Love that Makes All Things New

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

Engagement

Many years ago when Mary and I were living in Albuquerque, I participated in an evangelism training program called Evangelism Explosion. As part of that training, we were taught to ask two “diagnostic questions” when presenting the gospel:

Have you come to the place in your spiritual life where you can say you know for certain that if you were to die today you would go to heaven?

Suppose that you were to die today and stand before God and he were to say to you, "Why should I let you into my heaven?" what would you say?

At the time, I could definitely see the value of those questions in helping to determine where a person was spiritually, but over the years I’ve come to believe that the weakness of that approach is that it only focuses on the future, and doesn’t have a lot of relevance for the present.

So while I am thankful for the training I received, and I still use some of the things I learned from time to time, I’ve come to understand much better that my relationship with Jesus is not merely about what happens to me when I die, but that it’s also extremely relevant to my life right here and now.

Tension

So perhaps, in hindsight, it would have been better to share today’s message last week and then follow up with last week’s message today. But since I can’t go back and change time, we’ll just have to proceed as I originally planned.

Today’s message is the third and final message in our current sermon series that began on Easter - This Is Love. We have been exploring how the love that God demonstrated through the death and resurrection of Jesus impacts our lives.

We began on Easter by talking about the love that forgives my sin. And we saw there that the resurrection of Jesus makes it possible for Him to continue to pursue me to forgive my sins, even if I continue to fail Him.

Then last week, we talked about the love that conquers death. We saw that the resurrection makes it possible for death to become a friend rather than an enemy. And that message focused on how the resurrection of Jesus is our guarantee that one day when we die, we will get a transformed resurrection body.

As important and encouraging as that message was, my guess is that some of you are probably thinking that’s all fine and good, but how does the resurrection impact my life right now? How does it help me in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis when I’m isolated from family and friends. How does it help me while I’m home all day with my kids and I have to be their teacher as well as their parent? How does that help me when I’ve been laid off from my job or my hours or pay has been cut? Those are all fair questions to ask, and I’ll try to answer them the best I can today.

Truth

Although I’m primarily going to focus on just one verse of Scripture this morning, I want to make sure that we place it in its proper context. So if you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them up to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Last week we were in 1 Corinthians, so if you remember where that is, 2 Corinthians is the next book after that. If you’re not sure where to look , don’t worry, the verses will be on the screen.

2 Corinthians 5:16–21 ESV

16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The verse we’re going to focus on this morning is verse 17, so let me read it once again. And just to help us remember that I want to encourage you to go ahead and read that out loud as I read it.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Here is the big idea we’re going to develop from this passage today:

The resurrection doesn’t just enable me to turn over a new leaf, it makes it possible to live a new life

Most of us periodically evaluate our lives and develop goals to make changes in our lives. And we often refer to that as “turning over a new leaf”. Sometimes that involves ceasing to engage in some activity or behavior I am doing now - maybe to quit eating junk food or get rid of some addictive behavior. Other times it means that I begin doing something that I’m not currently doing - like exercising regularly or learning a new skill. It seems there is some of that going on right now while people have extra time on their hands.

And, depending on how disciplined I am, I might actually be able to sustain those changes for a while. But if you’re anything like me you’ve discovered that is not easy.

And let’s face it, even if I could make those changes permanent, most of them are really pretty superficial. They primarily deal with external things. But the resurrection makes it possible for me to be transformed into a completely new person from the inside out, and that is far better and far more significant than just turning over a new leaf.

This week I did some research on the life cycle of a butterfly and what I found is that process has some very close parallels with how God wants to change us, and how the resurrection makes that possible. In fact, the word metamorphosis that we use to describe that process comes from the Greek word that is usually translated “transformed” throughout the New Testament when referring to to this process of life change.

The butterfly begins life as a very small round, oval or cylindrical egg. Some eggs are so transparent that if you look closely, you can even see the tiny caterpiller growing inside. Physically, our lives also begin with an egg.

But when the egg hatches, we do not see a butterfly emerge, do we? Instead a larva, which we usually call a caterpillar, comes forth. This stage of life is fairly short. During this stage the caterpiller doesn’t do much of anything except eat. It is really self-centered and is of no benefit to those around it. It doesn’t even eat other pests.

That is the perfect illustration of your life and mine before we were transformed by Jesus. We were self-centered and lived only for ourselves. No one has to teach us to do that, right? Just think of it, when we are born, we are totally self-centered. All we want is for someone to feed us and change us and bathe us and rock us to sleep. Everything is all about me. And although we would like to think we outgrow that stage, all we have to do is look to social media and the proliferation of “selfies” to see that just isn’t true.

But fortunately for us, Jesus didn’t see us as we are, but rather as the people He wants us to become. That’s why He looked at a tax collector named Levi and saw an apostle, one who would author the first gospel. He looked at an uneducated fisherman named Peter and saw the one who would boldly preach the gospel and be instrumental in the development of the early church. And He looks at you and me and sees who we can become in Him and not who we are right now.

The third stage of development is the pupa stage. As soon as the caterpillar has reached its full length and weight, it forms itself into the chrysalis. From the outside, it looks likes the caterpillar is just resting. But on the inside the caterpillar is being rapidly transformed.

That is exactly what Jesus wants to do for you and for me. Notice in verse 17, Paul writes that one who is “in Christ” is a “new creation”. I’m going to talk a bit more shortly about what it means to be “in Christ”, but for now I want to focus on the idea of a “new creation”.

There are two different Greek words that can be translated “new”. The one that Paul uses here describes something that is new with regard to quality and nature. In a moment we’ll talk about the butterfly that emerges from the pupa and we’ll see that it is of a completely different nature than the caterpillar that entered.

Jesus doesn’t just want to clean us up or help us to turn over a new leaf. He wants to give us a completely new life that is different in quality and nature than the old one.

