St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

June 23 and 26, 2005 Pentecost 6 Romans 6:1b-11

Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

This is God’s Word!

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

There is a little grandpa named Kozo Haraguchi. Kozo Haraguchi is 95 years old! Does he sit in a little rocking chair—with his knees covered with a blanket—watching Wheel of Fortune and The Price is Right? I don’t think so—not that there’s anything wrong with that! But you know what Kozo Haraguchi does? He works out! When he was only 65 years old—he started working out—trying to stay in shape. Every morning he takes an hour long walk around his neighborhood. Kozo ran a race the other day—a 100 meter run. He did it in a record 22.04 seconds—a new world record for his age group. That is people 95 to 99! It was the first time Kozo raced on a track wet from the rain. He kept thinking to himself—I dasn’t slip before crossing the finish line! That’s pretty good advice for you and for me—this 6^th Sunday after Pentecost. We pray that Jesus would make us spiritually strong—so that when we are 95 years old—we don’t slip and fall—before we cross the finish line. Today—as we consider part of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the believers in Rome—God’s Word encourages us:

Jesus Makes Us New

1. We are dead to sin

2. We are alive to God in Christ!

The letter to the Romans! This is the paragraph where we review the historical background of this exceedingly profound part of God’s Word! Picture the Apostle Paul on his 3^rd missionary journey. Picture Paul having spent some 3 years in Ephesus—preaching and teaching God’s Word. Now Paul is making a loop around—through Macedonia and Greece—picking up the Thankofferings people have gathered to help fellow believers in Jerusalem who are in painful need. Paul’s last stop is in Corinth. That’s probably where Paul was—when he wrote to the Gentiles in Rome. It was probably in the winter or the early spring—57 years after baby Jesus was born—the Holy Spirit breathed into Paul a message of powerful law and gospel—about the righteousness--righteousness that is ours by grace through faith.

Today is the 5^th of what will with Jesus’ permission be 16 Sundays in a row as we gradually read through the whole letter to the Romans. Paul begins today with a question. Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? If there is more forgiveness than we could ever use up—then how about we just keep on sinning? Then there can just be more and more grace—more undeserved love—more forgiveness! How appealing is that to our sinful flesh? Just imagine—sinning all you want. Somebody does something to hurt us and we pound them. Somebody is cute and we take hugs and kisses from them by force. We see something we like—and we just take it! We indulge all our most terrible and destructive desires and appetites! We abuse drugs and alcohol and tobacco and food. Then we just say, “Oops! Sorry! I repent!” And we are all forgiven—making just more and more grace! Can we do that? Paul answers his own question. “By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life!” We were baptized into Jesus’ death! Consider the wondrous sacrifice Jesus made to save us! There was a man named Dean—17 years old—sleeping in the back of a car when it crashed—flipping 7 times. Dean was thrown from the car which landed on him—spilling hot oil all over him. Strangers from another car pulled Dean out. He spent months in the hospital. After 40 operations he still has scars on his face, chest and arms. As horrible as that must have been—it pales to insignificance—compared to the burning lake of sulfur in hell. The most terrible fires in the world are nothing—compared to the forever fires of hell. Jesus died on the cross to rescue us. To many people Jesus remains some stranger who came to rescue them—but they don’t remember or understand! Who is going to tell them? We can tell them. And we can—with our Thankofferings—send missionaries around the world—to tell people everywhere that Jesus is their only Savior, too!

