A few weeks ago I said, “We are always learning – formally and informally. We never stop learning something each and every day of our lives.” A key part of learning is thinking.
One of the things that we do when we think is to create opinions about people, places, events, and even ourselves. We also form opinions about God, Jesus, the Bible, and the Church.
As we continue in this series, “How Do We Please God?” we come to a passage of scripture that tells us some important things about thinking and a change in our thinking. I want to read the passage one more time,
“So we have stopped evaluating others by what the world thinks of them. Once I mistakenly thought of Christ that way, as though he were merely a human being. How differently I think about him now! What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!”
Another way that we please God is by becoming “new persons in Christ!” Becoming a new person in Christ means that our entire life changes. This means that we are “born-again.” Paul’s statements illustrate how we please God in this way as we notice a progression of change in Paul’s thinking and reasoning.
First Paul says, “I have stopped evaluating others by what the world thinks of them.” Prior to this verse Paul addressed the issue of motives and the physical threats that he has faced during his ministry. His point is to remind the Corinthian Christians that his ministry is to honor God and help others come to Christ and not to glorify himself. This is emphasized in verses 12 - 14 where he says, “Are we trying to pat ourselves on the back again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so that you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart before God. If is seems that we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. Whatever we do, it is because Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for everyone, we also believe that we have all died to the old life we used to live.”
There were always people around Paul who debated him, questioned his motives, were jealous of him, thought their ministry was a better ministry, and tried to discredit his ministry anyway they could.
Paul refused to debate them on any grounds, except as it related to faithfulness to Christ and the gospel story. He also refused to engage in a smear campaign other than to challenge the people, to whom he wrote the letters that form a large part of the New Testament, to compare their ministry to his ministry specifically as to the content of their preaching – is the gospel being preached – and the results of that preaching.
This passage reveals that Paul had once evaluated (judged?) people by a common cultural standard just as everyone else was doing. But, because he then began to “believe that we have all died to the old life we used to live,” he stopped that measure of evaluation and focused on the new life that Christ had given him.
Now not only did Paul evaluate people based on how his society did as well, he also evaluated Christ in the same way, “Once I mistakenly thought of Christ that way, as though he were merely a human being.”
“Who do the people say I am?” was a question pointed by Jesus to the disciples. “Some say that you are Elijah or one of the prophets,” was one answer they gave. Then Jesus turned the question on them, “But who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!”
As we read in Acts 9 Paul dramatically encountered Jesus while on his self-proclaimed mission to “destroy the Lord’s followers.” Struck down and temporarily blinded by the experience he underwent a deep and thorough change of heart and life that caused him to change his thinking as well.
A second point to notice in this progression of change in Paul’s thinking is how he views those who profess faith in Christ and proclaim to be Christians. Verse 17, “They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!
The radical change in life that Paul experienced was a spiritual one that affected his attitudes toward everyone and everything. It left him a different person. It truly was a conversion experience!
Paul no longer looked at Jesus or humans the same way after that experience on the Damascus Road. Paul did not look at himself or his life in the same way as well. He had been changed! He was different!
Everything about Paul changed! His attitudes changed, his priorities changed, his commitments changed, his values changed, and his habits changed. He was a different person, for the better!
Several years ago, I read Patrick Morley’s book “Walking with Christ in the Details of Life.” It is a book of meditations that includes one called “Revival: The Gospel of Addition.” In it, he said the following, “The American gospel has evolved into a gospel of addition without subtraction. It is the belief that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behavior… A changed life is one that has added Christ and subtracted sin, that attracts a world weary of worn-out words. Obedience is the proof.”
Several chapters later he writes about the attraction to and pressure of having a dramatic conversion experience like Paul’s. He says, “Whether we are born again and how we are born again stand as entirely different matters. It is possible for a person to think he is not born again because he has not had the dramatic experience, yet actually be born again. It is equally true a person may have some sort of dramatic experience but not be born again. The reality and the perception may differ.”
We please God when we allow God to make us “new creatures in Christ!” Some call this being born again! Are you born again? Do we as a body of believers, as a local church, give a clear and compelling witness of being born again?
Neil T. Anderson has written some very important things to the church regarding the implications of being born again. In his writings and ministry, he has helped many believers, including me, to understand and live out our “identity in Christ.”
He continuously stresses three truths in his ministry and writings that can help us grow and mature in our relationship with the Lord. I believe that as we embrace and live on and live out these truths they will help us truly be “born again.”
The first truth is that we are accepted in Christ.
In John 1:12-13 we read, “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are re-born! This is not a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan-this rebirth comes from God.”
When we are re-born (or born again) we become true Children of God. Now all of us are created by God but to really, really be His children, we need to be re-birthed by the Holy Spirit. This re-birth makes us acceptable to the Lord and makes us accepted in Him. This acceptance is a way we please God.
