New Creation in Christ - but was does this mean?

As we walk out this faith journey we get to the point where we come face to face with a new reality. It's time to let go of the old you to step into the new true you, but sometimes this step isn't easy. 

Transcript

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Happy Monday, everyone. Welcome to the I'm Saved Now What podcast, and I am your host, Jaavonne Taylor. For those of you who are joining me for the very first time, welcome. And for those who are returning, welcome back. I am so thrilled to have you here, and I'm grateful to the Lord that you are joining me on this mission. Today's episode, we are going to talk about what it means to be a new creation in Christ. Many of us might have heard the scripture in 2 Corinthians 5 :17, but do we really know what it means? The English Standard Version says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. The New Living Translation says it a little differently. And it says, anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life has gone and the new life has begun. Now, this sounds so poetic and so lovely. And I think to be honest, it it sounds really nice. I studied literature in high school, so I can appreciate beautiful language when I hear it. But after hearing that, after reading those words, I have to start on unpacking this. I try, I have to start dissecting this because I'm trying to figure out what does this really mean? Practically, how does this work? And then how does it apply to my life? Like, how what do you mean? What do you mean when you say I am a new creation? The old has gone, the new has come. Like, what does this mean? Before we even delve any further into expounding and dissecting this, I think we need to look back and recap a bit on what salvation is. Now remember, we said salvation was the process of reconnecting to the source of life, it's the process of reconnecting to the Lord, right? Awakening, it's an awakening of who you truly are, it's an awakening of you, and salvation, therefore, is the key to unlocking this new life that scripture is talking about in 2 Corinthians 5 17. As you know, without salvation, we're spiritually dead. So unless we have the key of salvation, this new life, the door to this new life cannot be unlocked. And for those of you who did not catch up with last week's episode, I encourage you to go back and listen to it because we looked at salvation, we we unpacked salvation, and we looked at Romans 10 verses 9, which I called the salvation formula, right? And the salvation formula was simply this the confession with our mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, combined with the genuine belief in our heart that Jesus is Lord, and once we have that from a genuine heart posture, we have the key and something new beginning. So in preparing for this week, it was it was something that I didn't I didn't know what direction this message was gonna take, I didn't know what direction this episode was going to take. Rather, I just knew that this was a topic the Lord wanted me to speak on, and I was trusting him to reveal how he wanted me to go. And because God is such a faithful God and a person that you can trust, like you can trust God. God, of course, gave me the revelation. So if you're like me, I take for granted that I know the meaning of words. But when I was preparing, the Lord said to me, Jaavonne, go deeper. Don't just think you know the meaning of the word. So the first word we're gonna look at right now is the word new, a word that seems very basic, very simple, and off the top of your head, I'm pretty sure you could come up with a definition. And the definition that you will come up with is that the thing is not the same, something that is not the same, and you would not be wrong, but what the Lord led me to do was go a bit deeper than surface, and you're gonna see why he allowed me to do that in in a minute. So I went looking for the Greek word for the word new, right? Because new is three letters, it's a word that we use all the time, and we may think it has no significance, but the Greek word for new I discovered is kinda speaking to the quality or essence of a thing. It describes something that is unprecedented, renewed, and different in nature from what existed before. Now, I don't think I don't think the three three letters that make up the word new give me that full definition. Right? So when God is saying that you are new, he's speaking about the very quality and the very essence of who you are, and he's saying that the very quality and the very essence of who you are is not the same. You may look the same, you may even think you feel the same, but what God is saying is that you are not the same. He's saying you are brand new, guys. Like honestly, you are brand new, alive in Christ, you are awake, you are brand new. He's saying to you, like in the same way a caterpillar becomes a butterfly and never reverts. This is what he has done and is doing for you. You are new. So, having got the revelation as to what new means, I decided that I wanted to know what the word creation meant. So I didn't necessarily jump to the Greek for that, although I do know the Greek meaning for the word um creation. One of them is actually Genesis, and the other one I found was kethesis. But before we go to kitisis, the Miriam Webster dictionary told me that the word creation meant the act of bringing something into existence that did not previously exist. When I looked at the Greek word kitisis, it says exactly the same thing that the Miriam Webster dictionary said. The act of bringing something into existence. Now, when you read the book of Genesis, because Genesis is the first book of the Bible, it is the creation story. You know, Genesis 1, we we learn about that. It is not a surprise then that when we hear about something new, we're you know, we think about creation, it's it's not a surprise. So I want you to know that God is not a coincidental kind of God, He's very strategic, and He knows what He's doing. So when He says you are a new creation in Christ, what God is actually telling you is this He says, in essence, through salvation, God is bringing