Paul is writing about the New Covenant between God and man through Christ. According to the Old Covenant, people were always falling short of the law, always disappointing and disappointed. But in the New Covenant, where the blood of Christ washes away our sin and disappointment, we operate in freedom and according to the Spirit, more than the law.

Verse 18 says that "we... with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory..." In 4:6 it says that Christ's life is to be revealed in our mortal body. Though we do not preach ourselves, but Christ as Lord, and ourselves as servants of the Lord (4:5), nonetheless, we are the living, walking, breathing, hopefully glowing representatives of Christ on earth. "This treasure (the glory of God) is kept in jars of clay"; our bodies. The glory of God kept in our bodies. The glory of God revealed in our lives.

Glory = doxa.  We are a walking doxology; walking, talking, breathing, singing, song of praise.

Is that the song that my life sings?

Is that your song? Or is your song more like:

I wish that I had never gotten up
Oh, crud, I have to go to work again
Why can't it be vacation all the time
Why can't I have a job that pays big money for hardly any work.
Amen

Your life is singing a song. My life is singing a song. What kind of song am I singing?

David celebrates in Psalms 40:3 "I waited patiently for the Lord, he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feed on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song on my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord."

Folks, what a story. David was singing one kind of song, a me-oh-my sad tune of slimy pits and muddy mires, and God gave him a new song. Now many see and many have a new sense for God.

God want to give me a new song. He wants to give you a new song. And I don't just mean once for always. This is an ongoing process.

Yes, for those of us who have received Christ, there is a certain newness that is for always. Behold, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17).

But there are other new things that are the product of God's ongoing work. Yes, God wants us to sing a new song, and this happens as he gives us some other new things like…

1. A new heart: Ezekiel prophecies of God's desire to give his people a new heart (36:26).  "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. (Crum! I like this hard one. It's not hurt as easily.  Nor is it moved as easily or molded as easily).

2. A new spirit: Ezekiel says that God wants to put a new spirit in his people. "I will put a new spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to (full of care) to keep my laws."  Paul writes in Romans 7:6 of the need for a newness of spirit, dying to what once bound us. David prays in Psalm 51:10 "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Along with new hearts and spirits,

3. Romans 12:2 indicates that we need to new mind, not being conformed to the thinking of this world, but rather being transformed by the renewing of our minds.

4. New songs, new hearts, new spirits, new minds, NEW SELF. Ephesians 4:22 "Put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; be made new in the attitude of your minds; and put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." Created to be like God; to reveal the character of God.

Again, we are the ones who carry the glory of God in these jars of clay.  We are the light bearers; we are the reflectors of God to this world. We are the one who shines like a light in a dark world.

As Philip Yancy puts it, "God has delegated the task of embodying God's presence in the world" to us, his church. And though we continue to fall short of the glory of God, this is God's plan; His way; to allow us to haltingly, falteringly, but persistently embody His glory for the world to see.

Lord, why would you do that? Why not just do it yourself? Why use us? You're like the sun, casting out darkness.  We're like flashlights with dim batteries, barely piercing the darkness. The sad reality is that few things keep people from Christ than Christianity.

Composer Igor Stravinsky once wrote a piece with a violin part so difficult that the finest violinists could not play it to their liking. After weeks of rehearsal, one master violinist went to Stravinsky and told the composer that the part was unplayable. "I understand that," Stravinsky replied. "What I an after is the sound of someone trying to play it."

And what God is after from us is simply this: that we willingly, willfully keep trying, keep playing, keep changing, keep shining, all the while praying for more battery power. NEW SONGS, NEW HEARTS, NEW SPIRITS, NEW MINDS, NEW SELVES.

2 Corinthians 4:16 says that these old bodies of ours are breaking down, but our inward selves are being renewed day by day.

Are they? Or have we allowed ourselves to settle in or even break down spiritually? Have we become dulled instead of renewed and bright; have we become hard and brittle, rather than moldable and changeable? Are we done learning, or are we eager to learn, craving the pure milk of God's word as a change agent in our lives? Or is the Bible gathering dust on the shelf? ARE WE STILL GROWING IN THE GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, OR DID WE GET ALL WE NEEDED IN YEARS GONE BYE, AND NOW WE'RE OPERATING ON OUR RESERVE TANKS.

Don't you love Paul's attitude? He's on the verge of death; asking life and death questions and preparing to meet the Lord face to face. He has pioneered the church in the ancient world and preached the gospel fruitfully to many nations.  And still, when talking about the totality of maturity, he says, "Not that I've attained it, but I press on."  That's humility. And that humility is fertile soil for growth.

In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul is writing to the Corinthian church about their arrogance. They'd grown cold to sin and unwilling to change. Paul writes, "Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole lump of dough?  Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new lump without yeast.

That's what I want to be in this New Year! I want to be a new lump, not an old lump, just sitting there like a lump, never rising to the full heights that God has intended for me as a reflection of His glory. I refuse to be an old lump; I refuse to not change; I refuse to stay the same; I refuse to be stuck in my old ways. God deserves better, wants better, loves me enough to hope for better from me.  And the same goes for you.

I know I've said this before, but here goes again…

DON'T BE AN OLD LUMP. BE A NEW LUMP. BE A NEW MAN, A NEW WOMEN, WITH A NEW SONG, WITH A NEW SPIRIT, A NEW HEART, A NEW MIND, A NEW SELF, RENEWED DAY BY DAY, TRANSFORMED MOMENT BY MOMENT IN RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST, THE MOST TRANSFORMING AGENT OF CHANGE THIS WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN.

Again, Paul has written in 2 Corinthians 3:18 we…who reflect the Lord's glory are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

This comes from the Lord, the Spirit. It is not something we can muster. Not something we can generate ourselves or manipulate. All we can really do is cooperate.  We cooperate by exposing ourselves to the transforming power of Christ and the Holy Spirit of Christ through at least five things:

1. Fellowshipping and praising and enjoying with God' people. CHURCH

2. Reading God's word. SCRIPTURE

3. Expressing our gifts and giftedness (a vehicle in which God loves to fill us and show himself in transforming power as we serve according to our gifts). SERVICE

4. Glorifying God with our resources of time, talent, and treasure; seeing ourselves as stewards of God's blessings. STEWARDSHIP

5. Praying often and even always. PRAYER

When we participate in these things we cooperate with His transforming power and God's will for us to be renewed day by day.

Old sweater, new sweater: Wow! I didn't realize how dull the other was becoming. It's time for a change. To put on the new and cast off the old.

Cause I don't want to be an old lump. I want to be a new lump.

I don't want to be rigid and unchanging. I want to be teachable and soft, like clay in the hands of the master potter.

Lord I want my life to be a doxology to your glory, a radiant reflection of your goodness, a helpful reminder of your holiness.