United with Christ (or Why Sin Still Matters)

A Sermon by Nada Sellers

June 26 , 2008

Romans 6:1b-14

Sin.   A transgression of a religious or moral law, especially when deliberate.  A condition of estrangement from God, resulting from such disobedience.  Something regarded as being shameful, deplorable, or utterly wrong. (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sin)

The topic of sin isn’t really something most people want to think about.  One of the more sarcastic definitions I’ve heard describes SIN as “self-imposed nonsense.”  Most of the time we think of sin as individual acts of disobedience to God, when in reality, Scripture has a lot more to say about the broader dimensions of the problem.  In fact, in the book of Romans, Paul frequently refers to sin as a condition that plagues the human race (3:9-18), one that works its way out through the ingrained habits of our embodied selves (7:5ff).  Sin is a reality, in a fallen, human-led world.  We know that sin stands in the way of being in right relationship with God and with one another, and that  all people have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

READ ROMANS here

The letter to the church in Rome, contains the Apostle Paul’s effort to restate the covenant theology of the Jewish faith, in light of Christ, who both fulfills the law and ushers in the age of the new covenant. Writing to a multi-ethnic Gentile and Jewish group of believers, Paul is also writing as an apologist for the mission of evangelical ministry to the Gentiles.  When it comes to the Law of Moses, the writer includes both negative and positive positions, in an effort to shed light on the way in which Israel’s experience with the law led to it becoming a tool of sin rather than a guide to righteousness, as it became sidetracked by human interests and interpretations. (WBC Dunn, intro).

Within our chapter, Paul has returned to further explain the ways in which God’s saving act in Christ has overcome the consequences of human sinfulness; how the combined power of sin, law and death are no match for grace.  Paul is probably mindful of the fact that there were those among his Roman correspondents who wondered just how all of this was supposed to work in the daily life of the Christian believer… What are the basic perspectives from which believers should see their lives?  What matters most when it comes to sin and death and the law? Here’s how Peterson puts it in his translation, The Message: “When it’s sin versus [the aggressive forgiveness we call grace], grace wins hands down.  All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it.  Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life – a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.” (Romans 5:20-21)

If sin has found its master in grace, does this mean that sin and death have lost all their power over Christ’s followers? (WBC, 325)     What’s the balance when it comes to grace and our short-comings?  How does this work exactly?

Paul uses the Christian ritual of baptism to draw his listeners to the following understanding:  When we were baptized, “we went under the water [and we] left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace – a new life in a new land!”  This is what baptism into the life of Jesus means: when we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus, and when we are raised up out the water, it’s like the resurrection of Jesus.  Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by [God] so that we can see where we’re going in our new grace-sovereign country.  (Message).  Our old ways of living are nailed to the Cross with Christ, ending the sin-filled life we used to live before we believed.  We are now, no longer at sin’s beck and call!  And what’s more, if we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection!  (Message)

Now that death no longer has any hold on Jesus (because he was raised from the dead), his death has the once-for-all ability to deliver those who believe in his name and choose the way of grace over sin.  Peterson’s summary in verse 10 is this: “When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us! “  This is a new era, the end of one reign where sin and death rule, and the beginning of another, where grace sets us free to live beyond the tyranny of sin. (WBC Dunn p327)

We are left to recall for a moment, what dying with Christ in baptism and attaining new life by being raised up into resurrection life are each like?  (Invite comments here from congregants)

There’s no way around it; without Jesus, the barrier of death restricts humankind from entering the age beyond.  But when we entrust ourselves to the Crucified One, we are offered the doorway through death to life free of sin, that is secured through the cross and the empty tomb. (Dunn, 331)  That’s life that starts here and now, and the life that is to come in eternity! “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his!” (v. 5)  The force of the verb translated as “united” needs to be appreciated here: it means “to have become fused” – not a once-for-all event in the past, but an event of the past resulting in a state that lasts through to the present.  (Dunn, 331)   Believers have been and STILL ARE bonded together with the effect of Jesus’ death and likewise, the same verb, are bonded or united with the very likeness of his being raised from the dead.  This means real tangible benefits for believers even now, in this life.  Sin, though still around and ready to tempt, no longer holds sway in a Christian’s life.  There’s a new kind of living that we’re called to and equipped to be able to share:  Let me tell a story…

His name is Bill. He has wild hair, wears a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans and no shoes. This was literally his wardrobe for his entire four years of college. He is brilliant. Kinda esoteric and very, very bright. He became a Christian while attending college.