forth into existence an unprecedented, different from what existed before you. So you see that person that you've come to know for very many years before you said yes to God, I'ma tell you something. That's not who you are, that is not who you are. Because if you really think about it, if God is saying the old has passed and the new has come, it therefore means He's saying to you, you have a new identity, you have a new identity in him. And if you have a new identity in God, who then are you? Who am I became the lingering question in my mind, and it lingered because I really thought I knew who I was. Society and culture taught me who I was, and it told me who I was was defined by what I did, how I looked, where I worked, what family I came from, the color of my skin, the talent that I had or didn't have, my financial standing, my address, the mistakes I made, the failures that I experienced, the hurt, the trauma, etc. Like society and culture told me who I was. So the identity that that I had was formed around these things. And then let's make it worse. Culture and the world system went further and then kind of attached value to me based on my responses to the questions. Who I was. So the identity that that I had was formed around these things. And then let's make it worse. Culture and the world system went further and then kind of attached value to me based on my responses to the question, based on what box I was ticking off. My value was then determined. So my identity was based on the little boxes that I ticked off on a form. Now, I don't want you to misinterpret what I'm saying. Because the things I mentioned before do play a role in helping you to understand aspects of who you are, but they do not on their own make you who you are. God establishes who you are. And unlike those things that I mentioned before, that can be altered, shifted, or taken away, the word of God over your life cannot be altered. Your true identity is found in Christ, and coming to terms with this revelation can be extremely uncomfortable. Because, like I said before, you thought you knew yourself, and then here comes God. Basically, I mash up your dolly hospital. You say, Well, um, miss, no, that no, miss. That that that that ain't who you are. That's not who I created. This was something that was absolutely difficult for me to grasp, let alone embrace. Like, what do you mean? I don't know who I am. Like, I know my name is Jaavonne Taylor. I know I'm a lawyer. I know I love the color pink. I like ice cream, I like food. Like, what you mean? I don't know who I am. But the question forced me to go deeper. Like, it forced me to go so much deeper. You see, for a very long time in my life, I started to come into agreement with things that were not so. I started to believe that mediocrity was my portion. Not in every area of my life, like, let's not get it twisted. But there were some areas of my life that I thought mediocrity was my portion and I could do nothing about it. And this was particular in the area of friendships and relationships, right? Like, right now, God is so incredible that the friends that He has blessed me with, they are they are phenomenal. And I'm so grateful for them. But there was a season in my life where I had some very questionable friends, very questionable friendships, rather. Because I was pouring, but nothing was being poured into me. And and the situations were were mediocre. And God was trying to say to me, J aavonne, this is not your portion. How could I accept what God was saying? Because you see, this lie, this lie that I came into agreement with that I was mediocre somehow manifested itself into almost, you know, it manifested itself in my life. It manifested itself so much so that it convinced me that it was true. Like subconsciously, I was like, well, I don't deserve better friends. Like, this is what I'm gonna have. Like, you know, not everybody's gonna have a best friend, not everybody's gonna have great friends, you know. Yeah, that's a desire that I have, but that's not my reality. That is what I accepted. I accepted in a part of my life that mediocrity was my portion, and I just could not unsee it. And you what I desire deep down, but I didn't believe that God, or I didn't believe that that was mine. I had so many limits on on what I thought I deserved and what I thought was was available and open to me. And for some people who are listening to me, hearing this, you you're actually shocked because the person that you saw, you wouldn't know that these questions are in the back of her head or or these thoughts are are pulsating through her brain. But I am being honest, this this was the truth. I called it a truth, you know, but this was never God's truth for my life, and if I'm being honest, it was never actually true. Because there was something in me that convinced me, there was some fact in my life that convinced me that mediocrity was my portion, you know. And the fact in my life that convinced me that mediocrity was my portion was the fact that my father was absent in my life. So that really there was a relational brokenness from the very beginning. So my father being absent was a fact, but me being unworthy, mediocre, was never a truth, it was just a narrative that my brain came up with to try and justify or rationalize the circumstances because there had to be a reason. You know, like there had to be a reason why I didn't have a dad. And the reason pulsating in my brain, I guess, was that I was not good enough. And if I'm not good enough to have my father stick around, then I'm not good enough to have friends who will stick around, then I'm not good enough to have partners that will stick around. Like honestly, it sounds very toxic, but yeah, this this is what it was. But this was a mindset that I could not come into my new life with. This was unsustainable. Like God was like, nah, he's like, no, Jaavonne, no, you cannot come into this new life with that, it's unsustainable, and I will not allow you to walk with that any longer because that is a lie. But then again, I've been I understood what God was saying, and I said it was a lie. Like I started to realize that it was a lie, but then I struggled