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The New Man

We get some snow here in Bellingham, WA. Sometimes it sticks around for a couple of days. These past few winters we have been blessed with snow that has stuck around for a week or so. Those who are born and raised in the area reassured us that this is not normal 🙂

The kids go sledding down our street which is a wonderful hill to pursue being a tobogganist.  The kids will always want to build a snowman. They roll his body (maybe a little too big). They do the rest of his body and head. They add some sticks for his arms and something for the nose and eyes. And, if they are really into it, some other items for a hat. 

The kids have fun making a new creature. The snowman is unable to move and most likely will melt away by the end of the week and they still name him!

Those who are called “in Christ” (the term that Paul uses in the NT to describe the Christian) are a new creation. He writes to the Corinthian church about the work of reconciliation that happens because of Jesus and that if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation (2 Cor 5:17).

This new creation is not just about making the person new in Christ such as their sin being washed away (Isaiah 44:22; Heb 10:10). This is true but wait there is more!

Wait there is more!

I have always looked at how the Christian is brought into the promises of God which existed in the Old Testament. As I have been studying and teaching through the book of Ephesians, I have noticed that Paul’s language of the Christian involves something more.

There is a greater work where the Christian is now a new person, part of new people, and and a new group. This group has eternal life. This group is founded upon grace and not on works. This group is connected to one another because of Jesus.  

He is speaking to the Gentiles (people who were not Jewish) and how they have come into the promise of God (Eph 3:1-6). These Gentiles did not have to become Jewish to receive this promise. This sign was circumcision and this is what got a lot of the Jewish leaders upset. This was not needed. It is by the grace of God that one is saved (Eph 2:8-9). 

Look what Jesus does

He takes people from different groups (Jews and Gentiles), those who are in Christ are called a new people. 

Paul describes this by writing, “He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and o that in Himself He might make the two one new person, in this way establishing peace;  and that He might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross (Eph 2:14, 16).

This new person is a new creation not just with their legal standing before God, they are full on a new person and part of a new family. This new person is one who is different because of Jesus. This was God’s redemptive plan from the beginning.  

This new people group as Peter writes, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

This language seems to be spoken to Israel, even specifically about Levites. But, Peter is writing about the new people that are found in Christ, the Christians both Jew and Gentile.

What Do We Get?

This new man, in Christ, receives the promises of God.

Those promises include the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 3:16; Heb 6:4). The same Holy Spirit who came at Pentecost explosively upon the Christians of the early church is the same Holy Spirit the Christians receive today.

Those in Christ receive enteral life and heaven (John 3:16; 14:1-3; Phil 3:20; Web 3:1). Those in Christ not only receive the promises today but also the future promises. We are awaiting our rest with the Lord forever in heaven (Heb 4:1).

Those in Christ receive favor from God because of Christ (Eph 1:3, 11). We have received from God the greatest gift, he is not holding out on us. We look to Jesus and see what his gift of immeasurable grace has been given to us. The Christian is called an heir with Christ (Rom 8:17; Eph 3:6). We share in all the benefits, blessings, and sufferings with our Savior.

Those in Christ live in a way that reflects this change and truth. Not perfectly, dependent upon God’s grace each moment and step of the Christian life.

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The Distraction Of The Shiny Penny

I remember hearing the phrase, just give them a shiny penny, to easily distract someone. It was not given as a compliment or in a positive way. It was to say they get distracted with what they think is the latest and greatest. It takes their eyes off of what matters in the moment. 

Easy Distractions

Before you point the finger at someone else, remember how many you have pointing back at you? I can get distracted with the little shiny, less valuable thing, than the more valuable important task. 

The problem with life and the many things in life can be that they are the shiny penny that so easily distracts us.

As a pastor there are many distractions that one can use to “get” people in the church. I know not all things are wrong nor promoting church (I hope one is excited about their church and would want to talk about it!). The danger becomes when one leads with other things as a means to the end instead of leading with the greatest announcement that one can hear- Jesus is risen- the tomb is empty- the Savior is alive!

The Greatest Treasure

The first American missionary sent out was Adoniram Judson (1788-1850). He returned to America, to visit, for the first time after spending thirty years in Burma. In Burma, he was prisoned and tortured, he lost his first wife, a second wife, and multiple children due to the extreme climate and lack of medical care. He went through a season of depression and lived in the innermost parts of the jungle were tigers lived for a time. He translated the Bible into Burmese as well as an English to Burmese dictionary. He labored for years before seeing the first convert to Christianity. He had a story!

When he arrived in America many people wanted him to share at their church. There is one account that is given by his soon to be wife Emily.

She writes, “As he sat down it was evident, even to the most unobservant eye, that most of the listeners were disappointed. After the exercises were over, several persons inquired of me, frankly, why Dr. Judson had not talked of something else; why he had not told a story…On the way home, I mentioned the subject to him.” 

He responded, “Why, what did they want? I presented the most interesting subject in the world, to the best of my ability.” 

Emily responded, “But they wanted something different—a story.”

