Howdy
Well apparently I felt like I almost died this lot my word. I don't know what I'm doing wrong with this today
I will figure it out anyway. Oh my goodness. So I came in and we did
Two worship services. We had class we had youth group and I'm thinking to myself. Oh, you know what?
I'm still tired after that cough that I had the previous week. Let me go home and just sleep
Done. Yeah, I just went home and I'm just like alright
I got to cancel everything for the next three days. Oh my goodness had people subbing in
What can I give as reports? It was rough. Oh my goodness
It's just one of those things where I had somebody have to come in and do devotion for Eagles trace
I thought I was getting better. I thought I was getting better and then boom
I don't know how many how many of you managed to get hit by whatever this nastiness was. Okay
We got at least one Brian over there for sure. All right good one two three few over there for sure
So although y'all also got one before too. I don't know y'all just getting sick a lot
I don't know you need to work on that. Okay, but you know a lot of it is
We end up seeing all these different things and we have no idea from week to week month to month
What's gonna end up being the issue by the way? How many of you are teachers out there?
Okay, yeah, we got a few of you in that oh my word. It's like a whole room of Petri dish over there
It's ridiculous. So but you know I have to though tell you that after being sick this last week, okay? I
I have to confess something
Pastor forgot to get his flu shot. I
I know I am so so sorry. I I'm normally better at it than this
Okay, I am normally on top of it every year because like back when I was teaching and I would get sick like every other
Month and it was rough and everything and I started getting my flu shot and I would go years without getting sick and I know better and
I just put it off. I just kept putting it off and I like I've got too much to do
I've got this stuff going on
Whatever it's not a big deal and then I come back from
Cosamel and then apparently I became
Typhoid Mary over there. So apparently I
Did not
Realize what I needed because here's the thing about this is that not every virus is the same
This isn't something where it's kind of like whenever you had those shots when you were a little kid and all and like you know
Like you know get them in this shot when your butt whenever you're a little baby and everything and then you're done for the rest of your life
Man the flu it mutates it changes all the time
Okay, all those different respiratory ones. All right every year
There's like four new strains that you've got to try to like get immunized against everything else and everything
The thing is is that it keeps changing so we never stop being vulnerable
to it and
That's the image that was in my head as I was hacking
You know my lungs out over there the other day and trying to process Romans chapter
Six is the idea that the things that we may be trying to finish and be done with
We don't ever stop being susceptible to them
The thing is is that when we hear this idea of dying to the old life dying to the old self
That does not mean that we are now not susceptible
To the struggles and the sins of this world
It just means that things continue to shift and to change
Isn't it amazing some of the things that we may look back on history and wonder how could anybody?
Possibly have done this this this how could we have been in a world that had slavery?
How could we have been in a world that had prejudice and redlining and all sorts of different segregation?
How could we have been in a world where people were thrown into jail just for being poor?
How could we have been in a world where people were constantly serving some king and hoping that they were allowed to stay on the land?
But the thing about the sinful world we're in is that sin doesn't ever get conquered
just changes and
The thing is is that as much as we may be thinking we have gotten past the sins that were there before
That doesn't mean that there are no longer new things that we need to face in our world
But have we gotten to a point?
Where we've just accepted those things now
How much is it about this broken world that we accept?
that we don't really need to and
That's an idea that we want to have in our mind when we think about what it is to be dead to sin
We are meant to die
To sin and this idea about what it is to be dead to that old self that old idea
see
In my mind is that I think of it a lot of ways when I started trying to understand
Polio vaccines, so they're putting this like dead virus
Inside of you now the thing is is that I was like why in the world would you want to put a virus inside of a person?
How does that make any sense? You know I was a kid. I don't know stuff so
You're over there, but your body is able to see what it is
When it can't hurt you
So there it is inside of your body
it can't do any damage, but your body is able to see it and understand it and
and fight any future occurrences and
That's the thing about it is that the idea of being dead to it
That that's what ends up making a person immune and
That's so much of what we end up seeing Paul trying to get across is the idea of that old way of life
is not something for you to react to and
He takes it in this way of
Sort of like if a person is dead if a person is dead are they going to get sick?
