Get A New Life

Get A New Life

Eph. 4:14-32

All the time I hear people talking about starting a new life. People say I am starting over. I am going to move and create a new life for myself. I am going to leave my past behind and start over somewhere where no one knows me. But all of these fail. Someone or something from your past will show up and everything falls apart.

I can’t help but think about the man who lived in Phoenix AZ. For twenty years he had lived there. He was a leader in the community, an activist. He owned a business there and he was much respected throughout the community. Two years ago he made a decision to run for public office. When a reporter interviewed the man they realized that there was something not quite right about the past that the man claimed to have had. After investigation the reporter discovered that this man, this pillar of the community had as a young man dodged the draft and had been in hiding for the past twenty years. When the news came out the man was arrested and he lost the election. He had thought that after twenty years no one would ever find out about what he had done as a young man. But it had and it cost him two years form his life, his reputation in the community, and his business. His family lost his presence in their lives for two years as he went through the federal legal system and today he lives 50 miles away from Phoenix and is starting over once again but no longer does he have the fear of being discovered hanging over him. He finally discovered that he could not escape from who he really was.

The only true way to become a new person or a new creation is in Jesus Christ. Jesus will take you clean you up and create a new person in you. He does this without wiping out your past. It is still there but now it can be used to measure how much Jesus is doing for you. So many people are never living the new life that Jesus has created for them. They continue on in their old lives never seeing the changes that Jesus has wrought for them. Way too many Christians are running to and fro chasing answers here and there. They are like children in a candy store with some money and wanting to buy everything. But Paul teaches us that we are not to be like that. That we don’t have to live like that. In fact once Jesus saves us we no longer have the need for that. No longer are we to be deceived by false doctrines and lies. You know who they are they are on our T.V. claiming that if you send them some money they will send you a handkerchief and you would be healed or some other outrageous claim. Many Christian who is not strong in their faith, who are immature in their understanding, fall for this. They are unable to discern the truth from fiction because they are not growing spiritually. They are not allowing the Holy Spirit to lead them but are being lead instead by the Holy Spirit. Paul says that once we are saved and are being lead by the Holy Spirit we want be tricked by them.

But Bro. David why are so many good Christians deceived by them? The answer is simple they have stopped growing in their new person. They may feel that they have reached maturity but they have not. None of us will ever reach full spiritual maturity while we are alive because our lives are an ongoing process and learning experience. We must grow to spiritual maturity. Only through Spiritual maturity can we avoid being deceived by lies and cheaters. Charlatans that want to take advantage of immature Christians. As we grow toward spiritual maturity two results occur. 1. no longer will we be children or immature Christians who are easily deceived by false doctrine because we will know the truth. And secondly we will grow to be more Christ like as we study God’s word. We will live our lives for Him by His doctrines, through our conduct, and serve Him. Christian maturity is only attained through thorough instruction in sound doctrine given in a loving manner.

But many Christians are spinning their wheels because they would rather have someone else tell them what the Bible says then pick up a Bible, study it, and let the Holy Spirit teach them about what it says. Today in our world we are taught to follow instruction and we are told everyday what to do and when we do it by new reporters, teachers, doctors, lawyers, preachers, politicians, judges and so forth that we come to expect someone else to do the work for us. But God says hide my world in your heart. To do that we must read and study God’s word and understand it under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Our new life actually begins at our birth into the kingdom and it grows as we study God’s word. In fact we will continue to grow until the day we die.