Extraordinary Possibilities
(2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV)
"Therefore, if
anyone is in Christ, he [or she] is a new creation. The old has passed away;
behold, the new has come".
(2 Corinthians 5:17 Message)
"Now we look
inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh
start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!".
After coming home from our wonderful two weeks of camping
and bush-walking by the sea down South, my wife Trish and I spent ages
de-cluttering and sorting out our stored stuff. The shed where we keep our
camping gear has shrunk over the years as we have acquired more and more
equipment. We emptied it all out and unpacked and sorted and found that we were
are able to give away lots that we no longer need. I built some shelving and we
repacked into standard sized plastic boxes we can stack. When we finally got
finished it was a great improvement. But living day-to-day through this time
was hard with all the mess and simply knowing how much there still was to
do.
So from time to time I felt rather oppressed ..
And then I would remember that I belong to Jesus and quickly
brighten up!
It is so good to know that "in
all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called
according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). That's me! I am a "new creation" in Jesus (2
Corinthians 5:17), Jesus lives within me, by His Spirit (Galatians 2:20), and I
within Him (John 14:20)! It is so good to remember these things in such a
practical way - so I have been pondering what "new creation" means.
When Trish and I were new Christians we learned about
"life in the Spirit" and "every member ministry" because
this is what our excited Christian friends had discovered and shared with us.
The extraordinary possibilities of these faith positions
made me see that I now live from the inside out.
We also learned that our "body
is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God"
(1 Corinthians 6:19a).
This certainly is
"new creation" .. imagine, me, a temple where God lives? How Jesus
must love each one of us that He would bless us like this, what grace! Paul
goes on to say:
"for you have been
bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body" (6:19b-20).
Me being a "new creation" came at a price, a price that Jesus
willingly paid to have me, and you, as one of His own.
"As you come to
him, the living Stone - rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to
him - you are a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the
praises [excelencies] of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful
light. Once you were not a people, but
now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you
have received mercy" (1 Peter 2:4,9-10).
Clearly we are secure in this
place God has put us, this is not a temporary or transient position.
Isaiah tells us what we were like before our salvation, "all of us have become like one who is
unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up
like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away" (Isaiah 64:6),
this was written in the present tense.
But we are under Jesus' New Covenant; in the instant we are saved Jesus
firmly moves our "uncleanness"
and "filthy rags" into our
past. I can certainly see this as true of my past life, and can see the
contrast in what He has been doing in me over all these years since He drew me
to Himself.
Jesus gives His righteousness to me "by grace" (Romans 3:22), I am
no longer a "sinner" (Luke
15:10, compare Luke 18:13); now I am a "saint who sometimes sins"
(Neil Anderson, "Living Free", 1999, Monarch Books).
I now know a beautiful "freedom" (Galatians 5:1) and peace, "my
peace I give you" (John 14:27).
Back in the days of the hippies and flower power, people
would say "if it feels good, do it". That is living from the outside
in! Today we still see lots of hedonistic, consumerist and purely entertaining
or recreational activity; the world is now no different .. It is all from the
outside in.
Paul found the same thing in his day, just two or three
decades after Jesus ascended to Heaven and formed His church, with all the
excitement and commitment seen in the Book of Acts. He felt called to write to
the Christians in Galatia, admonishing them, when he learned that they had
moved a long way away from the Christian life they had been baptised into. They
were again looking to the Old Testament law for their salvation, especially the
rite of male circumcision, a change to a man's outside.
As Christians we are asked that we may experience "circumcision of the heart"
(Romans 2:29), as we change on the inside,
as we come to "know" a life-giving saving faith in Jesus (Romans 6:6).
(Another aspect of the Galatians’ "foolishness" (Galatians 3:1) is that circumcision was
only for men, they seem to have had no special rite for women to be affirmed as
God's people. Perhaps women were expected to be second class citizens of the
Kingdom of God, just as they were in the Old Testament in Judaism, and only the men could
speak or be fully in the inheritance. But this is false; in Jesus "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there
is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in
Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28), we are all included).
I often see that Christians are very different from everyone
else, mainly for two reasons. Firstly Jesus has come to live in each one; the
Bible does not say that this is
symbolic, but in many verses says that it is real, "for in Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).
Also we are set free; not just free from sin but also our desire to sin
decreases and continues to do so .. we are being "sanctified" (John 17:19). We
are also set free from death and ultimately will live eternally with Jesus in
Heaven (John 3:14-16, John 4:14)!
Secondly, if we listen out for God's voice, (sometimes just a
small soft whisper, perhaps during our prayer times, or when we spend time in our
Bible, or as we fellowship with other Christians, or when we sleep and dream,
or even during the busyness of our days), He will share with us what His will
is for us, each one.
God created every person for a purpose. God doesn't make
two snow flakes the same, let alone two people. We are all unique! Every single
person has a God-given destiny .. Your country, and your neighbour too, needs you and the "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).
Jesus wants our help: "For we are
God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared
in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10).
I am careful about where I fellowship. I seek out meetings
where the people are aware of who they are in Christ (John 14:20) and how their
lives have been enhanced .. people who are grateful to Jesus and ready to unify
with other Christians (Ephesians 4:1-3, 1 Peter 3:8), and are keen to serve
where-ever Jesus leads them (John 12:26).
I go to events which are not just led
from the front but where people can share and contribute to what God is doing,
as Holy Spirit leads. We tend to sing joy- and gratitude-filled songs, most of
which call Jesus by name and are full of Biblical truth and theological depth
(very few of these songs are new).
