I.
I vividly remember a take-home experiment for a grade school science experiment. We had to sprout two seeds on a sunny windowsill, and when they had grown to about three inches, we were to take one seedling and put it in a dark closet. We were to water them on the same schedule and keep a journal of their growth over the course of a week.
The results were as you might expect. After a few weeks, the seedling on the windowsill was low-grown, full, leafy, and green. By contrast the seedling in the closet had sprouted only two small leaves, at the top of a tall stem. It was also pale, mostly white, with little green.
The difference was striking.
For the first plant, the plant left on the sunny windowsill, life seemed easy, and growth came naturally. For the second plant, life was a struggle, a difficult, prolonged effort to reach upward, to break through, and finally, to find the sunlight.
These two plants can serve as a vivid image for us for our own lives. One symbolizes a life of sin, which is subject to the penalties of God’s law. The other symbolizes a life lived in the light of Christ’s light.
II.
I continue to preach through the lectionary readings of Paul’s Letter to the Romans and today we read from Romans 6:1-11. Paul is talking about living a new life in Christ. He is saying that a Christian’s new life in Christ is fundamentally different from his old life in Adam.
The difference is as great as between the two plants I’ve described. The difference is summed up by Paul’s rhetorical question and answer:
Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
If the two plants I’ve described could speak, they might say, one to the other: “Shall I continue my struggle to find the sun, just so I can grow a little taller? By no means! I would have died in that darkness; why would I ever go back to it?”
The difference between a Christian believer and a non-believer is as stark as the difference between these two plants. The difference is that the Christian is one who, like the rest of the human race, has been born under a curse — the curse of sin and darkness — only to find that he has been miraculously saved from that fate, and placed among a new set of friends on a sunny windowsill.
Paul likens this to baptism — not as the effect of the sacrament itself, as if the mere ritual had some kind of magical power — but as the reason and motivation for being baptized in the first place.
One finds himself basking in the sunlight of Christ’s love and then refreshed by the gentle rains the follow.
Paul explains the meaning of the sacrament:
“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
The old life, a life marked by struggle and disfigurement, has died, and a new life, marked by steady growth in goodness and holiness, has begun.
III.
Now, the plant analogy can only take us so far. Plants are passive creatures, not able to alter their circumstances. This the whole point of Jesus Parable of the Sower.1 The seeds are perfectly fine, it’s the ground they fall on that determines whether they thrive or not.
We humans, however, have the ability to change our circumstances, but it takes boldness and courage to do so.
Paul is speaking to that courage in verse 5 when he writes:
“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.”
The Greek word that gets translated as united is symphytoi, which the King James translates as planted together, which gets us back to the plant metaphor.
Paul’s point is that if we are planted in death with Jesus Christ then we will certainly rise to new life with Him too. This becomes the source of our boldness and courage to change our circumstances.
Now, why do Christians need boldness and courage?
Well, last week Paul wrote about suffering brought on by persecution and the experience that the faithful who suffer for God have of God’s help.
Jesus tells His disciples:
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.”2
I said earlier that the Christian believer is the plant that has been plucked from darkness and now grows in luxuriant sunlight with his fellow believers.
With all of this basking, why the need for boldness and courage? Why would Jesus pluck us from darkness only to expose us to hatred?
IV.
The answer is not easy but it’s important to understand if you want to summon the courage it takes to persevere and grow in character — which is the kind of growth that will change your circumstances.
Paul puts it this way:
“…so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.”
There is a real death that we have to undergo, both during the course of our lives, and at the end. Facing it takes boldness and courage.
Again, the plant metaphor breaks down, unless you imagine that in the course of Jesus removing the one plant from darkness the plant itself dies, so He grafts a new one and plants it new soil, before placing it on the sunny windowsill next to the plant’s brothers and sisters in Christ.
Putting your life in Christ’s hands like that takes a certain courage on your part. This is the courage of faith. But the choice is clear: we can either continue our struggle to grow in the dark — which Paul says is like trying to become good by sinning more — or we can let Jesus transplant us.
V.
Here’s what it’s like to be transplanted by Jesus.
