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REFORMAT |
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Don’t you love it when you get a new
computer? Surfing the web is so quick. You click the link and you are there. It is amazing. But then as time goes on… you add more and
more programs… and
stuff just builds up on your computer, and your computer slows down. Well, there a few times in my life when my
computer has
gotten so slow and frustrating… and there were just so many programs on
there…
and so much stuff… that I knew it would take me way too long to take
care of it
one problem at a time…. So I have taken drastic measures.
I have done “The Reformat.” You ever done that with your computer? You get a screen like this: WARNING,
ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK DRIVE C: WILL BE
LOST! Proceed with Format (Y/N)? I can tell you that once you press that “Y”
button, you feel
like a new era in your life has just begun.
If you forgot to back up some file?
It is too late now. There is a sense of finality.
There is also this incredible peace that
comes over you. You are starting
anew. The old computer is gone, and the
new computer has come. Ever feel like you need a reformat? Not your computer… but you? This morning we are continuing our 4-week
series in one
verse: Ephesians 2:10. We read: For we are
God’s
Masterpiece. He has created us anew in
Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long
ago. This morning we are focusing on the second
part of this
verse: the phrase that reads: He has created
us anew
in Christ Jesus. What does it mean to be created anew in
Christ Jesus? My answer this morning is this: Reformat. To be created anew in Christ Jesus is to get
a reformat. And the next question, then, is
this: How do we experience this reformatted life that Jesus
offers
us? There are three clear aspects of this
reformatted life; I’d
like to talk about how we can experience each one of them: First: The Forgiven
Life The reformatted life is a forgiven life. Ever wish you could go back and change
something you’ve
done? Ever made a mistake that had
really bad consequences? The Bible tells us clearly that this is most
certainly the
case… with every one of us! We read: For all
have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God. And… The wages of
sin is
death. But you know what?
Even if we could go back a few days… months… or even
years, we’d still
be stuck in the same situation. We’d
still be stuck in our sin. What we need is a complete reformat. The forgiven life is like a complete
reformat. When you reformat your computer,
the old data
and programs are not accessible. They
are gone. Completely. The forgiven life is experienced by trusting
that in Jesus
we have complete forgiveness of sins. It
is taking God at his word. It is
believing his promises. It is living
life banking on the truth that Jesus lived a righteous life for you… in
your
place… the righteous life that you aren’t living, Jesus lived it for
you. And Jesus’ death on the cross… that
was the
death that you and I deserved. But he
died in our place. Consider Psalm
103:11-12: For his unfailing love toward those
who fear
him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. 12
He
has removed our rebellious acts as far away from us as the east is from
the
west. Great news, isn’t it? And how do we experience this forgiveness? Consider 1 John 1:9: But
if we confess our
sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us
from every
wrong. And we read in Acts 2:38: Peter replied,
"Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized
in
the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you
will
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We experience the forgiven life by
confessing our sins…
agreeing with God that sin is bad… that it is killing us…. That we hate
it. When is the last time you told God that you
hated your
sin? Maybe you might want to do that
right now… in the quietness of your own heart, just tell Jesus that you
hate
your own sin. Tell him that you want
nothing to do with it anymore. We experience the Forgiven life by turning
from our sins and
turning toward God. When is the last time you told God with
resolve: God, I want
life; I am here and now turning away from my sin and turning to you. I am putting you on the throne of my life. Which of these pictures best represents you? (Throne Illustration) You are on the throne of your life? Or Christ is on the throne of your life? Maybe you might want to even do that right
now: Jesus, I here and now give you control… I am
putting you on
the throne of my life. We all hunger and thirst for living at peace
with God. We all want it.
Deep down, that is our most basic need. Are you at peace with God?
Are you experiencing the forgiven life? Is the sin and the garbage slowing you down? Jesus can take care of that!
He alone can perform the reformat. Let’s move on now to the second aspect of
the reformatted
life: The Abundant Life We read in John 10:10: The thief comes only
to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have
it
abundantly. According to Jesus, why did he come? So that we can have life and have it
abundantly! Do you want abundant life?
Do you want the abundant life that only God can give? How do we experience this abundant life? My answer this morning: reformat! Now I know some of you might not agree with
me here… But what did I do that first day I got my PC? I put all my programs on it!
I installed Microsoft Office. I
installed my Firefox browser. I installed
the Bible Works program…. And my
Bible commentaries… and ITunes, of course.
I put all of my photos on there…. And my music. And
over the ensuing weeks and months… I added all sorts of mini
applications and
lots of data. And my computer got slow. Computer experts will tell you that what is
really happening
here is that when you add all of these programs to your computer, it
adds
instructions to you computer, telling it what to do when it turns on
and what
to do once it is on. Some of these
instructions don’t agree well with each other or with your computer… so
your
computer slows down as it tries to sort everything out. When I first bought my computer, all it had
to do was start
Windows Vista when it turned on (which was actually quite a feat for
those of
you familiar with But after weeks of installing programs etc.,
now, when I
turn it on, it has to start and run a gazillion applications in
addition. My computer is not experiencing the abundant
life! It is experiencing the bogged down
life! And what happens to us is the same thing. As we go through life, we let the world
around us install in us all sorts of applications.
