The New You in Christ Jesus

Bible Passage: 2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 12:1–2, Ephesians 4:22–24

Big Idea

Through faith in Christ, God doesn’t just give us a fresh start— He gives us a new heart, a new mind, and a new way of living.

Introduction

Christmas is a blessed time of the year. My favorite time of the year. The reality is that some would say here this morning in that we are so blessed, the family, the festivities, the food, and the friends and our faith, those special times of year are wonderful, but....I’m overspent, I’m over calendared and I’m overtaxed. Whoo....

Somewhere in those days that follow, along the path of cleanup, putting away, taking in the photos, the social media posts, the drive back in the car, there are look back moments. I call those times of reflection. You assess, you evaluate, we look at the accomplishments and...the failures.

Allow me to be direct.

Did you come to church today carrying the weight of who you’ve been in this year behind you? Maybe you’ve had an area of failure that just seems to get the best of you? Are you frustrated over a pattern you can’t seem to break? Oh yes, you made New year’s resolutions last year and the person you promised yourself you’d stop being didn’t come to fruition.

May I share with you an important truth of our life in Christ? There is a great promise in God’s Word. Your old person does not define you.

If you are in Christ, you are a new creation; the old has passed away, and all things have become new. (2 Cor 5:17)

Let me state the struggle:

If I’m this new person, this creation in Christ...why do I still feel stuck?

Why? Because transformation isn’t about willpower or annual resolutions. When you believe in Jesus Christ and are born again, a fundamental transformation occurs in your basic nature. Salvation is not improvement of what previously existed—it is total transformation.

This morning, we’re going to explore what it actually means to become the new you in Christ. Not someday. Not eventually. But now—in this new year, in this new season. We’ll discover that you’re not conformed to this world’s patterns, but transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom 12:1–2), and we’ll see exactly how to put off the old self corrupted by deceitful desires and put on the new self created in God’s image, in true righteousness and holiness. (Eph 4:22–24)

The question isn’t whether you can become the new you. You already are. The question is: will you live like it?

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.

Romans 12:1–2 NKJV

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Ephesians 4:22–24 NKJV

22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

Prayer

Message

Dr. Adrian Rogers tells this story:

Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive III. New Creatures

There’s an old story that I read maybe 50 years ago about a man who was a drunkard testifying on the street in a Salvation Army meeting. And this man had been just a drunk and Jesus saved him. And there was a heckler standing in the crowd and said, “Hey you, sit down. You’re just dreaming.” He felt somebody tugging at his coat. There was a pretty little girl down there who said, “Mister, let me tell you something. That man up there that is talking is my daddy. Daddy used to get drunk. He used to come home and slap my mother. We hardly had enough food to eat. I wore ragged clothes. Now you see that woman over there with the pretty smile on her face? That’s my mother. She’s so happy now. I wish you could see the house that we live in now, because the money doesn’t go to whiskey.” She said, “See this dress that I’m wearing? My daddy brought me this dress. Sir, if my daddy’s dreaming, don’t wake him up.”

It’s not a dream. It is real. We learn it in a New Testament. We receive a new birth. And then we become new creatures—new creatures.

Firstly, understand that in Christ we are completely new. And...you ask what does that mean?

1. Created Completely New

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

Our church happens to know this text well. We have studied 2 Corinthians on Wednesday nights for the last months and you had a lesson 3-4 weeks ago from 2 Corinthians. Before Paul ever says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation,” pastorally, he has carried a heavy load in his letter to the church at Corinth.

Paul wrote a painful, pastoral, heart wrenching letter to Corinth to combat false teachers, defend his ministry, defend his credibility, He addressed factions and the list goes on. And...deep within the confines of the struggles, the Corinthians were battling their old way of living.

Corinth was metropolitan to say the least. The people were hung up with status, success, their image to others, and self promotion. Sound familiar. Have things changed that much?

And, just like many of us, that value system didn’t disappear when the people of Corinth came to Christ. Those same habits, those same values, those same agendas followed them right into the center of church life.

In Chapters 4 & 5 Paul is helping them understand and helping us to understand the reality of:

What has really changed now that we belong to Christ?

Just before verse 17, Paul has been talking about:

Living by faith, not sight (5:7)

The coming judgment seat of Christ (5:10)

A life motivated not by fear, but by the love of Christ (5:14)

Then Paul makes this remarkable statement in verse 16:

“Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh…”

In other words:

We no longer see people the way the world sees people.

We no longer look at one that is saved based on his past, his or her failures, their prior reputation or what we perceive as their usefulness or lack therof.

