Dear Christian friends:

The sainted British arch Bishop, James Usher, once said, "I must tell you we do not well understand what sanctification and the new creature are."

And then he goes to explain in one short sentence what it is: "It is no less than for a man to be brought to an entire resignation of his own will to the will of God, and to live in the offering - up of his soul continually in the flames of love, as a whole burnt-offering to Christ."

Then he ends with this sad lament: "And oh! How many who profess Christianity are unacquainted experimentally with His work upon their souls!"

I am sad to say it, but I fear that this famous English Arch Bishop must have aimed this barb not only at his Episcopal brothers and sisters, but also at us Lutherans. For we in the Lutheran Church do a fine job of teaching justification, but are rather remiss in teaching and preaching sanctification. By sanctification we mean living the holy life.

Our sermon text, which is the Epistle Lesson, affords us a splendid opportunity to teach about sanctification. In this St. Paul shows that it is necessary for us Christians to live a holy life.

We may be tempted to think it is not necessary since we are justified by grace through faith without works.

First, we observe the nature of this holiness, what it is. In general it has two things in it; a dying to sin and a living to righteousness, according to St. Paul in our text.

A dying to sin.

We must live no longer in sin. (verses 1-2) We should not continue as we have been or as the unbelieving world is. 1 Peter 4:2-3, "That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:"

Although there are none that live without sin, yet, praise God, there are those that do not live in sin; do not live in sin as their element; do not make a profession of it; do not defend sin and promote it, such as the abortionist and the homosexual and those that defend the sexual revolution, or dishonestly and corruption in business and in politics. We Christians do not have to live in sin, because the body of sin in us has been destroyed, Paul tells us in verse 6. (read it)

The corruption that dwells in us is "the body of sin", inherited from Adam and has come to us by natural birth. We are to live as if this old man has been destroyed and is powerless to influence our living so that we are no longer slaves of sin and evil.

We are even to be so bold that we consider ourselves "dead indeed unto sin." (verse 11) Death brings relief to the weary and the oppressed. So we are to be dead to sin, obey it no more as the dead slave hears not and obeys not his cruel task master anymore. We are to be as indifferent to the pleasures and delights of sin, as a man that is dying of his former sinful diversions. He that is dead is separated from his former company, converse and business, is not what he was, does not what he did, has not what he had. Death makes a mighty change; such a change holy living makes in the soul, it cuts off all contact with sin.

Thus we see the first part of holy transition: living, dying to sin. The second part is a living to righteousness. This means "to walk in newness of life," as Paul tells us in verse 4. Newness of life presupposes newness of heart, for out of heart are the issues of life and there is no way to make the water of the stream sweet except by making the spring so. We are to "walk" in newness of life. Walk by new rules, toward new ends, from new principals. Make a new choice of the way. Choose new paths to walk in, new leaders to walk after, new friends to walk with. "Old things should pass away, and all things become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Living to righteousness also means to "be alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (verse 11) This means to converse with God, to have a regard to him, a delight in him, a concern for him and to take pleasure in him. We are to live for His honor and glory, by His word and rule; in all our ways to acknowledge Him, and to have our eyes ever toward Him. And this living unto God is "through Jesus Christ our Lord," Paul adds in verse 11.

Jesus Christ is our spiritual life. There is no living to God except through Him. He is the Mediator between sinful humans and the sinless, holy God. Without Jesus Christ and faith in Him we can only hate God and flee from Him. There can be no intercourse between sinful persons and a holy God, except by the mediations, the pleas, of the crucified, risen and ascended Lord Jesus. He says, "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5) So living unto God involves abiding in the Word and Sacraments, because that's how we abide in Jesus and He abides in us.

So we have seen the nature of this holy life that we must live. It is a dying to sin and a living to righteousness.

Now we deal with the motives or arguments of St. Paul here in our text which show the necessity of our holy living. There is great opposition in our hearts by nature to holy living. So it is not easy to make our hearts submit to it. In fact we cannot do it on our own. It is the Holy Spirit who works in our hearts to will and to do. And the Spirit does this by such arguments and motives as St. Paul lists here in our text, which are related to our baptism.

Our baptism, and the design and significance of it carry in it reasons why we should die to sin and live to right. In general, we are "dead to sin." (verse 2) In baptism we profess that we are dead to sin and obligated to be dead to sin. We are dead to sin by our union with Christ and our love for Him who first loved us and died for us.

All this is in vain if we persist in sin. Then we contradict our profession, and violate our obligation in baptism. For verse 7 tells us that he who is dead "is freed from sin." That is, he is free from the rule and dominion of sin, just as the slave that has died is free from his cruel taskmaster. Shall we be such fools as to return to that slavery from which we have been freed?

In particular, "being baptized into Jesus Christ we were baptized into His death" Paul argues in verse 3. (Read it!) This means that we were baptized into the privileges purchased and won by His death, such as being called sons and heirs of God, being able to pray to him as children ask their dear father.

Being baptized into His death also means that we are obligated to comply with the purpose of His death, which was to redeem us from iniquity and turn us to holiness.

Being baptized into His death furthermore obligates us to conform to the pattern of His death, that as Christ died for sin, so we should die to sin. The crucifying of Christ for us, has an influence upon the crucifying of sin in us. (Galatians 2:20) Shall we sin against such goodness, abuse and trash such love?

Our conformity to the resurrection of Christ in baptism enables us to rise to newness of life. Christ was raised up from the dead "by the glory of the Father", that is by His almighty power. In baptism we are empowered to conform to that pattern, to be planted in the likeness of His resurrection as Paul tells us in verse 5, and "to live with Him," as he adds in verse 8. In baptism we have risen with Christ. This is the first resurrection and the more important one than the one on the Last Day, the body resurrection. This spiritual resurrection is also done in us by the Father's glory and power as Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:6, "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (Explain!)

Of course, you know and I know that we still do a rather poor job of living this holy life in spite of our baptism and what St. Paul says about it here in our text. And so it needs to be said and we need to remember that so we don't despair, that the dying to sin and the living to God is not perfect in this life. We still have our old Adam and our old Eve and so daily sin much, often without realizing that we are sinning. That which baptism signifies and obligates us to do will not be fulfilled or completed until we die and our sinful flesh becomes dust. Then indeed we shall be "dead to sin" and free at last!

When Christ comes in glory on the Last Day He will raise up our bodies and they will be spiritual bodies, without, sin and corruption, and we shall indeed "live in newness of life", both in body and soul! In the meantime we need to keep on striving for holiness by daily remembering our baptism and what it signifies, as Martin Luther explains so well in his Small Catechism, under Baptism, the Forth Part, He asks this question: "What is the significance of holy baptism? Then he answers: "It signifies that the old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil lusts, and again a new man daily come forth and arise, who shall live before God in righteousness and true holiness."

In closing I want to read to you from St. Paul's epistle to Titus. Titus 2:11-14 "For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."

Yes, indeed, it is necessary for us to live holy lives. His love requires it and enables us.

Amen.