Morning, it's good to see you guys.
Historically here at Frontier, this first Sunday after Advent
is what we call New creation Sunday.
And this year happened to fall before the new year.
So right, new creation before the new year.
And Cole had just, he had sent out a text.
He's like, hey, who wants to, who wants to preach this?
You can preach any sermon. And I was thinking I was going
to pull a fast one on him and just start Genesis, the creation
story a week early. But I just, I decided not to do
that because he, he gave free rein.
But anyways, I want to pray and then we'll, we'll read some
scripture and and dig into who we are in Christ this morning.
Lord, I need your help this morning.
It seems like more than any other morning of the whole week,
even when I didn't have a voice until recently.
Basically, we just need your help to focus on you, to look to
you, to remember that all these kids with us this morning are
they're, they're here for you too.
And we can look at them and see your new creation in them as
they learn and as they grow too. And just pray for your hearts,
for our hearts to receive your word, to be able to see Jesus
clearly, clear, clearer even to go forward in the new year than
we have previously in Jesus name, Amen.
Too often our picture of the Christian hope has been shaped
more by probably by cartoons than by Scripture, as if the
goal is to escape this world rather than see it be renewed.
But the Bible knows nothing of this kind of escape from the
world. Heaven, OK.
From Genesis to Revelation, God's promise is a renewed
creation, a physical world made new, where resurrected people
dwell with King Jesus forever. And if you would just stand with
me, I'm actually going to read out of two sections out of
Second Corinthians this morning. So if you'd please stand, we're
going to be in 2nd Corinthians 4 and then 5.
And the Scripture will be up here, should be up here on the
screen. So I'm in 2nd Corinthians 4
verses 16 through 18, and it'll be 514 through 21, so out of 2nd
Corinthians 4. So we do not lose heart, though
our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed
day by day. For this light momentary
affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory
beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen,
but to the things that are unseen.
For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that
are unseen are eternal. And so see here, Paul's not
saying ignore your suffering or harshness of life because
someday you'll leave all this behind.
He's saying, don't lose heart because all of this is headed
somewhere. And part of what carries us
forward is where this renewal is headed.
So then we're going to this is where we'll spend our time this
morning is here in Second Things 514 through 21 verse 14 for the
love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this
that one has died for all, therefore all have died and he
died for all that those who live might no longer live for
themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised
from now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the
flesh, even though we once regarded Christ according to the
flesh, we regard him thus no longer.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come.
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to
Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
That is in Christ. God was reconciling in the world
to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them and
entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal
through us. We implore you on behalf of
Christ, be reconciled to God for our sake.
He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him he might
become the righteousness of God. He can be seated.
So everything Paul is saying here that we're reading this
morning hangs around 1 reality. And that reality is that God is
creating something new by reconciling sinners to himself
through Christ. So we want to see God's
reconciling work, which is the foundation of new creation.
He starts off really with what controls US.
Verses 14 and 15, right? We just read it for the love of
Christ controls us because we have concluded this, that one
has died for all, therefore all have died and he died for all
that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but
for him who for their sake died and was raised.
So our obedience to God flows from reconciliation and not just
obligation. And God has already acted.
We responded in love. It's this idea like the, the
love of Christ controls us. It compels us, it pushes us
forward. I'm not, I'm not just talking
about like this idea that, you know, love of Christ is there
for me. It's literally brings us life
and carries us forward and pushes us forward.
And he knew that we wouldn't always have feelings that line
up with that reality because love feels different, distant.
And he's not saying to look inward here.
He tells us to look at the cross.
He's saying to contemplate Christ who loved us and gave
himself up for us. Look carefully at Christ.
If you're if you're here this morning, you're struggling to
feel God's love for you, then contemplate his work through
Christ and truly think on these things in order to come to a
deeper and deeper realization of the implications of the gospel.
We we think on what He has done for us as we study his word, as
we worship in our own hearts, as we worship here together and as
we do the richness of the person and work of Christ penetrates
our minds and our hearts and gradually is transforming our
lives under the influence of the Holy Spirit as we desire more
and more to serve Him. So what this might look like is
tomorrow when you wake up because your kids woke you up at
3:00 AM and you're feeling short and you're tired and you're
apathetic. You have this little piece of
paper with you that says Galatians 220.
It says the life I now live in the flesh.
I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave
himself for me. And so you're reminded that how
much Christ has loved you. So you have the ability to then
love your kids or love your spouse because the overflowing
love of Jesus, you're able to see that more clearly so that
you can have patience and have kindness and have love yourself.
And then Paul tells us how God's work changes how we perceive the
world because of this compelling love.
We see others as those, he's as those.
He is also reconciling. Verse 16 says, from now on,
therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.
Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh,
we regard him thus no longer. So that means reconciliation
with God doesn't just change what we believe, it changes how
we see in Paul's writing from the standpoint of he's lived
this. He used, he at one point
evaluated Jesus externally. He's he at one time called Jesus
a fraud, right? He only knew Jesus according to
the flesh. And you know what he said?
He said that he was a false Messiah.
He was a problem to Judaism. He deserved to be crucified.
Who's the one holding the coats when they stoned Stephen that we
read about in the New Testament? It's Paul.
He judged Jesus by his appearance, by his power and
expectations. And Paul realized he was
completely wrong. That's what he's writing this
from. So new creation corrects our
vision, and we stop seeing people as merely political,
social, or behavioral categories.
We see them as eternal souls. People.
God is either reconciling or calling us to be his ambassadors
of reconciliation. So that changes how we think
about our kids, our neighbors, our spouses, the people we don't
agree with. We don't look past
responsibility, but we look through the behaviors.
We look to the heart and we see a heart that needs to feel the
love of and be compelled by the love of Christ.
