Untitled Sermon (23)

Turning-the-page / Social Values and Structures / 2 Corinthians 5

Value the opportunity to receive new life in Jesus, and appreciate the gift of growing in the knowledge of the Bible.

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How do we value the opportunity to receive new life in Jesus and appreciate the gift of growing in the knowledge of the Bible on the Journey?

‌The State of the Bible in America‌ According to the American Bible Society, 87 percent of American households own a Bible. However, a recent study suggests that only 10 percent of Americans have a worldview. Based on Christian Publishing Houses' social media activity from 2005 – 2008, they have assessed that 90 percent of all worldwide are incapable of correctly interpreting and applying scripture. They are incapable of defending the faith, God, and the Bible.‌Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research teamed up to find out the state of theology in the United States among Christians. Despite the clear teaching of scripture, the survey reveals that over half of evangelicals believe that God changes through adjusting to various situations. ‌The following findings indicate how Biblical teaching on the character of God is lacking in evangelical Churches. With the rise of humanistic philosophies, it is not surprising that most U.S. adults believe that humans are born innocent. However, the fact that nearly two-thirds of evangelicals believe that humans are born innocent reveals that most Christians do not accept or ignore the biblical teaching of original sin. ‌The lines of absolute truth regarding human sexuality, including homosexuality, transgenderism, and co-habitation, continue to become blurred, leading to an inconsistent Biblical ethic.

So, what does this tell us as a church? What does this have to say to us as Christians? We desperately need spiritually informed and transformed followers of Christ if the church is to be successful in the coming years.

At the Journey, we Turn pages!

Let's read our crucial text in 2 Corinthians 5:16-17

2 Corinthians 5:16–17 ESV

16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Note: To understand the following text, we must go back to the beginning of chapter 5. Paul speaks of our earthly body as a temporary tent; the permanent residence is a building built by God, a house not made with human hands that is eternal.

Everything we do this side of heaven is in preparation for the eternal dwelling place, our final destiny. Here is the problem, many of us are not turning the pages of scripture because we lack an eternal perspective on this life we live. We see this body, these things around us, not as temporary and fleeting. We spend most of our lives preparing for this reality, not the one to comOnen the Kingdom of God.

Look what Paul rights even further back in 2 Corinthians 4:7-12

2 Corinthians 4:7–12 ESV

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.

‌"Pinocchio": Longing to Be Changed ‌Pinocchio is based on a 19th-century children's story about a lonely old woodcarver named Geppetto who carves a little puppet boy and names it Pinocchio. Whenever he sees the marionette, he thinks how wonderful it would be to have a real son. Upon seeing the wishing star in the sky, Geppetto wishes Pinocchio would become real. That night, the Blue Fairy brings Pinocchio to life, removes his strings, and instructs the wooden boy to shun evil and follow good. But although he has life, Pinocchio is not fully alive—his body is still made of wood. He longs to be a "real" boy.‌

One day Pinocchio discovers a gigantic whale has swallowed Geppetto and the family pets. Pinocchio dives in the sea in an attempt to save his father. After helping to free Geppetto, Figaro the cat, and Cleo the goldfish from the belly of the whale, Pinocchio drowns and is washed to shore. Geppetto is brokenhearted and kneels over the boy sobbing.

The Blue Fairy speaks above Pinocchio, "Awake, Pinocchio, awake." Pinocchio is supernaturally transformed from a wooden boy into one who is fully alive, complete with flesh and bones. He sits up and rubs his eyes. Seeing Geppetto weeping over his bed, Pinocchio calls out, "Father! What are you crying for?"‌

Unable to comprehend what has transpired, Geppetto answers, "Because you are dead, Pinocchio." Released from his former life, Pinocchio replies, "No, I'm not. I'm alive. See? I'm real. I'm a real boy." Finally Geppetto is able to see the truth. What appeared to be death was just the opposite. Pinocchio is at last complete.

