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1. Introduction
In the children’s story Balto, the title character is a dog who is also part wolf. He takes much grief from the other dogs especially Steele who is the leading dog for the mushing dog team. Diphtheria comes to the Alaskan village where the story takes place and the dogs compete for spots on the team that will go to Nome and get the antitoxin. Balto competes and wins but because Steele makes him yelp and he is part wolf, he is rejected. As it turns out, the dog team gets Side tracked and the musher gets hurt and Steele deserts the team. Balto comes to the rescue and tries to lead the team but is having trouble until he meets a white wolf that helps Balto to realize his wolf heritage will help him guide the team. Balto uses his strength and his other honed wolf senses and gets the medicine back to the village where he is given the hero’s welcome.
Balto’s life changed when he realized what he really was and his life made a difference in the lives of others.
2. Describing the Biblical Text
Paul was describing in the chapter before us that there is a difference between spiritual and earthly things.
As he gets to this point, he is demonstrating that we are recreated in a spiritual was.
It is much like what Jesus was saying in John three when He used the analogy of being born again.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
When we become a follower of Jesus Christ, something radically changes.
3. Narrate the Contextual application
If we are something new, something spiritual, something beautiful, then we are something special to God.
He changed us and newly created us and has truly made a difference in our lives
Is the difference that God is making in our lives spilling over and out of our vessel?
Are we seeking to give others the same blessing that we have known by being a follower of Jesus Christ?
4. Life Application (thesis)
God made a difference in my life which should make a difference in the lives of others.
What I like about this passage though is that we see new things here.
We can see the new things that God has given us and realize how important they are for others.
5. SO WHAT!! (Outline)
I have in my hand a couple of bucks.
That looks like some people’s faith.
When do you take money out of your pocket?
You use it when you need it.
You take it out when it is time to spend it.
Too many followers of Jesus look at their faith that way.
We pull it out when we need it.
Okay, time to go to church, I need my faith now. Time to go home I throw it in the back seat until Wednesday when I need again to come and eat.
Think about this. You are standing at home at 10:42 on a Thursday morning and I call you and I say, “hey brother or sister, what impact is your faith having on your life right now?”
You know, some of us would not have an answer.
Let’s take a look at the first new thing that we see in this passage.
We have a new perspective.
Do you see how Paul says that he has known Jesus in the flesh and no longer knows Him that way?
That is very important for us because it tells us that we can actually know about Jesus without really knowing Him.
I know that we have all probably heard that before but how can we put that into some clarity to show that we really do know Jesus.
I met a pastor by the name of Jim Henry back in 1985. He was a member of a committee of the SBC with whom I was scheduled to meet in Wake Forest NC. We spent several hours together. Jim Henry is now the interim pastor at Green Street but you know what. If you ask him if he knows me, he would say no. We were introduced; we shook hands; we talked but you what we did not do?
We did not pursue a relationship with each other.
I have met him and know who he is but I don’t know Jim Henry.
Now you know what would happen if we started going to lunch every Tuesday?
If I invited him and his wife over for lunch after church, we would begin to become friends.
We would begin to have a relationship with each other.
When Paul says that he no longer knows Jesus according to the flesh, he is saying that he has entered into a spiritual relationship with Jesus.
Remember like we discussed a few minutes ago, this passage as we read it is a comparison between the divine and the temporal, the earthly and the eternal.
We can relate to Jesus like that also.
There are many people who have made some kind of decision, who walked an aisle, who prayed a prayer and then never had anything else to do with Jesus.
What is really sad is that these people probably think that they are saved because some told them if they would just make the decision everything would be okay.
We have also told countless unregenerate people that they are saved because of that decision in the past.
But I want to tell you something.
If there is a decision but there is no fruit to follow, there is no relationship with Jesus.
How do I know that?
It is our second new thing.
We have a new Identity.
Look at verse 17
Therefore, based on the fact that we know Christ spiritually, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature.
That would be better rendered as creation.
We are a new creation.
A change takes place in us that emanates from our very core.
That’s because it is a miraculous supernatural change that is brought about by the Spirit of the living God in Christ Jesus.
Think about what it is like when you get something new.
You get a new car and it smells better than the old one; it rides better than the old one, it has nifty new stuff that the old one did not have, it is worth more than the old one.
It is just better because it is new.
When Jesus comes into your heart in life, you are better because you are new.
Just like that old car is gone; notice what it says here that the old things are passed away.
This means that the old way of know Jesus according to the flesh is gone.
Would you like to know Jesus in a new way this morning?
You can, but you won’t be making a decision you will be surrendering your life to Jesus.
Why do you need a new life?
You need a new life because the old one is separated from God by the things that we do that have displeased God.
Those things are called sin.
The Bible says that everyone has sinned and we earn death because of those things.
But, God’s gift to us is eternal life in Christ the Lord.
If you receive Jesus, you can become a child of God and know that God has forgiven your sins by putting them on Jesus account.
He settled the account when He died on the cross so that your sin debt to God, eternal death in separation from God, is paid in full.
Everyone please bow your heads and close your eyes.
If you would like to surrender your life to Jesus today, won’t you repeat this prayer: Dear Lord, I know that my sins have made you angry and have caused me to be removed from you. I am so sorry that I have sinned and would like to turn from that life. Jesus, I would like for you to come into my life. I give my life to you. Thank you for rescuing me from the punishment for my sin. In your name I pray, AMEN.
If you just prayed to receive Jesus what just happened to you was that you were reconciled, brought near to God.
Look at verse 18
Now, all these things are from God.
What things are those?
They are the new things in verse 17.
Back to 18
[Read 18-19]
We were reconciled to God but we received something else,
Our third new thing
We have a new ministry.
It is the ministry and the word of reconciliation.
In other words, we should be doing the things and saying the things that will help others come to Jesus Christ.
Reconciliation to God is a beautiful thing.
We were wretches and now we are righteous as we are clothed in the blood of Jesus Christ.
God no longer counts our trespasses against us because they were placed on the shoulders of Jesus when He died on the cross.
Something here that I find pretty fascinating is that God was in Christ doing the reconciling.
God did the work.
All we have to do is minister the work of God.
All we have to do is to share the word of God.
We are like the person who wears the cow suit at Chick-fil-a.
The cow doesn’t cook the food but he stands on the corner and lets others know the food is there.
He goes from table to table waving at the patrons and playing with the children.
We didn’t do the work; we just need to tell people about the work that God did.
We need to serve others that they can see how great God’s work for them really is.
It reminds me of D. T. Niles definition of evangelism, “One beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”
We have a new spiritual perspective that has arisen out of a new identity.
That new identity demands to be recognized through a new ministry, the ministry of reconciliation, sharing with others how God reconciled them to Himself through Christ.
If Jesus has made a difference in our lives then it is time to live that difference and to show that difference to the world.
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