A "New And Improved" Jesus?
Sermon
A 'NEW AND IMPROVED' JESUS?
Sermons For Lent And Easter
Next to "love," the word "new" is one of the most overworked words in our world. If it isn't new, we immediately consign it to ancient history. A minister friend, tells of speaking to a group of seventh grade confirmands. They were at a rather rustic retreat center. One boy came up to him, saying, "Boy! Is this place old! In the bathroom you have to turn on two faucets to get hot and cold water!" New and old is always relative, of course, but we quickly tire of the old and readily embrace the new as better.
This text is the announcement of God that he is doing a "new thing (v. 19)." Actually there are several new things mentioned in this account. God is dealing with exodus; three of them, in fact. The first exodus was from slavery in Egypt, the second exodus was from slavery in Babylon, and the third exodus (v. 25) was a spiritual exodus; slavery from sin.
We Like The New And Try To Improve On The Old
We live in a throw-away society, and usually we buy something that is new to replace the old, rather than trying to repair it. We've found it is generally cheaper to buy a new coffeemaker, a new toaster, a new iron, a new razor, a new hair dryer, or whatever, than to have it repaired. Besides, new is shinier, is maybe more trouble-free, is more popular, smells good, feels good, tastes good and is usually more attractive. We love new homes, new cards, new jobs, new styles, new foods, new clothes, new cosmetics, new diets, new lovers - if it's new, it gets our attention.
And if a product is one that we've been using, and we are contented with it, we are all the happier if we see it advertised as "new and improved." So we get rid of the old toothpaste, nail polish, cosmetics, detergent, computer, anything else you want to name, and buy the "new and improved" because it is supposed to be bigger, better, superior, and "good for you." Of course, many "new and improved" items really are far superior to the old, so who would want to stay with a passe product?
Who, for instance, wants to go back to the telephone of 50 years ago when today's telephone is obviously new and improved, with better service, easier and faster and clearer communication, and a multitude of services unheard of only a decade ago? Who wants to go back to the one-color black Ford of some years ago when you now have a wide-open market of far superior automobiles today? Who would really want to regress to the "good-old-days" that actually were not all that good if you had to live in them now?
I remember that when I was a small child my mother put the ice-card in the window of our house, indicating how much ice for the ice man to leave for the ice box in our kitchen. On most days the side indicating 25 pounds would be turned to say we would take that much that day. On a Saturday, providing mother had enough money, she would turn the card upside-down, showing a 50 pounds sign, so that we'd have enough ice to last until Monday. And on a really special day, when the children were all home, she might turn the card over and indicate we wanted a 100-pound chunk of ice! Wow! I always thought how impressed the neighbors must be as they saw how much ice we were ordering that day! That meant that 50 pounds would be placed in the ice box and the other 50 pounds would be wrapped in newsprint and placed in a big galvanized wash tub and covered with an old quilt, and sometime that afternoon we would make home-made ice cream! We small children would run out to the ice truck when it arrived, and watch the man as he took his ice pick and chipped off the size block we had ordered. Occasionally a sliver would fly free on the bed of his truck and we'd grab it and suck on it until it disappeared. They don't make ice today in any shape that tastes as sweet and cool and refreshing as that ice did! But all in all, while it served its purpose, the food was never really chilled, and the ice pan under the ice box, would run over from the melting ice and make a path across the kitchen linoleum that had to be mopped up. It was really pretty messy, but the best we could do. The chances are good, however, if you ever had an ice box, that this story has awakened all kinds of memories of your own and we could all become pretty sentimental and nostalgic just thinking about the past. But for me, that's all it is: good memories and nice sentiment, but I don't want to go back to the old ice box of my childhood. I like having a cold refrigerator with a freezer on the side, with an ice-maker that spills out cubes by just pressing a shiny piece of chrome on the door. I never want to return to the old oak box with a pan that runs over on the floor, just because you forgot to empty it.
All of this is to say, if it's "new and improved" and works better, and faster, and is easier, and nicer - fine! Why go back to the lesser when the better is at hand? But ...
Some Old Things Are Better Left Unchanged
God, too, is always doing something that is newer and better. He is continually surprising us with a fresh idea, with doing a new thing. God made a glorious deliverance for his people at the first exodus when he delivered them from the terrible slavery in Egypt. They talked about it for years, and remembered the event annually at each Passover. Then, 910 years later, he did another new thing. This is the event promised in this text. God is delivering his people from slavery and bondage in Babylon. But still he is not finished yet: He has an even better plan for his people. Some 1,960 years later, God ushers in the third exodus and delivers his people from the slavery of sin by sending a Savior into the world.
