Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The text for today’s meditation is Romans 6: 1-11

This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ² By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? ³ Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ 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. ⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ We know that 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. ⁷ For one who has died has been set free from sin. ⁸ Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰ For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. ¹¹ So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Let me introduce you to Kamal Saleem. He is a Lebanese born man now living in the United States. His mother instructed him in the Muslim doctrine of Jihad. She taught him he would go to hell unless he died in a Jihad, a holy war. At the age of 7, while worshipping at the mosque, he was recruited and then trained by the radical terrorist group the Muslim Brotherhood. He was still 7 when he carried out his first terrorist act against Israel. Over the years he carried out many terrorist acts for Yasser Arafat, Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gaddafi, Saudi princes, and others. He was sent to the U.S. by Saudi princes to aid the destruction of our country through Islamicization, the conversion of America to an Islamic state under Shari Law. He was carrying out his daily mission when he was in a terrible car accident. He fractured his neck in two places and broke his collar bone. The Christian orthopedic surgeon that worked on him showed him the love of Christ. He even invited him to recover in his home where Kamal cared for the surgeon’s children. He finally returned to his home here in the U.S. very confused. His God, Allah, wanted Kamal to die for him. The doctor showed him a god that died for Kamal. Allah wanted Kamal to shed his blood for him. God the Father of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob sent his son to shed His blood for Kamal. On his knees and in desperation he asked Allah to speak to him if he was real. He didn’t. Kamal experienced God’s grace in an amazing way when God spoke to him as he was about shoot himself in despair. God told him "you are my warrior, you are not their warrior."

Now let me tell you about an old man of days gone by here in the U.S. He never had much of this world’s goods or opportunities. He went to a farm to get milk and butter and asked the mother of the house the way of salvation. She quoted John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." This verse didn’t seem to be enough for the old man. The realization that he had never done anything for God troubled him. Then the mother told him "It’s by grace through faith that you are saved, not by works." A new light filled his eyes as he asked her "do you believe that?" The mother replied "I certainly do." The old man said "then there is hope for me, even though I never done nothing." A few days later the old man got extremely ill. A Christian friend asked "is it well?" The old man replied with a smile "by grace through faith I am ready. Don’t you know Jesus died for me?" Both of these men received God’s grace, the forgiveness of their sins.

Which one had the greater sins? We don’t know but it would seem the Jihadist did with all his terrorist activities and hate toward Jews and Christians. So, it only stands to reason that Kamal received more grace than the old man since his sins seemed greater. If you have more to forgive you obviously receive more grace when it is forgiven. Paul appears to agree when he writes earlier in Romans 5 verse 20, "Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, ²¹ so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." I guess you can take it to the next step then. It would seem logical then that if we sin more we receive more grace. Grigori Rasputin a Russian Orthodox minister of the early 20th century seemed to think so. Rasputin maintained that sin and repentance were interdependent and necessary to salvation. Thus, he claimed that yielding to temptation (and, for him personally, this meant sex and alcohol), was needed to proceed to repentance and salvation. It sounds very convincing doesn’t it? The more sin the more grace. What could be simpler?

In Paul’s writing he is faced with several questions. Can grace quell sin when not even the law could? Does sin trigger grace; should we maximize grace by multiplying sin? Rasputin would answer resoundingly "YES, get drunk and have sex as often as you can with as many people as you can!" But that isn’t what Paul says is it? We read in verse 1, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ² By no means!" By no means, actually, in Greek there is much more emphasis as in; Far from it! God forbid it! And my Greek professor went as far as to say Hell no! Not only no but hell no! We are not to sin more so that we get more grace. Paul continues with "How can we who died to sin still live in it?" Whoa, what are we talking about here? Dying to sin? Paul explains in the next verse, "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?" Through our baptism we too experience what Christ did, death, burial, and resurrection. The old sinful person is drowned and buried in the water of baptism and a new creation is born or resurrected out of the baptismal waters. We are forever linked through baptism to Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection and therefore we live in a state of grace. He died so we would not have to. So, I ask you again the words of Paul; "How can we who died to sin still live in it?" You see, after becoming a child of God by faith and receiving the gift of free and full salvation, there is a change and transformation that takes place in the life of the believer. It is a change of now leading a life that conforms more and more to the will of God. The believer’s new life of faith, which we call sanctification, is Paul’s focus in these verses. The believer responds to everything God has done when they conform their life to the will of God in a life of cheerful obedience. We respond to the gift by living a life that glorifies God. When we do everything to the glory of God we are responding to the gift appropriately.

Paul explains this further in 2 Corinthians 5:14 where he says, "For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; ¹⁵ and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised." The one that died for all is Christ and we have died in him and live through and for him.

Kamal received the grace of God and now lives for Christ. He is a missionary to the Muslims trying to show them the love that was shown him. We don’t need to sin all the more for grace to abound. Grace abounds because of God’s love for us. With His grace we can die to sin and live for him. Verse 12 gives us sound words, "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions." Baptism is a miraculous thing. It is the magnetic pull of Jesus Christ, it is the grace to die, be buried, and rise with Him. It is the power and Spirit of a new life in Him. Respond to God’s gifts by living your life to the glory of God.

Amen.