June 5, 2015 WE ARE NEW – Part One
Ephesians 4:20-24: “But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which is in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
One of the most far reaching truths of all of scripture, a truth that has tremendous implications for all believers is that we have been made new! We have not been “improved” or simply “adjusted”, but made totally new-indeed a new species. Who we use to be has passed away. We cannot see or understand our being made new, apart from God revealing this truth to us. It is awesome that we have been made new, but it is even more awesome that our new self is made “in the likeness of God.” Perhaps we have trouble receiving or believing that we have been made new because so much of the teaching we have heard for many years has been focused on getting our “old person” improved or renovated. For example, we have heard the admonition and teaching that we must force ourselves to think “right”, because it is assumed that we naturally don’t think “right”. It is true that the old us, the old man, does not think as God would have us think and no matter how hard we may try, we cannot in our own strength cause our mind to naturally think in the right way. The good news for us is that God has made us new and part of the newness is that we get a new mind that enables us to think as God intended man to think. With the new mind, it is natural to think the right way-it’s not difficult. (Let it be said that having a disciplined thought life is a good thing and we are called to take all thoughts captive). We also get new hearts when we come to know Jesus as our Savior and out of this new heart we express the love of God and we have compassion for others. With this new heart, the desire to sin is taken away, and in its place we find the desire to be pleasing to the Lord. If and when we have a desire to do something that is not pleasing to the Lord, it is because we are not living out of our new heart. It is helpful to know that the New Testament was given to show us our new identity-our newness in Christ. The commands of God call us to be who we really are; thus His commands are not burdensome. As wonderful as it is to be made new, it is possible for us not to live in or experience our newness, either because we do not know our true identity, or we simply choose to live contrary to the gospel-which is a precarious place to be as we see in Hebrews 10:29: “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” As God opens our eyes and we begin to get a glimpse of just how awesome the New Covenant is-of what it means to be made new- we will notice that what use to be a struggle for us is no longer a struggle and we will find ourselves thinking and living in such a way that we are pleasing to Him. Walking in our new identity does not mean we never falter or sometime find the old self rearing its ugly head. The key is that we are to be continually putting on the new man and keep being renewed in the spirit of our minds. While we are made new at salvation, learning our new identity is a process and there is a maturing, or transformation that should be taking place. The new man is in place and now it is our opportunity to discover the new person we are. Living and walking in our newness is not forced on us and it is not automatic, but God, through the Holy Spirit within us, will reveal the truth about who we really are if we only ask Him to do so. In the next blog, we will discover what being new looks like in the practical.
2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
Blessings,
Buddy
Ephesians 4:20-24: “But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which is in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
One of the most far reaching truths of all of scripture, a truth that has tremendous implications for all believers is that we have been made new! We have not been “improved” or simply “adjusted”, but made totally new-indeed a new species. Who we use to be has passed away. We cannot see or understand our being made new, apart from God revealing this truth to us. It is awesome that we have been made new, but it is even more awesome that our new self is made “in the likeness of God.” Perhaps we have trouble receiving or believing that we have been made new because so much of the teaching we have heard for many years has been focused on getting our “old person” improved or renovated. For example, we have heard the admonition and teaching that we must force ourselves to think “right”, because it is assumed that we naturally don’t think “right”. It is true that the old us, the old man, does not think as God would have us think and no matter how hard we may try, we cannot in our own strength cause our mind to naturally think in the right way. The good news for us is that God has made us new and part of the newness is that we get a new mind that enables us to think as God intended man to think. With the new mind, it is natural to think the right way-it’s not difficult. (Let it be said that having a disciplined thought life is a good thing and we are called to take all thoughts captive). We also get new hearts when we come to know Jesus as our Savior and out of this new heart we express the love of God and we have compassion for others. With this new heart, the desire to sin is taken away, and in its place we find the desire to be pleasing to the Lord. If and when we have a desire to do something that is not pleasing to the Lord, it is because we are not living out of our new heart. It is helpful to know that the New Testament was given to show us our new identity-our newness in Christ. The commands of God call us to be who we really are; thus His commands are not burdensome. As wonderful as it is to be made new, it is possible for us not to live in or experience our newness, either because we do not know our true identity, or we simply choose to live contrary to the gospel-which is a precarious place to be as we see in Hebrews 10:29: “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” As God opens our eyes and we begin to get a glimpse of just how awesome the New Covenant is-of what it means to be made new- we will notice that what use to be a struggle for us is no longer a struggle and we will find ourselves thinking and living in such a way that we are pleasing to Him. Walking in our new identity does not mean we never falter or sometime find the old self rearing its ugly head. The key is that we are to be continually putting on the new man and keep being renewed in the spirit of our minds. While we are made new at salvation, learning our new identity is a process and there is a maturing, or transformation that should be taking place. The new man is in place and now it is our opportunity to discover the new person we are. Living and walking in our newness is not forced on us and it is not automatic, but God, through the Holy Spirit within us, will reveal the truth about who we really are if we only ask Him to do so. In the next blog, we will discover what being new looks like in the practical.
2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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