But, since then, some 1,994 years later, no other "new thing" has been offered by God. Why not? Could it be that God has no better plan, no greater plan? Could it be that in sending Jesus he sent his best and you can't get better than the best? For nearly 2,000 years now we have been recalling the coming of Christ into our world. How long has it been since you got excited about this same old Jesus that appeared on the scene a couple of millenia ago? Why doesn't God "freshen" our experience? When the pastor talks about new life in Christ, the best most people can manage is a yawn. When we ask ourselves if we really are new creatures, we suspect we are the same old persons we've always been. The story of Jesus is an old, old story, it's time-worn and we wonder if there is not a "new and improved" Jesus somewhere that we can follow.
Of course there have always been those who try to sell us on a new way, a new truth, a new Lord, a new religion. Buddhism, Hinduism, yoga, transcendental meditation, mysticism, psychology, new age - the list goes on and on and on. There always have been, and always will be, those false teachers and teachings which purport to have something that is "new and improved" - better than Jesus.
The Mormons would tell you that Jesus Christ is not to be worshiped, and that his death on the cross was only partially effective in saving the sinner. Sun Yung Moon would claim that Jesus was a failure and that he, Moon, is the new Messiah. New age would have you believe that they have really good news, "God is within you; inside you and outside you - or wherever you want him to be." Unitarians would boast that theirchief concern is to save bodies, not souls, as Jesus taught.
The fact is, there are today those who would push Jesus into antiquity as being outmoded, outdated, and unnecessary; and would attack those who cling to him and his "old truths." They would accuse Christians who hold to the biblical truth that you can only come to God for deliverance from sin's slavery through Christ, as being "intolerant of other religions," or of being "religious bigots," or of "putting God in a box," or of being "exclusivist." Friends, we must cling to the biblical is dreadfully marred and defaced in us. It is in Jesus that we see ourselves as we ought to be. It is only in Jesus that our sins can be forgiven. It is only in Jesus that we can be made new creatures. It is only in Jesus that we have any hope at all.
The horrible truth is that most of us bear very little similarity to Christ, our great Example. A Peanuts cartoon, some years ago, showed Lucy saying to Charlie Brown, "I hate everything! I hate everybody! I hate the whole world!" Charlie Brown responds, "But I thought you had inner peace." "I do have inner peace," retorted Lucy, "but I still have outer obnoxiousness!" So do most of us still find ourselves sort of obnoxious at times. We loudly sing the old gospel song, "What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought, Since Jesus came into my heart." But where is the change? Why are we so little different from what we've always been? Honestly, now, do you feel that you are very much different since you've become a Christian than what you were before? Martin Marty, one of the liveliest commentators on the American religious scene, reported in an article, "If just the Christians in America would quit their sinning, it would drastically reduce the crime rate in America." It did not look good for us Christians when the newspapers and television reported that someone called "Robin Hud" by the press, who claimed to be a born-again Christian, was accused of embezzling nearly $5 million from the U.S. government. Something is wrong when thefts take place in the church. I have had two billfolds stolen in my life, both of them had been left in a pastor's study and were taken while we were in the worship services. We really need to offer to Christ a "new and improved" me and you!
We have a copying machine in our home, and we wonder sometimes how we ever managed to get along without it in the past. But, I rarely use it without thinking of the story I heard about a couple of men who worked in the army in military intelligence. This work often required long, typed reports. One day, the soldiers were dismayed to find only one sheet of typing paper on the base, and it was a weekend. In desperation, they went to the base reproduction and printing facility and asked the soldier on duty there for some of the paper used in the copying machine. He told them it was against regulations to give out any copy paper; regulations stated that all he could do for them was to make copies. So, not wanting to argue with army logic, the men simply got the soldier to run off 300 copies of their one blank sheet of typing paper! Wouldn't it be nice if the image of Christ could so easily be stamped upon us? Instead, we find his image blurred and often unrecognizable in our lives.
Through faith in Christ, we have actually been made new creatures. Why then, do we all know of Christians who lie, steal, cheat, gossip, commit adultery, and seem to still walk in darkness? There is no doubt that salvation comes to us through the work of Christ, and Christ alone. But many of us have been justified by grace through faith, but have never been sanctified. Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit that prompts and empowers and produces good works in us.
You've heard it said of someone, "He's not the man he used to be," and that is often literally true. The American Medical Association released some figures which say that every minute, five million cells in the human body are destroyed and replaced. Eventually, we become a new person. This physical renewal takes place unconsciously, without our awareness or consent, but spiritual renewal demands our consent and awareness. That is where the work and help of the Holy Spirit comes in. As we affirm the Lordship of Christ, in total commitment, we must surrender our personal lives completely to Jesus. The privilege and responsibility of all Christians is to so live that the Presence of Christ radiates from our lives so that everyone who knows us will see Jesus and be drawn to the Savior.
