October 5, 2006

Greetings everyone in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I was considering the work that was done in the front of our building
recently.  As I admired the simple beauty of a construction project done
well, I began to think about how much went into it - from the countless
meetings with contractors to consider all options, to the allocating of
a considerable sum of money, to the actual labor and skill applied by the
contractor and his employees, even to the enduring of the lack of a
front door for a while.  I thought back to what was there before, and I
remembered the loose and crumbling bricks, the rotting wooden support columns, the
foundation cracks, the rusted support beams underneath, and just the general
poor appearance all of this created.

And I am happy.  There are still a few things to address, but basically it
makes me very glad to look at the work.  Because even with the high cost,
even with the time and effort invested at every stop, even with other
options available, I am happy because essentially demolishing what was there
and building it again from scratch was the right thing to do to ensure a
long-lasting, safe and attractive finished product.  We had several options
that amounted to attempts to repair what was there.  But in this case, that
would not have been right.  A complete change was in order.

And then I got to thinking about the Lord.

His word quite famously says: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a
new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become
new." (2 Corinthians 5:17).

I'm thinking that this is what the Lord wants to do in every person that
comes to Him.  He doesn't just repair the damaged goods.  He recreates us
from the inside.

There are a few other terms the New Testament uses to describe this:
"born again", "regeneration", "transformed by the renewing of your mind", "put off
the old man" and "put on the new man", "put to death the misdeeds of the
body", and others like this.

This is why Paul can say, in those moments where sin crept up in his life,
that "it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me." (Romans
7:17).  He had been completely recreated at heart, and that new heart
completely detested sin.  That new heart happened to reside in flesh
that was accustomed to sin, and so he was vulnerable to act, in moments of
weakness, like that old self that had died when God recreated him.

One of the modern errors in evangelical Christianity is to, at times, imply
that what God wants to do is sort of add Himself to a person's
circumstances.  People are invited to take Christ into their hearts to find
strength, love, joy, peace, etc., in the context of what their lives already
are.  Christ is offered as life's greatest "value-add", sort of a bonus to
help you get through your days, etc.

Strength, love, joy and peace are indeed fruits of a life committed to
following and serving the Lord Jesus Christ.  But they are a product of what
the Bible describes as a "new creation".  When a sinner comes to Jesus
Christ, it is to find forgiveness and redemption because they face the wrath
and judgment of a holy and righteous God.  The righteousness of Christ is
imputed, or credited, to them, received by faith, so that they stand
righteous and justified before God.  Everything about what we were dies, and
God starts new with the "washing of regeneration" (Titus 3:5).

The problem is, people want the blessings of Christianity without the
humility and the surrender.  They want to tenaciously cling to the
things of this life and add God.

They want the patch job, the inexpensive repair.

God wants them to let go of this world that He might demolish and rebuild.
He wants to live in them and through them.  He wants to do a work in them
that is new, that will last, and that is of the greatest value and quality.

He wants to make a complete change.  It's eternal salvation, not
temporary salvage.

Walk away.  Just lay down the love of the things of this world, the lust for
earthly pleasure and human achievement and fleshly peace, the strivings, the
selfish ambitions...  And turn yourself completely to the one who is in the
business of "new creation".

All glory and praise to our God and Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Jesus, looking for His glorious appearing,
Pastor Lou