Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

Transform, change, be different, it is a way of life for us… we don’t want to be who we are and we will try all sorts of things to change. Crash diets, plastic surgery, new hairdos, new clothes. In truth we really want to just change the outside covering.

But some try to do it internally - Americans spend $50 million a year on subliminal message tapes designed to help them do everything from improve their self-image to stop smoking. But there’s no hidden message in the National Research Council’s verdict on such techniques. The Council’s report, released in September 1992, concludes that subliminal messages simply don’t work. They don’t deliver the life-transforming power they promise.

A man was selling an old warehouse, the building had been empty for months and needed repairs. Gangs had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and thrown trash everywhere.

As he showed a prospective buyer the property, The man took pains to say that he would replace the broken windows, bring in a crew to correct any structural damage, and clean out the garbage.

“Forget about the repairs,” the buyer said. “When I buy this place, I’m going to build something completely different. I don’t want the building; I want the site.

Compared with the renovation God has in mind, our efforts to improve our own lives are as trivial as sweeping a warehouse that is slated for the wrecking ball.

When we become God’s, the old life is over, He makes all things new. All he wants is the site and the permission to build.

But the Bible does tell us how we can truly change - 2 Corinthians 5:17 says that first it is Christ… that –

If we are IN Christ – We are in a RELATIONSHIP.

To – “be in Christ” was Paul’s most favorite expression. He used it often and to him it meant the very fact of being a Christian. To be “In Christ” is to have a close, intimate, real, relationship with Him.

We ARE a New Creation – We are RADICALLY Changed.

This is not a minor modification this is a major overhaul. You do not evolve into a Christian. Yes you should grow in your walk, your behavior in your maturity. But you are no more a Christian today than you were yesterday. Why? Because the change isn’t up to you. You don’t change yourself – you are changed.

Two LIFE – CHANGING events take place.

“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; behold, everything has become new!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

1. The old self is GONE.

Wouldn’t it be great as you got older if you could get new parts? Yes, I know that through the magic of modern medicine you can have all kind of things stretched, pulled, pinched, tucked, tweaked, enhanced, suctioned and peeled. But all that is only a matter of moving pieces and parts around so that no one can see the effects of how badly we have treated our bodies.

What if we could take a part of our life that we didn’t particularly care for and have it erased? Wouldn’t that be great? I mean there are things in my life that I would just as soon have never happened. And that is exactly what God does when you enter into that life-changing decision. All the old stuff of your life, all the things you wish would go away and have never happened…

It is gone, He doesn’t just forget it… it is as if it never occurred… and as far as He is concerned it never did. Then He makes…

2. Every aspect of your life is BRAND – NEW.

The change promised by God is not one where things get hidden or glossed over with enough plastic or make-up or stitches. What God is talking about is a completely new and improved you. You are not the same as you were. Old parts are not hidden but each part of your life is made new.

Have you ever watched a child come in from playing and they are absolutely covered from head to toe in mud? You tell them to go take a bath and sure enough for once they listen to you and do. But as soon as they get out of the shower they put the same clothes back on and then wonder why your upset. Unfortunately people are just like that. They ask God to change them and then go back to wearing the same old clothes.

God doesn’t clean the outer half, He doesn’t reshape it or even enhance what is already there, He works from the inside out to Re-Create.

All made possible by God’s RECONCILATION –

“All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ…” 2 Corinthians 5:18a