Romans 6:1-11 What shall we say then? Shall we keep on sinning so that grace may increase? 2Absolutely not! We died to sin. How can we go on living in it any longer? 3Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him by this baptism into his death, so that just as he was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too would also walk in a new life.
5For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be united with him in the likeness of his resurrection.
6We know that our old self was crucified with him, to make our sinful body powerless, so that we would not continue to serve sin. 7For the person who has died has been declared free from sin. 8And since we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9We know that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he will never die again. Death no longer has control over him. 10For the death he died, he died to sin once and for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11In the same way also consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Naaman is the commander of Aram’s army. He is a powerful warrior and a great man in the eyes of the king (2 Kings 5:1). But he has a problem. A big one. He also has leprosy. An even bigger problem is that he is a pagan – an unbeliever.
A servant girl from Israel tells Naaman, “Master, you’re a leper. No big deal. My God can fix that. Go see his prophet in Samaria” (2 Kings 5:3). When Naaman arrives at the prophet Elisha’s home, Elisha sends out a messenger who tells the leprous pagan commander, “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan. Then your flesh will be restored and you will be clean” (2 Kings 5:10).
How does Naaman react? Not well. He turns away in anger thinking that Elisha would have stood outside and made a spectacle of calling on the Lord, waving his hand over his body and curing him of his leprosy (2 Kings 5:11). Naaman doesn’t want to go into the Jordan River. It’s shallow and muddy. The Abana and Pharpar rivers of Damascus are much better, deeper and cleaner. He asks out loud, “Why can’t I wash in them and be cleansed” (2 Kings 5:12)? So we goes away in a burning rage.
Naaman could certainly wash in Abana and Pharpar, but something is missing in those rivers – the Word of the Lord. Elisha says that God’s Word is connected to the water in the Jordan River.
Naaman’s servants convince him to try the prophet’s instructions.
Picture Naaman still pouting and belligerent in his burning rage. “Fine! I’m going to wash in the Jordan!” He stomps down into the Jordan and throws himself in. Gets up. “One!” Does it again. “Two!” “Nothing’s happening here!” “Three!” Trying to show his servants the nonsense to all this.
Then he comes up after the seventh and goes, “Oh!”
But here’s the thing. When he comes up after the seventh dip, he is no longer a leper. He’s also no longer a pagan! He’s now a believer in the one true God. His conversion is instantaneous and radical. He goes from death to life. The only way that happens is if he is buried through Baptism and raised to live a new life in Christ.
Naaman was buried in the waters of the Jordan. His old, leprous skin fell off. His previous sinful flesh peeled away. He was reborn with new skin. He was regenerated with a new heart. “Then his flesh was restored like the flesh of a small child, and he was clean” (2 Kings 5:14).
Naaman rushes to Elisha’s home and confesses his baptismal faith with these creedal words, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel” (2 Kings 5:15).
The first thing Naaman does after he confesses his new faith is he wants to demonstrate that faith in godly works. He knows he has official duties that might contradict his new faith. He wants two wagonloads of Israel’s dirt so he can set up an altar to worship the true God and no longer worship any other gods. He wants the Lord to know there may be times he has to escort the king to a pagan temple, but he himself won’t worship there.
Now, if that isn’t a picture of being buried through baptism, I don’t know what is.
The Word of God was in the Jordan River for Naaman. And he came out of the waters with both the skin and the faith of a little child. Remember, Jesus taught, “Unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).
The Naaman who walked out of the Jordan was different than the one who had walked in.
The same is true for us. We are to be different after Baptism. The problem is that every morning when we wake up, our deadly disease has returned. The leprosy of sin is so pervasive that it keeps clinging to us.
We confess our sins … then leave the bedroom and yell at the kids.
We spend time reading and listening to God’s Word ... then watch shows and listen to music that is filled with the devil’s words.
We work hard to season our speech with salt when we are face-to-face with others … but we let the filth fly when we can be anonymous on social media.
We carefully protect our own reputation … but think nothing of tearing down someone else’s reputation.
It’s the same thing St. Paul was preaching against in Romans 6. “What shall we say then? Shall we keep on sinning so that grace may increase? Absolutely not!” Why not? “We died to sin. How can we go on living in it any longer?”