Across the street from the campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church. They want to develop a ministry to the students, but are not sure how to go about it. One day Bill decides to go there. He walks in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and wild hair. The service has already started and so Bill starts down the aisle looking for a seat.

The church is completely packed and he can’t find a seat. By now people are looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one says anything. Bill gets closer and closer and closer to the pulpit and when he realizes there are no seats, he just squats down right on the carpet. (Although perfectly acceptable behavior at a college fellowship, you can be sure this had never happened in this church before!)  By now the people are really uptight, and the tension in the air is thick.

About this time, the minister realizes that from way at the back of the church, a deacon was slowly making his way toward Bill. Now this deacon is in his eighties, has silver-gray hair, a three-piece suit, and a pocket watch. A godly man, very elegant, very dignified, very courtly. He walks with a cane and as he starts walking toward this boy, everyone is saying to themselves, You can’t blame him for what he’s going to do. How can you expect a man of his age and of his background to understand some college kid on the floor?

It takes a long time for the man to reach the boy. The church is utterly silent except for the clicking of the man’s cane. All eyes are focused on him. You can’t even hear anyone breathing. The people are thinking, The minister can’t even preach the sermon until the deacon does what he has to do. And now they see this elderly man drops his cane on the floor.

With great difficulty he lowers himself and sits down next to Bill and worships alongside him so he won’t be alone. Everyone chokes up with emotion. There seems to not be a dry eye in the entire congregation.  When the minister finally gains control he says, "What I’m about to preach, you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never forget."  (ozsermonillustrations -  Rebecca Manley Pippert, retold by Alice Gray More Stories for the Heart compiled by Alice Gray (Portland: Multnomah Press, 1997), pp. 32-33).

Living in the here and now, through the power of the risen One, means unforgettable things are always possible.  See, it’s grace that brings the elderly deacon down to sit with Bill on the carpet, the kind of grace that’s also found in Christ’s death to sin and new livelihood through being raised up again.  And even though sin no longer has the power it once did, you’ll probably notice the way of sin found here in the story as passing judgment ,or finding fault with someone like Bill, still shows up even in places like the church on a Sunday morning!  Let’s remember that when the kin-dom is finally completed, there will be no more sin and sorrow and death – but for now, sin still gets in the way.  Bonded closely with Jesus, we have these opportunities to come alongside of those who need someone to sit with them…What might this look like here at North Church?  Sin still holds sway for a hurting world, friends, and sin still forces us to make the choice to live and walk in the reality God’s grace, poured out in Jesus.  Let’s stick close to him; let’s tighten that connection and confirm that grace is what we want to celebrate.

Tony Campolo tells the story of  one of the most extraordinary birthday party celebrations ever held.  No it wasn't in a plush ballroom of a grand hotel. No there weren't famous celebrities, nor anyone rich or powerful. It was held at 3am in a small seedy cafe in Honolulu, the guest of honor was a prostitute, the fellow guests were prostitutes, and the man who threw it was a Christian minister!  The idea came to Christian minister Tony Campolo very early one morning as he sat in the cafe and overheard a fellow diner lament the fact that not only was it her birthday tomorrow but that she'd never had a birthday party. She was a prostitute called Agnes and her friends showed her little sympathy.

Tony however, thought it would be a great idea to surprise Agnes with a birthday party. Learning from the cafe owner that the girls came in every morning around 3.30am Tony agreed with him to set the place up for a party. Word somehow got out on the street, so that by 3.15 the next morning the place was packed with prostitutes, the cafe owner and his wife, and Tony.   When Agnes walked in she saw streamers, balloons, the cafe owner holding a birthday cake, and everyone screaming out "Happy Birthday!". Agnes was overwhelmed. The tears poured down her face as the crowd sang Happy Birthday.

It was a birthday party rarely seen in Honolulu - thrown by a Christian minister for a 39 year old prostitute who had never had anyone go out of their way to do something like this and who expected nothing in return. Indeed, so surprising was this turn of events that the cafe owner found it hard to believe there were churches that would do this sort of thing, but if there were, then that's the sort of church he'd be prepared to join.

Let’s pray that our connection with the Jesus way,  leads us as a congregation to overwhelm the ways of sin and death with the celebration of grace.  Let’s continue to search for ways to demonstrate our love and commitment to the ways of the One who has brought us out of sin and into newness of life that moves us beyond the old stuff we used to fall prey to.  Let’s live for God through Christ, and the ways of the law and sin won’t hold us down!  Amen.