Status Update Series

Life Verse| Status Update

A while back, my friends Paul, Sarah and I would have a “religious appointment” with the TV to watch Extreme Makeover. Now, if you’ve never seen that show, a quick synopsis is that a family is in need of a new house. Either there has been a major financial issue or a death in the family or there is a major medical issue causing hardship.

A design team, led by Ty Pennington, in cooperation with the network, choose a family, listen to their needs, desires, hopes and dreams and then send them on vacation for a week while they build them a new house. The stories are always heartwarming and touching and often difficult to bear, which brings tears to your eyes but in the end, you felt like a good thing was done for the deserving family.

Now I don’t know about you but I love getting new things. As a matter of fact, just the other day I had to go out and get new shoes because the winter is always tough on the shoes I have and they easily get destroyed. I love the look and smell of a new car, I love setting up a new laptop and the list just goes on and on. The point is simple: I love new things.

When it comes to Christianity, there is a similarity between getting new things and what God does for us. Yet, it’s important to understand the truth of what God has done and continues to do for us and this truth can set us free! Are you ready for it?

Here’s the truth: Jesus will not give you a second chance. We don’t ‘start over’ when it comes to God. Jesus comes in and makes us completely brand new. We are not second chance Christians, we are not repackaged Christians, we are brand new.

Throughout my life as a believer in Christ, I have been guilty of thinking and saying this “God gave me a second chance.” While I may get caught up in semantics sometimes, the reality behind that statement is that second chances means there is something terribly wrong with me and God has to work with that. God is basically getting a defective product (me) but the Word says He makes all things new!

[A New Covenant]

1 Corinthians 11:23-26- “For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.” In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me as often as you drink it.” For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.”

A lot of electronic devices that come out come with what is known as ‘planned obsolescence’. In essence what that means is the manufacturer knows ahead of time when their product will fail. It allows them to draw customers back and reveal a new product, which is better. As an example, every time I buy a new phone, I get a 2 year contract with my carrier. Just about every 2 years, my phone dies and when I go back to the store I am offered a new line of better phones, which offer better service and have more apps and I am offered an opportunity to upgrade.

God did the same thing with the Old Covenant. The O.C was a temporary measure until the time of Christ. (Gal. 3:19) The problem was not the Old Covenant in and of itself but rather the sinful nature in us. God had to deal with our sin and he did so by sending his Son, Jesus, who fulfilled the Law (old covenant) and died in our place.

The Old Covenant pointed to the Person of Christ. Jesus said, “I am the Way, Truth and Life.”

The Old Covenant exposed our sin. Jesus said, “Father forgive them.”

The Old Covenant brings death. Jesus said, “I have come to give you life.”

[A New Life]

Romans 6:4- “For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.”

It’s easy to say this but hard to grasp this-we were dead in sin and now we are dead to sin. Before we called upon the name of Christ our Lord, our souls were dead inside. Not breathing, not moving, not rejoicing but just dead. The only activity would have been hostility towards God and that came through our carnal minds.