How do you feel about the coming year? Maybe you’re looking ahead at 2012 with some stress as another year full of things that you have to do whether you want to or not.
The cartoon character Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes once said, “God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now I’m so far behind I will never die.” Can you relate? I think there are better assurances of eternal life.
Today is also, potentially, a new start. I say potentially because it depends on a couple things. No change happens in our lives without careful thought, without some self-critical pondering, without some real sense of: “I’m here, but I want to get to there”.
So that’s important if we want to move in new directions. Looking at ourselves in that way can help to make the ground of our lives receptive to something new, new seed that God wishes to plant in us in order to bear new fruit.
But most importantly, there’s the question of the will.
A boy told his father, "Dad, if three frogs were sitting on a limb that hung over a pool, and one frog decided to jump off into the pool, how many frogs would be left on the limb?" The dad replied, "Two."
"No," the son replied. "There’s three frogs and one decides to jump, how many are left?" The dad said, "Oh, I get it, if one decides to jump, the others would too. So there are none left."
The boy said, "No dad, the answer is three. The frog only DECIDED to jump."
Does that sound familiar? Maybe something like last year’s resolution? You see, the will is what enables us or disables us from experiencing change. I say experiencing change rather than ‘making change’ for a reason.
I honestly believe that God is the change agent, God is the person who bridges the gap between where we are and where we want to be.
Experiencing genuine change still involves human will very much though…though you still might not like where I’m going with this. Genuine change for the best, real transformation to becoming the absolute best we can be depends on our willingness to surrender our lives – our hopes, our dreams, our futures and our wills to God.
Let’s look at the Scripture that was read earlier to us.
Live for God
14 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
You know there’s a reason that at this church you hear a lot about the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, about His death and resurrection. There’s a reason we don’t avoid it or soften it or try to twist it.
There’s a reason that other subjects just don’t come up as much or just don’t have the same weight or importance. That reason is a simple one. Everything… everything depends on the truth, the reality of the gospel.
And the most important part of the gospel is that Jesus laid down His life, traded His life for you and for me.
This stepping-into-my judgment, our-judgment; this willingness on Jesus’ part to suffer the worst possible humiliation and beating and murder at the hands of sinful men – all for the singular purpose of saving us, bringing us salvation, restoring our relationship with God – there just is not one single thing that comes close.
It was His love that made Him do it, to be sure. But it is also His love as we embrace the truth of the gospel that compels us, that moves us forward, that turns us from self-centred people into people whose first priority is the glory of Jesus Christ, and the Kingdom of Jesus Christ…His Kingdom of love being established in this realm. “You Kingdom come, Your will be done”, goes the prayer that Jesus taught us.
So this passage speaks to us about the impact that the gospel ‘should’ have on our lives. Not that we’re forced to allow the gospel this influence, not that.
Rather, the same way water rushing down a stream should make glad the animals and people that need it, the same way a banquet table should make happy the hungry who sit at it, the same way a generous gift should cause the recipient to feel gratitude…
The same way one who has accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and begun to live joyfully in the Spirit – this should cause us to want to live no longer for ourselves first and foremost, but rather for the One who died for us and was raised again.
So our will is directed to God.
Kind of like a compass always points north to show us the way. Our will is directed to God.
We may go off course, we may go left down a valley or right over a mountain we’d rather not climb, but for us who name the name of Christ,
Jesus is our moral and spiritual compass. And He always points us to the will of the Father. When the will of the Father is that way and I want to go this way, Jesus, present in my life because the Holy Spirit dwells in me, in you as a believer…Jesus always points me the way I should go.
Value People Differently
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.
As Christians we must choose daily to look at people not from a worldly point of view, but from God’s point of view. I love the Yonge Street Mission’s Articles of Faith, including this part: “All people are created in the image and likeness of God.
Every one of us has value and dignity, and is full of promise and unique potential”. (Genesis 1:27,28; Psalm 139:13-16; Jeremiah 29:11-13; John 3:16)
We don’t look at people superficially. We don’t judge them according to how they look or how they talk. Those are not things that matter.
What matters about people is that Jesus loved them so much that He died for each and every one of them. God considers each one worth he life of His Son. That’s what matters. So that’s how we need to look at folks.
Live the New Creation
1 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
If human beings, myself included, were not such big, huge contradictions, this passage – especially the last 8 words, would make more sense and would be more evident in more of our lives – mine included.
Yet there is not a conditional tone to this verse, not at all. “The old has gone, the new has come!”. That remains a constant encouragement to us, and if we’re thinking, a constant challenge to us as to how we live our lives.
