Make Believe: Dead or Alive? with Pastor Clayton

Welcome to the Medicurch Podcast.

My name's Clayton.

I'm the pastor here at MedicChurch.

And my hope is that today's podcast finds you at the perfect time in your life, that God uses it to inspire and enlighten you.

I hope that you enjoy today's message.

All right, it is Baptism Sunday, and uh before we get into my text for today, in the spirit of transparency, I've had quite a few people come up to me over maybe the past two and a half months and say something like, It feels like something has shifted at MetaCurch.

Our Sunday services feel a little bit different.

And uh typically it wasn't a critique, but maybe just an observation.

Some people maybe a little bit excited about it.

And uh I I want you guys to know that for about two years now, God's been doing something inside of me.

I've been wrestling with some very big questions.

And we're gonna talk about all of that on May 18th.

We're starting a new series.

It's the most excited I have ever been for a new series that we are launching into.

And uh, I hope you'll join us on May 18th as I kind of have finally wrestled through my angst with God enough to be able to put it into words and give some direction towards where we're going.

Now, um, today is going to be a like record short sermon.

Okay, I'm letting you know up front, and you also need to know when I say that, every one of my staff members who is in any of our venues just all collectively rolled their eyes, right?

They just don't buy it.

Um, I preached maybe my shortest sermon ever on record uh already today, and we had so many baptisms that we went like way over, right?

So uh I'm tightening it up, and we're just going to get to this key thing that I need you to understand about baptism out of scripture.

And once I feel like we have gotten this key idea, then we'll get into the main event, which is baptism.

But just one more qualifier.

Uh, every time we have ever filled up our baptismals at Metachurch, every single time there have been people throughout our services who did not show up to service to get baptized that day, but end up getting baptized that day.

Every single time.

And what that means is the Holy Spirit, who is here at our venues and is moving, takes a hold of somebody's heart.

And when the Holy Spirit is prompting you towards an act of obedience, you do it.

That's what we do here at Metachurch.

When the Holy Spirit asks you to do something, you do it.

Uh the Holy Spirit asks you to do all kinds of crazy things in my life, asks me to do all kinds of crazy things.

I know so many people, they're like, I can't believe I feel like God is calling me to do this wild, outlandish, maybe even dangerous thing.

But here's what I know in my entire life, decades of ministry, I have never seen anyone regret following a prompting of the Holy Spirit ever one time.

And so if the Holy Spirit prompts you into the water, uh, you may not have come ready, we came ready for you.

We have everything you need.

We have a towel, we have clothes, we have everything but your panties.

You gotta take care of that, all right?

I don't know your draw situation, so you, you have to deal with that.

We have everything else, all right?

And we can get you in the water and we can get you baptized today.

Um, I I want to get us into our text.

We're gonna be in Paul's letter to the Romans, and just to give you the fastest uh theology lesson on Romans ever, uh, Romans 1, 2, and 3 are like, hey, everyone's in trouble.

So in the church in Rome, there were Jewish believers in Jesus, and then there were non-Jewish believers in Jesus.

And the Jewish believers in Jesus, they had been the chosen people of God forever.

These Gentiles, these non-Jews, they're brand new to the party.

They don't have to follow any of the hard laws that the Jewish people have had to follow forever.

Seems very unfair.

So Paul's point is this hey, the Gentile world, the non-Jewish people, uh, they are sinners and in real big trouble.

And then chapter two, it's like, hey, and the Jewish people are sinners and they're in really big trouble.

And then chapter three is like, the whole world is full of sinners and everyone's in trouble, right?

And then in chapters four and five, it's like, so then what do we do?

Because most people follow some kind of religion.

And religion is like God throws down a ladder and says, good luck climbing all the way to heaven.

And Paul's like, that's not what Jesus did.

He didn't throw a ladder down to us, he came down to us, incarnate, put on human flesh, he died the death that we deserve to pay the price of our sin, and then he walked out of his own tomb three days later to prove to us that he could also defeat death so we can live a life absolutely free of fear, say amen.

Amen.

And so we get to chapter six, and it brings up this question.

And the question has been asked for the last 2,000 years of church history, and it goes something like this if salvation is a gift that is completely free, and once I receive salvation, my eternity is secure, then for the rest of my time on earth, why not just live however I want to live?

It's a logical question.

It's like we don't work our way to God.

