Steps to New Life

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on the second Sunday in Lent, the 5th of March, 2023, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

Family, today is the second Sunday in Lent, our time for intentional prayer and to look within ourselves to see if we are living the new life we have been given, or if we’re still stuck in our old ways.  And while the Lenten season represents the 40 days and nights that Jesus spent in the wilderness fasting, praying, and being tempted by Satan, we’ll be using this time to walk alongside Jesus, with the cross as our final stop on this journey.  To walk with Jesus is to follow in His steps, so I’ll be continuing our series focused on just that - walking in Jesus’ steps.

The Apostle Paul did not walk with Jesus during His ministry on earth.  At the time, he was a good Pharisee, doing the bidding of the Temple, persecuting the early church, bringing believers in for trial.  He did not become a believer himself until the resurrected and risen Jesus came to him on the road to Damascus, where he was headed to arrest Christians.  He was struck blind by the Lord, unable to see for three days.  During that time, Jesus gave him special insight into the divine, filling him with knowledge that rivaled that of the men, and women, who had been with Jesus from the start.  And Paul became arguably the greatest advocate for Jesus, for Christianity, and for righteous living.

He may not have walked alongside Jesus, but he certainly followed the Lord’s example, especially when it came to making disciples and to challenging the religious status quo.  He founded or visited churches all around the Mediterranean Sea, often leaving a brother of the faith in charge when he left there.

One such man was Titus, a Greek apparently from the Isle of Crete, a Gentile converted to Christianity by Paul’s ministry.  He had served under Paul in a number of roles, including as his secretary.  During one of his many travels, Paul left Titus in Crete to make use of his administrative abilities and gifts and get everything in order in the churches there, to supervise them and appoint elders throughout the island.  For this reason Titus is sometimes referred to as the first Bishop of Crete.

Paul once wrote a letter to Titus, in which he encouraged his friend to constantly instruct the believers under his care to continue doing good works as part of their new life from God.  Please listen and follow along to the instructions that Paul gave his brother in the ministry, in the 3rd chapter of his letter to Titus, verses 1 through 8, and I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 Teach your people to obey the leaders of their country. They should be ready to do any good work. 2 They must not speak bad of anyone, and they must not argue. They should be gentle and kind to all people.

3 There was a time when we were foolish and did not obey. We were fooled in many ways. Strong desires held us in their power. We wanted only to please ourselves. We wanted what others had and were angry when we could not have them. We hated others and they hated us.

4 But God, the One Who saves, showed how kind He was and how He loved us 5 by saving us from the punishment of sin. It was not because we worked to be right with God. It was because of His loving-kindness that He washed our sins away. At the same time He gave us new life when the Holy Spirit came into our lives. 6 God gave the Holy Spirit to fill our lives through Jesus Christ, the One Who saves. 7 Because of this, we are made right with God by His loving-favor. Now we can have life that lasts forever as He has promised.

8 What I have told you is true. Teach these things all the time so those who have put their trust in God will be careful to do good things. These things are good and will help all men.

--Titus 3:1-8 (NLV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for second chances, for a clean heart and a renewed spirit.  And thank You for giving us a new life.  By our belief in Jesus as Your Son and our acceptance of Him as our Lord, You have forgiven our sin and made of us new creations.  Father, please forgive us when we stray from the path Jesus walked.  Forgive us when we fail to live by His example.  Please help us release our grasp on the world and live this new life as Jesus would have us live it.  

And Father, please protect us from Satan and from those who are so willing to carry out his evil works.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Point out each footstep Jesus took, each example He set, so that we might more closely walk with Him.  This we pray in the glorious name of Christ Jesus, Your beloved Son.   Amen.

Are you familiar with the Swedish company Ikea?  They make furniture products that folks buy and then assemble in their homes.  When customers shop online or go into one of the Ikea stores, they see all these wonderful items, all put together and looking so nice and neat.  But when they purchase one of those lovely items, it comes in a box, ready to be completely assembled by the happy shoppers.  Frustration quickly sets in, though, when they realize assembly isn't quite as smooth and easy as they may have been led to believe.  For one thing, these items usually arrive in hundreds of pieces that have to be put together precisely and in a specific order.  To make matters worse, the instructions manuals are less than helpful.  Because Ikea sells their wares all over the world, to keep things simple on their end, the assembly instructions have few or no words, only pictures attempting to show you what to do when.  And don't expect to get any help putting this thing together.  You're pretty much on your own.  And 

I'm just using Ikea as an example.  Many companies and manufacturers of various products are doing this today.

God does things very differently when He gives us a new life in Jesus.  For one thing, He does the assembly.  The steps to building our new life are not ones we have to take.  God has completed these steps for us in Christ Jesus.  One version of verse 5 of our scripture reading is that, "God saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy."  Putting together a new bookshelf is something we do, under our own effort, following the steps in the provided sheet of instructions.  Putting together eternal salvation is beyond our capabilities; it's something we cannot do.  But God did not leave us in a mess of parts and pieces to salvation with no way to put it all together.  Instead, in Christ Jesus, our heavenly Father has taken the steps of new life for us.  In Jesus, God has completed all the steps that are needed for new life.  All that's left for us to do is to follow Jesus and obey His voice.

