Howdy.
Well, apparently I decided that it was my time to get sick.
So there you go.
Oh my word.
Last week, I was like up here and I'm thinking to myself,
okay, I've been sick, I'm on the mend, everything's going great.
We got through worship services and youth group.
We had a great time for youth group.
I think we had like 10 kids there.
It was great and everything.
Went home.
I'm like, you know, I'll take a nap.
Boom.
Done.
It was like, okay, I'm canceling everything for like the next three days,
finding subs for everything.
And I'm just like, all right, y'all, if I can give you a written report,
that's all you're getting.
All right.
So, and like by written report, I mean, like medicine induced hazy texting
of whatever message to send a leadership team.
All right.
This is, did it make any sense?
All right.
That's all I got.
Good night.
Bye.
Good night.
And apparently this was like the week for people to be getting sick.
I was just like, oh yeah, I got sick and every other person that I said that to is like,
yeah, I'm sick too.
And I'm like, okay, I know I did not give it to you.
Okay.
It is not my fault.
I swear.
Although I do like to blame Neil and Whitney every once in a while.
You know, so whenever they cough, I'll just blame it on them.
Makes it easier.
But one of the things though is that I then had to pause because the thing is,
you never know the things like this, you never know where it could have come from.
It could be any number of things.
And I used to be a teacher.
So that was like a Petri dish all its own for sure.
But the thing is, is that I do have a confession.
My confession is that pastor forgot to get his flu shot this year.
I know, I know.
And here's the thing.
I know better.
All right.
The thing is, is that when I started teaching and I was doing it like a decade ago and I
was, oh, that first semester, I was sick like every month or something like that.
And finally I went and got my flu shot.
And for like the next several years, nothing, it instead of like getting sick every season
is instead like I got sick maybe every three or four years or something like that.
And it was like night and day.
All right.
The thing is, is that I know to do this and I had it on my calendar.
All right.
I had it scheduled.
This is when I'm going to go.
And what did I go and do?
I am too busy.
I've got stuff going on.
You know, I've had plenty of flu shots before.
I'm sure I'll be okay.
It'd be all right.
No.
Boom.
Got me.
Knocked me on my butt because that's the thing about viruses, especially when we look at
the flu virus is that it mutates every, not just every year.
Every season it is constantly changing.
So as much as you might be like, well, why couldn't you just get one shot and you're
done?
I mean, hey, that's what polio is for, right?
Well, okay, it's not quite the same thing, but rather is to realize that the more that
something changes and mutates and shifts, the more vulnerable that we all may be.
And that's one of the images that as I was coughing profusely that I kept having stuck
in my head as I was thinking about our Romans passage for today.
The thing is, is that we have to realize that that's also the world that we live in.
We look back at the issues of the past and what has happened before.
We wonder how in the world was that ever an issue for society before?
How in the world was it that we had issues of slavery in our world or why is it that
we had to deal with people with hatred and enmity where they were constantly looking
to get into warfare with each other?
Why is it that we realize that people were thrown in jail for just being poor and then
we don't realize that just like the flu, sin mutates?
And the thing is, is that in our world today, we are no less susceptible than they were
back then.
It's just that the sins that we struggle with are different form than they were in the past.
That's the thing is that dying to the old.
The problem is, is that does not mean that we are not susceptible as much as we may now
look at what Paul says in his letter to the Romans about being dead to the old in Christ.
The thing is, it doesn't mean that we're no longer susceptible to the issues of sin.
And that's what he's trying to get at so much in this chapter.
Do we really have to accept what we really don't need to?
Because how much is it that we oftentimes just accept that sin is a natural part of
not just the world, but also ourselves?
And then we just go about the rest of our day.
Saved by grace.
And now let's just move on with life.
See that's the thing is, is that we are meant to die to sin.
We are not meant to continually be susceptible to what it is that sin may drag us into.
How many of the issues that we allow to be not just plaguing our minds and the things
that we can't seem to get rid of, but even things that we allow into our hearts, allow
into our lives, allow into our minds.
And more than just the movies and TV shows and music that we may be hearing and seeing.
Because let's be honest, we can't spend our entire life trying to make sure that everything
that we watch is only the chosen and that the only music we ever listen to is what comes
on KSBJ or KHCB.
The world around us is constantly shoving stuff into our life from speakers to lessons
to workplace to everything all around.
But like the polio vaccine, we're meant to be dead to it.
See the thing is, is that that always threw me was this strange idea.
Whenever I was a kid trying to understand why they're trying to put a dead virus into
people.
Why is that such a big deal?
And then when you realize that your body is able to then grow an immunity because it's
already dead.
So it's not going to actually be doing the work that a virus might normally do inside
of you.
But your body is then able to learn how to deal with it and fight it and then not be
prone to it later on.
And then with so many people being immune to it, then they're able to surround one another
with immunity.
So then even for those few who might risk being susceptible to it.
But they are being protected by all those around them as well.
