Salt + Light Fort Worth

Good to be with you.

Uh, you may have noticed it's
actually second Corinthians, not

first Corinthians, that we're in.

Second Corinthians chapter five, if you
want to open your apps or your Bibles,

um, will be in that passage, second
Corinthians, uh, five verses 14 to 17.

Um, just, uh, thanks to Ben, um,
you have a pastor who loves you.

He is so sincere and so thoughtful
and, uh, I, I would say it's a

privilege to have him as a pastor.

So thank you, uh, for being
that kind of person, Ben.

Um, let's, uh, let me pray and then
we'll, we'll get into this together.

Lord, we pause, not because it's a
ritual, but because we're in need.

We need to hear from you.

We need your living word to enter us,
to encourage us, to strengthen us,

to give us hope, perhaps to convict.

To, um, to do the work
that you want to do.

And so we pause to invite, uh, the
living word of God into our lives.

Would it bear much fruit as you,
uh, meet us In Jesus name, amen.

Do you have a book or movie that you
kind of go back to over and over again?

You know, it's, it's one of the
regular, may maybe, uh, fantastic.

Mr.

Fox or, uh, pride and Prejudice.

Um, inception, uh, the Hunger Games.

My wife, every, uh, Christmas season she
watches the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Extended.

So it takes some time.

And, um, in without fail every
Christmas, I mean, she's been doing

this since they were available, she
walks away with a stirring new insight

that meets her right where she is.

Where are you this morning?

Are you struggling with
tension in a relationship?

Maybe, uh, maybe you're
fighting an old sin.

Maybe you're excited about
cultivating a new virtue.

Maybe you're wondering
what the future holds.

What we all need, wherever we're
coming from is new creation.

What, and, and what I'd like us
to do is to, to kind of take four

viewings of new creation to slow down.

And to look at what it means to be
a new creation, to find four, uh,

stunning insights for life changing
realities that I pray will meet us

right where we are, should we do it?

Uh, first, have you ever
faced, uh, unfair criticism?

You know, someone slandered, you gossiped
about you, you hear it from somebody else?

When that happens, it's so tempting
to write off our critics, isn't it?

To run them down in our minds, to
kind of, uh, incriminate them with

our thoughts, to see, see them through
the worst, worst part of them, right?

And to kind of judge them through
the worst part, uh, of their

character through their flaws.

How might new creation help us
with that kind of temptation?

Uh, two Corinthians chapter five.

From now on, therefore, we regard
no one according to the flesh.

Even though we once regarded
Christ according to flesh,

we regard him thus no longer.

Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, he's a new creation.

Actually, the Greek here, um, there's
no, he is, the verb is supplied.

So it's, um, if anyone is in
Christ new creation, he, she, uh.

New creation.

The old has passed away.

Behold, the new has come.

Now what is Paul saying here?

He's saying there's the old way
of viewing people and there's

a new way of viewing people.

Uh, there's an old way, which
is according to the flesh, and

that's what it sounds like.

It's judging people on
their appearances, right?

Uh, sizing him up from what you can see.

And Paul, uh, sized up
Jesus as a false messiah.

So he rejected him.

Uh, he saw the Christians and
thought, uh, that they were,

uh, insincere, they were untrue.

And so he persecuted them, right?

Uh, he, he based like everyone
else was judging, he judged

'em based on appearance.

Um, he viewed them on the surface,
um, not from the inside out.

Uh, but then something happens.

Something happened to Paul, something
happens to us that if we get it.

It'll change the way we view everybody.

What is it?

What is it?

It's the entry point into new creation.

Well, how?

What's the entry point?

How do you get into new creation?

Verse 14, Paul says, the
love of Christ controls us.

Because we have concluded this,
that one has died for all.

What's the entry point in a new creation?

Death?

Uh, how does death help us in the
way that we view other people?

How is it that we can love our critics,
uh, not think the worst of our enemies?

Um, resist dragging our
opponents into mental court.

How do we, how does
death help us with that?

Well, this text says
that Jesus died for all.

That's, that includes them, the critics,
the opponents, the slanderers, the

gossips, the person that may have
come to mind when we were talking

about being unfairly criticized.

Jesus Christ died.

For them, not only for us, it says he
died for all that Paul has in mind.

