"Buried and Raised with Christ"
When
we hear what God has to say to us in the Epistle reading for this morning, you
may be a bit confused. Are we dead or
alive? The text goes back and forth,
we’re dead, we’re alive, we’re alive, we’re dead. Which is it?
Looking
out at you all, it appears that everyone here is alive. If you’re not sure, go ahead and check your
pulse. I’m assuming that everyone here
qualifies as being alive. So what does the text mean that we’re dead?
We’re
all born physical alive but Scripture teaches something different about our
spiritual state. We’re conceived and
born dead. Not even mostly dead but all
dead. This is taught clearly in
Ephesians 2, “You were dead in your
trespasses and sins.” We’re
physically alive but we’re spiritually dead. Those who lie in caskets can’t choose for
themselves life and so it is for our spiritual state.
We
confess, with Luther, in the 3rd Article of the Creed that, “I
cannot by my own strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him…” It’s like placing a rock on the ground and
waiting for it to come to you. It can’t
do anything unless it’s acted upon by some outside force. It’s the same with us. We’re dead, in our sinfulness and we can’t
make the decision to come to God, we can’t choose to make ourselves spiritually
alive any more than a rock sitting on the ground can decide to become alive and
come to you.
But
thanks be to God that He has seen our wretched state, our sinful condition,
He’s seen our dead, helpless selves and He did something about it. He sends Jesus. Jesus who leaves His heavenly throne, is born
of the Virgin Mary, suffered, was crucified, died, and was raised again, all
for you. He saw you dead in your sins
and sends Jesus for you in order to bring you life. So that God would bend down to earth, breathe
the breath of life into you, and make you alive in Him. He beholds you as a rock on the ground and
says to you, “I forgive you. You’re my
dearest treasure. You are my beloved
child.” Jesus, who wins salvation for
you and the world, that all who trust in Him would not be dead, but have life
and have it eternally.
How
does such a gift that Christ has won for the world come to you? How can the gifts of forgiveness, life, and
salvation be delivered to you?
Baptism. The Holy Spirit takes all
that Christ has died for on His cross and brings it to you, traverses time and
space in order that these gifts that Christ has paid for with His precious
blood would be given to you here and now through Baptism. Water connected with God’s Word. It looks
simple. To the eye, there’s nothing
special about it, but in those waters of baptism, God does His work of making
the dead alive. He takes us from slavery
and death, to freedom and life. In your
baptism, God delivers the goods to you.
God makes all of us alive. We
were dead, but now we’re alive.
“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, in order that, just as Christ was raised form the dead by the glory
of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Baptism connects us to Christ’s death and
resurrection and all that He has won for you from the cross and His glorious
resurrection.
And yet, we’re
still sinners. Baptism has drowned the
Old Adam but, as Luther once joked, he swims really well. We’re constantly not doing the things we want
to do. We’re constantly doing the things
we know we shouldn’t do. We’re, at the
same time, sinners and saints. There’s a
war that wages in every Christian. We’re
alive but death and sin still cling to us like a cancer.
So what’s the
answer? What do we do when the Old Adam,
lurks its ugly head. What do you do when
you feel the icy breath of Satan accusing you of your sins. Return to your baptism, remember your
baptism. And I don’t mean get out the
picture album or the video tape, but remember, each and every day, that you’re
baptized. It’s not just a something that happened in the
past, but your head is still drenched with baptismal water. Begin each day by saying, “I am baptized into
Christ.” And in remembering your
baptisms, we die. The Old Adam is
drowned. We kill it. God puts it to death. So that we can be alive, ready to serve God. Ready, not to serve ourselves or our self
interests, but our neighbors.
But this Old Adam
clings to each of us every day. Waiting
for the opportune moment. Tempting us to
not trust in what God has said. When will
we be delivered form this? When will
these temptations end? When will we be
free from the grip of the Old Adam. Not
until God takes us to be with Him. It’s
only in physical death that baptism is complete.
But until then let’s
live in the baptismal grace our Lord has given us. Each and everyone of you have been baptized! Let’s remember our Baptisms, where God makes
us dead sinners alive in Him. Where the
gifts of the cross are delivered to you.
Where you’ve been given eternal life.
Amen.
The peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus
until life everlasting. Amen.
