The New Creation (or Kingdom of God) can be a slippery thing to think about.  Particularly because we tend to think about it in abstract terms – the invisible kingdom, and because we tend to put in future terms only – “heaven-when-we-die” kind of stuff.  We must realize, however, that the new creation is a very real and physical reality.  We see new creation breaking in all around us. Each time someone is healed, the hungry are fed, or the naked are clothed.  Every time true community is experienced and when we worship God fully – these are all evidence of God’s new creation being lived out right now.  We live in a tension, though, because we also see pain, hurting, and hunger.  We feel isolated and alone and can’t get a handle on living authentically with others.   This tension is often referred to as the “already-not yet.”  The new creation is breaking in all around us, but it is not yet revealed in all of its fullness.

As the story of Noah illustrates, when we place our faith in Christ we are made into a new creation.  We are changed, made new.  But we are not made new just for our own sake, we are called, commissioned to go out and share the Good News. Therefore, what Christians must do is work to make the reality of new creation known to people (through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit).  It doesn’t make sense to be made new by putting our faith in Christ and then not work to make new creation possible in all things.

Listen to this quote from N.T. Wright (New Testament Scholar):

When Jesus rose again God’s whole new creation emerged from the tomb, introducing a world full of new potential and possibility.  Indeed, precisely because part of that new possibility is for human being themselves to be revived and renewed, the resurrection of Jesus doesn’t leave us as passive, helpless spectators.  We find ourselves lifted up, set on our feet, given new breath in our lungs, and commissioned to go and make new creation happen in the world.

That is precisely what I meant when I said that we are changed so that we can go about making change in the world.  New creation is here – let’s go fulfill our commission!

Worship is defined as “seeing the worth of something or someone and responding to that worth.”  The problem is, sometimes my worship is misdirected.  Does it happen to you?  You see things as being much more valuable than they actually are, so you gaze at them in admiration.  When you set our gaze on that person or that thing; when you stand in awe of it,  you begin to take on the character of that person or object.

For example, those who worship money eventually become calculating machines, measuring everything in terms of it’s cost.  Those who worship sex become obsessed with how their own vanity and sexual prowess.  Those who worship power become more and more ruthless.

There is, however, another golden rule of spirituality – worship makes you more truly human. When your worship is properly directed to God (the only one worthy of our worship) you begin to take on His character.  You become more compassionate, loving, discerning.  You gain new perspective.  You see the world in a new light.  You see the reality of the kingdom of God.  In realizing these things you become more alive, aware that God is creator and rescuer of the world.  So whether it comes through a sermon or a song or a moment of prayer, all of the sudden you are caught up in worship because you see God for who He really is.  In those moments, you feel more alive, more human.

Conversely, when your worship is misdirected, you become less human.  Listen to this quote from N.T. Wright:

…when you worship an idol – you may feel a brief “high.”  But, like a hallucinatory drug, that worship achieves its effect at a cost: when the effect is over, you are less of a human being than you were to begin with.  That is the price of idolatry.

I encourage you to take a honest look at your life.  Are you worshipping something other than God?  Has God been replaced by something deemed more important?  Or are you worshipping God and continually being shaped by Him?

1.  I thought the worship music was phenomenal this morning.  I loved having Jered on the violin.  I loved singing some of those old hymns.

2.  It was a lot of fun playing with Little People at the beginning of the message.

3.  I love sharing the Gospel with people – it was a fun message to preach….and I got just a bit excited.

4.  It was great to have so many people join us for the first time!  God is good.

5.  Next week we close out the Old Time Religion series with a message on Daniel and the Lion’s Den.

6.  CAN’T WAIT for our next series….Identity Crisis.  It’s going to be amazing!

Thanks for a great Sunday Emmaus Road.

For example, Steven Furtick is great at illustrations (and he dresses like a rock star).  Judah Smith is a phenomenal story-teller, and Perry Noble is bolder than I’ll ever have the courage to be.

The danger is this:  When you compare yourself to others it often leads to feelings of inadequacy, and will ultimately steal the potential that God is trying to unleash in your life.  God has created you.  He loves you.  He wants to work through you.  He has uniquely gifted you to accomplish significant things for Him.

Stop focusing on them and focus on Him.

In fact, our website now has come cool new features.  Our web guy, David, has worked really hard to enhance the site in a number of ways.  I encourage you to check out our new gallery page with pictures from the life of our church, follow the Twitter feeds, and use the evite to invite a friend to Emmaus.  There is a lot of good stuff here!