“You’re dead to me!” If someone says that to you, why would you go back to that person? The person who says that to you is manipulative and abusive. I have known women who have done that. It hurts so much to see it. And they’re really hurting themselves. But that’s our relationship to sin. We keep going back.
At your Baptism, sin said to you, “You’re dead to me.” Why would you want to go back to sin who considers you dead?
But you do. Why?
Paul tells us why. “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” If you keep going back to sin that is abusive and deadly, then either you’re ignorant or you’re rejecting Jesus.
So how do you break away from this abusive and deadly partner called sin? “We were therefore buried with him by this baptism into his death, so that just as he was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too would also walk in a new life.”
Whenever we feel like we are being driven to sin, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to drive us back to our Baptism.
Baptism is not just a one-time event that happened years ago when you were an infant at the font. Baptism connects you to Christ Jesus and his death. In Baptism, a new identity is created. We are no longer who we once were.
We were baptized into Christ’s crucifixion. Roman crucifixions were reserved for the worst of criminals. The worst of criminals is inside each one of us. It is our sinful nature, our Old Adam. The waters of Baptism kill our Old Adam. They nail it to Christ’s cross. All of our self-centeredness, apathy, misplaced priorities, filthy speech, and lusts are spread out and crucified. We put them to death. We bury our old self in the watery grave of our Baptism.
We cannot reform our sinful nature. We cannot improve our Old Adam. We cannot fix what is broken inside of us. The only way to improve in our Christian living is to put our sinful nature to death. Crucify it. Drown it. Bury it under the water. This happens daily when you remember your Baptism. When you confess your sins in worship, when you begin your day with confession and prayer, and when you end your day asking God to forgive all you’ve done wrong that day – it is as if you are being re-baptized. The Holy Spirit is once again pouring those baptismal waters over your head and washing you clean of your daily, dirty sins. You are drowning your Old Adam in your baptismal waters. The only problem is that your Old Adam is a good swimmer – he keeps coming back each day. So, you need to keep confessing, crucifying, drowning, and burying your Old Adam in your baptismal waters.
“Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.” Just as Christ rose from the dead to a new life, so we are raised to a new life in Christ. We were baptized to live a new kind of life – not to go back to our old life of sin. A new life filled with God’s love, forgiveness, power, and godly guidance.
We are like Naaman. Pagan converted to believer. Selfish changed to grateful. A warrior for our nation into a soldier for Christ.
“For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin” (Romans 6:6-7). Bury your Old Adam in baptismal waters. You do this by confessing your sin to God. Then, when your sinful nature is killed, you no longer want to keep on sinning. This is true for accidental sins, habitual sins, and even addictions. You are free from sin. Instead of living only for yourself, now you can start living for Christ.
There’s a story of a young slave girl who was up for auction. She was sobbing because she knew that if a harsh owner bought her, it would end in death. Despite her physical weakness, the price for her sale escalated rapidly because of her beauty. Finally, a wealthy landowner won the auction by offering double what anyone else had bid — the highest price of the day! When the auction was over, the clerk handed the girl a bill of sale which normally would have named her new legal owner. But to her surprise, the only thing written on it was her name with the word “FREE” in capital letters. At first, she didn’t know what to make of it. But when she realized what this piece of paper meant — that she had been set free from slavery to death — she hurried back to the clerk and pleaded, “Where is the man that bought my freedom? Please help me find him. This man has set me free. I want to serve him the rest of my life.”
Satan used to own us. Why would we want to keep running back to this abusive master? We have been freed from our slavery to sin and Satan. Death no longer has mastery over us. We lovingly and willingly serve our new Master. Not as slaves, but as servants. This Man Christ Jesus has set us free. We want to serve him the rest of our life.
“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God.”
What does all this mean for us today? When you’re tempted, know that you are no longer a slave to sin or Satan. Why go back to them? You now serve Christ.
Why go back to death? You have already died to sin. Your Old Adam was drowned and buried in your baptismal waters. You are alive.
Why go to other fancier, more exciting places? The waters in the font seem humble, simple and boring. But this is where God’s Word connects with the water creating Baptism.
Through Baptism, you are able to make your confirmation vows of being faithful even to the point of death. You’ve already died to sin. Now you are alive in Christ. Amen.