Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? 2By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? 3Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. 7For whoever has died is freed from sin. 8But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:1b - 11 (NRSVA)
In the Baptismal Covenant we are asked a question: Will you turn away from the powers of sin and death? It’s a pretty simple thing to read the answers off the paper…
We renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness
We reject the evil powers of this world
And repent of our sin
Reading a pre-programmed answer is easy; but how do you live it? If the untold numbers of testimonies of lives-lived in and out of the Christian faith are any evidence, rejecting sin and the evil forces of this world are not found in repeating some magical formula like a mantra…
I’m a Christian, I will not sin,
I’m a Christian, I will not sin,
I’m a Christian, I will not sin…. Ad nauseum!
It’s also not a matter of getting a good self-help book from a TV Religious program, “7 Steps to Holiness…Name it, Claim it, Blab it, Grab it, you deserve a Cadillac, send me $100 and I’ll pray for you”.
Rather, the answer is found in our identity; the answer is to be “in Christ”. In our text Paul says it this way:
11So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
“In Christ”! What does that mean? I can tell you the worth of it – being in Christ is everything. And anything less than 100% “in Christ” is to be without Christ entirely. There is no power to resist sin without Christ. But living “in Christ” holds the power to reject sin.
If you spend much time hanging around philosophy students you know they’re weird. Invariably they try to get you to answer in 25 words or less the ultimate question: What is the meaning of life?
Well, we’re at that point today…and let’s not shy away from asking that ultimate question, but let’s go beyond merely getting at the meaning of life as understanding or head-knowledge; let’s also ask how we can experience the meaning of life. I want to have more than information about life’s meaning; I want life!
Now, the answer is already there; the process is a matter of removing the obstacles that block us from seeing it, so we can see clearly, and step into life.
What we need to see is the cross and empty tomb. Everything about our baptism points to that. On the cross Jesus died because sin had us dead to rights…sin requires death, separation from God. The empty tomb is proof Jesus conquered sin and death.
How does that help me see how to have life? The answer there is found in the fact that the cross and tomb are outside of yourself. And therein we see the difference. Often we are told to “look within” for our answers. OK…let’s do that; look inside the average person, child, teen, adult, senior…what do we see?
Is there confusion?
Is there questioning?
Is there doubt and suffering?
How does any of that provide answers that you can trust? On this one, looking within won’t cut it. We need to look outside ourselves; we go to the cross and empty tomb for our answers.
THE MAIN OBSTACLE TO SEEING AND STEPPING-INTO LIFE IS ME!
I remember a cartoon strip from many years ago, Pogo is considering life and he muses: “We have met the enemy and he is us”.
A person asked Socrates why it was that Alcibiades, who was so rich, so brilliant and so able a statesman and general, who had traveled so much, and seen so much of the world, was nevertheless so unhappy a man.
Socrates replied: “Because wherever he goes Alcibiades takes himself with him.” Socrates saw that the root problem is in the person himself. Socrates knew that his student Alcibiades had the problems of pride, vanity and selfish ambition. Wherever he went, he created controversy, trouble and division. And that was the cause of his unhappiness.
The chief obstacle to our stepping into life and away from sin is that we, each one of us, stands in our own way. The problem is that we think we can solve our own problems, and we’ll come up with just about any crazy thing to convince ourselves we don’t need God.
If you want proof, just look at the folks to whom Paul wrote. He’d preached how the grace of God was sufficient for their forgiveness, the cross was God’s gift, and the resurrection was God’s proof. Paul went so far as to say, “it doesn’t matter how big a sin you’ve got….God’s grace is always bigger than the sin.”
The Roman folks turned that around and said, “…well glory! If God’s grace always forgives, and the bigger the sin, the more grace grows, well, we’ll just let the good times roll here…we’ll sin more in order to let God’s grace shine bigger!”
Does anyone sense here that the Roman people were their own biggest enemy? This is what causes all sorts of problems in the Christian life; this is why we return again and again to the sin that besets. I have a shirt I love to wear; Elizabeth would love it if I wore it just one more time…to the garbage can! It has holes, tears, is faded and is stretched beyond repair. But I still wear it! I can’t help it; it’s a favorite. I wear it in the yard…and even away from the house (when Elizabeth doesn’t catch me). It’s only a dozen years old.
The shirt has sentimental significance. My son-in-law, Ken, got it at the Gator Bowl game one year, for participating in the promotion Toyota had at half-time. If he was chosen, he’d get a chance to kick a 40-yard field goal and win a house or something. We practiced every Saturday, but when halftime came they chose someone else and gave us each a tee shirt!
I keep wearing that shirt because I won’t throw it away. And that is like our sins – Christ has promised his death was sufficient to overcome death and sin; we prefer to hang-on to the familiar, favorite sins, even though they’re tearing us apart inside spiritually.
SO HOW DO YOU LET THEM GO?
The answer to this biggest obstacle to real life is to abandon self, to actually “let go” and trust in Christ. How to do that is a matter of identity. In the final analysis I know (for a certainty) only three things:
1. Sin is a strong master, and I am naturally its’ slave.
2. Jesus is stronger than sin.
3. God loved me enough to die so that I can be released from the power of sin.
So, the answer is to die to self and sin. That means an initial choice to follow Christ. Paul described that happening in his own life:
19For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; 20and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:19 - 20 (NRSVA)
But, besides the initial choice to follow Christ in his death, there is a daily choice. Paul also said, “I die daily” meaning …his choices, his thoughts, his needs and demands were constantly being put on the offering block as a sacrifice. It was not Paul who was going to steer this ship, it was Christ! That…is how you step into life!
IT’S NOT EASY TO DIE IS IT?
I have a grandson with a prophet’s name, Micah. He is something akin to a tape recorder; he reproduces words that we say! He’s living proof for the old saying that…out of the mouths of babes come words the parents should never have said in front of the babe!
While we were staying at my daughter’s house last week our grandson, Micah was one very tired three year-old, and more than a little cranky. He’s usually a delight, but not this day! At one point I thought I would stop his whining dead in its tracks with a little adult vocabulary. I looked him in the eyes and said, “Micah…you are being preposterous!” He looked straight back at me through narrowed, squinting eyes with clenched teeth, and said, “Nonsense…you are pre-pos-ter-ous!” He didn’t miss a syllable!
At that point, my grandson’s biggest problem (in his three year old mind) was his grandfather! But that was looking within…caving to what he wanted. Had he been able to put his crankiness and selfishness aside, he might have seen my desire to calm him and lead him into release from his unhappiness. But he was in the way!
Preposterous – we usually think of that word meaning silly, absurd or ridiculous. But the actual meaning is that which comes after is before.
That’s how it is in spiritual matters: what is absurd or ridiculous to the natural man is clear to spiritual sight. Jesus said if you will hold on to your life, you will lose it; if you let it go, you will gain it.
He compared our lives to a kernel of corn, yielding itself as seed to the ground; that death produces abundant life in the harvest.
This is counter to everything natural. In our inner being we have self-preservation that blocks seeing our real help.
This is counter to everything cultural. Today we are told to place self above all…me, first, last and always!
Our nature and our cultural philosophy says, live NOW, because tomorrow we die!
Christ bids us come and die…and step into life.
He leaves us a choice, doesn’t he?