Not just Jews, but all the
nations, all kinds of people.

Uh, Jesus Christ died for not just
to benefit people, but for means in

the place of Jesus Christ died in the
place of the person who hurts you most.

Now, wouldn't that change
the way that you view them?

If we believed, if we cherished the fact
that the Son of God bled for the people

who have hurt us, who have maligned us,
who have criticized us, the Son of God

slain for friends and for enemies, for
Democrats and Republicans, for Fort Worth

or Fort Worth and Dallas sites, right.

He died for all.

And if that's true,

that gives dignity to every single person.

You don't have to rely on the Imago
day that everyone's made in God To me,

Jesus Christ died for all my goodness.

What tremendous dignity
we should grant to those.

Around us, friend or
foe, the death of Christ.

The entry point into new creation
is what warrants us conferring

dignity on those around us.

You ever made a mistake only to
be viewed through that mistake?

I, uh, said something once to
a friend and hurt his feelings.

I apologized and he cut me off.

He refused to talk to me.

He refused to be around me, um, and
created this chasm between the two of us.

I sincerely apologized.

Um, and, and yet, uh, there was
great distance in our relationship.

He viewed me only through that mistake,
and I remember just talking to him about

it and I just said, you know, would you,
would you keep my whole character in view?

Um, isn't that how we wanna be viewed?

Not through the, the slice of a single
second, but the whole of our lives

that people would see us in context
of everything, not judge us on the

madness of a single moment, but to
love us for the whole of who we are.

I think we all, we all want that

for people to, to see us.

Perhaps the way that Christ sees
us, this is what new creations do.

This is the way that we see other people.

We look at others not exclusively
through their sin, but

primarily through the savior.

That's how we see people, not from sin
forwards, but from new creation backwards.

Think how that would change
conflict with a spouse.

How you interact with kids
when they're misbehaving.

Not looking at them merely from sin
forges, but from new creation backwards.

Not merely for who, who you think they
are, but who, Christ, that Christ died for

them, the dignity that he has given them.

Uh, so, so perhaps, uh, there'll be an
annoying customer service representative

this week on the phone or in the checkout.

How will you see them?

How will you treat them?

Uh, perhaps there'll be a
conflict with that lovely spouse.

How will you treat them?

How will you see them?

Maybe a difficult client.

Maybe there's someone that you
right now are at odds with.

There's a chasm between
you and another person.

How might the death of Christ for you
as a new creation change the way you

relate to them, maybe even this morning,
is prompting you to change the way.

That you see them the
way that you treat them.

A person who's wronged us, instead of
running them down in our minds, let's

lift them up and confer on them the
dignity that Christ has con convert

on them, his death for their life.

What have we learned in our
first viewing of new creation?

That new creation, grants
new dignity to all.

Right.

New creation grants new dignity to all.

Um, maybe some of you have watched
the little film series that

goes with the book, uh, raised.

Uh.

Peter Craig is a filmmaker in
Austin and he shot a four part

series to go along with that.

Well, he shot a number of videos.

Um, he travels the world to document the
things that God is doing around the world.

And there's one that he does in Mexico.

And he sits down with a woman and
he captures this story of this

woman whose sister was murdered.

And as he's interviewing her, of course,
you can see the grief and the heartache

and the sense of injustice and loss and
lament that she had gone through in.

And, and not just losing, uh, her
sister, but her sister being murdered.

And then on camera she forgives

the person who murdered her sister.

She, uh, she chose not to judge
her murderer on the madness

of a single moment criminal.

To accept her, uh, based on the beauty
of, of what Christ has done forgiven

the artist.

Uh, Sal, maybe you've, uh,
heard Sal's music new new album

out in the past couple weeks.

New song says this.

Here's the thing about forgiveness.

She's the child of love and hate.

Now, what's, what's he saying?

Forgiveness is the child of love and hate.

Well, in order to give forgiveness,
you have to suffer a kind of hate,

don't you, a kind of mistreatment,
a kind of snubbing or disregard.

But to extend forgiveness, you have
to love, and so forgiveness is the

child of both love and of hate.

It's, it's, it's the occasion.

Love and hate are the
occasion of forgiveness.

She goes, uh, he goes on.

Uh, but recognizing you need her
will bring peace along the way.