The people at these meetings are fed, they
are enriched by Jesus, His life and His Word, and often by Communion. The
fellowship is rich. It would give a wrong impression to call these gatherings
"services". The life flows out into the city when the meetings
conclude and we disperse. What happened on the inside goes out! It is not just church buildings, not just leadership people, and not just Sundays.
What God has done for us in Jesus is so perfect, so complete
and so total, that there is nothing more that we can or could ever do to make
things better. All we can do is accept it! It happened on our inside and shows on our outside, (Kerry Kirkwood, sermon, April 2018).
Barry Chant, founder of Tabor Bible
College, said:
"Living in the image of God is not trying to be what we are not .. rather
it is simply becoming what we already are", ("Creative Living",
1999, Tabor Publications, p 49).
I
find that I am so changed on the inside that I want my outside, that part of me
which inter-acts with others, to reflect what is there. Thoughts of living as
the world does is frightening to me, I do not want to live without God's love,
or grace, or meaning, or purpose, or hope!
Paul writes that we are to remember who we are in Jesus and
what He has done on our insides, and
in our life, and to live out the
truth and fullness of it, spirit, soul and body! "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal
through us" (2 Corinthians 5:20).
Likewise, each of us is a part of Jesus' earthly body today.
Jesus' human body is in Heaven, sitting at the right hand of God the Father,
ruling and reigning. We are to be His physical manifestation here on the Earth;
His heart, compassion and voice, His hands and feet. "For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to
fulfil his good purpose" (Philippians
2:13).
As we live our Christian life we grow more into the image
and likeness of God. How beautiful and awesome! I, who was once simply John, am
now John with Jesus added, Holy Spirit added, and also with gifting added and
my spirit made alive, to enable me to do the works God wants me to do with His power. I know that that is totally beyond what I could ever
do as I used to be or in my own strength and skills.
Spiritual gifts help in our life here. They are given so
that our spirit is equipped and strengthened. They add to us inside, and enable us to be more
effective on the outside.
"Not that we are
sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our
sufficiency is from God, who has made us
sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter [of the law]
but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2
Corinthians 3:5-6 ESV) ..
"The Holy Spirit
gives life / makes alive" .. as I write this I am finally getting over
a very nasty cold and chest infection. I needed antibiotics to overcome the
infection, so my gut flora were devastated and I was very uncomfortable. But
because I spend so much time with Jesus and His people I have been delighted to
be "made alive by Holy Spirit", and have not felt defeated! Thank you
Jesus, I am so grateful! It could have been a very difficult time ..
When Elohim God created humankind, They (Elohim is a plural word in Hebrew), said that each and
every one of us were to "rule over the fish in the sea and the
birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground"
(Genesis 1:28). This is a part of our work, yours and mine .. we are to be stewards of all that God has made, effectively servants of the
Creation, and at the same time it's rulers, overseers and workers, it's
keepers. This is now our rôle. For us to be asked to share in Jesus' work on
Earth and to steward it's resources is a great honour, and is yet another way
we can worship our lovely Lord ..
The Hebrew Old Testament words for "work", (avad)
and "keep" (shamar), are the words for worshiping God and keeping
His commandments.
God is connecting the inside-ness and outside-ness of each one of us as we grow in Him and in wholeness .. any walls between our spiritual and our worldly life are being softened, even removed .. So it is all one .. our Christian life, that is our life in Christ and in Holy Spirit, is as one with our life and our work in the world and our work for Jesus and His Kingdom.
It truly is becoming inside out and really is "not just Sundays"!
Praise Jesus ..
(See Note 1)
Favourite Scriptures
"'In the last
days', God says, 'I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and
daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will
dream dreams. Even on my servants, both
men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will
prophesy. I will show wonders in the
heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of
smoke. The sun will be turned to
darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day
of the Lord. And everyone who calls on
the name of the Lord will be saved'" (Acts 2:17-21).
"For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved" (Romans 10:10).
"But you will
receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses
in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends
of the earth" (Acts 1:8).
"And He gave some
as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors
and teachers, for the equipping of the
saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the
faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure
of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians
4:11-13).
"[Jesus'] divine
power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through
the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he
has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them
you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the
corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason,
make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with
knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with perseverance,
and perseverance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and
brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are
increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:3-8).
"So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God, above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world" (Philippians 2:12-15 NASB).
Hallelujah!
Note 1:
Thinking about: "It is all one .. our Christian life,
that is our life in Christ and in Holy Spirit, is as one with our life and our
work in the world and our work for Jesus and His Kingdom .. "
Hindus and Muslims have told me that they see themselves in a
similar way, as a unified one-ness, although their relationship with their gods
is not intimate, or even close, as ours is with Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They are not children of their god(s) or even included in godly things as we
are, but they clearly are people of their own faith ..
"God has revealed Himself in time and space". Our
Christian faith is based in history and geography, many, many historical hi-lights are
recorded by strong witnesses. Jesus lived, His miracles, His crucifixion,
death and resurrection were observed, marvelled by many (more than 500 people) who recorded what they
saw and knew to be real. "This is not the case with many cults [and
religions] which base their faith in mystical time and space". (Neil
Anderson, "Living Free", 1999, Monarch Books, p 112).
Amen.
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Praise Jesus.
