All Things New

In a time when hope is diminished in the land, a time when people perceive that their lives are meaningless and with out hope.  Hope is dead- for many- and unfortunately even Christians can succumb to this sense of hopelessness.

Hopelessness

 Hope for many is dead, some don’t even know that there can be hope, they live out their hopelessness  in meaningless pursuits or they  live with misplaced hopes looking to something  to find their needs met, yet it never seems to fulfill that deep need.

Dead Spiritually 

They pass through life unaware of what Jesus Christ has accomplished on their behalf,  that everything needed for salvation has been accomplished  for them by and in Christ, this salvation is there for them ,  they could experience it, yet they do not.

They do not know that a whole new life is there for them, but instead of this new life much of humanity goes it’s way  in ignorance or indifference- and in some cases  rejection of who Jesus is . They are dead spiritually. That is, they are not living that life they could be,  as were all of us, until through Jesus, God moved to make away for a whole new life.  

"And You being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh" Colossians: 2:13a.

This is how we conducted ourselves,  dead in our sins,  yet this is the state of spiritual slumber  humanity lives out of int he ignorance of who Jesus Christ is.
 

We “lived” in death ,there was no hope .that we could have in this ignorance, of Who our Lord is and what He has done for us, this sense of deadness characterizes the lives of millions , too many follow after  meaningless pursuits  and attempts to give humanities  temporary existence meaning, but nothing answers this need.

All around us there are those whose lives  are marked with attempts to gratify the flesh, hoping to fill this hopeless void within themselves.  It is  almost as if they are searching for evidence that they are alive these pursuits might tantalize and stimulate for a time, but it can't last.

Many think only in terms of “the now” many seem to be going no where ,lives becomes meaningless, hopelessness leads some to a life of futile pursuits , sin and debauchery. One reason the society around us is degrading into sinful life styles and the  abandonment  of moral purity is,  the loss of hope. When hope fails moral restraints are cast away, the idea is "live for the moment".

This is the very state that our Lord has come to set us free from, to give us redemption, to instill new meaning to life all through Jesus, we could not have done it for our selves.

"He has quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses"Colossians: 2:13b

 New Creation

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away;behold, all things are become new" 2Corinthians:5:17

 

  We are a new creation, now, not will be.   This newness  is experienced by belief , and faith in Who Jesus is, that is,  when we believe in Jesus we see what Jesus has done for us our lives are  made new in Him.

The early church thought deeply about the entrance of Jesus into human history,they pondered its meaning, they asked "what did it mean?" what had changed in humanities relationship with God? 

Paul says in  2Corinthians:5:14 "we have considered"  that tells us that though prayer, discussion, and most possibly with contention the early church developed a theology.  

What is it that they considered? "That one died for all, therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live fro themselves but for Him who for them and was raised again"   2Corinthians:5:14-15  

"I am the Resurrection"

    "I am the Resurrection" when we read this often we think of this as speaking of Jesus' coming again from the grave  , or any future resurrection, but He says this even before His own  death, the resurrection is Who Jesus, is not just an event that He is part of, the bodily resurrection of Jesus only showed what has always been eternally true. Death can not hold him this is why we read in the Book of Acts, which quotes the Psalm.

 "you will not permit your Holy One to  see corruption"Act:13:35


The power of Him being the  Resurrection changes us , and all things  forever, for if He does not live, we could not live either. 

 In Jesus "all died" , and in Jesus the same "all" we are told has been "raised" .  He could do this as being fully God yet fully human.  He has brought the race(all) out of death into life, and can be entered into by simply accepting it by grace.  

Out of  death we are brought into a new life with by and Him. Jesus Being God , He is not bound or confined by time, therefore His life, death and resurrection has eternal impact, stretching from eternity past and into eternity  future , and touching even all humanity.

The Death of Nothing

There was nothing, that is materially,   and out of this nothing, this is out of the death of nothing, God spoke and brought the material creation into being. He brings creation and life out of the death of  nothing.

"In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth" Genesis:1:1 

In the Gospel of John, the Apostle is moved by the Holy Spirit,   to open his account of the life of Jesus in the eternity  past , even before the Great God brought the universe into being.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God .He was with God in the beginning"  John:1:1-2 . 

John here is using an important literary device, by equating the coming of the Messiah ,  with  the uses of  the words " In beginning",  the opening words of the creation epic,  John  is stating that the introduction of Jesus into  human history ,as one of us, is a creation, an all new creation,and in Jesus  this new creation  is accomplished ,  as well as,  speaking that the very one Who  created is the one Whom John and the other Apostles  were proclaiming.  God has  brought life out of death by Jesus alone.

All Things New

When we see this, and come believe it,  that  God  makes All Things New in His Son Jesus, this gives us hope , out of the New Creation that He has made  us to be  in Jesus; and that  we could not have done this on our own . He did it all for us through Jesus Christ. We are now a new creation, made new, then we walk in newness of life, this new life is what Paul wrote of to Roman Christians in his epistle Romans:6:4,  we are now alive in and to Jesus.

We  are assured of a life in eternity with our Lord Jesus Christ, we have hope . A real hope.

To Whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory mystery among the gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of Glory" Colossians:1:27

This Hope sustains us even in the face of adversity and crisis, ever with our eyes focused on Jesus, as the One ,Who gives us such hope, Romans:8:18-25.

In Eternity 

In the end, what has been made true , that New Creation which He has made us to be , will be our completely and fully ,  It will be only what Jesus has already accomplished for us all. All Things Made New in Him. All those things of this life and even the  creation will all  pass away, leaving  only the New Creation  . Revelation:21:1-3.  

 These words speak of things that are, in truth, beyond the minds of any of us to fully take in. God gives each of us just a glimpse of this eternity that is for each who will but freely receive it.

Yet there will be some, that will reject this freely given Gift of  God  they love their sin more than their Savior. 

But God has called us  to have all things made new in His Son Jesus, even here and now  and on into Eternity. Amen.

Rev.Todd Crouch, Pastor

The Fountain of Life Church a Congregation of Grace Communion

Washington, Pa 

Fountain of Life Broadcast heard on RKP Radio 1710 & 1670 AM in Washington, Pa.and 1710 AM in Bentleyville , Pa. And online around the world at www.rkpradio.com