The Scotch comedian, Harry Lauder, said that when he was a boy he used to be fascinated by a lamplighter who moved down the shadowed streets of the town. He could always tell where the man was, by the trail of light he left behind him. As we walk through life, do we leave a trail of light or darkness?
Christ would like to so possess us, and cleanse us, and remake us, that everyone who sees us would say we are "new and improved."
This text is the announcement of God that he is doing a "new thing (v. 19)." Actually there are several new things mentioned in this account. God is dealing with exodus; three of them, in fact. The first exodus was from slavery in Egypt, the second exodus was from slavery in Babylon, and the third exodus (v. 25) was a spiritual exodus; slavery from sin.
We Like The New And Try To Improve On The Old
We live in a throw-away society, and usually we buy something that is new to replace the old, rather than trying to repair it. We've found it is generally cheaper to buy a new coffeemaker, a new toaster, a new iron, a new razor, a new hair dryer, or whatever, than to have it repaired. Besides, new is shinier, is maybe more trouble-free, is more popular, smells good, feels good, tastes good and is usually more attractive. We love new homes, new cards, new jobs, new styles, new foods, new clothes, new cosmetics, new diets, new lovers - if it's new, it gets our attention.
And if a product is one that we've been using, and we are contented with it, we are all the happier if we see it advertised as "new and improved." So we get rid of the old toothpaste, nail polish, cosmetics, detergent, computer, anything else you want to name, and buy the "new and improved" because it is supposed to be bigger, better, superior, and "good for you." Of course, many "new and improved" items really are far superior to the old, so who would want to stay with a passe product?
Who, for instance, wants to go back to the telephone of 50 years ago when today's telephone is obviously new and improved, with better service, easier and faster and clearer communication, and a multitude of services unheard of only a decade ago? Who wants to go back to the one-color black Ford of some years ago when you now have a wide-open market of far superior automobiles today? Who would really want to regress to the "good-old-days" that actually were not all that good if you had to live in them now?
I remember that when I was a small child my mother put the ice-card in the window of our house, indicating how much ice for the ice man to leave for the ice box in our kitchen. On most days the side indicating 25 pounds would be turned to say we would take that much that day. On a Saturday, providing mother had enough money, she would turn the card upside-down, showing a 50 pounds sign, so that we'd have enough ice to last until Monday. And on a really special day, when the children were all home, she might turn the card over and indicate we wanted a 100-pound chunk of ice! Wow! I always thought how impressed the neighbors must be as they saw how much ice we were ordering that day! That meant that 50 pounds would be placed in the ice box and the other 50 pounds would be wrapped in newsprint and placed in a big galvanized wash tub and covered with an old quilt, and sometime that afternoon we would make home-made ice cream! We small children would run out to the ice truck when it arrived, and watch the man as he took his ice pick and chipped off the size block we had ordered. Occasionally a sliver would fly free on the bed of his truck and we'd grab it and suck on it until it disappeared. They don't make ice today in any shape that tastes as sweet and cool and refreshing as that ice did! But all in all, while it served its purpose, the food was never really chilled, and the ice pan under the ice box, would run over from the melting ice and make a path across the kitchen linoleum that had to be mopped up. It was really pretty messy, but the best we could do. The chances are good, however, if you ever had an ice box, that this story has awakened all kinds of memories of your own and we could all become pretty sentimental and nostalgic just thinking about the past. But for me, that's all it is: good memories and nice sentiment, but I don't want to go back to the old ice box of my childhood. I like having a cold refrigerator with a freezer on the side, with an ice-maker that spills out cubes by just pressing a shiny piece of chrome on the door. I never want to return to the old oak box with a pan that runs over on the floor, just because you forgot to empty it.
All of this is to say, if it's "new and improved" and works better, and faster, and is easier, and nicer - fine! Why go back to the lesser when the better is at hand? But ...
Some Old Things Are Better Left Unchanged
God, too, is always doing something that is newer and better. He is continually surprising us with a fresh idea, with doing a new thing. God made a glorious deliverance for his people at the first exodus when he delivered them from the terrible slavery in Egypt. They talked about it for years, and remembered the event annually at each Passover. Then, 910 years later, he did another new thing. This is the event promised in this text. God is delivering his people from slavery and bondage in Babylon. But still he is not finished yet: He has an even better plan for his people. Some 1,960 years later, God ushers in the third exodus and delivers his people from the slavery of sin by sending a Savior into the world.
But, since then, some 1,994 years later, no other "new thing" has been offered by God. Why not? Could it be that God has no better plan, no greater plan? Could it be that in sending Jesus he sent his best and you can't get better than the best? For nearly 2,000 years now we have been recalling the coming of Christ into our world. How long has it been since you got excited about this same old Jesus that appeared on the scene a couple of millenia ago? Why doesn't God "freshen" our experience? When the pastor talks about new life in Christ, the best most people can manage is a yawn. When we ask ourselves if we really are new creatures, we suspect we are the same old persons we've always been. The story of Jesus is an old, old story, it's time-worn and we wonder if there is not a "new and improved" Jesus somewhere that we can follow.
