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Andrew Fountain —
How many people here made New Year’s resolutions?
Apparently less than 10% are kept
Why is that? —talk about it later
God’s ways:
God never patches up the old
He always does something new
And then invites the old to come in
e.g. trying gradually to renovate my house
But if God was renovating a house, he would completely rebuild it from the inside
He would not simply patch it up, but everything would be renewed any perfect
The Flood:
All the people of the earth were corrupt except one family (Noah)
God decided to start again with just that family
All were invited, but only 8 went into the ark
The old world was destroyed and a “new world” began
The Nation of Israel:
The Nation of Israel became hopelessly corrupt
God took the whole nation into captivity
Then invited all those who had a heart for him to return to start a renewed nation back in Palestine, with a new temple
Only 42,000 accepted the invitation
The New Creation
God ultimately will not patch up this creation
He has started something new in Jesus
And is inviting us to join Jesus
We all have preconceptions that we bring to life
like lenses on our eyes which pre-define how we are going to look at things
We cannot avoid preconception, but they make a huge difference
e.g. Story of Larry Crabb and his home being robbed
Traditionally evangelicals have had the pre-understanding that the big story of Scripture is forgiveness of sins
That is certainly one of the most important parts of it
But it is inside a bigger story—the new creation!
Once we have the right glasses on, everything will come into focus.
Some Symbolism
Sabbath: God created in 6 days, then rested
“Rest” was to enter into the pleasure of his creation (not because he was tired!)
“And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.
But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I am working.’” John 5:16-17
Not resting in the Old any longer, but working on the New!
God was working on something New and so was Jesus
Promised Land
Abraham was promised the land, but he never actually owned the physical land
Hebrews 11:8-10
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.
For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
There was something more that he was looking for, that this physical land was just a symbol of
Romans 4
For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world (kosmos) did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
Mat 5:5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
So look at the word used: world (kosmos) —not just Palestine, but a whole world
Another symbol used is that of Rest
Rest
Promised Land was a picture of rest
Picked up in Hebrews
Jesus said “Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Mat 11:28
Circumcision
On the 8th day, the 1st day of the next week! (Lev 12:3)
People with Leprosy were to be cleansed on the 8th day (Lev 14:10)
So what does circumcision symbolize?
“For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” Gal 6:15
But one of the strongest images is being “Born from above”
and the Kingdom
John 3:3-6
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again (orig: from above) he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
New Creation defined
Jesus was raised as the “firstborn”
We enter by being “joined” to him
As the Old was made of dust, the New is made of the Spirit of God
Because of this, we are “born of God”, his own children
We bear his family likeness: God is love
1 John 3:1-2, 13-14
continue
Living in the New Creation
Two things characterize this New Life
Trust in Jesus
Following his command to love
1 John 4:7-17
continue
Faith and love
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. Gal 5:6
These two seems to be intertwined —why?
because we cannot love without dependence
vine and the branches
A lot of things we do, e.g. the way we worship, are dependent on the New Creation
even though we may not realize it
Story of Jesus and the woman of Samaria
The reason worship is different now is not because God has never been interested in the temple etc.
Jesus said “the time is coming and now is...”
something new has happened, the age of the Spirit
This same pattern of old and new transforms all of the Old Testament system into the New
We have too low a view of what God is wanting to do
a “bolt on” Christianity that says “you will have a much nicer life if you accept Jesus”
God wants to do something far more radical with us
So how do we live in the new rather than patching up the old?
more next week
but for now—you need to depend, every moment, on the new life of the Spirit within you
constantly pray for his power
This is why our resolutions fail —they are trying to change us in our own resolve, our own strength