A New Me In 2023

12/28/2022

Written By: Stephen Cox

Is there anyone else ready for something new? A new day. A new job. A new career. A new body. A new perspective. A new season (literal or figurative…you choose…or both). I’m not talking about the next “new” thing or gadget…I mean REALLY new. Something fresh and clean. 

I’d imagine that I’m not alone in pondering these types of things in the Holiday Week…between our fantastic Christmas Eve celebrations at Victory and our New Me In 2023 Sunday – coming this Sunday. (Where has THAT 3 years gone???). No, I’m not changing jobs or careers. Maybe you are? A new body…that would be nice! A new perspective. ABSOLUTELY! 

If we’re looking for something new, we’re in the right place. During this week…this ‘in between’...we have a fantastic opportunity. There is a new year coming and that signals the turning of a page. We can decide within ourselves to make a change. To start a new habit. To stop an old habit. To look at life differently. To look at others differently. To look at ourselves differently. New years can LITERALLY be new beginnings for each of us.

That sounds remarkably good, doesn’t it? It might even sound too good. Too good to be true. This might be where that new perspective comes in. But even then…that new habit, that new perspective, that new job. We’re still the same, old US! And if you’re anything like me, I end up doing the same old ME things. Maybe later in January, possibly into March or April, the old just creeps back in.

Fortunately for us, Paul states it very clearly in Romans 6:1-11…

1 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

Paul succinctly demonstrates that when we are baptized (immersed, plunged into water), we are baptized into Christ’s death. In verse 6, Paul demonstrates that our old self is CRUCIFIED with Christ. The emphasis is simply to demonstrate this point: YOU DON’T SURVIVE CRUCIFIXION! When you are crucified, you’re dead. Verse 8 says that when we are crucified with Him, we will LIVE with Him because JESUS LIVES.

Borrowing a line from Josh’s Christmas Eve message, “What if this were TRUE?” If I take the Bible seriously, which I do, the implications of this are GARGANTUAN! This means I have NOT surrendered my life to King Jesus because what I am doing is wearing my old self as the costume because the old self is DEAD!!! Now THAT’s just gross. And the exact opposite of what I have been called to do.

In Graduate School, my professor for my class on The Book of Romans was the guy who was responsible for translating this chapter of Romans in the New Living Translation I used above. He said something in class one day that has resonated with me for the past 16 years. In regards to ridding ourselves of sin and allowing the Holy Spirit to have its way in our lives, he said “we need to become Practiced in the Art of Crucifixion”. In order to allow the Spirit to be alive and thrive in us…we need to keep crucifying that old self. But even that is a misnomer because that old self is already dead. So this new year, let’s commit to stop resuscitating that old self and wearing that old-self-costume. I commit, and I hope you will join me in proudly living the new life that is ours because we are alive in Christ Jesus. Let’s let the Holy Spirit live out and let people truly see the New Me in 2023.