SERMON OUTLINE:
(1.) A New Nature (vs 14-15)
(2.) A New Beginning (vs 17)
(3). A New Purpose (vs 18-20);
SERMON BODY:
Quote:
• This week I cam across a child’s definition of a caterpillar?
• “A worm in a fur coat”.
• I like that description!
Ill:
• A Caterpillar is a prickly, lazy self-centred bug.
• Working hard to go no-where fast.
• Little boys love to quash them.
• Little girls run away with an irritating shriek to their voice.
• Yet something unusual happens to this creature;
• Known as metamorphosis:
• A thick film covers the caterpillar;
• And it entombs itself in its own flesh.
• During what’s called the Chrysalis period.
• A chemical reaction takes place that changes the physical make-up of the creature.
• And soon an emerging butterfly can be seen within the cocoon.
• And when the time is right it breaks free of its cocoon,
• Spreads it s wings and flies off;
• The old life as a caterpillar has finished.
• And it’s new life as a butterfly has just began.
Ill:
• How many of you remember the TV series (& film) Power Rangers?
• If you do then you will know that there was a time in the show when one the characters;
• The red one would call out: “It’s morphing time!”
• Followed by each ranger calling out his or her own Ranger designation;
• The Power Rangers use their Morphers to change into their costumed forms,
• Initiating an instantaneous transformation or metamorphosis.
• A Morpher gives a Ranger access to their costume;
• Along with enhanced strength, speed and durability to fight monsters
• TRANSITION: Although only fiction (sorry to spoil it for you Scott!)
• The point is they each experienced a change, a metamorphoses.
• In fact our word "transform" comes from the Greek word "metamorphoo",
• From which we get the English word "metamorphosis".
• And we find that Greek word "metamorphoo” in the New Testament;
• There it is used to speak of an even more dramatic change:
• Ordinary people, like you and me;
• People who are sinners by nature and by actions,
• Can be transformed ("metamorphosed”) into the likeness of Jesus.
• That is the hope of every follower of Jesus,
• That they will increasingly take on a change ("metamorphosed”),
• In their behaviour, attitudes, & character and become more like Jesus Christ.
Question:
• But how does this dramatic transformation take place? I
• Is it something that God simply brings about in your life by his power,
• Or is something you do through your own sheer effort of the will?
Answer:
• To that question;
• Is found in our key verse 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 17:
• “Therefore is anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone the new has come.”
• In this section of 2 Corinthians chapter 5;
• Paul gives us 3 encouragements about what God can do with a followers life.
• This spiritual metamorphism affects us in at least three ways
• The first change that we receive is a new nature:
(1.) A New Nature (vs 14-15):
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he/she is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
CEV:
“Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person.”
• Christians are new people.
• At their conversion they were ‘born again’, and they are not the same anymore.
• The Bible teaches that Christians are not merely reformed, rehabilitated, or re-educated;
• They are recreated!
• God gives to every person who becomes a Christian;
• A new nature, the Spirit of Christ!
• At conversion, believers are not merely turning over a new leaf;
• They are beginning a new life under a new Master.
• Paul is saying that every Christian, is a new creation in Christ;
• And they no longer live for themselves, but for Jesus who died & rose for them.
Ill:
• In my research on the metamorphism of a butterfly.
• I learned that the caterpillar is no help to those around.
• It does not eat other pests!
• In fact it only drinks sap form tress and plants (it’s a kind of parasite).
• It lives a self-centred life.
Ill:
• One cold winter’s day a crowd of people stood in front of a pet shop window;
• And watched a litter of puppies snuggling up to each other.
• One woman laughed and said,
“What a delightful picture of brotherhood!
Look at how those puppies are keeping each other warm!”
• A man next to her replied,
• “No, ma’am, they’re not keeping each other warm—they’re keeping themselves warm.”
• They were looking out for themselves, making sure they were okay.
• TRANSITION: And the Bible makes it very clear;
• That all human beings have the same problem.
• We too (naturally) live for self not for God.
• e.g. Majority of people will not wake up and thank God tomorrow for another day etc,
ill:
• When you see a group photograph, who do you look for first – yes – ourselves!
• In fact, thanks to Facebook we are probably all partakers of the ‘selfie’
• And if you are not you are now… let me take a quickie….smile please!!!
Ill:
• The 17th century Scottish peer Lord Erskine;
• Complained to his publisher about the delay in printing his autobiography.
• He was told that the delay was because the printers had run out of the capitals letter ‘I’.
Ill:
• When a person becomes a Christians they put up a for sale sign on their lives;
• And Jesus Christ comes along as the only buyer.
• And the deal is then closed. The sale is final.
• We cannot ask for the home back because we now have a new home-owner.
