Dock Resource Kit
Sunday sermon, Easter Sunday, 20 April 2025
This week, on Easter Sunday, Phil spoke to us about resurrection life, drawing from Romans 6 and 8 and the image of baptism as a living picture of death and new life. With humour, depth, and clarity, he reminded us that baptism isn’t just symbolic — it’s a spiritual transformation that sets us apart, places us in community, and marks us outwardly with God’s love. We’re not just dipped, we’re pickled — deeply changed, soaked in grace. Resurrection life, Phil said, begins now. It looks like courage, kindness, and forgiveness in the ordinary places we live. And it’s good news for East London.
Dock Discussion Questions
Phil used the phrase “pickled in the love of God”. What does that image mean to you? In what ways has following Jesus changed your flavour or character?
Baptism is described as a communal act that makes us part of something bigger. How have you experienced Christian community as both beautiful and challenging?
Romans 8 says the same Spirit that raised Jesus now lives in us. What difference could that truth make in your daily life this week?
Resurrection life is described as forgiveness, courage, kindness, and getting up again. Which of those aspects feels most relevant to you right now – and where do you need God’s help to live it out?
Long-form, editted transcript
Pickled in Love
Romans 6:1–11; 8:10–11
Happy Easter!
Christ is risen — he is risen indeed!
It’s such a joy to be together, to celebrate.
To witness — real lives, real people, going into the water and rising up again. And now we get to talk about what this resurrection life is all about.
First we’re going to read together, Romans 6:1–11:
What shall we say, then? 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? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptizedinto Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 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.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him 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.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 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.
Our Journey Through Romans
Here at SPS, for the past ten weeks, we’ve been journeying through the book of Romans.
We’ve been going deep into God’s heart for the world.
Thinking about sin, forgiveness, freedom. We’ve looked at salvation and grace, at struggle and hope, the depths of human brokenness, and the heights of God’s mercy.
And today, we’re rewinding back to chapter 6, because right in the centre of the Paul’s letter, we find the very heart of the Christian faith.
Buried and Raised – The Core of the Gospel
Paul writes:
We were buried with Christ through baptism into death,
So that — just as Christ was raised from the dead —
We too may live a new life.
This is the core of the gospel:
Jesus didn’t just die for us — he died with us.
And he didn’t just rise for us — he rose with us.
There’s something mysterious and powerful here.
When Jesus died on the cross, it wasn’t just a moment in history — it was a moment that reached across time and space.
And we were included in that death.
And when Jesus rose from the grave,
He brought us with him into new life.
Shall We Keep On Sinning?
At the start of chapter 6, Paul asks a bold question:
“Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?”
In other words — if God is so forgiving, and Jesus has already done all this with us, does it even matter how we live?
And of course Paul answers, “No! By no means!”
Because something has changed.
God’s Grace isn’t just a rug to cover sin.
Grace is the power that kills sin and raises something new.
You died.
Your old self was crucified with Christ.
You don’t have to live all chained up anymore.
That shame that stalks you —
That habit you hate —
That part of your story you try to hide —
None of that defines you anymore.
Because Jesus doesn’t just forgive sin —
He breaks it.
He buries it.
And he brings you up out the other side, free of it.
What We’ve Just Seen
And that’s what we’ve just seen today.
Baptism is a living picture.
A dying and a rising.
A watery grave and a joyful resurrection.
It’s so much more that just getting wet.
Baptism tells the truth about what God is doing:
Not just washing us — but changing us.
Not just making us better — making us completely new.
Baptism and the Power of H2O
I often explain baptism with this little phrase: H2O.
Not just the chemical makeup of water —
But three ways God works through baptism.
One thing only God can do.
One thing only the Church can do.
And one thing only we can do.
H is for Holiness
To be holy means to be set apart.
God sets us apart because he loves us.
Only God can forgives us, fills us with his Spirit, and makes us new.
It’s a bit like… pickled onions.
Seriously, this favourite
In Ancient Greek, there’s a word for “dip” — and another for “baptise.”
A poet and physician named Nicander once described how to make pickles.
You dip an onion in water — but you baptise it in vinegar.
One is temporary. The other changes it forever.
Baptism is not just a quick dip.
It’s a soaking transformation.
We are changed.
New flavour. New identity.
Pickled in the love of God.
2 is for Together
Because faith is never just me and my Jesus.
It’s always us and Jesus.
Baptism is something only the Church can do.
It’s a sign that you belong to something bigger.
Not just here in this place. Not just today.
But you belong in the Church — past, present, and future.
In baptism, whether you speak English or Farsi, we’re welcomed into God’s global, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-generational family.
This is family… it’s messy and beautiful, it’s what we are baptised into.
We’re never on our own, it’s amazing. We really are in this together.
O is for Outward
Finally — baptism is Outward.
It happens on the outside to show what’s going on inside.
We call it a sacrament — an outward sign of an inward reality.
It’s water you can feel, to show the love you are soaked, that you can’t always see.
It speaks of cleansing, of new birth, of being washed and filled.
And this is the one thing only you can do, each one of us has to choose:
To turn. And trust.
To say yes to Jesus with your mind, in your heart.
To let him wash you, shape you, lead you, and go on leading you…
Resurrection Life Is Now
Because of course — it doesn’t stop with the water.
Baptism isn’t the end.
It’s the beginning.
Romans 6 says we are raised with Christ to live a new life.
Paul goes on to say in Romans 8, the same Spirit that raised Jesus now lives in you!
This is resurrection life — and it starts now.
You don’t have to wait until heaven to experience it.
It starts in your everyday, mortal, messy, beautiful life.
What Resurrection Life Look Like?
It looks like forgiveness — real, costly, life restoring forgiveness.
It looks like courage in the face of fear.
It looks like kindness even when it’s hard.
It looks like falling down and getting up again.
It looks like getting up, rising up, with Jesus, again and again.
This is what the Holy Spirit does:
Day by day, he lifts us, again and again, he raises us up.
Transforming us.
Makes us truly alive.
This Is Good News For East London
For Shadwell, Stepney, Poplar, Bow, Newham, Charlton — wherever.
It’s parents finding grace in the chaos of family life.
It’s difficult neighbours becoming friends.
It’s refugees finding a home.
It’s people discovering that they are loved, chosen, and called.
It’s pickled-onion Christians walking around the East End, full of flavour and life —
Transformed and marked by the love of God.
So What Now?
If you’ve just been baptised — today is your resurrection day.
Don’t forget it. Live in it.
If you were baptised long ago — today is a day to remember what it means.
Jesus is alive, and so are you!
You are set apart.
You are part of this family.
And his Spirit lives in you.
And if you’re still exploring, still wondering — perhaps today is a day to respond.
Because Jesus is still inviting you.
Into his death.
Into his life.
Into his love.
Let’s Pray
Jesus, thank you that you died for me and with me.
Thank you that you rose again.
Help me live this new life with you.
Make me holy, genuinely set apart for you.
Make me together, with your Church.
Make me outward focussed — showing your love in everything I do.
Amen.