New You
Notes
Transcript
Made New
Made New
Good evening and welcome back!
It’s so good to see you here, and I hope everyone enjoyed some time off from the normal rhythm of things.
Whenever you start a new year, people begin talking a lot about this idea of goals or resolutions.
These resolutions are the things we plan to do, to stop doing, or to accomplish in the new year.
For me, my goals were to eat better, exercise, read a book every 2 weeks, and I have a couple more but-
For you, maybe it’s the same or maybe your goals are much better and way more creative.
However, in case you need some inspiration on what kind of goals or resolutions to set, here is what I found.
I found serval list of goals or resolution for 2021- one was 92 items— which honestly just felt lazy- I mean you were 8 away from 100.
New Years Resolution number one get 100 items.
But here are some good ones:
Give Blood
Read one book a month
Stop gossiping
Limit your screen time
Focus on listening more than you talk
Update your linkedin profile
Put $1 dollar away each day- you will end the year with $365 .
Discover a hobby
Reconnect with an old friend
Spend more time in the real world than in the social media world.
Now we could all share our own goals and dreams for 2021 of course but that is something you will do in your breakout groups.
Here’s the problem with New Year’s resolutions.
Most people start really strong at the beginning then they lose some momentum a few months, weeks, or even days into it.
Then there are some people who, when it comes to stuff like this, take things to a whole other level.
When it comes to goals or resolutions, they do stuff that most of us would say is over the top or even crazy.
There was an Australian Couple Alan and Jeanette Murray who were in their 60s at the time, who set a goal to run a marathon every day. That is 26.2 miles every day they did 366 days.
They ran over 9,500 miles in one year. INSANE!
I don’t know about you but when I hear stories like that, I don’t feel like I’ve accomplished a whole lot in my life.
It makes my goals seem pretty small in comparison.
Anyone here ever run a marathon before?
I’m doing good just to get on the bike at the YCMA for 30 minutes at a time a few days a week, so I doubt there’s a marathon anywhere in the near future for me – much less 365 of them!
My guess is that you probably don’t plan to run 26 miles a day for the next year either.
But whatever goals or plans or resolutions you have, the most they can do is make you a better person, a healthier person, or even a smarter person depending on what they are.
However, none of them can make you a new person.
It doesn’t matter how disciplined you are, how many goals you set, or how many self-help books you read, none of these can make you new.
The truth is that you and I don’t have any power to change ourselves into a new person.
On our own, we can’t bring about any lasting change or transformation.
But that’s the great news of the gospel!
At the cross, Jesus did something for you and me that we couldn’t do for ourselves.
Through His death and resurrection, He provided a way for us to be new people; not new in terms of an upgrade like on a phone or computer or new in the sense of a better version of ourselves.
It’s new in the sense that a fundamental change has taken place at the very core of who we are.
It starts on the inside then works its way on the outside.
As we start this new year, what if our resolution is less about 100 new things to do or try and more about a different way of thinking and living?
What if our resolution could line up with God’s hopes and dreams for us and had the potential to not only change our lives, but also the lives of those around us?
As we start of this year, what if our one big focus or goal or resolution was to:
Live like the NEW person God CREATED you to be.
The passage that we’re going to look at together talks about this idea.
It tells us what it means that God has made us new and gives us a picture of what could happen if we begin to live that way.
If you’ve got a Bible, turn to 2 Corinthians 5.
This book (or letter) was written by the Apostle Paul to a group of Christians living in a place named “Corinth.”
Paul was writing to encourage them, to challenge them, and to remind them of some things like what it means to be “new” and why it matters.
These words had big implications back then but they’re still just as powerful today.
2 Corinthians 5:14-17
For the love of Christ compels us, since we have reached this conclusion, that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died for them and was raised.
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. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!
What a great passage to remind us who we are!
This passage tells us that for those who are followers of Jesus Christ, those who have already put their trust in Him, we have been made new by God.
Specifically, there are at least three ways that this takes place.
1) You become a NEW PERSON.
That’s exactly what it says in verse 17.
Anyone who belongs to Christ is a “new person.”
This means that something has fundamentally changed in your identity, at the core of who you are.
While your physical appearance may be exactly the same as before (sorry if you were hoping for God to change that tonight!), you are no longer the same person you used to be.
Paul said it like this: “the old life is gone; a new life has begun.”
This year we introduced The muppet Christmas Carol to our girls.
They did not care for it at all.
They only watched it once- we will try again next year but anyway.
Charles Dickens wrote a book called the Christmas Carol and this story is about one man’s journey- that man is Ebenezer Scrooge.
Scrooge was a nasty man, who made his workers work all the time and according to the Muppets would not even give the mice coal to keep the office warm.
Scrooge would be visited by three ghost that would show him his past, present and future.
