WORDS FOR LIFE - Becoming a New Creation
July 8, 2018
2 Corinthians 5:17 (p. 805)
Introduction:
Have you ever tried to imagine what it must have been like in the Garden of Eden during those early days of creation…after God had created Eve so she and Adam could enjoy each other and what He had made for them?
Everything’s perfect…It’s beautiful, new and unspoiled…each day is a new discovery…and in the coolness of the evening Adam and Eve walk with God through the Garden…like children in the wonder of this creation with joy they share their discoveries with their dad.
Man!!! I bet those were amazing days…no stress, no sin, no separation from the One who made you…so He could love you.
There’s even a sharing of ownership as God lets Adam name each of the animals…names are important so I bet Adam doesn’t do it haphazardly but intentionally. The names signify what he’s observed…and experienced. Whether the name means “King of the Forest” or “Majestic Flyer,” it’s been witnessed in the newness of creation…and God must have thought…“This is very good.” “An unbroken friendship with my children.”
But we all know what happened, don’t we? Both Adam and Eve are deceived…lied to by the serpent…told they needed more…told they could be like God himself knowing good from evil…all they had to do was eat from the one tree they’d been commanded not to eat from…and they did. Genesis 3:7 as they did this… “The eyes of both of them were opened and they realized they were naked, so they sewed fig leaven together and made coverings for themselves and when they heard God coming in the cool of the evening…they hid from Him.”
Adam and Eve weren’t blind before their disobedience. The eyes which were opened were the eyes of their conscience…For the very first time they felt the effects of sin…shame, guilt, fear…they were now self conscious…and from this day forward men and women have been nothing but that.
This feeling of disobeying God…doing something wrong and getting caught…it’s not a good feeling and I bet for Adam and Eve they had no real idea of how much it would cost them…but they knew they wanted to…
I. HIDE FROM GOD
Listen to the conversation which takes place between Adam and Eve and God after sin enters the picture:
GENESIS 3:8-13 (p. 2)
Adam and Eve are hiding behind trees (act it out). “Is He coming? I hear Him, don’t you? Daggonit, we really messed up this time!!!”
3 things happen here which almost always happen in our lives when we sin.
1. We become afraid to be in God’s presence.
Everyone in here knows that feeling of doing something wrong and getting caught…or of being afraid of getting caught…it’s a horrible feeling…a mixture of guilt, shame and dread.
We’ve decided to do something wrong…and the door opens…the wrong person shows up…the accounts don’t match…the blue lights appear.
[The first time I ever got caught smoking was at Southland pool…I was leaning against this chainlink fence with a friend and we thought we were too cool…when I hear someone clear his throat behind me…and I look up to see my Father staring down at me…he simply says, “Come on…let’s go home.” Now, I knew what was waiting for me at home…so I wasn’t real excited about getting in the car with him.]
Adam and Eve had never been hard to find on any other evening…They probably ran to meet God as He stepped into the garden on any other day…“Hey God did you know peacocks scream?!! Hey God did you know mangos will break you out if you eat too many…Hey God did you know that sunsets can be purple, yellow and orange?!! You are awesome God!!!”
God had never heard…“ I heard you in the Garden and I was afraid” before…it must have broken His heart.
Sin always separates us from God…and those we love…fear replaces friendship. Satan would always tell us…Do this and you’ll be happy…the lie is…sin is never pleasurable for very long…But being in God’s presence is where real pleasure is.
The second thing that happens when we sin is we lie…or tell a half truth.
2. We lie to God…“Adam says, “I hid because I was naked…I was afraid.”
I like God’s question…“Who told you…you were naked?” (There aren’t many options) But think about this question…Adam and Eve were never aware of being naked before they sinned…No self consciousness…no pride…no arrogance…no selfishness…no shame or embarrassment.
Now all we think about is…How will this make me look…How many likes will I get…What will they think about me…Sin always has us focused on what we see in the mirror instead of our creator.
But Adam and Eve aren’t afraid to be in God’s presence because they were naked…They were afraid to be around God because they had sinned.
Almost every sinner who gets caught compounds that sin by “lying.” “Naw, that wasn’t me!” “I was just holding it for a friend.” “I accidentally ended up on that website.” “I was afraid of you God because I was naked.” No Adam, you were avoiding God because you’d sinned.
The 3rd thing we all do when we’re caught sinning is:
3. We blame other people.
“God it’s kinda your fault… “The woman you gave me gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.” Almost like there was no real thought about it…Adam fails to mention He’s there though the entire encounter with the serpent…And he does nothing as a leader to protect his wife or stop it…He blames her.
And she in turn, blames the serpent…God asked Eve, “What have you done?” And she says, “The serpent deceived me…it’s his fault.”
Sin entered creation…And God’s creation when caught, hid from God, lied about it…and blamed someone else…It’s still what we do today almost every time.
I know without a doubt it’s what I did for a long time…and my sinful nature still wants to react in the same way many times…The only remedy for my sin is a Savior…The only hope for a broken creation is for God to:
II. MAKE US NEW
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 says, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the New Creation has come; The old has gone, the new is here…All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.”
The tough thing about sin is that it gives you quick immediate pleasure…but over time, its like acid to your soul.
The serpent always promises “do this and it will make you feel better.” And at first it seems true…but what the serpent never shows you is the consequences that eventually come because of sin.
It looks good, tastes good, opens your eyes to knowledge…but he never shows the separation from God and death.
GENESIS 3:21-24 (p. 3)
Genesis 5 verse 4 says Adam lived a total of 930, and then he DIED.
Eve died…Adam died…They all died. That was not what God wanted…He had made provision for them to live forever…the Tree of Life was that source…Banishment from the garden meant separation from this source of life and God’s presence…Satan didn’t show them the consequences of sin…he never does.
All creation was under the curse of sin…all creation became subject to the consequences of Adam and Eve’s fall. This world we live in is a sinful one…And we shouldn’t be surprised at the consequences we have to live with by living in it…but God has a plan…Listen to Paul’s words in
ROMANS 8:18-23 (p. 787)
We need to understand this world is under the rule of the Evil One…Its philosophy is “make yourself happy.” If your eyes see it and want it…get it. If your flesh desires it…give in to it…If it boasts your ego…capture it.”
It’s why John says in his first letter:
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in them. For everything in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life - comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and it’s desires pass away but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” (1 John 2:15-17)
[I lived under the evil one’s influence for years…with a heart of selfishness and rebellion I lusted after quick highs and immediate gratification…I lived with not one thought about what sin’s consequences would cost me…I really cared about no one but me…And I didn’t think about the future…I just lived with “right now” as all I cared about…I was lost…worn out…dying and almost dead…spiritually I was dead.
And then God stepped in…He showed me the consequences of being lost…and He pointed me to a Savior who died on the cross to pay for all my sins…even the ones I thought were unforgivable. On January 17, 1978 I surrendered and gave up fighting with God…and I was buried with Christ in baptism and received the gift of the Holy Spirit. On that day He made me a new creation…He changed my heart and my life…The old was gone…the new had come…I know without a doubt He can do the same for you.]
The two Greek words for “new creation” in 2 Corinthians 5:17 are “Kaina Katisis” They literally mean “something that never existed before…Think about that…In Christ we become “something that never existed before.” You see only God can do that…only God can take something and speak creation and there be something. He always does this through Jesus…“In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God…All things come into being through Him…without Him nothing that came to be would exist.
Creation was made by God through Jesus and creation was made new again through Jesus.
Those who are in Christ…Those who are born again…including me…are brand new…never before existing creations that await a new heaven and new earth…All creation groans for this day…I know I do!
