Gtcotr/ws040313
When
a person gets ‘Born Again’, what changes? The answer to that question is
‘Everything’! These 12 lessons in this New Creation Realities Module will focus
on what we get when we get saved … what changes. As I said, everything changes
…
2 Corinthians 5
17 Therefore, if anyone is
in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold,
all things have become new.
18 Now all things are
of God …
All
things are of God! Let’s hold there for just a moment. Imagine with me as we
look back to the moment we were born. Life does not begin with the first breath
rather life exists even in the womb. Without consideration of any legal or
political arguments, we understand that life, although very limited and
incredibly vulnerable, exists in the womb, before birth.
When
a child is born things change: Position, perspective and potential. Limits
expand and things which were previously impossible are now possible because you
are no longer in mom but in the world. However, growth and development will
need to occur before a person can take full advantage of their new reality.
This
is not unlike the change which occurs when a person is born again. Their limits
expand and things which were not possible before are now within their grasps as
they grow and develop “In Christ”.
When
a person is born again all things are new and all things are of God, including
a new God-given nature.
Key Scripture: 2 Peter 1:4 We have
been given exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may
be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust.
Through
Christ we escape the corruption that is this world and are made partakers of the
divine nature … human beings with a divine nature … a new creature in Christ
Jesus … New spiritual DNA … New possibilities … New potential … New
perspectives … New Nature.
Life
is a process and ultimately, life is what you do with what you have – It’s no
different with the new life which comes through Christ. In order to reach our
God given potential, we must properly nurture our new nature.
Ephesians 4
22 Put off, concerning your
former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful
lusts,
23 and be renewed in the
spirit of your mind,
24 and that you put on the
new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
The
born again life is a process of cleaning out and cleaning up our lives to
reflect our new nature. It is a process of “putting off” and “putting on”.
Colossians 3
9 Do not lie to one another,
since you have put off the old man with his deeds,
10 and have put on the new man
who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.
Just
because you are born into this world does not guarantee you will be successful
or prominent or wealthy or healthy or happy or liked. It is the same with being
born again into the family of God. Just because you are born again and have
received a new nature with new opportunities and a new destiny does not
guarantee you will be successful, prominent, wealthy, healthy, happy or liked. Life,
even the new life we receive in Christ, is work. However we have an advantage –
a new nature; a divine nature created according to God in true righteousness
and holiness after the image of Him who created us.
When
you were born again you became a new creation in Christ and received a new spirit,
a new heart, a new hope, a new conviction, a new destiny and a new nature. You
are not the same … everything changed.
Ephesians 2
3 We all once conducted
ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of
the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich in
mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in
trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up
together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in
Christ Jesus,
7 that in the ages to come He
might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us
in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone
should boast.
10 For we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand that we should walk in them.
In
order to take advantage of our opportunities and reach our potential in Christ,
we must nurture this New Nature by walking in the good works of God. Good works
do not save us, make us righteous or holy. However, good works do help us
develop and reflect the divine nature we possess in Christ. Learning to live
the new creation life is a process.
Important Points:
1. Salvation changes everything
2. We receive a “New Nature” in Christ
3. Our New Nature grants us a spiritual
predisposition towards Godliness
4. The New Nature is nurtured through Godly
choices
