Coming Close to God—Renewal
Ephesians 4:22-24 “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
2 Cor. 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
This is the third reflection in a four-part series entitled “Coming Close to God”:
Reconciliation was first— we looked at God’s invitation for us to come to the table to negotiate: “Come, let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow…” We saw that throughout history God has been reaching out in love to his fallen creation, to us! Why would anyone not want to be on good terms and have friendship with their loving Creator?
Redemption was the second reflection— after a willingness to come to the table to “reason together” with God, the result is restoration of the relationship. That is achieved by redemption through the sacrifice of our Lord Christ on the Cross and validated by his resurrection to become our forever High Priest. It is our choice to accept or reject. When friends are estranged, the road to renewal must first start with a willingness to come together to talk. Then, there must be a resolution of the grievances that separated the friendship. Only then, can there be a renewal of what once was, a close relationship.
And so, Renewal means making something new again. When we speak of “renewal”, we must reference what “new” looked like. Spiritually, “new” was in the Garden of Eden. The physical garden itself would have been amazing but the most astounding feature of “new” at that time was the personal, palpable, beautiful relationship that Adam and Eve had with their Creator. They walked with God!
Three questions to answer:
“What needs renewing?”
“Why is it important?”
“How does it happen?”
What needs renewing?
Our Minds
Romans 12:2 “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Phil: 2:5 “Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”
Our Affections
Col. 3:1-2 “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.””
1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”
Prov. 4: 23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
Our Hope
Job 19:26,27 “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.
Romans 5:1-5 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. ….. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
Our hope is based not on “stuff” but rather on the living God and what he is doing in our lives!
Our Resources and Fruitfulness
2 Co 9:8 “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things and at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work…..You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion.”
John 15:5, 8 “I, Jesus, am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing…..This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
Our Peace
John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
Purpose and Perspective
Phil 3:13, 14 “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the price for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Our Relationships
Ephesians 2:14,15 “For Christ himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility….His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.”
2 Cor. 5:16 “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.”
Our relationships are changed when we see others as God sees them!
Our Destination
1 Peter 1:3-9 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”
Character
Galatians 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…..Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”
Why is Renewal Important?
It would be a rhetorical question to ask why a decrepit house or decrepit anything else needs renewal! Well, how about our relationship with God?
As we saw in “Reconciliation” God intended for us to live in a beautiful context, in full fellowship with him, to walk together in the cool of the morning. There was to be life and vitality and a fulfilling relationship.
Without renewal we fall short of who we were designed by God to be. And we fall short of of the most significant and life-giving relationship that exists.
Hebrews 2:1-3 “We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received it’s just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation.” God is willing to scare us into his arms and embrace us with arms of love.
God does not want us to lose out in the very best that we were created for! That is why he extended to us a costly salvation. It cost Jesus his very life to provide the means of redemption for us.
Renewal is important to live in a vital relationship with God. It is important to be able to think straight, love the things that should be loved and despise the things that should never be part of our lives. Only through renewal can we bear the spiritual fruit that blesses others as well as ourselves.
Renewal is essential to move forward. Without it, we will become stagnant spiritually, ineffective in living an abundant life and jaded in heart.
How is Renewal Accomplished?
Jesus is the Great Physician. Salvation cannot be achieved by any effort on our part. Our salvation has been obtained for us — through Jesus Christ.
The only thing that WE can contribute to our salvation is our wills, yielding our lives fully to Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Signing the deed of our decrepit “house” over to Jesus Christ who was the agent of Creation and who is the agent of Re-creation!
Yielding our lives to God is pivotal and it is that choice which allows renewal to begin. It’s like a roadblock that is taken away. Like having a traveler’s pass! From there on, it’s a new life!
Romans 6:4 “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
Do you want to have a relationship with your Creator, your God? He has invited you to the table to reason together, to be reconciled. He has removed the barriers between us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our behalf. Jesus calls us friends when we come in humility and repentance before him accepting his diagnosis and his cure!
Renewal is the life-giving process of walking in fellowship with the God of this universe, empowered by the Holy Spirit to live, to grow, to walk in the fullness of life that we were intended to experience in the first place.
Titus 3:4-6 “But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour.”
It is the real-time working of the Holy Spirit in our lives that renovates our inner being, renews our lives and restores our relationship with our Heavenly Father.
Phil 2:11,12 “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling…..for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”
We need to work the salvation that God gives through Christ INTO our lives, continually. Sort of like blending butter into a cake mix.
God provides the machinery for renewal; it is up to us to use it. What does this look like in everyday life? Several things….
- Prayer (Conversing with God about everything)
- Bible reading daily (and include memorization of key verses)
- Listening to the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit
- Fellowship with fellow followers of Jesus
- Keeping a clean slate, confessing and repenting of sin
- Reading good books that provide biblical insight
- Understanding enough apologetic to converse with non-Christians
- Avoiding spiritual distractions, falsehoods and other baggage
- Learning the discipline of continual fellowship with God.
- Being accountable to fellow Christians and to God.
God renews us. It is ours to walk in that newness of life with joy and perseverance.
Amen!
John K
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