And note something important: we are not to look at ourselves in that fashion.

The great Bass Singer Gene McDonald sings a song on the Gaither Videos entitled:

Thanks to Calvary, I Don’t live Here Anymore

… Today I went back to the place where I used to go Today I saw that same old crowd I knew before When they asked me what had happened I tried to tell them Thanks to Calvary I don't come here anymore Thanks to Calvary I am not the man that I used to be Thanks to Calvary things are different than before While the tears ran down my face I tried to tell them Thanks to Calvary we don't come here anymore Then we went back to the house where we used to live My little boy ran and hid behind the door And I said "Son, oh little boy, don't be afraid Because you got a brand new daddy now" Thanks to Calvary we don't live here anymore Thanks to Calvary I am not the dad that I used to be Thanks to Calvary things are different than before

V. 17

That’s when Paul drops this truth—not as a slogan, but as a conclusion:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation…”

This is Paul saying:

Your identity has changed

Your position has changed

Your relationship to your past has changed

Oh dear brother and sister everything changes for us and the key word to listen for is “in Christ.” We will discover it will not happen in your power.

Christianity doesn’t just give you a new direction. It gives you a new starting point.

Paul isn’t ignoring sin. He’s announcing redemption found in Christ Jesus.

He’s not minimizing the past. He’s declaring the power of sin is broken over your life.

This verse was written to believers who belonged to Christ— but who were still tempted to live like Corinth instead of Christ.

And that’s why this verse matters so much at the start of a new year.

Because the question is not:

Have you failed?

Have you struggled?

The real question is:

Are you still living from an identity Christ has already put to death?

So when Paul says, ‘If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation,’ he is not offering comfort language—he is declaring a spiritual reality. And if that reality is true, then it changes everything about how we live, how we think, and how we move forward into this new year.

Paul never leaves new identity hanging in the air. When God makes you new, He also calls you to live new. And that transition—from who we are to how we live—is exactly where Romans 12 begins.

2. Renewal Through Sacrifice

God’s Word states:

Romans 12:1–2 “1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Romans 12 is one of the most important turning points in all of Paul’s writing.

For eleven chapters of the Roman Road, Paul has been laying the foundation of the gospel:

Humanity’s sin and brokenness (Romans 1–3)

Salvation by grace through faith (Romans 3–5)

Freedom from sin’s power (Romans 6)

The struggle of the flesh (Romans 7)

Life in the Spirit (Romans 8)

God’s sovereign mercy and faithfulness (Romans 9–11)

And after all of that—after explaining what God has done—Paul finally says:

“I beseech you therefore…”

That word “therefore” matters.

Paul is saying:

Because of everything God has already done for you… here is how you respond.

Let’s talk for a moment about this verse in Romans 12 and what it is not about. It is not about earning God’s favor. It is about our response to God’s mercy.

Notice Paul didn’t threaten in any way. His tone is not abrupt or harsh. He appeals.

“By the mercies of God…”

In other words:

In view of the cross… in view of forgiveness… in view of grace…

Paul is stating to us that we will never be what we want to be by a guilt driven effort, it will only happen as we are “in Christ” is a worship-driven obedience to Him in love.

Rome was the center of power, pressure, and conformity to that world dominance self-pride system. Do you believe we have much of that as Americans being the most powerful country in the world? To live as a Christian in Rome meant resisting the cultural values of that day; not being swayed by political pressures or to live the life of the typical Roman and be guilty of moral compromise. A tall feat to say the least.

So when Paul says:

“Do not be conformed to this world…”

He’s speaking to believers who felt that pressure cooker of living the life of a Roman every single day.

And frankly—that sounds a lot like the world we live in now.

Living Sacrifice

What does the Scripture mean that we are to be living sacrifices?

Paul is describing a life of self surrender. We are no longer our own, we are wholly God’s property.

1 Corinthians 6:19 “19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”

Paul knew well the former Jewish life. He realized there was a mindset from the OT time of sacrificing of animals and sin offerings on the altar. They were to have a mind shift from the idea of cultural ritual of sacrifice to a whole person commitment lived out in daily existence

Oh listen dear church family this paradoxical shift is crucial to our understanding. When we become a “living sacrifice” (not a dead one), you and I take a literal death to self. What does that mean? When you die on the altar, you have no more rights of yourself—your wife, husband, children, car, home, ambitions, education, and business all belong to Him. There are no partial commitments in being a living sacrifice. God will not accept half sacrifices, but demands complete, total surrender with nothing held back.

