New Life

 July 23 2023

Romans 6

         One of the things that still surprises me is that the daily newspaper is no longer a part of my life. I mean, I grew up with my Mom and Dad faithfully reading the paper everyday so I just assumed that this reading of the newspaper was one of those things which would continue on and on, little did I know. It didn’t help that the content of the newspaper dwindled down to such a point that the highlights began to be the obituaries and the comics, in that order. This lack of stuff to read about, in a newspaper, seemed a little weird because there are a lot of us who remember when there was all kinds of stuff to read about. When Jennifer and I were married the paper carried the news of our wedding, even explaining what kind of wedding dress was worn on that fateful day. And there were always a lot of different columnists to read. I remember that on Saturdays there was even a religious section. I recall, one time, reading in the newspaper a column written by a Catholic priest who had written a great response to the question of whether or not he had been born again. This was during a time when knowing whether one was born again or not was of utmost importance almost becoming a source of pride for some who not only knew that they had been born again but also when it had happened. To all of this interest in being born again, this Catholic priest replied to the question as to when he had been born again, stating that he had indeed been born again, it had happened on a Friday when the one called Jesus had been crucified for his sins. I was totally floored by his response which is obvious because more than thirty years later that response is still with me. How very true that our being born again is more about what Jesus has done for us then it is about us flaunting that it is by our faith that we have been born again.

         Paul, in todays scripture,  also focuses in on the mighty acts of Jesus when speaking about the subject of baptism. Paul does not speak to whether or not baptism is a public display of a personal faith decision; this does not concern him at all. No, Paul is speaking about baptism because in this instance he is concerned about baptism being the means by which we enter into the life of the church. Paul asks those who make up the church, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? I mean, if God is going to continue to hold out his forgiveness of our sins then why don’t we keep on sinning and then, we can repent and ask God for forgiveness and once we are forgiven then we can just head back out to do a little sinning once again. Is this the way we, as the church, are supposed to live as people who have been saved by grace? Paul already knew that such questions were nothing but nonsense. You see, right from the beginning, those who had gone through the waters of baptism were already aware of the true power of grace. Baptism is death and life, of dying to one world in order to live in another, to die to living in the age of sin and death so that we might live to the glory of God. You see, as Paul reminds his audience, when we were baptized into Christ Jesus, we were baptized into the very death of Jesus. Here is why this is so: The people of Israel were chosen by God to represent the nations. As their Messiah-King, Jesus represented the people of Israel, the very people who represented all of the people of the world. Jesus our Messiah-King took upon himself the judgment and condemnation of all people, so that what was necessary for the Old Covenant to be satisfied, a deserving death for those who lived under that contract, might be delivered by the one who did not deserve such a death at all. So as Paul writes in the fifth chapter of Second Corinthians, “…we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died…”. This very truth is what is on display when one is plunged beneath the waters of baptism. As Paul explains it here in this sixth chapter of Romans, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death…” So, in much the same way that the Catholic priest explained how it was that he had been born again, so Paul here is saying that when Jesus died and was plunged beneath the waves of death which rolled over his body for three days, we, in some mysterious way, were there in that moment, united with Jesus right there in that most God forsaken of times. Only as Jesus entered death, and we with him, only as we know that we have ceased to live in the age dominated by the sin of Adam, only then can we be done with sins control. As we rise out of the waters of baptism we enter into a new age, the age of the new Adam, an age where his resurrection reigns. Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so too we can now say that we can walk in a whole new way of life, a way of life that too brings glory to the Father.

         Over and over again in this sixth chapter of Romans, Paul speaks of death and life. Paul writes in many different ways that we are those people, the ones who have been united in the death of Jesus, people who are absolutely certain that we will be united in a resurrection just like his. This profound truth means so much to us. When we know that we have been raised from the dead with Christ then we know that our life in the old age, where sin reigned over us, this has at last come to an end. So, being united with Jesus Christ means that we are no longer slaves who are controlled by the power of sin because you know, dead men don’t do a whole lot of sinning. And death no longer has any power over us either because we are to conclude that we are most assuredly alive to God in Christ Jesus having been raised up in resurrection power.

         All of this is such great news, hallelujah, we are free, and the power of sin and death has been broken and we are able to experience life in the hope of the resurrection. And then, Paul goes and ruins it for us because he says ok, all you people who have risen to a new life, don’t let sin reign in your mortal bodies. He goes on to say, that we should not obey the desires of sin, to give ourselves over to the control of sin so that our very bodies becomes a weapon to be used in the cause of unrighteousness. So, what is it Paul, are we dead to sin, or not? Have we really been raised to new life,Paul, or have we been raised to a life which looks a lot like the old life, a life that is continually bothered by sin’s pursuits?

         What Paul is getting at when he bursts our bubble by telling us to not let sin reign in our body just as he gets done telling us that we are no longer a slave to sin, is that it is up to us, we are the ones who have to decide what we are going to do with our new found freedom that is ours when we are raised to new life. Paul states the issue as being just whose cause are we going to give ourselves to? Are we really going to let the sin which controlled us, the same sin which we died to, to now be the one that we allow to use us for all kinds of unrighteousness? Even the possibility of this happening seems a little absurd yet we know that Paul has mentioned such a thing because it seems that he has witnessed this turning back to sin in at least one person’s life. The question that Paul insists that all those who are baptized have to answer is just who is it that I will stand ready to do whatever they desire of me? Here again, Paul uses a word that bears this image of standing. We may recall that when Paul began the fifth chapter of his letter to the church at Rome, he began by stating that through Christ we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. Here in the sixth chapter, Paul again speaks of standing only this time Paul wants to know just who is it that we stand ready to do their bidding, who is it that we will now serve, sin or the God who has saved us from sin.

