How To Find A Fresh Start

A Sermon By Jim Hammond from 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

In everything from computers to dishwashing liquid, we want the new and improved version. Often, however, getting something new is not a luxury, but a necessity. Everyone has experienced the need to replace an old, malfunctioning item with a new one.

Recently, I was experiencing all kinds of computer problems on my computer at home. I would constantly get error messages. Some of the peripheries wouldn’t work. I began to wonder if it was a virus corrupting the whole system. I think I know what God must feel like when a virus called sin corrupts our whole system. After consulting someone who knew more than I do, I decided to reformat the hard drive, load a new operating system and start all over. God knows what that feels like, to begin the internal transformation process. In fact, he offers to reformat everything and make you completely new with a completely new operating system. He offers to erase the virus and reconstruct the system. I wish I could say that when I did that to my old computer all the problems were solved. That would make this illustration nice and tidy. But they weren’t, and maybe that makes this illustration more effective. I have new messages and new problems. It sure seems like my computer has a mind of its own and rebels against me. I think I know what God must feel like. I’m sorry, God, I must do this to you all the time.

Do you ever wish you could have a fresh start? There can be many reasons for wanting a fresh start. Many suffering relationships would be salvageable if they could only find a fresh start. People who have betrayed a trust wish they could find a fresh start. People who are weighed down by problems, guilt, debt, addictions, habits, ruts, wish they could find a fresh start.

People need more than simply a new day. If you say to them, “Come now, today is the first day of the rest of your life.” This doesn’t help. They may reply, “Yeah, so what, it is still me. Nothing has changed!” People need more than a change of scenery. A parent may pull a child out of one school because of bad relationships to help their child start fresh only to find in but a few months they have found worse friends in the new school or new neighborhood. New scenery is not what is needed but some kind of radical internal change.

I remember driving a car with a load of things to go off to my first year of college. I remember thinking, this is great. I’m going to a new place for a fresh start. Nobody knows me for what I have been; I have a clean slate. I think I’ll go out for basketball.

Now that really seems irrational to me now. I loved basketball, but what made me think I would go out for basketball in college when I didn’t go out for basketball in High School? I thought to myself, here’s a fresh start, I could do those things I regretted not doing before. There was only one problem. The scenery had changed and I had a new opportunity, but I was still the same person with the same skills. I didn’t go out for basketball.

Focus: People with problems need more than a change of scenery, or the hope of a brand new day. People need the internally transforming radical fresh start offered through Jesus Christ.

I. Christ Can Give Anyone A Fresh Start

2 Corinthians 5:16-17 ¹⁶So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

First, I want you to notice in verse 17 the word “anyone”. Anyone can find a fresh start in Christ. That is what Christ offers. He can forgive the past. The old you can be buried. You can enjoy a new you. You don’t have to think, Oh yeah, right. That might be okay for you, but you don’t know what a mess I’ve made of my life. It doesn’t matter. Christ offers this fresh start to anyone. It doesn’t matter what grave sin you have committed. The old can be gone, the new can come. You can become a new creation. This is the hope God offers to ANYONE who wants it. There’s the key. You must want it.

A. First We Must Acknowledge Our Need

In order for Christ to give us a fresh start, first, we must acknowledge that we have a need for change. This reminds me of one of those how-many-does-it-take-to-change-a-light-bulb jokes.

"How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but it has to really want to change."

Christ can give us a fresh start, but he doesn’t do it without us wanting a fresh start. Personal change comes best from the inside out.

I’ve heard that there’s a musical on Broadway called, "I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change." Sounds like a lot of relationships doesn’t it? We try to change each other, but really change starts from within. If someone doesn’t want to change, you aren’t going to be able to change them.

You have heard it said before that there are three things a woman sees on her wedding day. She sees the aisle, the altar, and him. She remembers these things on that wedding day. Aisle, altar, him. From that day forward she thinks, I’ll alter him! But we know this doesn’t work very well.

Christ is the one that gives us a fresh start, and he is the one that changes us from within. If you want a fresh start, the best way to find a fresh start is to acknowledge that you need to change. But even with the desire to change, for most people desire is not enough. Don’t you agree? Many know they need to diet, they want to change, but they either must not want it badly enough, or they need something more than the desire for change. Alcoholics will at many times want to change, but desire and the acknowledgement of need is not enough. We don’t just have a need. We have a need for help!

1. We Need Inside-Outside Help

We usually talk about outside help. But outside help by itself won’t do it. And an acknowledgement from within that we have a need alone won’t do it either. The good news is that Christ offers inside and outside help. He can change your desires internally, and he offers you the resources you don’t have.

The Meaning of “In Christ” (v. 17 and v. 19)

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

2 Corinthians 5:19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

Notice the phrase “in Christ” in verse 17 and in verse 19. Paul uses this phrase “In Christ” over and over again. A quick search of the phrase “in Christ” in Paul’s epistles brought up a list of 84 verses where Paul used this phrase. I want to ask you a question of spatial logic. Are Christians in Christ or is Christ in Christians? Paul speaks of both. (For Christ “in you” see Galatians 2:20; 2 Corinthians 13:5; Ephesians 3:17; Col. 1:27). Spatially speaking, this seems to break all the rules of logic doesn’t it?

Spatially

If we look at the phase “In Christ” spatially, it might at first be confusing but it need not be. Think of a bottle in an ocean. It is filled with water, and it is in water. Think of a bottle under a water fall. Uncork it, put it under the water fall. Hold it there. Is the water in the bottle or is the bottle in the water? It is both. That is a great spatial picture of being in Christ, and He in you. When you admit you have a need, you have uncorked your bottle. When you place yourself under his waterfall of grace, you have placed yourself under his inside-outside help.