Renewing of your Mind

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

When Paul uses the word “transformed” in Romans 12:2, he chooses a very specific word—metamorphōō. It’s where we get our English word metamorphosis.

Paul could have used a word that meant adjusted, modified, or improved. But he didn’t.

He used a word that means:

A change so complete that what comes out is fundamentally different from what went in.

The Caterpillar Moment

Most of us learned this in elementary school.

A caterpillar doesn’t just get wings glued on. It doesn’t attend a seminar on “How to Fly.”

It enters the cocoon—and everything changes.

Inside that cocoon:

The caterpillar’s old form dissolves

Its internal structure is reorganized

What emerges is not an upgraded caterpillar…

It’s a butterfly.

And here’s the key:

If the butterfly tried to live like a caterpillar, it would die.

Paul is saying:

You can be transformed on the inside—but if you keep thinking like the old you, you’ll keep living on the ground.

The renewed mind is what teaches the butterfly:

You don’t crawl anymore

You don’t cling to the ground

You don’t survive on leaves

You fly.

Colossians 3:1–2 “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.”

New identity → “raised with Christ”

Renewed mind → “set your mind”

New direction → “things above”

Let’s think for a moment in a way I believe we can greatly relate.

Think about moving from a landline phone to a smartphone.

If you only use it to make calls… If you never learn the apps… If you never change how you think about what it can do…

You’re holding something powerful but living like it’s limited.

That’s what an unrenewed mind does to a redeemed heart.

Renewing the mind is learning to think in alignment with what God has already done in your life.

Salvation changes your nature. Renewal changes your navigation.

2 Corinthians 3:18 “18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

Colossians 3:10 “10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,”

What have you assessed? Your finances, your health, your time spent, but are you making measurable assessments of your spiritual life?

3. Clothed in Christ's Righteousness

Ephesians 4:22–24 “22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

Paul uses the language of clothing—because everyone understands this.

Paul doesn’t talk about adding something to your life. He talks about changing what you’re wearing. Because what you wear affects how you live.

Put Off the Old Self

“Put off… the old man.”

Paul assumes something here—the old self is still hanging around. Not because it has authority, but because it’s familiar, its comfortable.

We all have “old clothes” we keep:

Comfortable

Familiar

But worn out and stained

Just because something feels comfortable, just because it is familiar, if it is stained does it mean you should wear it?

What attitude have you been wearing too long?

What sin keeps finding its way back into your life?

You don’t put off the old self by accident. You do it by repentance and obedience.

Be Renewed in the Spirit of Your Mind

“Be renewed…”

Here’s where many people skip a step.

You might say:

Paul doesn’t say, “Put off the old and immediately put on the new.” He says renewal happens in between.

This is the changing room. This is where thinking changes.

You will keep dressing like the old you if you keep thinking like the old you.

Bring Romans 12 connection briefly:

Renewal happens through truth

Scripture rewires the way we think

God doesn’t just change behavior—He changes belief.

Put On the New Self

“Put on the new man…”

Now comes the active choice.

Putting on the new self is not pretending. It’s aligning your life with what God has already made true in Christ.

You don’t put on the new self to earn righteousness. You put it on because you’ve been given righteousness.

Practical examples:

Forgiveness instead of bitterness

Integrity instead of compromise

Love instead of indifference

Every day, you decide which version of you shows up.

Ill.

I heard someone say once that when you get a new job, you don’t keep showing up in your old uniform. If you did, people would wonder if you even knew where you worked.

Imagine a police officer still wearing his old fast-food uniform. He may have the badge, but the clothes tell a different story.

Some believers have a new identity—but they’re still wearing the old uniform. And Paul says, “That no longer fits who you are.”

“Putting on the new you isn’t about acting religious—it’s about living in alignment with who Christ has already made you.”

Invitation

Paul assumes something in this passage—something we cannot skip. You cannot put on the new self unless you have first been made new in Christ.

Seeker

Some of you are trying to change your life without Christ—and you’re exhausted. The gospel is not an invitation to try harder. It is an invitation to be made new.

Have you ever been “in Christ”?

Have you ever surrendered your life fully to Him?

2 Corinthians 5:17 is a promise, its not pressure.

Today can be the day your old life ends—and new life begins.

Believer

And for those of us who know Christ—this new year is not about resolutions. It’s about obedience.

Stop wearing yesterday’s clothes

Stop living beneath your identity

Stop postponing obedience

“Live this year like who you already are in Christ.”

If God is calling you to salvation—come. If God is calling you to surrender—commit. If God is calling you to renewal—respond.

Let’s pray.