Newness in Life

John’s gospel spends much time with revealing to us the words Jesus shared with His disciples on the last night in the upper room as they partook of the last supper together. They would ultimately head out of that room toward the Garden of Gethsemane and Jesus would be carried to the cross in less than hours.

Jesus shared in one place in John these words:

In John 16:1 “1 “These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble.”

Later, a few verses down, he tells the disciples not to lose sight by focusing on the wrong thing.

John 16:5 “5 “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’”

In other words, He proceeds to share in those verses of a Helper, the Holy Spirit who will come and guide them in their journey.

I almost sense that Jesus was saying rather than being overly stimulated by where I am in the moment, spend more time focusing on where you are going. Where are you?

For you see dear brother or sister, its always important to know where we are in our spiritual wellbeing.

To accomplish that, we must revisit the foundation upon which our spiritual wellbeing rests, and we know that to be Jesus. Amen?

We clearly understand that when a young child accepts Christ, they have their whole life in front of them. The freshness of Christ is so real and surreal, so vibrant, so fulfilling, such joy and they just permeate Jesus.

But Brother Luke, I’ve been a Christian more than 40 years. I come to church, I go to SS, I try to participate and give my offering, but I feel that I’m not really going forwards or particularly backwards, I just lack zest. I just feel I’m going through the motions. Brother Luke, if I’m erring anywhere, it is staying obedient to being here in church and hoping that God will honor my obedience. My hope is that someday, just on the right message that the Lord will arrest my soul and I will regain my zeal for the Lord.

Is that is your testimony this morning?

Oh dear brother, dear sister, the Lord honors your obedience and He will be found faithful.

1 Samuel 15:22 “22 So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.”

The reality is that everyone at one time or another experiences spiritual drought.

The pilgrimage of the Christian is times of we call “backsliding.” Backsliding does not have to be with as much wayward living as the fact your heart is not here, not with the Lord in the moment.

But God bless you for staying the course, staying on course. The Lord will always be found victorious when you are faithful and steadfast.

-This morning, you may have these thoughts in your mind as I share:

Brother Luke, it hasn’t always been like this. I have had a longstanding battle with health, and it has taken my steam. Or, maybe you might say that I lost a loved one and I understand by aptitude that everyone grieves differently, and grieving is a real process, yet experientially, I just can’t seem to get past this state I’m in. Or, you may simply say that I have allowed this roller coaster called life to run away with me, and I have become so busy that life just seems to be flying by to meet all my obligations. I just really haven’t taken time to fill my spiritual filling station. And, there could be other myriads of reality that have placed you where you find yourself this morning.

My prayer for you this morning is that you sense purpose, you have a mission, you have a reason to roll out of bed every morning, that you have a hop in your step, that life has “newness, freshness, zeal.”

Our aim this morning is to seek how to keep the freshness, how to have the zeal for the Lord, “the newness found in Christ”.

If you have your Bibles this morning, I want you to turn in your Bible to:

2 Corinthians 5:17; Colossians 3:1-11

Scripture Reading

2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Colossians 3:1–11 NKJV

1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. 5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. 8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

Prayer

Message

Let me just ask you this morning. Do you want to regain the fire for the Lord? Do you want a freshness, a zeal found in Christ? It’s available to you today. In seeking that let’s reflect upon some truths from the word of God this morning.

Let’s reflect for a moment on the basic truth at the time we were born again:

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV) 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Creation-ktisis meaning a new building, a new formation, a newly created person.

With Christ, all things have become new.

ginomai

Usage Notes: "to become," signifies a change of condition, state or place.

We embark upon a doctrinal fact this morning that when you first fell in love with Christ and asked Him to come into your heart, you wrote a new chapter. All your past was behind you. Your sin slate, past, present, and future was wiped clean and you had a new start. Reality. Theologically sound, it’s a fact.

Let’s travel to the other end of the spectrum for a moment. You have the wisest man that ever lived outside God Himself that walked the earth and of course I am speaking of Solomon.

1 Kings 4:29–30 “29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. 30 Thus Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt.”

He stated these words in Ecclesiastes:

Ecclesiastes 1:9–10 “9 That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. 10 Is there anything of which it may be said, “See, this is new”? It has already been in ancient times before us.”

It has already been in ancient times before us.