Well, no, they're dead if a person is dead
Can you explain things to them or convince them to do what you want them to do? No
They're dead if someone is dead. They cannot respond or react or have any sort of
of response to
What it is it's happening around them and that's the same thing that we're supposed to be doing in regard to the old way
Of life is to die to the old and rise to the new
So thinking about all the ways in which the world wants to control us and lead us and manipulate us and do all sorts of things
But that because of Jesus it no longer
Impacts us and we don't have to suffer and struggle with that
But let's be honest
How many of you here are no longer dealing with sins at all from now on how many how many of you you're just like
Hey, you know what I'm good. I don't have to deal with sin anymore. Everything's fine
If anybody raises your hand just please just don't yeah, no
The thing with it is that we still keep struggling with different issues around us
So why is that if we've been baptized in Christ? God has called us to be his own and
We're supposed to be dead to all that
Then why are we still struggling and so I was trying to understand
How could we see this as maybe a different kind of a metaphor?
And so I was trying to think what kind of vaccine would we compare
baptism to we're thinking of baptism
How would we consider this in regard to how we deal with other issues and I started thinking about
Polio vaccine now the thing is is that I have never had to deal with the threat of polio nor with people around me
contracting it I
Don't know if there might be anybody here who remembers the world when it existed when polio was still a big issue or struggle around us
The thing is is that you get the shot when you're young and
Then your body is able to push forward from then on but more than that is that because the human body is able to fight it off in
mass
Like the general population is like this then people aren't spreading the virus to each other
So even if there might be a few people that are more likely to be susceptible to it
You're not going to get it because nobody around you is
Giving it to you and that's a big part that we oftentimes might think about
In regard to our life in Christ is that not only this idea that we're dead to the old
But that also the people around us are encouraging us and helping us to stay focused on
What truly matters and who we are in Christ?
But here's the problem
We can actually reject our baptism
We can be baptized
But we can actually decide we don't we don't want this
We can decide you know what yeah, somebody else did that to me
But you know what I really have no interest in anything to do with that
Maybe I never learned more about who Christ was or maybe I decided to let everything else pull me away
So the idea of a one and done
Doesn't quite fit
Because the thing is is that we're still meant to continue to learn and grow and wrestle with our faith
To continue to push and struggle because it's not just we're finished and now the rest of our life is good
But rather is that we have to continually push and persevere. So maybe that's not the right metaphor
Maybe it's like a COVID vaccine and maybe people just think it's dumb
I mean, they are one of the things with it is like there are many times where people might think that hey being baptized
It's really not an important thing. It really doesn't matter. It's not a huge deal
It's just you know what you get the person's head wet and you have to wipe it off. What was even the point?
It's just some ritual people have gone through
But the thing is is that we oftentimes take for granted
What God is doing in our life?
And I mean I say that as a guy who's had five COVID vaccines, you know
I say that knowing that 80% of people in the US now have had COVID vaccines and that
About two-thirds to three-fourths of people are fully vaccinated
So the reason why we're actually better off now than we were five years ago
Is because of everything that had to happen along the way
But the thing is is that most people who follow after Christ actually even baptized when they were infants or
Young in some way where they were still learning and growing in their faith, but you see we take it for granted. Why?
The thing is is that in many ways we're supposed to take it for granted
We're supposed to be able to wake up each and every day and not wonder
Whether God has called us to be his own
Because it's something where we don't look back wondering did I want God enough that day?
Did I wrestle with it enough? Did I think it through well enough? Did I say the right prayer?
Did I hope for the best? Did I somehow give up the old life well enough?
That's the whole thing is that when we look back on being a baptized child of God is not to constantly be wondering
Did I do enough for it? That's not the point the point is that it's never about whether we've done enough
Is that God's grace?
It's just yours
We receive it openly freely and we benefit from it even at the times when we're not even grasping it
And we're not even truly understanding what God is actually doing in our life
But maybe there's more to it than even that
Maybe in some ways it's almost like the flu vaccine
Do we need to continually have it updated?
And that's one of the things that we oftentimes
mistake in regard to
Christianity and
Honestly, I think we as Lutherans do it more often than a lot of other churches not all of them. We're not the worst
We're not the best
We've got our issues
Because what ends up happening is is that Lutherans oftentimes worry that if we spend too much time
Thinking about how to live the Christian life that we're gonna somehow get distracted on the grace of God being free
We somehow get confused that we think that if we spend too much time
Thinking how should we then live?
We're gonna somehow think that we weren't really saved in the first place
Doesn't really make a lot of sense does it?
But that's one of the struggles that we have is that sometimes we're afraid of
Sitting down and listening to what we're genuinely struggling with
We're sometimes afraid of giving enough space for people to share that
Sometimes we don't take enough time to be there in each other's life to also caution
one another
To be able to sit there and to know I see something that you're saying in your life
You don't want to hear this right now
But if somebody doesn't talk to you, it's going to destroy you or somebody else
That's also a part of the Christian life
Is to be willing not just to have that time to hear what's happening with one another
But are we willing to share that ourselves?
