Personal Renewal

New or Renew?

As we turn the calendar from one year to the next, 2 things are always discussed – top lists from the previous year, and how to kick off the new year on the right foot.  

In kicking off the new year on the right foot, I particularly like the phrase, “New Year, New You!”  It sounds so cool – like all the cool kids are doing it. But what does that actually mean? When you think about creating a new version of yourself in the coming year, people typically think about creating a better, improved version of themselves.  They imagine progress as finding health – physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual health.  And in growing to a place of greater health, we are really looking at a RE-NEWED YOU and not a NEW YOU.  Because a new you would be a different person.

I mean, the traditional use of the word NEW refers to something different, something old being replaced with something new.  For me, I have a new house in a new county.  I work at a new job and have a new church family.  None of this is an improved version of what I already had – it is a replacement for my previous house, previous job, and previous church family.  

And I make these distinctions because today we are kicking off a series called “All Things New”.  And in it, we are going to see that some of what God is doing is totally NEW, original, and replacing what we know while other actions God takes are to RENEW what already exists.  And in this series, we are specifically going to look at how we can join the work God is doing in renewing all things – our lives, our church, our community, and our world.

What’s interesting is that when we look at the Bible, we see that God both makes things brand new and he renews things that need work. 

NEW – In the Old Testament we see God is so upset with how humanity starts, that in Genesis 6 we see some of the saddest words in the Bible – that God regretted that he made humans.  And so he decided to start over.  He would make a new humanity after flooding the earth and ridding the world of all the people who had been so evil.  He truly started over from the family of Noah.

RENEW – But God promised he would never do that again, and so in future instances, when God’s people wander away from him, he allows them to be defeated by their enemies, and then in their humility, he RENEWS his covenant with them, he restores their hopes, and he sets them free from their mess and places them back in their land.

And it’s not just God’s actions in the Old Testament that both make things new and renewed, we actually see that God makes things new and renewed in the lives of every person who follows Jesus. And that’s what we are going to talk about today – Personal Renewal.  We can’t talk about how God is renewing all things around us before first exploring the work God does inside of each one of us.

Regeneration – Salvation

The first step of personal renewal is when a person first decides to follow Jesus. When a person comes to faith in Jesus, God has to do a totally new work in that person.  He isn’t just cleaning up a person who is pretty good and making them a better version of themselves. The Bible says that before we are filled with His Spirit at the moment we decide to trust in Jesus, we are actually spiritually dead.  There’s no minor transformation that brings a dead person to life.  At that moment, we need something from God that is totally new – Salvation. This moment of salvation, when God brings people who are spiritually dead to life is called REGENERATION.

The apostle Paul describes the process of regeneration in his letter to the Ephesians.

Ephesians 2:1-5 – As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world … But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.

Another way Paul often describes the moment of our salvation is to talk about how we are putting on our new self. 

Ephesians 4:22-24 puts it this way: 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; ²³ to be made new in the attitude of your minds; ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. 

Now when we look at that passage, the Greek verbs Paul uses for to “put off” your old self and to “put on” the new self show that these are defined and completed actions.  The old self is replaced with a new self, there is nothing to be cleaned up or improved – God is doing a new work inside you.  

I especially like how Paul describes our salvation moment in 2 Corinthians 5:17 –  

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

The whole idea of “New Year, New You” can’t hold a candle to what happens to you when you put your faith in Jesus.  There is actually an exchange of your sinful nature for the righteousness of God, the mess of your life has been cleansed and removed and replaced by a new Spirit God puts inside you! Whether you are a mature Christian or a baby Christian, that should excite you!

And now perhaps some of you have never experienced that newness of life that I’m describing.  Maybe you have been attending church and crossing items off your Christian to-do list, but it’s possible to do all these actions right without ever actually experiencing the salvation that comes from putting your trust in Jesus rather than putting your trust in your own good deeds.  Now how you’ll know that you haven’t experienced the new life that God promises is that all this activity feels life draining and burdensome.  It’s because you’re trying to carry your own spiritual salvation on your own shoulders.  That’s not God’s hope for you.  Today he is offering you NEW LIFE!  A new spirit.  And a new eternity.  All you have to do is choose to put Jesus at the center of your life rather than YOU.

Renewal – Sanctification

Others of you come here today as long-time Christians.  You put your hope and allegiance in King Jesus many years ago.  But like a new car that doesn’t stay looking that way, after a while, your life starts to accumulate some wear.  Your life is filled with some hurt, some unforgiveness, some sinful patterns of thinking or acting.  Or maybe you are just tired, worn down, and wonder where your excitement for Jesus went. 

But God wants better for you than to slowly become a worn out person with tons of baggage and harmful habits.  And so he works inside you to RENEW the Salvation that he began when he made you a NEW creation. And this process of renewal, of cleaning up your mess is called Sanctification.  

Sanctification was actually described in the middle of the Ephesians 4 passage we looked at today.  When Ephesians 4:23 said, “to be made new in the attitude of your minds;” Paul actually uses a different Greek verb tense here.  Rather than using a verb form that points to a single, completed action of making a new attitude in your mind, he uses a verb form that conveys the ongoing, present action of being made new.  