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‌We may be afflicted in every way but not destroyed because we are carrying with us the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that is being manifested in our mortal bodies. ‌The Problem is that to our minds this present existence is solid and real, whereas our coming existence seems shadowy and insubstantial. Paul teaches us that the reverse is true. The life which is to come is strong, permanent and real; the present life is lived among the shadows.

Look at 2 Corinthians 5:2-5

2 Corinthians 5:2–5 ESV

2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

What is to be made of the two sets of clothing? The two sets of clothes represent our existence in this present age and in the future.

There is a yearning for death to bring us closer to the end of this present life and a longing to be clothed with the clothes he has for us in the age to come. (Remember Paul’s hope in Philippians 1)

Note: Paul further reinforces this point with the desire that his mortal existence will not merely stop but, before it ends, may be swallowed up by life. Paul is predicting that the new age (life) is, let us say, a larger fish overtaking and swallowing whole a smaller fish (his mortality in the present age).

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Now, look at the next part of the narrative in 2 Corinthians 5:6-9

2 Corinthians 5:6–9 ESV

2 Corinthians 5:6–9 ESV

6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.

Note: While here, our aim should be to please God.

Why do we Turn the Pages of scripture into New Creations?

1. The New Creations Aim is to Please God.

How do we Please God the Most? What does God want from us anyway?

We know that in the Shema in Matt. 22:37-39 tells us to love God with all our heart, soul and mind, and the second is to love our neighbor as ourselves.

We know that those who are in the flesh cannot please God Romans 8:8

Romans 8:8 ESV

8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

The next verse tells us about the motivation and desire to please God. 2 Corinthians 5:10

2 Corinthians 5:10 ESV

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

We will all find ourselves standing before the judgment seat of Christ and receiving what he has done in the body, good or bad, for the kingdom of God.

*The Father is pleased when we look most like Christ.

When do we look most like Christ?

Romans 8:29 ESV

29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

He saved us from conforming to the image of His Son. The Father wants all of His children to look more like Jesus. The more we turn the pages of scripture, the more we understand what it looks like to walk in obedience and conform to the image of His Son.

We look most like Christ when we don’t conform to the passions of the flesh but seek to be holy as he is.

For example, in 1 Peter, we learn that our job as obedient children is to not conform to evil and live in ignorance but be holy as he is holy. 1 Peter 1:14-15

1 Peter 1:14–15 ESV

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,

‌A Holy Life‌ The call to a Holy life is to live a life that is set apart, reserved to give glory to God. It is a life of discipline, focus, and attention to the things that matter most to God. ‌Turning the pages of scripture is the only way this is possible for us. When we fail to spend time in the word of God we begin to look more like the world and less like Christ.

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4 Threats to Your Holiness

God is perfect; he lacks nothing. God is holy; he is set apart and wholly separate from sin. As with many of God’s attributes, he desires to communicate perfection and holiness to his creation as we open God's word daily. Lucifer, an angel of God’s, did not get enough of God’s perfection and holiness. He wanted it all. He rebelled against God and lost all of what God gave him.

Satan’s goal is to ruin Holiness for all of you. He elicited the fall of Adam and Eve by depriving them of holiness. He continues this war against holiness today and is working to enlist your help as his co-conspirator. And fallen humanity is all too eager to lend him a hand.

Relativism

Relativism conveys that there are no absolute truths. This perspective legitimizes innumerable truths that contradict one another. Relativism ruins holiness because there is no longer a supreme authority. Satan deceives people into thinking that there are multiple acceptable authorities in the Universe.

All options outside of God point to Satan. He is the only other authority people submit to. God rescues holiness from relativism’s ruin in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Turning the pages of scripture guards us against the trap.

Tolerance

Relativism leads to tolerance. If you do not accept multiple worldviews, you must be intolerant, leading to intolerance of intolerance. If you tolerate multiple worldviews and authorities, holiness is diluted as God’s glory is shared. God cannot be altogether wholly other because he shares his holiness with different worldviews and authorities, diminishing his glory.

God rescues holiness from tolerance’s ruin in Isaiah 48:11 says, “My glory I will not give to another.”

