January 10, 2016 – Baptism of our Lord Text: Romans 6:1-11
Dear Friends in Christ,
Water can be very relaxing. Lying in a raft floating along a river. Listening to a stream bubbling through the woods. Even relaxation CD’s use water as a sound to find peace and tranquility. Our bodies wound tight by life’s tensions can unwind in water or to the soothing melody of a creek bed of flowing H2O.
Think of Holy Baptism in the same way. The tension of our sin that can bring much misery to our lives is swept down the river so to speak as the waters of Holy Baptism flow down our forehead. How comforting to recall that special day in our lives. We live anew through water and the Word.
“LIVING BY DYING – THROUGH THE WATERS OF HOLY BAPTISM”
As good as all of this sounds, don’t think that everything is a picture of serenity. Satan is always looking for a way to extricate us from our faith in Jesus. He and his minions will stop at nothing until they’ve accomplished their mission. He entices with the thought that if we sin more we will be showered with more of God’s grace. Paul takes up the question in our text: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” (v. 1) Continue you living the way you want because The Lord is there with His grace.
We fall for the lie. “I know marriage is supposed to be between one man and one woman, but God’s grace covers that, right? I don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings. God wouldn’t really send someone to hell if they don’t repent, would He?”
“I know sex is supposed to be just in marriage, but what we do isn’t like, horrible. We really like each other and we will probably get married someday. God is gracious and loving. He won’t really send us to hell if we don’t repent, right?”
What’s wrong with the picture? Satan is talking, not the Lord. Satan doesn’t listen to Holy Scripture, doesn’t honor Holy Scripture, hates Holy Scripture. He tries to get us to question its authenticity. He will twist the Word so that we will buy into his twisted logic. This never holds water with God and His Word. God’s judgment on unrepentant sin is real and exactly what He says in Scripture: eternal suffering in hell.
Paul says we can’t even think about continuing in sin. We are dead to all this nonsense. “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.” (vs. 1b-4a) Mankind is satisfied to live and function in this perverse thinking and doing. But Paul reminds the Roman congregation that this kind thinking has no power over us. Our sin has been drowned. We have been set free from these sins, not because they don’t matter, but because Jesus died for them. Forgiven because they were taken to the cross.
Our sexual sins, our sins of silence when we should be defending marriage, our failure to keep our marriage vows, all were nailed to the cross. Therefore, when we turn away from these sins, we no longer bear the punishment they deserve. We are delivered from hell to heaven. “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.” Christ’s death was on the cross, ours is in Baptism, which gives the benefits of His work on the cross. New life has already begun for the child of God. When Christ returns our bodies will be raised to life again.
How then does the Church, God’s people, continue to live in this world? How do we not let the world’s authority take over our life? How do we live having ben drowned and buried with Christ in Baptism? It is a matter of “reemerging” to new life.
A Pastor Fuqua tells the story of his work as a scuba diver in Wichita, Kansas. He would sometimes be called to search for a body in the water of a sandpit. He’d gear up, test his regulator and him and a buddy would dive into the dark waters to search for the deceased. It was sad duty. After completing the work, they’d emerge from the dark waters and once again breathe God’s air! Their hope was always that the one who had drowned emerged from death to God’s fresh air of heaven.
Kind of like what happens in Baptism, isn’t it? We dive into the depths but reemerge again to breathe fresh air. We’ve died to sin and are brought back to life. This new life is different because the power of God’s Word has taken over our lives. How we conduct our daily life is different. We will still sin but we will not be taken in by the falsehoods of Satan. We reflect the glory of the Father – made available through a cross and empty tomb. We reflect this new life – like Paul did after his Damascus road experience – and do it gladly and willingly. We don’t live back there. We share the resurrection of Jesus!
Breathe your new life and live it to the fullest in Christ Jesus!
Amen.