God came down to us, all he asks for is our faith.

We put our faith in him, our eternity is secure.

We still have like 10 or 20 or 50 or 70 years left on earth, and following Jesus is hard.

Jesus told us what it takes.

He's like, if you want to follow me, you wake up every single day and you deny yourself.

I mean, that doesn't sound like fun.

Deny yourself of your desires, of all temptation, of your habits, of your addictions, of the drugs that you do, of the porn that you watch, of the gossip you gossip, deny yourself of everything that is against God.

And that's a big list.

He's like, if you want to follow me every day, wake up, deny yourself, and if that's not enough, then take up your cross, which means instead of ignoring your pain or suppressing your pain or denying your pain or self-medicating your pain, instead you walk up to your pain, you embrace your pain, and then you use it for your purpose in order to bless other people.

It's a lot, it's a big ask.

And so it's like if I'm like guaranteed heaven and I've got my like get out of hell free card, then why not just make some compromises?

I mean, I'll do a lot of what Jesus wants me to, but I mean, gosh, the Christian sexual ethic, it is so constraining, dude.

I really have to follow all of that and like really like the the body is the temple of God, and we're called to take care of the temple of God.

Like, we gotta watch what we eat, we gotta take care of ourselves.

Like, that's a lot, it's a lot of work.

Romans 1, 2, 3, you're all in trouble.

Romans 4, 5, there's an answer.

It's absolutely free.

Your eternities can be can be secure.

Here's Romans 6, verse 1.

Romans 6:1

What should we say then?

Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply?

It's the same question.

Why not just live however we want to live?

The scripture is so limiting, it limits our freedom.

And so people think through this, and it's like, who would do that?

Who would say Jesus died brutally on a cross and now I'm just gonna live however I want to?

Who would ever say that?

And the answer is us, sometimes.

Like not all of the time, but just in those moments when you know it's sin, but you really want to do it, and in the back of your subconscious, it's like, God's gonna forgive you.

He's got to.

And so they've cut me off one too many times, and now I'm going to bless them with one finger, you know?

And God's grace will cover it.

I'm already forgiven.

Oh, MetaCurch, do I've seen y'all drive.

Do not do this to me right now.

Do not even come in here on Baptism Sunday.

I've this is a true story, and I don't know who it was.

I've been flipped off by a car with a meta church bumper sticker.

And they didn't know it was me because I drive an old hoofdie.

And so I waved back.

No, I'm just kidding.

I did.

It's tough, and we we ask these questions.

And Paul is asking this rhetorical question, and he's setting up like an equation.

He's going, if God's grace covers all sin, then the more we sin, the more grace we get.

And if grace is good, shouldn't we want as much grace as possible?

So the more we sin, the more grace we get.

And it makes sense, and we treat God that way sometimes.

We have these sins that we just wrestle with and wrestle with, and we can't seem to get rid of.

It makes sense until you put it in any other context.

It's the same thing as saying this.

It's like, yo, my spouse is so loyal.

We stood at the altar, and and it was like, for better or for worse, and for richer or for poorer, which like for almost all of our marriage was poorer, and she was still so loyal, you know?

And it was like, whether whether you you got a lot of hair or you'll go, you go bald, I'm in for all of it, you know?

And so you're like, she's so loyal, and loyalty is a good thing.

But when I'm being such a great husband, it's really not that hard to be loyal.

So, you know, if I really want to highlight her loyalty to the world, what I'll do is I'll start treating her terribly.

And the worse I treat my spouse, and the longer she stays with me, the more loyalty she has demonstrated, and the more it's highlighted in her life.

The equation makes sense.

We just all know it's nonsense.

It's not how you behave, it's not how you manage relationships, and yet sometimes with the right sins, we will think God's grace will cover it anyway.

And so I'll stay in it for a season.

Or I'll just do it one more time, which turns into two more times, which turns into ten more times, which turns into a habit that we can't get out of.

And so Paul's asking a rhetorical question in verse one.

What should we say then?

Do we continue in sin so the grace may multiply?

He responds, absolutely not.

How can we who died to sin still live in it?

We've been in this series, it's the last week of the series.

In week one, we looked at Jesus, we asked, myth or messiah, is Jesus who he claim to be?

In week two, we looked at the crucifixion.

We said, fact or fiction, are the claims of the cross of Christ real or are they not?

