You are a New Creation: Who You Really Are

This was a message shared at The Covenant Church, Sunday 18th March 2012.

Last week, we learnt that you are who God says you are. God had called Moses to be the deliverer of the Israelites out of Egypt. He certainly did not feel up to the job! But we learnt that it is not what you feel like nor what the evidence suggests that tells you who you really are. A boy born as a prince but brought up in a pauper's family does not make him any less of a prince. In the same way, God has said that if you are in Christ, then you are a new creation:

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

The Greek in the term 'new creation' has the connotation of the creation of a new person, a newly created being. We know this new person to be a co-heir with Christ, seated together in heavenly places with Him. This is the person who Jesus said would do greater things than He did! Jesus is the best example of the kind of person we are meant to be: destroying the works of the kingdom of darkness and establishing the Kingdom of Heaven wherever we go in demonstrations of power and of the Spirit.

However, perhaps you often feel like the little runty kid in this photo:

Your weaknesses, fears, jealousies, bad habits and your 'dark side' just seem too strong for you. You get up to succumb to it again and again. Yet, did you know that when you became a new creation, you are infinitely much stronger than your 'dark side'? 

You are actually the big guy in this photo. Do you notice the comfortable smile on this face? That's you. The runty one? That's who you used to be without Christ. He hangs around after the 'new you' was created. The Bible calls him 'the flesh' or the 'carnal nature'. 

What is the flesh? It's when you indulge in any of the following - whether in fantasy or in reality:

adultery, fornication [ie sexual immorality], uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like (Gal 5: 19-21)

It is because you are used to obeying its whims that it seems impossible to defy; but now it's time to understand who God created you to be.

Ephesians 4:17-24 talks about putting off the old man, and putting on the new man (NB emphasis mine):

This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 

But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

'Put off' and 'put on' are phrases that connote choice, and an act of will. It seems here that Paul here is talking about shedding the 'old skin' that is corrupt and falling apart, then being renewed and being clothed with a new nature, a new creation that becomes the new you. This new you has God's nature of true righteousness and holiness. You are ABLE to overcome your weaknesses.

But like anyone who becomes set in their ways, it is hard to forget the habits of many years that come so easily to us. The answer? Kill it. Galatians 5:24 says: "And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."

'Crucify' - that's another word that denotes a strong act of will. Take that kicking, screaming old you to the cross and nail it down. This is important to understand: the old you is not your friend. It doesn't want what you truly desire - the desires of the old you lust after counterfeits, imposters. The consequence of the fulfillment of those ungodly desires is death:

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. - Rom 8:6

'Death' includes stress, fear, anxiety, depression, sickness, marriage breakdown, misunderstanding, disunity, conflict, jealousy, unhealthy addictions and habits - and that's not even a comprehensive list! We don't want any of these things, and yet, that's what our 'dark side', the 'old you' will lead you to if you continue to allow it to determine your thoughts and actions:

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. - Gal 6:7-8

It is crucial that we crucify the desires of the flesh because it simply cannot be made to obey because "the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be." (Rom 8:7-8) There is no point pleading, cajoling or forcing it to conform to God's law. It is not subject to it, and cannot be - it must be killed by deliberately denying the desire and walking in the ways of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:16 tells us "walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh." This is the simple, yet difficult answer. It is 'simple' because the Bible clearly articulates how to walk in the Spirit , but it is difficult because every decision to deny the desire of the flesh can be an intense struggle, a war. Like the initial analogy of a prince growing up as a pauper, your new spiritual self that was created by God the day you joined His household will need retraining and a paradigm shift in the way you think in order to live out your true identity.

In the beginning, when your spiritual 'muscles' are untrained and unused, you will find the urge to follow the fleshly desire acute, and very difficult to resist. You will likely fail a few times before you can win. This is normal. In time, as you change your lifestyle to be one that is led by obedience to the Spirit rather than the flesh, you will be able to win faster and without collateral.

Meanwhile, now that we know who we really are, and what we want to leave behind, let's begin to look at some of the ways the Bible teaches us to walk in the Spirit over the next few articles.

Next up:
You are a New Creation: Walk in Love