Everything Made New
Each New Year many people make all sorts of resolutions. Resolutions for greater Health, or Wealth. These resolutions are a desire through self discipline to have the things change for the better.
The good news is that, God also has a desire for new changes to take place for his creation. He has made all these things possible.
These changes come not so much from self discipline but from a relationship with God through his son.
Rev 21:1-5 NIV
21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
It’s impossible to list everything our Lord Makes New, but we can look into several of them.
Luke 22:20 NIV – New Covenant
20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.
2 Cor 5:16-17 NKJV – New Creation
16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
John 13:34-35 NIV – New Command
34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
Acts 5:17-20 NIV – New Commission to tell the Message of a New Life
17 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20 "Go, stand in the temple courts," he said, "and tell the people the full message of this new life."
Acts 17:19-23 NIV – New Teachings
19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean." 21(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
Rom 6:1-4 NIV – New Life
6:1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Rom 7:4-6 NIV – New Fruitful way of living by God’s Spirit
4 So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
Eph 4:20-24 NIV – New Personality
20 You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21 Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Col 3:7-11 NIV – New self made in the image of God
7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
1 Peter 1:3-5 NIV – New Birth into a living Hope
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
Rev 3:11-13 NIV – New Name
11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12 Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name. 13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Rev 5:4-9 NIV – New Song
5 Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals." 6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song:
Rev 21:1-4 NIV – New Inheritance
21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
What stops Man from Changing?
1. Fear we will loose more than we will Gain
2. Man can become satisfied with his present conditional
3. Dr. Hilary Glasser a Licensed Psychologist specializing in the treatment of depression, anxiety, eating disorders and relationship issues. She works with adolescents and adults.
“We are often afraid of change because we fear our power and ability to succeed. The idea of embracing happiness and truly succeeding may evoke many negative beliefs stemming from low self-esteem. We may feel we don’t deserve to be happy or that our changes will be negatively perceived by others.”
Fear can stop you from really living. Imagine life without change. Although it might feel secure, it would be static, boring and dull. If you have ever felt stuck, frustrated or bored, it may be the fear of change that is causing the problem.
Revelation 21 paints an astounding picture of the dream God has for this world. In it, we find God remaking the cosmos - a new heaven and a new earth. Yet what is most extraordinary is what happens next: Heaven comes crashing into earth - humanity does not go somewhere else to be with God, God comes here - His dwelling place is now among the people. It is in this new reality that God proclaims that He "is making everything new."
God is making everything new and right again - everything from creation to your life and to mine. Everything made new again. Everything.
What might this mean for…
• The things that haunt us from the past?
• The hurts that seem to control us?
• Places of failure, where we just don’t have it all together?
• Places where we just cannot sense any victory?
• Our fears of what has been, or what is, of what could be?
• The anxieties we feel about the present or the future?
• Our relationships?
Think of the hope this brings. Your life, right now, is not the end of your story. The God who is about the business of making every new is more than able to make your life new again. The hope of Christianity is not merely that someday, somewhere else things will all work out, but that in the here and now you can experience freedom and wholeness.