Last week we asked, hoax or history?

We looked at the tomb of Jesus.

Is it empty or is it not?

And here's what we found Jesus is who he says he is, he's done what he says that he's done, and he walked out of a grave 2,000 years ago.

So where does that leave us?

My message today is dead or alive.

Dead or alive?

And I'm not asking about Jesus, I'm asking about you.

Are you dead or are you alive?

Some of you are still spiritually dead, you've never started a relationship with Jesus.

And so you are still separated from your heavenly father.

Your soul is longing for that relationship, and you're trying to fill it with all the things that the world offers you.

Go down this path and make this much money and have this much sex and get this much status and have this many followers and have this much influence and get this promotion and have this job, and you'll finally be satisfied and fulfilled.

And, spoiler alert, you will not.

Because what your soul is longing for is reconnection with your heavenly father.

And so some of you are spiritually dead.

And today is your day to come alive.

It's it's not religion, it's not 10 steps, five hoops, 20 questions.

It's faith in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Some of you have put your faith in Jesus, you've been moved to spiritual life, but you're still emotionally dead.

You find no joy in life.

Every day you drive into the office just bitter and angry, not realizing that from God's perspective, you're driving into a mission field to build his kingdom.

Some of you will go into rage at the drop of a hat.

Some of you are relationally dead.

You are bitter and angry towards your spouse, you are resentful of your children, you have trouble connecting with your friends.

Are you dead or are you alive?

Here's what Roman says.

What should we say then?

Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply?

Absolutely not.

How can we who died to sin, who died to sin, still live in it?

Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

Now pay attention because it doesn't say that when you put your faith in Jesus and then you go public with that by going through the baptismal waters, that sin dies to you.

It says you must die to sin.

If sin died to us, that'd be easy.

If sin died to us, man, I mean, I don't know that we would need Sunday service.

I don't know that we would need the word.

There's a reason we sin.

We sin because it's fun, it feels fulfilling, at least temporarily.

It's attractive, it's tempting.

There's a reason for it.

Sin doesn't die to us.

Temptation doesn't magically melt away.

God can't supernaturally heal you, but what we see in a normative sense is the habit that you went into the water with, you come out of it with.

God can do as he pleases, but that the lies that have been running for 10, 20, 40, 50 years that were in your head, you come out, they're in your head.

You must die to them.

Here's what Origen, one of the church fathers, said he said, to obey the cravings of sin is to be alive to sin, but not to obey the cravings of sin or to succumb to its will.

This is to die to sin.

And as believers in Jesus, we are supernaturally empowered to die to our sins.

Paul explained it this way to the Colossians.

He said, So if you have been raised with Christ, it's baptism language, seek the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Set your minds on these things, not on earthly things, for you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

I love this.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, you will appear with him in glory.

Christ, who is your life.

It's not like I have my life and I add Christ onto it.

You know, the maybe all-time stupidest bumper stickers from the 1990s, Jesus is my co-pilot.

You've got Jesus in the car and you're driving, bro?

Like Jesus is this add-on, me plus Jesus.

So what Paul says.

He says, When Christ who is your life, scripture says, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who now lives within me.

When Christ who is your life appears, then you will appear with him in glory.

Therefore, Bible scholars, as we're learning, Bible scholars, therefore means I'm about to make a point.

I'm about to bring application.

Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature.

Put to death sexual immorality.

Put to death impurity.

Put to death lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.

It's so painful because as believers in Jesus, we want to follow Jesus.

And that requires dying daily, dying to your desires daily, dying to try to be your own king, your own God, your own hope, your own savior, dying to the opinions of man and caring only about obeying God.

And so often, it's like we we believe in Jesus and we go through the waters and we have these sins.

And this has been in my life.

I I have watched sins and they just are repeating and repeating.

And it's this cycle of guilt, and the guilt just drives you to the sin, and the sin drives you to the guilt, and the guilt drives you to the sin.

And here's what we do.

And I think some of this is our cultural heritage, not just as Westerners, but as Americans, where we're like, you know what?

If there's something to be done, I will do it.

You know how I'm gonna get it done?

I'm gonna put in the work.

You know how I'm gonna fix it?

I'm gonna work even harder.

I'm gonna wake up even earlier.

I'm gonna pray even harder.

I'm gonna read even deeply.

Like I'm going to go and do it.

