THE NEW IMAGE 

I CORINTHIANS 5:14-19

          This passage start out by reminding us that Christ died for us and that as a result of His death we are to no longer live for ourselves but rather we are to live for him that died for us.  Thus, if we are living for Him and not for ourselves we are to be a new person.  Now for the most part not much has changed in our physical appearance since we got save.  Some of us are a few pounds heavier or lighter.  Some have less hair that they did at that time and some have more gray hair than then.  If you got saved at a very young age you may even be a bit taller now than then.  But for the most part there have not been major changes in us physically.  Yet we are to be new creatures that live for him who died for us and not for ourselves. 

I CORINTHINIANS 3:18

          Now when we look in a physical mirror we may not see the newness.  But let’s use the Word of God as our mirror and let’s stand there in front of our mirror with closed eyes.   When we close our eyes and stand in front of the mirror we don’t see anything, but the image is still there.  The image that is there is Christ and by the miraculous work of the Spirit of God we who are born again as we stay in the Word of God are slowly being changed into that image.  So today I want to talk about THE NEW IMAGE.

          Now when we look in a mirror in the natural we see our image but more specifically we see our body parts.  So let’s look at some of our parts before and after salvation.

Head

ISAIAH 1:4-5

          Though this is talking about Judah we all know that in our unsaved state we were just like this.  We were stubborn, know it alls who refused to seek and heed wise counsel.  We were rebellious and self willed, making every attempt to do as we willed and hoping that we didn’t get caught doing it.  We were a sinful people in every way shape or fashion we could think of.  We were sick in sin and since the head drives the body, then if the whole body is sick then so is the head.  What we thought was sick.  Proverbs 23:7 says “For as he (a man) think in his heart so is he.”  We think with our head not our heart.  But the corruption of sin has infected both our head and our heart.   When we were unsaved our thought process was tainted by sin and we acted just like what we thought.  If we could think of a way to sin and not get caught we tried it.  Our thought processes and thus our heads were sick.

PSALMS 23:5

          Now that I have committed my heart to God, He anoints my head with the oil of the Holy Spirit.  Though the Spirit of God, Jesus is continually working on what I think.  He as Romans 12:2 says is constantly urging me not to conform to the world but rather to renew my mind (change my way of thinking) so that my actions will be transformed into those of Christ.   Through I Corinthians 10:5 the Spirit reminds me to capture and cast down every thought that raises us against the ways of God forcing them into the obedience of Christ. 

          After having captured and cast down the unholy thoughts the Spirit reminds me of Philippians 4:8 where it says, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”  In other words the Spirit of God is changing my head into the image of Christ by urging me to cast down the unholy thoughts and showing me what would be better for me to focus my thoughts on.  He is creating a new head for me.

EYES

ACTS 28:27

          Before we get saved we are walking through life with our eyes closed.  He are much like blind people, feeling our way around hoping not to fall in a ditch or trap that we cannot get out of.  We were stumbling around in the dark, needing light but refusing to reach out and flip the switch on.  II Corinthians 4:2-3 says “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”  The sad part of being blinded as we were is that we did not even recognize that we were blind.  We thought we were seeing clearly.

JOHN 9:24-25

          This man after being born blind and now being healed by Jesus makes a great statement here.  He says “I don’t know if he is a sinner or not, all I know is that he made a change in me.”  I don’t care whether Jesus is black, white or purple.  I don’t care if he is a Jew or a gentile.  What Jesus looks like and who his earthly parents were has no bearing on what he has done in my life.  All that matters to me is that he is the son of God, born into this world to take away my sin.  All that matters to me is whereas I was blind in my sin, he has cleared my vision.  And each day as I walk with him along this journey he helps me to see more and more with the eyes of God.

