January 1 2011
Nice People or New Man
January 1, 2012
Have you been a “word wrangling” match lately?
I was wrangling words with my sister this past week on Facebook because she posted the comment. “My New Year’s resolution is: I DON’T MAKE RESOLUTIONS!” So I posted, “That is a resolution …” to which she replied, “Right, my only New Year’s resolution is that!” To that I posted, “So how can you say “I don’t make resolutions” when you just made a resolution?” Then my sister replied, “I said I made “ONE” resolution not to make any.” Well I let it be, that is on Facebook and didn’t reply, but to myself I said, “Okay, but that’s not what you said.”
I read … “Effective communication is hard … It is like exercise. We all know how to do it. We all know that we should do it. Yet it’s often neglected.” – Ann Michael
Communication is key and without it we risk impaired or ruined relationships based upon a lack of communication.
How many times have we asked, if not to ourselves, “What do you/they mean?” For instance a church sign read, “DON’T LET WORRY KILL YOU … LET THE CHURCH HELP”
Now on a bit more serious note, have you ever read the Bible and ask, “What does that mean?” We all have, I’m sure.
In our text today from the book to the Ephesians the Apostle Paul speaks of a NEW MAN and in a later chapter (4:22-24) he speaks to the “new self/man” and the “old self/man”
Ephesians 2:13-22 … that he might create in himself one new man of the two, so making peace
So the question of communication to ask is, “What does Paul mean when he speaks to the new man and old man?”
Paul’s language, along with the engaging intentions of the scripture dispels any thought or attempt … that man can reform, renew, renovate, recreate himself into the new man.
Instead the language used insists …
- Connective Sinew … (tissue connecting muscle to bone) between the new man, self, nature and Christ.
- Re-Creation … “He might create” (ktid-zo) … exclusively used to refer to God’s act of creation of the new man
And the new man … is not a “assembly line” kind of new … but it’s a model that did not exist before … new in Christ.
There are these and other are great and deep theological realities within the words of Paul … for instance:
- If there is a new man … there must be an old man … and it is not just a mere “immaterial” state of the soul … but also regards the actions of the body (material/physical) that proceed from man’s sin nature … “Sin & Sins”
Scriptural texts such as Romans 6:4 (newness of life) … Colossians 3:10 (put on the new self) … Ephesians 4:11-24, Colossians 3:9-11 all speak to the NEW character of the NEW MAN … SAVED in Christ … living a life that is in accordance with the ideal man Jesus Christ.
There is within such scriptures the implied “ACTIVE PARTICIPATION” in Christ’s work of newness. The new work is a “GIVEN” but cannot be taken for “GRANTED.”
So with our scriptural base the point being is …
LIVE THE NEW BECAUSE YOU ARE NEW
… THEREFORE …
LEAVE THE OLD TO LIVE THE NEW
One of the chapters in CS Lewis’ work “Mere Christianity” is titled “NICE PEOPLE OR NEW MAN” to which he has graciously loaned me to title my first sermon of this New Year of 2012.
Let me quote C.S. … “God became man to turn creatures into sons: Not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man.”
2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
We all have the tendency to do “comparative shopping” when it comes to measuring ourselves. We want the NEW to be the BETTER THAN THEM … or just make me a nice or NICER person than so-and-so. It’s not about being NICE but being NEW!
As CS Lewis suggests with the new man … “The question is not Person A vs Person B, but Person A with Jesus compared to Person A without Jesus.”
This is the scriptural truth of the new man IN CHRIST!
So what does this mean?
- Reconciled to God … in Christ
- Peace with God … in Christ
- Access to God … in Christ
- Members of God’s household … in Christ
These are spiritual realities that are ours in Christ. Christ has removed all hindrances and barriers (Eph 2:15) to a living dynamic relationship with God.
And so what does that mean?
That means “NEW MAN LIVING”
LIVE THE NEW BECAUSE YOU ARE NEW
… THEREFORE …
LEAVE THE OLD TO LIVE THE NEW
Ephesians 4:20-32
- Active Participation in Christ … 4:20-24
- Active Characterization of Christ … 4:25-32
In this New Year, God through Paul’s words speaks to the NEW person – peoples who are and are becoming in Christ.
We must not settle for less but go to live in the more of Christ.
LIVE THE NEW BECAUSE YOU ARE NEW
… THEREFORE …
LEAVE THE OLD TO LIVE THE NEW
Amen!
