Sunday January 5th
A New Year and A New You​

Welcome to The Journey Church. I'm Paris Pasch.

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A new year’s start is a perfect moment in time to make a shift in our lives. Today I want to help you understand that Christianity is truly the largest major shift in the life of any individual.  It’s like having everything beginning to change in a moment of time and then for the rest of time.  This New Year can create a New You.  Everything in life should shift from “me focused” to “God focused”.  If this hasn’t been the case for you, maybe you need to examine the experience. 

Many people can tell you the time and place of their new birth experience.  They can distinguish between unsaved and saved.  I can tell you the approximate moment but not the specific.  If you can’t think of a time when you weren’t a Christian, then maybe you need to create a start time to assure you that it actually happened.  You see if you are made new then you are no longer old.

The word “new” simply means not old.  New speaks to a transition or complete change.  A start from scratch or the beginning.  It’s not a remodel or a really good polishing.

If it were a location issue it would be like moving from Nazi Germany in the forties to the resort world of Honolulu Hawaii today.  It’s like relocating from frozen and desolate Siberia in Russia to beautiful and perfect weather San Diego California. 

Think for a moment what you might have to do if you moved to China or Italy?  Think in spiritually metaphoric terms.  Unlike moving to Wisconsin, you’d have to:

• Learn the local language

• Understand the road rules

• Exchange your currency. 

• Adjust your palate

Often it would require some research and further education.  If you moved from a cold climate to a tropical one you might have to get a new wardrobe.  These external realities are a type and shadow as to what I want you to see needs to happen as a new believer.  Everything should change beginning from the inside out.

If your life experience has not changed since salvation, maybe you missed something in the move.  Maybe you got directions from the wrong map.  Maybe you should consider buying a new map because your travels are not what God has described.  This new map is only found in the pages of scripture, not at some spiritual or religious facility.  Any other directive is a misnomer and will guide you to something other than true Christianity and eternal life.

Let me see if I can show you that the Bible is quite clear about this New Year and a New You.  Jesus Himself differentiated Himself from the world He had entered into during His incarnation.  Listen to his comments to the religious leaders of His day.

John 8:23 (NIV) But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

John 18:36 (NIV) Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

In addition to this, the early believers were clearly instructed to recognize that they too were now not of this world.  They were to be born anew, born again of the spirit not just the flesh.  If this happened they would be new creatures in Christ.  Jesus made a very bold and clear statement to the religious of His day.

John 3:3 (NIV) Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

These words are found in your Bible as well and they are often in red meaning they come from the lips of the messiah Himself.  Being born anew must be our reality or we are simply religious followers.  We must be made new or we are still old.

2 Corinthians 5:16–17 (NIV) So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

The scriptures are very clear about this truth of our former way of life and our new life in Christ.

Ephesians 4:17–32 (NIV) So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Do you hear the plain directive and the distinction from this world?  Love replaces the form of perverted sensory focused attraction issues that our human culture promotes.  Just because you feel lust or passion doesn’t give you permission to proceed, even if you are both consenting in your lust.

The Bible makes a strong case for being brand new and distinguishes between the old man and the new man who now lives separate from this world’s system.  Listen for the new world language in this next portion.

Colossians 3:1–10 (NIV) Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

He's not done yet making His case.  Keep listening.

Colossians 3:12–14 (NIV) 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

So, if you are not easily distinguished from non-Christian’s then maybe revisit your commitment decision.  Nobody is born a Christian, nor has anybody been a Christian all their life.  We must see ourselves as once lost and needing to be found before we can take the hand of our savior.  Our parents have never been able to sign our permission slip into heaven.  Listen to Jesus make another case for the distinction between heaven and this world we live in.  This is Jesus prayer.

John 17:14–19 (NIV)  I (Jesus) have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

We will spend the rest of our lives being sanctified from this broken world’s system.  My goal is not to challenge your faith or your salvation, but to lead you toward confident assurance that eternity awaits you because you have been made new.  I don’t want any of you wondering if you are saved or hoping that you are saved.  The Bible declares our confidence in the phase “so that you may know that you have eternal life”.

1 John 5:10–13 (NIV) Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Maybe you need to revisit your commitment to Jesus based on the fact that change has not been seen by you or by others.  Maybe you need to simply reach out to Jesus and confess your need to be rescued and made new so that you can have this blessed assurance?  Whatever the circumstance, may you enter this new year as the new you.