1 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
I like to dabble with woodworking. On the one hand, it gives me something to do. I suppose we call that a hobby. I can go out to my “shop” and spend an hour or two (depending upon how quickly one of the kids comes out and tells me they need me inside), and not have to think about anything other than what I’m working on. It’s relaxing.
On a deeper level, there is something holy and spiritual about the process. Nearly all the wood I use in my projects has come from trees that were cut down and milled by someone I know. I, in turn, take those pieces of lumber, and run them through my planer to get them as flat as possible, then cut them to the size that I need for my projects. When I say there’s something holy and spiritual, what I mean is that in woodworking, what is the craftsman doing other than taking something that is dead and turning it into something new and beautiful and giving it a new life of its own?
St. Paul describes a similar process when he speaks about the life of a Christian. The process of becoming a child of God is one in which death and life are experienced simultaneously. In Romans chapter 6, St. Paul refers to baptism as being baptized into Christ’s death, whereby the sinful nature with which we are all born is drowned and dies. But, at the same time he says we are also united to Christ in His resurrection. Therefore, as he says in our verse for this week, “if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come.”
We, who were lost and condemned because of our sins, have been made alive in Christ Jesus by the renewal and rebirth of the Holy Spirit (cf. Titus 3:5). Living in Christ’s baptismal grace, we are strengthened by God’s Word and Spirit so that we can serve and honor God in what we say and do, while truly loving our neighbor.
Thanks be to God that He has rescued us lost, condemned, and spiritually dead sinners, and made us alive in Christ Jesus by the forgiveness of our sins purchased and won for us with His suffering and death upon the cross and resurrection from the dead. Having been joined to Christ in baptism, we have the assurance that at His return we will experience the full and complete restoration that awaits us at the resurrection of the dead to life everlasting.
