hears both the Law and the Gospel.
Because God has made me his
child I wish to live as his child!
So you also must consider yourselves dead to
sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
* It
will no longer be my sin that has life, as far as Im concerned.
It will be my Savior who gives me
life through his Word of forgiveness.
*
And the word sounds something
like this: Death no longer has dominion over him.
For the death he died he died to
sin, once for all.
*
That means I dont have to be
intimidated by death, for sins been taken out of the
equation. As surely as Christ died for my sin, I
will die to sin! (Rom. 6:8 ?)
Even
so, sometimes we try to block death out of our minds. All this dying is frightening to us.
*
If it was just once, maybe wed
be halfway up for it.
But day after day, year after year
we die to sin; we live in Christ.
*
But heres the thing, Christians
dont have to be afraid of dying, whether its our one
death
at the end of our life, or whether its our daily dying.
*
Because of what coincides with
death, we dont have to be afraid at all.
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.
*
As Christ rose from the dead, we
enjoy a daily rising from the dead.
Having died to sin, we live with
Christ.
Having received Christs
forgiveness, not only are we happy, with Gods help, to put our
sin behind us. Were eager to do so.
* Imagine! We get to live a life which
is pleasing to our Heavenly Father every day in
every
way.
The
apostle Paul, like the western lawman never minced words.
He
writes in Second Corinthians: For the letter kills, but the Spirit
gives life (2 Cor. 3:6).
*
He speaks of the effects of the
Law and of the Gospel.
It also happens to be the effect
that our Baptism has on us.
On the one hand, we die. On the other hand, we live, we receive the
Lords grace.
*
Now, perhaps that seems to be the
most unreasonable outlook of any claiming to be
religious. Who wants to
both die and live?
* Ill tell you
who. The one who knows hes wanted by
God, that hes saved not by cheap
grace or unreachable
grace but Gods grace.
* Yes. The baptized are bound to feel torn.
1) On the one hand were tired. Were not sure that we want to go another
whole round.
Maybe God should take us home.
2) On the other hand, were thinking of the
many things we still want to do and the many
ways
wed still like to serve those we love.
Maybe God should wait a little while.
* Are you
feeling torn? Its all right. Just remember that youre wanted both dead and
alive.
If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we
die, we die to the Lord.
So then, whether
we live or whether we die, we are the Lords. Amen.
May
the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus. Amen.