Judson again said, “Well, I am sure I gave them a story—the most thrilling one that can be conceived of.”

She then said, “But they heard it before. They wanted something new of a man who had just come from the antipodes.”

I love what Adoniram said next, “Then I am glad they have it to say, that a man coming from the antipodes had nothing better to tell than the wondrous story of Jesus’ dying love.”

I see why Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “For I deliver to you as first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Cor 15:3-4). 

The greatest news or story is that Jesus lived, died, and rose again. The one who conquered sin and death—he is the victor! He so loves you! He died for you! Don’t be distracted with the shiny pennies in this life.   

“Well, I am sure I gave them a story—the most thrilling one that can be conceived of.”

Remember Then

You may be distracted with the lures of this world, but they fail in comparison to the surmounting worth of knowing Jesus (Phil 3:8-9). 

You may be distracted with the news of disease, sickness, or things like cancer, but Jesus conquered sin and death. He is our living hope not just in this life but the life to come (1 Peter 1:3).

Christian, you may get busy with the plethora tasks in life and forget your purpose which you are called to as a child of God. Go make disciples and be witnesses that Jesus is alive (Matt 28:19-20; Acts 1:8)!

You may be tempted to want to woo others with your accomplishments but the greatest news you have to share is that Jesus is alive!

To my pastor friends- lead with confidence that we have nothing better to tell than the wondrous story of Jesus’ dying love! There are distractions to do other things or to go forward with lesser things, be aware.

If you find yourself distracted with other things, preach the gospel to yourself. Be in awe of what Jesus has done for you. See the despair of being outside of Christ because of your sin. Delight in his grace that he has lavished upon you. The Savior who took your place on the cross. The innocent one who took your sin so that you can be forgiven. When you do this, you see that the gospel is the greatest thing you can talk about! Those shiny distractions aren’t so shiny in comparison to the greatest treasure that you have in Christ Jesus.

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Happy Ending

Just like most dads with little girls, princess movies was a staple. Like many of the those movies it was pretty much expected within the plot there would be some kind of enemy or struggle with the princess overcoming to live happily ever after. We like happy endings.

At the end of The Little Mermaid (this was on a lot when Adah was younger), Ariel has her tail replaced with legs so she can live happily ever after with prince Eric. There is actually a song called “Happy ending” to capture everything works out in the end.

Most want that happy ending. Is this possible?

The Reality

Not everything feels like it is a happy ending. There is injustice in this world. Every day there seems to be bad news that we say, “That is not right!” Things don’t always work out in the end. There is evil and evil seems to get away with it. We constantly have the phrase, “Life is hard” coming out in between breaths.

The Psalmist understood this by writing that evil says, “The Lord does not see” (Psalm 94:7). They just keep going and going. Injustice, hurt, murder, selfishness, and hate ran rampant in this world. We echo the phrase, “How Long Lord” as we face a new day (Psalm 13:1).

We may have been the recipient of evil and things working out in the end seems so far away or impossible that there is no more hope. We are longing for that fairy tale ending but it just doesn’t seem to happen. Those princess movies seem just like the genre of move-fantasy.

Sick people don’t always get better. There are still accidents and disasters where people suffer and die.

We also can be the perpetrators to the hurts in this world. The Bible says we all have sinned (Rom 3:23). We are guilty and most of all have offended God because of our sin. The justice that needs to be dealt falls on us. So, where is the happy ending! Where is our hope? Is it just fantasy or is there the reality of a true happy ending?

The Resurrection

Great news! There is hope in a true happy ending. It is found in the resurrection and that is why it is so important. Jesus has conquered sin and death, which death is the last enemy (1 Cor 15: 26, 54-58).

Rebecca McLaughlin writes, “The message of Easter is not that Jesus died so that we can one day float around on disembodied souls in some ethereal realm. Instead, it’s that the King of all the universe has died for us, and that if we trust him, he’ll one day bring us back to an embodied life—richer and fresher and more beautiful than anything we’ve felt on earth so far. “

Jesus changes everything. The evil and hurt, the sickness and accidents that exist will one day come to an end. The wrong that we have done and been the recipient of will stop. For those in Christ there is this promise that Peter said, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” ( 1 Peter 3:3-5).

This is the true happy ending! Without Christ and the resurrection we would still be stuck in our sins. Without Christ and the resurrection we would be not have this living hope. Without Christ and the resurrection we are the most pitied of all people (1 Cor 15:19). Jesus is able to say that he makes all things new (Revelation 21:5) because of the resurrection.

Some of the last words that Jesus said when he was on the cross were, “It is finished.” In pain as he endured the cross spoke of the finality of his sacrifice. He was giving of himself to pay for the penalties of our sin, where we have wronged God. As Jesus took his last breath, buried in that tomb, it was not the end. Jesus rose from the dead three days later, he is alive- he has the last word. The happy ending is found in him, the man of sorrows, endured the cross, despising the shame is coming again (Isa 53:1; Heb 12:2; Rev 22:20).