A New Creation

Scripture Passage

2 Corinthians 5:17–21 (NLT)

17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

Focus Statement

Through Jesus, God makes us a new creation –

but not just us!

God makes everything new and entrusts us to take action that it might be so.

Point of Relation

Right now, i am in the midst of a transition…

Packing, cleaning, receiving the new pastoral leadership…all of the things that go with as pastoral transition…

We are going through saying goodbye to what we are familiar with…

ministry at First UMC of Newton…

our Newton UMC family…

and beginning to get ready to meet and fall in love with a new church family.

It is hard for pastors, myself especially included, to go through this transition…

because it means saying goodbye to what is familiar and comfortable…

and saying hello to “God knows what.”

Things to Consider

Friends, Easter people are those who see what others don't see.

They grab hold of the new life, the hope, where others may not see anything out of the ordinary.

They are the ones who announced the beginning of God's new creation,

compelled to serve and love others because they had first known the love of God in Jesus.

How well are we, as a church,

announcing God’s new creation in word, action, and how we live our lives?

Maybe we have had a hard time letting go of the old or embracing the new.

Maybe we are held back by fears of what change or new life will look like and mean?

Maybe we are content to embrace new life inwardly,

but there is a disconnect when it comes to living it out,

taking on our responsibility to “become the righteousness of God” in the world for others.

Or, maybe we just need to hear again the good news

that we are both recipients and ambassadors of Jesus’ new creation,

a creation whose breadth we often underestimate.

What Scripture Says

God has brought about a new creation through Jesus—

a continuous and ongoing process,

not confined to the past.

This transformation is happening, has happened, and will continue to happen when we are "in Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

When we abide in Christ today,

we receive both blessings and responsibility.

A couple of weeks ago we talked about how God blessed humankind with abundant provision

and gave us a special responsibility of stewardship (providing for and sustaining the earth) at creation.

Now, as we are made new creations, so again do we receive blessing and responsibility through Christ.

So let’s look at the Blessing we receive:

Through Jesus, our relationship with God has been reconciled

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:18 “18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.”

In other words, Jesus has taken charge of our relationship with God,

and it originates from God's love.

God’s love for the world finds its fulfillment in Jesus

as we see in John 3:16, in which Jesus teaches us

“For this is how God loved the world:

He gave his one and only Son,

so that everyone who believes in him

will not perish

but have eternal life.”

He is the embodiment and revelation of God's love.

Through Jesus,

God fulfills God’s freely-taken responsibility to be our creator, redeemer, and sustainer,

despite our falling away.

2 Corinthians 5:17 “17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

As we are “made new people,”

refashioned in Christ,

the old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (verse 17).

What does this mean?

Think of who you were without Christ….

Think of the sins you struggle with…

Perhaps you struggle with anger, insecurities, vanity, addiction, you name it….

Who were we before Christ came into your life…

Those things don’t all just disappear overnight,

But Christ has sparked a new Creation in you…

Where you begin to look more like Christ and less like your old self with your old hangups.

Even the desire to change comes from our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Our relationship with Christ begins to change us at every level…

Not just int he realm of our sins and hangups.

It changes how we look at other people,

who and what we prioritize,

The disciplines we practice.

The way in which we behave and carry ourselves.

How we use the resources we have.

On EVERY LEVEL.

Which brings us to our Responsibility:

The passage talks about our responsibility in this “new creation” several times.

Christ “has given us the ministry of reconciliation,” as we see in v.18

In verse 19, Christ “entrust[s] the message of reconciliation to us,”

we are called “ambassadors for Christ” in v. 20,

and in Jesus, “we might become the righteousness of God,” as we see in v. 21.

Just as, through Jesus, God took on the responsibility of reconciling and renewing our relationship to God,

so too does this responsibility extend to us.

As followers of Christ, we are at the heart of a broken world that yearns for God, its creator.

The world – including humanity, animals, birds, fish, habitats, all of creation –

needs God, and God has made Christians aware of the responsibility we carry to represent God to the world.

Our power lies in the transformative work that Christ has accomplished.

When we embrace this good news as our own responsibility, we begin to see the world we inhabit in a new light.

Just as God's responsibility finds fulfillment in Jesus,

our responsibility is to work towards reconciling and restoring the world to God.

As ambassadors of Christ, we carry the message of reconciliation and actively participate in God's salvation work in the world.

This salvation is for humanity – but not just humanity – it is for all God’s creation.

Through Christ, we have been entrusted with the task of being agents of love, hope, peace, and healing

in a broken world,

and in doing so, we bring God's kingdom come.

What This Means for You

Just as, through Jesus, the old passes away and the new is created in us as individuals and communities,

what are some old (or sinful) ways of relating to our environment and the creatures in it that must “pass away” for the new?

Let me Invite you all, new and more experienced disciples alike, to consider how God is shaping you into a new creation.

What new thing is God doing in your lives?

What new thing is God encouraging them to take on?

As we are made new in Christ, God is shaping us to meet specific needs in our communities and in the world.

How can we become ministers of “new creation” in and to our environment?

Let me stress that a new creation begins in each of us,

through Jesus,

but that it doesn’t stop in or with us.

Through us, that a hurting world learns of its need for God.

And it is through us that God brings about a new creation.

What This Means for Us

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said,“The church is the church only when it exists for others,” (Letters and Papers from Prison).

Let me ask this, is our church existing for others?

Pause

For Instance, why do we do the ministries we do?

Is it to get more members, to become a more active-looking church, to fill the pews?

Or are we existing to fill and serve people’s needs and to bring them to our Lord Jesus Christ?

What is our end goal?

Is it self-centered or people-centered?

Pause

I think when you reflect on our church we can see both areas where we can still grow even more people-centered…

And yet, we are people-centered here.

Treasures of hope helps support our ministries, but we also give stuff away to people who are in need and have minimal resources.

Our on-going support of the Weekend Bag Program is 100% people focused.

As are our Potluck Suppers. Our hosting of the Boy Scouts.

Our serving at Manna House…the list goes on.

Our responsibility in and to the world is not merely individual,

it's a shared responsibility for all of us.

And this responsibility doesn't only include humans; it extends to all of God's creation.

What is our responsibility, as a congregation, to God's ongoing creation?

Pause

For me, personally, I am going to continue to do my part in lowering my carbon footprint and eating sustainably.

As a vegan, this last part is really important to me because I realize that food waste,

and supporting too many processed foods,

does real damage not only to my health, but to the amount healthy, whole, sustainable food that is available to the rest of the world.

I will also be continuing to lead in a way that promotes eco-consciousness.

For education is key to change.

Friends, if together we all do our part, the impact will be significant.

We are called to all recognize our special responsibility as caretakers to all God created

And to do our part in heralding in THE New Creation. Amen? Amen.