BURIED WITH HIM, RAISED WITH HIM
Text: Romans 6:1 – 6, 13 - 14
Romans 6:1-6 What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? (2) By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? (3) Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? (4) Therefore 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. (5) For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (6) We 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. …. Romans 6:13-14 No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. (14) For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace (NRSV).
Our Bishop, Jonathon Holston has a brother who works with the funeral home. One time when they were in the same town, his brother sent a hearse to the Bishop’s home. People who rode by got curious and began to have questions. The Bishop called his brother to tell him that the unnecessary presence of the hearse had caused lots of questions and conversation. Couldn’t you just imagine some of those conversations and phone calls about who died? It was a joke. Nobody died but, it got everybody’s attention.
We always associate a hearse with death. What about baptism? How do we look at baptism? Doesn’t baptism represent death to an old way of life and the beginning of new life as a new creature in Christ? Paul said it did!
Why do you think this artificial turf is up here on the floor? Where have you seen turf like this before? (I actually borrowed an artificial grass (turf) used at Funerals from Shives Funeral Home and had it rolled out as the scripture was read).
SACRAMENT OR RITE?
Is baptism a rite or a sacrament?
1) Sacraments: The word sacrament is not in the Bible. The word “sacrament” comes from a Latin word “sacramentum” which meant an “oath producing an obligation” according to Webster’s Dictionary.
2) Alpha and Omega: Both baptism and the Lord’s supper are connected with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Could that be one of the reasons that Jesus says that He is the alpha and the omega----the beginning and the end” four times in the book of Revelation?
3) The difference: “The sacraments—baptism and the Lord’s Supper—are vital practices of any church that confesses that Jesus is God and Savior of the world”. https://corechristianity.com/resource-library/articles/what-is-a-sacrament/ What is the difference between a rite and a sacrament? Rites are ceremonial and the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion initiated by Jesus.
How do some people view baptism?
1) Obligation: Remember how we just mentioned that a sacrament was associated with an obligation? In his book Actions Speak Louder Than Verbs, Herb Miller mentioned a disturbing statistic from 1989. “In some European countries where only 3 percent of the population attends worship, 99 percent have been baptized.” (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989, p. 101). How does that statistic compare to our world today?
2) License to sin: He goes on to say that many view baptism “a rite” or as others say “like fire insurance” where they can break the rules and continue to sin because they have their “cosmic ticket stamped” because of their baptism.”. (Herb Miller . Actions Spek Louder then Verbs. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989, p. 101). Is their point of view true or false? It is a false point of view!
Is baptism an inoculation?
1) Inoculation: Every year people get flu shots to avoid getting the flu. In an inoculation, they introduce a pathogen or an antigen to cause one’s body to start building an immune response. An inoculation stimulates the immune system to recognize and destroy a disease causing germ. Inoculations do not have obligations!
2) Baptism: By contrast, in baptism our sins are taken from us because Jesus is the sacrificial lamb who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). That means Jesus took our sinfulness to the cross. That means we are obligated to keep producing fruit in keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8).
BAPTISM and BURIAL
“… [A] recent seminary graduate, who was appointed to his very first congregation. He and his wife went to visit his family one Saturday afternoon for lunch. This preacher's mother sensed that her daughter-in-law was not all that happy, but not wanting to be one of those nosey, meddlesome mothers-in-law, she pretended not to notice. She figured it was just a lover's spat.
But as her son and daughter-in-law left, everything was cleared up because she overheard her daughter-in-law say, "All right, we can go by the church and you can practice baptizing me just one more time. But remember this, when you have your first funeral, you are not going to practice burying me!" https://sermons.com/search/results?term=Baptism&category=sermon&sermon_filters=Illustrations&tab=Illustrations&page=2 [Illustration by Billy D. Strayhorn].
Why do we associate baptism with water, life and death?
Jesus came to save us, not condemn us (John 3:16 – 17)! In our baptism, we are baptized into His death that He died for us and raised in the ne life that He gives to us (Romans 6:2 – 6 paraphrased).
