Baptism, Sin, and Death
one
At the Jordan River, where Christ Himself was Baptized, it’s interesting to reflect on how Jesus connected His baptism and His death
a. If you remember, when James and John wanted to sit at His left hand, He told them they did not know what they were asking for – and He said: “Can you be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”
i. He’s clearly speaking about His suffering and death
b. So how was Jesus’ baptism – and our baptism – connected to death?
i. In two ways:
1. Baptism is what overcomes the cause of death – namely sin
2. Baptism is what makes us willing to face death courageously
two
Jesus’ Baptism as a Preparation for His Death
a. When Jesus first comes to be Baptized, John doesn’t understand – he says, “You should be baptizing me; why are you asking me for Baptism?”
b. Remember what the symbolism of Baptism is: it’s a washing, a cleansing
i. All the people were coming out to John, asking for baptism to wash away their sins – trying to leave their sins behind in the Jordan
1. Now: what happens to bathwater when the same bathwater is used for a bunch of dirty kids?
a. Obviously, the water will get dirty
2. And what would happen to that dirty water if a clean kid went into it?
a. Obviously, the kid would get dirty
c. Well, that’s exactly what happened with Jesus’ baptism:
i. Everyone came to be baptized by John in order to get clean – except for one person
ii. Jesus – the perfectly pure, clean, spotless Lamb of God – He came to this water, to the Jordan River, to get dirty.
1. He went to take our sins upon Himself
a. He came to cover Himself in our sins, and take the penalty for those sins upon Himself.
i. And the penalty for sin, the wages of sin, is death.
three
Our Baptism is Baptism into Christ’s Death
a. So Jesus’ Baptism was the preparation for his
i. Overcoming of Sin
ii. Confrontation of Death
b. And we, by our Baptism, are united into Christ’s Baptism – and His death
i. St. Paul makes it very clear in Romans 6: “We who were baptized with Christ were baptized into His death.”
1. What does that mean?
c. It means that, thanks to our baptism:
i. We can overcome sin
ii. We can face death courageously
four
Overcoming Sin: Because of our baptism, St. Paul says in the same chapter, “We are dead to sin.”
a. Okay, what does that mean?
b. St. Paul explains: “Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as [being] dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, sin must not reign over your mortal bodies so that you obey their desires.”
c. Think of it this way: if you order a corpse around, what will it do? If you tempt it or threaten it or coax it, what will it do?
i. Nothing.
ii. So too, when sin attempts to lure us, or bully us, or tempt us in any way – we are called, by the grace of our Baptism and our union with Christ to simply not respond
1. And we can do that. Because, due to our union with Christ in Baptism – St. Paul says “sin has no power over you.”
five
And why does Sin have no power over us?
a. Because we are able to face death courageously. Because we know that all worldly goods are passing.
b. St. Paul says, “If we have died with Christ, we shall also rise with Him.”
i. Our Baptism has granted us access into heaven – why would we trade that access for a passing pleasure, a passing moment of satisfaction or relief
1. We’re ready to die! Our hope is not in this world, and so no worldly pressure that Satan can bring to bear can force us to surrender to sin.
a. Thus, as Paul says it over and over in this chapter: we are free from sin, by Christ’s resurrection. We are no longer slaves of sin – we can’t be threatened to do anything dishonorable anymore.
c. That’s what Christ’s Baptism meant for us. It meant freedom from sin by freedom from the fear of death.
i. And that’s what our baptism means for us. It means we will overcome sin and confront death courageously.