MOUTH

ROMANS 3:10-14

          The throat of the wicked is like an open grave.  What comes out of it stinks like the rotting of many corpses.  The tongue of the wicked is deceitful, looking for ways to secure dishonest advantage in any situation.  By malicious and cutting words the elements of the wicked mouth kill and bury the reputation of others.  Finally the Psalmist says, “The mouth of the wicked is full of cursing and bitterness.”  For many of us as we look back at our unsaved lives we can see the death and destruction caused by what we have said about others and to others.  No, we did not literally kill any one, but we killed their spirit.  We shook the foundation of their confidence and stunted the growth of many by the words we spoke.  We killed with our tongues and many times it was premeditated murder.

PROVERBS 10:11

          Where, before my mouth was only an instrument of death, it has through the power of the Spirit of God become a conduit or pipe bringing life to others.  The old creature brought death but the new creature in Christ brings life.

PSALMS 37:30

          Where my mouth once spoke deceitful lies, it now speaks the wisdom of God and where my tongue once spewed cursing and bitterness it now speaks of the judgment of a righteous God.  And like the Psalmist in Psalms 40:3, “God has put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God” and though my sing may sometimes sound funny, it certainly sounds better than what the old creature had coming out of her mouth.

EARS

MATTHEW 13:15

          Just like many today, before we got saved we where dull of hearing.  We thought we knew it all and thus no one could tell us anything and what we did not already know, we did not want to know because we did not want to be held accountable for knowing.  We were dull of hearing.  We were not death because we heard clearly what we wanted to hear.  It was only those things that did not cater to what we wanted to do that we seemed to have trouble hearing.  Most of the time, we did not want to hear anything that suggested that we should change our wicked way of living to a lifestyle pleasing in God’s sight.  We closed our ears for fear that we would hear and be converted.

          But now as a Born Again believer I strive to keep my ears open and in tune to every word that the master speaks to me.  In John 10:27 Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:” This assures me that Jesus is talking to me.  Now rather than closing my ears and running from God as he attempts to talk to me, I listen intently trying not to miss a single word.  Now I pray that my spiritual ears would forever be sensitive enough to hear even a tiny whisper spoken by God unto me.

HANDS

MICAH 7:2-3

          This describes the unrighteous as those who are plotting and planning to do such evil that it requires both hands.  The truth of the matter is, before we got saved most of us did very little to try to help anyone but ourselves.  When we did attempt to do good it was normally with selfish motives.  This verse speaks of those who were in charge accepting bribes to do what was right.  Though we may not have looked for and accepted bribes before doing good, we did secretly and sometimes openly ask “what’s in this for me”.   

EPHESIANS 4:28

          Now as Christians we do not steal and cheat, but rather we work hard as if we are working for God himself.  We look for ways to do good and ways in which we can help others, recognizing that in God’s grace and mercy He helped us.  Now we who are truly saved take the advise of Solomon the wise one given in Ecclesiastes 9:10 where Solomon says “Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with all thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goes.”  Whatever, we can find to do for God we want to do it as best we can for we know that the day is coming were we will no longer be able to work.  In our new image, our hands are tools of God used by Him to meet needs in the lives of others. 

FEET

ROMANS 3:15

          This speaks of the wicked being quick to engage in battle.  In other words they are quick tempered and easy to be drawn into confrontation.  The implication here is that they, the wicked were always looking for trouble to get into and if there was no trouble, they looked to instigate trouble.  Some of us were just like these wicked people.  We went looking for trouble and if we could not find any we looked for ways to brew some up.  We carried ourselves in such a way as to say don’t mess with me because I’m looking trouble anyway. 

EPHESIANS 6:15

          Now, with our new image, we run to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is here called the gospel of peace.  We who were once looking to do battle now look to share peace.  We have come to understand that the real battle is not with mankind, but with principalities and powers and the rulers of darkness.

          You see in our new image the Spirit of God has changed our thinking, opened our eyes, reshaped our mouths by controlling our tongues, unstopped our ears so that we can hear even a whisper from God, washed our hands and put them in service for God and directed our feet to proclaim peace to mankind.  We are new creatures in Christ.  When we look in the mirror we may not see Christ yet, but if we continue to yield to the Spirit of God we are guaranteed that one day we will see Him and when we do we will be like him for I John 3:1-2 declare “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”  We have a new image.  We don’t see the full reflection yet, but one day we will.