Liberty

Liberty, also known as antinomianism (against the law), which we will get into next week when we look at the Old and New Testaments, says that God’s law is entirely abolished by grace. Humanity is no longer expected to cherish and keep God’s law. This makes way for a license to abuse the grace of God. Our enemy would like to see grace abused. Where relativism dilutes holiness, liberty dirties holiness. Liberty is fostering what Bonhoeffer called cheap grace.

God rescues holiness from liberty’s ruin in Romans 7:12 says, “So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”

Even though it is impossible to keep the law of God, it does not mean we should not long to keep it.

Legalism

Now the flip side of Liberty is legalism. Legalism has two parts. Legalism is not attempting to keep the law of God. It’s assuming we can keep it. Legalism says God's acceptance of me is found in keeping God’s law. Impossible! If that were the case, then God’s grace in Christ’s death and resurrection and all its implications are null and void.

Legalism is also when people make new laws to fit their needs and desires. People somehow believe that God’s acceptance is tied to these fabricated laws of men. Legalism restricts faith.

‌Turning the pages of scripture guards us against all of these false ideas and puts us on the road towards holiness which is the one thing that please God the most. ‌We begin to have a well-balanced and well-formed hope for the future as we see in verses 6-9 the preference is for us to be at home with the Lord, however whether we are or not it should be our desire to please the Lord while we are in waiting.

2 Corinthians 5:12–15 ESV

12 We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

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2. The New Creations' love of Christ Controls everything we do.

‌Consider the first time you fell in love with someone. What did you do to grow your love and affection for that person besides buying things for them? ‌You want to spend time with them, as much time as the day will permit. You want to find out everything you can about that person i.e. What are their likes, dislikes, hangups, habits, passions. This is the same reason we should be turning the pages of scripture to learn everything about the love of Christ that controls everything we do. ‌vs. 12 Paul is warning about boasting in outward appearances instead of what is on the heart of a person. ‌

Now look at vs. 13, “For if we are beside ourselves it is for God.” Remember the charge of madness made by Festus against Pau, which of course Paul rejected by saying, “most excellent Festus, I am not mad but speaking the truth.” ‌Another interpretation of this is those who doubted that Paul was truly spiritual because he gave no evidence of ecstatic experiences, speaking in tongues. Paul says that if they are in their right mind it is for you. Even if we are mad, that is but the result of our faithfulness to God in preaching a pure gospel. If we are in our right mind it is for your benefit from sober speaking of the truth, not tongues.

Now the further explanation lies in verse 14. “For the Love of Christ Controls us.” The word “compels” is also used here.

Note: Love has now taken the place of hate in Paul’s life. The Love of Christ now Controls everything that he says and does.

*Christ’s Control compels us to live for Him and not ourselves.

Note: Paul uses the word “because” to spell out what it looks like to be controlled by the love of Christ. To be controlled by the love of Christ means that we conclude that He has died once and for all and that we are dying so that those who are truly living no longer live for themselves but for Him.

If you are going to Live for Christ, don’t you think you might want to read His book?

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‌Notice What the early Christians were doing? ‌They were going around desiring if not obsessing about hearing the accounts of Jesus Christ from the Apostles. They wanted to gain as much information as they could about this Jesus Christ of Nazareth and how he taught them to live, move and breath.

Reading and studying the Bible helps us to see beyond the attractive “bait” to the painful “hook” in sinful temptations so that we can learn from others’ mistakes rather than making them ourselves. There are plenty of examples in the scriptures of mistakes to learn and grow from. The Bible is a book that is not merely meant to be read but is meant to be studied and applied. Remember I had mentioned before that the moment you became a Christian, you entered the school of Jesus Christ, not the school of rock as Jack Black would indicate.

‌The study we started with this morning also asked the questions of its participants, “what is the main reason you read scripture. The majority of those in the study indicated that it was for their own comfort and peace of mind, or that it helped them become a better person. ‌While these reasons are not completely wrong they are not the primary reason we turn pages. We are not reading for our own self soothing benefits. It is surprising that few mentioned:

We read to learn more about the character of God

We read to learn how to fight Satan and temptation,

We read to be better grounded in the theology of the word so that they could defend their faith and share Christ with others.

