Phil. 3:7-8, "For what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus may Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ."
Members of the new order have new affections. The object of their affections has changed from "self" to Christ. The Holy Spirit has made the Lord Jesus so attractive and so satisfying that they can say from the heart:
"Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
More than all in Thee I find."
The love of Christ constrains them to live unto God instead of unto themselves and to love God with all the mind, heart, strength and soul.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15, "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died; And he died for all, that they that live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again."
Matthew 22:37, "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind."
Loving God in this way with every faculty of the whole being means loving the things He loves and hating the things He hates. The expulsive power of this new affection removes the old things that grieve and displease Him; the thing which are not to His honor and glory. The creative power of the new affection produces within us love for the things He cares for most, His Word, His house, His people, His day, His Kingdom.
Love for the Father includes love for all His children. The love of the Head of the new order constrains every member to love all the other members. Love for our brothers and sisters in Christ is one proof of our own rebirth.
1 John 3:14, "We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death."
The new order demands a new standard of life. Self-exaltation was the norm of the old life. Sin was less sinful that it really is and holiness was less holy that it really is.
In this new creation there is a new conception of sin. Things that before seemed altogether right now seem altogether wrong. Habits, haunts, practices, pursuits, pleasures, companionships, conversations, clothes, that were harmonious and suitable in the old sphere seem wholly out of place in the new. Their presence in the new sphere spoils its harmony and vitiates its atmosphere. After breathing the fresh, pure air of the higher altitude the truly born-again one finds the atmosphere of the natural plane reeking with worldliness, selfishness and sin, stifling and sickening. The one born of God cannot go on sinning as he once did: he cannot continue in the practices which he knows to be contrary to God's will and Word. He has now a conception of sin which makes him loath them.
1 John 3:9, "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."
In the new creation there is also a new standard of measurement. In the old life the sinner measured himself by himself or by others like himself. But in the new order the victorious, obedient, holy life of the incarnate Son becomes the believer's pattern for his own life on earth and all his living is measured by that perfect standard.
Christ's unchanging and unchangeable teachings and principles are now the rule by which he lives and he rejoices in being free from the despotism of the constantly shifting customs and styles of worldly society. The new creation in Christ has a new standard of values. Time becomes an extremely precious thing, the use of which is to be sacredly guarded and prayerfully made. Money becomes invested with new meaning and power for consecrated to the Lord and used in His service it may be the means of saving souls infinitely precious in God's sight. Men and women, boys and girls, become vastly more than flesh and blood; they are seen as God sees them, human souls lost in sin, redeemed by the precious blood of the Son of God, an waiting to be saved through faith in Him. In all things Christ the Son becomes the believer's Example.
John 13:14-15, "If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye ought also to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done unto you."
1 Peter 2:21, "For even hereunto were ye called; because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow his steps."
But need we continue to enumerate the things made new through the new birth when God says so plainly that "all things are become new?" Indeed, they must become so because we have a new Spring from which all thing in our life come. "All things are of God, (2 Corinthians 5:18). The source of all our thoughts, feelings, motives, ambitions, aspirations, actions, affections, purposes and plans, is God Himself. The new birth is just the beginning of a new life. "It is a crisis with view to a process; a rebirth with the prospect of a constant renewal."
Have you my friend, been born again? Are you a member of the new order? Are you a new creation? If not, will you not begin that new life just now by one believing look at the Crucified One?
But perchance, you have professed to come into the family of God through faith in Jesus Christ and yet you are discouraged today because of the countless old things that still persist in the new life. Is yours the case of new pieces on an old garment?
One day on the streets of Peking I saw an old countryman. He had on an old, faded, worn out garment. It had been blue once but it was blue no longer. Right across the front and across the back of his faded garment were big, bright blue, new patches. On seeing the innocent old countryman's garment I laughed aloud. I couldn't help it for it looked so funny. But why did I laugh? The patches were all right. They were big and new and bright and blue and covered the whole of his garment, front and back. There was nothing the matter with the patches! Then why did I laugh? I will tell you why. Because the garment and the patches were out of harmony with each other. The garment was old and faded and worn out; the patches were new and bright and blue. The garment and the patches did not belong to each other.
I wonder if as God looks down upon us today He sees some patched Christians! Some professors of Christianity rather than possessors of Christ! Perhaps you go to church, read your Bible, have daily prayer, partake of the holy communion, all of which are part of every genuine Christian life. But in your life are these things like new patches on an old garment? Are they simply good habits added on to the old life of sin and self? Are you a patched Christian? A professor instead of a possessor? Or have the old things passed away and all things become new because you are in deed and truth a new creation in Christ?
~Ruth Paxson~
(continued with # 1 - "A New Sovereign in a New Sphere")
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