And that's much of what we end up dealing with when we're looking at this question of
being dead to sin.
Is this idea that when we see what Christ has done is that Christ has killed off the
old.
It doesn't have to now be Lord over you.
The world and sin and death and all these things that have controlled us and manipulated
so much.
And it doesn't have to be the Lord over you anymore because Christ has already died to
it.
Christ is in a human body just like us.
And then he dies.
And that's the thing about someone who is dead is that they don't play by those same
rules anymore.
Does a dead person get sick?
Well, no, they're dead.
Can you tell a dead person what to do?
No, they're dead.
Can you control them?
Can you push them around?
Do they struggle with issues that they have in their mind and in their heart and the workplace
and all these things?
No, because that old life is no longer there.
But that's the idea is that all the issues that we were being played by before are no
longer meant to have a grip on us.
Because even though all these people were able to then judge Jesus and put him to death,
is that, well, now it's done.
There's nothing left that they could do.
Jesus was no longer susceptible to what they wanted to do to him.
But that's the same thing we're called to is that we're not meant to let the world decide
for us who we're meant to be belonging to Christ means we don't belong to the old life.
We're meant to die to the old and rise to the new.
But do we?
Do we actually end up living that life that we have been given by Christ Jesus?
See, that's one of the things about this is to realize that as much as we are dead to
the old, we keep acting as if that's still the life that we are beholden to today.
And so it makes this, it begs this question that is that if we are baptized with Christ
into his death, why are we still struggling in so many ways?
Shouldn't we be now done with it?
We have been washed in the waters.
We are marked by God.
We're called to be his child.
Aren't we done with it?
But maybe in some ways we might have to ask what kind of a vaccine we might be looking
at.
See, when we're thinking about baptism, we sometimes may be having an issue with what
metaphor we're looking at.
What kind of vaccine are we truly comparing this to?
Is baptism like a polio vaccine?
One and done.
You got it out of the way.
You probably don't remember because you were really, really young.
And if you do remember because you were in a previous generation, my apologies as I am
showing my age.
But in realizing that oftentimes we may be thinking about the idea that, well, we got
baptized and so now everything from then on, it doesn't really matter.
That's the one thing that we had to get done.
But the reality is that people can reject baptism.
It is possible that a person can end up harboring the desire to follow themselves instead of
following after Christ.
It is possible that a person can just let it be water and can reject what the Spirit
is doing as God is speaking to a person.
We are meant to continually be encouraging and learning and growing and wrestling with
these issues.
There's a reason why, even though we may be baptizing someone as a child, that we're continuing
to teach them and raise them and help them grow and to continue to be there.
There are still times whenever I will from time to time have a former youth group member
that will send me a message and still be saying, I'm wrestling with this.
I'm dealing with this because it doesn't just stop.
We still need to continue to be strengthened and encouraged because otherwise we still
fall prey to those issues, those struggles from before.
When we say a former youth group member is to realize that there really is no upper age
limit because you may very well be getting messages or questions from people at the right
young age of 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond.
Is the vaccine of baptism something that might be more like COVID?
Is it something that we just mock as being dumb and ridiculous?
I find it funny because as somebody who's had five COVID shots in the past and knowing
that about 80%, 81% of people in the US have gotten at least one of the vaccines and that
about three quarters or two thirds, depending on where you're at, have gotten fully vaccinated.
Texas is too good for that so they're a little bit lower than the national average.
But to realize is that it's easy that we mock it even though in reality the reason why we're
not in the same place now as we were five years ago is because the vast majority of us have
already gone through it, is that oftentimes we do the same thing when we think about baptism.
Is that it's easy that we take it for granted?
We mock it.
We think of it as just a thing to get done or there are many people who, well, I was baptized
as a child, it doesn't really matter because I don't remember it.
But in reality is that the whole point of the waters of baptism is because God's grace
is something that we can in many ways take for granted.
Is that it is something where we don't have to keep debating whether God could possibly
love us.
Did you have to prove something to God in order to be baptized?
No.
And that's the point is that God's love for you is freely given, not something for you
to try to convince him that you deserve.
And that's the wonderful part about it.
Is that it's something that as much as we take it for granted or as much as we may look
at it and wonder if it was any good is to realize, do you know the high percentage of
people who claim the name of Christ who were baptized before they even understood what
it meant?
That's the thing about God's word and God's spirit is that God is working in us beyond
anything that we can do on our own.
But then maybe is then this question of, is it something that needs to be updated?
Maybe it is something that's more like the flu.
Because the thing about baptism is that it begins this life of faith in us where we are
baptized into Jesus' death.
But how often do we forget that?
And do we see a world that is around us that continues to tell us who we are and what we're
supposed to be?
And we allow them to decide who we are instead of Christ.
Because that's the thing about what it is in our life in the church.
Is that we are meant to support each other, but also to be there to caution one another.
And I think that's something that we oftentimes forget.
We spend a lot of time being confident and continuing to show each other how to be welcoming
and inviting and loving.