First, we die. Baptism symbolizes this death. It’s poignant to take a newborn baby and ritually mark his or her death and resurrection. It’s even more moving to see an adult come to faith and be baptized.
But it’s not just the death of the grave that baptism foreshadows. It’s the persecution, the suffering that comes from a world that hates Jesus and hates His followers. I won’t go over that again here, as I preached on it last week. Suffice it to remember Paul’s words in 1 Cor. 15:30-31:
“And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I face death every day…”
Or as the King James puts it, “I die daily.”
Second, when you are transplanted by Jesus the whole direction of your growth changes. We can expect to see the effects of sin diminish in our lives and the effects of righteousness increase.
When I took the tall, nearly leafless plant out of the dark closet and put it back in the sunlight, two things happened. The leaves started to grow. Then they became too heavy for the stem and the plant collapsed.
This it what the lingering effects of sin are like in our lives. Sinful choices that you made before you gave your life to Christ will still impact your lives. But Christ is a master gardener and will not let you collapse.
The second thing that happened is new shoots appeared and the main stem strengthened. As the plant grew, it looked different than its friends that never knew the darkness.
In this way Christ also transforms sins. The glorified body of Jesus in heaven still retains the scars the sinful human race inflicted on Him.
Third, transplanted Christians can expect God to shield and protect them from the effects of all the sin going on in the world. Yes, God calls some to martyrdom and Christians die daily in natural disasters, car accidents, and every other kind of calamity, but the believer’s prayer for protection over himself and his family is not in vain. Many of us can point to specific examples where we knew we felt God’s protecting hand.
Fourth, and finally, for the transplanted Christian preaching actually has effect! And not only does preaching have an effect, but our own striving finally starts to produce good results.
What I mean by that is this. Imagine telling the plant growing in the darkness all about the sunshine. It would not understand. Many who hear me preach haven’t a clue what I am saying either. They think I’m here to tell them what to think and what to do, or who can or can’t go to heaven.
This is what Jesus means when He says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
The transplanted Christian now has ears to hear and whole host of new faculties at his or her disposal. When I put the plant in the sunlight, those tiny little buds discovered their purpose and started soaking up the sun. Likewise, you will soak up God’s grace and your lives will find purpose. Your entire nature has changed. For the first time you will truly be alive. Amen.
Preached on June 25, 2023 at St. Peter’s Lithgow, Millbrook, New York.
Proper 7 - Year A
Romans 6:1-11
Questions for reflection and discussion:
1. Sin is subject to the penalties of God’s ____________.
2. A Christian’s new life in ____________ is fundamentally different from his old life in ____________.
3. The old life is marked by ____________ and ____________.
4. The new life is marked by growth in ____________ and ____________.
5. It takes boldness and courage to change our ____________.
6. Paul’s point is that if we are ____________ in death with Jesus Christ then we will certainly rise to new life with Him too.
7. Jesus told His disciples, “If the world ____________ you, keep in mind that it ____________ me first” (John 15:18).
8. There is a real ____________ that we have to undergo, both during the course of our lives, and at the end.
9. What sacrament symbolizes Jesus transplanting us?
10. After Jesus transplants us, we can expect to see the effects of sin ____________ in our lives and the effects of righteousness ____________.
11. Christians can expect God to ____________ and ____________ them from the effects of all the sin going on in the world.
12. After Jesus transplants us our entire ____________ changes. For the first time we are truly ____________.
Parents and Grandparents, you are responsible to apply God’s Word to your children’s lives. Here is some help. Young Children – draw a picture about something you hear during the sermon. Explain your picture(s) to your parents or the minister after church. Older Children – Do one or more of the following: 1) Count how many times “life” is mentioned. 2) Discuss with your parents what you need to grow into a Christian adult and live a life pleasing to God.
(1) law; (2) Christ/Adam; (3) struggle/disfigurement; (4) goodness/holiness; (5) circumstances; (6) planted (or united); (7) hates/hated; (8) death; (9) baptism; (10) diminish/increase; (11) shield/protect; (12) nature/alive
See: Matt. 13:1-23.