THE BUTTERFLY: SYMBOL OF NEW BIRTH
Acts 3:19
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: CHRISTMAS SHOPPING TOGETHER
1. Rachel decides to do some shopping at the Woodlands Mall and manages to persuade her husband Steve to join her.
2. After 2 hours of looking around one women's clothes shop after another, Rachel suddenly realizes that Steve is no longer with her. So she calls him on his mobile phone. "Where are you?" she angrily asks Steve. "I thought we were shopping together."
3. "Don't get angry, darling," replied Steve. "Do you remember the jewelry shop by the escalator in the middle of the Mall, the one we spent time in last year and where we saw a lovely gold necklace for you but which was just a little bit too expensive for us to buy and where I said I would get it for you one day?"
4. "Yes, of course I do, darling" replies Rachel excitedly. "Why do you ask?" "Well I'm in the Cafe next door to that jewelry shop having a coffee and a donut."
5. He had to get a taxi to get home!
B. TEXTS
1. John 3:3 Amp., “…Unless a person is BORN AGAIN [reborn from above—spiritually transformed], he cannot [ever] see and experience the kingdom of God.”
2. 2 Cor. 5:17 NKJV, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW CREATION; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
3. Acts 16:31 NIV, “They replied, “BELIEVE in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
4. Titus 3:5 NKJV, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of REGENERATION and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”
5. 1 Cor. 6:11 KJV, “And such were some of you: but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are JUSTIFIED in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
C. THESIS
1. The Bible uses many different terms to describe the work of salvation: Born Again, Believer, Repent, Conversion, Regeneration, New Creation, Justification, etc.
2. How can we understand what these mean? This morning I’m going to use a common insect to portray what it means to be a “New Creature in Christ,” show how only heavenly creatures go to Heaven, and the 3 steps to be a New Creature.
3. The title of this message is “The Butterfly: Symbol of the New Birth.”
I. ILLUSTRATION: THE BUTTERFLY
“Conformity to Christ is accomplished by the death of one life the replacement by a new life.” Bert Clendennon
A. 2 DISTINCT LIVES
1. It has 2 distinct lives. In one stage it’s an earthbound worm. It can only crawl on the ground, eat obnoxious things. It’s ugly and most people wouldn’t want to touch it, because they consider it detestable and are repulsed by it.
2. After its change, it becomes a creature of the air, which can fly above the trees. Its perspective is no longer earthly; it can look down from an elevated perspective.
3. It’s also become beautiful – a creature of exquisite color, a flying marvel. Now it’s a creature that creates awe and wonder. People want butterflies to land on them and even to get to see one is a treat.
B. “NO WAY SUCH A THING CAN HAPPEN!”
1. Now we’re tempted to think that these 2 creatures I’m describing can’t be related; the same creature can’t once have been the worm and then become the butterfly. (Neither can a normal human become a heavenly saint.)
2. The reason why caterpillars morphing into flying machines doesn’t impress us much is because it happens every day. It’s just too common to get our attention.
3. What if you were hearing the story for the first time? Imagine someone explaining to you that a slow moving, fuzzy bug crawled into a little sleeping bag and several days later emerged as an exotically painted flying flower!
4. “Oh, don’t give me that! That would require too massive a reorganization of its molecules to produce such a thing. It couldn’t possibly happen!” And normally you’d be right.
5. It might be compared to a squat RV driving into a large garage, wrapped up in a white tarp, left alone and untouched for several days, then, when the tarp is removed, you see that the RV had mysteriously been transformed into a sleek Lear jet.
6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocWgSgMGxOc (time lapse of monarch butterfly, worm to butterfly)
C. KEY TO ITS TRANSFORMATION
1. According to Scientific American article, “How Does a Caterpillar Turn into a Butterfly?” By Ferris Jabr [8/10/12], the crucial change starts after it settles down into its death-like hibernation.
2. God causes it to release a chemical that turns its insides to mush -- no perceptible parts. All the old caterpillar organs are dissolved! It’s old DNA is destroyed & somehow a new DNA takes its place!
3. From the old mush emerges a whole new creature: the brain, internal parts, head, legs, and wings of a butterfly. It’s an absolute miracle!
4. I want to say, this morning, that it’s such a change that must take place in you if you want to go to heaven. The old you must die and be replaced by the divine nature of Jesus Christ!
5. Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” Gal. 2:20. He talked about “Christ in me the hope of glory.” He said “I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you” Gal. 4:19.
II. HEAVEN ONLY FOR HEAVENLY CREATURES
A. BRITISH ROYALTY EXAMPLE
1. Debrett's Peerage is the book which identifies everyone who has blood connections to British royalty: a sort of "who's who."
2. If your name, or your immediate family aren’t listed there, then there’re certain schools, clubs, and social circles that will be forever closed to you.
3. Money alone or good connections won’t be able to open those doors - only the "right" blood ties/ DNA.
4. There’s an assumption that certain people by virtue of their birthright are automatically entitled to exclusive privileges denied to other mere mortals.
5. Imagine the consternation when Debrett's discovered "One of our lords is missing!" People all over the world began to submit their claims: over 230,000 people claims to be the missing peer.
6. Finally the missing Peer was located: a humble potato farmer in Australia, named Pete. He owned "Pete's Potatoes." He told them he didn’t want their peerage, but said he might
say his potatoes were "fit for a king!" [Alli Llewellyn]
B. THE LAMB’S BOOK OF LIFE
1. There’s another book which records the names of all those who are connected to the greatest King the world has ever known. It's called the Lamb's Book of Life.
