“So if anyone is in Christ, there is
a new creation; everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”
Have you ever watched “Extreme Makeover” on television?
The producers of the show choose a person who is challenged by their physical
appearance, whose nose is too big, whose stomach is too flabby, whose breasts
are too small, whose teeth are too crooked…and they give them a free extreme
makeover. Extreme because the solution is surgery--and lots of it! They
document the surgery, the painful recovery, the new hair style and the shopping
trip. And in the end, they are “revealed” to their friends and loved ones…a
completely new person!
The changes are dramatic! The big ol’ honker is now a cute button
nose. A chin implant has squared off the jaw line. The face is lifted. The
hips have been lipo-suctioned, and well…other parts of the body have been
enhanced in miraculous ways. “Wow,” we think. “What a change.” “Everything
has become new!”
Who among us has not secretly wished that we could be made over
somehow? Looking in the mirror, we notice only the flaws. The lines around the
eyes and mouth. The creases in the forehead. The sagging jaw line and the
folds of skin around the neck. The nose that’s too big, or the ears that stick
out.
Making things new. It’s a passion for many of us modern day folk.
Remodeling a home. Re-landscaping a yard. Restoring a car. Renewal is an
industry fueled by billions and billions of dollars and countless hours of time
and energy. Consider all the spas, creams, diets, supplements, pills,
treatments, therapy, and surgery—all in service to make ourselves over, to make
ourselves new.
But some of us have a habit of looking into another kind of mirror,
one that reflects the flaws underneath. We take notice of our inadequacies—poor
self esteem, a quick temper, a failure of will, the propensity to make bad
choices, burdensome guilt, and deep resentments. Not to mention some of our
more destructive behaviors which bring harm to ourselves and others. Not
intentionally always, but hurtful just the same. If only we could start over,
we sometimes think.
(A 2 minute video clip from City Slickers was shown here illustrating the need
to have a “do-over” in life.)
A do-over. Something beautiful. Something good. Isn’t that what
we sang this morning?
Seems to me our passage from the Bible this morning, written by the
Apostle Paul implies that this is the work of Christ. Do-overs. And perhaps
the work of the church is to help people discover the newness that comes when
one encounters Christ, when they become a person “in” Christ. The do over that
happens, the make over that occurs when people experience the joy, the power and
the grace of Jesus in their lives.
Making people new. Paul wants us to know that that’s what Jesus
does.
Anyone
in Christ, the apostle says, is a new creation; everything old has passed away,
and everything has become new!
Jesus remade the eyes of the blind, the legs of the lame and the
withered hand of the crippled. Jesus remade a lying, cheating tax collector
into an instrument of reconciliation and good news. Jesus remade a shameful
Samaritan woman he met at Jacob’s well into the deliverer of her people. Jesus
remade a demoniac in chains into a witness of mercy and hope. Jesus remade a
little boy’s lunch into a feast for thousands. Jesus remade ten outcast lepers,
returning them to their place and role in the community. Jesus remade a thief
who hung near him on the cross into a kingdom child. Jesus remade the
executioner’s cross into a symbol of love, and remade the grave into
resurrection! Jesus remade a rag-tag bunch of fishermen into the core of his
mission to re-make the world!
New creation! Everything old passes away, everything becomes new!
But this newness does not end with the stories from the gospels.
The disciples, new in Christ, become instruments of renewal. It is the new
creation of Peter that preaches so boldly that 3000 come to believe in Christ in
a single day! Peter who remakes a crippled man who begs for a handout and
receives instead a new life back on his feet again. The new creation of Philip
witnesses to an Ethopian Eunuch who asks for baptism and becomes remade as a
disciple of Jesus Christ. And we all know about the make-over of Saul—the
great persecutor of the early Christians, Saul, who held the cloaks for those
who pelted Stephen to death with stones, Saul, who was on his way to Damascus to
arrest Christians and bring them to Jerusalem for trial, we all know how Saul
was remade in an encounter with the risen Jesus—that this greatest threat to the
church becomes Paul, the greatest builder of the church! Saul is remade and
becomes the instrument of Christ’s renewal for thousands across the Middle East
and Mediterranean. The church catches fire and spreads because of Paul is so
focused upon his task: Bringing people to encounter the Lord of Life that they
might be made new just as he was made new!
Of course, Jesus has continued to create newness throughout the
centuries.
