April 28, 2019
Morning Service

Do you ever experience that let down that comes after a big event in your life; weddings, child birth, new job, vacation, moving or any event that stretches your emotions.  After these events that sometimes leaves you on cloud 9, there is always a bit of a lull as we slide back into a routine. We have to determine what a “New Normal” for our life is going to look like.  This can also occur in our spiritual life as well.  After a very emotional “Passion Week” it is easy to have a letdown and feel a little lost on which direction to go.  Can you imagine what the disciples felt like after learning that Jesus had indeed died upon that cross but then rose again just as He said He would.  What would their “New Normal” look like?  What would life be like now with the Jesus physically absent, but the Holy Spirit present in their lives?

  John 21:1-3 After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberius, and in this way He showed Himself: (2) Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together.  (3)  Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We are going with you also." They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing.

            Peter and the other disciples tried to make the “New Normal” look like the “Old Normal” so they went fishing.  It is typical for us when we don’t know what to do to go back to the things we used to do.  Our old habits and ways can become our worst enemies.  It is easy for us to go back to the things we know and feel comfortable with.  The problem with that is that once we have met Jesus and gotten a glimpse of how much it is that He loves us everything changes.

 

2Co 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

            I believe the most powerful moment in the film the “Passion of Christ” is when Jesus falls with the cross crashing down upon His back and Mary runs up to Him.  He looks at her through the pain and anguish that He is experiencing and says; “I make all things new!”  Jesus endured the betrayal, mock trial, torture, the walk to Golgotha, and His death upon the cross with a purpose in mind.  He was making all things “New” for those who would believe in Him.  He has prepared the way for us to have a close personal relationship with Him.  He has opened the gate and cleared the path and now all we have to do is enter in.  We can start over or be born again as Jesus told Nicodemus.  What does that look like?  What should I be doing?  How can I demonstrate to Christ that I truly believe in Him and love Him with all my heart, mind, and strength and that things have changed for me and became new? Jesus made that very simple for us.

 

Joh 14:15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments.”

            Jesus has paid for your sins in full and asks for no repayment; it is not a loan but a gift of eternal life.  In realizing the extent of His love for us through a “New” vision of what we saw through the “Passion Week,” it should trigger a loving desire within us to want to follow Him wherever He leads us and live a life that is pleasing in His sight.  Jesus here asks us to demonstrate our love for Him through obedience to His Word.  Our love for Him creates a whole “New” focus on life and what it is all truly about.  Our love for Christ drives us to begin to walk a path of obedience and righteousness leaving our old sinful ways.  Paul explains it like this to the Roman church.

 

Romans 6:16-18 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?  (17)  But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.  (18)  And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

            Our “New” focus will be on doing things that Jesus has asked us to do not because we have to but because we want to (obeyed from the heart).  It becomes our heart’s desire to obey and please God leading us to a life of righteousness (living the right way).  As we saw with the Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians we are a “new creation.”  We no longer serve sin and self as our master, but we are now bound to God and His righteous ways (Paul calls us slaves).    We serve Him because we love Him and it becomes not what we are doing, but who we are.  It is more than a checklist of tasks to perform, it is our heart’s desire to serve Him because we love Him. Jesus invites us to a journey in which we put Him first in our life and die out to everything else.

 

Mat 10:37-39 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.  (38)  And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.  (39)  He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

            Our “New” focus must place Jesus first in everything even above our family members.  He asks us to pick up our cross and follow Him; which is just a way to ask us to come to Him and die out to ourselves.  Die out to the old ways of sin and self and begin to walk the “New” path of righteousness totally committed to our Savior.  We are asked to lose our life that we might find it in Christ.  Paul testified to this dying out and living in Christ like this to the Galatians.

 

  Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

            Our “New” life is lived in unity with Christ and we fully trust Him to lead us along the path He chooses for us.  Our faith and trust are in Him and His love for us.  He promises never to leave us or forsake us and nothing can separate us from His love.  A love that even with just a glimpse of it over Easter is so powerful and intense that we can’t really comprehend its depth.  A love so great for me that I want to follow Him closer and more intimately.  My hope is that I become so close to Jesus that this statement from Paul is true of me.

 

Col 3:17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

            Everything we say and do reflects the truth that we are a follower of Jesus.  We are complete and whole in Him.  I live a life of servanthood and gratitude for my Savior who gave His all for me.  Oh how He loves us and I love Him enough to want to live like that.

 

Sidewalk Prophets: “Live Like That!”

 

            I realize this challenge to surrender everything to Him can be very overwhelming.  It is a journey and we are to take one step at a time and know that the Holy Spirit is there to lead, guide and support all along the way.  Simply give Him your whole heart and be a faithful follower today knowing that your reward will far exceed your commitment.  God will bless your life here with peace, contentment, and joy along with blowing you away with what He has prepared for you in heaven one day.  Let’s walk together in the “Newness of life” that Jesus has given us with His death, burial and resurrection.

 

Let’s pray.