New Life in Christ
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3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Alleluia, Christ is risen!
Identity with Christ
Identity with Christ
Easter is the celebration of Christ’s resurrection from death. It’s power comes in part from the power that was defeated: death. Christ defeated death on Easter. And not in some symbolic victory. It’s not as though God finally got one on the scoreboard. The only certain and tragic end that all of us, even Jesus faced, death, has been defeated. In defeating death, Christ has made a way, as the author to the Hebrews tells us, through the torn veil of his own body. So now, the certain and tragic end we all faced is followed with the possibility of another chapter, one brighter and lovelier than all the chapters that came before. Instead of every story ending tragically, with a loss of life, a new, previously unpredictable and perfect end to your story and mine is now possible because Jesus defeated death on Easter Sunday. It’s possible for us to have a new ending, to open our eyes in a new reality because Christ draws us in and makes his story our own. We see this in our Romans passage where we read the following:
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.
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
As he assumes that Christians are baptized, Paul shows us that baptism is a picture of our participation in Christ’s story, that he has drawn us into it. In a very tangible way, baptism shows us the death, the end, of our old selves, of the life that we would have lived without Christ, of the death that we would have died without Christ. That version of ourselves dies in baptism.
After the failures of Adam and Eve, the book of every human being to come after them had the same tragic and predictable final chapter. You can see this in what might seem like the most tedious part of the Bible: the genealogies. There’s a reason these sections of the Bible don’t take up space in most sermons. But they do make a point. In , for example we can read the following:
2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. 3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. 4 The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. 5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.
6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh. 7 Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8 Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died.
9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan. 10 Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan 815 years and had other sons and daughters. 11 Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died.
12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel.
6 When Seth had lived one hundred five years, he became the father of Enosh. 7 Seth lived after the birth of Enosh eight hundred seven years, and had other sons and daughters. 8 Thus all the days of Seth were nine hundred twelve years; and he died.
9 When Enosh had lived ninety years, he became the father of Kenan. 10 Enosh lived after the birth of Kenan eight hundred fifteen years, and had other sons and daughters. 11 Thus all the days of Enosh were nine hundred five years; and he died.
12 When Kenan had lived seventy years, he became the father of Mahalalel. 13 Kenan lived after the birth of Mahalalel eight hundred and forty years, and had other sons and daughters. 14 Thus all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died.
15 When Mahalalel had lived sixty-five years, he became the father of Jared. 16 Mahalalel lived after the birth of Jared eight hundred thirty years, and had other sons and daughters. 17 Thus all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred ninety-five years; and he died.
18 When Jared had lived one hundred sixty-two years he became the father of Enoch. 19 Jared lived after the birth of Enoch eight hundred years, and had other sons and daughters. 20 Thus all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty-two years; and he died.
1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.
And so it goes, on and on and on with “And he died, and he died, and he died.” After Adam and Eve’s sin, for most of human history, the story of every generation, every person’s life ended in a way they were never meant to end: with death, death, and more death.
Until...
One Sunday morning, God wrote a new ending. Jesus took on our ending, “and he died.” But God stitched in new pages into humanity’s book. And they begin: “He then rose again in new life.” Part of what we celebrate at Easter is that a new ending to the human story has been written. And our lives can be grafted into it. Our books can have an ending of something other than “and he died.” If you want, God has made it possible for you to have new pages stitched into your book as well. It’s now possible for the words “and he died,” to be some obscure passage, lost near the very beginning of your story.
In a few moments we’ll see this picture of being united with Christ unfold in Zach’s life. As he goes under the water of baptism, we will see the outward sign and symbol of Zach dying with Christ, a picture of Zach participating in Christ’s death and burial. And the Bible tells us that this is a picture of Zach’s new opportunity to walk in newness of life, just as Christ did when he rose from the dead that very first Easter. Look at verse 6
And
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. For whoever has died is freed from sin.
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We don’t often think to use our imaginations to envision real things. When we use our imaginations, it’s often for some hypothetical situation. And God gives us active imaginations for daydreaming, but he also gives us imaginations so we can access real things that aren’t right in front of us.
Whether you were old enough to remember your baptism or you merely know that you have been baptized, you can imagine or remember being buried with Christ. That moment of baptism is a gift. It identifies you with Christ and it strengthens your identity with the spiritual truths that Paul is laying out for us in this passage. As a baptized Christian, you were buried with Christ. And that has very real significance for your life. Your old self, the body of sin, was crucified with Christ, and that death means that you are no longer enslaved to sin. Death is a release from enslavement. You are sin’s dead slave, which means you are no slave at all. As a baptized Christian, you are free from sin’s power over you.
But this isn’t just about getting the oppression of sin off your back. Look at verse 8:
But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:8-11
Because of Christ’s story that he invites us into, because of his death and his resurrection, we can be dead to the oppression of sin and then alive to God. Because we are in Christ Jesus in his death and resurrection, we live a new life just as he does. He brings us with him through death and resurrection to live a new life before God.
He takes what would have otherwise been a predictably tragic story of a sinful life ending in death and he grafts his story into our life. Our end is a resurrection life, not an eternal death.
But it’s not just about humanity going beyond its past achievements, the resurrection is about God
It’s not just the end of the story that changes. Those new pages at the end of our books change the rest of our life stories. Think of the road that you could be on without Jesus. C.S. Lewis invites us to remember that when we come across a Christian who seems particularly mean-hearted or is difficult in some other way, we need to remember that you don’t know what they would have been like without Christ and that their story is still unfolding. What would your story look like without Christ. Maybe your danger is not unrighteousness, but unrighteous righteousness. God can rewrite either error.
Because I’m united with Christ, my story ending with death gets a new ending. And the rest of my story gets edited. I get to encounter Jesus and trust in his righteousness, his death, his resurrection for my salvation. It doesn’t matter how bad your story is, God can graft his story into yours and change it forever. The first step is inviting him to do it.
Instead of being a giant Pharisee thinking I’m good enough without God, dying in my own inadequate self-righteousness, I can get a new ending to my story: a resurrection with a new life lived out before the one who made it possible. Because of Easter, because of baptism, I’m united with Christ, and my story, ending with death, gets a new ending. And the rest of my story gets edited. Instead of having a predictable, flat plot line ending in death, I get to encounter Jesus and trust in his righteousness, his death, his resurrection for my salvation. It doesn’t matter how bad your story is, God can graft his story into yours and change it forever. The first step is inviting him to do it. Let’s close our time in prayer.
During this time, if you’d like a new story and a changed life, you have a chance to invite God to begin that process.
It’s very simple, you can say, even in silence, even right now,
Dear God, I have been living out a different life than the one you want for me.
I want to change.
I trust you to make that change and I want to follow you.
Forgive me for my past and let me walk with you, now and forever.
Through the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.
If you said those words to God, you may have begun the journey of what will be a very different life. This life is not meant to be lived out alone. Please tell someone, whether it’s me or a Christian friend, so we can pray with you. Thanks for listening.
We end this time in the ministry of the word in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“…if there is anyone here.”