In fact John Wesley, the founder of Methodism was long a believer
and in fact, an Anglican Priest who experienced a newness we affectionately call
his “Aldersgate experience.”
Following a difficult and
discouraging mission trip to
America
and questioning his faith, Wesley attended an evening worship service in London
which moved him deeply. In his journal, Wesley described his experience in his
journal, May 24th, 1738:
About a quarter before nine,
while the leader was describing the change which God works in the heart through
faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ
alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my
sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.
Everything old is passing away, everything is made new in Christ,
even today! Even today! How am I so sure?
I see it. The newness that comes in Christ Jesus—I have seen it and
continue to see it. A woman escapes from her burning home with her children in
her arms, escaping also the abusive man who set the fire. In a tiny Methodist
church, she encounters the love and grace that Christ has to offer there, and
the chaos of her life begins to be formed into newness.
I have seen it. Another woman and her teen-aged children have no
home. With the help of some kind folks from an old stone downtown Methodist
Church, she and her kids are set up in a small apartment. She is befriended and
included in the life of the church. Eventually, she will hear her own call to
the ministry, and become a pastor.
I have seen it. A young boy whose parents did not know how to love
him, in fact, had given up on him. I witnessed the change and new life that was
born in the midst of a Methodist youth group. Later, a family from the local
United Methodist Church took him in, loved him, helped him go to college, and
never gave up on him.
I have seen it. The newness of relationships that once were in
shreds. The newness of sobriety when surrounded by Christian friends who are
there to help and not to judge. I have seen it. The newness of life and breath
that comes from the dissolution of a loveless marriage in exchange for new
friends who affirm and build up instead of tear down.
I
have seen it.
Lives made new in Christ Jesus. I’ve seen it…and I’ve lived it.
It is the reason my classmates from high school and college stare wide-eyed in
wonder when they learn I pastor a church. How could it be? Not Lance. Not
the Lance that we used to know! Oh—so right they are! Not the Lance that was,
but the Lance that is reaching forward, becoming new.
Our church has made it our implicit mission and work “to provide
opportunities for people to encounter Jesus that they might believe and be made
new.” Say it with me: “To provide opportunities for people to encounter Jesus
that they might believe and be made new.”
We aim to continue the work that was begun in the ministry of Jesus
Christ on earth, continued through the apostles, carried on for centuries by
Christians around the earth. Creating opportunities to help others encounter
Jesus that they might believe and be made new!
Create opportunities. Hear it? Everything we do—our programs, our
worship, our classes, our groups, our fellowship, our communication—each one an
“opportunity to encounter Jesus in such a remarkable way that they will believe,
and then, be made new!”
It is our church’s purpose that people are made new in Christ. It
is our task, our mission, our job one then “to create opportunities for people
to encounter Jesus that they might believe and be made new.”
From here on, everything we do will be aligned with this mission.
Every program, every ministry, every worship, every class, every fellowship,
every outreach, everything—will become an opportunity for people to encounter
Jesus in order that they might believe and be made new! We will all work
together to help carry out this great mission!
If you are on a team that is planning a ministry or a program or an
event for our church, I want you to ask first, “how can we do this so that it
becomes an opportunity for people to encounter Jesus so that they will believe
and become new?” And as we evaluate our ministries, we have to ask first, “was
this an effective opportunity for people to encounter Christ so that they would
believe and or become new?
It’s already making a difference! You’ve heard quite a bit about
camp, many of you helped build a fund to send kids to camp, and now, we’re
recruiting kids to go to church camp this summer. We want to send 5 times more
kids that we have sent in the past few years to camp. Why? Because we are
convinced that camping is a prime opportunity for kids to encounter Christ, so
that they will believe and be made new! Hear it?
Our Mission Outreach team is up, running and planning exciting
opportunities for our congregation to reach out in the love of Christ. Surely I
don’t have to explain how that fits our church’s mission. But there’s more. In
an effort to help our congregation experience newness, the Mission Outreach team
has put together an all-church volunteer in mission trip to Camp Lakeside for
the fall. Come to our Wednesday meal on the 27th, and you’ll hear
how VIM makes people new, and demonstrates the love of Christ so that others
come to believe!
Our church exists that people will be made new in Christ Jesus. And
our mission is to provide opportunities for people to encounter Jesus so that
they will believe and be made new. All people. For everything old, (hear it?)
EVERYTHING old passes away, and EVERYTHING IS MADE NEW!
Praise be to God!