2. You will never qualify to be in that Book based on your money, your family tree, your social background or achievements.
3. The only way you can be included is to be made a Child of God through faith in Jesus Christ. When Jesus comes in your heart, He changes your spiritual genetic structure to be like His. You’re adopted into God’s family; you’re one of His kids.
4. At the Great White Throne Judgment, that Book will be the final word on who gets into Heaven, and who goes to Hell. BE SURE YOUR NAME IS IN THAT BOOK!
5. How? By being Born Again this morning. So how do you do that? Peter outlines 3 steps after you hear the Good News of Jesus!
III. THE 3 STEPS TO BE A NEW CREATURE
A. BELIEVE ON JESUS
1. John 3:16. To “believe” means more than to mentally agree with Christian doctrine, or agree the Bible’s true, or even to believe that Jesus came to save us.
2. “Now what use is it, my brothers, for a man to say he “has faith” if his actions do not correspond with it? Could that sort of faith save anyone’s soul?....So you believe that there is one God? That’s fine. So do all the devils in hell and shudder in terror!” ….can’t you realize that faith without the right actions is dead and useless? Phillips Trans., James 2:14,18-22. Belief, without ACTING ON THAT BELIEF, won’t save you!
3. “Believe” in Greek means “trust in, cling to, rely on” -- not only mental agreement. In Greek, to believe is not simply a cognitive function, but is an experiential function. To “believe” in Jesus as your Savior means to “trust in, cling to, rely on” Him to save you.
4. If you fell off of a cliff and a vine happened to be hanging there, how would you hold onto that vine? Nonchalantly? Casually? NO! You would cling to it like your very life depended on it.
5. That’s exactly how God expects us to cling to Christ for our life. We should let all else go, nothing should come between us; He must be supreme in our lives!
6. “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve” Mt. 4:10. “You shall have no other gods before Me” Ex. 20:3. Jesus said the greatest command was “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” Mt. 22:37. God demands that if we’re going to serve Him, we must love Him supremely and let nothing come before Him in our lives.
7. It is this devotion that Jesus demanded of us too; “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for My sake will find it.” Matt. 10:37-39.
8. This is what God means when He tells us to “believe” on Jesus.
B. REPENT & CONVERT/TURN
1. The Bible tells us at least 3 things:
a. God/Jesus is real and will judge the world.
b. Before Christ, we’re sinners headed for hell.
c. God has sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins so that we can be forgiven and justified from sin.
2. These facts should elicit a response from us. Acts 3:19 NKJV, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”
3. “Repentance is a discovery of the evil of sin, a mourning that we have committed it, a resolution to forsake it. It is, in fact, a change of mind of a very deep and practical character, which makes the man love what once he hated, and hate what once he loved.”
4. “Conversion, if translated, means a turning round, a turning from, and a turning to—a turning from sin, a turning to holiness—a turning from carelessness to thought, from the world to heaven, from self to Jesus—a complete turning.” CHS
5. When the prodigal was feeding his swine, and on a sudden began to consider and to come to himself, that was repentance.
When he set out and left the far country, and went to his father's house, that was conversion.
6. Regeneration is the implanting of a new nature, and one of the earliest signs of it is repentance of sin.
7. Peter was saying, "Change your minds; be sorry for what you have done; forsake your old ways; be turned; become new men."
C. RE-BREATHING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
1. Peter continues his description “…so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” Acts 3:19.
2. The Greek word “refreshing” used in Acts 3:19 is "anapsukseus," which literally means "a recovery of breath." This word is only found once in the Bible, here. This is obviously similar to the “renewing of the Holy Spirit” Paul talked about in Titus 3:5.
3. God “breathed” in to Adam & he became a living soul. Our spirits are counted “dead in sins & trespasses.” The fall/sin of mankind snuffed out the “living soul” or breath of God.
4. It’s necessary that we renew that presence, that God once again “breathe” into us the breath of life. That’s what many believe happened to the disciples in John 20:22 when Jesus “breathed on them” and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
D. SPIRITUAL BIRTH NECESSARY
1. This is what Jesus alluded to when He referred to spiritual birth. In John 3:5-7 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’”
2. Jesus is saying here that we need a second birth, a spiritual birth – to be “born” of the Holy Spirit. Both Tit. 3:5 & Acts 3:19 speak of the necessity of the Holy Spirit’s part in our salvation.
3. So you ask, “How can I make this happen?” As Peter pointed out, it happens automatically when we believe, repent, and convert. Then the refreshing comes from the presence of the Lord!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. The story is told about a bald man. He and his wife who, when they went out to a special dinner, left their children at home with a babysitter. However, the babysitter got interested in a TV program and neglected to carefully watch the children.
2. Unfortunately, the young son got a hold of his father's electric shaver and shaved off a wide strip of hair right down the middle of his head.
3. When the parents arrived home, the father was furious. In no uncertain terms he reminded the son that he had been told NEVER to touch dad's shaver.
4. He was just about to give his son a spanking when the son said, "Wait until you see sister!" Oops! he had shaved off all her hair too!
5. Dad was really furious now and as he grabbed a hold of his son to give him a spanking of his life, the son said, "But Daddy! We were just wanting to look like you!" [Randy Walker]
6. Do we really want to look like our heavenly Father?
B. THE CALL
1. Someone asked Trina Paulus, “How does one become a butterfly?” She responded, “You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.”
2. They said, “You mean die?” She said, “Yes and no!” Your old life has to be surrendered and given up before you can receive the new life of Christ!
3. Are you ready to surrender all to Jesus?
[Section 3, under repentance, has some Charles Spurgeon quotes.]