with how do I break up from this lie? Like, how do I get divorced from this lie that I came into agreement with that somehow became a part of my identity, right? It became ingrained in my identity. Letting go of my former self was one of the hardest things that I ever had to do. Imagine, I thought I knew me for 30 years, but here comes God with this new revelation. My pastor used to tell me in passing, Jaye, let them know who you are. And every time he said it inside, I was chuckling because I'm like, it's a pity you don't even know. I don't know. I don't know who I am. How am I supposed to let people know who I am when I don't even know who I am? I was a battling, and here is what I was battling with. You see, I got lost in the middle because God told me that I wasn't the person I thought I was, and he was trying to tell me who I was, but I got lost in the middle. The Lord actually said to me once, let go of who you were so I can show you who you really are. And I'm like, what are you talking about? On the surface, you know, I was well put together, eloquent, a professional woman, had her own ascent. I seem things seemed like they were going good. But inside my head, like question marks about who I was, was screaming. It was screaming, it was screaming so loud, but it was screaming loud because I I was trying to figure out who I was on my own, and the Lord was just trying to tell me, Jaavonne. I never told you to go and figure out who you were. I said, I would tell you who you are, and then I stopped, and I tried, and I started to listen. One of the first things the Lord tried to show me, he said, Mediocrity is not your portion, you are mine, I chose you, you are my daughter. He said to me, He was my father, and he he reminded me that I was intentionally created, that my existence in the very earth was not a mistake, but that I was purposed and for and positioned to be in this earth. That's what he was telling me. He says, My very presence on this earth was not as a result of some accidental interaction with my parents, but it was divine alignment. He told me over and over and over, Jaavonne, you are not your past, and I wanted to believe what he was saying, you know. I really wanted to believe it, but somehow it was so hard to because I knew God was not a man that should lie, but as best as I tried to see it, I just couldn't see what he was saying, and I could not believe it. I remember one morning I was sitting on the edge of my bed looking through the window, and I just remember hearing in my spirit Behold, I am doing a new thing. Do you not perceive it? And for those of us that know. The word we know that that is a portion of the scripture in Isaiah 43:19. But when God brought those words into my mind, when He spoke those words over me in that moment, you know what my answer was? I flat out said, No, God, no, I do not perceive it, I do not see it, I don't see this new thing, I don't see this new me that you're trying to show me. But it was in that very honest response that God began to go deeper into his revelation, and he continued to help me realize who I really was. God reminded me that I that I am who he says I am, and it was a process. Those who know know because it was a process, guys. And I tell you, it was a process, it was a process that involved altar calls, prayer meetings. It was a hard process, a process that involved me being in my room crying unconditionally. It was a process. See the process of releasing who you were is not easy. It's not easy, but God is faithful. God is very faithful. And he took me on that journey to of releasing the old and letting go. He took me on that journey until finally, finally, I could see what God saw. Finally, I saw what God saw. And you know what God saw? God said, Jaavonne, this is who you are. My chosen daughter, loved and designed by me for my purpose, to do great and mighty exploits in this earth. You are a bold, compassionate, loving, caring, kind-hearted, and passionate woman with a powerful voice who will fight unto the ends of the earth to pursue justice. You are my warrior princess. That's who you are. Yeah. But it took me almost two years to see and to embrace and to believe what God was saying. And the truth is that until you believe what the Lord says about you, until you fully embrace what he says, you will never truly walk in your new identity. You will never truly walk in it. There is no faking this new life. There is no faking it. You either believe it or you don't. And until you believe it, you will not see the full manifestation of it. It's not just about knowing what God says about you, it's about believing who He says you are. And the moment I believe, the moment I came into agreement, the moment my eyes opened, the moment, the moment I recognized and embraced what God said, it changed everything. The reason you are hearing me on this podcast is because I believed what God said about me. It is because I believed what God said about me. It's because I believed who God says I was. That even when the world goes chaotic and and things go and come and the earth shakes, that that will not shake, that my identity in Christ is solid because it did not, it was not formed on quick sand, it was not formed on intangible things that did not matter, but it was formed on solid rock, solid foundation. That the Lord Himself told me who I was, and I and I and I believe it and I embrace it. And it was in it was in embracing the truth about who God said I was, that I became God's new creation, that the old Jaavonne died, that she died, that that version of me died, like she died, like that's not, oh, trust me, she gone, never to return, dare I say, because the scripture says the old has gone, the new has come, and I am new. For some of you listening right now, God is telling you who you are, and you are struggling to believe, you're struggling to believe. For some of you, he's saying, you know, you're a worshiper, you're a worshiper, but you you have never known yourself to be a singer. As far as you're concerned, your musical career starts and ends in the shower. But God is saying you are a worshiper. He may be telling you that you're an author, but you have