And it showed what a cold man Scrooge had become.
Eventually leading Scrooge to the grave and no one seemed to care he did, actually they were thrilled by it.
After his visited from these ghost, Scrooge does a 180 change.
One could say that Scrooge was a new person.
The old self of Scrooge who was cold, dark, and mean— become a new person.
IN the church world we call this salvation—
When a person puts their trust in Jesus and begins to follow Him, they become a new person.
This is the heart of the Gospel
It’s a change on the inside that begins to affect the way they live on the outside.
For some of us today, we need to be reminded of this truth.
We’ve forgotten who we are, so we begin to live like someone that we’re not.
Listen to what Paul said about this in his letter to the Colossians.
Colossians 3:9-10
Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator.
This is saying that the reason we shouldn’t lie is not because we might get caught; rather it’s simply not who we are anymore.
The same is true of us if we have put our trust in Jesus Christ.
Our identity has been changed.
The old has gone, and the new has come.
What would happen if we began to embrace that truth this year?
What would happen if we began to live like the person that God created us to be?
For some of us, this is really hard to see today because we’ve bought into the lie that nothing has really changed.
We believe that we’re the same person as before: worthless, hopeless, helpless.
We believe that we’re bound by our past mistakes and present addictions.
But the truth we need to hear today is that Jesus died so that we could be made new.
He says that we no longer stand condemned!
Romans 8:1-2
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
You are no longer a liar, a cheater, a victim or an addict.
These are no longer who you are.
It’s not your identity anymore.
You are a new person so begin to live like you are new.
You notice that we are the only ones who bring up our past.
Jesus never does, God never does.
Number 2
2) You develop a NEW PERSPECTIVE.
In addition to becoming a new person, you will also begin to develop a new perspective.
Look back in verse 16 of our main passage tonight.
Paul said that he had “stopped evaluating others from a human point of view.”
Another way of saying this is that his perspective had changed.
He stopped looking at people through just the lens of race and ethnicity.
Instead of thinking about people in terms of Jew or Gentile, Paul began to think about people in terms of their relationship with God.
The same thing happens for us when we’re made new.
God begins to change our perspective.
We no longer see things the same we did before.
Over time, this change affects our relationships, values, morals, the way we spend our time and even our money.
We begin to see life through a new lens.
ILL: Color blind glasses
When a person begins to follow Jesus, God starts to change their perspective and they see life through a new lens.
For some, this may be a slow process, while for others it can happen more rapidly.
The rate of change is greatly impacted by the time you spend with the Lord in His Word and through time in small groups and serving.
God begins to change your perspective to align it more with His.
This is exactly what He did for Paul, someone who used to persecute Christians for a living.
Listen to how his perspective began to change after he met Jesus.
Philippians 3:7-8
But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ
Thats right Paul said DUNG
For Paul, he was never the same after he met Jesus.
Nothing else mattered.
He was a new person with a new perspective, and God has been doing the same thing for other people ever since.
3) You are given a NEW PURPOSE.
Look back at verse 15 in our main passage for tonight.
It says that Jesus “died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves.
Instead, they will live for Christ.”
This is our new mission.
It is no longer just about us our needs and our wants.
We have a new purpose in life.
ILL:
John Newton, was a British slave trader from the 18th century.
At his conversion to Christ, He became a new person with a new perspective.
God began to change him from the inside out and gave him a new purpose in life. Instead of trading slaves, he began working to abolish slavery and then wrote one of the most famous songs of all time, “Amazing Grace.”
God loves to take old things and make them new.
Part of being made new means that we not only have a new perspective but also a new purpose.
In his letter to church at Ephesus, Paul said it like this:
Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
You and I were created anew to fulfill God’s purpose through our lives.
As you begin this new year, what new purpose or mission does God have for your life?
Maybe it’s to start being regularly involved here in this church and youth group.
Maybe it’s to join a small group or sign-up for a mission trip (If we have one).
Maybe it’s to start reading the Bible or even memorizing verses of Scripture.
Or it could be that there are some people in your sphere of influence that God wants for you to pray for, minister to, share the gospel with or invite here.
Maybe your calling is even to start something new like a Bible study at school or at home or an accountability group with your friends or a new outreach ministry.
As we wrap up our time together this evening, what is God calling you to do and how does He want for you to respond?
Maybe He wants to enlarge your view of a goal or resolution to line up with something bigger He has in store.
If you are already a follower of Jesus Christ, remember what God’s Word says about who you already are.
God has made you new!
You are a new person who is developing a new perspective and you have been given a new purpose.
It doesn’t matter how young or old you are, what mistakes you’ve already made or if you feel ready.
The challenge for each of us tonight is too: live like the new person God created you to be.
What would it look like for you to begin living this way and how does the Lord want you to respond?
Let’s pray.
ADVERTISEMENT