“Walking in the Newness of Life”
How many of you made a New Year’s Resolution? Now, just for our own little survey, how many have already broken that resolution, which by the way I might add was made less than a week ago? It’s a strange custom that we have isn’t it? Near the end of each year, we just kind of stop and take a mental inventory of our lives, we look for things that need to be changed or totally dropped from our lifestyle. And after much consideration, we make that heartfelt decision to “turn over a new leaf”; “ to say; out with the old and in with the new”; and sometimes to just plain “nip it in the bud.”
Problem is, that even though we may be sincere at the time we make these resolutions and even thought we really want to keep them, it always seems to last only as long as the morning dew of the first day of the year. In fact, I don’t want to discourage you, but did you know that a whopping 92% of New Year’s resolutions are doomed to be broken--and most of them within only a few weeks to a month of their conception? Exactly what does that say about our ability to take control of our own lives? Shouldn’t the fact that we can’t even keep a simple New Year’s resolution serve as a red light to tell us that there are other deeper issues that we might need to examine as well?
In our message this morning, we will be exploring the word of God in search of the answers to our questions about new beginnings and fresh starts-----about loosing bad habits and gaining good ones. About realizing our limitations and getting the help we need to overcome them. In fact, I hope that by the time we leave here this morning, God will have blessed us with even a little better understanding of what it truly means to “walk in the newness of life.”
I want to tell you the story of a man by the name of Robert Steinheart. Back in October of 1948, Robert was traveling alone aboard a passenger train bound for New Orleans when the train suddenly encountered a severe thunderstorm. He was seated by the window in the main dining car when a bolt of lightning came through the window and struck him, throwing him against the opposite side of the car. Though badly burned in the face and chest, miraculously Robert was not killed. When the attendants of the train helped him onto a stretcher and began to tend to his burns, they asked him what his name was and where he was going.
When they did, he just stared at them as if in shock, and finally said “I don’t know.” The attendants said; you don’t know where you are going? With a look of terror on his face, he said; “no, I don’t know my name.” He reached for his wallet only to find that he didn’t have one, he didn’t have any identification on him whatsoever. In fact, he couldn’t remember where he got on the train or where he was going. You see, the unbelievable amount of voltage that went through him from the lightning bolt had given him a severe case of amnesia. He had no luggage or bag, only 63 dollars in his pocket and no idea where he got it from.
So when the train pulled into New Orleans, Robert was placed into the care of a little local Christian-ran clinic. The man who ran the clinic was the pastor of a little Baptist church nearby and, upon hearing this unfortunate story, was very sympathetic to Robert’s situation. Anyway, the pastor and his family befriended the stranger, and after his burns were treated and he was out of the woods physically, they began to help him search for his identity. But, because of the severity of the burns to his face, and the overwhelming lack of clues, they came up empty. So after eight months, they gave up the search.
With no hope of finding his past, he was forced to start his life all over again. He remained close friends with the pastor and his family, in fact, when it came time to choose a new name, he assumed the pastor’s last name; Steinheart and chose Robert for his first name. Robert soon was baptized and joined the church. He got a job building houses, and frequently helped out at the clinic on nights and weekends. Years went by, and he eventually was married to a local girl and started a family of his own right there in New Orleans. After his second child, Robert was called into the ministry and became a Pastor himself.
One evening, in October of 1963 Robert arrived home to find two out-of-state police cars in front of his house. Fearing for the safety of his wife and children, he rushed in to see what was wrong only to be arrested. When he asked why, they told him it was for the murder of two police officers in the bank robbery he perpetrated in 1948, after which he escaped by way of a train. Of course even when this was told to him, though terribly upset by it, he still could not remember. After he kissed his wife and children good-bye, he was taken back to Pine Bluff, Arkansas to await trial.
