It said to have happened in Texas when parts of the state were still considered the frontier, or the wild west. A preacher went traveling among the pioneers and settlers. In a small frontier town he shared the Gospel, and of course, he offered baptism to anyone who wanted it. Most of the town’s folks were skeptical and not interested. However, one family took the pastor up on the offer. And so, dad and mom and the kids were all baptized. The next day at the one room schoolhouse the students asked one of the little girls from the family to explain what baptism was all about. She said, “I was once a little maverick out on the prairie. When I was baptized, Jesus but his brand on me, and now everyone knows that I belong to Him.”
To understand what the girl was saying we need to know a little bit of Texas history and the story behind the word maverick. Originally Maverick was a man’s last name. Samuel Augustus Maverick, who was actually a native of South Carolina, arrived in San Antonio, Texas in September 1835. Because Mr. Maverick was often away tending to family business back in Alabama and South Carolina he had to leave others in charge of his cattle. The story goes like this. One of his men named Jack, who had little experience with cattle, let them wander and remain unbranded when new calves were born. In time, as stories traveled by word-of-mouth through the cow camps and saloons of Texas such an animal became known as a “maverick.” The meaning behind the word persists to this day. A maverick is someone who is a little wild and perhaps unconventional. As one descendant of the maverick family said, “If you’re unbranded, in charge of your own self, and wild and free, then sister you’re a maverick!” It’s also worth noting that an unbranded animal, especially a lost calf, could be branded and then become the legal property of anybody who would catch and brand it.
Perhaps that little Texas girl’s description of baptism was a good one. We were all spiritual mavericks when we were born. We were lost as far as God is concerned, straying outside the boundaries of his “ranch,” if we can call his kingdom that. But in his love and mercy God reached out and claimed us for his own. Through baptism God put his brand—his Name—on us. Now we are no longer mavericks. We belong to God!
In the Word of God for our sermon this morning the Apostle Paul will remind us of what it means to live in our baptismal grace all the days of our life. We will focus on our Second Reading for this Sunday, Romans 6:1-11. In these verses we find some awesome truths about our baptism. We ask the Holy Spirit to empower us to believe these words and apply them to our lives. The last verse of our reading provides the two thoughts that we will consider in our sermon. We are told that we should count ourselves “dead to sin” but “alive to God in Christ Jesus.” We consider that thought under the theme that we hear in our baptismal liturgy:
“LIVE IN YOUR BAPTISMAL GRACE”
I. You are dead to sin
II. You are alive to God
Of all the books in the Bible and of all of the Apostle Paul’s letters Romans is considered to be one of the richest and most intense. Here we find the LAW stated in absolute terms. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Here we read the GOSPEL clearly and precisely. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1) Many important doctrines also appear in Romans. In Romans 6 the Apostle Paul connects the good news of God’s grace in baptism to the daily life of believers. Baptism has an ongoing impact on the life a child of God lives. Those who have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into a new life. They are dead, and even buried, to sin! They are alive to God in Christ Jesus!
I.
The question that the Apostle Paul asked in Romans 6:1 might at first strike us as an odd one. “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” Satan had convinced some believers of a horrible lie. They thought that since God had forgiven all their sins through Jesus they should sin more to get more of God’s love. Although this is very twisted logic it still presents a problem for believers today. We still hear people say, “If Jesus died for my sins then it doesn’t matter what I do, right?” Maybe we don’t go to that extreme but perhaps we have begun to treat sin as no big deal because we are forgiven. We say something like this, “After all God’s mercy is so great my sinning can’t be that serious. What is the difference if I do this or that?”
The Apostle immediately points out how ridiculous it is to keep on sinning in the hope that we can get more of God’s forgiveness. And he also answers those who treat their relationship with sin casually. “By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death…” Why is it impossible for the baptized believer to continue to be friends with sin? He or she has died to sin! The believer has been baptized into a new life.
Let’s not pass over this truth quickly. The Apostle Paul is directing us to the significance of Jesus serving as our substitute when he died. From the time that God connected one command to a tree in the Garden of Eden the consequence of sinning is death—spiritual, physical, and eternal. Ezekiel 18:4 declares, “The soul who sins is the one who will die.” Romans 6:23 restates that thought, “For the wages of sin is death.” God’s math is simple. You work for sin your paycheck is death. But Jesus suffered the death we deserved and now his Heavenly Father looks at you and me as if we actually died for our sins. On the Friday we call good Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34) He was suffering the eternal death of hell that we deserved. Since we have been baptized into him it is now as if we have already suffered in hell as we deserve to. When Jesus gave his three word declaration from the cross, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head in death it is as if we were hanging there with him. Our baptism puts us there with him. We are dead and buried to sin. We have been baptized into a new life.
Historians tell a story about a young Frenchman who was drafted into Napoleon’s army. At that time in many European countries a substitute could take someone’s place in the military draft. The young man had a friend who volunteered to go in his place. That man was killed in battle fighting for France. Some time later through a clerical error the same young man whose friend took had taken his place in the draft was drafted again. He refused to enter the army. “You can’t take me,” he said, “I’m dead. I died on the battlefield.” “You can’t be dead. You are standing right in front of us,” they said. The case finally went to Napoleon himself. After finding the man’s name in the original draft book with a substitute written next to it the Emperor let the man go free. He said, “Through a substitute this man has not only fought for his country, but has died in his country’s service. No man can die more than once; therefore, the law has no claim on him.” Two thousand years ago Jesus died in our place. Through Him as our substitute Satan now has no claim on us. We owe no debts to sin.
