A New You For A New Church
A NEW YOU FOR A NEW CHURCH
Back to the Future - Part 1 of 2
Luke 5:36-38
David Riley
Onley Baptist Church
September 14, 1997
Luke 5:36-38
36 And He was also telling them a parable: "No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.
37 "And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined.
38 "But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.
(NAS)
WHAT CAN I EXPECT IN THE 1997-98?
1. NEW PROBLEMS WILL REQUIRE _______________
Prov 18:15
15 The intelligent man is always open to new ideas. In fact, he looks for them.
(TLB)
Eph 4:23-24
23 Now your attitudes and thoughts must all be constantly changing for the better.
24 Yes, you must be a new and different person, holy and good. Clothe yourself with this new nature.
(TLB)
II. NEW PRESSURES WILL REQUIRE ______________________________
Rom. 12:2
2 "Don't let the world squeeze you in its mold, but let God remake you so
your whole attitude of mind is changed." (Ph)
Isa 40:31
31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
(TLB)
2 Cor 1:8-9
8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came {to us} in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life;
9 indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;
(NAS)
III. NEW POSSIBILITIES WILL REQUIRE ___________________________
Hosea 10:12
12 Sow with a view to righteousness, reap in accordance with kindness; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD until He comes to rain righteousness on you.
(NAS)
Isa 43:18-19
18 "But forget all that-- it is nothing compared to what I'm going to do!
19 For I'm going to do a brand new thing. See, I have already begun! Don't you see it? I will make a road through the wilderness of the world for my people to go home, and create rivers for them in the desert!
(TLB)
2 Cor 5:17
17 When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A NEW LIFE has begun!
(TLB)
Rom 7:6
6 But now you need no longer worry about the Jewish laws and customs because you "died" while in their captivity, and now you can really serve God; not in the old way, mechanically obeying a set of rules, but in the new way, [with all of your hearts and minds].
(TLB)
A NEW YOU FOR A NEW CHURCH
Back to the Future - Part 1 of 2
Luke 5:36-38
David Riley
Onley Baptist Church
September 14, 1997
Luke 5:36-38
36 And He was also telling them a parable: "No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.
37 "And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined.
38 "But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.
(NAS)
INTRODUCTION
In the ancient world there were no bottles, no recyclable cans. They would put liquids in skins -- animal skins tied together and used like canteens. Obviously, as time went on, the skins would become hardened, brittle, and they would eventually break and crack and the liquids would spill out, particularly if it was new wine and you put in the wineskin. It would continue to ferment and would produce additional gases and cause the wineskin to explode.
When Jesus told the parable of the wineskin, He said you can't put new wine in old wineskins. This is really an illustration of life.
Luke 5:38
38 "But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.
(NAS)
New situations require new structures. You get a new job and you've got to learn new skills. New relationships require new ways of relating.
Today I want us to look at A New You for a New Church.
What are your wineskins? Your wineskins are old ways of thinking, acting, talking, listening, responding that worked well before but they're not going to cut it now. You've got to put new wine in new wineskins.
What is 1997-98 going to hold for us? You can read what the psychics say. They'll be glad to give you predictions.
You can count on three things you will have: You will have new problems, new pressures, new possibilities. How do I make it, cope, succeed? The answer is character. Character always overcomes circumstances. Make this decade the decade of character development. Work on your character in the 1997-98.
There are three character qualities that are indispensable to face the next year. I believe the Bible teaches these are three character qualities you need to have to face the future: creativity, conviction, courage.
I. New Problems will require Creativity.
II. New Pressures will require Conviction.
III. New Possibilities will require Courage.
I. NEW PROBLEMS WILL REQUIRE CREATIVITY
The bad news is you will have more problems in 1997-98. The good news is they're not the same old ones. You get a whole new set. How many of you last year anticipated the problems you're facing this year? Most of us have no idea what problems will comes. New problems require new solutions. The old ways of thinking and relating and attitudes may not work. The Bible says,
Prov 18:15
15 The intelligent man is always open to new ideas. In fact, he looks for them.
(TLB)
Somebody gave me Sixty Excuses for a Closed Mind: "We tried that before... Our place is different... It costs too much... We don't have enough time... We've never done it before... It's against company policy... That's not our problem... You're right, but... We're not ready for that... It isn't in the budget... You can't teach an old dog new tricks... Let's form a committee... Let's sleep on it... It's too much trouble to change... It's impossible... We've always done it this way..."