The news about Robert, now a pillar of the community, spread throughout New Orleans like wildfire. Countless prayers were being offered up on his behalf, and when his trial finally came and he stood to hear the verdict of the jury, this is what they said; “We the jury find the defendant Stanley Reed Calhoon (Robert’s real name) innocent of the charge of two counts of murder by reason of “his demise.” We have concluded by the weighing of much testimony that this is not the same individual that gunned down two police officers. As far as this jury is concerned Stanley Reed Calhoon died on the train 15 years ago and this man Robert Steinheart is indeed a new man and therefore innocent of all charges.”
I asked you earlier if you had made you new YEAR”S resolution, now I need to ask you if you’ve made your new LIFE’S resolution.
Paul says this in Romans 6:3,4; 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”
So, here Paul tells us the first step in our quest to “walk in the newness of life”. And that first step, strange as it may sound, is to “die.” We need to die to our old way of life and to our old nature. As Paul later says in Romans 6, we need to “crucify our old man” in other words, we need to put to rest our sinful nature and begin walking by faith in the Spirit. But it is impossible to walk in the newness of life by the Spirit when we are constantly looking back at our old lives, because if we continue to look back, we’ve not died to it. When Jesus called His disciples to follow Him, He said; “No one who puts his hands to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
When Jesus calls us to flee from our lives of sin, just as He called Lot and his wife to flee Sodom and Gomorrah, it is very dangerous to look back as if we really don’t want to leave. The story of Lot’s wife serves as a chilling reminder of this fact.
We can’t put ourselves in the same places with the same people who will only lead us back into our old habits-- resurrecting, as it were, our “old man” of sin.
We have to realize that in order to be successful in our new life, we have to distance ourselves from certain places, situations and people who are likely to revive our “old man of sin.” For instance; if you were an alcoholic who was trying break your addiction to alcohol, would you continue to go to the bar, hang out with your same drunken buddies, and be so naive as to think that you will be able to just order a coke. No, just like Lot, we have to get out! --we have to put distance between us and our old habits.
Now, there is another perspective that I would like to share with you about the dangers of “looking back.” Sometimes, we find ourselves wanting to make some major reforms in our life or simply drop a bad habit but fail because we fall victim to one of Satan’s most effective strategies. He tries to get us to dwell on our past--he wants us to feel that we have simply gone too far down river to ever be able to paddle back. He wants us to think that because of our past history, the future is already determined and that our fate is securely sealed. That’s why I’m so glad that we serve a God who has provided a way out of that endless cycle of sin and hopelessness. You see God, in His infinite mercy has accomplished this by giving us the opportunity to do exactly what Robert Steinheart did; to die to sin and start a brand NEW life!
You see, no matter what you may be guilty of in your past, no matter what kind of addiction you have or how long you’ve had it, God can and will forgive you of it--and this is even better: He will never hold it against you. He says this through the prophet Micah: “He will have compassion on us, subdue our iniquities and cast our sins into the depths of the sea. “
No matter what Satan tries to whisper in our ears or no matter what our peers might say, know this for certain: that upon sincere repentance, our past sins and failures are remembered by God no more. So there’s no need for us to go around with this dark cloud of guilt hanging over our heads. Jesus, by His sacrifice, has eliminated any reason to ever feel like we are hopelessly lost and forever trapped in a life of sin because through His death, He has given us the awesome power to die to sin. And just as death frees a slave from his master, we are freed from the controlling power of sin.
So, now that we’ve learned what it means to die........let’s learn what it means to truly LIVE. Turn with me to Romans 6:5-14
“5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.”
You see, what Paul is saying here is that it’s not enough merely to die to sin because that, in and of itself, is impossible. Without the infilling of the Holy Spirit to replace the “old man,” our efforts will be fruitless. Jesus warns us about “cleaning house” and leaving it empty; He said that we would end up worse off than before. The only way to “crucify” that old man of sin and keep him dead is by submitting ourselves to the Holy Spirit--not at certain times in only one or two aspects of our lives, but at all times and in all areas of our lives. We have to give Him “controlling interest.”
Now, I’ll bet that more than one of you listening to me right now is thinking to yourself; “from what brother Dwight seems to be saying, if I am truly a Christian--if I claim to be “born again,” if I want to walk in the newness of life.....then I can never sin. And if that’s true, then I’ll never make it because I know that I still commit sin.”