If we withhold forgiveness, the
forgiveness that we have been so

lavishly given, we don't experience
peace and we can become embittered.

But if we give it, you know,
the thing about forgiveness,

it's, it's twice blessed.

It blesses both the
recipient and the giver.

We hold onto bitterness.

It, it, it's, there's not a double
blessing, there's a double pain.

But when we do forgive, as we have
been forgiven in Christ, we are

blessed and our enemies are blessed,
maybe our friends, our family.

Um, so all of this, which is remarkable,
is a fiction unless Jesus Christ

died, what's the basis of forgiveness?

It can just, I mean, why
not just take revenge?

Uh, what?

Why would we ever forgive?

Because God in Christ has forgiven us.

One of our family verses growing up
with all the kids was Ephesians 4 32.

Be kind and tenderhearted, forgiving one
another as God in Christ has forgiven you.

How do we forgive?

The same way that we have been forgiven
as God in Christ has forgiven you.

So the basis of
forgiveness is a dying God.

Forgiving Savior who makes us new.

The old is gone, the new who has come.

Uh, so new creation means treating
people with a new dignity, loved,

forgiven, accepted treating others
the way Christ has treated us.

So our first new insight as we look at
new creation is it grants a new dignity.

Second is that it grants a new identity.

It's not just how we view others,
it's how we view ourselves.

New cur creation changes
the way we see ourselves.

Um, well, how should we see ourselves,
uh, within the frame of what

theologians call the Christ event?

Christ event refers not only to the death
of Christ, but to the resurrection of

Christ and to the ascension of Christ.

And very often evangelicals, we
emphasize the cross of Christ at

the expense of the empty tomb.

Right?

Uh, Brad talked about this a couple
weeks ago, uh, that when, uh, Christ

dies, we kind of see bringing our debt,
uh, up to zero, and then we're done.

Then he had this, uh,
point in his sermon talk.

No, you have infinite abundance
because of the resurrection, right?

This is God moving towards us, not
just to clean our slate, but to

sweep us up into, uh, new creation.

So, um, the Christ event
includes the resurrection.

And when Jesus rose in shimmering
glory, he didn't just forgive

us and say, get on with a numer.

Right.

Go be holy, go be righteous.

Uh, no.

He conquered the old self and he gave
us a new self with resurrection power

flowing through us to live a new
life, to have a kind of new morality.

Um, he exiled the old ushered in
the new, and anyone who is in Christ

here this morning is a new creation
by virtue of the resurrection.

Of Jesus.

Um, well, what kind of new self is this?

I mean, what are we talking about here?

I mean, is it like a men in
black and you, you wive a wand

and then they forget everything?

Or is it like a, you know, an
outer body, you know, your body's

taken over by something and you
kind of get a new personality?

No.

When we come to Christ, we don't become
a different species of being right.

And we aren't replaced, we're renewed.

Our existing personality becomes renewed.

We become kinder.

Become more, just more forgiving, more
loving the, the spirit of God working in

us as renewed, not replaced, uh, humanity.

Which means, um, it's not just
a new way of viewing ourselves.

It's a new way of being ourselves.

We are, we are existing with
a new power, a new identity.

Um.

You may, one way to think about
it is, Jesus, when we put faith in

Jesus, his death and resurrection
become our death and resurrection.

Uh, we become new creations.

We're little dioramas of the resurrection.

Uh, little explanations and
expressions of, of new, uh, creations.

So we get dignity by his
death point number one.

But we get identity.

By his life.

So what's, what difference does this
make this new creation identity?

How might it change your life this week?

Um, it means a couple things.

One, it means that we're no
longer defined by our failures.

Our failures don't have
the last say in who we are.

Perhaps you're thinking of that,
that failure and that unforgiveness

that we, we talked about earlier.

Um, and so our sense of self isn't rooted.

In the, the performance based life,
it's rooted in a grace based reality.

So, uh, when we confess our sins to God,
and maybe you did that this morning in our

sweet time of prayer together, um, God,
uh, leans over and says, yes, you sinned.

But it's not the truest thing about you.

The truest thing about you
is that you're forgiven, that

you're new, that you're mine.

You're a new creation.

That's the truer thing about who you are.

It changes the way we view our failures.

Our failures don't define us.

Uh, Christ comes to define us.