By means of the Spirit, Christ went and preached to the spirits in prison (1 Peter 3:19 NIrV).
1) The days of Noah: Consider the meaning behind I Peter 3:20 ‘Back in the days of Noah, God was patient with a disobedient people, The unrepentant acted as if the warning of the flood would never come, Just like the doors closed on the five foolish virgins in the parable of the ten virgins, the doors closed on the ark when the floods came. It is said that God waited for one hundred and twenty years for the wayward people to repent When the doors of the ark closed it was too late (Paraphrased).
2) Living up to the obligation: Consider I Peter 3: 21: The water of the flood is a picture of the baptism that now saves you also. The baptism I'm talking about has nothing to do with removing dirt from your body. Instead, it promises God that you will keep a clear sense of what is right and wrong. Jesus Christ has saved you by rising from the dead. (I1 Peter 3:21 NIV).
What did Paul say about our baptism being connected with Jesus’s baptism? The Greek word baptizo literally meant to immerse one underneath the water like sinking a donut completely in coffee to be washed and overwhelmed (which meant to cover completely) www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/baptizo.html Recalling how the flood waters of Noah’s ark were symbolic of both life and death, we can see how being immersed is synonymous of both life and death.
In His baptism, Jesus was identifying with those He came to save. He was plunged under the water symbolic of death and then raised from the water symbolic of the resurrection. In other words, Jesus was dipped into our death as He took our sins to the cross and then Jesus was raised---resurrected into new life. That is why Paul said that in baptism we are baptized into His death and raised to new life because of His resurrection.
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel's veins
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains
NEW LIFE
Can others see the fruit of new life as new creatures in Christ?
1) Sin as a master: When we were unrepentant and unregenerated sinners, everyone could see our fruit. They could see that sin was our master and that we were its slaves. We can also see those who are currently miserable because they are mastered by their slavery to sin.
2) Surrendered life: Anyone can come to the altar but what God does not just want us to come to the altar without surrendering our old way of life. God wants us to altar our lives. God wants everyone to repent, be re-born, and to live a life worthy of our calling as new creatures in Christ.
William Willimon said: "In baptism we are initiated, crowned, chosen, embraced, washed, adopted, gifted, reborn, killed, and thereby sent forth and redeemed. We are identified as one of God's own, then assigned our place and our job within the kingdom of God." https://sermons.com/search/results?term=baptism&category=sermon&sermon_filters=Illustrations&tab=Illustrations&page=3
Can we live new lives as new creatures and still embrace the sinful nature of the flesh?
1) Going through the motions: In his book The Holy Spirit, Billy Graham mentioned that both Hitler and Stalin were baptized. (Billy Graham. The Collected Works of Billy Graham: … The Holy Spirit. New York: Inspiration Press, 1993, p. 362). However, their lives lacked the fruit of being new creatures in Christ which reflects an inner renewal. If then, there is no change within then it is nothing more than getting wet. They were still enslaved by sin who mastered them!
2) Sanctified living: In Romans 6:13 -14, Paul tells us as baptized members of the Body of Christ not to yield our members [our limbs] to sin and unrighteousness. Another way to say it, Paul telling us here very much the same thing he said in Romans 12:1 when he told us to yield our bodies as living sacrifices as a daily act of worship. Paul is reminding that baptism marks the beginning of our journey as believers.
Listen to what Paul tells us in Romans 6:22 – 23 “ But now you have been set free from sin and are the slaves of God. Your gain is a life fully dedicated to him, and the result is eternal life. (23) For sin pays its wage—death; but God's free gift is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord” (GNB). The “union with Christ” is key!
3) Cheap grace: Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer "The Cost of Discipleship" [https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/19196/grace-by-jim-kane] Bonhoeffer's description of “cheap grace” why Hitler’s and Stalin’s baptism did not yield any fruit!
Christ died on the cross to take away our sin so that we could live as new creatures in Christ. Have you accepted Christ?
In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
