Of Faith and New Life

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday morning, the 30th of December, 2018 at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  This is our "New Year's" message.  Look for the video of this and our other services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Since I’ll be on vacation through next Sunday morning, I thought I’d use today to look ahead to the new year.  A new year, a new beginning, another chance to maybe get a few things right.  Out with the old, in with the new.  Well, there is a way to make old things new, but it has nothing to do with advancing of one year to the next.

Please listen and follow along as I read from the Apostle Paul’s 2nd Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 5, verses 6 through 8 and verses 16 and 17, from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…

6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

--2 Corinthians 5:6-8, 16-17 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, by our belief, by our faith, we are indeed confident that some sweet day we will be with our Lord.  Father, may we cherish the new creation You made of us when we accepted Jesus as Lord.  Help us stay strong in our faith and not fall back into our old ways.  Open our hearts that we might hear Your voice, Your word, and Your message we need to hear.  This we pray in the blessed name of Your Son Jesus.   Amen.


Author Ian Wilson tells the story of a London businessman and a warehouse property he was selling:

"The building had been empty for months and needed repairs.  Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and strewn trash around the interior.

As he showed a prospective buyer the property, the businessman took pains to say that he would replace the broken windows, bring in a crew to correct any structural damage, and clean out the garbage.

'Forget about the repairs,' the buyer said.  'When I buy this place, I'm going to build something completely different.  I don't want the building; I want the site.'”

Wilson goes on to say: “Compared with the renovation God has in mind, our efforts to improve our own lives are as trivial as sweeping a warehouse slated for the wrecking ball.  When we become God's, the old life is over.  He makes all things new.  All he wants is the site and the permission to build."


Isn’t that a neat way to think about what God does to us when we accept Jesus as His Son and our Lord?  He doesn’t just sweep out the cobwebs and do a few repairs here and there.  He tears us down and starts all over again!  We become something completely different, brand new!  He just needs us to hand over the property rights so He can get to work.  And by that I mean to give our lives fully over to God.


By the world’s thinking, all we have to do is make, and keep, a few New Year’s resolutions, and we’ll become a completely new person.  Well, yes, in a way, to a degree, we can indeed become at least a better person if we really commit ourselves and work at it.  That resolution to exercise and lose weight can definitely have positive benefits on our health.  And stopping to help someone in need instead of passing them by will make us better inside, if we do it often enough.

But really, New Year’s Day is just another day on the calendar, the one that marks the start of a new calendar year.  And even that comes from God.  In the Book of Genesis – the Book of Beginnings – we are told in chapter 1 verses 14 and 15 that…

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.

--Genesis 1:14-15 (NKJV)

God gave us new years and changing seasons when He put the stars in the sky, the moon to light our night, the sun to mark off our days.  This was done for our need and our pleasure.  We, and the earth, need the time of rest that the winter months afford, or would if we only take the time and slow down like everything else.  The spring allows the earth to reawaken, the summer gives time for growing, and the fall allows for the harvest.

These are needed things, but they are also pleasurable things.  The seasons change so we don’t get tired of them.  We don’t get bored because in a few months everything will change.

God put this in place for our benefit, for the benefit of His creation.  But He also has planned for everything to change some day.  Everything will be made new, including us!  But there is another way we can become new, and we don’t have to wait until Jesus returns.


During one of the many occasions Paul was in prison, he explained to King Agrippa what had happened to him on that dusty road to Damascus, what had occurred to bring about such a change in him.  Listen to what Paul told Agrippa, from the Apostle Luke’s Book of the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 26, verses 12 through 18…

12 “While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, 13 at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. 14 And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 16 But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. 17 I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, 18 to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’"

--Acts 26:12-18 (NKJV)

Now we have to remember why Saul was on that road in the first place: to arrest Christians and take them back to Jerusalem for trial and possible execution!  He was persecuting the church, persecuting the body of Christ.  He certainly was not a minister and witness for Jesus.  Not until Jesus gave him new life, a new beginning, another chance to get things right.  And that is why Paul could write to the church in Corinth and tell them that if anyone is in Christ, they become a new creation; old things have passed away, all things have become new!


In a few days people all across this world will celebrate the coming of the new year.  2018 will be swept away and 2019 will be ushered in with fireworks and loud noises.  They’ll mumble their way through “Auld Lang Syne”, reminiscing about times gone by.  And they’ll dream of a better tomorrow that the New Year holds.

Unless they turn to the Lord Jesus and accept Him as God’s Son, the true Christ, believe in Him and follow His commands, then all they can do is dream.  For us who believe, being made new is no dream.  And a far better tomorrow is a promised certainty.

Our faith is the key.  Believe in Jesus, love all others, share His love and serve Him by helping others and sharing the Gospel with them, make disciples of them.  For we are a new creation.  Old things have passed away, all things have become new.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, You sent Your Son Jesus to offer us salvation, but we have to accept that offer.  Thank You, Father, for loving us that much.  Please forgive us when we forget just what it means to believe in Jesus.  Forgive us when we fail to serve You by serving Him.  Please help us be more obedient to Your word and to His commands.  Help us to return Your love by showing love to all others, by helping them when and where we can, by sharing with them just how much You and Jesus mean to us.

Please hear us now, Father, as we come to You in the silence, speaking from our hearts, promising to turn from our sin, seeking Your forgiveness for our disobedience…

Lord Jesus, You are our only hope for salvation the only way to be with our Father God in heaven.  Thank You, Jesus, for giving of Yourself that we might be saved.  Forgive us when we fail to fully accept You as Lord, when we want the salvation You offer but don’t do as You command us, when we struggle to truly love others.  Please help us fully believe, help us to follow Your commands, help us to love.

This we pray in Your glorious name, Christ Jesus our Lord and Master.  Amen.