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Mark Wheeler
II Corinthians 5:17
First Sunday in Lent, 02/26/2023
“Behold, There Is a New Creation”
Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church
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Welcome to worship, friends – on this first Sunday in the season of Lent – a Season designed to prepare us for the wonder and grace of Jesus’ death and resurrection, Good Friday and Easter Sunday – let’s join in as Pastor Kathy leads us in our Call to Worship –
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And let’s immediately follow that with our Prelude of Praise and Contirtion –– Make Me a Servant
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Good morning Friends! Welcome worship at Lidgerwood!! Shalom Aleichem!
We all mess up, don’t we. We say things we later wish we could take back. We do things we wish we could undo. We miss opportunities. We lose possibilities. This happens all the time. Sometimes we make mistakes at work; sometimes we hurt the people we love; sometimes we disappoint God.
And because we all mess up, we like to start over—to turn our backs on the past, to look forward, to hope that this time round things are going to be better.
There’s something exciting about starting over—new challenges, new experiences, new opportunities. I love starting a new year. I make plans, things I’d like to accomplish, big challenges ahead of me. Having just had my 62nd birthday, I look back over the past year and realize there are some things I’d like to do differently. Perhaps you’ve had similar thoughts…
I remember what it was like for me to start a new year at school: new classmates, new textbooks, new teachers and new subjects. And then there were all the New Year’s resolutions: This year I’m going to write neatly. I’m going to do my homework everyday. I’m going to exercise regularly; lose 5 pounds, or 15, or 50; give a real 10% tithe… And so the list begins.
I don’t think I’m so different. I think people generally like to start over. I think that’s why young people look forward to leaving school and home and going to college. I suspect that’s why some people are continuously starting new relationships.
Perhaps that’s why we all need opportunities to rededicate our lives to God.
This is why the Season of Lent exists. So that we might be-come what God calls us to be. Behold, there is a new creation!
Welcome, friends, from around the world, to this worshipping community!
Let’s take a second to welcome each other, those in the room and across the globe, to a moment of Sabbath in God’s presence and peace, and with others whom we love and with whom we grow together. Friends, may “The PEACE of Christ be with you – and also in you!!”
Welcome to this “gathering” in God’s name. We are assembled in NorthEast Spokane, WA, along with people from all over the world. We are very glad you are “here” with us.
Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit presence and power, in your homes, through your phones and computers, in this building here, and in your lives. Pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.
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Choir –! Thank you leading us in worship with this Sunday’s Choral Anthem – lead us in worship with: “This Is My Story”
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Listen in as Pastor Kathy opens our Prayer time in Confession and Thanksgiving
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9 Gloria Patri
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- what are some praises, thanksgivings, adorations we want to offer?
- Is there a person or a situation you want to lift to our Lord for His answers and grace?
13 We pray this in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray: [The Lord’s Prayer]
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Let’s prepare to receive a Word from our Majestic God by singing a song of Devotion and Praise – Love Divine, All Loves Excelling – #558!!
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You Creator God, Redeemer God, Savior God, thank You for the gift of Your Word, written that we might know You better. Clear away every potential distraction in our lives this morning. Allow us to hear You more clearly, that we might follow You more nearly … every day. Amen.
We began this service with words declaring our enduring desire to start over. Why do we like to start over? Because the future holds the hope for something better. Corrie ten Boom’s father, before he died in the Nazi concentration camp of Scheveningen consoled his family by reminding them that “the best is yet to come.” Our own Boris Zdorovets likes to say, “The finish will be good.”
But things don’t always stay this way. After too many disappointments we often give up, we lose hope. We can only start over so many times before we begin to wonder, “What’s the point? What makes me think I’m not going to mess it up again?”
Of course, people vary. The number of disappointments necessary before someone gives up hope differs from person to person.
The Bible tells a story of a lady who had reached this point, who had lost all hope:
Sighing deeply, she picks up the earthen jar and places it on her shoulder. With her free hand she opens the door. Suddenly the heat hits her and for a few seconds she can’t see a thing. Then her eyes begin to adapt to the white light outside. She bends over slightly and walks through the low door.
Outside it’s quiet. Not dead quiet—the cicadas are buzzing in the trees. But there is no-one in sight. She’s alone. She looks up and down the dusty street but doesn’t see any of the other women. With another sigh she begins to walk to the outskirts of town.
The woman is on her way to fetch water. It’s not a good time to fetch water. In fact, it’s not a good time to be outside. The sun has reached its zenith and seems to hang in the air as it beats down mercilessly on her. She could have chosen a cooler time of the day, but that would have meant facing the other women.
You see, this woman is the town’s local “bad girl”. She’s not married to the man she’s currently living with. She’s already had five husbands. Five times she’s tried to start over. Five times she’s tried to build a new life. And now she’s given up on marriage, given up on happiness, given up hope.
For her there is no turning back. No new start. No new beginning. She’s accepted her lot as an outcast. She’s learned to live without hope. (John 4:4-26)
It’s tragic to admit, but this woman is not alone in reaching this point of hopelessness. After too many disappointments, it can happen to anyone. After a while, we may begin to feel that there just isn’t a new beginning for us. Maybe that’s true of you right now.
However, the Bible offers a better truth! In total contradiction to that, the Bible speaks of a completely new beginning. Let’s look together at II Corinthians 5:17 … —
20 17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (II Cor 5:17; NIV)
A “new creation”—the Greek word used here is ktisis. If anyone has dedicated himself or herself to Christ, that person is a new ktisis. The two major meanings of ktisis are: (1) the act of creation or (2) the creation itself.