If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Are we united with Jesus—connected with him—a part of him all the time? The devil tempts people to think of our relationship with Jesus to be a very loose connection. The devil tempts people to think our relationship with Jesus has to do with 59 minutes on Sunday mornings—a cross in our bedroom and a Bible on our coffee table that we dust and fill with our family tree. If our connection with Jesus is the fact we went to Sunday School 50 years ago—and have a pretty good idea where our confirmation certificate is—we are not that connected? This world talks a lot about being spiritual without being religious. That means conscious of some thing greater than we are. That means trying to be good—trying to do the right thing—feeling ashamed when you do something selfish or hurtful. That’s not the same as living life united with Jesus! We will grow closer to Jesus the more we read God’s Word. Read the Gospel of John—and you will hear the words Jesus spoke—word for word! Read 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd John and you will be reminded God is love! Read the Revelation to St. John—and you will see again and again—there are two sides—God’s side and the devil’s side—good and evil—doing horrible painful battle. The ultimate outcome is never ever in doubt. Jesus has won the victory for us. Because Jesus has been victorious—we look forward to heaven—where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. We need to be assured—God’s Word is clear! The more we read God’s Word—the more we will understand it. We don’t have to be bark inspectors—picking apart every single word and phrase. We can read God’s Word—and understand the trees—the forests—God’s plan to save us. We can understand the big picture. And then over time—understand more and more the brush strokes and the details. We need to remember God’s ways are not always our ways. His thoughts will remain far above our thoughts. We also need to remember God gave us his Word—not just for theologians to debate at the Seminary—but for God’s people to read and talk about. What would be more wonderful than for people to call their pastors and teachers and say—I was reading God’s Word and I was wondering what does this mean? And then—if I am a good teacher—I won’t just give them the answer. I will show them how they can figure out the answer—where they could find the answer for them self! If fishermen and shepherds and tax collectors and sinners 2,000 years ago could understand God’s Word—then we who have been to grade school and high school and college and more—we who have can figure out Harry Potter and the Matrix and cell phones and blackberries and notebooks can with a little help—understand more and more of God’s Word!

The death he died, he died to sin once for all… Once for all! Sometimes people say—all denominations are really the same. We aren’t all that different. Sometimes people say—I went to another church—and you know—their Sunday liturgy was pretty much like ours—Old Testament reading, sing a Psalm, Epistle reading, Gospel reading, sermon and prayers. It was just like ours! And yet—this simple phrase—once for all—is not the same in every church that has a steeple! Think about it! Once—for all. Jesus died once. Therefore—it is not for us—to recrucify him again and again. Jesus died for all. It is not for us to sacrifice him to his Heavenly Father again and again—to earn—to earn—forgiveness for ourselves—or to earn forgiveness for people who have already died! When Jesus said—it is finished—the work of washing away all our sins was exactly that—finished! Jesus died—once for all! There are churches with steeples that say Jesus only died for people who are going to heaven. They teach that there is a double predestination—some chosen from eternity for heaven—and others chosen from eternity for destruction. Then they say—Jesus only died for those who will go to heaven. To believe otherwise—they say—would be illogical and unreasonable—wasting all kinds of forgiveness! They say it isn’t reasonable to pay for sins of people that are going to hell anyway! We would again—respectfully—disagree. The simple Scripture here says—Jesus died—once—for all! Jesus died for the sins of everyone! Anyone you every meet—is someone Jesus died to save. Jesus died for the people who live in the nation of Djibouti. Did you ever hear of Djibouti? It’s a little country in Africa—less than 8,500 square miles—with a population of about 250,000 people. It is said Djibouti is like a little goat between two lions—the lions of Ethiopia and Somalia. Almost noone in Djibouti knows that Jesus washed away all their sins. And yet Jesus did. The French Foreign Legion says—we protect this little goat! Who is protecting their souls from the lion from the pit of hell? We need to be concerned for people literally half the way around the world who don’t know all that Jesus did to save them. And we need to be concerned about the people in our own homes—the people that we are related to—the people who have the same blood of their veins. That we encourage them to hear God’s Word, too!

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Remember than man named Dean—the one with the terrible burns from hot oil in a car crash? Dean was driving an ice cream delivery truck the other day when there was a terrible train wreck. People were trapped in the tangled wreckage. With diesel fuel spilled everywhere! Once most of the would be rescuers realized the danger of that fuel catching fire—they backed off. Dean climbed wreckage to try to save one man—in spite of the danger. He said—I know what it is like to be burned! Dean pulled a man covered in blood and soot—with broken arms and broken legs away from the flames! Jesus did more than that! Jesus died to rescue you and me from the forever flames of hell. Jesus sacrificed his life to rescue us for eternity! How can you thank Jesus? By pulling people one at a time—away from the flames that threaten their immortal soul. By pulling people away from sin—to the safety and healing and forgiveness that only Jesus can give. That’s the best we can do with Jesus’ amazing grace. Amen!

To God alone all glory!

Rev. Anthony E. Schultz