New Creation In Christ

The Apostle Paul writes, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The immediate context proceeding this Scripture is the notion that we are no longer to live for ourselves, rather we are called to live for Jesus. Immediately following this text is a call to a ministry of reconciliation. This Scripture gives me great hope in the Christian life. We can live differently. We can change and be transformed. Our past traumas and failures do not define us. They do not get to control us and shackle our growth or determine our future outcomes. We can be instruments of peace as individuals and within our communities.
However, if I am brutally honest, I also find this Scripture convicting, even somewhat disappointing. I certainly do not always feel like I am a new creation in Christ. I have bad habits that have marked my life for years. My marriage is not what I imagined when I said “I do” several decades ago. I have been in the ministry for over three decades. While I have met many Christians who are some of the best people on this planet, I have also encountered some “Christians” who are prideful, selfish, angry and unforgiving. Sometimes I tell myself maybe they are not actually Christians, which could be possible. Or perhaps they, like myself, are still a serious work in progress.
Most of us appreciate the vulnerable honesty of the Scripture. Our greatest faith heroes certainly had deep flaws. Abraham, the father of our faith, was a coward when he should have defended his wife. Two different times he allowed her to be taken into a ruler’s harem without hesitation or protest. Moses had a temper that cost him entry into the promised land, which was the entire goal of his ministry. Samson was controlled by his libido and desires of the flesh more than the promptings of God. The list goes on and on. Some may object as those are Old Testament people that did not have the New Testament gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. Agreed, but the apostle Paul cried out “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do” (Romans 7:15). And flawed Paul had to confront cowardly Peter who had brought the gospel to the Gentiles but then treated them like second class Christians when “real Jewish Christians” showed up (Galatians 2). Even apostles live beneath the truth that they know and teach. As long as we live, there is a gap between what we know we should do and what we actually do. Each of us is trying to make that gap as small as possible.
The doctrine of the new creation may be the most untapped and unrealized truth in the New Testament. May the Lord help us move from experiencing the gift of being a new creation simply positionally, in the eyes of God, and physically embrace and apply being a new creation practically in the reality of our daily lives. We can live better. We can live holy lives. As we apprentice under Jesus Christ, we must preach the gospel to ourselves regularly. We are sinners who are saved by the grace of God as revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Without Christ, we are worse than we think we are, but because of God’s loving nature, we are more deeply loved than we can comprehend. Out of that undeserved love flows a godly life.
I often go back to the image in John 15 of Jesus as the vine and us as the branches. It maintains that without him, we can do nothing. In connection with Him, bad habits can be defeated. In connection with Him, our selfishness can be conquered. We can live winsome lives that show God’s love. We can model the fruit of the Holy Spirit which includes: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22,23). Christians, continue to grab hold of the promise of the new creation. Do not leave it untapped and unrealized but may it actually mark us. Isn’t it time we began truly living out the new creation?

Pastor Derek Dickinson
Journey Christian Church