Now listen again to what the Apostle says this truth means for our daily life. “If we have been united with him [Jesus] like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin--because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” Someone who has died can’t be made to do anything. Although it might sound a little crass imagine trying to get a dead person to do some work for you. There will be no response to anything you ask or say. Or imagine if someone threatened to harm a dead person who wasn’t responding to a command. Again, nothing would happen. In a similar way the waters of baptism killed you—at least the old you. You were baptized into Christ and baptized into his death. You are dead and buried to sin.
Now think about the impact of being dead to sin. Let’s say you have been struggling with a bad temper. It has troubled you for so many years that you think it is hopeless. You feel like you will never be free of it. Every time something upsets you your anger flares up. You have tried and tried to control yourself, but you always seem to fail. You may have begun to believe Satan’s lie that you are helpless to change the way you act. In these verses that we are considering this morning we are reminded again that we are dead to sin. No matter what sin has sunk itself inside you don’t believe for a minute that you are stuck in it. You are a baptized child of God. Hebrews 12:1 tells us, “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Ephesians 4:22 says, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires.” Yes, we can say it again. We have been baptized into a new life. We are dead to sin.
I imagine that most of you have seen pictures of the Viet Nam Veteran’s Memorial. It has the names of the 58,000 American who died in that war engraved on its black granite walls. Since its dedication in 1982, thousands of Americans have gone there to remember friends and relatives who died in the service of their country. Others go there out of respect for our veterans. For a few veterans of the war in Viet Nam a visit to the memorial must be especially moving. Because of clerical mistakes by the army some names were incorrectly listed among those who were killed in action. Others who were listed as dead were found alive. Listed as dead, but still alive. That is a great description of each of us. We are listed as dead. And we are in relation to sin. We are dead and buried. But we are alive. We are risen and living to God.
II.
That natural result of being dead to sin is what the Apostle Paul brings out clearly in verses 8-11 of Romans 6. “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” When it comes to the lasting impact of our baptism Paul tells us to look at the facts. Since we died with Christ through our baptism we are dead to sin. Every day that we live we must count on that fact. We have been baptized into a new life. We are risen and living to God.
It is so easy to forget what our baptism means for our daily life. From time to time we receive this reminder in the order of Holy Baptism in our hymnal. “Baptism means that the sinful nature in us should be drowned by daily sorrow and repentance, and that all its evil deeds and desires be put to death. It also means that a new person should daily arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.” Perhaps more than any other thing we do in our Christian life it is important for us to come back to the covenant of grace God has made with us in baptism. We do that when we see that Christ’s life has been given to us. When we lay our sorry excuse for a life before him he will empower us to live a new one.
Perhaps you are familiar with the hymn, “Baptized Into Your Name Most Holy.” When it was first published in 1734 it appeared under the section of hymns entitled “Daily Renewal of the Baptismal Covenant.” In the handbook to the Lutheran hymnal there is a stanza for that hymn that has been omitted. It says, “Depart, depart, thou Prince of Darkness! No more by thee I’ll be enticed. Mine is indeed a tarnished conscience, But sprinkled with the blood of Christ. Away, vain world! O sin, away! Lo, I renounce you all this day.” But that verse expresses a powerful truth. Because we have been baptized into a new life the power of Christ to overcome sin is ours. We can say to Satan, “Away from me!” We can stop the pride, and anger, and resentment, and hatred that spews out of our sinful nature. We can as has been stated in connection to baptism, “Renounce the devil in all his works and all his ways.”
Perhaps you are saying to yourself, “Well this sounds like nothing more than a spiritual pep talk. If I have a positive attitude I can change.” No! Nothing could be further from the truth. What the Apostle Paul is laying before are the facts about baptism. What we need is the faith to believe the facts and live them. Once again God comes to our rescue. The Means of Grace—the Word and Sacraments that he gives us create and strengthen our faith in spiritual truth.
Do you need encouragement to live a new life for your Lord? Find it in words like these from 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, “For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” As we remain in the words of our Savior, we find the force of his love to compel us to live a new life. Galatians 3:27 reminds us that baptism carries a powerful promise with it. “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” We are wearing the holiness and perfection of Jesus not just so that we are acceptable to God and can have a relationship with him but also so that we have the power to live a new life for God.
For just a moment I want you to imagine a ship that has been set on auto pilot and given a course to follow. It is headed straight for a rocky shore where it will crash. You want to save the ship, so you run to the wheelhouse and turn the big wheel that steers the ship. You spin it around so that the ship will turn 180 degrees and go the other way. But when you let go of the wheel it spins back to the original course and the ship continues on toward disaster. So you turn the wheel back again and try to hold it in place. But you feel the autopilot kick in and turns back to the deadly course it was given. You realize the problem. You have to reprogram the autopilot. The ship needs a new set of directions.
Now think of your life. You can try to live according to God’s will, but you always seem to go back toward the same old sinful actions. You try harder. You put more energy into it. Nothing seems to work. What you need is someone to change the settings of your autopilot. Jesus must be at the wheel. Your baptism puts him there. Returning to your baptism gets your sinful nature out of the way. Your old Adam or old Eve doesn’t belong at the wheel of your life. It is Christ living in us and through us that us allows us to live a new life. That reality is seen most clearly in our baptism.
“I was once a little maverick out on the prairie. When I was baptized, Jesus but his brand on me, and now everyone knows that I belong to Him.” Perhaps that little girl’s description of baptism is a good one. We were all spiritual mavericks destined for a life of wandering far and wide from God’s love. But Jesus claimed us. Jesus put his name and his seal of ownership on us in Holy Baptism. Now, brothers and sisters, may God enable us to live in our baptismal grace all our days. We are dead and buried to sin it need not control us any longer. And we are risen and living to God. Let’s believe that truth and live that truth. Amen.
