MY NEW LIFE IN CHRIST
1 CORINTHIANS 15: 14 & 15 “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead.”
- INTRODUCTION
The apostle Paul makes a telling comment in his first letter to the congregation in Corinth. He says: … if Christ is not risen, our preaching is without content and your faith is also without content. (1 Cor. 15:14)
If Christ was not raised from the dead, you who are sitting here this morning are busy with an empty faith………….. and I who am standing here, busy with meaningless preaching. Yes, then we are all just wasting our time! Precisely because of this, our confession asks the urgent question: What use does the resurrection of Christ have for us? In other words: Is it so important that we believe and confess that the Lord Jesus rose from the dead? These days many people say that Christ’s resurrection from the dead is not that important. The so-called New Reformers deny his virgin birth as well as his resurrection. They say Jesus was just an ordinary person – simply a wounded historical figure.
However, our confession, clearly in line with Scripture, says something quite different. On Sunday 17 we confess that the resurrected Lord Jesus makes a radical and profound difference to each of our lives. Because He rose from the dead, He gives us a new life.
- NEW IDENTITY – IN CHRIST
One’s identity says who you are. Among other things, it has to do with your ancestry, your language, your mindset, and your way of thinking. Your identity determines your humanity. It has to do with where you live or what profession you practice. Whether you live in Doesburg Nederland, your Namakhoi ancestry has come together. It also has to do with your way of making money or with the sport or hobby you practice. Almost always, your identity is determined by what you do. It has to do with your successes or failures. It’s about you as a person…
However, if you, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, have accepted the Lord Jesus as your Savior and Saviour, with true faith, you get a new identity. Yes, in Christ you are changed. You become a new person ……. You are now a child of God. You are a citizen of his kingdom. You are a disciple, a follower of Christ. You are blessed and a saint. Your identity is no longer, as before, primarily determined by your ancestry and language, your way of doing things, or your successes or failures. No, in Christ you now become a new person. A person who thinks in a completely new way. And therefore approach life in a new fresh way. Remember! Your old sinful self died with Him on the cross and you also rose from the dead with Him……..
We call this renewal and life change that we undergo in Christ the new birth. The old sinful man died with Christ and was buried. A new person rose from the dead with Christ. You and I are no longer alive, Christ lives in us!
And the most wonderful thing of all is that you and I don’t have to offer excuses why we don’t live as new people. Our new life has nothing to do with our feeble attempts to live well and rightly. We do not live by our strength.
- NEW POWER – THE POWER OF GOD
You must have heard what the Lord Jesus said to his disciples:: All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth….. And then he says: And remember: I am with you all the days until the consummation of the world. He has all power AND He is always with us! If you and I then say: I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, then it is no longer about us and our weaknesses. Then it’s about God and it’s about his power. That is why the apostle Paul can say at one stage: When I am weak, I am strong, ……… because then the power of Christ is my shelter. (2 Cor. 12:9 & 10). He also says in another place: I am capable of all things through Christ who gives me strength. (Phil. 4:13) My late father’s favorite text. This power that Paul speaks of is tremendously great! In his letter to the Ephesians, he explains how great the power He exercises in us who believe. He says: This is the same powerful operation of his power that He exercised when He raised Christ from the dead….. In other words, this power of God, which works in us, is the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit!
God Himself gives us the strength to live as new people, who rose from the dead together with Christ. This new life is not something we should strive for. It is something that you and I receive. We just have to experience it.
We may be a certain sense like someone who was locked in a prison cell for years and could not do anything. One day that person is released, but then he goes to sit in a small room where he shuts himself up and isolates himself. He does not know how to experience his freedom. He doesn’t know what to do.
We are freed from the prison of sin and death. We have risen together with Christ in a new life. We are free, free to live with the power that God gives us! That is why the Lord Jesus gives his disciples a command! And remember each of us is a disciple of Jesus. And we have a
- NEW MISSION – TO MAKE DISCIPLES
This is the Lord Jesus’ great command to each of us personally! Then go to all the nations and make the people my disciples. Does this sound like a difficult assignment to you? Are you afraid or reluctant to go out? The Lord Jesus says: I am always with you and remember I have all power in heaven and on earth.
Brother and sister, what the Lord Jesus wants is that you and I should be God’s advertisement in this world! Yes, we should tell the people around us and demonstrate with our actions who God is. We must show his power and his love to all. And we can do it under the powerful guidance of the Holy Spirit!
Our actions must testify to the new life we have received. People must see that we are not attached to this life. We can easily give away some of our possessions and help people in need, because what we “own” is God’s property. We are just his managers.
Besides, we are only strangers and visitors here. This world is not our home. We are pilgrims on our way to our heavenly inheritance! That is why we are not afraid of death either! We have conquered death together with Christ!
- SUMMARY
Beloved, in Christ we are people with a new identity. We no longer live, Christ lives in us. And we no longer rely on our strength, because the strength with which God works in us is the strength with which He raised Christ from the dead. And that is why we have a new mission, an assignment to make disciples of the people around us. With our words and actions, each of us becomes an advertisement for Christ in this world. AMEN