"Jesus" | Rev. Stephanie Boaz preaching | 06.21.26

"Jesus" | Rev. Stephanie Boaz preaching | 06.21.26

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Sorry about that first scripture lesson. It's a great scripture lesson. It's important. It's just an untimely day for it. So I just made Sophie read it instead of preaching on it. Thanks, Sophie. It is a wonderful passage of scripture. I just didn't want to do it on this day of days. So instead, we're looking at the writings of Paul. Now the writings of Paul are not always the easiest to follow, but they're not exactly cryptic either. In order to read and pull out the meaning of Paul's writings, it's necessary to know a little bit of context. Now, when we discuss the writings of Paul around here, Donovan likes to say that Paul has a problem. Which of course sounds like he's saying, this guy's a mess. But I do believe that what Donovan really means is that Paul has a problem to address. After his conversion, Paul spent the rest of his life traveling all over the known world to introduce people to Jesus. And wherever he went, people began to follow Jesus. Before Paul left the new Christ followers, he made sure to raise up leaders who would lead the group even after he was gone. They weren't yet called churches, but he was planting churches. And everywhere Paul went, he stayed in touch with these different groups of Jesus followers. The leaders would write letters to Paul or send a messenger, and then Paul would write a letter in response. In each of his letters, he was writing specifically to a group of Jesus followers about their specific challenges or confusion. So the Christ followers had a problem, and Paul was committed to helping them through that problem. And this is why his writings are so rich, so full of teaching. He was not interested in giving these new followers an answer about who was right, and he had no intention of creating rule books or bylaws that they could use to govern themselves when they disagreed. No, Paul wanted them to understand the truth about Jesus because understanding Jesus can change one's perspective on any challenge or difference or even a person. Paul's letter writing flows so smoothly out of his obvious rhetorical style. So often we see this in scripture, his address in the Areopagus, his conversations with fellow Jews that he hopes will see Jesus as the promised Messiah. Even in discussion with other apostles, Paul seems always ready for point and counterpoint. Carolyn Hessel suggests that when reading Paul's writing, it's like we're listening in on someone else's conversation. And frankly, she says that's all not always the most inspiring way to glean meaning for ourselves. However, there is no doubt that these letters of Paul have been preserved and passed down to us through the power of the Holy Spirit. So as we read our passage today, listen to what Paul has to say about sin and baptism and death and life. Romans chapter six verses one through eleven. Hear the word of God. What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may increase? By no means. How can we who died to sin go on living in sin? Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also must walk in newness of life. 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. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, so we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we 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. 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. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Baptism is a sacrament, and a good working definition of a sacrament is a visible sign of an invisible grace, or put another way, an outward sign of an inward grace. In baptism, we can hear that water when it's poured and when it splashes, we can touch the water, we can feel it placed on our head, then drip down our cheeks. And we hear the words of grace in our baptism liturgy, you were sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as God's own. If you were baptized as an infant like I was, then you don't remember these sounds and the feel of that water for yourself. But when we see others being baptized, it serves as a reminder of our own baptism. We have been through those waters. Baptism Sundays are wonderful. They're sweet babies and young children brought forward by their parents. Occasionally we have adults or youth who are baptized, which are exciting days as well. And we're all so thrilled to welcome them into our fellowship. When our time comes, we are just ready to say that we promise that we are going to teach them about Jesus, and we promise that we will encourage them in their faith. And every time we mean it. To make sure we understand that this is because of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Paul wants us to wants to remind us that Jesus' death is what conquered sin, and that only Jesus could do that. And we are baptized into his death. Sin no longer has the power to hang over our head and separate us from God. And it's not because we had the good sense to be baptized or to follow Jesus. By no means. This is only because of Jesus. If we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Christ. Have you ever noticed that outside of pastoral care and when planning memorial services, here at Westminster, we don't talk about heaven a lot. It's not like it never comes up, nor are we avoiding it. It's just that, well, heaven isn't the point of Christian faith. Heaven is a promise, it's comforting. Heaven is real in ways beyond our imagination, but heaven is not the point of our faith. No, the point of our Christian faith is to live with Christ. Some traditions spend more time talking about how to get into heaven and what will keep you from heaven or even send you down there. Other traditions might even try to scare the hell out of a person. But where we spend eternity. Well, it's not