Made New to Make Known

People generally like getting new things.

There is something about it.  It hasn’t been used, beat up or worn out.  I remember getting new shoes when I was a little kid, and I got my first pair of Air Jordans.  I was so excited.  I couldn’t wait to show off the fact that I had gotten something new that was all mine!

When we come to Jesus and accept the life and love that He gives we are made new.

2 Corinthians 5:17

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

This newness that Jesus brings has a PURPOSE.

We are MADE NEW TO MAKE KNOWN.

There is a great example of this in Luke 8:26-39.  Jesus meets a man who has some serious needs in his life (he is homeless, naked, living in a graveyard, demon possessed and to top it off, he cant even be chained up to be controlled).  He needs to be made new.  Jesus does that for him.  In fact, when people from his town show up, they can’t believe it is the same man because he was not fully clothed and sitting (which requires self-control and self-discipline) at the feet of Jesus.  This guy had been made new.

With the radical transformation that this man had experienced through the working of Jesus, he wanted to remain with Jesus.  He didn’t want this moment to end.  It is amazing how often when we experience something great from God (a camp moment, a great worship experience, a big change in our lives where God shows up in a great way), and we want to remain in THAT moment! We are excited to be made new…and we don’t want the environment to change.

Jesus had something else in mind for this man.

Luke 8:38–39 

The man who had been freed from the demons begged to go with him. But Jesus sent him home, saying, “No, go back to your family, and tell them everything God has done for you.” So he went all through the town proclaiming the great things Jesus had done for him.

Jesus didn’t just make that man new so that he could just stay in that moment.  He gave him a purpose with his newness: to MAKE KNOWN what God had done.

It is the same for you and I.  Jesus doesn’t change us, pull us out of where we are, give us new life and new hope just so we can stay in that moment forever.  He makes us NEW so that we now can go and MAKE KNOWN the source of that newness.