Relationally

Let’s look at the phrase “In Christ” relationally. If we are IN Christ – we are in a RELATIONSHIP with Christ. To “be in Christ” was one of Paul’s favorite expressions. He used it often and to him it meant the very fact of being a Christian. To be “In Christ” is to have a close, intimate, real, relationship with Him.

II. Anyone In Christ is a New Creation

¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

CREATION AND NEW CREATION

There is a fascinating parallel between God’s creation, and the new creation. The Bible tells us in the book of Genesis that the world was Formless, Empty, In darkness, and Submerged underneath water. I want you to see that this paralleled our lives before we became New Creations.

Before we were made New Creations we were also formless--The word formless in the Hebrew can include the meaning of “confusion” and “chaos”. Before you became a new creation, were you confused? The lost world around us is definitely confused. Before becoming new, just like with the world, people are empty.

Why do we give in to the sin in our lives? Probably because we are trying to fill some void in our life. We sin because we are somehow not fully satisfied with God. We are still empty and we are desperately trying to fill that emptiness with meaning or pleasure. Like the pre-created world, we were in darkness. Before you became a new creation, were you in the dark? The lost world is living in darkness. That is why people cannot find their way and they keep running into the walls of sin and being knocked down. Before we were recreated we were submerged underneath the sea of sin. We were lost, sunk, submerged and dead under this sea. Does this describe your past or are you still living in this type of setting? If it still describes you, you need Christ to make you a new creation.

MORE THAN A MODIFICATION

More than slight adjustments and modifications are being described here. He changes everything. It “ruins” the old way of life. If you aren’t ready to change, you may not want Christ. I’m just being honest here. Repentance is that desire within us that comes from an encounter with God that makes us ready to make a U-turn. We are ready to hand over the controls and do it God’s way rather than our own way. I don’t think you can become a new creation until you are willing to step off the throne of your life, and allow Christ to sit on the throne of your life. The good news is that he will do the changing, the recreating, if you are willing to do this. He makes you a new creation! If you have given your life to Christ, you already are a new creation. You are different. The new work has begun.

If you have given your life to Christ, how do you see yourself?

You are not merely reformed, rehabilitated, or reeducated—you have been re-created (new creations). A living vital union with Christ has literally made you a different kind of spiritual being. This is not turning over a new leaf, but starting a new life. It is life under new management! Under a new master.

The old things have gone. Do we really believe this? Since we constantly review the past, it is often difficult to accept that God puts our past in the past.

The new has come. Do we really believe this? We don’t always look new, but where it counts we are.

This is only possible because we are in Christ. He is the only one with the power to make us new. When you truly believe this, the practical implications are astounding!

Augustine

Augustine of Hippo lived a life of dissipation prior to his conversion. After he had changed his life, he was noticed on the street by a prostitute he had previously frequented. She called to him, “Augustine, it is I.” He ignored her while she continued, “Augustine, it is I.” Finally he replied, “Yes, but it is no longer I.”

III. A Fresh Start Includes A New Purpose

A. We See Others through Heaven’s Eyes

¹⁶So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.

How Do We see People? Here’s A Fresh New View. In heaven’s eyes there are no losers. If each person can become a New Creation, there is hope for everyone. We must learn to see lost people through the eyes of this kind of hope.

B. We See Ourselves as Ambassadors of the Best News

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰We 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. ²¹God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

He no longer is counting our sin against us (5:19). Why is the judge of the universe no longer going to hold us responsible for our sin? Verse 21 gives us the answer. A legal exchange has taken place. This exchange (v. 21) is absolutely the best news there was ever written! It is the best deal ever offered. When we trusted in Christ, we made an exchange: He took our sin away and made us right with God. Our sin was laid on Christ at his crucifixion (5:21). His righteousness was given to us at our conversion. This is what Christians mean by Christ’s atonement for sin. In the world, bartering works only when two people exchange goods of relatively equal value. But God offers to trade his righteousness for our sin—something of immeasurable worth for something completely worthless. And the reason God did this was because he loves us and this is the only way possible for us to have an eternal relationship with him. This isn’t just good news, this is the best news ever. Only when you are convinced that it is the BEST news will you become an ambassador of this reconciliation.

If it is the best news, it isn’t just good news for you. You must be convinced it is the best news for everyone. I’m convinced of this.

An ambassador is an official representative of one country to another. God is making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.

We have a new Purpose (vv. 20, 21).

We are reconciled to become reconcilers.

We have been made ambassadors.

We cannot rest until all who need the message have heard it.

If your life has become dull and boring, if things seem hopeless or meaningless, then go to the God who makes all things new. Let Him change your life.

If you want to Find a Fresh Start, You have to:

ADMIT that you cannot make that change on your own.

ASK God for the exchange he offered In Christ

Dear Lord,

I admit that I cannot make the changes you want me to make on my own. I fail, I stumble, and I fall short. I ask for the exchange that you offer. I lay before you my sin. Thank you for taking them away on the cross so that they no longer count against me. I ask for the exchange you offer in Christ. I remove the pride that acts as a cork keeping your waterfall of grace out of my life. I place myself under your grace. Fill me up with Christ and wash me clean. Give me what I need inside and out. I need your inside job. I need the outside help you offer. Help me to live out my life from the fresh start you give me. Help me not to live according to the lies of this world, or even the lies of my mind. I want the truth of Christ. I want my life to be the new creation you have promised. Help me to believe I am made new so I can live life from a fresh start.

In Jesus Name, Amen.