The New Creation (3)

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5)
 
Review
We’ve been on this journey of being a new creation ever since the year started. In our first session, we looked at those two powerful expressions in the Bible: 'Once' and 'But now.' We explored what it actually means to be a new creation and what's behind that massive change in us.
The new creation in Christianity is not merely a moral improvement or a superficial change in behavior. Rather, it is a radical, essential transformation of our very being. Unlike other religions that seek transformation through human effort, enlightenment, or asceticism, Christianity begins with the sobering reality of our total depravity. Because we were once dead in our transgressions and slaves to sin, we lacked any power to save ourselves.
However, the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ lies in the phrase "But Now." Through faith in Jesus Christ and union with His death and resurrection, we have been justified. The lost image of God has been restored, and our relationship with the Father has been reconciled. This transformation is a free gift of grace, entirely independent of our individual merits. We learned that the sole condition for this new life is abiding in Christ—the One who bore our sins to make us righteous.
Yet, we emphasized that the efficacy of God’s grace doesn’t end at our justification. The power of Christ’s blood doesn’t merely save us from death; it cleanses our consciences so that we may serve the living God.
Last Sunday, we explored the nurturing and training purposes of God’s grace. In the beginning of Ephesians chapter 2, Paul describes our condition before we believed in Jesus and how God saved us. We were dead in our sins and were objects of God’s wrath. However, God, in His great love, saved us from sin and death through Jesus Christ.
But Paul does not stop there. He writes in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works." (Eph 2:10)
The purpose of our salvation, as Paul reveals here, is for us to do 'good works.' These good works are not defined by worldly standards of being a good person. Instead, as Paul explains in verse 7 of the same chapter, for us to do good works is to "show the incomparable riches of His grace" to all generations. It means reflecting God’s goodness through our words and actions as those who have had His image restored by His grace.
Paul also wrote in the book of Titus that God saved us by His grace to purify and sanctify us, making us His very own people who are eager to do what is good.
Here, we discover other important aspects of God’s grace: 'nurturing' and 'training.' God’s grace doesn’t end with saving us from sin and justifying us. Even after we are made righteous through faith in Jesus, God’s grace continues to work within our lives to purify and sanctify us. It empowers us to resemble Jesus Christ more deeply each day and enables us to live the holy life that God expects from us.
God’s grace not only causes us to be 'born again' in Christ but also ensures our continuous spiritual growth. It doesn't just make us new creations; it provides the constant strength needed to live worthily of that new identity.
This is a vital dimension of God’s grace that we must remember. His grace continually provides us with spiritual nourishment and trains us to serve the living God, empowering us to do good works that reflect His goodness according to His will.
This is an essential aspect of God’s grace that we must constantly remember and pursue in order to live worthily of it. We must not separate the grace that saves us from sin from the grace that nurtures and trains us. We must not separate the grace that justifies us from the grace that sanctifies us. Furthermore, we must not separate the grace that causes us to be born again from the grace that enables us to grow into the full measure of Jesus Christ, according to the image of God.
If we truly believe that we have been saved from sin and death, justified, and born again by God’s grace, then we must now seek even more of that grace—the grace that nurtures and trains us to become holier, kinder, and more like Him.
When we do so, God will work through His continuous grace to mold us into the beautiful image He desires and help us grow into the likeness of Jesus Christ. Then, we will be able to live in this world as God’s holy people, eager to do the 'good works' He intends for us. This is the way to live worthily of God’s grace—not receiving it in vain, nor setting it aside, but living in full response to it.
 
How to Live Good
This is what we have explored regarding the "new creation" so far. In our first session, we looked at what it means to be a new creation and what Jesus did to make us so. Last Sunday, we focused on the purpose for which God made us new creations: to make us His holy people, reflecting His good image and eager to do good works.
Starting today, I will be sharing a series on more practical aspects of this journey. What preparation do we need to become the people of God who are zealous for good works, according to the purpose for which He saved us?
To answer this, I will explore four essential elements for the next few weeks. These four are: first, our relationship with God; second, our hearts; third, the Word of God; and fourth, the Holy Spirit.
 