There’s a story about a beggar who lived near the king’s palace. One day he saw a proclamation posted outside the palace gate. The king was giving a great dinner. Anyone dressed in royal garments are welcome.
The beggar went on his way. He looked at the rags he was wearing and sighed. Slowly an idea crept into his mind. He made his way back to the palace. He approached the guard at the gate. "Please sir, I would like to speak to the king."
"Wait here," the guard replied.
In a few minutes, he was brought before the king. "What do you want?" the king asked."Yes, your majesty. I want so much to attend the banquet, but I have no royal robes to wear.
Please sir, if I may be so bold, may I have one of your old garments so that I, too, may come to the banquet?" The beggar was trembling in fear of what the king might do.
"You have been wise in coming to me," the king said. He called to his son, the young prince. "Take this man to your room and array him in some of your clothes."
The prince did as he was told and soon the beggar was standing before a mirror, clothed in garments that he have never dared hope for. "You are now eligible to attend the king’s banquet tomorrow night," said the prince. "But even more important, you will never need any other clothes. These garments will last forever."
The beggar dropped to his knees. "Oh, thank you," he cried. But as he started to leave, he looked back at his pile of dirty rags on the floor. He hesitated.
What if the prince was wrong? What if he would need his old clothes again? Quickly he gathered them up.
The banquet was far greater than he had ever imagined, but he could not enjoy himself, as he should. He had made a small bundle of his old rags and it kept falling off his lap. The food was passed quickly and the beggar missed some of the greatest delicacies.
Time proved that the prince was right. No one came to ask for the royal clothes. Still the poor beggar was doubtful, clinging on to his old rags.
As time passed people seemed to forget the royal robes he was wearing. They saw only the little bundle of filthy rags that he clung to wherever he went. They even spoke of him as the old man with the rags.
Many weeks later as he lay dying, the king visited him. The beggar saw the sad look on the king’s face when he looked at the small bundle of rags by the bed. Suddenly the beggar remembered the prince’s words and he realized that his bundle of rags had cost him a lifetime of joy. He wept bitterly at his folly.
Brothers and Sisters, we have to learn to see things differently now. When I become a butterfly, I cannot continue to think like a caterpillar, or act like one. My life won’t work if I do.
If you are in Christ, you are a new creation. That means you and I have to shed the old cocoon, we have to walk away from the remnants of our old lives.
If we refuse to do that, aren’t we really saying that we don’t actually want a new life? We’re not really interested in new life in Christ? Maybe we are, maybe we’re not. Maybe we’re just super-confused.
Thank God that we have the Holy Scriptures to help us through the maze of our own contradictions!
New Creation, New Purpose
18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.
Sometimes we can forget that verse 18 here follows directly from verse 17 and is part of the same thought. The Message paraphrase of this passage might shed some insight here:
“…Anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other.
God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives.
God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you”.
I hope you don’t mind me telling this little story, Lee. Pastor Lee recently went through a number of interviews for his new role as Assistant Pastor at Church at the Mission.
In his final interview with Andrew Williams, the person all the mission’s directors, including myself, report to, Lee gave a summary statement – he just put it out there as why he felt God was calling him to this new role: “I just want to see people come to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ”.
That was his way of expressing his heart for the Kingdom, his passion for the gospel. If you know Lee at all, you’ve heard him express this in some form or other.
I think Lee feels that way because he knows that the one thing that can truly make a transforming change in a person is God entering a life personally. Lee is right.
As Christ’s ambassadors, our job to be about telling everyone we can what God is doing. That’s what an ambassador does! There is one way that people come into the Kingdom.
It is through Jesus Christ. There is one way that people are attracted to Jesus Christ – through believers in Him telling others and demonstrating to others about the Christian way.
Let me ask you a question? Have you been made a new creation? Have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour? Then you are in a privileged position that few in this city are in.
You are able to lead, by example and by telling people what God is up to in your life and in this city, those within your sphere of influence. You are able to lead.
Now this is not easy. Sometimes when we’re lost, we’re not so interested in being found.
The boss of a big company needed to call one of his employees about an urgent problem with one of the main computers. He dialed the employee’s home telephone number and was greeted with a child’s whispered, "Hello?"
Feeling put out at the inconvenience of having to talk to a youngster, the boss asked, "Is your Daddy home?" "Yes," whispered the small voice. "May I talk with him?" the man asked. To the surprise of the boss, the small voice whispered, "No."
Wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, "Is your Mommy there?"
