Pastor Tim Patoka
From the River to the Mountain
January 14, 2024
Consider Your Baptized Self Romans 6:1-11 1) Dead to Sin 2) Alive to God If you were to define yourself, what would you consider so you could answer? Would you consider what you do or did for a living? What we do for a living is often an extension of ourselves. Would you consider the people in your life? If you have grandchildren or come from a prominent family, they probably define you to a point. Would you consider your baptized Christian self? Baptism is almost always an early part of a Christian’s life. The faith it gives or strengthens is certainly part of how we view ourselves. As we celebrate Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River, we recognize it as the public start to his ministry. In it, God inaugurates, authorizes, and reveals to all who Jesus is: God’s own Son with whom he is well pleased as Jesus begins to publicly reveal himself as our Promised Savior. In our look at Romans chapter 6, we learn how baptism unites us with Jesus so that his death and resurrection are as if our own. Because of that union, we therefore can consider our baptized selves as dead to sin and alive to God to define who we are. 1) Dead to Sin Baptism is one of a kind. It was commanded by Jesus for us Christians to do to all people of all ages. It consists of two components, water and God’s Word. While there’s nothing special about the water, the Word is. Not just for the specific words we speak, but for the power God works through it to bless us. And what are its blessings? The gift of the Holy Spirit, that is, the gift of faith. If a person is baptized while they weigh only pounds and ounces, this faith is brand new and also brings them into God’s family. If someone already has faith when baptized, then their faith is strengthened all the more. In Romans chapter 6, we’re also told that baptism makes us dead to sin. We picture sin as a cruel master who rules over us and gives orders contrary to God’s will and Word. Before we had faith, we were dead in sin and slaves to its every command. But since coming to faith, Christians are dead to sin and free to serve God instead. Perhaps we can understand what it means to be dead to sin with the phrase: you’re dead to me. If someone says that to you, it means they have no place for you in
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Pastor Tim Patoka
From the River to the Mountain
January 14, 2024
their life. So it is for baptized Christians. Sin is dead to us; it has no place in our lives. But does that accurately describe you as a baptized child of God? While we can’t isolate ourselves from sin on this side of heaven, don’t we make things worse by purposefully delving into sin? We dwell on thoughts like envy, hatred, greed, and lust and seek out ways to act on them. We look to the sinful world around us and blend in to enjoy all that life can offer, especially the things God does not approve. We give in to the cravings of our flesh and carefully hide the evidence from others so we can do it again later. As we consider our baptized selves in light of Romans chapter 6, perhaps it should be reworded. Instead of being “dead to sin”, it should be “dead in sin again” because that’s what our lives actually look like. Let’s revisit what Scripture means when it says that we are dead to sin. It doesn’t mean that we won’t struggle against our old sinful self or give in despite our godly intentions. It means that sin has no place in our lives. That’s done by Jesus and what he did after stepping out of the Jordan River, when he embarked on his threeyear public journey to be our Promised Savior. Though Jesus had been born 30 years before, few knew his importance or saw his significance. That would change starting after his baptism. Jesus continued to live in perfect accord with God’s will and Word, but now he publicly preached, healed, and rebuked. He drew a gathering of 12 apostles and many more fans. That perfect and public life led to his death on the cross, given in our place to pay the price we had racked up with our many and horrendous sins. Once he paid the price, Jesus then proved his victory over sin by rising from the grave. Nothing could contain or dominate him, not even sin and death! Through our baptism, we are united to Jesus’ death and resurrection as if it were our own. Our sins were paid for and done away with Jesus’ death on the cross. Our victory over sin and death is declared to all with Jesus’ rising from the grave. How can this be? Because God makes us dead to sin because of the forgiveness he gives through faith in Jesus. That’s the faith we receive from the Holy Spirit when we were baptized. We will continue to be plagued by our old sinful self and tempted by the sinful world around us. But that doesn’t change how God views us – dead to sin – because it has no place in our lives. He has forgiven us and taken our sin away. As baptized children of God, we adopt the mindset that says, “Sin, you are dead to me!” While we can’t stop it from lurking about, we can take steps to prevent its corruptive creep and be diligent to remove its intrusion on our lives. After all, as 2
Pastor Tim Patoka
From the River to the Mountain
January 14, 2024
Romans rhetorically asks, “We died to sin. How can we go on living in it any longer?” (Romans 6:2 EHV) 2) Alive to God But baptism does more than leave us dead to sin. It also makes us alive to God by the same token. When a Christian is baptized with Word and water, they receive the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith. As it makes them dead to sin, so it infuses new life within their soul. Whereas before we were spiritually dead and enemies of God, now we are spiritually alive and children of God. We no longer continue to serve sin. The bondage of our will has been broken. Freedom stands in its place so we can serve God by loving him and our neighbor. We have been declared free from sin, just-as-if-I’d (intentional wordplay on the term justification) never sinned at all! We also live with Christ. He is with us; we are with him. As such, we’ll never be alone, without his grace, or left up a creek without a paddle. We know this will happen because baptism is all about what God does for us. He ensures its results through his powerful Word used with water. He unites us to Christ’s death and resurrection so that it’s as if our own. He brings a little one into his family of faith. He strengthens the faith of those who come to the font knowing and believing what baptism is. And he keeps these blessings in effect through our continued faith in Jesus as our Savior. These blessings don’t expire or weaken over time. Our baptism says “you’re saved through faith in Christ” just as loudly as when the water is dripping down as when all you have is a wrinkled certificate or a distant memory of it. Because of that continued faith, you’re still alive to God in every way. That’s what we remember when our struggle with sin have us think otherwise. When we question how we remain alive to God, we do well to listen to what Martin Luther says in his Small Catechism, “Baptism means that the old Adam in us should be drowned by daily contrition and repentance, and that all its evil deeds and desires be put to death. It also means that a new person should daily arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.” (Luther’s Small Catechism: The Meaning of Baptism for Our Daily Life) We go to God in genuine confession of our sins and trust in his promise to forgive. Refreshed and restored in this forgiveness, we then live a life apart from those sins so that we may always consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God through faith in Jesus Christ.
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Pastor Tim Patoka
From the River to the Mountain
January 14, 2024
If you haven’t yet been baptized, know that God wants this gift for you. You are part of the all nations who need to know their Savior and trust in him for salvation. Baptism does that for you by giving you the gift of the Holy Spirit. If you’re interested in getting baptized, speak with me or another pastor at Grace so you can receive this wondrous gift. If you’ve already been baptized, then treasure what God has done for you. He made you dead to sin by rendering it powerless through Jesus’ death and resurrection. He united you with Jesus so that his death and resurrection are counted as if your own. He made you alive to God and holy in his sight. He calls you his beloved child whom he knows by name. He gave you the guarantee that heaven is your home. And it’s all yours through simple faith in Jesus, just as God the Holy Spirit gave you through your baptism. Closing Encouragements There are lots of options to consider if you were to define yourself. Baptized Christians can consider themselves as dead to sin and alive to God. Because of our union with Jesus’ death and resurrection, sin has no place in our life. We are forgiven of every sin and no longer desire to live in it any longer. We also have a new life that is freed to serve God with Christ at our side. And these blessings will remain ours in full through continued faith in Jesus. As we follow Jesus from the river to the mountain as our publicly revealed Promised Savior, may we consider our baptized self to be dead to sin and alive to God because of our union with Jesus’ death and resurrection through baptism. Amen.
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