Now obviously we are discussing the OT. We are listening to words of Solomon as one that having lived “life under the sun” that no, in fact there isn’t newness, there is nothing around the corner or over the hill that brings zeal, vitality or freshness outside of God. There is nothing in this world separated from God that brings those attributes to life. Solomon says, it’s not found. It doesn’t exist. I tried smarts, I tried money, I tried power, I tried recognition, I tried sex, none of it brought about lasting zeal.

Ecclesiastes 1:2 (NKJV) 2 "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher; "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."

I imagine Solomon wrote these words on the backside of life as he made detours from God. Life taught him many lessons.

You have before you an important truth that when we accept Christ, we are a new creation, behold all things become new. Present perfect indicative tense. It’s a fact. And, you are continuing in newness with each passing day.

Solomon had God’s hand upon him in writing the wisdom writings of the Bible and he states “vanity, vanity, all is vanity” when we live outside of Christ. Solomon did figure it out at the end in Ecclesiastes 12:13:

Ecclesiastes 12:13 (NKJV) 13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man's all.

We know doctrinally we are a new life in Christ. Fact. Experientially, we realize we can make poor choices and life can be futile to say the least, so what is the answer?

Another important truth that we would be well suited to reflect upon is found in Romans 6:4:

Romans 6:4 (NKJV) 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Romans 7:6 (NKJV) 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

This NT doctrinal verses written by Paul reminds us that we have a part, we play a role in experiencing the newness found in Christ. Why is that?

Do you remember back at the garden of Eden? Man was not created as robots. God allowed man “free will”, we are given “choice”.

God wants you to choose to love Him, God wants you to choose to follow Him, God wants you to choose to abode with Him.

We make a choice to live in newness of life in Christ.

What are the steps this morning that we can embrace that newness, that vitality that freedom found in Christ?

We can comprehend by aptitude this new face we have in Christ, but to flesh that out Monday through Saturday where we live in day out can have its challenges, how do we keep the zest?

Paul wrote both to the church at Ephesus and to the church of Colossae. He divided both letters in half. Half is doctrine and half is how to apply those truths.

Specifically, in Colossians, Chapters 1-2 are doctrinal in nature where Paul teaches that Christ is the head of the church. He makes clear that Christ is our all. In chapter 3 that we find ourselves this morning, he writes a practical application in keeping Christ at the center of our lives. The Bible teaches us to keep the newness in Christ.

1. Center Your Thoughts in Heavenly Places VV. 1-4

Paul writes what we term a conditional statement. If you were truly raised with Christ in baptism and referring to other texts he wrote. If your salvation experience was genuine, then you will “should walk in newness of life in Christ”. Let’s look at how we do it. Firstly,

You center your thoughts in heavenly places.

Colossians 3:1-2 (NKJV) 1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

When you were converted in Christ, a newness was instilled in you. The Lord offers us the drive to pursue and strengthen with each passing day. We must insulate ourselves from the world by being absorbed in Jesus. Our aim is to think like Jesus, talk like Jesus, respond as Jesus would respond, and act as Jesus would act. How is that? You have left your former life and love and you have a new love. Like any love, we pursue that love. Philippians 2:5 reaffirms the thought Paul is making here:

Philippians 2:5 (NKJV) 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

Is Paul strictly writing about a way of thinking? Absolutely not. Paul is encouraging us to have the same value system Jesus has and love the same things Jesus loves. We realize that what defiles us is that that’s embedded in our hearts. Our mouth reflects our thinking.

Mark 7:15 (NKJV) 15 There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man.

Listen to me dear brother and sister this morning. When you accepted Christ, two things should come about based upon these verses:

1. You have a different moral compass.

2. You have a different mental center point.

Gal 2:20 — I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

When you and I make the choice that we want to live above the muck of life and we step out in faith and ask the Lord to help, He will.

Jesus is with the disciples at the last Supper before the cross and He is sharing last words, eternal words to carry these disciples and to carry you and I.

John 16:1–15 NKJV

1 “These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. 3 And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. 4 But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. “And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you. 5 “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. 12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

Eph 1:19 — and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.

The Lord has the power to keep our minds stayed in Him.

There is a different vantage point when we see things from above rather than at ground level. There are vantage points high enough that you can see the beginning and the end of a road, a river, a township, etc.

The first thing people do on an interstate when there has been a bad accident ahead and traffic is backed up is to get up high on a truck and see ahead the outcome.