If you’ve ever tried to put together a boxed kit piece of furniture, you know how frustrating and time consuming it can be.  Since the instructions are almost useless, a lot of it is by trial and error, of putting parts together one way, then taking them apart when it doesn’t work and trying another way.  If it weren’t for the picture of the finished item on the box, we’d be lost - kind of like working a jigsaw puzzle.

Now imagine trying to put that kit together without instructions of any kind, not even a picture on the box.  Oh, and you’re deaf and blind, and you have no hands or feet, and it’s not just one piece but a whole houseful of furniture.  Pretty much impossible, right?

But family, that task would be a piece of cake compared with us trying to put together our own salvation.  We can’t do it.  There is simply no way.  Not only does our Bible tells us we cannot save ourselves on our own, but just think for a moment about how it is impossible for us humans to even follow the roadmap God gave us, those simple rules we call the Law of Moses, the Ten Commandments.

So it’s a good thing for us that we don’t have to put our own salvation together; God has already done it for us.  By the shed blood of His Son Jesus we are washed clean of our sin, and by our acceptance of Jesus as our Lord, we are saved.  All we have to do is walk with Jesus.

Of course, we all know that isn’t as easy as it sounds.  Being human, we get distracted and stray off the path to look at all the pretty things of the world, taking our eyes off the eternal prize.  Paul will help us get back on track if we heed the advice he gave Titus.

Some steps for living this new life aren’t all that hard.  Step one is to obey our leaders.  OK, so that one may not be quite so easy; maybe we can at least obey the law.  Step two is to be ready, and I would add willing, to do any good work.  Any good work, no matter how dirty we might get, no matter what the world might think of us for doing it, no matter if we’re laughed at or cussed.  Next: don’t speak bad of anyone, no gossiping or spreading rumors, and don’t get into arguments.  There is usually no profit whatsoever in arguing.  And the final step in this set of instructions is to be gentle and kind to all people – all people.

God showed us just how kind and loving He is by forgiving us of our sin and saving us from the punishment we so rightly deserve for our disobedience.  He even gave us His Holy Spirit to live within us and guide us and be our constant Companion.  And this is not because we worked at being righteous, not because we put all the pieces of salvation together in the right order, not because we earned it in some way.  No, it was solely out of His love for us, and His desire for us to live with Him forever.  We are made right with God only by His loving favor, so that now we can have life that lasts for all eternity.

Those steps for Christian living that Paul gave us are not always going to be easy for us to follow.  Walking with Jesus is not easy, and He knew it.  He warned His disciples that following Him would be ultimately rewarding, but dangerous in this life.  And dangerous it was – only John died of natural causes, and that was while he was in forced exile, on the prison island of Patmos.

Jesus tells us that the only way to truly follow Him is to go all in, to go all the way, to not hold back.  I mentioned this conversation and read part of it in last week’s message, but it bears repeating.  Hear what the Apostle Luke saved for us in the 9th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 18 through 25...

18 While Jesus was praying alone, His followers were with Him. Jesus asked them, “Who do people say that I am?” 19 They said, “John the Baptist, but some say Elijah. Others say that one of the early preachers has been raised from the dead.” 20 Jesus said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said, “You are the Christ of God.”

21 Then Jesus spoke to them and told them to tell no one. 22 He said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things. The leaders and the religious leaders and the teachers of the Law will have nothing to do with Him. He must be killed and be raised from the dead three days later.”

23 Then Jesus said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow Me, he must give up himself and his own desires. He must take up his cross every day and follow Me. 24 If anyone wants to keep his own life safe, he must lose it. If anyone gives up his life because of Me, he will save it. 25 For what does a man have if he gets all the world and loses or gives up his life?”

--Luke 9:18-25 (NLV)

We acknowledge Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the most high God, sent to offer us salvation, but are we ready and willing to take up our cross daily – every day – to follow Him?  Do we value this life so much that we lose sight of the greater goal, the ultimate prize, the beautiful life that awaits us when our time on this earth comes to an end?

This is the greater new life that we have been promised.  And our Bible – our basic instructions before leaving earth – gives us the steps to this new life.  But we have also been given a new life now, here on earth, by our faith.

We are new creations.  Let’s act like it by doing as Paul instructs.  Let’s keep doing good works, quit talking about other folks, stop arguing over petty things, and be more gentle and kind to all we encounter as we carry our cross daily in our walk through this life.  For, as Paul says, these things are good, and will help us all.

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, since our original sin, our first act of disobeying You, we have been a fallen people.  We have all sinned, all of us fall short of Your glory.  On our own, we have no hope.  Thank You, Father God, for loving us so much that You give us second chances.  By Your loving kindness, You save us, You put all the pieces together for our salvation.  Forgive us, please Father, when we disobey You.  Forgive us when we can’t shake loose of the world and instead carry on our old lifestyle, forgetting that You made of us a new creation, gave us new life.  Please, loving Father, help us be better servants.  Help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, Your life on this earth was completely planned by our Father God to put together our salvation.  And You followed each step to the letter, giving Your all for us.  Lord, please help us in our efforts to give our all for You.  Remind us to make of ourselves a living sacrifice, always ready and willing to do any good work.  Help us to follow the steps You showed us that lead to a new life.  Help us to live as You lived, to love as You love.  Help us to seek out the lost in Your name and introduce them to You.  And Jesus, please heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us remain trusting and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.