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Baptism is a solemn, sincere, often serene, significant service of Christian worship. But sometimes it is so serious that it is just down right funny. The late Bob Baggott used to tell about baptizing a new convert to his congregation by immersion. As he lowered her under the water, he discovered that she had not informed him that she was wearing a wig that was then floating on top of the water as she descended under it. Baptists traditionally have not believed in dancing, but he said, "She and I danced all over that baptistry trying to scoop her up under that hairpiece!"

It has not been too many years ago since I baptized an exuberant and energetic eleven-year-old girl, who promptly after coming up out of the water dove back under and swam enthusiastically out of the baptistry! Oh, the reckless joy of youth!

I conducted my first baptism in 1966. He was a dear friend who was married to another dear friend whose marriage was in deep trouble. "She has left me," he said as we talked in my driveway after his surprise visit on an early Sunday morning. "It is mostly my fault," he said, hoping that getting his life right with God would help enable them to get back together. He professed Christ and I baptized him the following Sunday. Shaking my hand as he left the church, he remarked, "Whether she comes back or not, I now feel I can handle it." She did not and he did.

One of my most memorable baptisms occurred as I served the East Huntsville Baptist Church in Huntsville, Alabama. They were an elderly couple who had recently moved from Ohio. She joined. He did not. He told me that he had never joined any church. After about a year, most of it spent battling cancer, he strolled down the aisle in his wheelchair, tearfully professing, "I want to give what little is left of my life to Jesus." Two weeks later it took four of us to get him out of the chair and into the water. I conducted his memorial service six months later. At the funeral his wife remarked, "There has not been a day in which he has not spoken about what his baptism meant to him."

I am thankful that our congregation has taken giant strides in beginning to recognize the significance of baptism. We now ask our baptismal candidates to write out a brief testimony and to ask an individual of special significance to read it for them. I have seen grown men silenced to tears as they struggle to read the words of their son or daughter. I have seen other adults, teachers, uncles, grandparents, beam with joy in recognition of the part they played in introducing the candidate to Christ.

It is said that the early church made much of the symbolism of baptism. They often baptized in the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized facing Jerusalem where he was resurrected. They often baptized on Easter Sunday. It was said that the candidate was often given brand new clothes to wear, symbolizing the death to the old life. Sometimes they were given milk and honey to eat symbolic of the entrance into the new life of the Promised Land.

I remember my own baptism. I was only nine years old and remember very little of the service. I am sure that Brother Sidney Argo said all the right things about being buried with Christ in baptism and being raised to walk in newness of life. I was concerned about other things. Was I going to be baptized before or after Mike Galloway, my best friend at the time? I was concerned whether I had enough dry underwear. I am positive that I did not understand the full significance of that moment, but I have spent the last 45 years of my life contemplating what my baptism has meant to me. I hope that you, even now, are remembering your baptism — who baptized you — who was there and the difference it has made in your life. Remember your baptism! Is that not what Paul is exhorting us to do in verse 3 of our text, "Don't you know that all of us who were baptized were baptized into his death?" Earlier Paul said, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (5:8 NIV). He goes on to say, "Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men" (5:18 NIV). Buried with Christ in baptism, raised to walk in newness of life! In baptism grace has reigned over death and sin.

Paul continues, "Shall we go on sinning so that grace would increase?" (6:1 NIV). Of course not! God forbid! Being buried with Christ means that we are dead to sin! Radical statement. Is it true that we sometimes play down the radicality of baptism symbolized by total immersion? Being put totally under the water symbolizes being totally dead to sin, does it not? James McBride, in his wonderful book, The Color Of Water, relates the experience of receiving a letter from his mother. It began, "I'm dead." Her decision, as an orthodox Jew, to marry his father, a non-Jew, rendered her, in the eyes of her tradition, as totally dead. Her decision completely cut her off from her old life. Is this what Paul means when he said in verse 11, "In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin..."? What does it mean to be "dead to sin"?

Does being dead to sin mean that we no longer sin? Of course not! Paul later said in chapter 7, "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing." No longer sin? Heavens, no! Paul confessed to being the "chief of sinners" and that was after his conversion to Christ.

