New Life
Newness • Message 6
Perry Duggar
December 29, 2024

A. Introduction

This morning, we conclude our series, New Life.

Today's message is entitled Newness.

• We are all excited by things that are new: a New Year approaching and Christmas morning, most of us received something new, some of us received many new things!
• My grandchildren enjoy newness—opening presents to discover new gifts and toys, but instead of exploring what they have received, they ask, "What else can we open?"
• Christians receive something new and wonderful when they are born again—a new life!
• Theme verse: 2 Corinthians 5:17b (NLT)—…The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
• We will explore some of what new life in Christ includes according to 2 Corinthians 5.
• Paul wrote this letter from Macedonia to the church in Corinth to defend himself and his teaching against false teachers and to restate essential elements of a new life in Christ.

B. New life includes…
(2 Corinthians 5:1-21)

1. A new form: GLORIFIED body.
   (2 Corinthians 5:1-5. C/R: Romans 8:18-23; 1 Corinthians 15:50-54; Philippians 3:20-21)

• Paul penned this passage while facing opposition, persecution and even death on a daily basis from unbelieving Jews and Gentiles who viewed him as a danger to their religion.
• He encouraged Christians to not fear death, for they have something new and wonderful awaiting them after they pass from this life.
• 2 Corinthians 5:1 (NLT)—For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body [Greek everlasting] made for us by God Himself and not by human hands.
• The reference to our body as a house seems unusual, but the reason is because our physical bodies house our eternal souls, which is our true, personal, identity.
• Our souls consist of our wills, our mental and our emotional selves (thoughts and feelings).
• Our soul is our personality; it's who we are. It's the part of us that connects to other people.
• For believers, it is the part of us which resides in heaven in a new form, an eternal body after this life ends.
• Our spirit is the immaterial part of us that connects with God's Spirit.
• We are born spiritually dead [Ephesians 2:4-5; Colossians 2:13] and become spiritually alive through regeneration (being born again). (We aren't a spirit; we have a spirit.)
• 2 Corinthians 5:2-3 (NLT)—We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. [Tired of sorrow, suffering, weakness and sins.] For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. [Greek word means not naked spirits, instead, spirits with a new body, a new form.] [1 Corinthians 15]
• 2 Corinthians 5:4 (NLT)—While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it's not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life [eternal life].
• Philippians 3:20–21 (NLT)—But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for Him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like His own, using the same power with which He will bring everything under His control. [like Jesus; 1 John 3:2]
• When Jesus returns for us, we will receive a glorified body like His that will live forever!
• 2 Corinthians 5:5 (NLT)—God Himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee, He has given us His Holy Spirit. [Romans 8:18-23; Ephesians 1:14]
• God provides believers with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that they will receive resurrected, spiritual, glorified bodies that won't wear out when Christ returns for us.
• APP.: Do you sense the Spirit within you guaranteeing the new body promised to you?

New life includes… 

2. A new focus: GOD-LED life.
   (2 Corinthians 5:6-10. C/R: Romans 2:6-7; Galatians 5:16,25; Ephesians 2:10; Hebrews 11:1)

• 2 Corinthians 5:6 (NLT)—So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord.
• Believers communicate with God through prayer and study of His Word (the Bible); we experience His Presence through the indwelling Holy Spirit, yet there is still a sense in which we are separated from God while we live on earth in these physical bodies.
• 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NLT)—For we live by believing and not by seeing. [by faith, not sight]
• Our personal connection with God enables us to live according to the reality of our faith.
• Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)—Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.
• Though God and His Spirit are not seen physically, they are experienced as true guides for our lives—and the evidence of Their influence is seen in our lives. [Galatians 5:16,25]
• 2 Corinthians 5:8-9 (NLT)—Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please Him.
• Our new lives are led by focusing on an unseen reality that determines our decisions and guides our directions so we can live to satisfy God now, in this new life and in eternity.
• 2 Corinthians 5:10 (NLT)—For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.
• God will judge both believers and unbelievers, not only regarding salvation but also with respect to deeds performed—words and actions—while on earth. [Romans 2:6-7; Ephesians 2:10]
• APP.: Do you live a God-led life, following the Holy Spirit's direction to use your time, talents and treasure in ways that will please God?

New life includes…

3. A new function: GOSPEL-MOTIVATED.
   (2 Corinthians 5:11-21. C/R: Luke 10:2; Ephesians 3:7; Philippians 1:20-21) 

• 2 Corinthians 5:11 (NLT)—Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord [we know what it is to fear the Lord; to have reverence, awe, and respect for Him, resulting in adoration, worship, and service], we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. [Despite criticism of false apostles.]
• Because Paul knew personally, experientially, the transformative grace of God, he was motivated to spread the Good News of God's offer to forgive and save all who believe.
• 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 (NLT)—...Christ’s love controls us. [compels us or urges us on.] Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. [Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:12–17]
• Jesus' love for Paul—and for us—compels us to live our new lives for Christ instead of for ourselves and to serve Him by reaching others with His life-giving message.
• 2 Corinthians 5:16a (NLT)—So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view.
• We stop viewing people according to their past mistakes or present troubles and, instead, see them and treat them according to their potential in Christ and their future glory.
• Encouraging people with hope helps to draw them to the newness that God offers. (Colossians 3:11)
• 2 Corinthians 5:16b (NLT)—At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view.
• Paul previously thought Jesus was merely a man, but worse, a false Messiah, a heretic who was attacking Judaism, so he persecuted Jesus' followers. (Acts 25:9-11)
• 2 Corinthians 5:16c-17 (NLT)— How differently we know Him now! [experienced Him, regenerated on Damascus Road; Acts 9] This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! [Romans 6:1-7]
• When we are born again by the Holy Spirit, we are not the same person; we have been justified, regenerated, changed, and are being transformed, sanctified, so that we become more and more like Jesus in our thinking and acting, our ambitions and desires.
• As baptism signifies, we have died to our old self-centered self and are raised in Christ to be someone completely new, now controlled by the Spirit, no longer dominated by sin.
• 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (NLT)—And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself [Greek word means to change mutually, to reconcile] through Christ [His death produced peace between God and people]. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him. [Ending hostility between God and people.] For God was in Christ, reconciling the world [Greek kŏsmŏs, people estranged from God, under the influence of sin and the devil] to Himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.
• We are entrusted with this life-changing, eternity-altering message!
• 2 Corinthians 5:20 (NLT)—So we are Christ's ambassadors [representatives sent to speak with authority, to present God's plan for peace]; God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, "Come back to God!"
• Then Paul again writes out the reason for our reconciliation with God and our motivation for helping others to be reconciled as well.
• 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NLT)—For God made Christ, who never sinned [though tempted; Hebrews 4:15], to be the offering for our sin [literally, be sin; Galatians 3:13], so that we could be made right with God through Christ. [Christ, without sin, became our sin, so He could be punished in our place, making us right with God (righteous)] [Romans 3:25; 4:25; 8:3]
• APP.: Have you been reconciled God? Are you fulfilling this new function from Him: Calling people back to God? (S.M.)
• APP.: How do I do this? Start with kindness, show interest in people's lives, concern for their problems, help in practical ways and include an invitation to your church or group.
• Don't be afraid. Invitations aren't assaults; they're compliments!

Memory verse: 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)—This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!