He Makes Everything New

Scripture: Romans 6:8-23

Introduction

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Revelation 21:5

• Before I get into the real point of today’s message, I would be remiss to overlook the fact that this is Labor Day weekend.
• Tomorrow, we celebrate the working men and women who built this nation.
• Unfortunately, we also mark this as the end of summer, although less so these days.
• Kids are mostly already back in school around here, so gone is the delayed school start.
• I have kind of a colorful family history and Labor Day reminds me of my grandparents.
• You see, back in New Albany, IN in the mind 1930’s both of my grandparents worked at a garment factory.
• They were married at the time and my grandmother was a line worker and my grandfather was a supervisor. Like most factories back then, they were non-union.
• Apparently, my grandmother inadvertently attended a union-organizing meeting.
• It’s not that my grandmother was militant or even pro-union, but she went to the meeting.
• For those of you who grew up in Virginia, you may know that it is a right-to-work state.
• Labor unions are not very strong in Virginia and membership is optional.
• I personally was a member of the International Food and Commercial Union back in the 1970s at A&P.
• I got upset because I was passed over for promotion, so I joined the union.
• Well, in the upper Midwest, if a union was voted in, everyone had to become a member.
• It gave the workers a powerful voice, but also brought a lot of violence and corruption.
• When word got out that my grandmother attended the meeting, they literally had to flee for their lives out of town and ended up in Cleveland Ohio.
• Labor Day celebrates the rise of the American working class and the sacrifices they made
• Being a Christian is a sacrifice; it all started with God sacrificing His Son.
• He came to save us from sin and death – the wages of sin, but did He get rid of sin?
• No, sin is still with us. Every day we sin; some days worse than others.
• But as I sat on the beach watching the tide gobble up the whole beach, I thought about this message: He makes everything new.
• Try to picture this scene; The smell of suntan lotion is in the air.
• During the course of a day, the beach is a city of 100’s of people of all shapes and sizes.
• There are chairs and blankets and umbrellas and radios and food and drinks.
• There is constant motion of people in and out of the water, coming and going randomly.
• Children are making sandcastles and digging everywhere.
• People are listening to music, talking, laughing, eating, and drinking.
• But at the end of the day, I was almost alone on the beach and watched the waves erase all that had happened there during the day.
• And then it occurred to me: that’s exactly what Jesus does for me every day.
• All the sins of the day are erased; flattened out; gone without a trace; a flat sandy beach.
• The third ingredient that God is mixing up here at Biltmore is DIFFERENT WORK.
• As we think about doing God’s work think about these two things.:

1. Choose life with Christ.
2. Commit to the process.

1. Choose life with Christ

• Paul writes today in Romans 6:8 “if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.”
• As we talk about in baptism, we die to self and are reborn new in life with Christ.
• I don’t think this happens only once. I think it takes a little reminding and encouraging.
• Jesus knows that this is not something we can do easily as humans.
• If it were easy, we wouldn’t need to come back here every week and get a reminder.
• That’s what I’m here for. God wants me to tell you that He died for you and He loves you.
• Apart from that, there is not much I can tell you.
• It’s not about religion or doctrine, it’s about the heart. God’s heart and your heart.
• God’s Word is a love letter from His heart to your heart.
• It’s written in a language that only a believer will understand through the Holy Spirit.
• Paul said: “The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.”
• We too, should be working to live for God. Paul says in verse 12: “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.”
• Don’t worry, you’re not going to stop sinning, the best you can hope to do is to make Jesus Lord of your body instead of sin. Easy right?!?!
• Paul said: “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.”
• If we make Jesus the master of our life, we become slaves to righteousness instead of evil
• Don’t you think we have enough evil in this world? I certainly do.  It’s time for a change
• Make Jesus number one in your life.
• The grace that Paul talks about came FIRST from God; freely given for all who believe.
• Claim that gift of love and grace – choose life with Christ.

2. Commit to the process

• Go back to that image of the beach and the waves washing over the sand.
• Jesus blood is like those waves because it washes away all of our sins.
• Tell me about waves. What do you know about waves?  Continuous, always changing
• Do waves ever just stop? NO; If they do, you better run FAST because a tsunami is coming.
• Jesus has a process because He knows what it means to be human.
• Jesus knows that we are incapable of stopping being sinners because it’s in our nature.
• Jesus knows that our sins come in waves and sometimes we resist and sometimes we don’t.
• Jesus knows that His forgiveness must keep coming over and over like those waves.
• Jesus never stops washing over our sins and making all things new.
• He took that responsibility on Himself when He allowed Himself to be hung on the cross.
• He was hung on the cross carrying all of our sins on himself.
• And as He died there, the power of sin and death, died with Him.
• And when He rose from the dead, He left those sins behind.
• Paul said in verse 22: “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. “
• Just as Jesus gave His life on the cross for His Father, we too need to give our lives to Jesus.
• We could be dead and lost for all eternity without Christ. But as Paul writes in verse 23:

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• Choose life with Christ with the understanding that Jesus’ process of forgiveness and grace is continuous and never-ending.
• Like the waves of the ocean washing over the sand on the beach, He makes all things new.