Ill:
• Jesus put it this way in Luke chapter 9 verse 23:
• “If anyone comes after me, let them deny SELF, take up your cross and follow me”
The starting place for anyone who wants to become a Christian (and grow as a Christian):
• Is to let Jesus Christ deal with our selfish nature.
• Someone has said the cross is the letter ‘I’ marked out!
In using the word ‘Creation’ Paul goes back to the first book of the Bible called Genesis:
• In Genesis chapter 1 we are told that the world was in “In darkness”;
• Until God spoke and said “Let there be light”.
• Paul has already taught in chapter 4 verse 4:
• “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers” (spiritual darkness)
• But God speaks the gospel-word and once again there is light.
• The Christian has been born again, out of darkness and into light.
Ill:
• If you know the old hymn ‘Amazing Grace’,
• It picks up on that imagery of darkness and light; “I once was blind but now I see”
• Amazing Grace DVD clip.
• http://www.sermonspice.com/product/56329/i-once-was-lost-amazing-grace-ii
• TRANSITION: Well praise God:
• He does not try to patch up the old heart (nature),
• But he gives us a new heart (nature).
(2.) A New Beginning (vs 17)
• The second thing this spiritual metamorphism gives every Christian is:
• A new beginning:
• “..if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
Ill:
• January is the month when according to statistics;
• When most people attempt to make changes in their lives than any other time of the year.
• It has of course to do with the close of one year and the beginning of a new.
• It also has to do with tradition as we make (and often soon break) new year resolutions!
The top most common resolutions, made each year are (in reverse order):
• Drink Less
• Volunteer
• Be Less Stressed
• Travel to New Places
• Spend More Time with Family
• Get Out of Debt and Save Money
• Eat Healthier and Diet
• Learn Something New
• Quit Smoking
• Lose Weight and Get Fit
• TRANSITION: Following Jesus Christ is more than making a resolution;
• It is embracing a new life, it is starting out on a new beginning.
Ill:
• The apostle Paul who wrote this book of the Bible;
• He himself was a living testimony of this new beginning:
(a).
• Before his conversion his name was Saul and he was full of hate;
• e.g. Acts chapters 8 & 9: he was a religious extremist;
• He sought to arrest & kill all Christians.
• But now after his conversion, love was his controlling motive (vs 14)
• “For Christ's love compels us…we are ruled by Christ's love for us”.
(b).
• Before his conversion he was living for himself (vs 15):
• “He died so we would no longer live for ourselves”
• But now after his conversion his priority was to live for Christ (vs 15):
• “He died so we would no longer live for ourselves”
(c).
• Before his conversion he was ignorant and in error regarding Jesus (vs 16):
• “He judged people by what they seem to be, he judged Christ in that way”.
Ill:
• To him Jesus Christ was a carpenter from Nazareth who turned preacher.
• To him Jesus started life with an illegitimate birth.
• He no formal religious training.
• He was rejected by his contemporise and most of all by the High Priest & Sanhedrin.
• In every sense Jesus did not tick the right boxes when it came to Saul of Tarsus;
• He judged him and found him wanting!
• But one day all that changed when he encountered the risen Christ;
• And the hunter of Christians became a follower,
• The tormentor of Christians became a teacher of the faith!
• Which we read about in Acts chapter 9.
• Now he no longer judges people by human standards;
• But tries to views them God’s way;
For Paul his life started again at his conversion:
• He went from persecutor of Christians;
• To proclaimer of Christ!
• From a religious man trying to earn God’s favour;
• To a recipient of God’s grace!
Ill:
• Saul of Tarsus reminds me a lot of Martin Luther (the great reformer);
• Both were deeply religious men but their religion did not make them right with God!
• One day Martin Luther nearly lost his life in a thunder-storm,
• And it made him afraid to die.
• He was afraid to face God,
• Because despite all his efforts he had no assurance that his sins were forgiven.
• Now Martin Luther became a Professor of theology,
• He took, participated in the seven sacraments of his day,
• He prayed to saints, 3 every day, that's 21 different saints a week.
• He prayed to Mary.
• He had gone on pilgrimages and looked at relics and images.
• He did every religious act an individual was required to do.
• And none of it had brought him assurance of the forgiveness of is sins.
Then one day a man by the name of John Tensil came to his district selling indulgences:
• Martin Luther said to Tensil, "You cannot buy forgiveness".
• Then he realised if you cannot buy forgiveness, then you cannot earn it either!
• And one day for Martin Luther as he read his Bible,
• The 'penny dropped' and he realised he had got it wrong, not by works but faith!
• You do not earn forgiveness, it is a gift.
• And when reading the book of Romans in the New testament he discovered this truth;
• “The just (righteous) shall live by faith”
• Not try but trust, not behave but believe.
• Not what we do for God, but what God has done for us!
