Growing Old While Becoming New (2024-04-06)

Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Today we’ll close this week with a growth paradox.

Today’s scripture, 1 Corinthians 15:50‭-‬58 (NLT) says…
What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever. But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies. Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

Consider…
According to Oxford Languages, a paradox is a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true.

As I sought direction to close out this week of spiritual growth, the Holy Spirit guided me to some paradoxical truths that exist in the tension of physical dying and spiritually becoming new.

Here are seven paradoxical truths that govern our spiritual growth…

Have you ever noticed that God worked, and still works, paradoxically in the lives of believers sometimes?

  • Jesus was told his friend Lazarus was gravely ill and He didn’t move to heal, because God wanted to reveal something greater to help his followers believe (John 11:3-15)
  • Paul was given a physical thorn, and God wouldn’t remove it, instead He gave him the grace to endure it. And in this paradox of grace to endure, Paul discovered spiritual strength is found in physical weakness (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)
  • Jesus came to earth for self-aware sinners rather than delusional saints (Matthew 9:13)

So why are paradoxes used so regularly by God?

I believe it could be to show us that we’re physically unable to do right, but in Christ we’re spiritually enabled to live righteously (Romans 8:2).

Or perhaps it’s to help us be content with circumstances that we have no control over, because we’re empowered by the One, Jesus Christ, who has compete control (Philippians 4:11-13)

Or God could use paradoxes to emphasize that it’s not by our might or power, but by His spirit we can do what He wants us to do (Zechariah 4:6)

Indeed I believe that God uses paradoxes to remind his image bearers to never lose sight of His Image, Jesus Christ. Romans 8:29 NLT
explains…
For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

This scripture made me think of the paradox of Jesus himself. Philippians 2:5‭-‬8 (NLT)
tells us…
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

  • Jesus was Divine, yet He gave up His divinity
  • Jesus was Master and Lord, yet He became a slave
  • Jesus was equally God, yet He humbled Himself in obedience to His Father God
  • Jesus was innocent, yet He died a criminal’s death for us criminals

Looking at Jesus’ life and death, He epitomizes the paradox of a living sacrifice Romans 12:1 exhorts us to be .

I could go on and on with the paradoxes of Jesus, but here’s the bottom line that the Holy Spirit showed me, God uses paradoxes to show us His love and grace. Ephesians 2:3‭-‬7 (ERV) explains…
In the past all of us lived like that, trying to please our sinful selves. We did all the things our bodies and minds wanted. Like everyone else in the world, we deserved to suffer God’s anger just because of the way we were. But God is rich in mercy, and he loved us very much. We were spiritually dead because of all we had done against him. But he gave us new life together with Christ. (You have been saved by God’s grace.) Yes, it is because we are a part of Christ Jesus that God raised us from death and seated us together with him in the heavenly places. God did this so that his kindness to us who belong to Christ Jesus would clearly show for all time to come the amazing richness of his grace.

God reveals His intimacy in our inadequacy.

It is because of and by God’s grace that our…

  • Corruptible bodies will be transformed into incorruption;
  • Mortal bodies will be transformed into immortal bodies.

And it’s because of God’s transformative grace that we should be inspired to grow old gracefully. That means though our physical limitations may shake us, we know that by Christ’s Spirit living in us, like Him, we can remain steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.

That leads us to the final growth message that the Holy Spirit gave me to share, it comes from 1 Peter 1:13‭-‬15 (ERV)…
So prepare your minds for service. With complete self-control put all your hope in the grace that will be yours when Jesus Christ comes. In the past you did not have the understanding you have now, so you did the evil things you wanted to do. But now you are children of God, so you should obey him and not live the way you did before. Be holy in everything you do, just as God is holy. He is the one who chose you.

Then the Holy Spirit gave me Ephesians 2:9‭-‬10 (ERV) as a complimentary scripture to make His point…
You are not saved by the things you have done, so there is nothing to boast about. God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.

And He ended with Matthew 5:16 (ERV), where Jesus said…
In the same way, you should be a light for other people. Live so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.

God is encouraging us, as we grow old to…

  • Obsess less about dying and more about living for Him
  • Focus less on getting our way and more on doing things His way
  • Be less consumed by what we’ve done wrong and more overwhelmed by His grace that made us right
  • Set our minds on what we hope and believe rather than the things we know and see

God is saying that His ultimate paradox is that He makes old things new, and that includes me and you.

Today’s Song…
New Life

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)

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