The Baptism of Our Lord Romans 6:1-11 “Alive to God”
Isaiah 42:1-9 Matthew 3:13-17
Stewardship Sunday
In the 2nd chapter of Genesis, God said to Adam, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2: 16-17) Later, as we all know, Adam and Eve ate from that forbidden tree. Both Adam and Eve died that day. The garden which was once a place of trust, joy and fellowship with God became a place of fear and hiding from their Creator. Adam and Eve showed their lack of trust in God by blaming others for their transgression.
Before they sinned God would walk in the garden with Adam. Now however, Adam hid from God. The spiritual connection between God and man had died. They not only died spiritually, by losing their connection with God, but from that moment they also became mortal. The tree of life was taken out of the garden. So while they continued to physically live, their lives were in a state of continually dying. Every moment of man’s life may be considered as an act of dying, till the day when soul and body are separated.
Although Adam and Eve continued to live physically, in regard to God, their souls had died. The word dead applies literally to what is deprived of vital force. One who is dead lacks the power to move, feel, or respond. Having no life renders one incapable of being stirred emotionally or intellectually. One who is spiritually dead has a soul which has grown cold in their relationship to God.
All people born in the world are born sinful and are spiritually dead. Saint Paul tells you, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12 ESV)
The world does not believe that however. Those who do not feel the need for a Savior will point to the wonderful acts of charity that have been done by those who have never set foot inside a church and say that there are truly good works in the eyes of God. They say that mankind is basically good and that their good works outnumber the mistakes that they have done. Then God will judge each person based on the amount of good works that person has done. But when the people asked Jesus, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" “Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”” John 6:28-29 (ESV)
Saint Paul adds, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Hebrews 11:6) What the world calls good works are not good in the eyes of God. Good works without faith leaves one spiritually dead and therefore outside of the kingdom of heaven. There is nothing that someone who is spiritually dead can do to be made alive to God. But there is something that God can do.
God made Jesus who had no sin to be sin for us. Jesus humbled Himself to be born of a woman and to live a life free of sin. He was baptized by John where He took the responsibility for the sins of the world upon Himself. The Holy Spirit came down upon Him visibly like a dove and God’s voice spoke His approval. He remained obedient to the Father and subjected Himself to the deadly consequences of sin, even death on the cross. Death truly took Him on Good Friday, but it could not hold His body, nor would His body see decay.
Now all who believe in Him are made spiritually alive through faith which is given to them by the Holy Spirit. For most of you that faith was given to you at your baptism. You however, took no active role in your baptism because you were dead. But through your baptism you were made alive to God in Christ.
In Baptism you are intimately joined to Christ. You become partners in the events of His life. You as believers are always surrounded by Jesus’ forgiveness and always enjoy Jesus blessed fellowship, guidance and protection. Christ unites Himself with every believer, just as He promised in John. (John 14:20) He said, “Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father and you in me, and I in you.” (John 14:19-20) As Christ died and rose, so every Christian through baptism dies to sin and rises to a new life.
But Paul asks, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? Those who mock the gospel by remaining unrepentant sinners see God’s grace as an open invitation to immorality. Their reasoning goes, “If God is ready to forgive all sins through Christ, then I can live any way I want and still be forgiven.”
Paul answers “by no means!” So we see that on the one hand there are those who fear being punished by God for their sins, so they try to make up for their sins by doing good works. While on the other hand there are those who think they can remain friends with the world and go on sinning with no repercussions from God because no matter how bad they are they are forgiven. Both kinds of thinking are wrong from the very start.
The gospel of Christ does provide motivation for upright living; a motivation that far surpasses the fear of the law which the unbeliever works with. A Christians’ motivation is found in faithfully believing that Jesus Christ paid a very high price for their sins. Therefore, He lives his life in obedience to God’s commands, striving to live a life worthy of God’s love. Moreover, when a Christian comes to faith he “dies to sin.” A Christian does not desire to become involved in and controlled by sin. In fact one who has been made alive to God dies to this life and lives to God in Christ Jesus.
The word ‘Alive’ means that you are conscious of your actions and having the power to move. Someone made alive is marked by alertness and activity. You are able to feel and to think, and to be warm towards Christ and your fellow man. Through baptism, you are made alive in Christ.
The union between Christ and the believer is so close that not only can Paul say that Christ died for us, or in place of us, but also that we died with Christ. In baptism we enter into all of the events of Jesus’ life. A complete identity between Christ and us had been formed through our baptism. Our sins became His and His righteousness now belongs to us.
The purpose and power of baptism not only is to create a saving faith within us but it also is to make us Christ like. We were baptized that we might live a new kind of life totally different from our old way of life, which was doomed by sin. Through baptism we have entered real life—life that fills our souls to the brim with God’s love, forgiveness, power and guidance. It is impossible, by definition for the new man to desire a life of sin. Saint John says, “No one whom is born of God will continue to sin.” (1 John 3:9)
That doesn’t mean that we do not sin. For our old sinful nature still tries to suppress the Holy Spirit within us. It does mean however that those born of God feel the guilt and shame of sin. And even though we are made alive spiritually our bodies will still grow old and die because we continue to sin As Christians our souls feels the pain of sin and our bodies pay the price. Those who no longer feel remorse have hardened their hearts and in so doing reject their baptism. These people are Christian in name only. These nominal Christians are whom Gandhi spoke of when he said, “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.”
Unbelievers who sin only feel of the guilt and remorse of getting caught or the hurt they have afflicted upon themselves. There is no sorrow over the price Jesus had to pay and many times there is no sorrow over the pain they have caused others. But your new life in Christ causes you to die to the sinful ways of the world. While we cannot do miracles or die for the sins of others, believers endeavor to live out their faith in a hostile world just as Jesus did.
Therefore as faithful believers, we live out our lives by doing the work that God would have us do as the fruit of our faith in what Christ has done for us. The Magi worshipped God by acknowledging Jesus as their King, but they proved their faith was genuine by the gifts that they gave and the route they took that avoided Herod and his evil plans. Should we not also live out our faith and show it to be genuine by our worship, works and repentance from evil?
Surely if we died with Christ we will also live with Him in heaven. Certainly when we do what God has asked of us in Christ’s name and for His glory, we shall share in the inheritance of the saints in light. (Col. 1:12)
And most assuredly, you will “share in the tree of life and in the holy city as John states in the book of Revelation.” Rev. 22:19 (ESV)
Therefore let me end with the words of Jesus, “Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” John 12:35-36 (ESV)
In Jesus Name, Amen.