1. Good Works Depend on Our Relationship with the Good God
Today, we will begin by looking at the first one. When we truly desire to live a good life, the first thing we must focus on is our relationship with God. We must humbly admit that within ourselves, we possess neither the will, the strength, nor the ability to live a truly good life. That realization and confession will drive us to rely more deeply on God—the only One who is truly good and the only One who enables us to live a life that is truly good.
Last Sunday, I briefly mentioned different perspectives on humanity. Worldly philosophies, secular studies, and other religions often speak of "human potential." They believe that through education, experience, asceticism, or various religious practices, a person can become a better being.
This perspective became even more firmly established during the Enlightenment and the rapid advancement of science. With the progress of technology and the universalization of education, it seemed as though humanity was constantly evolving. People believed that as time goes on, science and education would eventually turn this world into a "Utopia."
However, this optimism was shattered by the most horrific events in human history: World War I and World War II.  Those who believed that science and reason would create a paradise were thrown into deep shock. The very nations in Europe that prided themselves on being the most highly educated and rational used the most sophisticated technology to brutally slaughter one another.
In particular, the Holocaust—the massacre of the Jews by the Nazis—clearly demonstrated that human education and intellect could never restrain human evil. It was enough to make the world realize that science and education cannot change the fundamental sinful nature of humanity.
 
Here, we encounter the biblical description of humanity once again. The Bible tells us that because of sin, humans became not just "slightly flawed" beings, but "totally depraved" beings. Let me read Romans 3:9-12 again:
"What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written: 'There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.'" (Romans 3:9-12)
This was our state when we were "under" sin. I want to focus on two specific conditions here: first, that "no one seeks God," and second, that "no one does good." These two states are, in essence, fundamentally connected.
 
The Bible testifies that God alone is uniquely good. When a wealthy young man asked Jesus, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus replied: "Why do you call me good? No one is good—except God alone." (Luke 18:19)
Then, what does it mean that God is "good"? When we say God is uniquely good, it means He is not just a 'good being,' but Goodness itself. He is the fountain from which all virtues flow.
It also means that God is the absolute standard of good and evil. Without God as our absolute meter, 'good' becomes subjective and relative. But because God is the unchanging standard, we can know what is truly right and good.
 
In fact, we all have a sense of what is "good." We feel a sting of conscience when we do something we consider "evil." Even without being taught, we instinctively know that harming others, stealing, or killing is wrong. We have an innate ability to distinguish between good and evil.
Furthermore, we can even discern degrees of goodness. Keeping a promise to a friend is good. But spending your time and money to help a homeless person with whom you have no personal connection is "better." We also recognize the severity  of evil. Lying is bad, but stealing is "worse." And harming or killing someone is "even worse." In the world, punishments are determined based on these degrees of evil.
Where, then, did this standard of good and evil come from? How did we come to know these "grades" of good and evil?
Some might say it comes from education. It is true that education teaches us how to live "morally" in society. However, we find that even those who are uneducated possess these standards of good and evil. This tells us that the standard of good and evil doesn’t essentially originate from education.
 