Does being dead to sin mean that we no longer find sin attractive? Again the answer is in the negative. In fact, Martin Luther complained that the devil had the best music. Is that the reason why he took what some labeled a "bar tune" and penned to it the words of "A Mighty Fortress is Our God"? It was said of William Gladstone, the Prime Minister to England's Queen Victoria, that he was the most righteous man in all of England and the most boring! Does being dead to sin mean that folly has lost its allure or attraction? Hardly! In some ways, we may find it even more attractive. There is something about "forbidden fruit."

Does being dead to sin mean that we no longer have the desire to sin? No! Often we have even more of a desire to try that which we are not supposed to do. Tell me I cannot have something, and I never realized how badly I wanted it until I was told I could not have it. Vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup looks even better when I am on a diet.

We should have known it was a mistake — a big mistake! Several years ago we bought our twin sons solid white suits for Easter. They were about five years old. On Easter Sunday after my wife dressed them for church in those clean white suits, she said, "Do not go out in those clean white suits. Do not go out and get dirty!" The moment she said that, their little eyes lit up as if to say, "Thank you, Mother, we had not thought about that!" Of course, as soon as she turned her back, they were out the door with gratitude for the suggestion.

Does not Paul echo the same sentiment in chapter 7, verses 7-8: "What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, 'Do not covet.' But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead" (NIV). What does it mean then to be dead in sin if we still sin because we still have the desire and the attraction for the forbidden? I think that the symbolism of baptism encompasses the fact that we are made dead to sin and are raised to walk in a total newness to life. We are totally immersed. We are totally raised to walk in a new way. The Bible describes conversion as a new birth. We are born again from above. We put on Christ. We are clothed with Christ (Galatians 3:27). We are baptized into his death and participate in his resurrection. Paul states in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come" (NIV). A new creation has emerged living a new life in Christ. Paul states his case plainly in verses 5 and 8, "Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord."

"Raised to walk" with Christ means that we now live our lives in union and fellowship with him. To borrow a phrase from Keith Miller, we now live our lives "to an audience of One"! It means that we have crucified the old self and are no longer enslaved to sin. Sin no longer has dominion over us. We now have a choice.

My first year in seminary, I worked at the Central State Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky. One of my co-workers was a middle-aged man by the name of John. John invited me to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in which he was receiving a special award. This pastor's son was receiving recognition for one year of sobriety. He stated so eloquently, "I now know that there is a power greater than my alcoholism and that power is God. In Him, I have the power to say no!" When we are raised to walk in our new life in Christ there is set loose in our lives a power that is greater than any of our sins. Thus, we sin because we choose to sin. What happens when we continue to sin, as we all do? Well, life takes on the flavor of an artist's studio instead of a spelling bee. In a spelling bee, one misspelled word and you sit down. One mistake and you are out! It is like going to the plate with two strikes already against you. However, in an artist's studio the atmosphere is different. The artist makes a mistake, a bad stroke, and she starts over. In the artist's studio the work is forever in the making.

We are forever a work in process. We have the power through Christ to say, "No," to sin, not to be controlled or enslaved by sin but to have power and freedom over sin. It means we have a choice, and it means that we pay the price for our choice. There is a responsibility.

Many of you remember Edgar Bergen. Before he was famous as Candice Bergen's father, he was famous as a ventriloquist with his side-kick, Charlie McCarthy. The story goes that Edgar Bergen, George Burns, and Jack Benny went to lunch. When the waiter came with the check, Jack Benny said, "I'll take the check, please." Jack Benny was given the check. As they left the restaurant, George Burns turned to Jack Benny and said, "That was real nice of you to take the check." Jack Benny said, "I didn't ask for the check, but that's the last time I'm going to lunch with a ventriloquist."1

I love that story. But just the opposite is true. We have been buried with Christ. We have a choice and we have to take responsibility for our choices. If we order the meal, we pay the check. That's the bad news! The absurdly good news is Christ died for our sins!