We're not defined by our sins.

We're defined by our savior, and that
gives us tremendous sense of worth.

Remember if anyone is in
Christ new creation, right?

Men, women, children.

We have a new identity.

My daughter was in class a few weeks ago
and they had an Old Testament reading.

She's in a Christian school, and
uh, the teacher said, can you

gimme any feedback on the reading?

And so my daughter raised her hand.

She said, Israel seems to repeat
the same mistakes over, they just

keep worshiping the same idols.

And the teacher responded and said, well,
that's because, uh, humanity is idolizing.

We're we're, we're idolizing uh, people.

That's who we are.

While that is true, the greater truth
is that we are also new humanity.

We are new creations, imbued with a
new power to walk in righteousness

and forgiveness and grace.

So let's not over accent the sin.

Let's celebrate the work of the
savior and live as God's new

not defined by our failures.

Don't hang your head.

If you're in Christ, lift your head.

Look to him.

He's your glory.

He's your worth.

He is your identity.

Thank God we're not defined
by our our failures.

Our failures don't define us
and neither do our successes.

Some of us draw a lot of worth
on what we've accomplished.

Uh, Ernest Hemingway has a short
story called in another Country,

and in this short story, there's a
soldier who leaves this country and

meets a lot of other, um, combatants
that have had to come off the field.

And so they're sitting around talking
about how they got their injuries

and how they got their, their medals.

And, uh, well, it turns out that the
central character, um, they find out

that he got his injury on accident.

It wasn't from, from a valor, from combat.

It was just in some kind
of accidental thing.

And, uh, and they begin
to treat him differently.

And so over cocktails later that
night, he begins to reflect on that.

He begins to imagine himself doing
all the things that they had done.

Christ.

We don't have to imagine doing the
things that other people have done.

We don't have to imagine
the having their holiness.

We don't have to imagine having
their vocational success.

We don't have to imagine raising
kids the way that they raise kids.

We don't have to imagine.

We don't have to, uh, desire
other people's success because

we have Christ's success.

Right.

And that is what defines us, not
our success, but Christ's success.

Christ's accomplishments,
not our accomplishments.

Christ's glory.

Not our glory.

Christ's righteousness.

Not our righteousness.

It's just that Jesus died and
rose and pinned his medal to our

chest and said, you are mine.

New creation.

You're a new woman.

You're a new man.

Wow.

What a place to draw
worth and significance.

What a stunning identity

to be.

A new creationist.

To gain new dignity.

It is to, uh, uncover a new identity.

And third, a new morality.

It's not enough to just say, I believe
our, we have to inhabit our beliefs.

Right to demonstrate our belief.

If we're truly new people,
we'll live in new ways.

We'll exhibit a kind of new
morality, and Paul talks about this

when he talks about new creation.

Ephesians four,

he writes, uh, put off your old
self, which belongs to your former

manner of life and is corrupt through
deceitful desires and put on the new

self created after the likeness of God
in true righteousness and holiness.

You see, there's a real change.

It's not just a notional belief.

It's existential belief.

It changes who we are.

It's a new way of being, and it's
exhibited in a new kind of morality.

There's, he uses this metaphor,
this, uh, clothing language, right,

of putting off and putting on.

Uh, so you put off the old person.

You put on the new, you're
new live like you're new.

Put on the new, uh, live as a
new man, as a new, uh, woman.

Well, what does that look like?

He says, righteousness.

Holiness.

And if, if you've read Ephesians,
and if you have, you can just skip

over and look at chapters 4, 5, 6.

What does it look like?

What does it look like
to have a numer reality?

He says that we should, uh,
tell the truth and not lie.

That should we, we should,
um, give and not steal.

He, he goes on to talk about sharing
what we have with one another, um,

that we should practice edifying
speech, not corrupt speech.

Now, think about that.

What if, if we told the truth, um, if
we were generous, if we were kind, um,

if would that do for your friendships,
what would that do for your family?

What would it do for the city if we had
communities of people who told the truth?

Who were edifying in their speech, who
didn't get outraged, who were kind,

and it would change the family dynamic.

It would change the friendship.

It would change the city.

It would change Fort Worth,
people walking not only as a new

identity, but with a new morality.

It'll have a renewing effect
on the fabric, uh, of the city.