GOD: The Ultimate Standard of Good
So then, where does our sense of "good" come from? The Bible finds the answer in the "Image of God." Because humans are created in the image of God, we inherently possess the ability to distinguish between good and evil. This is one of the most significant characteristics that set humans apart from all other living creatures.
Nature operates under the law of the "survival of the fittest." A strong beast kills and eats a weaker one, yet we don’t call this "evil." This happens even within the same species. A female praying mantis devours the male after mating. This is an instinctive act to supplement nutrients for egg-laying. Similarly, a mother hamster may eat her offspring if she feels stressed by an unstable environment.
While these actions may seem cruel from a human perspective, in the natural world, they are merely highly efficient survival strategies for the preservation of the species. We don’t view them as "evil"; we accept them as just natural behaviors.
But imagine if that happened to us. Like, what if a wife devoured her husband just for 'nutrients,' or a parent killed their kid just because they were 'stressed out'? We’d be terrified! We would never say, 'Oh, that’s just a natural phenomenon.' No, we would label it as "evil." Why is that? Why is an act that is not considered evil for animals judged as evil when committed by a human?
Evolutionary  theory cannot answer this question. From a purely evolutionary standpoint, humans, praying mantises, and hamsters all hold the same value because every living thing is merely the result of "accidental" evolution in different directions from a primordial organism called "LUCA." In this view, humans are not morally or intrinsically superior to animals.
Furthermore, in such a worldview, "good and evil" do not exist. Any act we label as "evil" could simply be dismissed as a mechanism for "survival."
How do you receive such an explanation? Would you want to live in a world like that—a world where there is no distinction between good and evil, and no inherent human dignity? Or would you rather live in a world where good and evil clearly exist, and where human beings are respected simply because they are human?
At the very least, evolutionary theory doesn’t speak of the latter. It is only the Bible that speaks of human dignity and the distinction between good and evil. The reason a human being has value simply for being human is that we are created in the image of God. We didn't just 'get' our worth from nowhere. Our value is stamped on us by God. He’s the Creator, and He’s the one who decided how precious we are. It’s not about us; it’s about Him.
It's the same with our morals. The reason we have this inner GPS for right and wrong—something animals just don't have—is because we are created in the image of God. He is 'Goodness' itself, which makes Him the ultimate standard for what’s right and what’s wrong.
Therefore, that very thing we feel when we look at ourselves and others—that sense of human dignity and morality—is a powerful clue, that supports the truth that the good God exists and that we are His creations, made in His very image.
 
The Damage to the Image of God through Sin
Then why is the world we live in more overflowing with evil deeds than good ones, even though humans were created in the image of God with the ability to distinguish between good and evil?
The Bible explains this using the term "The Fall." When God created the first humans, Adam and Eve, and entrusted them with the care of the entire world He had made, He gave them one command: they must not eat from the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil."
God said: "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die." (Genesis 2:16-17)
Here, we can raise a few questions. The first question is: Why did God forbid them from eating the tree that gives the knowledge of "good and evil"? The second question is: Why does eating it result in "death"? Why would simply eating a piece of fruit lead to death? And the final question is: Why did God place such a dangerous, poison-like fruit in the middle of the garden, the most visible location?
These three questions and their answers are very important because they help us understand the nature of sin and its consequence, death, and further explain the nature of the relationship of love that God desires to have with us.
 
Today, I want to briefly answer the first question: Why did God forbid them from eating the fruit of the tree that gives the knowledge of good and evil?
The expression "giving the knowledge of good and evil" might sound positive. So, one might wonder why He would forbid such a good fruit. However, in this context, "knowing good and evil" doesn’t actually have a positive meaning. It actually means that humans leave the standard of "good and evil" set by God and become the masters of defining "good and evil" for themselves.
Eating the fruit of a tree is not inherently evil. However, God defined eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil as "evil." Why is that evil? There is only one answer: it is because God said it is evil. There is no room here for our thoughts or standards. No matter how good that fruit looks to our eyes—even if it looks delicious and seems like it would make us wise—in other words, even if eating it seems helpful and "good" to us, it is evil because God said eating it is evil.
Then, what were Adam and Eve confessing by not eating the fruit? It was that God is the standard of "good and evil." Not eating the fruit means living not according to "my standard" of goodness, but according to "God's standard" of goodness. In other words, it means prioritizing God's will above all else in every aspect of our thoughts, judgments, decisions, and actions, and following God's standard.
Only when we have this kind of relationship with God can we truly live a good life according to the true standard of goodness. We do not need to discern good and evil for ourselves. It is enough to live according to the standard God has spoken.
 
However, an event occurred where this standard collapsed. In the next chapter, Genesis 3, Satan approached Eve in the form of a serpent and deceived her with lies. He said that she would not die even if she ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and that she would instead become "like God."
After hearing those words, Eve looked at the fruit again. Genesis 3:6 says: "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it." (Gen. 3:6)
She had seen the fruit countless times before, but on that day, it looked a bit more special. Before, eating that fruit felt like something evil because God had forbidden it, but now, eating it felt like something "good." She felt as though it would make her wise, and she thought that if she just ate it, she could become like God. So, she picked the fruit and ate it, and she also gave some to Adam, and he ate it.
And this is the first change that came. This is Genesis 3:7-8: "Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden." (Genesis 3:7-8)
The expression "their eyes were opened" is important here. Usually, having one's eyes opened is used in a positive sense. However, here it is used in a negative sense. That their eyes were opened meant that they had now become the masters of judging good and evil, rather than God.
That is why they felt shame upon seeing their naked bodies and made coverings out of fig leaves to cover themselves. Before that, it was not shameful, because they followed goodness according to "God's standard." So, the very fact that they felt shame upon seeing their naked bodies showed that their standard of good and evil had changed.
The second result was that they began to feel "fear" toward God and started to avoid Him. In this way, disobedience and sin against God separated them from Him.
 