really the point of our Christian faith. Because how we live with Christ is the point. Both now, right now, and for always. And this is an important part of what Paul is trying to communicate. Because of Jesus' death and resurrection, we are now free from sin so that we can live with Jesus. Every day and beyond the end of our days, we can live with Jesus. Emmanuel, God is with us. During Advent and Christmas, we bring to mind often that one name of the Messiah. For Jesus is Emmanuel. Of course, that name applies all year. It's not something we need to put away with the nativity scene or the Advent wreath. Because the truth is Jesus is always with us. And there is comfort in this statement. It reminds us that we are not alone. And it reminds us that Jesus is always right with me, right with you, right now. And right now. And right now, and in all the moments to come, forever. And we need this reminder. All too often the Christian life gets reduced to people who were trying to be more like Jesus. And we are. That Christians endeavor to follow in Jesus' steps or even to live up to his name that we carry as Christians. And we do. But God with us, Emmanuel, points to what Paul is talking about today. We're not called to live up to the ways of Jesus. Rather, we are invited to live with Jesus. We're not called to reach toward a high bar that was set by Jesus in his lifetime, because Jesus is here with us now. And we're with him. Of course, the fact that Jesus has promised to be with us is a comfort. And I imagine sometimes if you think about it a little too much, it could get a little weird. What? He's here right now? He knows where I am. He knows what I'm thinking. Oh, he knows when I oh, that's awkward. But we don't really need to think about Jesus as a private detective watching our every move or as a watcher who sees everything when it happens and knows what's coming, because he even knows our thoughts. Thankfully, Jesus is not an elf on the shelf who is going to report back to the fullness of the Godhead about what you and I have been up to. No, because Jesus is with us. He is with us in love, he is with us with grace. In his own death, Christ conquered sin, and we are baptized into this death, which Paul says means we are dead to sin. And this too is a gift. Think of it like getting a new identity. Now my husband Craig and I are coming up on 27 years of marriage, or maybe 28. Sometimes I don't do the math well, but it's been a good long while, and I'm thankful for that. And when we got married, I made the choice to change my name and take his last name. Boaz is a very good biblical name, so it seemed to be perfect for me. Now, before we were married, my legal signature was Stephanie S. Hansen. But when I changed my name, I bumped my middle name and substituted my maiden name. So my signature became Stephanie H. Boaz. And I was so excited about this whole process. It was a big deal to me. And yet, for those first few months, every time I went to write a check, I would mess up my signature. I kept signing as Stephanie S. Hansen instead of Stephanie H. Boaz, and I wasted so many checks. And at the time this was kind of a big deal because I realized that there are some of you in here who've never used a check, maybe never even seen a check. Well, basically, checks were what we used before we got debit cards. And checks cost money. So every time I voided one, I was wasting money. Checks were and still are legal documents. You have to fill them out correctly. And here I was signing the wrong name over and over again. Well, finally, one day this woman saw me mess up two checks right in front of her. And the teller who was standing there told me to just stop, take a breath, and quit voiding all my checks. She said, if I got it wrong legally, I could just cross it out, put my official initials, SHB, right next to it, and my and then sign my name correctly right over the top. And you know what? This really helped me. Now there were some pretty messy checks at the beginning, but it really helped me, and not just because it saved me money on checks, it helped me because as soon as I wrote the wrong name, I was reminded quickly to write the new name. My mistake was followed up so quickly by the reminder of my new identity. And friends, this is another gift of baptism. We are marked and claimed as God's own, and it is a new identity in Christ. Richard Rohr says, sin primarily describes a state of fragmentation when the part thinks it is separate from the whole. It's the loss of any inner experience of who we are in God. We have our identity in Jesus, who is always with us. I met a woman named Patrice a long time ago when I was serving as a hospital chaplain. She would come and join the chaplains in our prayer time. And some of you have probably heard me talk about Patrice because she had a really big impact on my life. We would sit down together, and the way that she prayed was so beautiful, and her choice of words was so different from my own that it couldn't help but perk up my ears and help me see things from a little different perspective. I was always so taken aback by her words, but what I really truly remember is when she would pray, Lord, thank you for waking me up this morning. I thank you for opening my eyes to another day with you by my side. And in hearing her prayer this way, it made me think more deeply, more deeply about what it means that Jesus is with me, right by my side. And he isn't just sitting there or watching over me, he's waking me up, he's surprising me, he's guiding me, he's reminding me who I am. Jesus is with me, and he is active. I hope I can always remember that this is true. And when I forget, I pray that there will be someone somewhere who can remind me. Maybe it'll be another person at the bank, or maybe it'll be one of you. Someone else who is a follower of Jesus and knows who they are in his name. Amen.