The second thing we see here is that we are a creation, which implies that there must be a creator. This transformation is not something that we can accomplish on our own. Only Jesus can do it for us. John expressed that idea like this at the beginning of his gospel account:

John 1:13 ESV

13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

A couple chapters later, in John 3, Jesus refers to this as being “born again” in his conversation with Nicodemus.

Inside the chrysalis, the caterpillar undergoes a remarkable transformation. The short, stubby, brown caterpillar grows new parts and changes color in order to become a beautiful butterfly. The caterpillar can’t do that on its own. It requires the intervention of God before it can become a new creation.

The same is true for us. For the last two weeks, we’ve talked about how the resurrection of Jesus did for us that which we can’t do for ourselves - forgive our sins and conquer death. And today we see clearly that the same thing is true when it comes to making all things new. We can’t do that ourselves. We have to rely upon God to do that.

But before the butterfly can emerge from its cocoon, there is a struggle that occurs. And that struggle is essential to the well being of the butterfly. As it pushes its way out of the tiny opening of the cocoon, that struggle pushes fluid into the body and wings of the butterfly. Without that struggle, the butterfly would never be able to fly.

Our journey to become the new creations that Jesus wants us to be often requires struggles in our lives, too. But we can be sure that Jesus is using those to make us stronger and to equip us for the new life that he has in store for us.

Finally the beautiful butterfly emerges from the chrysalis. It is now free to live its life in this new form that God intended it to live all along. And eventually the female butterflies lay eggs and the whole process begins all over again.

What a great reminder that the new life we are given in Jesus is a gift that we are to share with the world around us so that they, too, might allow Jesus to make them into new creations as well. Paul writes about that here in 2 Corinthians 5 where he reveals that the same Jesus that has reconciled us to God through His death and resurrection has given us the message and the ministry of reconciliation and made us His ambassadors.

The resurrection doesn’t just enable me to turn over a new leaf, it makes it possible to live a new life

Paul, the author of the letter we have been reading from this morning, understood this well. Before he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he was a religious extremist who was full of hate for the disciples of Jesus. He was seeking to arrest and to kill those who had this new life. But once he met Jesus and let the resurrection make him into a new creation, his anger was transformed into love and his zeal was redirected so that it benefited the kingdom of God rather than hindered it.

I know how easy it is right now to look at the world around us and see all that is wrong with the world - to see the impact that sin and evil have unleashed. And that can be very discouraging. But as we’ve seen, by His death on the cross and His resurrection, Jesus overcame the penalty of sin and made it possible for our sins to be forgiven. He also conquered death and made it possible for us to live forever in amazing new resurrection bodies, that will be just like His resurrected body in so many ways.

But, as we’ve seen this morning, He also made it possible for all of us to have our lives changed today. Easter doesn’t just mean there will be a new creation for the world “some day”. It means that it is possible for you to be a new creation right now. Jesus wants to take your flawed life and make it something meaningful and beautiful and useful today.

Application

But we see clearly here that in order for that to happen, you need to be “in Christ”. Remember I told you earlier we’d come back to that phrase. That is one of Paul’s favorite phrases and we see it throughout the letters he wrote. It is a phrase that describes every facet of being a disciple of Jesus. To be “in Christ” is to have a close, intimate, real relationship with Him.

That is something that is possible for each and every one of us. It is offered to us as a gift. But just like any other gift, it won’t do me any good unless I receive it. So...

How do I become one who is “in Christ”?

We’ve answered that question theologically the last couple of weeks. We’ve talked about the need to put my faith in Jesus Christ alone and to put Him in charge of my life.

But today I’m going to answer that question by painting a picture for you - one that is related to the life cycle of the butterfly we looked at earlier.

I must want to fly so much that I am willing to give up being a caterpillar.

I can’t imagine any caterpillar that would think, “Let me just stay a caterpillar. After all, it takes time and sacrifice and surrender and struggle in order to become a butterfly”. But unfortunately that is what so many people do. They are so self-centered and self-sufficient that they are unwilling to give up control of their lives. They settle for just turning over a new leaf when Jesus is willing to give them a new life.

My prayer for you today is that you won’t settle like that.

Inspiration

So as we close this morning, let me leave you with a picture of what allowing Jesus to transform you into a “new creation” can do for you.

First, it can have a profound impact on the way you live life. When you become a new creation, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in you permanently and He immediately begins to develop the fruit of the Sprit in your life. And so rather than your life being characterized by hate, loneliness, fear, conflict and selfishness, it comes to be filled with love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control

Second, it will provide you with a new purpose. In our old lives, our purpose usually revolves around what I want - making lots of money, having a nice house and car and a spouse who loves me and children who obey me. But as new creations, we are given a new, much more fulfilling purpose - to be ambassadors for Jesus and to let others know how they, too, can have a new life.

Finally, it will transform the way you view other people. Instead of judging people according to your preconceived notions, you will begin to see them as people whom are loved so much by Jesus that He willingly gave His life for them on the cross.

Action

So, if you’ve never allowed Jesus to make you a new creation, we invite you to do that this morning. You can do that right there where you are. Just pray to God and tell Him that you’re tired of living as a caterpillar and that you want to be a butterfly. Tell Him you’re sorry for being so self-centered and that you are willing to quit relying upon what you can do and rely upon what Jesus has already done for you. Tell Him that you’re ready to surrender control of your life to Jesus and to put Him in charge of your life.

Don’t worry about using fancy words. God just wants you to talk to Him like you were having a conversation with a friend. He already knows your heart, and that is what really matters.

For the rest of us who have already been transformed into new creations, after I pray, we are going to observe the Lord’s Supper together as a way to remember and thank Jesus for that gift of new life.