II Cor 5:17 means that when someone has decided to dedicate their lives to Jesus, Jesus begins a new “act of creation” in their lives. They aren’t merely reformed or rehabilitated. No, they are recreated. They become a brand new person. And they begin a brand new life.
Paul explains how this can take place in vv. 14 and 15: “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again.”
This is what baptism symbolizes. Our old life dies and we are buried under the water, just as Jesus was buried in the tomb. Then we come out of the water, just as Jesus came out of the grave. We come out as a new person, a new ktisis . That’s why Paul can confidently say “the old has gone, the new has come!”
When we turn back to our Bible story from John’s Gospel, we see that Jesus offered just this sort of new life to the hopeless woman:
As she nears the well, the woman notices a man sitting on the wall. She hesitates. What’s He doing there? She wants to turn away, but she needs water. With downcast eyes she walks closer. Perhaps He will just ignore her.
But He doesn’t. Instead, He asks her for some water.
Jesus should not have spoken with her. The etiquette of the day forbade it. (1) She was a woman—and a man did not speak with a woman, particularly if her husband or father were not present. (2) She was a Samaritan and He was a Jew—and the Jews and Samaritans felt the same way about each other then as the Jews and Palestinians do today. (3) She was living in sin—nobody would speak with her anymore, not even the other women in town. Jesus should not have spoken with her. But He did.
And then Jesus offers her living water—the living water which quenches a person’s thirst and gives eternal life. There’re a number of Old Testament texts which refer to God as the fountain of living water (Ps 36:9; Jer 17:13) and in making this reference to living water, Jesus is actually telling her, “Hey, I’m the Messiah! I’m what you’ve been longing for! I’m what you need in your life!”
But the woman does not realize what He’s talking about. And then He begins to get too personal. He tells her about her failed marriages. He reminds her of her past, of all her disappointments. And with each word the door to her pain is forced a little more open.
She begins to realize what He’s offering her—a brand new beginning—but the pain is just too much and she slams the door shut. In her mind she steps away from His offer and throws up a smokescreen between herself and the Messiah. She changes the topic, tries to lure Him away with a popular debate, lure Him away from her sin, lure Him away from her disappointments, lure Him away from her pain.
It’s not easy to confront our failures, our disappointments, our pain. In fact, it’s possible for us to get used to living in spiritual poverty, to live without hope. To hope again is scary. If we begin to hope again, we might be disappointed again. If we try to start over once more, we might just fail once more.
But however scary it might be to think of making a new start, THAT is exactly what the Bible is promising: “[I]f anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”
When we meet Jesus as our personal Messiah, we are made new. Behold, there is a new creation! But that is only the beginning of our journey with Jesus toward Jerusalem. That is just the 1st step.
I invite you to take that 1st step this morning. I even invite those here who had taken that 1st step 70 years ago to take it again this morning!
I could ask the question, “Where does this message leave us today?” Instead, I am going to ask, “Where does this message find you today?”
Perhaps things are going well. Sure, you’ve made some mistakes, you’ve messed up a little, but you’re still living with the hope that you will be able to start over.
Perhaps things are falling apart. You’ve tried the starting over bit—over and over and over—and you’ve come to realize it’s just no good. You’ve lost all hope in any real new beginning.
Perhaps you’ve met the Messiah. You’ve gone through the ups and downs. You’ve tried it all—you know what it’s like to promise yourself a new start, you know what it’s like to reach that point of hopelessness, of just giving up. But now you’ve met the Messiah. And suddenly you know what it is to really start over—to be a new creation.
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It doesn’t really matter where we are today, because today is a new day. Paul writes at the end of this paragraph: “I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, today is the day of salvation.” (II Cor 6:2)
Friends, Jesus is offering us, He’s offering you, what He offered the woman at the well—a new creation, living water. Go on. Drink it. She did … and her whole life became new!
As the Church of LPC, getting ready for our next Hundred Years, Now is the time of God’s favor! Behold, we are a new creation! Amen!
If this is a brand new start for you today – come talk to me or Pastor Kathy or Donna or any of our Elders, and we’ll pray together as we celebrate be-ing a new creation in Christ!
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Receive our tithes and offerings as symbols of our very lives and livelihood, given as response to Your life given for us! Bless it, and by it bless the world around us. In Christ’s name, Amen.
– Offering (4449 N Nevada St, Spokane, 99207 ; click HERE, or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”)
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24-26 Expedition Song #51 – God, You Spin the Whirling Planets!
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We continue with this benediction: May we Grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit.
And give glory to God, today, and forever! Amen.
And as we do that: “May the Lord bless you and protect you;
may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.”
29 Announcements
- Monday thru the Bible time at lunch – come at noon, or join on Zoom at noon, with your own sack lunch, and any insights, questions, discoveries you’ve encountered in your February Thru the Bible reading!
- Thursday Bible Study –very Thursday at 10am, here and on Zoom
- Cantata Choir Rehearsal –very Thursday at 6pm
Resources:
Dietterich, Inagrace T.; Journey of Discovery Bible Study: Behold, There Is a New Creation; Center for Parish Development; Chicago, IL; 1999; Pp. 1-4.
Naude, Rocco; A New Beginning; sermon preached 01/06/2002.
Ten Boom, Corrie; Prisoner, and Yet …; 1954; P. 20.
Wheeler, Mark; “Behold, There Is a New Creation”; Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church; 02/26/2006.
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