The second truth is we are secure in Christ. Now we see the issue of “security” differently than some of our other Christian brothers and sisters. But we are as secure in Christ as we allow ourselves to be.
The story is told of a wealthy man who interviewed three persons to serve as the family chauffer. As part of the final interview, each of the three candidates had to drive their potential boss up a mountain road to a spot overlooking the home.
The first driver drove rather quickly up the narrow road at times getting close to the edge of the road and scarring the man. The second driver did the same and almost caused them to go over the edge at one point. The third driver took his time and stayed more to the middle of the road and as far away from the edge as possible. Who do you think got the job? The third driver got the job. When asked why he drove the way that he did, the newly hired driver said that he drove as if the family was in the car because that was why he would be hired to drive.
We are secure in Christ as we stay away from the edges of life that could cause us to fall away from God. And the security that we find in Christ is a security that allows us to please God for it allows us to be “new creatures in Christ” more and more fully through the years. I John 5:18 is a verse that we need to memorize and chew on that provides us with a wonderful and powerful reminder of our security in Christ, “We know that those who have become a part of God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot get his hands on them.”
The third and final truth is we are significant in Christ. Remember the video camera? You are maaaavelous! We matter to God!
We read in Ephesians 2:10 these great words, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago!”
God has a great, good, and galatically superb plan for us!
When we accept our significance in Christ, when we embrace the truth, the truths that we are God’s masterpiece, our re-birth is more deeply rooted into our hearts, souls, and lives and are better able to please God. This holds true for us as a church as well. I would suggest that we go back and look at those passages in Revelation regarding the seven churches and keep in mind as we read them these three great truths. Would they had been in the condition they were in if they would have embraced their identity in Christ?
In their book, The Second Half of Marriage, David and Claudia Arp write, “marriage is a journey, not a destination – and no one ever arrives.” Often we hear a newly wed or newer wed couple say, “We just got married!”
However, I agree with the Arp’s that “marriage is a journey.” I am still, after 21 years, learning how to be married. I am still on a journey of being married and living with Susan. I have not “arrived!” The wedding ceremony is the start of being married not the end all of being married.
The Christian life includes a marriage ceremony that we call salvation or being born again. It makes us new creatures in Christ! We are different from that point forward. We must be!
Just as we are commanded in the marriage ceremony to “forsake all others”, we are also commanded in our salvation experience to “forsake” those things that would keep us from fully following God and truly being born again. We please God just as we please our spouses by letting go of those things that can hinder our relationship.
I conclude with an illustration of this point by quoting a letter from a long time believer to Neil T. Anderson.
I came from a Christian family, and though there was a lot of bickering and hostility between my parents, I think I had an average childhood.
Everyone always said I looked like my dad, but unfortunately, my mother was often angry at my dad and resented his family. Many times, when I displeased my mother, she would say I was just like my father’s sister, the one she often criticized.
My parents provided for our needs well and intellectually I knew I was loved, but the feeling and assurance of being totally accepted and okay always seemed to escape me. Even after 35 years of marriage and several grandchildren of my own, I was still subconsciously trying to earn my mother’s approval and prove my love to her, resulting in many arguments between my husband and myself.
I first realized unconditional love at the age of 14 when I understood Christ’s invitation in Revelation 3:20 and began a personal walk with Him. I was overwhelmed by His love, devoured scripture, and witnessed to all my friends. I have never consciously chosen to leave that precious relationship, but as I look back on my life, I see how Satan has attacked me in my most vulnerable area, the need to know total love and acceptance.
During our years of marriage and a lifetime of ministry, I have been on some rabbit trails because I did not realize who I am in Christ. I have listened to negative thoughts against myself, thinking that they were my own. I did not realize that Satan can use our past experiences and put thoughts in our minds to condemn and defeat us.
Neil, what blessed news to hear your teaching on our identity in Christ. I am no longer a product of my past, I am a product of the work of Christ on the cross. I know who I am now. I’m a child of God, and the basis for my acceptance is in Him, not in man.
If we are a new creature in Christ, we are new people. We are not the same anymore! We are changed for the better! We are living as we are supposed to be living!
We please God when we are born again and truly and honestly live out that experience throughout the rest of our lives.
(With heads bowed and eyes closed) Perhaps you have never been born-again. Would you like to this morning? All you have to do is confess your sin to the Lord, ask Him to forgive you, and be willing to obey Him from now on.
Perhaps you have been born-again but can relate to the struggle that was heard in the letter I just read. I encourage you to ask the Lord to help you begin to comprehend that you are very, very valuable in Him!
Let us please God, individually and as a church, by truly demonstrating in here and out there being a “new creation in Christ!” Amen.
Letter comes from Neil T. Anderson’s book Living Free in Christ.
