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NT Eph.2 :1-25 esp. vv.5-10 with their emphasis upon newness

o   Once dead

o   Now made alive together with Christ

o   Destined to be shown great things in Christ “in the coming age”

o   We are already being prepared for this new creation and we already possess “eternal life” or “the life of the age to come”

This morning we considered this idea of being a “new creation” in Christ and how this affects our relationship with God. This evening we want to look together at how this fact affects just how we live / ought to live. We’ll do this looking at 5 more applications – Satan, others, ourselves, creation in general and time.

By way of reminder:

Ø  Justification

Ø  Reconciliation

Ø  Adoption

Ø  Liberty/freedom

Specifically we are free to approach God!

By our sin we had become slaves to sin and thus dominated by Satan, a cruel master indeed. However all that has changed!

Rom.6:22 “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.”

Paul goes on to speak of dying and new life in ch.7 – using the illustration of marriage ties being ended upon the death of a partner. This is indeed our position as “a new creation”!

In Eph.2 (our reading) the sinner before becoming a Christian followed after the prince of the power of the air and was thus a child of wrath. Not so any longer! In Christ all this has changed – the dead sinner is now alive in Christ!!

Eph.5:8 “for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light »

Col.1:13-14 “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Heb.2:14-15 “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”

A.       To Christians

We form a body with other Christians and the NT develops the picture of just what this means. We belong together – we offer mutual service – love – burden-sharing – interdependence and an end to isolation. Our gifts are complementary and each has his/her role to fulfil; each has his/her contribution to make. 1Cor.12:13-14 “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body––Jews or Greeks, slaves or free––and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.”

B.       To outsiders.

The church as the community of the “new creation” is ready to serve those who as yet don’t know the grace of God.

1Cor.9:19

“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.” Paul knew that as a new creation everything in his life had changed – he determined to use his freedom in a deliberate way to attain those outside.

Peter said the same thing:

1Pe.3:15

“but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. »

Paul told Timothy that he should pray for all kinds of people!

1Tim.2:1

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

If it is true that we in Christ are “a new creation” then that has very implications for how we consider ourselves. God has taken me just as I am and has radically transformed me! He did not tell me that I must achieve certain standards before he would work in me. So I am free to be who I am and I can finish with all the various types of games that so many people play.

Specifically there are two categories which can plague folk.

1.        We can and frequently are tempted to have an inflated appreciation of our own abilities, qualities etc.

Paul addresses this in Rom.12:3 “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”

Finish with pretence – God knows all about us and the marvellous thing is that he still saved us!!

2.        The other danger is to think too little of ourselves – God still chose us!! And with God’s grace enormous things are indeed possible. Paul was tempted to think that his “thorn in the flesh” was a huge handicap for him in serving the Lord but the Lord did not agree and had to teach Paul a new lesson. This is what it was: 2Cor.12:9 “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Da 11:32  “but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.” Or as the AV puts it

“but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.”

The psalmist put it this way: Ps 18:29  “For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.”

Paul came to see that he could “do all things through him who strengthens me.” Phil.4:13

Adam had been created and placed in the garden where he was to manage the creation of God – he was to take care of it and develop it. The creation mandate to subdue the earth.

As “new creation” saved man is restored and begins to feel again proper concern for what the Lord has made. This is not to applaud every ecological movement that exists but does reflect a serious responsibility for the good things the Lord has made. After all God has a concern for what he has made sending the people into exile:

Cf. Le 26:43  “But the land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them, and they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they spurned my rules and their soul abhorred my statutes.”

& 2Chron.36:21 “to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.”

Notice also what the Lord says about Nineveh: Jon.4:11 “And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

Being part of the “new creation” we already have eternal life. This does not really insist upon a life that simply goes on and on but upon a new quality of life – life that belongs to the age to come. Consequently the Christian has/should have a new perspective on things. Death itself should hold no fear for him – careful here the fear of just how we may die may be very real and death itself shouldn’t really exist in the world it is an intruder. But for the Christian life does not run down towards death rather approaching death the Christian knows he is approaching the door to usher him through into the immediate presence of the Lord.