Something Has to Die
Have You Died?
Some of you may have more questions than answers when it comes to baptism. I get that.
Some of you grew up thinking one way about baptism and another person next to you may have grown up with a different understanding of baptism or not knowing anything about this ancient spiritual practice at all! I get that.
The invitation of this series is for us think more deeply about our baptism and the call of God not just to meet him for a moment in the water, but to live with Him every day from those waters because we passed through the waters of baptism.
In his book, “The Cost of Discipleship,” first published in 1937, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian and pastor who was involved in a plot to overthrow Adolf Hitler, once wrote…
“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
For every person in the room today who considers themselves a follower of Jesus, this is the question I want to ask you to wrestle with today:
Have you died?
Symbol vs. Sign
My wife, Alisha and I, have been married for 25 years. We’ll celebrate our 26th anniversary later this year. If you and I were to bump into each other later today at a restaurant for lunch, or if we were to run into each other at HEB, even if you didn’t know me, even if you had never met me before, you would know that I’m married.
It’s easy to know that because I wear this ring on my finger. You might think this ring is a symbol. And there’s certainly something symbolic about it. But it’s more than that. It’s a sign. It’s significant.
This ring is a sign that points to an event where everything changed for me. It points to a promise that signaled a new reality for me.
Weddings are filled with many promises that many people think are just symbolic, but they are really significant.
And that’s a problem because …
We live in a world of broken promises.
And I wonder if one of the reasons that’s true is because this is true:
We tend to reduce promises that are significant and label them as symbolic.
One Way Signs
When I was in high school, I was driving downtown in the place I grew up. I feel like this is true in almost every down town and I don’t know why. Maybe someone can explain it to me. But it seems like in every down town I’ve ever been in, there are a lot of One Way streets.
When you see a One Way sign, it’s not symbolic, it’s a sign.
A symbol represents something else.
A sign is more than a symbol, it’s points to something significant.
When I got turned around in that downtown and found myself going the wrong way on a One Way street, I knew it right away!
A symbol represents something. A sign points to something. And if its a One Way sign on a highway, it could mean life or death!
To reduce a One Way street sign and say it’s just symbolic misses its fuller meaning. It takes away part of it’s power.
For many people, baptism is just symbolic.
And because it’s just symbolic, it’s lost part of it’s power.
Because it’s just symbolic, it’s lost some of it’s importance.
Because it’s just symbolic, it’s become optional.
But when you read about this ancient spiritual practice in scripture, you discover that it’s not symbolic, it’s significant. It’s a sign, a signal, that something has happened that has changed everything. It points to an event where everything changed. It points to a promise that signaled a new reality.
Something Died
I could show you this in a lot of different places, but let’s look at what the Apostle Paul once wrote in his letter to the Christians in Rome. If you have your Bible or the YouVersion Bible app, join me in Romans 6.
The Apostle Paul started a lot of churches and preached in a lot of places, but Rome wasn’t one of them. At this point in the story, he hasn’t been to Rome. But he wants to write a letter to the church, the followers of Jesus, in Rome to encourage them and strengthen them in their faith. Listen to what he writes as we get into Romans 6. I’ll start in verse 1…
Romans 6.1-11
1 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death?
For the Apostle Paul, what happened in your baptism wasn’t symbolic, it was significant!
It wasn’t a symbol, it was real!
What happened in your baptism? Something died. Or perhaps better said, SOMEONE died! And that someone was YOU!
“…when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death!”
According to the Apostle Paul, something has happened in your baptism that has changed everything. Your baptism points to an event where everything changed. It points to a promise that signals a new reality.
When you were baptized, you joined Him in death. Something died! Someone died! That someone was you!
That’s why Paul is having such a hard time believing he’s even having to answer this question. Yes, the grace of God is amazing! Yes, the grace of God is wonderful! Yes, the grace of God goes on and on and on and on. Does that mean you can keep on sinning?!
Of course not!
Back to the Marriage Idea
Can you imagine if I came here today and I told you, My wife is wonderful! My wife is amazing. My wife loves me no matter what. And then I asked you, Does that mean I can go back and live life the same way I did before I married my wife?
The answer is a resounding NO! I’m married!
Something happened in my life that changed everything. My wedding ring points to an event where everything changed. It points to a promise that signals a new reality.
For Paul, your baptism wasn’t just a ceremony, it wasn’t just symbolic, it was a powerful event, a significant event. Something happened. Someone died. That someone was YOU! You joined Christ in death!
Something happened in your life that changed everything. Your baptism points to an event where everything changed. It points to a promise that signals a new reality.
A Death Full of Grace
Paul keeps writing, and he says…
4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.
We were dead and buried. Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ.
Let’s talk about that. Because this may be part of our problem. Something has to die. And the means of death is a cross. Crucifixion.
Bonhoeffer was right when he said…
“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
Like the old song says… Everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die.
In his book, Desire of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and After Jesus, Thomas Cahill writes this about crucifixion…
“Crucifixion was invented by the Persians and perfected by the Romans as a means of discouraging rebels and runaway slaves. It produced horrifying effects on its victims that have seldom been equaled. The suffering of Jesus was so great that it was four centuries before any Christian dared to portray it in art. From the earliest days of the Christian movement, Christians created art forms to show everything from the descending of the Holy Spirit at Jesus’ baptism to the Last Supper. But not one crucifixion scene can be found until the fifth century, a hundred years after the Romans had ended the practice and at a time when no one was around with firsthand knowledge of its horrors.”
