B.C.F., 06.11.2005
Summary of Week 2
a. covenant is not contract – conditional cf. unconditional, law cf. grace.
b. contractual behaviour with God- he is watching for mistakes, we rebel.
c. new covenant – internalised, full forgiveness, sovereignly effective.
d. Jesus is the covenant – the blood means no penalty/guilt.
e. Therefore people draw near to God.
f. God is not watching at a distance.
New Creation in Christ
Look up Key text: 14 For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. 15 And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (2 Cor 5:14- 17)
Question: What is the difference between a new creation and a radical makeover?
No spiritual change, outside not inside, temporary not lasting, image not substance etc.
All human beings long for some sort of new creation experience e.g. future- Islamic paradise, JW’s pictures of supremely happy people on a new earth…; Western people look for this newness of experience via sex, drugs, extreme sports, entertainment etc. to feel different inside about myself.
People submit to plastic surgery, spend large amounts of money on fashion, clothes, bigger houses, better cars etc.* because something is missing = “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23)
Question: What does this mean?
Loss of God’s glorious presence, loss of his life, loss of what cannot die, no sense of eternal life. Desire/lust for more and more material things* is motivated by the fear of death. Evil makes nothing new. Because they are dead inside, people know (even if can’t put it into words) that they are part of an “old” fallen and perishing creation (cf. “old man” Rom 6:6; Eph 4:22;Col 3:9).
Look up Romans 8:18-21 “18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ”
Everything is in “bondage to decay” (NRSV) “slavery to corruption” (NJB) “slavery to decay” (GNB) – second law of thermodynamics (order to disorder, need to keep putting energy into systems to preserve order e.g. your car, house, body), everything sags and breaks down.
Question: What caused this corruption come into the world? Look up Ephesians 4:17 – 23
17 Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. 19 They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 That is not the way you learned Christ! 21 For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus. 22 You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt through deceitful lusts, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
2 Peter 1:4 “the corruption that is in the world because of lust”
Lust = misdirected passion/ false desire/covetousness = idolatry; “greedy (that is, an idolater)” Eph 5:5; “5 Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry).”Col 3:5. When Adam and Eve desired earthly things more than God he punished them by submitting everything they lusted after –including their own bodies to corruption/futility/breakdown.
If you want something more than you want God your life will be subjected to futility. E.g. Christians more attracted to their favourite TV programmes than to Jesus!
Question: According to 1 Peter 1:23 and 2 Peter 1:4 what happened when you were “born again/from above”?
“You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.” (1 Pet 1:23)
“4 Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature. ”(2 Pet 1:4)
You received a share in God’s eternal/incorruptible nature.
Question: Look up 1 Corinthians 7:29- 31 and explain how Christians are meant to live differently from non-Christians?
“29 I mean, brothers and sisters, the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, 30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, 31 and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. ”(1Cor 7:29-31)
JY example: about a week ago early one morning God put me through a form of spiritual death – lay down (in my mind) how you think others see you (= think they know us) and put down how you see yourself (= think you know yourself). This was God applying to me these following verses.
2 Corinthians 5:16-17 “ 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” The new creation in Christ is not about some sort of emotional change inside, but a connection to everything and everyone through Jesus.
Next morning he asked me (in Christ) to pick all these things up again. He was saying to me, “Let me show you how I think of you and know you”. Taking me through a form of spiritual resurrection = sharing in the newness in Christ. The death and resurrection of Jesus cf. how we/others think of us is the basis of our identity. With Christ we have died to old identity and been raised to a new identity, 14 For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. 15 And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)
Question: do most Christians live as if they belonged to a different world?
For the reality of the new creation to break into our lives we need to recover what happened when we first met Jesus.
The reality of the new creation # an emotional experience, Bible knowledge, ministry for the church etc., it is a relationship with Jesus. The new creation only exists “in Christ”.
When you came to Jesus you not only died to the obviously bad things in your life but realised that the good things would never be good enough to please God/earn salvation. What happens in the church is that we take up a new set of good works to replace the old set.
Look up Ephesians 2:8- 10
“8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”
Question: how can you tell whether the works a Christian does are good works in the new creation in Christ?
1. Lack of power.
2. Spiritual tiredness/depression/boredom.
3. Motivated by guilt/obligation/duty cf. love, joy, worship.
4. Inability to impart Christ into the lives of others.
You only maintain power, freshness, enthusiasm and effectiveness in ministry through repeated spiritual dying and risings cf. works of the law.
Conclusion
Look up Revelation 3:1- 6 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works; you have a name of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God. 3 Remember then what you received and heard; obey it, and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. 4 Yet you have still a few persons in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes; they will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5 If you conquer, you will be clothed like them in white robes, and I will not blot your name out of the book of life; I will confess your name before my Father and before his angels. 6 Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”
Congregations are dying all over this nation because they are full of good people doing “good works” that have lost the freshness of the new creation in Christ. People cot to these churches they do not meet Jesus in the words and deeds of the Christians.
About 6 months ago – prayed about BCF and believe God showed me then that B.C.F. is like the church in Sardis
Reason why BCF is not growing, and will in fact die if there is no change, is not because it is small dominated by women, has no youth little money or few university graduates - God will draw people to any Christian community that can impart Christ – churches all over this city and nation are dying because they don’t know how to impart Christ.
Can’t draw your life from previous leaders any more – Jesus or death. Look up Colossians 3:5 “5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.….” I believe God is saying, put me first, put a passion for Jesus first – and I will do the rest.
Question: How do we do this?
1. Sense what the Holy Spirit is saying to you about your primary passion.
2. Lay it down
3. Pick it up WITH Jesus