And what we end up doing is we are white knuckling our sin.

White knuckling our sobriety.

Like I'm going to make this happen.

And you fall.

And every time you fall, it's even more disappointing.

And the truth is, we are not called to white knuckle our life following Jesus.

If you want to follow Jesus, if you want to be fully alive in Christ, you have to die.

Jesus does not offer us some slight behavioral management.

Jesus doesn't offer us a little add-on to our current reality.

Jesus offers us a cross and a tomb, and he invites us to come and die so that we may live.

The question is, are you dead or alive?

And it's a trick question.

Because the real answer is one precedes the other.

If you want to be fully alive in Christ, you must die to sin.

And you are supernaturally empowered to do so.

Isn't it wild?

We know our only chance to have eternal life with God is through faith.

It is not by works, but then we think we will navigate following Jesus by our works.

Believing in Him is supernatural, following Him is supernatural.

It requires supernatural death.

This is a problem just in seasons.

I see this all the time and when I counsel with people.

It's one of the things I'm always looking for.

Because people walk into new seasons and they never die to their old ones.

And so, you know what you need to do right before you stand at the altar and get married?

You need to have a funeral for your single life that is now dead.

It sounds morbid, but people don't do that.

And so they walk into married life and they're still single plus a wife.

Single plus a husband.

And so I man, I meet with couples and the husband is beside himself.

He's like, bro, she won't let me do anything.

All I'm trying to do is go out maybe four or five nights a week with the boys, you know.

She can put the kids, she can clean the house, she can, and like she's all stepping on my freedom.

I have rights.

And it's like, yeah, dude, no, you don't.

You died to those when you got married.

Man, y'all want me to do one for the women?

No, I'm just kidding.

It's important, man.

It's important.

There are married folks all the time, and their marriage is terrible because they never died to being single.

They're trying to be single and married, and it doesn't work.

And then you have two single people who are now married.

The two have not become one, they have not laid down their rights, they have not died to the old, so they can't walk in the new.

And then they have kids.

You know what you should do right before you give birth to your kid?

You should have a funeral for your empty nester days.

Because it's gone these days, anywhere from 18 to 47 years.

And so you gotta let it go.

I can't tell you how often some of you are gonna get free from something because you're gonna realize you're not the only one.

I can't tell you how many people resent their children because they never died to their life before they had kids.

That baby keeping you awake all night long and you haven't died to your old way.

It's important, it matters in every aspect of our life.

You start a new job, you gotta die to that last career if you want to walk in what's new.

And what's true in this world is exponentially more true in our spiritual life.

Some of us are trying to walk in the newness of life that Christ has created for us and we haven't died to our old life yet.

Some of us are trying to walk in spiritual freedom and we haven't died to sin yet.

And it's just not gonna work.

See, Jesus didn't have this opportunity.

Jesus didn't get to go, like, you know what?

Here's what I'm gonna do.

Uh dying on a cross, that seems like a lot.

So I'm gonna look at a cross hard, like for a long time, and I'm gonna think really hard about how bad that would hurt.

And then uh I'm gonna go to a graveyard and I'm gonna hang out there for a little while.

I'm gonna think about being dead, you know?

And I'm gonna be like still alive, and I'll never really die, but then, you know, I'm gonna have like the intention of giving you guys eternal life.

He didn't have that option.

It's like if you want to cover the price of sin, then you have to stretch your arms and be nailed to a cross and raised up and die in the most brutal way possible, and then you have to actually go in a tomb and actually be dead and actually come back to life.

Let me show you something.

We're gonna go back through it.

Romans 6:1.

Romans 6:1

What should we say then?

Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply?

Absolutely not.

How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

Therefore, Bible scholars, what does therefore mean?

It means we're making application.

Therefore, we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.

Can I tell you the path to the life that you're meant to live in three phrases?

Therefore, just as Christ, so we too.

Therefore, just as Christ, so we too.

Jesus had to actually die, and so do you.

You have to lay down your old life.

Whoever is the king of your life right now, it might be you, it might be a celebrity, it might be your parents, it might be your spouse, whoever is the god of your life right now, it might be you, it might be a celebrity, it might be an icon, it might be money, it might be an idea, it might be the job you want.

Whoever is the hope of your life right now, whoever sets the standards of your life right now, whoever you're living to please right now, when you get in the water, it stays in the water.