For many years Troy Morrison was the Executive Director of the Alabama Baptist State Convention. Prior to that, he served as the pastor of the Twelfth Street Baptist Church in Gadsden for seventeen years. During his pastorate there, he was once approached by a member of his congregation who asked, "Pastor, if ever anything happens to me, would you see that my children are cared for?" He, like most pastors in such an awkward moment, responded, "Well, of course I would." Within two years, the mother and the father both had died. Troy and his wife prayed and decided that they would honor his word to take care of the woman's children — all four of them — two teenagers. There also were matters of a large hospital bill and funeral home bill for the mother's service. Word circulated about the Morrison's generous gesture.

Within a few days Troy received a letter in the mail from the president of the Baptist Hospital. Enclosed was the mother's hospital bill. Across the bottom it read, "Paid in full!"

The next week Dr. Morrison conducted a funeral service for another congregant. As he and the director of the Collier Butler Funeral Home were riding to the cemetery, the funeral director reached into his inside coat pocket, with tears in his eyes, and handed Troy an envelope. Inside the envelope was the mother's funeral bill. Across the bottom it read, "Paid in full!" That is what Jesus did for us! He paid the price for our sins — in full!

His name is Jan Douglass. Two years before he had pitched his team to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where they placed third in the world. He never lost a game. On July 4, 1960, he was taking the mound as our starting pitcher as we were playing for the Gadsden Pony League City Championship in a game that received press in The Gadsden Times 25 years later. Both teams sported identical 19-1 records. Douglass' only defeat was to his mound opponent that day, Macky Moates, in a crushing 12-3 shellacking. Over 10,000 fans crowded the ball park standing four deep around the outfield fence. As the visiting team, we were first at bat and unexplainedly scored four runs without the benefit of a hit. Before he threw a pitch, Douglass gathered the entire team around him as we took the field for the bottom half of the first inning. Jan said, "When the game is over, we are going to carry Coach Gallager around the bases." To him, turn out the lights, the party was over! School was out! The game was won! And it was. He also clouted a mammoth home run just to accent his prediction. Oh, the other team scored a few runs, but to Jan Douglass, we already were City Champions.

We still have to play the game, but the outcome is secure. The other team will score a few runs. We will strike out every now and then or make an error or two, but the game is over — victory is assured. Christ — and we — win! We share his life! We share his victory! We are now alive in Christ! "The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus" (vv. 1-011 NIV).

When Major Ian Thomas spoke in one of my churches years ago, he wrote in the front of one of his books he presented to me: "All there is of Christ is available to the man who is available to all there is of Christ!"

He is ours!

We are his!

We share his victory!

Peter Gomes was my friend and teacher at Harvard Divinity School. He tells a wonderful story in his book, Sermons, of a baptism he was asked to conduct as the minister of the Memorial Church. A young, undergraduate couple came to him and said, "We want to be baptized." As he heard their request, he said, "I will be glad to do it." But there was a problem. They wanted to be immersed and the Memorial Church at Harvard has no baptistry. He said, "All the bowls in the world couldn't do that." So they said that they had a special fondness for Walden Pond — yes, that Walden Pond. So on an October morning in New England the three of them went to Walden Pond with some blankets, some liquids (coffee, I'm sure) to keep them warm, and a Bible. The place was deserted. The three of them went into the water. He said, "I remembered how it was down, down and up, down and up." He said, "I baptized the woman last. As she came up out of the water, all of a sudden from behind us we heard a round of applause."

Somehow a group of people had gathered to see what in the world three people were doing in Walden Pond in the middle of October. He turned and explained to them that this was a baptism and this was what Christians do. He used some scripture to explain about baptism, and then one of them said, "Well, how often do you do this?" Peter Gomes answered, "Not often enough." Then that person who didn't know what in the world they were doing said, "That sure looks like fun." 2

Baptism should be fun — serious, but yet fun! It should be joyful and celebrative. Why not? The most wonderful thing that can happen in the life of an individual has happened. We have been buried with Christ in baptism and are raised to walk in the newness of his life.

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1. Charles L. Allen, The Secret Of Abundant Living (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1980), p. 60.

2. Peter J. Gomes, Sermons (New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1998), p. 33.