“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17). I wonder sometimes how many people actually embrace the new life they have in Christ to the fullest extent. I have baptized individuals who no sooner came up out of the water than return to their old lifestyle. The only difference between the day before and the day after was the profession that they were now a “Christian.” Church attendance seemed to wain after the fact and before long they became “special day believers.” We saw them at weddings, funerals, and the odd Easter, but for the rest of the year, they were pretty much absent.
The reality is that for some being baptized is no more an automatic guarantee than believing every weather report is going to be accurate (My apologies to all the weather forecasters.) When Jesus addressed the Pharisees who were not embracing His teachings, He uttered these dire words of warning, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires…” (John 8:44). Now, the context may be different, but the words are just as true for those who half-heartedly, semi-kinda, sorta embrace their new creation. I have said this in many other articles, and I will probably repeat it many more times, “You cannot play on both teams.” You are either for team Christ or for team Satan.
When I read “the old has passed away,” I automatically think of Rom. 6:3-7, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4. We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7. For one who has died has been set free from sin.”
That newness of life we experience after being raised with Christ means more than only giving lip service. It means more than attending church, being a prayer warrior, a teacher, or any of the many things we can do in church. It means more than pretending to be something you are not. It means you are wholly committed to a new lifestyle that puts your former sinful self to figurative death. Paul puts much more clearly than I ever could in Col. 3:5-8, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.”
The “old” you embraced the things of the world, but when you became a new creation, those things had to disappear from your life. When you are a new creation in Christ, you have to make the choice to discard the damaging friendship with the world. Jam. 4:4, “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” You are no longer enslaved to the trappings of the world because that part of you was crucified so that the “body of sin might be brought to nothing.” As a new creation, we all have the strength to put to death that which was earthly in us. We are able to free ourselves from the bondage of sin. The power it had over us is overtaken by the power of the Holy Spirit which indwells us post-baptism. Acts 2:38, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
The power that is in the name of Christ is ours for the taking and when we have it, nothing can stand in our way, and nothing can interfere with our relationship with the Savior. Rom. 8:38-39, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39. nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. But none of that is true unless we fully embrace the new creation that we are – and hold on to it as if our lives depended on it.
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