You die to it, and then we raise you up so you can walk in the life that God created you to.

Here's how I want us to think of this: baptism is resurrection.

Resurrection rehearsal.

Jesus ascended to heaven and promised he would come back and he would raise both the living and the dead.

That's happening for real.

And baptism matters because it's obvious and it's public and it's intentional.

You don't accidentally end up in the water.

You make a choice to say, today I'm dying.

And if I die, I can finally live.

And let me just tell you, because I've been on this path for a while, walking on the other side of that spiritual death, you're you're going to trip up.

You're going to sin.

You are going to make mistakes.

But you will not white knuckle that sin and white knuckle those mistakes and try to navigate yourself to those.

You will just walk in faith.

You will die to the pride that causes you not to confess your sins to others.

You will die to the pride that keeps you from putting accountability around your life.

You will die to the old way so you can walk into something new.

And if you're willing to do that, you are getting ready to step into a life of unimaginable power and purpose.

I've seen it in my life, I've seen it in my family, I've seen it in too many of y'all's life to not believe it.

God says it, I believe it.

So look, we're getting ready, man.

And for some of you, you have a step before this step.

You haven't started a relationship with your heavenly father by just simply putting your faith in Jesus.

And scripture tells us that your heavenly father loves you so much, and even though you've been running from him and rebelling from him, he has been pursuing you.

He has come after you, he stepped out of heaven and into this world.

He proved his love, and that while we were still sinners, he died for us.

And he says that with one moment of faith, our sins will be forgiven, all of them, past, present, and future.

With one moment of faith, we will be adopted into the family of God forever.

With one moment of faith, you will receive eternal life.

God loved the world so much that he sent Jesus so that everyone who believes in Jesus will never die, but will have eternal life.

That's what's on offer today.

And if the Holy Spirit has grabbed a hold of your heart and you don't have a relationship with your Heavenly Father, it's time.

You've lived long enough, you've tried enough things, it's time to submit yourself and put your faith in Jesus.

And then, maybe even today, some of you, double whammy, you're gonna believe in Jesus, and then you're gonna go get some shorts and a shirt and a towel, and you're gonna get in the water because you are going to become the kind of person who does what God asks you to do, and your life is gonna change.

Your family's life's gonna change.

The people around you are gonna change.

And you're gonna start doing what God created you to do, building his kingdom on the earth.

So before we get to it, let's pray together.

Bow your head right where you're at, close your eyes, create a little bit of space.

If you're here, you've never had that moment where you've put your faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit has gripped your heart, it will be undeniable.

You can ignore it, you can excuse it.

My advice is lean in.

With everyone's eyes closed, here's what I'm gonna ask for.

If you're ready today to put your faith in Jesus, I want to ask you right where you're sitting to raise your hand right now.

By raising your hand, you're saying, today I choose to put my faith in Jesus.

Today I choose a relationship with God.

Amen.

Amen.

For those raising a hand, God sees and accepts your faith.

Your sins are forgiven.

You are brought into relationship with Him.

What I want to do for those who raised a hand, I want to very, very simply help you acknowledge this moment through a prayer.

I'm gonna ask you to repeat this with me.

I'm gonna ask all the believers across our venues to repeat this as well.

Let's pray like this.

Jesus, today I choose to put my faith in you.

I believe you are God that you died for my sins and rose from the grave.

I thank you for loving me and for giving my sins.

Now let me pray over us.

Jesus, we love you.

You're moving, you're calling your children home.

Heavenly Father, you love us.

It's obvious.

And we're submitting to you.

I pray for those, getting ready to go in the water.

Those who registered and prepared, and those who just showed up and are gonna get in the water because they're obeying you.

God, I pray we would learn what it means to supernaturally die to our sins, to walk by faith into the life that you've given us.

We are ready to celebrate what you're doing here, God.

We are ready to celebrate.

We give all of it to you.

We thank you for all of it, and we pray it in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

Thanks so much for listening to the message today.

If this was helpful to you and you want to help us get the word out, you can subscribe to this podcast.

You can rate and review or share it with your friends.

If you want to get connected further with what MetaCurch is doing, you can go online to metachurch.tv.

There you can learn how to take next steps.

You can learn where our different venues are at if you ever wanted to visit, and you can also give financially to help push this movement forward.

Man, I love you guys and I hope you have a great rest of your day.