August 4, 2010, II Corinthians 5

Key Verse: 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

(2 Corinthians 5:17)

Central Truth:

God is in the restoration and renewal business.

IT'S A PROCESS.

I have this old house on Ridge Avenue. It was built in 1914: hard wood floors, 12 foot ceilings, picture windows, bistro kitchen, rocking-chair front porch, the works. It's loaded with charm and character. One thing that comes with an old house, though, is maintenance - LOTS of maintenance. After 96 years, things aren’t as polished and refined as your typical modern house. It was built long before we had building codes and homeowners’ associations.

When you admit that you are a sinner, ask for forgiveness, and accept Christ into your heart, He saves you and adopts you as His own - just as you are. But the character building, the life change, the transformation . . . . Well, that is an entirely different ball of wax. The decision to accept God’s gift is followed by a life-long relationship. That relationship is where He comes in with His tools to work. Just like I’m always working on Ridge, Christ is always working on me to make me more like Him. Sometimes he uses a scalpel with the careful skill of a surgeon. At other times, it feels like He is wildly swinging His Holy sledgehammer or maybe flooring the gas on Heaven’s bulldozer. (Is He? I don’t really know.)

There’s one thing I’ve found about Ridge; you usually have to tailor the upgrade to fit the peculiarities of the house. The cookie-cutter approach is rarely useful. After decades of settling, the floors are all bowed. So all the doorways, thresholds, and windows aren’t perfectly squared rectangles. Instead, they are odd-looking trapezoids sitting at weird angles. Over the years, carpenters and masons masterfully sculpted and placed customized pieces to match the irregular shapes of the old house. But then again, I’ve also had to destroy a few things with a sledgehammer and rebuild from scratch.

I believe God is the same way with us. He’s in the business of transforming us. So, He will use whatever tool is required to get the job done, scalpel or sledgehammer. It takes a lot of time and patience, but if we persevere, it will be worth it in the end.

I have drawn much encouragement from Philippians 1:6: “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Once God saves you, you are a “new creature.” But the new life that follows requires a lot of work on your part, too. That’s why we have to work so hard at “partnering with God to make something good out of whatever happens in your life.” (Jerry Dingmore). Easier said than done, I know. But God is already committed to the partnership. So the question to ask yourself is: where are you with that?