Baptism Week 2

I want to invite you to open your bibles with me to Philippians chapter 1… What a powerful Sunday last week. I’ve been enjoying all the texts and phone calls throughout the week as many of you have tried to put into words the blessing we all felt during baptisms. There’s something about seeing people go under that water—seeing the old washed away—and rise again that just stirs something deep in us, doesn’t it?

And here’s what I kept hearing from so many of you: “I can’t stop thinking about it.” Why? Because baptism isn’t just about the ones being baptized—it’s about all of us remembering what Christ has done for us. It’s like a mirror reminding us: That’s my story too. I’ve died with Christ, and I’ve been raised with Him. Last week we talked about death—about the joy of surrender, about what it means to say with Paul, “to die is gain.” But today, we turn the page to the next part of what Paul was saying.… If last week was about the joy of dying, this week is about the joy of living. So, lets get into the word together, and lets read again verses 20 - 26. 20 My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all courage, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 Now if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me; and I don’t know which one I should choose. 23 I am torn between the two. I long to depart and be with Christ—which is far better— 24 but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. 25 Since I am persuaded of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that, because of my coming to you again, your boasting in Christ Jesus may abound.

So the question I want us to wrestle with this morning is this: What does it mean to live in such a way that people see Jesus? I mean, isn’t that a goal of our faith? Less of me, more of him… not just in me, for me, but in me, for you. And in you for me. Christ is to be shared within the community. When Paul says, “your boasting in Christ may abound,” he’s reminding us that faith is never a solo act. Christ in me is meant to strengthen Christ in you. And Christ in you is meant to awaken something in me. Like, when we think about evangelism, we often picture going out and preaching. And let’s be honest—that’s scary for many. For some of you, you know the Bible, you’ve got that holy boldness, and it just comes natural—it’s the way God wired you. But for others, even the word evangelism makes your heart race a little. You start thinking, What if I don’t have the right words? What if I mess up? What if they ask a question I can’t answer? But listen—evangelism doesn’t need to be about what you know as much as who you know… and who indwells within you.

Evangelism starts here—Christ in one person overflowing to another."That’s evangelism. Christ, taking your life, your story, your brokenness, your healing—everything that’s been transformed through your dying—and using it to reach someone else who’s still searching for life. Remember last week. For those of you who were baptized, your testimony was you pouring out what the Spirit of Christ within you has done within you. You see, Evangelism is not just about sharing information. It’s about sharing transformation. It’s your life becoming a living testimony of His life. It’s Christ being magnified through your ordinary, everyday moments—through kindness, through forgiveness, through compassion, through courage. That’s what Paul means when he says, “If I live, it means fruitful labor.” He’s saying, ….If God gives me breath, I want that breath to breath into someone else’s life so that they can have a full picture of Jesus. It’s Christ living His life through His people. It’s His Spirit flowing through a surrendered heart until others can’t help but notice something different, something alive, something holy. And That’s the heartbeat of Christian community—Christ magnified in each other, and shared with one another, and with the world. That’s what baptism pointed to last week. When we’re baptized, we don’t just declare, “I’ve been raised to new life in Christ. We also say, “That new life now belongs to the body of Christ.” My life is no longer just about my faith journey—it’s about helping the faith in others, grow. It’s. Your story becomes part of my story. Your joy becomes part of my joy. And together, through this gospel thread, we magnify Jesus—by the way we love, and serve, and live for Christ and for one another.. But here’s my tension…. because for that kind of life to really exist—for that kind of love to truly grow among all of us who are believers, —something has to happen first. And it’s not something small. It’s not a tweak or a tune-up that we get through Bible study or imitation faith,… It’s not better habits or stronger willpower. It’s death! Something in us has to die, for. Life to truly live. Because before Christ can live through you, something in you has to be buried.

Do you know what a community of believers look like? True community isn’t built on shared interests or personalities; it’s built on shared deaths. And in those shared deaths, reveals a shared life. A life, where Christ at the center, and he’s magnified, and we are satisfied.