See, it's not just good for us.

It's good for the world.

To, to live as who we are, to be true to
ourselves, to be this, uh, new creation.

So that sounds great, but why do
I go back to the old self, right?

Why do I drift back into the old morality?

It's perhaps like Luca Doni putting
on a Mavs journey jersey, and then

putting up 40 points for the Mavs,
uh, to, uh, defeat the Lakers.

Now, a lot of us probably
would like that, wouldn't we?

We'd like him to come back.

We'd like him to put on the old Jersey,
but he's in a new organization, he's

in a new community, and so are we.

We have a New Jersey, new
creation in Christ Jesus.

We're part of a new organization,
the eternal body of Christ.

It's insanity to go back
and play for the old team.

It's sane to live and play on
the new team, right to, to live

in righteousness and holiness.

We have a new identity,
we have a new morality.

In fact, Paul, when Paul says the
new has come, it's in a tense.

That means it has come and
it's continuing to come.

Um, this verb has this
kind of dynamic in it.

So new creation has landed.

It's still working its way out.

And I bet we feel that this
morning it's like, yes, I'm new,

but oh, I struggle with the old.

Right?

New creation has landed, but its
effects are still working its way out.

And in that sense it's maybe it's
not perfection overnight, it's

progress over a lifetime, isn't it?

As new creation begins to work itself
out in our lives, uh, when a person

receives a lifesaving vaccine, uh, the,
the changes aren't immediate, right?

The, the cure isn't
externalized immediately.

No.

It takes time for the vaccine to
work its way out and the old to

recede and the new to emerge, right?

And so it is with us, new
creation has landed, uh, and the

health and the vitality and the
holiness are making their way out.

In our lives.

But if you're a new
creation, life will appear.

Holiness will emerge.

So let's put off the old humanity.

Let's put on the new humanity, right?

Let's walk around in
our new creation jersey

with our new morality, our
new identity, our new dignity.

If we do we'll be a blessing to one
another, to our families, to the city.

To the world.

Well, we've seen new creation, uh,
kind of unfold, uh, as a giving

new dignity for us and for others.

Uh, a new identity and a new morality.

Finally, a new reality.

The whole concept of new creation
comes outta the Old Testament,

where it's promised there'll be
a new heavens and a new earth.

This is God's plan for the whole cosmos,
not just for those who are in Christ.

Isaiah 65.

For behold, I create a new
heavens and a new earth.

The former things shall not be remembered
or come into mind, but be glad and

rejoice forever in that which I create.

New heaven, new earth,
new bodies, new hearts.

Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Won't that be wonderful?

Never struggling with guilt or shame.

Sadness or sickness.

A new heavens and a new
earth, a new humanity.

And Peter says, the new earth will be
a place in which righteousness dwells.

Justice will move into the cosmic
neighborhood and never again

will there be an injustice.

Never again will there be a sin.

What's true about Jesus will be
true not only of us, but of all.

Things all is right.

All is new.

The triune reality of perfection
will reorder everything.

That's something to look forward to.

That's something to anticipate.

That's something to get excited
about, to rejoice in as Isaiah says.

But the cosmic newness isn't
just a future, uh, reality.

Uh, it's not just something that we
just kind of sit around waiting for.

No, it's a present reality.

It was launched in the resurrection
of Jesus Christ, now is new creation.

Revelation 21 says, behold I am making.

All things new, not I will
make all things new and you are

the locusts of new creation.

You're the proof that he
has landed in Fort Worth.

So how should we respond?

This is stunning reality.

When you're anticipating
something new, how do you respond?

Maybe you're excited about the new
Superman movie coming out, or, or

maybe you're, uh, we're excited about
the new Bon DeVere record coming out.

Maybe there's a new show, uh, I
don't know, a new outfit, something.

How do you respond?

You, you kind of followed
on Instagram, right?

Uh, we, um, we might sign up for updates.

Uh, we anticipate there's a trailer.

We'll watch it.

If we're really excited, we'll
watch the trailer a couple times.

What, what do we do when we're
looking forward to something?

We anticipate it.

Right.

We relish it.

Uh, we, we, we study it.

We kind of, uh, spend time
with it and, and that's what

we should do with new creation.

Why?

Because it's infinitely bigger
and better than any other new

thing we would sign up for, right?