What this means is that following Jesus is not just a single act of salvation – saying a prayer and experiencing the regenerating work of God giving us eternal life. Instead, it is also the ongoing act of sanctification, of being made new, each day, being more conformed to be like Jesus, the perfect example of what we should be like.

Again, here’s a concise description of how the new work of God, Salvation, works with the renewed work of God, Sanctification:

But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

​​ Colossians 3:8-10 (NIV)

Paul is so consistent in how he describes the life of a Christian.  It is taking off our old self and putting on the new self at salvation, and then there is the ongoing work of living a life of holiness before God, as our new self is being renewed through a knowledge of who Jesus is.

Refreshing Work of the Spirit

Now some of you today might be hearing this and to this point, this message has been a fairly meat and potatoes explanation of how God works in the life of a Chistian.  And maybe you’re thinking, “I’ve experienced salvation, I am always working out my faith through sanctification, but lately, I just feel blah.”  Perhaps you recognize that your passion for Jesus isn’t what it once was.  Or maybe you are just worn out and tired from all the demands of this world in your life.  

If that’s you, then personal renewal applies to you as well – what you need is a refreshing work of the Spirit.  You need a fresh experience with God.  You need the Spirit of God to come and flow in and through you once again.  And God promises that to those who seek him.

In Jeremiah 31:25, God says to Jeremiah, I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint. Or God says to the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 4:30-31, Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. 

And the way we renew our strength is by connecting to the one who is our source, Jesus.  Jesus showed us a pattern of how he lived a busy life, full of demands from others, and yet he never wore down.  He maintained his strength by carving out time to go away into the wilderness to connect with God alone.  He made time.  He prayed. He listened.  And that’s what we need to do as well. We can’t expect God to refresh us if we never create space for him to speak to us and work in us.  So if today you feel worn out or just spiritually dry, then I encourage you to find time to connect with Jesus.

There are several different ways people connect with Jesus, and these are called spiritual practices because practice is what develops our faith.  So don’t hear what I’m about to say as a checklist of how to make God happy with you, but listen to this list as ways you can connect with God and allow him to speak to you and refresh your soul.

• You can sit in quiet every day and just focus on who God is and what he has done for you
• You can read the Bible, 1 chapter a day or in bigger chunks.  But instead of reading to learn more about the Bible, read to hear what God wants to say to you.
• You can attend church regularly so God can speak to you through the times of worship and the message and through others who talk with you.
• You can meet regularly with another Christian and discuss what God is doing in your life, and what he is teaching you.
• You can read the book Face to Face that we have made available and pray through Bible verses as you focus on developing a stronger relationship with God.

Recommitment to Jesus

And now finally, I think there may be a 4th group of people here today for whom personal renewal means something different than I have already described. Some of you have put your trust in Jesus, but you stopped actively following him. It’s not that you feel worn out or like you are missing a passion for Jesus, he’s just not on your radar most of the time. If you are honest with yourself, you realize you don’t think about Jesus much at all.

And if this is you today, please don’t hear judgment from me today, but do consider my challenge.  You need to recommit your life to Jesus.  Jesus wants to see you return to him.  That’s why he told the parable of the prodigal son – because the Father is always waiting to run and celebrate when his children return home.  And all it takes is to repent – to confess your sin and trust in his forgiveness which is promised to us all.

 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9 (NIV)

So if you’re at a place where you and God simply haven’t been talking much at all lately, then I encourage you to return to the God who loves you and called you into relationship with himself.  Do you want to go another year doing life your own way?  Or are you ready for a change?  Perhaps the fact that you are in this room on this cold morning hearing this message shows you that God wants you to come back home.

Conclusion

2022 – New Year, New You.  But let’s not focus on improving ourselves in our own strength and activity.  Instead let’s focus on joining God in his regenerating, renewing, refreshing work in our lives as we all recommit to Jesus our savior. Let’s make the space for him to work in us and through us. 

And as we’ve seen, personal renewal looks different for each of us.  Some of you might need to put your faith in Jesus for the first time while others of you need to return to the God you were once close with.  Some of you need to partner with God in the renewal of your mind and in uprooting harmful habits and patterns in your lives.  And yet others need to follow the Good Shepherd who makes you lie down in green pastures and leads you beside quiet waters.

But wherever you are with God and whatever personal renewal looks like for you, understand that God is right here, ready and willing to meet you.  He wants nothing more than to grow closer with you, speak deep truths to you, heal your heart, and fill your deepest desires.  The one thing he most needs from you is your time.  So the big challenge to us all today is this:

Will you make a commitment to spending time with Jesus this year?  

I believe God wants to do something amazing in our community and in our church this year.  But he can’t do any of that through us if we don’t first experience a personal renewal of our faith and our passion for him. So while everyone is focusing on health goals for the coming new year, let’s all agree to focus on the most important goal of all – continuing to deepen our relationship with the God of the universe, the lover of our souls, our Heavenly Father.