The Cross
Today the cross for many of us stands as a symbol of what Christ did some 2000 years ago. But maybe it’s not a symbol. Maybe it’s a sign.
We have the cross above our baptistries. That feels right, doesn’t it? Some of you wear a cross around your neck or have one displayed in your home or office.
That’s something that no one would have done in the first, second, third, or even fourth century. When they saw a cross they felt the horror in their bones. When they saw a cross they knew something was going to die.
Bonhoeffer would go on to say this…
“The cross of Christ is the death we undergo once and for all in our baptism and is a death full of grace.
Something has to die. The means of death is a cross. Our old sinful selves have to die on that cross and then be buried with Christ in baptism, in that watery grave. And when that happens, Paul says that sin loses it’s power in our lives. That we are no longer slaves to sin.
The Struggle is Real
But herein lies the struggle, right?
How many of us have been baptized into Christ, but still struggle mightily with sin and with the power of sin in our lives? We could skip over this, we could not talk about this, I could make you feel guilty about all the times you’ve sinned since your baptism but my guess is you already feel guilty enough!
Paul is famous for listing the sins that people struggle with and what’s interesting is that not much has changed in 2000 years. If you back up to Romans 1 you’ll see Paul talk about all kinds of sin from greed and envy, to murder and strife, deceit and malice, gossip and slander, homosexuality and other kinds of sexual immorality, arrogance and boasting, being disobedient to your parents, lacking love, understanding, faithfulness, and mercy.
For us, some of these sins seem worse than others. For the Apostle Paul, sin is sin. And all sin… no matter what it is… separates people from people and people from God.
So if it’s true, that… our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.
Why does it feel like sin still has so much power in our lives? Why does it feel like we are still slaves to sin, or at least to certain sins?
Set Free???
Paul says…
7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.
Some of you are thinking right now… OK, I believe that’s true because it’s in the Bible but sometimes it doesn’t feel true.
Some of you want it to be true more than anything else in this world. You are trapped in a sin, in an addiction, in a problem, in a struggle, in a situation, and you wish with every fiber of your being that you were free from the power of that sin but you don’t feel free from it’s power today.
And you’re wondering,
WHY?
If you turn the page to the end of Romans 7, you’ll find that the Apostle Paul himself was wrestling with these same kinds of questions. He wrote…
Romans 7.18-20
18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
Can I share something with you today?
Everybody Struggles.
Everybody.
The fact that you’re wrestling with your sin today tells me you care and you are striving to do what’s right.
We still live in this world. So the old ways are still all around us. The temptation to revert to the old way of life is always there. Sometimes we might step back into it for a moment. (Romans 7.14-25).
Everybody struggles. But there is a difference between sinning and living in sin. You are not defined by your moment of weakness. If you have been baptized into Christ your identity is in Christ.
You are not perfect. We are not called to a life of perfection. We are called to live life in a different direction.
Paul knew what it was to struggle. He wasn’t writing his fellow Christians then or now from some holier than thou position. He knew what it was to struggle, but he also knew the promise that would forever be unbroken…
8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
Do you consider yourself dead to the power of sin?
Snowmobiles
Last year, there were a couple of guys riding their snowmobiles in the mountains of Colorado when, all of a sudden, they found themselves caught up in an avalanche.
One of the guys couldn’t escape and was BURIED ALIVE!
His friend called 911 and a rescue team was dispatched. They tried to locate him using the avalanche transceiver, but no signal was found. After searching for an hour, they found him. Someone noticed a piece of orange fabric in the snow. It was a part of his deployed avalanche airbag.
He had been buried alive for over an hour under more than 2 feet of snow. Somehow, he survived.
I can’t imagine being buried alive. It might be one of the scariest things that can happen to a person. But you should know, this is NOT what happens in your baptism.
In your baptism, something has to die. It’s not a call to be buried alive. It’s a call to come and die. To allow your old self to die. To die to the power of sin in your life. To die to the rule and reign of sin in your life.
It’s a turning point. The Biblical word for it is: Conversion.
The problem is not that you are bad and you need to better. No! This problem isn’t solved by trying harder, doing more, or improving your behavior.
Something has to die. Something has to change. An event has to take place. Something significant has to happen.
Your Baptism is a Sign
That’s why your baptism isn’t just a ceremony, it isn’t just symbolic, it is a powerful event, a significant event. Something happens. Someone dies. That someone is YOU! You joined Christ in death!
Your baptism is a sign that points to an event where everything changed for you. It points to a promise that signaled a new reality for you.
Your baptism points to the promise that the power of sin and death is broken!
That happens already in your baptism, in your confession of Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life. And that will happen fully and finally one day when Christ returns and makes all things right and all things new!
NS: If you’ve been baptized into Christ, can I ask… is that old sinful self still dead? Or is it trying to tempt you to forget the promise, to go back to the way things were before. Are you, like Paul, finding that too often you do the things you don’t want to do and you don’t do the things you know you should?
If that’s you, can I remind you, God’s grace is wonderful. And it is sufficient for you. Confess your sin and return to God today. You can do that because of your baptism!
If you haven’t been baptized into Christ, can I ask you to think about taking that next step of faith today?
The invitation of Christ is to come and die. But here’s the good news, when you die with Christ, something new is raised within you! Yes, something has to die. But then, something has to rise!
We live in a world of broken promises. But here’s the Good News today! God has not broken His promise to us!
“… since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again.” – Romans 6.8-9
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