Joy of Newness

Intro:

Things that are new:

Best new Christmas gift

Best recent invention

Best invention of your lifetime

Best invention of all time

Most folks we know … ready for a new year … leave the old one behind … hard year for many

Economy, politics, family, health, friendships

Lots of hard

And so we get to today … 1st day of the New Year … and we hope for at a minimum a better year than last year … at least not a worse year

As Followers of Jesus … who is the same Yesterday, Today & Forever … who is the author of time … alpha & Omega, Beginning & End

We don’t have to put all of our hopes in the new … the fadish … the novel

The Good News of Jesus … God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life … that “old news” is still good news, still the best news

But … we know our history … we know our families history … we know our nations history … we see sin, disease, death … and we rightly long for things to be made new

Scriptures say that old things are passing away ...

Revelation 21:5-6 “And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.”

Ever have a pair of old socks … gross ones, with the soles worn out, you wore them outside and they got gross and dirty, and you hid them under your bed

You don’t just need those fixed up … you don’t just need those ones tossed in the washer and they will be sparkling clean

No … you need entirely new ones … fresh from the plastic wrap … never worn

And so today … the Lord has given us a gift … wrapped up … brand new … still in the wrapper

And so it is good for us to be together this morning … celebrating this New Year

And my prayer is that 2023 would be an excellent year … a year of knowing the Lord … maybe for the 1st time … maybe for the 2nd or 3rd … maybe for the 40th or 50th of following Jesus

This morning I want to quickly walk us through 3 big ideas

#1 - What Is This Great Transformation?

A) Transformed Relationship w/God

The Bible tells us that mankind was made in perfection … physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual … everything worked, and everything was good

But sin happened … selfishness, self-centeredness, mankind put themselves above one another, above creation, above God Himself … and broke it … broke the perfection …

All that white snow last week … beautiful, pure … and then someone walks in it, drives through it, salt, dirt, shoes … dog goes out … pees in it … and it isn’t pure, white, pristine anymore

All those trouble we are remembering from 2022 … broken relationships, financial hardships, physical pain and disease … results of sin … ours, others … all the way back to Adam and eve’s …

But Jesus did something new … Jesus came, Jesus was born, Jesus lived a perfect life … and Jesus paid the debt for all that sin, the sins of the whole world … He took them upon Himself …

Mankind had been and even is often still trying to make God like us … can we do enough good stuff

but Jesus made all things new … He gave us a new covenant, a new relationship, a new way of being close to him

Galatians 4:7 “So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

For some folks 2023 will be the year when they start a new job … why do we work?

We want to get paid … we want wages …

the biggest change in this great transformation is that we no longer work for wages … we are no longer slaves, employees, we aren’t labor … we are family, we are adopted … the dynamics of our relationship with God have changed … we aren’t trying to impress him, make him like us, hope we are good enough

“What did one raspberry say to the other? I love you berry much.”

“What did the magnet say to the fridge? You’re attractive.”

“What did the barista say to their crush? I like you a latte.”

“What flower is the best at kissing? Tulips.”

“Is your name WiFi? Because I feel a connection.”

“Are you a parking ticket? Because you’ve got fine written all over you.”

“Why did the melons get married in a church? Because they cantaloupe.”

What did the two prunes call their dinner plans? A date.”

“They say kissing is a love language. Do you want to start a conversation?”

We want to impress people … funny, attractive, promising future … we take showers, wear deodorant, fix our hair and our makeup, but new shirt … but once we get married, they see us before we take a shower, they smell our breath before we’ve brushed our teeth

God says … I am transforming our relationship … you are family … I see exactly who you are … and I choose you, today, tomorrow, forever

B) Transformed Relationship w/Ourself

-In the power of the HS we get a new life, with all the new feelings, and new desires, and new works

-Our minds, desires, hopes … are all transformed

Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Our new, our renewed minds … know what God’s will is … know what is good and acceptable and perfect

C) Transformed Relationship w/Our World

We don’t think the same about things

Things that used to look wise … fashionable …

Wrong side of history … Jesus changes which side we want to be on

We don’t primarily care which side won an election, or a popularity contest … we get to quit caring who got the most likes, thumbs up …

Matthew 20:16 “So the last will be first, and the first last.”

