Calvary Presbyterian Church
The Rev. Debra May Cerra
March 14, 2010

Psalms 32:1-11 Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 3 While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord," and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah 6 Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them. 7 You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah 8 I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. 9 Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you. 10 Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord. 11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

A New Creation

Did you know that none of us in this room is the same person we were seven years ago? That’s because over a period of roughly seven years every cell in our body dies and is replaced with new ones. (The exception to this is the cells in our bones which can live for up to 10 years) The reality is that almost every cell in our body today was not there seven years ago.
Doesn’t that information make you feel refreshed? The process of dying and replacing is going on in our bodies all the time. But that is not the case with our souls. Our character and our personality, which makes up who we are from deep within, are not automatically renewed in this process. We may be physically changing each day, but the heart of our being remains intact.
In a few weeks we will celebrate Christ’s resurrection. Easter gives us opportunity to anticipate our own newness of life – our own resurrection in Christ. Yes, we experience a kind of ongoing bodily resurrection as our cells die and rejuvenate every seven years. Yet our souls, our character and personality – that is, who we really are – experience change when we encounter Christ.
When our souls belong to Jesus Christ – when He is Lord and Savior of our lives – we can be made new. And that doesn’t take seven years. It can happen today! The Apostle Paul tells us: “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (17)
So, what does it mean to belong to Christ? How does our new creation happen? Does being a “new creation” make a difference?
John Bishop tells of a London slum child whose major refuge was his Roman Catholic day school. In the course of things, his school was visited by a physician who did medical examinations for the students. As this skinny little fellow left the doctor’s room, one of the nuns asked, “Well, Jimmy, what did the doctor say to you?”
Jimmy got a serious as he answered: “The doctor took one look at me and said, ‘What a miserable specimen you are!’” Then Jimmy paused and his face brightened as he said, “But, Sister, that doctor didn’t know that I’d just made my first Communion, did he?”
This story has a tender morsel of sentiment to it but it also rings with the truth of Paul’s words: “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.” There is profound hope in the realization that we are not miserable specimens of human beings. Each one of us is worth something to God.
Today’s world tries to strip people of any value. Headlines convey to us that life is cheap: “Hundreds die in violent protest”; “Thousand perish in earthquake”; Suicide bomber kills 34”; “Tsunami devastates entire village.” We think about the four billion people that share the earth and believe that our life is insignificant in the big picture. If I stop breathing, will it make any impact at all on the billions and billions of people that are left? What is one person’s worth?
We all face those same haunting questions: “Who am I, really?”; “Do I matter?” Unanswered, these questions give a sense of emptiness. It is in Christ that the answers are found and the emptiness is filled.
For years, Coach Tom Landry was known as the unemotional coach who paced the sidelines of the Dallas Cowboys. Walt Garrison, former Dallas Cowboy running back, was once asked if Coach Tom Landry ever smiled. Garrison replied, “I don’t know. I only played nine years.” Landry might have been inexpressive but there was a time in his life when he experienced a profound emptiness.
Tom Landry always thought he understood what religion and Christianity were all about. He recalled that he knew the Lord’s Prayer and the Christmas story. He went to church, at least on occasion, and he was familiar with the fact that Christians were supposed to try to do what is right.
One day, as a young assistant coach with the New York Giants, Landry was persuaded by a friend to attend a small group Bible study. It was there, by the work of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, that Landry’s eyes were opened and his heart was really changed. Landry came to know and trust Christ for his salvation. For the first time, he understood that the central message of Christianity is not what we do for God, but WHAT GOD HAS DONE FOR US. Though he didn’t always show it on the outside, the emptiness in Tom Landry’s life was filled by Jesus. He became a new creation in Christ.
Friends, the Lord’s desire is for each of us to become a new creation. But in order to do that, we need to see our brokenness and realize our need of a Savior. “As a motivational speaker once said, ‘We need to do a check-up from the neck up!’”
Years ago, after a series of revival meetings had finished the evangelist Billy Sunday was helping the workmen take down the tent. A young man who had been in the meeting the night before came up to Mr. Sunday and asked him earnestly, “What must I do to be saved?”
Sunday said, “You’re too late,” and kept on working.
“Don’t say that,” exclaimed the young man, “for I desire salvation. I would do anything or go anywhere to obtain it.”
“I can’t help it,” Sunday replied. “You’re too late; for your salvation was completed many years ago by Jesus Christ, and it’s finished work. All you can do is simply accept it. You have done nothing and can do nothing to merit salvation. It is free to all who will receive it.”
Friends, our new life in Christ begins with a recognition of who we are and what our situation is. We are cut off from God. We are helpless to fill the emptiness by ourselves. All we can do is to receive that which God freely gives – God’s grace. That is what the Apostle Paul meant when he said: “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (17)
Our new life in Christ is a gift from God…freely given through God’s grace. And our new life does make a difference in the world. Paul explains: “We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you.  How? you say. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God. (20-21)
When we receive our new life – when we become a new creation – we are put right with God. And when we are right with God, we become Christ’s representatives; His ambassadors. God uses us in our new found lives to show others the way. As God reaches out to us, God also reaches through us to others. That’s the greatness of God; that’s the grace of God!
So, dear friends, are you ready to become new creations? You can wait for seven years while your body renews each cell. But your unchanged soul will suffer. Or you can begin right now by confessing your need for Jesus and by saying “Yes” to the God who has already said “Yes” to you. Remember, when “YOU are in Christ, you are a new creation: everything old has passed away. Yes, everything has become new!”
Amen and amen.