New Creation Realities Series #1
“Check Out the Butterfly”
2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT
When you think about the awesomeness of God it can just be breath taking!
We are still paying people today just to continue discovering all the incredible things God has created for us to recognize His existence. From the mountains, to the jungles, down to the deepest places of the ocean, & finally into space we can’t deny how great God really is!
But I want to begin today bringing the focus back on how awesome you & I are to God.
The butterfly is the coolest place to start this incredible adventure we are going to take for the next few weeks.
We are going to look at the life cycle of this beautiful creation & see how we can learn from it about our lives & it’s “New Creation”.
I. The first stage is the Egg Stage…
We can all relate to this stage, right? Everyone that has ever been born first started as an egg.
A butterfly starts life as a very small, round, oval or cylindrical egg. The coolest thing about butterfly eggs, especially monarch butterfly eggs, is that if you look close enough you can actually see the tiny caterpillar growing inside of it. Some butterfly eggs may be round, some oval and some may be ribbed while others may have other features. The egg shape depends on the type of butterfly that laid the egg.
We were God’s prize creation right there in the egg just like the little butterfly inside the egg.
Psalm 139:13-15 NLT You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
II. The second Stage is the Caterpillar…
This is another stage that shows us a clear picture of us after we are born from our mom.
When the egg finally hatches, most of you would expect for a butterfly to emerge, right? Well, not exactly. In the butterfly’s life cycle, there are four stages and this is only the second stage. Butterfly larvae are actually what we call caterpillars. Caterpillars do not stay in this stage for very long and mostly, in this stage all they do is eat.
As you can see for yourself, they are not much different from us are they? How many babies do you who after they were born they spent most of their time wanting to eat?
In reality I want you to think about what we are developing in this stage of our life.
Is this not a time that we are focused on basically ourselves & not much of anything else?
Are we not pretty demanding to get what I want when I want it?
In this caterpillar stage of our life I contend that we begin developing our self nature. Depending on our upbringing will determine how difficult of a time we have dealing with it later in the next stage.
Proverbs 29:15 NLT To discipline a child produces wisdom, but a mother is disgraced by an undisciplined child.
Galatians 5:19-21 NLT When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
Do you see that our fallen nature left to itself will bring nothing but terror & destruction! I can’t tell you the numbers of parents that I talked to through the years asking me what they could do because their child is out of control!
Most of the time it came back to the fact that they raised them from a worldly plan of discipline & they produced an undisciplined child that will bring much disgrace to a family.
III. The Third Stage: Pupa (Chrysalis)…
This is where things really start getting cool! But it is also the stage of uncertainty?
What really goes on in this stage of a person’s life? Watch this!!!
The pupa stage is one of the coolest stages of a butterfly’s life. As soon as a caterpillar is done growing and they have reached their full length/weight, they form themselves into a pupa, also known as a chrysalis. From the outside of the pupa, it looks as if the caterpillar may just be resting, but the inside is where all of the action is. Inside of the pupa, the caterpillar is rapidly changing.
Now, as most people know, caterpillars are short, stubby and have no wings at all. Within the chrysalis the old body parts of the caterpillar are undergoing a remarkable transformation, called ‘metamorphosis,’ to become the beautiful parts that make up the butterfly that will emerge. Tissue, limbs and organs of a caterpillar have all been changed by the time the pupa is finished, and is now ready for the final stage of a butterfly’s life cycle.
If we ever intend on seeing what our true identity really was meant to be in this life we are going to have to enter that place of transformation in our life as well.
John 3:3-7 NLT Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’
Jesus was trying to explain the spiritual cocoon that every person must experience in order to live the new experience that God wants for each of us.
How many of you have figured out already that this could mean that in the process of my transformation there is going to be some uncomfortable times as well as some difficult ones too!
2 Corinthians 5:17 NCV If anyone belongs to Christ, there is a new creation. The old things have gone; everything is made new!
2 Timothy 2:10 NLT So I am willing to endure anything if it will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen.
IV. The Fourth Stage: Adult Butterfly (Maturity)
So through all of the little caterpillar’s endurance the outcome is incredible! WOW! Look how awesome the transformation makes it!
Finally, when the caterpillar has done all of its forming and changing inside the pupa, if you are lucky, you will get to see an adult butterfly emerge. When the butterfly first emerges from the chrysalis, both of the wings are going to be soft and folded against its body. This is because the butterfly had to fit all its new parts inside of the pupa.
As soon as the butterfly has rested after coming out of the chrysalis, it will pump blood into the wings in order to get them working and flapping – then they get to fly. Usually within a three or four-hour period, the butterfly will master flying and will search for a mate in order to reproduce.
What about a person who was once still all entangled with the worlds cocoons of sin? When they are redeemed & begin walking in that truly transformed state in Jesus Christ!
WOW, is that not the most awesome thing you have ever witnessed.
2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
What an atmosphere God has blessed us with today to start a brand new life!
• There are some here today that you know you are still stuck in the cocoon of life & you need to get totally free today!
• Someone is going to get their wings today!
• Are you ready to start flying higher than you ever have in your life?
You have got to begin to see your life as God does! Either you are a new creation or you are not!
Why not breakout of the cocoon today & start flying with the Holy Spirit? That is God’s plan for you!