Most people spend more time and energy trying to get around problems than they do solving them. You say "I'm not creative". Yes, you are! You're made by the Creator. You're creative. The biggest block is your attitude.
Eph 4:23-24
23 Now your attitudes and thoughts must all be constantly changing for the better.
24 Yes, you must be a new and different person, holy and good. Clothe yourself with this new nature.
(TLB)
Your attitude must be constantly changing.
I heard about an old man 105 years old who was being interviewed on the Today Show. They said, "In 105 years, I'll bet you've seen a lot of change." He said, "Yes, and I've been against every one of them."
Like two caterpillars seeing a butterfly. One says, "You'd never get met up in that thing."
In the 1990's you cannot have hardening of the attitudes. You've got to keep going, growing, developing. Attitudes are like diapers: every once in a while they need to be changed or the place starts stinking! You need new attitudes, new ways of looking at things, new solutions for new problems that are coming along.
Have you noticed that easy tasks become difficult when you have a bad attitude?
What good did it do to be grouchy today?
Did your surliness drive any trouble away?
Did you cover more ground than you usually do
Because of the grouch you carried with you?
If not, what's the use of a grouch or a frown
If it won't smooth your path or bring trouble down?
If it doesn't assist you, it isn't worthwhile?
Your work may be hard but just do it and smile.
In the 1997-98, you can't control all things that are going to happen. You cannot control the direction of the wind, but you can set your sail. You can't control the problems, but you can choose how you respond to them. New problems will require creativity.
II. NEW PRESSURES WILL REQUIRE CONVICTION
Conviction is a willingness to stand up for what you believe. You don't cave in to culture. Magazines come up with lists of what is in and what is out as if I'm going to judge my life by People magazine.
Rom. 12:2
2 "Don't let the world squeeze you in its mold, but let God remake you so your whole attitude of mind is changed." (Ph)
There are going to be a lot of pressures on your life in 1997-98: materialism, sexuality, to lower your standards, drugs, many things. If you don't stand for something you're going to fall for anything. Bob Welch, feature writer for a newspaper, wrote an article, "The 90's may well be the last hope of the American family. Never before has the pressure to fracture been greater."
Have you decided what values you're going to base your life on in 1997-98? If you haven't you need to decide what you're going to do. Write out what values are important to you. One of the most popular songs in the 1980's was Boy George's Karma Camelion "I'm a man without conviction." What we need in the 90's are men and women of conviction, men and women who are not wishy-washy, men and women who say, "I don't care if everybody's doing it! It's not right and I'm not going to get caught up in this materialistic binge! I'll do what's right and not let the world squeeze me into its mold."
Where do you get the strength for that? Two places: God's presence and God's Word.
Isa 40:31
31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
(TLB)
Why does God allow stress in our lives? 2 Cor. 1:8-9, Paul says,
2 Cor 1:8-9
8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came {to us} in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life;
9 indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;
(NAS)
That's a conviction. Paul says God allows these things in our lives so that we can rely on God. Paul's probably one of the greatest Christians who ever lived, yet he said, one time I was so discouraged I despaired even of life itself. He said it taught him to look to God.
New pressures are going to require conviction. Where do you get conviction? Not from a textbook, but from experience. What is the difference between a conviction and an opinion? An opinion is something you'll argue about. A conviction is something you'll die for.
What are the convictions that are going to hold you up when the pressure's on in 1997-98? New problems require creativity. New pressures require convictions. You need to know what you stand for.
III. NEW POSSIBILITIES WILL REQUIRE COURAGE
1997-98 is going to be full of wonderful plans that God has for you. I don't know a more exciting time to be alive. There are great possibilities! God wants to do great things in your life in the next year and in the next ten years. But it will not happen automatically. You've got to step out in faith. There's an element of risk.
Hosea 10:12
12 Sow with a view to righteousness, reap in accordance with kindness; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD until He comes to rain righteousness on you.
(NAS)
Circle the verbs: break up, sow, reap. If you want the 90's to count in your life you've got to do some cultivating. I've already started cultivating my ground for my garden next year. I can't expect corn and tomatoes and watermelons next year if I don't start cultivating today. You've got to break up, sow, reap.