The reordering and beautifying
of all things, and for those

who are in Christ Jesus, I mean,
what I mean, what trumps that?

Nothing.

So how should we respond?

Uh, signing for the updates.

Study the passages.

Uh, turn on your imagination.

Dream about the new creation
God has made you and what he has

promised you in Christ Jesus.

Follow, uh, Christ closely.

The, the, the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, the Alpha and Omega.

Observe his glory and his grace.

And, and become a trailer of things
to come become a preview of the new

creation people with a new dignity,
a new identity, a new morality, and

living in a new reality, new creation.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, we thank you.

We pause to express our gratitude
to you for accomplishing what we

could never accomplish on our own.

Thank you for the tremendous dignity
of dying, not just to benefit us,

but to die in our place of us, Lord.

Thank you for a new identity that is not
defined by our failures and successes.

It's defined by you putting
your glory on our chest.

Shocking, wonderful Lord.

Help us to walk out that new morality.

As we reflect on that, perhaps
there are our sins we need to

confess or virtues that we get to.

Cultivate, but Lord, where wherever
we are, would you meet us as we

move towards the Lord's table?

And we thank you that new creation
is now, and it is not yet.

It is coming all things new.

Thank you for the bright future in
Jesus Christ and His name we pray.

Amen.

We're gonna observe a time
of communion together.

Uh, the elements are here
at the left and the right.

Um, and, uh, you know, in one Corinthians
11, this is something that church has

done for hundreds and hundreds of years.

Pause to break bread and to drink
wine, to commemorate, to relish, to

sit in what Christ has done for us.

And, uh, at the end of that
passage, he says, as often as we

eat this bread and drink this wine.

We've proclaimed the Lord's
death until he comes there.

It is the Christ event, death,
resurrection, new creation.

He's coming back and he's also died.

And so as you come to take the elements,
perhaps you need to meet the Lord in his

death and ask for that sweet forgiveness.

Or perhaps you this morning,
just wanna celebrate.

He's coming back.

To make all things new, but I
invite you now to, uh, come and,

and take the elements and then
I'll lead us through communion.

Uh, on the night that Jesus was betrayed.

He took bread and he broke it
and he said, this is my body

broken for you in a similar way.

He took the cup and he said, in this cup
is the new covenant, the new relationship.

As often as we eat this bread
and drink this wine, we reclaim

the Lord's death until he comes.

Let's take.

Let's pray together.

Lord Jesus, this is reality.

Defining your death, your resurrection in
our place for all things in all peoples.

We thank you for your momentous sacrifice.

We receive your forgiveness for our sins.

And we celebrate that we are not
defined by those, but by your victorious

celebration, victory over sin and
death, and hell and Satan, you have one.

Help us to remain faithful.

Help us to keep an eye on the new
creation, to follow you closely.

We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.

And we get to respond to the good news.

Um, that we are new creation and we
have new reality and the other things.

And so, uh, we sing songs based
out of that, um, not to like earn

ourselves into something or even
sometimes to convince ourselves

because God is worthy of all praise.

Um, we're gonna pass around a basket.

And, uh, giving is not something that
is an empty obligation, but it's just a

mark of going, if this is a new reality
and we have a new identity and we have,

um, this new motive for everything,
um, we want to give back to God.

Um, giving's not a way
for a church to get rich.

It shouldn't be a way
for a church to get rich.

Um, it's about going, God,
I put my trust in you.

My new identity is in you.

Um, and so I trust you to provide.

Um, so we're gonna sing
songs, uh, we're gonna give.

Um, I'll be in the back if you, uh, need
to pray or have questions about anything.

Um, but before we do any of that, uh,
if you're new with us, we just take a

moment and, and, uh, ask the Lord, do
you have anything you want me to pay

attention to, um, from the scriptures,
from what Jonathan taught, from something

else going on in your heart or mind?

We trust that the, the word of
Christ is richly living within us.

We don't pause a lot in our busy lives,
and so just take a moment before we.

Start to sing and pass the basket and this
kind of stuff to ask God do you, do you

want me to pay attention to something?

And if anything comes to mind that
you're confused about or think

might be for someone else for that
kind of stuff, come find me in

the back and we can chat about it.

That he.

I hear my.

For a moment before we see you out, I.