"Set Free From Sin" - Romans 6: 6-7

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today the Christian church celebrates the baptism of Jesus. If you stop and think about it, it’s an odd event, at multiple levels. Let me explain.

About 15 years ago I was privileged to baptize a young girl who was probably around four or five - I forget exactly. In the rite of holy baptism, there's a question that is asked: do you renounce the devil, all of his works, and all of his ways? The answer of course is yes, I do renounce them. When a child is being baptized, the parents and sponsors speak on the child’s behalf, but this little girl, when she heard the devil's name being spoken, she spoke up for herself. When I asked, “Do you renounce the devil, all his works and all his ways?” she answered for herself with an emphatic, “No!” It took just a few seconds for everyone, including the girl’s family, to realize what had happened and then the chuckling started. It took a few moments to get everyone refocused and back on track. The grandpa summed it up later: as cute as the moment was, the devil never quite wants to let go, does he?

Turn to page 325 in the front of your hymnal. If you didn’t know this, Luther’s Small Catechism is printed there. For a moment, let’s look at what Luther teaches us about Baptism. First, what is Baptism? The answer is relatively easy – even if you can’t read the Catechism, you can probably answer this. It’s not just plain water, but water combined with the word of God, “Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Again – easy stuff. So far, so good.

But, what gets interesting is in the second part. “What benefits does Baptism have?” Luther writes that it works forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare,” and then it refers Mark 16:16. That moment back in Crosby, and in other Baptismal moments across the globe, as water is poured over the baptismal candidate and the Trinitarian name of God is spoken, sins are washed away and the enemy of God becomes the child of God.

I have lost track of the number of baptisms I have been privileged to do. I have baptized infants who were prematurely born with a dropper of distilled water who could not speak for themselves and I have baptized grown adults whose voice was clearly heard across the sanctuary. Some wore a special, family heirloom baptismal gown; others wore what they had. Boys and girls, men and women, each baptismal rite was somewhat unique. But one thing was always the same: a sinner was made a child of God and, this side of heaven, the old adam would constantly be a struggle to keep at bay.

This is a real struggle, a true battle for the child of God. I had another parent ask me once if I would consider redoing his son’s baptism because, he joked, it appeared that the first one didn’t take. I empathize – not only as a parent, but as a child of God myself. I wonder if Paul didn’t wrestle with it as well. In Romans 7, he will lament that the good things he wants to do, he doesn’t do and the evil things he doesn’t want to do, he does. IF that’s true for the apostle, what hope do we have?

There are two verses I want to draw to your attention this morning. While all of Romans 6 is good stuff, these two verses help us see ourselves as God’s people who wrestle with this specific temptation of how we see ourselves, and whether such a view is congruent with how God sees us.

In verses 6 & 7, Paul writes, “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For one who has died has been set free from sin.”

The key word there is “from.” Some people misunderstand this. They think that a child of God should be free of sin, that is, without blemish, unable to make mistakes, to no longer err and sin against God and neighbor. That’s not what Paul says. He says free “from” sin. Think of it this way: if you had a few days off between Christmas and the New Year, you were free from school, or free from work. You were not free of school – you had to go back this week. You were not free of work – you still had a job to do. But you were free from it, if only for a short time.

Apply that idea to these words of Paul. You are set free from sin, so sin no longer holds its guilty power over you and satan no longer has his eternal claws in you. This side of heaven, you remain a sinner, and your old adam and old eve continue to be a thorn in your flesh, tempting you to sin and then tempting you to disbelieve God’s grace for you. Satan might lie, he might tempt, entice, torture and even hinder you as a child of God, and he will do all he can to tell you that yours is a hopeless situation – “if you were really a child of God, you wouldn’t do such a thing, would you?” – but you are Christ’s remember? Don’t you know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into His death? We were bured therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, you might walk in newness of life. In other words, you are free from sin because you are alive in Christ.  Satan might roar and throw a fit, but he cannot make Christ’s forgiveness go away, and he cannot pry you away from Jesus when we live in His kingdom.

A moment ago, I said today the church remembers the baptism of Jesus and that, at many levels, it is an odd event. Baptism is for sinners; it is for forgiveness of sins; it destroys satan’s power and removes his ability to hold guilt and shame over the child of God. Yet, Jesus is baptized. The holy, sinless Son of God, who entered into human flesh, taking humanity into Himself but without the original sin that would condemn us, He who is God of creation and Lord even over the devil, He is baptized. Why? If Baptism is for sinners and Jesus is sinless, why be baptized?

Jesus must submit to John’s baptism, not for himself, but to save the very people John has baptized, that the Church has baptized, that have been baptized in this font. In that Jordan river moment, you see a picture of how Christ will save His people from their sins: He stands among us, with us, and for us. He takes our place, and in receiving the sinner’s baptism from John, it’s as if all of the world’s sins that have been washed away from us are washed onto Him. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. This baptismal picture is a foretaste of what is to come. Jesus doesn’t stop standing among us, with us and for us when he leaves the river. He continues in our place all the way to the cross. Ultimately, that is where all righteousness is completed and fulfilled, where and when the innocent Lamb of God is offered as the once-for all, one-for-all sacrifice in the place of many. That is why it is fitting for Jesus to come to the Jordan and be baptized to – literally and spiritually – stand in the place of many.

In Christ’s Baptism, He joins Himself with us. In your baptism, Christ joins you to Himself. Joined to Jesus in our baptisms, His perfect life, ministry of word, death and resurrection become the seal of the cross, marking us that we are redeemed, rescued and saved. A wonderful exchange takes place in Baptism. With your sins removed from you, Christ’s righteousness rushes in. You are declared holy, washed clean in Christ. So you do not doubt this, not only does Jesus die, He also rises. His death pays the price; His resurrection is the proof-evidence that satisfaction is made. Baptized into Christ, you died with Christ; baptized into Christ, you have risen with Christ. Do you understand what a remarkable gift this is? All of your sins, removed from you in Christ. They can no longer be held against you. The debt is paid in full.

That is what it means to be set free from sin. This side of heaven, there will always be a wrestling match between your old self and your new self. In those moments of weakness, when the old self wins with its evil desires, drag it back to the baptismal promise of God and drown it again. You don’t need to be rebaptized; you only need to remember and trust the promise of God that are yours in Christ. You are set free from sin and God sees you, in Christ, as righteous and pure, holy and blameless.

Amen.