What are you planning to harvest in 1997-98? Three hundred sixty five days from today, how are you going to be any different? If you plan to have differences in your life a year from now you've got to start cultivating now! You need to cultivate some new habits. You need to cultivate some new relationships. You need to cultivate some new activities. It just doesn't happen. If you're going to be any different a year from now or at the end of the 1990's, you've got to start cultivating now. What do I want different in my family? What do I want different in my finances? What do I want different in my personal walk with Christ? What do I want different in my relationship to my children? You've got to start cultivating now! Whatever you sow you're going to reap. If you don't sow anything you won't reap anything.
What is it you need to start cultivating in your life? Think that out. What do I want to see in my life down the road that I need to start on now?
Notice "break up your fallow" -- circle "fallow". Don't plow up the old ground. Don't do the same old thing you've already done. What worked last year is fine but now it's a new year! Plow some new ground. Step out on faith. Don't be afraid to go out on a limb. That's where the fruit is.
Plow new ground. That involves courage. New possibilities require courage. It's risky to try new things. It's much safer to stay with the familiar. Many people in the next decade will not live ten years of their life. They will not be ten years more mature. They're going to live one year of their life, ten times. They'll just repeat it over and over.
I read about a biologist who had a potted plant. He took some caterpillars who ate that kind of leaf and put them around the limb of the potted plant so that as they marched around, one faced the tail of the one ahead of it in a continuous circle. They just kept following each other around the rim, even though the food was nearby, they just kept following themselves around the rim, around and around in a circle. They did it for nearly a week before they died of exhaustion and starvation! The food was right there!
A lot of people live their lives that way. They just go around in circles and repeat the same thing over and over. It's a new year but there's no new you. Just the same old thing. They don't plow new ground. They don't step out on faith or take any risks. What is it you would attempt for God if you knew you couldn't fail?
"Notice the results of plowing new ground, of being courageous:Sow with a view to righteousness, reap in accordance with kindness; break up your fallow ground, God says you'll reap a blessing from Me as you're devoted to Me. ", for it is time to seek the LORD until He comes to rain righteousness on you."
I challenge you to do something with your life in the 1997-98! Get off the bench and get in the game! Make your life count in the 1990s! Isn't it about time to let the Lord start blessing your life? How do you do that? Plow new ground! Step out in faith and take the risk. Say, "God I'm going to go for it! This year is my year/decade of dedication to You." He says "I want to bless your life. Plow new ground!"
What could hold you back? Some of you say, "My past! I've blown it so much, God could never use me. Because of my past, I should never expect anything from God."
Isa 43:18-19
18 "But forget all that-- it is nothing compared to what I'm going to do!
19 For I'm going to do a brand new thing. See, I have already begun! Don't you see it? I will make a road through the wilderness of the world for my people to go home, and create rivers for them in the desert!
(TLB)
Don't keep dwelling on that problem, that hurt, that relationship, that difficulty, that failure, that tragedy. Don't cling to the past. Don't dwell on it. God says I'm going to do a new thing in your life (Isa.43:19a). New possibilities will require courage.
Some of you say, "God has blessed my life so much, it's not fair for me to ask for more blessing. I've already lived a full, wonderful life. It's been great. I shouldn't expect something more from God." God says, "It's nothing compared to what I'm going to do!" (Isa. 43:18a)
The good news is that the best is yet to come! If you're a believer all of your best days are ahead of you! If you put your faith in Christ and you have a relationship to God, you never need to fear the future. Never! We don't know what it holds but we know Who holds it. We don't have to be afraid of it. As a Christian all of my best days are ahead of me.
Are you spiritually and emotionally prepared for the last decade of this millennium? We're not just at the end of the year, or the end of a decade or century. We're coming up on the year 2000! Are you prepared spiritually for this decade?
There will be new problems that will overwhelm you if you're not. There will be new pressures that you will cave in to if you're not. There will be new possibilities that God wants to bless and do in your life, that you will miss if you're not ready. It boils down to character, creativity, conviction, and courage. Those are the tools you need for the 1990's.
How do you become more creative? How do you have more conviction? How do you have more courage? How do you get it? You get it from God! He's the specialist in character change.