But here’s the thing—and here is where the tension within me begins to fester. Because if death is the doorway to life, then I have to ask… how does that even work? How can a dead man die? And then live? There are moments when I read Paul, and I’ll hit a verse that makes me stop and think. ..man… that sounds like he’s contradicting himself. Like, there before me are Two truths, sitting side by side that don’t seem to fit together. And I’ll just sit there, staring at the page, whispering, “God, how does that work?” Let me show you what I mean… In Ephesians chapter two, verse one, Paul writes, “You were dead in your trespasses and sins.” That means at one time, we were spiritually dead—cut off from God, blind to truth, enslaved to sin. And I get that. My life before Christ had no desire to know Him. I lived how I wanted, did whatever I wanted, chased purpose in everything and anything other than God. But then, you go through Philippians, and you read Paul saying things like, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.” And then you turn to Colossians chapter three, verse three, and he says something completely different again. He writes, “You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” And I just stop there and go, God… how does that happen? That doesn’t seem like it fits together. You said I was dead… now You say I have died. How does that work? How does a dead man die? I mean, I know dead men tell no tales—because they’re dead! Right…. So how can someone who’s already dead… die again? So I had to wrestle with that. I had to sit with it and ask, “God, what does that mean?” Because this isn’t just some abstract idea—it’s the reality of every person who follows Jesus. Before you can live the life God calls you for, something deep inside of you—your old nature, the part that ran from God, resisted God, and wanted to be God—that part f your life must die. And that’s where this starts to make sense. Because that’s the center of sin, isn’t it? The old self doesn’t just ignore God,……..it competes with Him. This old self… the one that needs to die, wants the glory of God for itself. That’s what Paul says in Romans chapter one—that humanity saw the glory of God but traded it for images, for idols, for anything that could make us feel in control, or important, or worshiped. Before Christ, you and I weren’t just bad people needing help. We weren’t just morally sick hoping for medicine. We were dead. Completely cut off from the life of God. And this is where I think so many people get stuck. We try to use faith to catapult our dead life into a slightly better version of death. We attend church, we try to be good, we clean up the outside—but on the inside, the same old self is still calling the shots. And what that leads to.. is a dead faith. And you can’t take a dead heart, dress it up with religion, and expect it to come alive. It’s no different than putting lipstick on a pig—it might look cleaner and prettier, but it’s still the same thing underneath.

So, when Paul says we were dead, he’s describing a condition that isn’t physical—it’s spiritual. He’s saying our hearts were disconnected from the life of God. Ephesians 4:18 says it perfectly: “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.” Paul show us why theres tension… theres Darkness and hardness—that’s the picture. What’s the cause of dead faith,… darkness and hardness…. The people living in darkness are Unable to see reality as it truly is. Unable to feel, and see, and know and experience the things of God. And that raises the question—what couldn’t we see? What are we blinded to? 2 Corinthians 4:4 tells us: “The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” That’s it right there. The light of the gospel is the beauty, the worth, the glory of Christ—and sin blinds us from seeing it. So this is what our spiritual deadness means: hearts that are hard and blind to the beauty of Jesus, and therefore, is in rebellion against His will. That’s why Paul says in Romans 8, “The mind set on the flesh is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.” We weren’t just avoiding God’s will—we were resisting it. That’s what it means to be dead in your trespasses. … You’re Alive to everything else in the world, but completely dead to God. Now, what does that really mean? What does Paul mean when he says we were “dead in trespasses and sins”? Because clearly, we weren’t lying still in a grave somewhere. We were moving, breathing, laughing, making money, chasing dreams. So what does you have died mean? It means this: apart from Christ, we were alive to everything that didn’t matter—and dead to the only One who does. We were fully functioning, but spiritually lifeless. That’s what Paul means when he says, “You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked.” (Ephesians 2:1–2) You were walking—but in the wrong direction. You were living—but for the wrong purpose. You were alive—but not to God. So when Paul says in Colossians 3:3, “You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God,” he’s describing a second kind of death—one that must happen inside of those who are already spiritually dead. Because here’s the mystery of the gospel: the dead must die before they can ever live. There are two deaths every follower of Jesus must experience. The first is the death of condemnation, and the second is the death of self. The first death happens when you are united with Christ by faith—when His death becomes your death. Romans 6:5 says, “If we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.” That means that when Jesus went to the cross, He didn’t just die for you—He died as you. Every ounce of judgment, every drop of wrath, every consequence of sin that should have fallen on you fell on Him. His death counts as your death. That’s what it means to believe the gospel—not just to say, “Jesus died for me,” but to say, “When He died, I died.” The old me—the one enslaved to sin, chasing glory, rejecting God, hardened and blinded—was crucified with Christ. That’s what Paul says in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”

