New Life for the good of others!

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.

What does a new life look like when you’ve been a church going Christian all of your life? Has that walk that story made impact and made me different from the world?

Ephesians 4-17-5:2

English Standard Version Chapter 4

The New Life

17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Walk in Love

5 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

This new life requires us to act different then the world?

17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.

When you look around how does the non christian or struggling christian respond to:

conflict/pain caused by others?

stress

grief

fear

Do we act the same way?

How should we be distinguished from others?

22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,

- Put off your old self

Hurt Story, my first response was anger, and hurt and even a feeling of a need to shut down and push them away.

If I look back on my old way of being it was to run from hard conversations. My old way of being was to shut down and give up. Doing this leads to unfinished issues and hurt relations.

Today I find myself processing and asking God how to respond, God led us to have grace for their story and the place where their actions came from. While we’re not going to ignore the situation putting off the old self has allowed us to not be damaged by this hurt and leave room to show the gospel to them.

23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

- Be renewed

After dealing with the initial emotion we came to place of seeking the lord for how we should respond as Gods kids. This allowed us to feel renewed that we’re doing the right thing, regardless of how the other poeple respond. We found ourself using the situation to seek ways to love and press in to our friend rather then run and push them a way in anger.

25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

- Put away falsehood, speak the truth in love. We know that theres a right and wrong and sometimes people treat us in ways that are not right. We should speak the truth to people but we should doing in a loving way.

26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

- You have permission to have feelings and express them in appropriate ways.

At some point we’ll have a conversation with them about what’s happened. But learning to feel with out bitterness has given us freedom to ask God how to respond.

- Realize that the enemies goal is to destroy your relationships and cause further hurt that would express the following lies;

People can’t be trusted

Every time we go deep we get hurt

We’re alone on this journey together

- The enemy wants to isolate people from others.

- The enemy wants to bring condemnation

- The enemy wants to kill our friends - this is evident from the rise in suicide rates.

Business insider article. The US suicide rate has increased 30% since 2000, and tripled for young girls.

The fact of the matter is that the enemy wants to destroy the chuch from the inside out. This happens from hurts, by leadership, by friends and other places that isolate people. We have a small community here and I firmly believe God has called us to be unique in how to love those around us.

29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

- Speak hope and things that build up.

Our ultimate goal is to see God build up and use us in our friends lives. This means that most call each other to see our the situation in a way that helpful for their walk. If we love our brothers and sisters we will speak lovingly about them even when we’re hurt. When it’s time to confront this issue at hand we will be able to do so in a way that loving and edifying to them.

I was bad at this at my old job, usually aimed at a co worker who didn’t treat me well. Even the moments when I new what I said was wrong and I knew that I shouldn’t as that way especially him knowing my faith. I wasn’t until God did some work some other areas that I found grace for him.

31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

- Find Freedom from all bitterness anger and slander/ Live in the same forgiveness God gave you and share that with your friends.

Our seeking of the lord through our past and in these situations challenges us to think different about how we respond.

I spent many years being angry and even bitter at my dad for some of the ways he treated me as a youth, when I was hurt by a pastor in the church I spend years saying things like “You’ll never mind me there” I spent over 10 years driving by my old church revisiting old feelings.

Over the last to years God called me a few important things,

Admit I was hurt

Forgive those who hurt me

Seek Reconciliation (Pastor Mike & my Dad)

This change made laura and I quicker to find a helpful way to respond. Dealing with past hurt has given security and confidence in ourselves.

Matthew 18:21-35

English Standard Version Chapter 18

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

Gods heart is that in every situation we would look at Gods grace for us as we deal with our brothers and sisters. Living out the gospel in every day life looks like have to look back as Gods grace towards us and have a desire that they would experience that same loving kindness in our relationships.

English Standard Version Chapter 2

4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

In this same way I believe that our relationships should be a direct reflection of Jesus. How we respond in our marriages, to our kids and others around us reflect what we believe about God. This does not mean that you act perfect. But I believe God is calling us to take a pause when we experience hurt and pain and ask how we can demonstrate Christ to who don’t know Jesus and to our brothers and sisters .

3 Thoughts about new life

Our pursuit of a deeper relationship with God gives us the tools we need to be healthy and not over taken when hurtful things happen.

Ask God to see people though his eyes as you deal with conflict hurt and pain

Be open to the possibility that God can use a hard situation for his glory if we’re willing to put our own feelings aside and ask the lord how to respond.

Ephesians 4 is a call for us to life different and demonstrate Gods love to those around us. It is a call to not be conformed to the world but to have fruit that endures all situations and trials. Understanding and living this way brings healing to hurt relationships and unity to a divided people. Friends lets look at people different, not in a high and mighty way but rather and loving way in which our actions call people to a place that is safe and secure and points them to a God who is full and forgiveness and love.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

5 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Today lets remind one another they are loved regardless of what they have done. Let’s remind them that God loved them first. Let’s encourage each other to slow down and ask God how to respond in all situations.

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