Themes of Renewal

All Things News

In our last sermon series, we saw a recurring theme worth highlighting as we pivot to focus more on the coming Easter holiday: renewal.

Revelation 21:5–6 CSB

5 Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life.

As much as everyone focuses on destruction in Revelation, Creation is just as present.

We can see the themes of creation in the worship offered in the presence of God’s throne in Revelation 4.

Revelation 4:11 CSB

11 Our Lord and God, you are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, because you have created all things, and by your will they exist and were created.

Creation is critical —> Molds how we view Christ in our own lives

FIRST: Jesus is intrinsically connected to all of Creation and God’s role as “creator”.

John 1:1–5 CSB

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.

We think of Christ as the ‘savior’ but in doing so we forget that in Time Christ first existed as dominion over Creation.

SECOND: Jesus’s salvation is about recreation, not rehabilitation.

2 Corinthians 5:16–17 CSB

16 From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!

PAY ATTENTION TO THIS: When it is said we are “reconciled”, it isn’t because WE are reconciled on our own… but because CHRIST is reconciled… sullied with sin and then reconciled.

2 Corinthians 5:18–19 CSB

18 Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.

THEREFORE: Christ’s role in Creation explains the mechanics of His salvation.

What was created in us, we corrupted through sin

Christ achieved purity; He imparts that purity to us by making us new.

THIS EXPLAINS why united with Christ isn’t as simple as a transaction; it should lead to fundamental changes within us that cut to our very core of existence.

Christ can’t have “fundamentally recreated you” and remain a side-car amenity of your life.

Read Revelation 21:5-6 and John 1:1-5. Stop to consider the role of Christ as the “Creator” and how that influences the way you see what He did on the cross. 1) What are ways you can see Christ being a ‘Creator’ throughout the Bible? 2) Read 2 Cor 5:16-19. Can you see a difference between God “saving you in your sinful state” versus God “making you a new Creation” in this? How can seeing grace as Christ making you “new” cause you to act differently versus if Christ was simply rehabilitating your sinful self? Would that change the impact of things like ‘guilt’ and ‘shame’ in your life if you weren’t really made “new”?

Making Sense of “Born Again”

This leads us to the rhetoric of being “Born Again”; why must we be “born again”?

John 3:1–6 CSB

1 There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.” 3 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 “How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Nicodemus struggles —> Doesn’t fully understand who Christ is.

Sees Christ is “of God” but still sees Him as a teacher

Christ draws distinction between born of ‘flesh’ and born of ‘spirit’.

What does it mean to live as someone ‘born’ for certain things?

Born of flesh —> Driven by needs, desire, reason. … what edifies the flesh.

Born of spirit —> Driven by worship, calling … what edifies the spirit.

In both cases —> Driven by sustainment of the thing which ‘borne’ you.

Read John 3:1-6 and ask yourself how seeing Christ as the king of ‘Creation’ makes the concept of being ‘born again’ make a bit more sense. 1) What does someone “born of the flesh” live for? What are their priorities? 2) How does this differ from someone “born of the spirit”? 3) What is other rhetoric that we see applied to Christ which makes a bit more sense when we think of Him as having dominion over ‘Creation’ and ‘life’ (example, ‘source of living water’)? What other themes around Easter time remind of of Christ’s creator-role?

Examine your own life and ask, “What is your driving force and what does it point towards as your own Creation?”

Are you living your life in a way which promises sustainment of your flesh, or sustainment of your soul?

What do your inner “drives” indicate regarding your state of being “born again”?