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New Creation



When the roof leaks, most people try to repair it first. Some patches may work for a few days, but in the next heavy rain water pours righ inside through another side. After several efforts and spending money, replacement becomes a necessity. When God promises to put a new heart as promised in Ezekiel 36:26, the people were beyond any form of repairs in their spritual relationship with God. The only way a restoration can be done was by a replacement of the human condition. God's promise to them was to give them new hearts.

A surgeon specializing in heart replacement says she gets the people who need to have their heart transplanted because their hearts are beyond repair by medicine or any other procedures. In the operating room surgeons remove the diseased and discolored heart and replace it with vibrant and pink “new” donor heart. She explains that the process for selecting who gets a “new” physical heart is based purely on the need of the patient. A change of heart toward God requires a supernatural transformation. Jesus called it being “born again” (John 3:3) in the discourse at night with the Jewish teacher Nicodemus. Jesus told him, "No one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

A change of heart brings transformation of life that cannot be acheived on our own. The power of the Holy Spirit changes our hearts from sin-focused to God-focused. We do not become perfect (1 John 1:8); we still have our sinful flesh and the freedom to choose between good and evil. But with a change of heart, the person's outlook and life styles will change. John Wesley's study notes reflects: "Only the power that makes a world can make a Christian. And when he is so created, the old things are passed away - Of their own accord, even as snow in spring. Behold - The present, visible, undeniable change! All things are become new - He has new life, new senses, new faculties, new affections, new appetites, new ideas and conceptions. His whole tenor of action and conversation is new, and he lives, as it were, in a new world. God, men, the whole creation, heaven, earth, and all therein, appear in a new light, and stand related to him in a new manner, since he was created anew in Christ Jesus."

Singer Russ Lee came out with a song titled "I Smile." In the song he says, "I smile when I think about the way You turned my life around. I smile when I think about the happiness in You I've found." When Russ was 17, his days were wasted on drugs, alcohol, boredom, and pain. His life was full of self-inflicted trouble and hopelessness. One day, while listening to an old rock song called "I Can't Get No Satisfaction," he realized that this described his life. Two days later, a friend invited him to church. There Russ heard that real satisfaction comes from knowing Jesus Christ and accepted Him as his savior. According to the book “Touched By The Savior’ by Mike Yorkey, Russ said, "I walked back out to my car. In the trunk was a garbage bag filled with drugs I had been selling. I won't be needing these again, I thought, and I was right. I threw the bag away. From that day forward, God transformed my life from the inside out. I became a new creation."

The apostle Paul wrote, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come" (2 Corinthians 5:17). Being born again is not the end in itself, it is the beginning of a new life. Through God’s renewing grace we reflect our new life in Christ in our thoughts and attitudes. As we mature in faith, life becomes a day-by-day transformation into the likeness of Christ. A born again Christian is a transformed person who works towards transforming the world by sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.

Blessings

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Fulll sermon audio: Mathew Philip 
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