Are we very good at cautioning?
Are we very good at being able to walk alongside each other and say, something in your life
is harming you, or it could be and you're not willing to see it?
That is a piece that I think we still struggle with.
Because Christ's death is the victory, but it's not the end of the struggle.
See, that's one of the things about it is even every year going through a flu vaccination,
I was a teacher for seven years.
If you're going to find a place with germs, it is a school.
Children are nasty.
Oh my word.
Especially like leading up to puberty, so like sixth and seventh grade especially, but
they don't stop being gross when they're in high school.
They still are sniffly and everything and they don't want to get out of their seats
and they don't want to go and grab a tissue and it is nasty and it is gross.
And then you realize that all the papers that they have just sneezed everything on, you
have to now take in grade.
It is gross.
So the thing is, you still have to wash your hands and you still have to cover your mouth
when you're coughing.
There is no magical thing against it is that you can't know somehow have picked the perfect
shot that now allows you to do all the dumb things that you were taught by your mama growing
up not to do.
The thing is, is that we're in the same place as people.
Sometimes we look around us and we almost take for granted.
There are things in your life you need to avoid.
Being Christian does not now somehow keep you from being prone to the same issues that
are around us.
The fact that we are in a world that still is prone to sexual debauchery all over the
place is that giving in to physical temptation is something that is almost expected from
people normally or how many times that there are that people will give into however much
wine, whatever much drink that they want to have without worrying about what they did
or didn't say or do when they were under the influence or how many times that somebody
may just decide that they're going to let anybody and everybody manipulate every emotion
inside of them and then they're going to lash out those emotions at every single person
that they come across.
Why?
Because you dared to say the wrong phrase or word that somehow set them off.
How often is it that we still go back to that old life and keep using the old reasoning?
Because somehow in our minds we're Christian, we're forgiven, you need to stop holding anything
over my head.
But the reality is we don't have a figured out.
None of us do.
We don't get to some magical place where we are no longer able to then, well, I've got
all this figured out.
I never lose control of my emotions.
I never have to deal with my temper ever again.
Or you know what, I may be seeing this, but I'm not dealing with the same issues in my
mind that I did when I was younger.
This is totally okay.
I don't really need to worry so much about what's happening around me.
Everything's fine.
I'm forgiven.
But the issue is that that old life still keeps trying to come back.
Just like we may be in a place where people wonder, are we beyond issues and illnesses
and the like?
And then every so often when we let our guard down and then you find out that there was
a polio outbreak in the Midwest or somewhere, and then you realize that we're still susceptible
to the life in the world that people were before.
Are we willing to continue to fight that old life because being baptized in Christ is the
beginning of the fight.
The fight isn't finished and it won't be until Jesus returns.
Because that's the thing about this is that continuing to be encouraged in that is something
that Paul kept having to get across to everybody.
And that they kept wanting to say either I don't need to worry about it or everything's
done and now I'm beyond all of that.
And we're not.
We as people, even being Christians, we're not past it.
We're not.
But that doesn't mean that we're doing it alone.
And it doesn't mean that life is now just a constant battle from here on out.
We're all every day waking up.
Okay, God, what do I need to be worried about today?
But rather is to say that it's more than just death.
It's about moving into life in Christ.
Because that's the thing about this.
It's not just about trying to push people to stop sinning.
If that's all that we're doing, then what kind of a life would that be?
If all that there is to life is just making sure, did you get the right shots and did
you make sure that you're not, you know, sneezing on other people?
Then what kind of a life would that be?
But rather is, did you sleep well?
Did you eat well?
Did you enjoy the sunshine?
Did you get a chance to try something active and live out there?
And that's the thing is to go from just being done with the old and being able to move into
what is the new.
That's the thing about life in Christ is that we sometimes wonder if everything is just
going to be about rejecting sin all the time.
It's more than that.
It's about looking for the things that are in our life in Christ, joy and hope.
Wouldn't it be nice if we had that again in our world today or beauty and meaning to actually
see people around us, not as potential threats, but as potential joys in our life and to be
able to look at things beyond what the world keeps promoting to us because we may be dour
and angry and frustrated because we're allowing the world around us to paint a picture of what
it wants us to be controlled by.
But instead, the reason why life is not just about avoiding the sinning is because as we
continue to pursue what is good and right and pure and lovely in God's eyes, is it changes
us?
And that's the reason why we're able to conquer the old and move into the new because it's
been replaced by who Christ is because as Roman says, dying in his death, but being
risen into his new life.
So whatever those things may be that you know you're struggling with, that you know plague
you and still bring you down even though you know and wish that they didn't, is that the
true way to move forward.
It's not just to be encouraged against the old, but to also be brought into the new by
an entire community of those who encourage you to move into that new life each and every
day.
So may we as the people of God encourage each other to be cautious about the old, but also
to focus on the new and to see how Christ Jesus is bringing us into that new life each
and every day.
Thanks be to God.