By Dr. Rebekah McCloud
Pastor Tedd baptized my sister, Lillie, and her fiancé, Terry, last Sunday. Afterwards, Lille got into the car and rode home with me. Along the way, she said to me, “I don’t know how I feel. I keep waiting to feel like a new creature.”
I told her I believe that she is. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
If we looked back over our lives and examined ourselves before baptism and after baptism, could we say without a shadow of a doubt that we are new creatures? The old has gone, the new is here; could we say it?
This week, my sister and I talked about baptism again. I told her I believe that being a new creature means the sin nature has passed from us and is being perfected through the trials, tests, tribulations, and troubles of daily life.
Being a new creature is a choice that we make. Remember, God has given us free will. He stands at the door and knocks. He’s not the poo-poo. He won’t knock your door down if you don’t answer. He won’t handcuff you, put into the back of the police car, take you off to jail and fingerprint you or photograph you. But that doesn’t mean he won’t be waiting for you when you get there. The old folks used to say, “You give your hand to the preacher, but your heart belongs to God.”
Being a new creature is a choice that we make. The Lord will provide us with many opportunities for the new creature to appear and for us to live. Romans 8:13 says, “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” Amen!
Colossians 3:5-10 says, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” Amen.
This does not mean we will not sin. We are still human, flesh and blood. “There is a difference between continuing to sin and continuing to live in sin. No one reaches sinless perfection in this life, but the redeemed Christian is being sanctified (made holy) day by day, sinning less and hating it more each time he fails. Yes, we still sin, but unwillingly and less and less frequently as we mature. Our new self hates the sin that still has a hold on us.
The difference is that the new creation is no longer a slave to sin, as we formerly were. We are now freed from sin and it no longer has power over us. Now we are empowered by and for righteousness. We now have the choice to “let sin reign” or to count ourselves “dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Best of all, now we have the power to choose the latter. The new creation is a wondrous thing, formed in the mind of God and created by His power and for His glory.[1] Amen!
Baptism is a rite of passage: we take on God’s name, we learn to live for him and he promises to be with us forever. Matthew 28: 19-20 says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
If we looked back over our lives and examined ourselves before baptism and after baptism, could we say without a shadow of a doubt that we are new creatures? The old has gone, the new is here; could we say it?
Our answer should be yes, Lord, yes! Afterall, what a mighty, awesome, wonderous, spectacular, unchanging, glorious, everlasting, and magnificent God we serve. Wow and Amen!
We may have met the preacher at the baptismal pool, given him our hand and walked into the water; but between the descent and ascent, we gave our heart to God and walked out as a new creature. Amen!
[1] Got Questions (n.d.) What does it mean that a Christian is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)? At https://www.gotquestions.org/new-creation.html