There’s something you need to realize about this new life that we’re talking about; believe me friends, God knows that we are still susceptible to sin and that we will not become perfect after our baptism. Sure, we just read in Romans 6 where Paul makes the statement; “...we died to sin, how can we live in it any longer?” But friends, there is a big difference between “living in sin” and unknowingly and unwillingly committing an occasional sin. You need to understand that living “in sin” is something that we continue to do by choice and thus we yield ourselves to sin as slaves. And if we are slaves to sin, then we are not followers of Christ, because He tells us that we cannot serve two masters. Do you see the difference?
Allow me to illustrate; many people have laid in a hospital bed after suffering from a heart attack or stroke, and after nearly dying, they make the “decision” to give up their addiction to cigarettes--after all, it was killing them. But you see, there is a problem with most of those resolutions made out of fear; like our new year’s resolutions, they won’t be kept. Why? Because first of all, no “death” occurs.....most of the time, even though the decision is made, cigarettes are still in the house and if they are not in the house, they are usually purchased before hand and tucked away somewhere nearby “just in case...” You’ve seen that novelty gift haven’t you; a cigarette in a little glass cylinder with a sign that says; “in case of emergency, break glass.” It’s a terrible tragedy, but whether it’s cigarettes or any other sin, mark my words; we will continue to live in it until we die to it........or die from it.
And just like cigarettes, sin is addictive and will seek to control our lives. Let’s face it, Satan is much too powerful for us to fight alone. It would be very foolish of any of us to think that we can walk in this newness of life under our own strength--we cannot. But when we hide our lives in Christ, when we lean on Him, then nothing can overpower us. Philippians 4:13 says; “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me...” You see brothers and sisters, when we die to sin and begin that new life, we are living with, by and for the Spirit of Christ within us.
Jesus compares our relationship with Him to a branch’s relationship to the vine. He says that as long as we “stay connected” to Him, we will live and bear much fruit because His life-giving force will flow through us. But if we are not connected to Him, we will die. Friends, our relationship with the Lord should not be a weekly relationship--or even a daily one, rather it should be a constant and intimate relationship. Because only He can give us the victory over sin and only He can give us the certainty of eternal life.
In closing, I want to talk to you about a certain Jewish feast day in hopes that we can glean some insight about our new life experience. Last Sunday night we had the dropping of the ball in Times Square with Dick Clark. But the Passover marked the beginning of the Jewish year---it was, in a sense, a time of renewal. For in it, they remembered how the Lord led them out of their old life of bondage in Egypt, this mass exodus was the beginning of their journey to the Promised Land. A journey that was not without it’s bumpy roads, sacrifices, and heartaches. But from that point on..., they were walking in the Shadow of the Almighty--He fed them from heaven’s table, provided for their needs, fought their battles, and led them safely into the Land of Promise.
Brothers and sisters, when we make the decision to follow Christ, then we too are beginning a journey out of the bondage to sin and into the Promised Land. And in the same way that He led the Jewish nation out of Egypt, He will be there to lead us day by day and minute by minute. In fact, He will be even closer to us because He won’t be leading us in a pillar of smoke or fire but He has promised to actually dwell WITHIN us.
Now, I know that there are a few people here who are thinking about being baptized into the faith. In fact some of you have been thinking about it for a long while. So many people are confused as to what baptism actually is. Simply stated, baptism is an outward symbol expressing something that has already taken place INSIDE. It is to us what the first Passover was to the Jews--it marks the beginning of our journey out of our old life of sin, through the wilderness and into the Promised Land.
Jesus never promised that it would be an easy journey--in fact, He pretty much told us that it would be sometimes very difficult. But since we suffered with Him in His death, we will also live with Him in His resurrection. You see, when He was raised from the dead, He wasn’t merely “resuscitated,” He was raised in Glory. And it is because of this fact, that when we are lifted out of the water at our baptism, that we are given the grace to “walk in the newness of life”
**illustration of Robert Steinheart is fictional