2 Cor 5:17
17 When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A NEW LIFE has begun!
(TLB)
Circle "new life". When you open your life to God it's like starting over. This is what baptism illustrates. We put a person under the water and then bring them up. That is a symbol saying, "I died to my old way of living and I'm starting over." It's like being born again, a brand new lifestyle, a fresh start on life. All the sins, failures, mistakes and flops are gone. They're washed away and you get to start over with a clean slate. Baptism is a picture of that truth. When anyone becomes a Christian they are a new life!
The happiness that you're looking for is not found in the New Age movement. It's found in the New Life movement. Christianity. Jesus said "I've come that you might have life and have it to the fullest!"
A person gives this testimony. “One of the biggest mistakes that Christians make is they think they can live their life off of a single commitment they made back in 1776! My spiritual birthday is January 23, 1960. I'm 30 years old spiritually. The first 10 years of my spiritual Christian life, I tried to live it on the basis of that one decision. That decision, I thought, was to carry me on the rest of my life. I wondered why I wasn't growing as a Christian, why I wasn't developing, becoming all that God wanted me to be. I prayed but I didn't see that many answers. In 1970, I discovered that the Christian life is a continual renewal and a deepening of the commitment, not just a once for all decision, but an ongoing commitment and daily renewal. Each day you go deeper.”
It's like marriage. When I got married I said, "I do." That was a once for all commitment; it made me married. But if I was still living on the "I do" we wouldn't have a very strong relationship today. I've learned more and more what the meaning of commitment is the longer I've been married. I am more committed to Peggy today than I was when I first married.
The main mistake many people make is they think the decision way back then is going to carry them. But it won't. When was the last time you updated your commitment to Christ? Last year's commitment was fine for last year but it's not going to make it this year! There will be new problems, new pressures, new possibilities. I can't think of a better time to update your commitment! You need a deeper commitment, a new commitment for a new year.
How do you know when you need to make a new commitment? When you need to recommit your life? Update your dedication to Christ?
One of the ways, when you know the joy has drained out of your life. Your relationship to Christ begins to be replaced by rules and regulations and rituals and routine. The Christian life becomes more a matter of pushing buttons and attending meetings and doing things. You need to fall in love with Jesus all over again. You need to say, "Lord, I'm going to put aside that old way of serving you by rules and rituals and serve you in the new way of a relationship."
Rom 7:6
6 But now you need no longer worry about the Jewish laws and customs because you "died" while in their captivity, and now you can really serve God; not in the old way, mechanically obeying a set of rules, but in the new way, [with all of your hearts and minds].
(TLB)
The new way is serving God through a relationship. Some of you are stuck in legalism. You thought that was pleasing to God. God says, "No! I want you to serve Me in a new way. Love Me and be loved by Me."
Another way you can know when you need to recommit your life is you're trying to live your new life, you've made a new commitment to Christ, but you're still trying to live it in the old lifestyle. You're trying to be a Christian yet hang on to all the old ways and values and you're sucked up in the culture: Get all you can, can all you get, sit on the can and spoil the rest! you're trying to mix the new with the old and it won't work. Jesus said you can't put new wine in old wineskins. They'll burst and you'll fall apart and the joy will drain out of your life.
God wants to do such great things through you in 1997-98. I don't know a better time to say, "Jesus Christ, I personally commit my life to You. I open it to You. I recommit it to You."
Prayer:
Why don't you talk to God right now in your heart, in your mind? You don't have to say anything aloud. He knows you. He can read your brain waves. He can read your thought patterns. He knows the very thing you're thinking right now! Talk with Him and tell Him what's on your heart. You don't need a prayer to pray, just talk to Him in your heart. Say, "God, I want to go deeper with You in the 90's. This is going to be Your decade. I want to make my life count." Say, "Lord, I need Your creativity to face the new problems that will be coming my way. Lord, I need new conviction to face the pressures that are going to try to bend me all out of shape in the 90's. I need conviction from Your word and Your presence in my life. I need courage to take advantage of the new possibilities that will be before me." This year will bring great opportunities for many of you -- spiritually, career wise, professionally, financially, in your family, your education. You need the courage that Christ can give you to step out and plow new ground, to go for it. You need a new you for a new year. If you've never opened your life to Christ say, "Jesus Christ, as much as I know how come into my life and make me the person You want me to be." Some of you are already Christians and you need to say, "Lord, I need to serve You in a new way. Not mechanically obeying the rules, but having a relationship to You."
Thank you, Father for Your word. May the year 1997-98 be a year of destiny for each of us as individuals and our church as a family. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.