Buried with Christ?  Doesn’t sound like good news.  People hate death talk.  The Passion of the Christ movie was a shocker.  Did you see His painful death?

Dying in sin is no good.  Sin allies with the devil, condemns and destroys.  Death takes sin with it.  Where does it go?  If you die in sin with the devil you spend eternity in hell.  Your sin follows you to hell.  Sin rots your body.

Dying to sin with Christ is good.  Baptism with Him is a death and burial, but baptism destroys sin.  In baptism, Christ takes your sin and disposes of it.  He already paid for your sin on the cross.  In baptism, you die to sin with Christ.  Your sin is buried in the grave because of Jesus Christ and His cross. 

Romans 6:6 (ESV) says, “We know that [through baptism] 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.”

If it takes your death to get rid of sin, is the cost too high?  No, here is the Gospel: “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

(Romans 6:4)  If the Father had left His only Son in the grave, there would have been no victory for you.  But, God raised His Son on Easter morning and raises you with Him through baptism into the faith in Jesus Christ.

Romans 6:8-11 says, “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.  We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.

For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.  So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

Through baptism with Christ you are dead to sin and alive to God.

So, live in His grace, listen to His voice, rejoice in His blessings, sing His praises, share his love, and tell the world what God has done for you in Jesus Christ.  Proudly proclaim, “Yes, I was buried with Christ Jesus, and I am also risen with Him!”  Amen.

Pastor Raymond Van Buskirk, Redeemer Lutheran Church, Baytown, TX www.rlcbaytown.org