Sermons 2025

Video Part 1

Video Part 2

Text: Romans 6:1-11

Outline
1.    You have died with Christ
a.    SN no longer rules
2.    You live with Christ
a.    He rules in you

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the Epistle of Saint Paul to the church in Rome the sixth chapter verses one through eleven.
Intro: Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. Have you ever had tortilla chips? The delicious chips that you could dip in salsa or sour cream or make nachos or have with tacos or something like that. But where did tortilla chips come from? What were they before they became chips? Well, if you said tortillas, you’re absolutely right. Sorry, no product placement here, but prior to becoming a chip, this was just a tortilla. Now, can the chip turn back into a tortilla? No, of course not, because this is soft, this is the before stage, and this is the after. There’s nothing this delicious satisfying chip could do to go back to being a soft little tortilla. It has been transformed. The same is true of us. Saint Paul writes that we have been transformed. How did that happen? Ponder that question as you hear the rest of the sermon.

1.    You have died with Christ
In chapter five, Saint Paul has been discussing the proclivities to sin that we have all inherited from Adam compared to the grace and mercy that has come to us because of Jesus Christ, the Second Adam, and His death and resurrection from the dead. This raises an important logical question. If we get more grace, then it should follow that we should do more sins to increase the grace that we receive.
We would expect Paul to launch into a huge law-oriented diatribe against sin, railing against it with all of the passion of a fire and brimstone preacher. Yet, he does not. Rather He outright rejects this logical premise on the basis of the transformation that has happened to us because of Jesus Christ. 

Through the waters of Holy Baptism, we have undergone a change. You have been transformed. Many in our world today see their baptism as a one and done type of event that has no impact upon their daily lives. They think, “I am Baptized so what?” They fail to see that their baptism is not a one time and done event. It is a constant and daily dying and raising again. We have died. We have been buried with Jesus Christ, our sins lie dead in the grave, and we are raised with Christ to newness of life. Paul uses one of his favorite compound vbs., synthaptein, a compound of syn-, “with” (i.e., “coburied”). As a result of the coburial, the Christian lives in union with the risen Christ, a union that finds its term when the Christian will one day “be with Christ” (syn Christō) in glory. Cf. 8:32; 1 Thess 4:17; Col 2:12. 
Because you have died with Christ, that means that sin no longer rules in you. You are no longer controlled by sin. You cannot say that you had no choice to sin. You are not a beast controlled by raw emotion. You have a choice because of Christ living in you through the power of the Holy Spirit.

For a Christian, continuing to live in sin is not only impermissible, it is impossible! To be sure, Paul knows that even a believer commits acts of sin until the day of his release from this earthly existence. We wrestle with our sinful nature on a daily basis. Our sins of disrespecting those in authority over us. Putting ourselves in the place of God, being selfish with the gifts we have been given. Our sins of thoughts in the dead of night, words spoken in frustration and anger. In the apostle’s theology this circumstance does not provide a valid reason for easy living. See verse 15. Moreover, the notion that a child of God should voluntarily give sin an opportunity to operate, that he should actually encourage it, produces a revulsion in Paul’s heart. He is disgusted with the very suggestion!

2.    You live with Christ

Saint Paul says not only have you died; you have been raised to newness of life. But what is that “newness?” Surely if our old life, now dead and buried with Christ, was wholly sinful, the new, to which we rise with the risen Saviour, must be altogether a holy life; so that every time we go back to “those things whereof we are now ashamed” (Ro 6:21), we belie our resurrection with Christ to newness of life, and “forget that we have been purged from our old sins” (2 Pe 1:9)  We have been freed from our sinful nature. We are free to live to God in this new-year, this new beginning, this new life that we have been given in Christ. We are free to let Christ make Himself manifest in us. 
How does He do this? Christ manifests Himself in us through our daily actions. Daily we die to sin, rejecting and refusing to indulge our sinful nature. Christ manifests in us as we live in service to our neighbor. When we use our time in service to others, helping out with food, shelter, and caring for them. When we focus upon the Word of God rather than indulging our sin-filled thoughts. When we give monetarily for the mission work of the Church, and many more, Christ is manifesting Himself within us.

Con: Thanks be to God that He has transformed us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, united us with Him in Holy Baptism, and daily gives us of His Holy Spirit that we may daily die to sin and rise to newness of life.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.