This morning I am reflecting on the verses that I quoted at the end of my reflection yesterday, Paul writing to the Church of Corinth about their call to be ambassadors of reconciliation. Here are the verses - 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 NIV:
[17] "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! [18] All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: [19] that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. [20] We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. [21] God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
While yesterday I focused on the reconciliation part, today I am caught by Paul's statement about the old and new creation in verses 17 & 18. This is one of the most important messages of the Gospel of Grace! Paul is basically writing this from God's perspective. Here are the facts outlined in those two verses:
Again, these are from God's perspective.
1) If anyone is in Christ they are a new creation!
2) The old creation HAS gone.
3) All this is from God (in other words, not due to us).
This morning as I read these verses I am reminded of adoption and our new identity, which is essentially the same thing that Paul is writing about here. I had a pretty thorough reflection on adoption a while back and the basic principal Paul was describing was one of a new identity, a new persona that is created when we accept our adoption by God. (See http://amomentwithgod-srh.blogspot.com/2017/06/adoption-as-gods-sons-and-daughters-its.html - for a more complete reflection on this topic). In other words, from God's perspective when we become His adopted sons and daughters, our old identity no longer exists, and God creates a new identity for us, gives us a new name and everything from our old identity ceases to exist. While the choice to accept this adoption is ours, the work is done by the Lord. Paul writes that here in verse 18, and finishes with a summary of that in verse 21 - " God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Wow! The new creation is so complete that rather than being "sinful" humans, we become the "righteousness of God!"
So, in light of these facts, how should we treat on another? How should we think about ourselves? How should we act?
Again, this is from God's perspective. Our actually living this out in our life might be different experientially, but this is God's perspective of us. I am blessed to work with a ministry that works with foster children, and some number of those children have gone on to be adopted. They have experienced what Paul was writing about concerning adoption (Gal 4:4-7). Their names have been changed, their legal identity is new, and it is as if the old identity no longer exists. This is true, except for in their own minds and hearts. Many of these young people have been wounded and scarred from their previous lives, and their new life will be one of learning to embrace their new life, their new identity, their new family, without being greatly affected by their old life. How much they are able to be healed and set free from the bad things that happened in their previous life, will in large part be affected by those who have adopted them. Their new families understand that the transition from old to new takes time, and sometimes takes healing, and counseling, and always takes patience and love. While the young adopted person's legal identity changes the day they are adopted, it often takes years for them to fully transition internally to their new identity.
In the same way, Paul is writing about the change that occurs legally in the Kingdom, we become new creations with a new identity, but most of us struggle with making the full transition internally to this new identity. This is where we must learn to love and accept one another as being in process. Expecting newly joined members of the Body of Christ to think and act like those who have been in the Body, and thus hopefully learning to live in our new identities, for decades is foolishness. We must have patience and love, offer support and encouragement to those that are learning to live with their new identity as sons and daughters of God.
In our ministry, we sometimes have to explain to the children that they don't need to hoard food, because there will be enough to eat. This is because in their previous experiences, sufficient food was not always available. We don't discipline them if they do hoard food, but rather we understand why and help them understand that at least during the time we are working with them, that food will always be sufficient! Sometimes, they react strongly or are triggered by certain occurrences, words, or even smells that they associate with something bad that has happened. Again, we don't punish them for this, but understand that these things are vestiges of their previous lives (hopefully).
In the same way, my prayer is that we would learn to encourage and support and love each other in the Body of Christ. I pray that we would understand that God sees us as new creations, with new identities, but also understands that we can still be affected by our old. We must learn to give each other the same understanding, grace and mercy that God gives us. We must learn to encourage each other in our healing and learning to live fully in our new identities. We must not judge those that are still dealing with old wounds and old mindsets, allowing for God to work in their lives to bring healing and deliverance. We must be ministers of reconciliation, embracing the process of reconciliation and working to allow people to discover and embrace their new identities, their new creation nature which is available in and through Christ Jesus.
So, let us celebrate our new creation, our new identity! Let us embrace one another and encourage one another as we learn to live as true sons and daughters of God! Let us extend understanding, mercy and grace, even as the Lord does, to ourselves and to each other. Let us learn how to leave our old creation and identity behind and learn to live as new creations with new idenitities. Finally, let us thank God who makes all this possible!
Amen and amen!
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