This is what the Bible calls "The Fall." We were created in the image of God, but we have lost that image. We gained the ability to distinguish "good and evil," but the standard is no longer "God."
That is why people today divide "good and evil" according to their own thoughts and fight against each other. For example, to someone, abortion is an evil act equivalent to murder, but to another, abortion is a good act that protects the rights of the mother. This is just one of many examples. We see how different people's standards of "good and evil" are in countless other issues.
 
So, the problem is not that people do not try to pursue "goodness." The real problem is that the standards of "goodness" are different. When we try to find the standard of goodness in ourselves rather than in God, the world cannot help but fall into confusion due to countless different standards.
This, then, is the terrible result we face now due to sin and the Fall. By discarding God's standard of good and evil and following our own standards of good and evil, we no longer know what is truly good or evil. Furthermore, even if we know what is good, we lack the ability to follow it due to our sin and weakness. That is the reason the Bible explains why evil overflows in this world.
This is the meaning of what Paul said in Romans Chapter 3: "As it is written: 'There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.'" (Romans 3:10-12)
When we do not seek God and do not strive to live according to His standard of goodness, we inevitably become ignorant and worthless. We become unable to live according to true goodness.
Therefore, living a life of doing "good works" as spoken of in the Bible is not as simple as it sounds. This is because it is impossible for fallen human beings. How can we live rightly when we do not even know what is good? How can we live doing good when we lack the very power to perform it?
 
Then, how can we live a good life in this world according to the purpose for which God saved us? We must realize that it depends entirely on our relationship with God. When we admit that we cannot live a good life on our own and strive to live in a right relationship with God—the only One who is the true standard of good and who can give us the power to do good—and when we live by His standards and His power, only then can we truly live a good life in this world.
A good life is not the result of one’s self-discipline, will, or effort, but a fruit that flows from a right relationship with God. This is why, more than anything else, we must run to God and cling to Him in order to live a good life according to His will and purpose to save us.
We will look into this part more deeply next week. Let us close the word with a prayer.
 
Prayer
Dear God, thank You for the truth we’ve heard today. We’ve learned that You are not just a good God, but You are Goodness itself—the absolute standard for our lives.
We confess that we have tried to live by our own rules and our own strength. We admit that when we try to be our own gods, we lose our way and the world falls into darkness. Forgive us for trying to define 'good' on our own terms.
Lord, remind us every day this week that we are Your masterpieces, created in Your image. We don’t want to just be moral people; we want to be people who are connected to You and reflect Your goodness. Please work in our lives so that we may live a good life that You desire for us and so that we may glorify Your holy name through our lives.
Thank You for being the fountain of all virtue and our ultimate guide. Fill us with Your Spirit as we go, so that our lives may reflect Your beautiful image to the world.
In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
  
[Reflection Questions]
1.   Do you believe you have the ability to distinguish between "good" and "evil"? Where do you think this ability comes from? How does the fact that everyone possesses an innate ability to recognize different "degrees" of good and evil provide a clue about the existence of God? What kind of explanation does evolutionary theory provide regarding this?
2.   While everyone has the ability to distinguish between good and evil, the "standards" of what is considered good or evil differ for everyone. Why do you think people have such "different standards" regarding good and evil? In your opinion, what kind of standard is closest to "true goodness"?
3.   The Bible states that the reason God gave us grace and saved us is to make us His own people who are "zealous for good works." What do you think these "good works" are? Are you currently zealous for good works? How do you think you can live a good life according to the purpose for which God saved you?