dyslexia, and you're saying, no, God, that's that's not my portion, that's not for me. He may be telling you that you are good, but you've only ever seen yourself as bad. He may tell you that you're accepted, but you've only ever seen yourself as a reject. He may tell you that you're a business owner, but you're currently mopping the floor as a janitor, and you just cannot see it. But remember this: your current situation and circumstances do not define who you are. Only God does that. And it is no time for you to believe. He knows what he placed on the inside of you, you know. He sees what you can't and what culture or society or your parents fail to see. He sees you because he knows you and he wants you to get to know you too. This new you, the real you, because the new you is the real you, you know. That's that's that's the funniest thing. You recall the story of Gideon in the Bible? When Gideon was in the wine press, and the angel of the Lord found him, and the angel of the Lord says, mighty man of valor. And Gideon is like, Um, who are you talking about? Me? No, no, no, bro, you got the wrong person. The man wasn't asked, the angel of the Lord was not asking Gideon who he was, he was telling him who he was. But Gideon did not believe that. But the moment he believed and he came into agreement with what the angel of the Lord said to him was when he fulfilled his mandate. God is not telling you who you are for you to remain who you were, he's telling you who you are for you to step into the fullness of yourself. He wants you to be new, he wants you to be new, new, because the new creation, the new person is the real you. Let's let's just face the honest truth. Until we know who we truly are, we will never operate to our fullest potential, we will never operate in the fullness of what God has for us. We will never fulfill God's purpose for us on this earth, and the enemy is hoping that you never truly believe who God says you are. That's what he's hoping for. He is hoping that you never truly believe who God says you are, and he's hoping that you never, that you never fulfill God's purpose for your life on this earth. That's that's his hope. So when you don't embrace and believe who God says you are, we're not fulfilling God's mandate, we're fulfilling the devil's agenda. When we don't accept what God says about us, when we don't step into the fullness of who we are, we are not, we are not fulfilling God's plan for our lives. Jeremiah 29, 11, for, I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans to prosper you, not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future. How can he give you a hope and a future when you are holding on to things that do not that that cannot move into this new space? The journey with Jesus does not stop at salvation. Salvation is the key that unlocks the door to your new life. But once the key starts to unlock the door to your new life, you better believe who God says you are. After you believe who God says you are, you better walk in the fullness of that new identity. You better walk it out fully. And once He reveals who you truly are, your job is to embrace it and to walk in the fullness of it, and to know that you're gonna stumble, you're gonna fall. Your old self may appear sometimes, but just know you're not on this journey by yourself, and God got you because He knows you, He knows you, and He knows what you're capable of. Remember, He put everything inside, He knows what He placed on the inside of you. So even when your mother couldn't see it, your father couldn't see it, society couldn't see it, your pastor, you couldn't see it. God sees it because He put it there, He put it there, He put it there so He can show you the new you and when He does, I am saying it so many times, guys. Don't take two years to figure it out like I did. Don't take two years to believe it. Believe, believe what He says about you. The possibilities are endless once you believe who God says you are. Today, today, we are going to pray. Most righteous and Heavenly Father, Lord, I come before you. I come before you, Lord, as a servant with your sons and daughters, Lord. I thank you, Lord, that they have taken the time to join in on this podcast to hear what you have given me the mandate to say. Lord, I thank you for every son and every daughter. And I pray, oh Lord, that you will bless them in their respective walk, regardless of where they are on their journey, whether they're new to the faith, they're contemplating coming to the faith, they are seasoned in the faith, God, they slipped away from the faith and they are returning. God, I pray for each and every one of them. I pray for those that are struggling with letting go of the old to step into the fullness of the new. I pray for those, mighty God, who are still struggling to see themselves like how you see them, Lord. God, I pray that you will remove the barriers from their eyes and help them to embrace the fullness of themselves, mighty God, the virgin that you designed them and created them to be, mighty God. Lord, I thank you, Lord, for what you are doing in their lives right now. And I'm asking, oh Lord, that you will continue the work that you started in them in the name of Jesus. Mighty God, for every son, every daughter, whatever they're going through right now, Lord, whatever they are enduring, what they are dealing with, what they are battling, if it's a battle in their mind, if it is a health challenge, if it is a financial challenge, mighty God, anything that they are battling with, that they are dealing with, Lord, I pray, oh Lord, mighty God, that you give them peace that surpasseth all understanding in the name of Jesus. God, I pray that they know that they can cast their burdens on you because you care for them. Lord, give them peace, give them comfort, Lord. Give them comfort. Open their eyes, help them to embrace their new identities in Christ. Help them to let go of what was and embrace the new. Thank you, Father, for all you've done, all you are doing, and all you will continue to do, both now and forevermore. Amen. Thank you very much for joining me this week. And until next week, this is the I Am Saved Now What podcast.