• "By grace are you saved and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God".
Luther one day realised he needed to be clothed in Christ and Christ alone:
• One day he was talking to his saintly superior Van Stourpitz
• Van Stourpitz said to him;
"Martin Luther, if you take away all these things that you call crutches, to a tottering faith.
If you take away Mary, if you take away the saints, if you take away images, if you take away penance and pilgrimages, if you take away all this, what will you put in there place?"
• Martin Luther replied:
• "Jesus Christ, man only needs Jesus Christ".
• It is not our religion that makes us right with God, but it’s Jesus Christ!!!
• Saul would soon discover that truth for himself!
• TRANSITION:
• Both Luther and the Saul;
• Found new life, a new beginning when they found Jesus Christ!
Quote: Gordon Smith, in his excellent book ‘Beginning Well’,
• Has described conversion as;
• The “response” people make “to the invitation, love, and work of God in Christ.”
• It might be a very quick response, or it might occur over a longer period of time,
• But it is all about how people respond to Jesus.
• According to Smith, a full experience of conversion includes;
• “a cluster of seven distinct elements.”
• These seven elements don’t necessarily occur in the same order.
• Neither, Smith says, are they to be conceived of as hoops to jump through.
• But an ideal Christian conversion will include them all.
The seven features of a converted person:
• Belief - A person needs to understand and agree with some basic facts about Jesus.
• Repentance - Conversion involves a change of mind and of direction.
• Trust and Assurance of Forgiveness – God’s Spirit witnesses with our spirit.
• Baptism - Is the proper outward symbol of the union that we belong to Jesus.
• The filling of the Holy Spirit – to know Christ better and power to live for Christ daily.
• Incorporation into the Christian Community – part of the local Church.
(3). A New Purpose (vs 18-20);
“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us,
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
CEV:
“Christ never sinned! But God treated him as a sinner,
so that Christ could make us acceptable to God”.
• Paul is saying that GOD has a new purpose for every Christian;
• All Christians are to be reconcilers.
Question: What are reconcilers (reconciliation)?
Answer:
“Reconciliation is changing for the better a relationship between two or more persons”.
This of course is the message of the Bible (verse 18):
“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ”
Note:
• The Bible never speaks of God being reconciled to man;
• He is perfect and has done nothing wrong.
• The Bible always talks of man being reconciled to God;
• Mankind are the ones out of adjustment.
• All people are naturally at enmity with God;
• ill: Motorway - We do not run straight;
• Did you know that all motorways are deliberately curved;
• (The idea is to make you concentrate and try to keep you awake!)
• TRANSITION: On our own like a motorway;
• We cannot run true and straight “For all have sinned….”.
• Yet the message of this book the Bible is;
• God has not turned his back on us!
• That is why Jesus came into the world and why Jesus Christ died on a cross,
• So that a transaction could take place.
• i.e. He was rejected,
• That we might be accepted.
• i.e. He was condemned,
• That we might be forgiven.
• i.e. He was punished,
• That we might be pardoned.
• i.e. He was hated,
• That we might be loved.
• i.e. He was crucified,
• That we might be justified.
• i.e. He died,
• That we might live.
• i.e. Because when he rose,
• He conquered sin, death & the grave.
• That we might,
• Be found blameless, Know his love, Be saved!
• And every person who responds to Jesus Christ in repentance & faith,
• Can be reconciled to God (put into a new relationship with him).
ill:
• Many years ago the English traveller Wilkinson.
• Discovered an Egyptian mummy pit.
• In the pit was a sealed vase, which he sent it to the British Museum.
• But the librarian at the museum managed to drop the vase and break it.
• From the ruins the librarian gathered a few peas.
• They were old, wrinkled and as hard as stones.
• On the 4th June 1844, the peas were planted carefully under a glass.
• Thirty days they had sprouted and were growing well.
• They had been buried as dead, for about 3,000 years,
• Yet were brought to life by the librarian.
Now don’t miss the point:
• Sinful people who are dead in their trespasses and sins;
• Can like those seeds be metamorphosed i.e. brought into new life!
And according to these verses:
• The evidence we are Christians, that we have received new life;
• Is that we have a new purpose;
• That is to reconcile other people to God.
• That is what God calls on us to do.
• You and I have received life from the Lord Jesus Christ.
• Now it is our privilege and our calling to lead others;
• To that same One from whom we received our life.
Challenge this week Christian:
• Who are you going to share this good news with?
• Who are you praying for?
Challenge this night non-Christian:
• Is will you be reconciled to God!
• God promises you today, “NOW is the day of salvation”
• There is no guarantee about tomorrow or next week.
• Don’t miss out on the metamorphosis that God wants you to have!
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=OqYoFKwyqg1ClJRfnGAVb21ApOVMQPmU
