New Things part 1
It's a New Year. So what better time than now to look at some of the new things that were promised to us in the Bible (and came to fruition through the cross). I'm going to list some of them, and then over the next few days we'll really dig in to some of them. So let's start with 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." And that term "are become" means HAS become, ARE becoming, and WILL become. It's a done deal. The work is finished. Having said that, it is us coming into an understanding of that finished work that equips and empowers us to experience that finished work. It IS a done deal. It is BEING done in and through us, and it WILL be done when we come into the fullness and maturity of what that done deal means. And that goes for all things. In the Messianic rebirth of the world (the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus) God remade the world in His image. The consuming fire of love burned up everything except itself (Himself). So we don't have to struggle with sin and death anymore. We can walk in newness of life. That's one of those new things. A new creature. Walking in newness of life. Revelation speaks of a white stone with a new name. Colossians 3:10 tells us that we, "...have put on the new man, which is renewed in the knowledge after the image of him that created him." The NLT calls it "your new nature." To which I always like to add "new (TRUE) nature." Because, in reality, all of this "new" stuff is simply God bringing us back to where we were always supposed to be. This new man (which is his name and new nature) has a new commandment. But look at 1 John 2:7, "Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning." So the so-called "new" commandment--to love one another as Jesus loves you--is really the TRUE commandment. I think that, more than anything else, is what I want to say today to set the stage for this Rant series. When it comes to Spiritual things, what is "new" is really TRUE. And it has been true from the foundation of the world. It was covered up with all of the stuff that we sometimes accumulate and drag around with us. Surface stuff that we could be much better off just letting go. Hebrews 12:1, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." Let it go. Lay it aside. Don't struggle with it. It's old, and you don't need to have anything to do with it anymore. All things are become new. The old has passed away and the new has come forth. When you know the truth you don't have to fight against the lie, you can simply ignore it. You don't have to prove anything to anybody. You can let go and let God. HE is our refuge. HE is our protector. We don't have to defend Him. He will defend us. And, yes, that's a very new and radical mindset, but that's kind of the point. Out with the old and in with the new. It's not turning over a new leaf either. It's getting a whole new tree. No longer the tree of knowledge of good and evil (the tree of death) but instead the Tree of Life that gives us the fruit of the Spirit, which IS life. The fruit of the Spirit which is love! That's what we need to be focusing on and feasting on. That's what fills us up and gives us something to share with the people we come into contact with. That's how we experience, and walk in, newness of life!