Some good; some not so good. We
learn to make life work, though… we feel
bogged down and slow, but we keep getting up in the morning and doing
what we
need to do to continue through the days and weeks, months and years. But we are most certainly not experiencing
the abundant
life. We are bogged down and slow. We need a reformat! We need to have God come into our lives in a
fresh way and
clean us up. Ever feel like you are experiencing
application overload? Trying to perform
too many tasks at
once? Ever feel like there are so many
mixed messages going on in your brain that you want to just shut down? Too many things to do. Too
many people to please. Too many
expectations to meet? If this is you: try reformatting
and installing only this
operating system: 'You must love the Lord your
God with all
your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.' And,
'Love
your neighbor as yourself.' Isn’t that true, though?
If we simplified our lives and operated according to this
truth, all of
the applications that mess us up and slow us down would never get
installed and
therefore never slow us down! What are some of these applications that bog
us down? We start to run according the
ways of the
world around us. We start to think about
life the way the world around us tells us to think.
We listen to the TV, to movies, to famous
people, and the neighbor next door… And
we start to believe and live by these things: money buys happiness do what feels good God doesn’t love you you’re just not good enough please people, not God life works without God So how do we get back to the way it is
supposed to be? How do we experience the
abundant life? How do we experience the
reformat? We need to let God install the right
programs. We read in Romans
12:2: Do not be conformed
any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of
your minds. We accomplish this by saturating ourselves
with God’s
thoughts. We renew our minds by letting
God change the way we think. How do we
do this? By being in the Word. By meditating on God’s truth.
By listening to God’s truth. By
reading God’s truth. Question: what are you doing these days to
saturate your
mind with God’s Word? Are you in the Word these days?
Are you doing One Thing Studies? Are
you having meaningful times in the Bible? We live the abundant life by handing our
lives over to God,
giving him control. We live the abundant
life by seeking in God’s Word the love and truth that we need to keep
living
for Him. Being in the center of God’s will is what
will ultimately
make us the happiest, right? Life and
peace is only found in one person: Jesus Christ. Don’t we want it?
Don’t we want to live full of Love?
Full of Joy? The path is laid out for us: reformat! The abundant life is only found in the simple
truth: Love Jesus. And now for the third aspect of the
reformatted life: Eternal Life C.S. Lewis writes about the truth that
people long for
immortality. Time passes, and we act
surprised! He notes how funny it is that
we say things like, “Wow, they grow
up so fast!”
Or… “That seems like
just yesterday!” Lewis notes how
funny it is that we talk as
if the passing of time is always surprising us!
Any of you surprised that the sun rose this
morning? Of course not!
It is nothing new! The sun
rises every morning. So what is the deal with us being so
surprised that time is
passing? Lewis concludes that this is evidence that
we were made for
immortality. It would be like a fish saying, “Wow, this water is
wet!” Fish don’t do that. Why not?
Because they were made for water.
If fish could talk to each other, they
wouldn’t say, “Wow, I
sure would like to get out of this fish bowl and enjoy some fresh air!” They don’t long for that for which they
weren’t made. Question: why does the passing of time
surprise us? Question: why do we long for immortality? The answer is simple: we were made for
eternal life! God created us for an
everlasting
relationship with Him. This is, after
all, what eternal life is. We read in
John 17:3 that eternal life is simply this: knowing Jesus. We were made to Know Jesus… forever. How do we experience the eternal life? By making life all about this one thing:
knowing Jesus. Question: how does that make you feel that
you will spend
eternity getting to know Jesus more? Some people like the idea of there being a
heaven. Whatever they like doing now, they
think it
will be there in heaven, but better!
Like the best golf courses ever.
The fastest cars. The most
beautiful beaches. The best hiking
trails. Who knows, maybe its true! But one thing I do know is that heaven is all
about Jesus. Ever thought of this: if you don’t like
Jesus now, what
makes you think you’ll like him in heaven? If you don’t want to know Jesus now, what
makes you think
you’ll enjoy knowing Him in heaven? For those who don’t love Jesus, heaven would
be hell! Question: what are you doing now to enjoy a
relationship
with Jesus? I disciple a few college students at Last night at our Campus Crusade Large Group
meeting, one of
these guys came up to me all excited and said, “Steve! I did it!
I took a spiritual retreat! I
went to Isn’t that a great God-story?! When is the last time you and Jesus went on
a little
retreat? When we trust in Jesus, we have eternal life. We enter into a relationship with Him which
will never end. And from the moment we trust Christ, from
that moment
onward, life has new purpose… new focus.
It is all about one thing: knowing, loving, and being
loved by Jesus. Isn’t that amazing?
We can have intimacy with God that never ends and only
gets better…
throughout eternity! Doesn’t that just make you want to know him
all the more? We are wise to ask ourselves the question: How much do I really want to know Jesus more? What am I doing to know Jesus more? What can I do to know Jesus more? Think about that for a moment: There is nothing more important than this: What can you do to know Jesus more? Don’t we want to say with Paul: I consider everything
a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my
Lord. Are we experiencing the Forgiven Life that
God has for us? Are we experiencing the Abundant Life that
God has for us? Are we experiencing the Eternal Life that
God has for us? For we are God’s
Masterpiece. He has created us anew in
Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long
ago. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus. That’s what the reformatted life is all
about. Let us pray: Lord Jesus, thank you
for loving us. Thank you for giving us
life: forgiven life, abundant life and eternal life.
We want to experience this Life that you
offer us. Thank you for making us new in
you. Thank you for the reformat. Amen. |