Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" 2Cor:5:17
We live in a time when hope is
diminished in the land. It is is a time when some people feel that their lives
are meaningless and without hope. Hope is dead for many and unfortunately
even Christians can succumb to this sense of hopelessness.
Hopelessness
Hope for many is dead, some
don’t even know that there can be hope, they live out their
hopelessness in meaningless pursuits or they live with misplaced
hopes looking to something in which to find their needs met, yet it never
seems to fulfill that deep need.
Dead Spiritually
Many people pass through life
unaware of what Jesus Christ has accomplished on their behalf, that
everything needed for salvation has been accomplished for them by and in
Christ. This salvation is there for them , an all-new life is there ,they
could experience it, yet they do not.
They do not know that a whole new life
is there for them, but instead of this new life much of humanity goes its
way in ignorance or indifference, and in some cases rejection of who
Jesus is.
They are dead spiritually, that is,
they are not living that life which they could be, as were all of us,
until through Jesus, God moved to make away for a whole new life.
"And You being dead in your sins
and the circumcision of your flesh" Col: 2:13a.
This is how we all conducted
ourselves, dead in our sins, yet, this is the state of spiritual
slumber humanity lives out of in the ignorance of who Jesus Christ is.
We “lived” in death.
There was no hope in this ignorance of who our Lord is and all
that Jesus has done for humanity. This sense of deadness characterizes the
lives of millions. Too many follow after meaningless pursuits and
attempts to give humanities' temporary existence meaning, but nothing
answers this need.
All around us there are those whose
lives are marked with attempts to gratify the flesh hoping to fill this
hopeless void within themselves. It is almost, as if they are
searching for evidence that they are alive. These varies pursuits might
tantalize and stimulate for a time, but it can't last.
Many think only in terms of “the
now” , many people seem to be going nowhere ,lives becomes meaningless,
hopelessness leads some to a life of futile pursuits , sin and debauchery.
One reason the society around us is
degrading into sinful life styles and the abandonment of moral purity
is, the loss of hope. When hope fails moral restraints are cast away, the
idea is "live for the moment".
This is the very state that our Lord
has come to set us free from, to give us all redemption, to instill new meaning
to life all through Jesus, we could not have done it for ourselves.
"He has quickened together with
Him, having forgiven you all trespasses “Col: 2:13b
New Creation
"Therefore if any man be in
Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things
are become new" 2Cor:5:17
We are new
creations, now, not will be. This newness is experienced
by belief and faith in who Jesus is, that is, when we believe in
Jesus we see what Jesus has done for us our lives are made new in Him.
The early church thought deeply about
the entrance of Jesus into human history ,they pondered its meaning, they asked
"what did it mean?" what had changed in humanities
relationship with God?
St.Paul says in 2Cor:5:14 "we
have considered", this tells us that though prayer, discussion, and
most possibly with contention the early church developed a theology regarding
the incarnation and it's impact upon humanities relationship with God, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit.
What is it that they considered? "That
one died for all, therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live
should no longer live for themselves but for Him who for them and was raised
again" 2Cor:5:14-15
"I am the Resurrection"
"I am
the Resurrection" when we read this so often we think of this as
speaking of Jesus' coming again from the grave , or any future
resurrection, but Jesus says this even before his own death.
The resurrection is who Jesus
is not just an event that Jesus is a part of. The bodily
resurrection of Jesus only showed what has always been eternally true. Death
can not hold him, this is why we read in the Book of Acts, which quotes the
Psalm.
"you will not permit
your Holy One to see corruption"Act:13:35
The power of Jesus being
the Resurrection changes us , and all things forever, for if Jesus
does not live we could not live either.
In Jesus "all died"
, and in Jesus the same "all", we are told, has been
"raised" . Jesus could do this as being fully God yet
fully human. He has brought the race(all) out of death into life,
and can be entered into by simply accepting it by grace.
Out of death we are brought into
a new life with and by and Him. Jesus Being God , is not bound or confined
by time, therefore his life, death and resurrection has eternal impact,
stretching from eternity past and into eternity future , and touching even
all humanity.
The Death of Nothing
There was nothing, that is
materially, in the nothingness of the past before creation , and out
of this nothing, and it was into the nothingness of death God spoke and brought
the material creation into being. The Lord God brings creation and life
out of the death of nothing.
"In the beginning God created the
Heavens and the Earth" Gen:1:1
In the Gospel of St. John, the Apostle
is moved by the Holy Spirit to open his account of the life of Jesus in
the eternity past , even before the Great God brought the universe into
being.
"In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God .He was with God in the
beginning" Jhn:1:1-2 .
St. John here is using an important
literary device, by equating the coming of the Messiah with the uses
of the words " In beginning", we see the
opening words of the creation epic. St. John is stating that the
introduction of Jesus into human history ,as one of us, is a creation
event, an all new creation, and in Jesus this new creation is
accomplished , as well as, speaking that the very one
who created is the one of whom St. John and the other Apostles were
proclaiming. God has brought life out of death by Jesus alone. Jesus is life incarnate and has come to retrieve our material nature out of the
nothingness of death's grasp.
All Things New
When we see this, and come
believe that God makes All Things New in his Son Jesus, this
gives us hope of the New Creation that he has made us to be in Jesus;
and that we could not have done this on our own . He did it all for us
through Jesus Christ.
We are now a new creation, made new,
then we walk in newness of life, this new life is what St. Paul wrote of to
Roman Christians in his epistle Rom:6:4, we are now
alive and in Jesus.
We are assured of a life in
eternity with our Lord Jesus Christ, we have hope . A real hope. A hope that is
ours' here and now not just someday in eternity to come, but an all new life
here and now upon the Earth.
To Whom God would make known what is
the riches of the glory mystery among the gentiles; which is Christ in you, the
hope of Glory" Col:1:27
This hope sustains us even in the face
of adversity and crisis, ever with our eyes focused on Jesus, as the One ,who
gives us such hope, Rom:8:18-25.
In Eternity
In the end, what has been made true
is that the New Creation which he has made us to be , will be ours' completely and fully. It will be what Jesus has already accomplished for us all
fully experienced.
All Things Made New in Jesus. All
those things of this life ,and even the old creation will all pass
away, leaving only the New Creation . Rev:21:1-3.
These words speak of
things that are, in truth, beyond the minds of any of us to fully take in and
comprehend.
God gives each of us just a glimpse of
this eternity that is for each who will but freely receive it.
Yet, there will be some, that
will reject this freely given Gift of God, they love their sin more
than their Savior.
But God has called us to have all
things made new in his Holy Son Jesus, even here and now and on into
Eternity.
Benediction: May we each
and all live in that newness of life found only in Jesus, today, tomorrow and
forevermore .Amen.
Rev. Todd Crouch, Pastor
Topinabee Community Church
Topinabee, Michigan
If You Would Like to Know More About or to Support the Ministry of Topinabee Community Church You Can go to Our Web Site.
https://topinabeechurch.org/index.html
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