         When Paul says that we are to present ourselves either to sin or to God, the image that is conveyed is that of someone standing before their boss, ready to go and get to work. Now Paul seems to know that most people once they have found a way out of sin are not going to go back to a life under sins control. Paul expects that those who have been baptized are going to be those who stand ready to give themselves as workers of righteousness because they are responding in love to the God who has brought them from death to life. This response of love arises out of resurrection faith, a belief that out of the nothingness of a life bound to sin can come a life raised up, bound to the glory of God. And as we consider how profound all of this is, Paul goes further by making a pretty audacious claim, that sin will have no dominion over us since we are now not under law but under grace. Now, this seems to be somewhat opposite of what we might believe because for many people the way of grace seems to be the way of weakness and the way of law seems to be the way of strength. The offering of forgiveness and mercy, this willingness to be reconciled, this all seems to be the least effective way to keep someone on the straight and narrow. No, what many people think is needed is the upholding of the law and the proper punishment to make people respect that law, this is how we can eliminate the dominion of sin. Yet here Paul would respectfully disagree. No, what keeps sin from dominating our lives is this thing called grace, this favor of God welcoming us into his love.

         As Paul puts it, we are going to stand ready to do what ever we are told, either before sin, which leads to death, or before God which will lead to righteousness. The question is just which voice are you waiting to hear from, just who is it that really has our attention? You see, when it is put like this it is easy to understand why Paul knew that it is grace, not law, which is the power that keeps sin from having dominion over us. The power of grace is found in the holy love of God. This holy love of God does not love us just when we are obedient to the law; no, God in his holy love loves us even in our disobedience. This holy love of God is a love which loves us not for what we are able to do but rather this holy love loves us all because we are treasured by God. Where all the law could do was judge and condemn us, leaving us as good as dead, our God who esteems us to be of immeasurable worth, in his grace, searches for us and brings us home so that we might find life through him. This is our faith in the resurrection, this unshakable belief that God desires a life with us beyond the death that we so rightly deserve. Yes, the law keeps a record of our failures but the holy love of God sees beyond our weakness and pride and God draws us to himself out of his great love for us. You see, the reason that God gave Jesus upon the cross to take upon himself our death is that God treasures us. Through Jesus we are to know that we are of infinite worth to God. And here is what Paul knew, that as we become more and more convinced of who we are to God, a treasure to make his own, a treasure that is watched over, and kept safe within his steadfast, faithful love, if this is how we know who we are to God then it just makes sense that we will most assuredly treasure this God who treasures us.This is the power of grace.

         You see Jesus tells us that there are two places that we can lay up our treasure. In the sixth chapter of Matthew, Jesus teaches us, “Do not lay up treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. Instead lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is there also is your heart.” The treasure that is in heaven is our Heavenly Father, he is the one we are to treasure, to hold within our hearts. The reason that this is so important is that this new resurrection life we are living out is a life under a new covenant, one where, as we read in the thirty-first chapter of Jeremiah, God will put his law within us, writing his very law on our hearts. When our Heavenly Father is our treasure, when we know him as being of infinite worth to us, then his words, the words which are his law, these words will also be treasured. This is when we will stand before him, obedient, listening intently, ready to go as he directs. I mean, is this not to have the law of God written upon our hearts? 

         You see, it is that we treasure our Heavenly Father, this is the reason for us to be obedient to the teaching as Paul says that we were committed to. This word, “committed” , is a word which means to hand over. The imagery is one where our Heavenly Father lovingly places those newly born again in the loving arms of his church. The church are those who will teach those newly baptized to know the ways of Jesus, to teach them to know the voice of the one who treasures them. At the very heart of the core teachings of Jesus is a prayer, the heart’s desire of the Heavenly Father who loves us. To learn the prayer is to learn the very aspirations of the Father who treasures us. The one we call, “Our Father”, desires that he is known as being holy, as the God who loves with a holy love. It is his kingdom that he longs to be brought into existence through the making of peace. It is his will that is to be done here on earth just as it is in heaven. His generosity is to be known as overflowing just like his extravagant forgiveness is to be the standard of our forgiveness. Our Heavenly Father is to be known by us as our sole means of deliverance from evil. This is what our Heavenly Father speaks about from his heart and when we treasure him then this is what will be carried in our hearts as well. When the Father’s longings become our longings then we can say that righteousness has taken hold of our very selves so that sin no longer has any power over us. When our heavenly Father’s prayer guides our lives, this is when we will be like him, holy, holy in our love, for our actions will happen because we treasure our Heavenly Father. This is when we will find that we love others without any regard to the worthiness of anyone to be loved by us. This is, I believe, what Paul was trying to get this church at Rome to remember. They were to remember baptism, the death of Christ being the very source of their own death; his life the very fountain of their life. Of course, they were not to let sin reign, obeying the desires which sin stirred up. No, they were to be listening to the one who treasured them, loving on all of them because he claimed them as his own. They were to remember the longings of their Heavenly Father and how they had learned to listen to his voice here within the love of this church. So perhaps Paul would say, those things which you have died to, let those things remain dead. And this new life you have been given, get on with living this life your Heavenly Father has given to you. Get on fighting the good fight of righteousness instead of fighting with each other. Focus yourselves on eternity for in that light the fleeting parts of this life seem all so trivial. To God be the glory! Amen!