All Things New

All things new...is it really possible?

So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:16-17

We all know this verse...well, we know 2 Corinthians 5:17. I am sure we all think of the butterfly when we read this verse. It is a great verse, isn’t it? Poetic. Looks good on plaques. In fact I used to have a license tag on the front of my car with a butterfly and 2 Corinthians 5:17.

We all want to be new creations. Do you feel like a new creation? Do you act like a new creation? Maybe some of the time, but I am sure not all of the time. I know I don’t. I still fight a lot of old desires and temptations and strongholds.

I think the best way to study this verse is to study the man who wrote this verse. All Scripture is inspired by God and this verse has the extra weight of credibility because we know Paul’s story.

In her study, All Things New, Kelly Minter, says:

In verse 17, Paul draws our attention to a dividing line that’s already taken place in history. Because of Jesus’ incarnation, death, and resurrection, the old order of sin’s regime binding us under the law is in the past. All new things have come. We are new creations in Christ.

I am drawn to that dividing line. Let’ take a moment to look at that dividing line in Saul’s life.

In Acts Chapter 9 we are introduced to Saul (not the first time in Scripture his name is mentioned).

Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers (9:1).

Who was this Saul before Jesus? He was blinded to who God really was. He talks about putting confidence in human effort and that if anyone could do that he could. Listen to his words:

I was circumcised when I was 8 days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin--a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as far as righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.

AW Tozer shares this about him: Paul, a man of reason, a well-educated man in his day, and one of the top Pharisees in Israel. He was going places as far as his religious aspirations were concerned. He was deeply devoted to his career and had reasoned himself down the pathway to success.

This was Paul before Jesus.

Paul had a faulty perception of God. His perception of God was not in line with what the Bible said about God. Paul would have argued against this point, but it’s true. He did not see God as a God of perfection, grace, mercy, goodness. His God was too small.

PAUL’S DIVIDING LINE:

Then came the Damascus Road. Paul reached the end of human reason and encountered God. He discovered the one true God and from that moment on, the passion of his heart can be summed up in the phrase “That I may know Him.”

No matter what else we know about Paul, if we know this, we begin to understand the real passion of his heart and why he did some of the things he did.

He truly became a new creation.

Again, let's allow Paul to share his testimony:

I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. Philippians 3:7-9

Please know that this change was not immediate. It was a life-long process for Paul. It is a life-long process for each of us. Let's take hope from Paul's words:

I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not yet achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly price for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Philippians 3:12-14

All things new...it is possible? Yes! With God all things are possible.

Paul became a completely different person. That is what 2 Corinthians 5:17 speaks of...that kind of change. Not a surface level change. It is not just nodding to a few truths and then saying “I accept Jesus.” It is infusing into your life the divine power, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. This is the tremendous work of the Holy Spirit to bring you into the divine world of redemption...to truly change...to truly transform.

God's Word Sink into My Heart First

I have been reading through the book of Ezekiel lately. Just a few chapters a day. So many verses have spoken to me as Ezekiel is a great book to read for today. It is a grand story of how God used a man to warn the Israelites of the coming judgment because of their sin and unfaithfulness.

This phrase jumped off the page:

"Son of man, let all my words sink deep into your own heart first. Listen to them carefully for yourself. Then go to your people in exile and say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says!'..." (Ezekiel 3:10-11). 

This is what God spoke to me through these verses:

1. Let all My Words: This is my responsibility. God has given me His Word. It is my job to let all of them become a part of me. I am not to pick and choose which of His Words I let become a part of me. ALL of His Word is important. 
2. Sink deep into your own heart first: It is imperative that I allow God's work to sink deep into my own heart first, before I speak to others, before I teach, before anything that I do. FIRST. First thing in the morning, receive the word that God has for me and make it a part of who I am. 
3. Listen to them carefully: This has not always been easy. It is easy to read God's Word each morning and once I made having a quiet time a part of my life; a habit, I got really good at reading and studying. However, I didn't always listen. I would often get up from my quiet time and go about my day as if I had not spent any time with the LORD. A year and a half ago I started writing what God was speaking to me on an index card and carrying it with me throughout the day. Thus, I am learning to listen carefully. 
4. Then go to your people in exile: Once I have let all of God's Words sink deep into my own heart first and listened to them carefully, then and ONLY then am I to go to my people. My people who are held captive by sin, by fear, by temptation, by the evil one. 
5. Say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: We, as God's children, have a responsibility to share what He speaks to us to others. God tells Ezekiel in 3:16-21 that if we are given a message of warning and we fail to deliver and people die in their sins, then we are responsible. On the other hand if we are given a message of warning and deliver it to the people and they choose to not obey, then they are at fault. 

Let me reiterate this truth: We, as God's children, must be spending daily time in His Word. If we are not then we are tempted to paraphrase and modify His Word or take liberties that are not ours to take. 

Let God's Word sink into your heart first. Listen to them carefully. Then go...