Are we willing to be vulnerable enough that people can hear and see the things that we struggle with and to speak into that?
Because that's the thing about the Christian life is that it's not this one-time thing
We're now everything's finished and now we never struggle ever again
It's supposed to continually be supported and
cautioned
Because the thing about Christ's death is that Christ's death. It's the victory, but it's not the end
Christ death is the victory over sin death and the devil, but it's not the end of the struggle and in my mind
It was sort of like how you still need to wash your hands and
cover your mouth when you cough
even when you've been
Vaccinated and immunized because here's the thing I I remember what it was like where you're sitting there and especially
Sixth graders. I don't know what it was about six graders even more than eighth graders
But oh my gosh
It was like you know
They're just sniffling on their sleeve and everything and they're just over there like you know
Scratching their nose and everything and they're touching everybody else and you realize that they just sneezed all over the exam
that you now have to take back home and
grade and I'm like could y'all just maybe switch with your partner and grade it yourself that would be great
Oh, that's not school policy. Okay, and
With it is to realize
could you imagine
That someone were to end up coughing in your face and then we're to say yeah, but you're immunized against the flu, right?
Everything should be fine
Isn't that though what we oftentimes do in the Christian life?
Is that because we know that we've been saved by grace that we almost go headfirst
Toward the very things that we know
Are not good for us
Is that we go back and we use the world's reasoning in life?
That we justify the things that we're doing that sometimes either we number one
We think well, you know what everything's taken care of so I can just do whatever there is and not worry about it
Or everything's taken care of so since I'm a Christian
Then therefore the idea that I want to pursue must be okay. I
Know it's a little bit
a little different
The time is where we know what we want to do is wrong, but we do it anyway because hey, I'm forgiven
But then also the times whenever we should know it's wrong
But we've justified it because we're the ones doing it
The thing about this world's reasoning though is that we keep allowing it to come back in and
We still go back to the dumb practices and the poor behaviors
That caused the issues in the first place
And that's the thing about this is are we as Christians willing to admit we don't have it
figured out
Are we willing to be vulnerable enough to be honest and say yes, I'm forgiven by God and what I'm doing is
really dumb
What it might be
To admit that we need to be different
The thing is is that that old life we still have to fight it
As much as we might want to think about being immunized against sin and death and everything that might be there
Is that it still grabs us and the temptations still pull us down?
They don't have to
Because of what Christ has done, but we still let them and we still go back to all those old practices
That ended up causing us the struggles in the first place
The thing is
When we think about changing that life though
Do we really just spend all of our time checking off all the bad things that we're supposed to give up?
See that's the thing is that that's part of what we're oftentimes afraid of this becoming
Is life just about vaccinations and washing your hands and being afraid and always wondering what's going to happen next?
No
That is not what this life is for
But that's the thing about life in Christ is that it's not just about being dead to the old
It's about moving into the new life
And that's one of the things that we're meant to be able to see is that this isn't just about trying to push you to stop sinning
It's about showing you that there is a new life to pursue
There is something of joy and hope and beauty and meaning and purpose
Direction hope and joy that is meant to be yours not because of all the things you avoided
But because of all the things you get to pursue
Because now we know that there is a life worth living of
forgiveness and mercy of
compassion and empathy of
Being able to help people that we know cannot help themselves because we can
And to be able to say that if we're spending so much time
Fulfilled with what God has called us to
Then it's much easier to let go of the life that we know we don't want
Because it's more than just did you avoid all the bad things?
Sleeping well eating better getting exercise making sure you take care of yourself in the life that's around you the things that we take for granted
But when we're living those out it is so much easier to walk away from the bad things we're supposed to let go of
But it's also the same thing about who we are in Christ is that being baptized into his death
We are now raised into his resurrection
But the only way that we can be able to live into that newness and that hope and that freedom
Is by letting go of the old
So this morning I don't know what it is that may be plaguing you where time and time again you keep thinking you know what I've overcome it
I'm done with this. I'm past this and then it comes up and grabs you and knocks you on your butt again
But I do know that there is a new life for you in Christ
And that you're not meant to try to tackle that by yourself
You can only move forward because of who Christ is
May we instead of overlooking and ignoring the struggles we need to move past
instead
Move forward toward the life that God has intended
As a community
as a community to encourage
support and
Love one another
In Christ Jesus Amen