This coming Sunday at the Assembly, four people will be baptized. It's a joyful time marking a new beginning. When I conduct baptisms, I always encourage the congregation to participate in this way. "When the person comes up out of the water," I say, "let's cheer, whoop, and clap- celebrating this moment that signifies his new life in Christ." We are right to do this because the Bible says they are emerging to new life. Take a look, "Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection." (Romans 6:3-5, NIV)
Sometimes I forget how differently a Spirit-filled Believer sees life because I am immersed in a world of other Christians. As I was driving from an appointment yesterday, I happened on a radio station where the DJ's were talking about the way they planned to spend their weekend. They were discussing how they would meet their circle of friends in the bar; the way that they planned to brag about their sexual conquests, how the conversations would become more lewd and explicit as they got drunk. Then, they launched into a discussion of who they would like to have sex with so they could brag about it! After about 10 minutes, I tuned away from the station, thinking, "wow, I really do live differently!"
Thank the Lord! I won't have any hangover to contend with on Monday morning. I won't have to worry about a guilty conscience or an STD, for that matter. My weekend will be spent with family and friends, the high point being time in the Presence of God's Spirit, rejoicing and praying. I'm not writing this from a lofty position of superiority. Please don't read it that way. I am writing this in humble recognition of what the Lord has done for me! His grace found me, His love changed me, His death gave me new life.
Christianity isn't about a make-over of the soul. Jesus doesn't give us a spiritual face-lift or teach us to use spiritual cosmetics so we merely 'look better' than we did previously. He makes us new. "Born again" is His phrase. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul exults in the work of God on our behalf writing - "...those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!" This newness of life reaches into every part of who we are - new purpose, new hope, new destiny, new perspectives. The Believer transcends this temporal world's limitations even while he lives in it. In Christ, the Believer enters into eternal life - right now! What wonder, what glory, what a reason to celebrate.
Yes, I know that we relapse into sin, from time to time. That is because we are being perfected in the image of Christ, in an ongoing process. I am not who I was, nor I am yet all that I will be. It pains me when flashes of the old life re-appear and I fall into disobedience, selfishness, and sensuality. But the fact that it pains me is evidence of the Christ-life in me! The Spirit-life that is working in me makes me able to feel the disapproval of God.
Have you truly entered into the New Life of Christ or are you just trying your best to be a better person? The latter is a religious response to the universal human need for restoration to God. But, the limit of religion is that it can only re-model our life house, using the methods of guilt and self-discipline. And, in the end, all a religious person has is a superficial change in appearance. There is no lasting joy from really knowing God or knowing the gift of life eternal. The person who is touched by the Spirit is truly NEW.
So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it.
Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.
Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you.
(Colossians 3:1-4 The Message)
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