Jesus turns things upside down and inside out

I used to hate brussel sprouts, asparagus, coffee … but as I have grown up … I know not only like them, but I would choose them

Jesus transforms us … things we used to “hate” become things we love … and things we used to “love” become things we hate

hate getting up early and having to go to church … and know we love it, we long for it, we miss it when it doesn’t happen, we need the connection, the relationships, the love for one another

some of us used to love - partying, getting drunk, sleeping around, loved being sarcastic/mean/making others feel small … and now …

If your HS friends could see you now … if your college friends could see you now … Jesus transforms us … and not just in a cleaned up kind of way … I love being generous … I love giving more than receiving … I love serving … singing, preaching, the word of God

One of my very favorite memories is when I was in Ukraine … was simply spending time with this group of young men, they would go with us each day into the village … we each had one assigned to us … we were teaching them how to share the gospel … and at breakfast and at lunch we would all sit together … and the difference between these young men and the other men we would meet during the day was so dramatic

You would say if you didn’t know that the Ukraine people were stoic, quiet, reserved, stone faced and hard … and they were … but these young men had been drug addicts, big sinners, they had done it all … and Jesus moved into their circle and you could tell … everything about them was transformed … they laughed, smiled, kind, gentle, appropriately affectionate, warm … you could see the life in their eyes and faces

Isaiah 55:12 ““For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”

Our stone hearts … our rooted feet … our cold affections … tranformed … break into singing, shout an amen, raise your hands …

#2 - What does it mean to Behold? And Why should we?

a) what does it mean?

simply … pause and look - look, listen, pay attention

b) Why should we?

simplest answer … Jesus tells us too … and frankly that’s enough … but I don’t think Jesus is arbitrary … so He has a reason

there is a profit in it for us

If Jesus makes all things new - then new life is possible for you!

If you sit here this morning … and you haven’t experienced this … you can, Jesus is offering you this new life today, 2023 can be the year you come alive … the year you find eternal life

If you can sense your life of darkness, brokenness this morning … that is the Lord calling you into the light … into wholeness and healing

Your age … you might be 5 or 15, or 25, or 70 … Behold, He makes all things new … there is no limit on all … regardless of you past … He can and will transform your future

there is a new way of living in it for us

you may sit here today wanting a new life, wanting a different life

We have seen many transformed into new parents and new children. Friends have said in wonder, "What a change in John! What a difference in Ellen!"

We have seen men become new husbands, and women become new wives. They are the same persons, and yet not the same.

Grace works a very deep, striking, and lasting change. Ask those that have had to live with converted people whether the transformation has not been marvelous.

Christ makes us new sons & daughters, new spouses, new employees and bosses, new friends, new brothers, and new sisters. The Lord can so change us that we shall scarcely know ourselves.

Jesus knows exactly who you are, and who you have been … in the dark, when no one else is watching or can see … we often believe, and some times it is even true … that no one knows the real me … and if they did … look out, you wouldn’t like me, you would reject me, you wouldn’t want me here at your church, or sitting at your table or shaking your hand … but Jesus does know you, God sees you … for who you really are … best day, worst day

I know that many of us are sitting here today … and we’ve been asking and writing it down, and filling it out … here is my resolution, here is what I am going to change, here is my goal

the vast majority of us will fail … typically by the time you get here next Sunday

you need a power that is outside of yourself … you don’t need a subtle change … you don’t need a new coat of paint … rattle canned onto the rusty wheel well of your life …

you need to be made new …

Behold I Make All Things New

that can be true for you today

that can be true for your marriage

that can be true for your relationships

that can be true for your eternity

that can be true for your friends

that can be true for your spouse

let’s pray together