When we live our lives as Jesus in heavenly places, His Word provides us as Paul Harvey used to say, “the rest of the story.” Guess what? I’ve read the rest of the story and we win; we are victorious, the outcome is glorious. Knowing the outcome changes how you are pressured in the process.

Two suggestions I would make to keep our minds in heavenly places.

1. Make prayer a priority.

Philippians 4:4-7 (NKJV)

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Meet with Jesus at the beginning of every day. Start your day with Jesus before the world and Satan ever has opportunity to intervene.

How do we meet with Jesus? Talk to Jesus, pray. Pray both speaking and listening. Furthermore, when you do not know what to pray, read His Scriptures and they will trigger your prayers. Begin lingo with Jesus. Furthermore, we learn how he thinks by reading His Story.

2. Keep positive.

Philippians 4:8 (NKJV)

8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things.

2. Cover Your Transgressions of Past vv. 5-10

When you and I came to know Christ and we had to go back to our homes, our jobs, our work, our civic groups, etc., nothing changed about them or the settings, what changed is us. What we must do is be repentant to those things in which we walked, those sin areas of our lives.

We are reminded what repentance is. Repentance is that 180 degree change of direction.

When we fall in love with Christ, we still face family, friends, coworkers, our hobbies, our leisure, etc.

Paul states:

Colossians 3:5 (NKJV) 5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

All the same temptations are staring you in the face every day when you leave the church. In many cases, you even face them in the house you live. Certain family members, certain coworkers, neighbors and the like can push your buttons. Satan can use the people that are right around you sometimes to bring you down.

Paul tells us to “put it to death” and he provides a list of our former natures or sins that we face: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry.”

Unfortunately, I have had more experience that I would desire in “putting to death” many people over my years as a pastor. How do we do it?

We have a funeral for a person. You experienced a funeral when you were baptized that depicted a burial to a former life. You were raised to walk in newness of life. The baptism is a celebration. Usually, after a funeral the church will provide a fellowship for the family, a great meal, and then slowly the cars depart and the closest individual to the person that is decease goes to the home and begins the process of bringing closure to an old chapter and starting the new chapter. They go and get the letters of their passing to inform different agencies. Social security, their bank, and the list goes on. You make a formal declaration to your peers, your family and friends that you have died to your old way and you make that declaration.

Secondly, you begin to look in the house in a slow, methodical fashion, the person begins to face death and begins to discard the things of the deceased. You don’t do it overnight, but you begin to quit doing those things you did in your former life. It’s a process. It doesn’t happen overnight. Like the emotions over one that died. You have emotional highs and lows on different days. Some days go well, and others are tough. You are still adapting to the new lifestyle and sin creeps in on a given day. But with each passing day you begin to develop a new life, a new chapter without that one that was in your past.

-Sonar, Depth Finder-It helps me see what is below, structure, terrain, grass, fish, etc. When we live above life and look down below saturated in Jesus, we have clear vision of those things that need removing from our lives. God’s Word read gives us 20/20 perception to the sin in our lives.

Note: You can’t accomplish point 1 without addressing point 2 first.

Ill. Story of fellow pastor at conference-”some 75% of women have had some form of sexual abuse.”

Paul helps us by reminding us of two things that will help us put to death our past lifestyle.

1. Discipline. The Lord loves us enough that He will discipline us when we fail, and He will get our attention v. 6

2. Dwelling. Don’t live in a climate of sin and expect to survive. V. 7 Paul stated that you walked in those sins of past due to one important fact, you lived around it. You need to flee from those places, people, circumstances that pull you down.

This morning if I look like I had a Botox injection, I did. I put on 3 lbs in three days at this conference I was at. I’ve never eaten so much in all my life. My fault. Food was everywhere and all the time. There was a joke among us, “is it time to eat again?” There is temptation at every turn. Food is all around. The way that works best for me is that if its not in the house, I can’t eat it. Same with sin. Remove whatever it is that pulls you into your former life.

In verse 10, “continue in the new man that is renewed in the image of Him who created you”. Simply put, saturate your mind in Jesus.

The secret must be that Christ is “your all in all.”

3. Christ is the Totality of Your Path v. 11

Colossians 3:11 (NKJV)

11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

What does verse 11 mean?

Christ finds your ethnic, cultural, or social background irrelevant. He is your answer regardless of your standing.

Regardless of your background, regardless of your educational standing, regardless of the side of the tracks you were raised, regardless how heinous the sins you’ve committed, yes, you, yes you can have newness in life.