Of course there have always been those who try to sell us on a new way, a new truth, a new Lord, a new religion. Buddhism, Hinduism, yoga, transcendental meditation, mysticism, psychology, new age - the list goes on and on and on. There always have been, and always will be, those false teachers and teachings which purport to have something that is "new and improved" - better than Jesus.
The Mormons would tell you that Jesus Christ is not to be worshiped, and that his death on the cross was only partially effective in saving the sinner. Sun Yung Moon would claim that Jesus was a failure and that he, Moon, is the new Messiah. New age would have you believe that they have really good news, "God is within you; inside you and outside you - or wherever you want him to be." Unitarians would boast that theirchief concern is to save bodies, not souls, as Jesus taught.
The fact is, there are today those who would push Jesus into antiquity as being outmoded, outdated, and unnecessary; and would attack those who cling to him and his "old truths." They would accuse Christians who hold to the biblical truth that you can only come to God for deliverance from sin's slavery through Christ, as being "intolerant of other religions," or of being "religious bigots," or of "putting God in a box," or of being "exclusivist." Friends, we must cling to the biblical is dreadfully marred and defaced in us. It is in Jesus that we see ourselves as we ought to be. It is only in Jesus that our sins can be forgiven. It is only in Jesus that we can be made new creatures. It is only in Jesus that we have any hope at all.
The horrible truth is that most of us bear very little similarity to Christ, our great Example. A Peanuts cartoon, some years ago, showed Lucy saying to Charlie Brown, "I hate everything! I hate everybody! I hate the whole world!" Charlie Brown responds, "But I thought you had inner peace." "I do have inner peace," retorted Lucy, "but I still have outer obnoxiousness!" So do most of us still find ourselves sort of obnoxious at times. We loudly sing the old gospel song, "What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought, Since Jesus came into my heart." But where is the change? Why are we so little different from what we've always been? Honestly, now, do you feel that you are very much different since you've become a Christian than what you were before? Martin Marty, one of the liveliest commentators on the American religious scene, reported in an article, "If just the Christians in America would quit their sinning, it would drastically reduce the crime rate in America." It did not look good for us Christians when the newspapers and television reported that someone called "Robin Hud" by the press, who claimed to be a born-again Christian, was accused of embezzling nearly $5 million from the U.S. government. Something is wrong when thefts take place in the church. I have had two billfolds stolen in my life, both of them had been left in a pastor's study and were taken while we were in the worship services. We really need to offer to Christ a "new and improved" me and you!
We have a copying machine in our home, and we wonder sometimes how we ever managed to get along without it in the past. But, I rarely use it without thinking of the story I heard about a couple of men who worked in the army in military intelligence. This work often required long, typed reports. One day, the soldiers were dismayed to find only one sheet of typing paper on the base, and it was a weekend. In desperation, they went to the base reproduction and printing facility and asked the soldier on duty there for some of the paper used in the copying machine. He told them it was against regulations to give out any copy paper; regulations stated that all he could do for them was to make copies. So, not wanting to argue with army logic, the men simply got the soldier to run off 300 copies of their one blank sheet of typing paper! Wouldn't it be nice if the image of Christ could so easily be stamped upon us? Instead, we find his image blurred and often unrecognizable in our lives.
Through faith in Christ, we have actually been made new creatures. Why then, do we all know of Christians who lie, steal, cheat, gossip, commit adultery, and seem to still walk in darkness? There is no doubt that salvation comes to us through the work of Christ, and Christ alone. But many of us have been justified by grace through faith, but have never been sanctified. Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit that prompts and empowers and produces good works in us.
You've heard it said of someone, "He's not the man he used to be," and that is often literally true. The American Medical Association released some figures which say that every minute, five million cells in the human body are destroyed and replaced. Eventually, we become a new person. This physical renewal takes place unconsciously, without our awareness or consent, but spiritual renewal demands our consent and awareness. That is where the work and help of the Holy Spirit comes in. As we affirm the Lordship of Christ, in total commitment, we must surrender our personal lives completely to Jesus. The privilege and responsibility of all Christians is to so live that the Presence of Christ radiates from our lives so that everyone who knows us will see Jesus and be drawn to the Savior.
The Scotch comedian, Harry Lauder, said that when he was a boy he used to be fascinated by a lamplighter who moved down the shadowed streets of the town. He could always tell where the man was, by the trail of light he left behind him. As we walk through life, do we leave a trail of light or darkness?
Christ would like to so possess us, and cleanse us, and remake us, that everyone who sees us would say we are "new and improved."