And this is where reconciliation and new creation of me, and this
is what I really love. Verse 17.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come because
God doesn't just reconcile us so that we can be forgiven and just
kind of wait around for heaven, be kind of semi good people.
He reconciles us that the life of the age to come begins
breaking into the present because if anyone is in Christ,
he has a new creation, not just destined for renewal someday,
but already being remade now. So the hope that the Bible
offers us is not just that Jesus gives up on the earth and
rescues souls out of it. It's that he renews everything.
Bodies that don't decay, a world without death and life live
fully in God's presence. And this future isn't just
something we wait for, it's a vision that pulls us forward.
Right? The New Testament speaks of
believers having a new mind, a new will, a new heart, a new
inheritance, a new relationship, a new power, new knowledge, new
wisdom, new perception, new understanding, new
righteousness, new love, new desire, new citizenship, and
many other new things, all of which are summed up in newness
of life. And it's not just something we
wait for. It's a vision that pulls us
forward. But the reality is, is I'm
talking about all this newness. And we're hearing and we're
seeing this newness, but we know something isn't right, right?
We know that's not the case. And it's because we are in
what's called the already, but not yet.
So when Paul says new creation, he means something has already
begun, but it's not yet finished.
Christ has decisively acted, but the world still groans.
So we are truly new, even as we still struggle.
That tension explains why we suffer without losing heart.
The future has already invaded the present, but it hasn't yet
been fully revealed. We live between the already what
Christ has done. Looking forward to the not yet
what He is still yet to do. And that helps us realize that
while our experience of God's grace in Christ is real, there's
a part of it that's incomplete. Because we still live in a
fallen world and we're still in a battle every day.
And it can be tough. And we may experience suffering
and loss, we're promised, we're going to experience opposition.
But the important thing to remember is this, that the
decisive battle in victory has already been won by Jesus in our
lives too. And one day he's going to come
again in glory. And we are already more than
conquerors through him who loved us to reconcile us with God.
And as a new creation, we're not supposed to see ourselves as
earthly citizens anymore. And Paul's explains it and shows
us in and how through why we're sent.
Verses 18 through 20 say all this is from God, who through
Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of
reconciliation that is in Christ.
God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their
trespasses, trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the
message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors
for Christ, God making His appeal through us.
We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
Did you see that? All this is from God, not us.
So reconciliation begins with God's initiative and is
accomplished through forgiveness, not by just
ignoring our sins, but dealing with it fully in Christ.
And we see that shift with the message we're supposed to carry
because Paul calls US ambassadors.
He's reminding us that we belong to a Kingdom that is coming and
is already arriving. Because ambassadors live in a
place that isn't fully home yet, right?
They they speak with an accent, they live differently and their
lives point beyond themselves to the King.
They represent ambassadors who know the only way that God can
reconcile with sinners is by not counting their trespasses
against them because he has to set our sins aside.
And really, that's why we talk about sin.
If we never talked about sin, there would be no, no need for
reconciliation. There would be no clue that
there's something that's keeping us apart from God.
It's not just pounding the fact that we're sinners and then and
there's not a hope. It's the fact that we have to be
able to see our sin and understand that we need to be
reconciled with God to be able to experience him, to experience
all the joy in the life, this new creation, this new person
that that He's showing us we are in Him.
It's not sharing sin and we're not just announcing self
improvement like that's not what New Creation Sunday is about is
just being an improved person in the new year.
We're looking at having actual peace with God And as this
thought is coming to completion. Paul wants us to get a picture
of new creation to see Christ in verse 21 he says for our sake he
made him Jesus to be sin who knew no sin so in him we might
become the righteousness of God. So Christ took all of what we
were and gave us all he what all of what he is before God because
he knows, remember, he knows that 15 minutes from now, this
being compelled by the love of Christ probably isn't going to
feel that way. And when that love feels
different, it's not we're not supposed to look at ourselves
and look what we need. Look at these things.
It's to look to Christ, look at the cross, look at what look at
Christ's love for you. Look what he gave up for you,
him his entire self. He took on all of your sin and
it's and it's not enough just to know this.
It's are you compelled with the idea?
I'll be the first to admit when I was up last night at midnight
with my 2 year old, I wasn't compelled with the love of
Christ, but because I was prepping this, I was sitting
there holding him and I'm like, oh, just go to sleep.
I want to be rested for the morning.
And then I remembered, Oh yeah, the love of Christ compels me.
Jesus. Jesus has rocked me time and
time again when I've been sinning.
I can love Hayden right now and be patient because God's patient
with me and it totally just flipped it for me.
So I'm not talking about just knowing, but then even just
being being amazed by it. Like are you amazed by the fact?
Are you walking around amazed by the fact that Jesus gave all of
himself for you? Thinking about that is going to
take care of so many of these other things that we come up
against and it's not minimizing the suffering, it's not
minimizing the hard things we go through.
But when it comes to the sin that we face, it conquers that.
So look at Jesus, have that scripture in your back pocket,
contemplate Jesus work and come back to being amazed because if
you're amazed, then Jesus love will control you because you see
that more and more amazed at how every time you're you're angry
for the wrong reason. Christ took it.
Because if we're controlled by Jesus love for us, imagine being
freer from people's opinions, your own revenge, your own
agendas that you have. Being more intrigued than
irritated with people, quicker to repent and forgive than judge
others and hold grudges. Where your thoughts, your words
and choices would be shaped more by God's grace than by your own
impulses and sin. Being more generous and less
selfish, more faithful and less fearful, more trusting and less
suspicious, more present and less busy.
All of which is yours if you're in Christ.
And so we don't lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting
away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us
an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we
look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are
unseen. As we look to Jesus.
For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that
are unseen are eternal. So if you're in Christ this
morning, you're a new creation. The old has passed away.
Behold, the new has come. Let's pray.