But that's only the beginning. There's a second death that comes after the first—an ongoing death. It's the daily death of self. It's the slow, deliberate, Spirit-empowered putting to death of everything in you that still wants to take the throne from God. Paul calls it "putting off the old self and putting on the new.” Two deaths, but one life. And all of that comes down to this… Death must be believed before life is lived. You can't truly live for Jesus until you've first died with Him.

So now, do you see how this connects to what we talked about at the beginning? I said evangelism is Christ in one person overflowing to another. But here's what I didn't say yet: you can't overflow with what you haven't died to." If the old you is still on the throne—if you're still clinging to control, comfort, reputation—then what you're offering people isn't Christ. It's just a religious dead version of you. Its death handing out death. But when you've died with Christ—when you've been crucified with Him and raised to new life—then something powerful happens. Christ starts living through you. And now it's not death imitating life, but handing out death. It's life pouring out life. And here's what that means: from this moment on, your life becomes a daily pursuit—to see Christ more clearly so you can share Him more deeply.

That's it. That's the whole Christian life right there. Every morning you wake up and say, "Jesus, let me see more of You today. Let me know You better. Let me love You more.” And the more you see Him... the more He overflows from you. Not because you're trying harder. But because you can't contain Him. And that brings us to this moment. Would those of you being baptized today please come forward? Church, look at these faces. These are your brothers and sisters who are about to do something incredibly brave. They're about to preach a sermon without saying a word. Just like those last week, and just like all of you, and just like those who are visiting…. Here's what you're about to do. When you go under that water, you're declaring to everyone watching: "The old me is gone. The one who lived for control, for comfort, for my own glory—that person died with Christ.” And when you come up out of that water, you're declaring: "My life doesn't belong to me anymore. It belongs completely to Jesus.” You're saying: "I believe in the death that gives me life.” And from this day forward, your life becomes that daily pursuit, and struggle to see Jesus more clearly. To know Him more deeply. So that He overflows from you to everyone you meet. Some days will be hard. Some days you'll fail. Some days the old you will try to climb back on the throne. But even on those days—especially on those days—Christ will be at work in you. Refining you. Changing you. Using even your weakness to show His strength. So when you rise from that water today, you're not rising to perfection. You're rising to pursuit. You're rising to a life where Christ lives through you. You're rising to a life that shows Jesus. And listen,

Church, this isn't just their story. This is our story too. Every one of us who has trusted Christ has gone under that water—whether literally or spiritually. We've all declared, "I am dead to sin and alive in Christ.” And every one of us is called to that same daily pursuit. To see Him more clearly. To share Him more deeply. So as we celebrate what God is doing in these lives today, let's remember what baptism is really declaring: "For to me, to live is Christ.” Not just a belief. Not just a prayer you prayed once. A life. A life where Christ is so real, so precious, so satisfying, that He can't help but overflow from you to everyone around you. That's what we're celebrating today.

Let's pray over them, and then let's watch them preach the gospel with their whole lives, together. *