Sermon for Easter, 2020

Central Text: Romans 6:3-11

Central Purpose: To encourage the hearers to place their Faith in Christ by following the pattern of His Death and Resurrection

There is a pandemic that has afflicted mankind. Its death rate is 100%. It has plagued us for thousands of years. The source was our first parents. It is passed from one generation to another. Like all plagues, it goes by different names. Some call it Sin. Others call it Flesh. Some call it by what it causes: Death—every time. Every man and woman, boy and girl, even every infant has this deadly contagion in their heart. In the beginning, mankind was made with a candle of God’s fire in them, sustained by the oxygen of His Breathe. But this virus is something of a respiratory sickness: it blocks out the breathe of God upon which the flame feeds. Thus, Sin perpetually snuffs out the flame of Divine Light that would have sustained our earthly bodies forever. The candle of our soul was extinguished in the draft as man’s heart lurched for the Forbidden Fruit. From that day on, it was not relit; there was no cure for the plague. There was no one who could rekindle the Holy Flame of God in the bosom of mankind. Until Jesus.

Because Jesus was both God and Man, he was born without this contagion and within His holy heart was a flame that could re-light the hearts of men. But the problem was twofold. It was not only that the flame was out. There was a virus that blocked the breathe of God, and kept the candle extinguished. Both had to be dealt with. Within Jesus is the antigen and the fire. But because He had no sin, the virus of Death was not in Him. So He took on Death willingly. His Body and Soul rejected it, and He rose from the grave full of antibodies to give to his fellow man. To those who believe on Him, He gives Himself, His Body and Blood, to be our Cure. And the fire of His Spirit rekindles the flame of God in our hearts. The Gospel to a world in pandemic.

The challenge of this pandemic is its ability to go undetected. In fact, the vast majority of people in the world would claim to be asymptomatic. There is no test to verify it. And because it is the unseen disease which causes all the various kinds of death and sorrow, it is easy to mistake the symptoms for the actual virus. Easter takes us right to the source of our human dilemma. We are sick. We are going to die. It is because of the contagion of Sin. This pandemic has the ability to kill the body and the soul forever. The Cure is available for those who wake up and know they need it! And Jesus is the Cure.

When Jesus cures us, He serves as the vaccine. He experienced the virus of Death and He has overcome the virus. The cure is in His Body. And so our salvation, or cure, is found in our union with Jesus; His life flows in us. Our passage today comes from Romans 6. St. Paul speaks of our union with the Death and Resurrection of Jesus in our baptisms. But it also speaks of a new vision given to those who possess the Cure. They see the true source of Death and the true source of Life in the world, and they live differently because of it. Romans 6:3-11.

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I want to focus on verse 5. “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.” What does it mean to be planted together in the likeness of his death? The second part is easier to understand: “we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.” But in case you have heard, those who trust in Christ will be resurrected from the dead and will have a body like His: immortal, incorruptible, glorious. That He was raised from the dead validates all His promises. He will raise us up on the last day, and we shall be in the likeness of his resurrection, IF we have been planted together in the likeness of his death. What does this mean?

The preceding verse gives us a clue. “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” So the verbs “buried” and “planted” are connected. To be buried in baptism is to be planted in the likeness of his death. Therefore, those who are baptized will be raised up. This is that union with Christ that is like a vaccination. When we believe in Christ and are baptized into Him, the power of His Death and Resurrection activate in us. Like a cure, it conquers the virus. It opens up our soul to the breathe of God, and by His resurrection, the flame given by God in the beginning is restored to those who believe. This is the mystery of salvation.

From this salvation, Paul speaks of a certain moral result. This faith that we have and the salvation that is worked in us give a new vision of life in this world. Now we know what caused death. Now we see the pandemic for what it truly is, and we flee from Sin. Likewise, now that we have experienced the renewed flame within our hearts, we strive to keep it burning bright! Salvation brings forth holiness! And this is the logic of Romans 6. You have been united to Jesus’ Death and Resurrection. “Therefore reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Imagine with me a man that has been saved from the plague by a vaccination. After being vaccinated, knowing the source of the virus, would he then go and wallow in the source of the sickness? Of course not! And this is Paul’s point: we have been united to Jesus. He has cured us and has enabled us to live forever with God. So “let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it.”

If you are listening this morning and you have doubt about Jesus, then believe. He was raised from the dead. It is a fact. You already sense the contagion in your heart. He has the cure. He has proven that He does by being raised from the dead. Believe in Him. Give your whole life to Him. Come and be united to Him in baptism. Be planted in the likeness of His Death by giving your whole life to Him. He can save you. If you’ve already been baptized, but have lived away from God for a long time, come back to Him. He will receive you with open arms, and nurse you back to health.

If you are listening this morning and you already believe, then hear the implications that Paul lays out, namely that Christ’s death is our death to Sin, and that His resurrection is to us a life fully lived to God. If the Church fully lived out the evidence of our cure, then the truth of the Resurrection would be inescapable to the dying world. Jesus was raised to conquer Sin and Death so that He might have a people free from Sin and Death. Let us do our part with all our being to cast off all the remnants of our former ailment. Let us clear away anything that hinders the free flow of the breathe of God, that our candles may shine a bright light into the dark world. And let us do this full of joy, because Christ was risen from the dead and is the firstborn from the dead! Alleluia! Alleluia!