"Yes," came the answer. "May I talk with her?" Again, the small voice whispered, "No."
Knowing that it was not likely that a young child would be left home alone, the boss decided he would just leave a message with the person who should be there watching over the child. "Is there anyone there besides you?" the boss asked the child.
"Yes," whispered the child, "a policeman." Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee’s home, the boss asked, "May I speak with the policeman?"
"No, he is busy," whispered the child.
"Busy doing what?" asked the boss.
"Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the Fireman," came the whispered answer.
Growing concerned and even worried as he heard what sounded like a helicopter through the ear piece on the phone, the boss asked, "What is that noise?"
"A hello-copper," answered the whispering voice.
"What is going on there?" asked the boss, now alarmed. In an awed whispering voice, the child answered, "The search team just landed the hello-copper!"
Alarmed, concerned and more than just a little frustrated, the boss asked,
"Why are they there?" Still whispering, the young voice replied (along with a muffled giggle), "They are looking for me!"
Most often, people don’t get the seriousness of their state of being lost. Most people don’t realize the hazard they were in before being saved until after they are saved.
If they’re aware of the gospel, they have all kinds of creative ways of twisting it to get it to seem irrelevant to them. Those people have walls built up around them that can take a lot of prayer and time to come down.
But many people will respond when they see the fruit of the gospel in your life. The biggest single reason I started to consider the possibility that the gospel may be true is when I saw it being lived out in the lives of people who were followers of Jesus.
The way they thought about life that was so completely different from what I knew, the joy and sense of purpose they had, the peace they had.
Those were massive indicators to me that there was something about Christian faith that was seriously worth investigating.
It took a lot to penetrate the layers and walls of unbelief that shrouded my life, and of course it was the Holy Spirit at work in those people and in me that broke through those barriers.
And here’s something really important: It was not pastors who reached me with the gospel. Long before I went anywhere near a church, it was simply faithful Christians who were utilizing their God-given ability to lead me by example to Jesus.
The truth is, whether pastors like to admit it or not, people becoming Christians has very little to do with the pastor. Pastors are there to teach those within the church, to equip you for the ministry of the gospel.
Pastors didn’t get me into the church. If they had tried before my heart had been melted through the kindness of believers, I would’ve thumped them. Really. Sometimes we think we’re active members of a church when we come regularly on Sundays. And to a certain extent that’s true.
But more to the point, active members are those who are out simply out there living their lives for God, loving, witnessing, leading people to Jesus by the way they conduct their lives.
Here’s a secret: When you are here at church, you’re part of a big family. You are home. You are loved here. Accepted as you are.
Leave your masks at the door. Only the real and authentic you needs to show up at church. But when you leave here, if you are known as a Christian, you are being watched by the world around you, by your friends and family members.
As soon as people find out you're a Christian they are watching to see if you are for real. Are you yet another reason to not bother with investigating Christian faith, or are you a compelling reason to take Jesus seriously, to take the Bible seriously, to take Christian faith seriously.
So…fellow Christ-followers in this place…you and I are a new creation. The old is gone. The new has come.
18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
How is your will? Do you choose, on this first day of the year of our Lord 2012, to surrender your will to Jesus? Will you decide for Jesus? Of course as our first story suggested, ‘deciding’ when it doesn’t lead to ‘doing’ yields no fruit.
Our answer right now is important, but it matters less than what we choose to do tomorrow. Better to say “Meh!” now and act tomorrow, than say ‘yes’ now and not act tomorrow.
If your half-way there, feeling compelled but still stuck, consider this. As D.L. Moody once demonstrated, we cannot bring about spiritual changes in our lives by our own strength.
Tell me, how can I get the air out of the glass I have in my hand? [Suck it out with a pump? That would create a vacuum and shatter it.] [*Pick up a pitcher and fill the glass with water].
There, all the air is now removed. Victory, change, transformation for the child of God does not come by working hard to do things we need to do, be they eliminating sinful habits or committing ourselves more fully to the mission of Jesus Christ to reach the world with the knowledge of His love, but rather by allowing Christ to take full possession.
On this cusp of a new year, we have an opportunity to move together as a church body, as a family of believers, to follow Jesus where He leads us.
And where He will lead us is to people who need Him, to people who are open to Him, to people who will look through our lives to see if they can see Him. This is not something we should even consider trying to do on our own strength.
But as we allow Jesus to occupy our lives, to be in full possession of us, then there are no limits to what God will do through us, how God will transform this community and city through us and others who follow Christ with their whole hearts.