Paul tells us in verse 15 that the possibility that those who have experienced Christ’s death and resurrection should revert to living for themselves is a real possibility for some.

The greatest barrier to this happening is consistency in our time in scripture.

The two poles of Paul’s motivation for ministering in verses 11-15

(1) He is aware of accountability, so he has a healthy fear of the Lord.

(2) He knows of the great love of Christ and so could not do otherwise than to live for the one who died for him.

The Message of 2 Corinthians (b. One Died for All)

Onere is no power so great, no motivation as strong as knowing someone loves me. In his death, Paul’s understanding that Jesus loved him was now the controlling force in the apostle’s life.

2 Corinthians 5:11–21 ESV

11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.  16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

‌"End of the Spear": Ready for Heaven ‌The movie The End of the Spear tells the true story of five missionaries who gave their lives to reach the violent Waodoni tribe in the jungles of Ecuador in the 1950s. Led by Nate Saint, the missionaries were eager to reach the Waodoni people before they all died off from their intertribal warfare and vicious revenge killings.‌ As Nate prepares for his adventure, his family gathers around him on the dirt airstrip in front of their house. As he kisses his wife goodbye, his son, Steve, looks at the gear in the plane and notices a rifle. Obviously worried, he turns to his father and asks, "If the Waodoni attack, will you use your guns? Will you defend yourselves?"‌ Nate looks his boy dead in the eye and responds, "Son, we can't shoot the Waodoni. They're not ready for heaven. We are."

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3. The New Creations is called to radical Reorientation

vs. 16-21

Paul begins this section of the narrative by reminding us that from now on, we are to regard no one who is a believer according to the flesh.

‌Orienteering ‌Requires navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain while moving at speed. ‌Participants are given topographical maps, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they use to find control points. ‌The first thing you want to do when you get your map is to orient it to the surrounding landscape and physical features as they appear on the map and as you see them displayed in reality.

The Message of 2 Corinthians (a. Radical Reorientation)

The astronomer Copernicus, who was among the first to understand that the planet Earth was not the center of the universe, has lent his name to what we call a ‘Copernican revolution’ as a description of any radical rethinking.

The apostle Paul is no less famous for his Damascus Road experience, which changed the whole direction of his life. Even though he was an outwardly religious man, everything revolved around him.

Formerly he had lived an egocentric life as the center of his own universe. But now (verse 16), this is no longer (verse 15) true. He no longer lives to and for himself; now, he lives to please the one who loved him,Oneed … and was raised again for him. Christ, not Paul, is the new center of Paul’s universe; egocentricity has given way to Christocentricity.

*Our Lives are Reoriented through the Ministry of Reconciliation.

Note: What Paul underwent through the Damascus Road event others come to s a result of the ministry of reconciliation. What ordinary believers experience is no less remarkable since the human will is entrenched in the world's egocentricity.

‌C.S. Lewis‌‘What mattered most of all’, Lewis observed, ‘was my deep-seated hatred of authority, my monstrous individualism and lawlessness. No word in my vocabulary expressed deeper hatred than the word “interference”. But Christianity placed at the centre what then seemed to me a transcendental interferer.’‌Lewis, like, Paul, was a famous convert to Christianity and he rightly saw how profound is the change from an egocentric to a Christocentric lifestyle.

It’s like someone came in today with a signal jammer, jammed all of your signals, and replaced them only with what they wanted you to see. This happened at the fall of humanity and has been going on ever since. However, when the light of Christ invades your life, He lifts the jamming signal allowing you for the first time to see Christ for who he truly is and what he did for you at Calvary. For some of you today, you need to have your signals unjammed by the holy spirit.

*Our Lives are Reoriented through New Insight.

‌Turning pages helps to reorient your life with new insight, from a worldly point of view (literally according to the flesh; verse 16) Paul is, at the same time, referring both to the newcomers and to himself. ‌Christ proclaimed by the intruding ministers was, apparently, entirely circumscribed within the covenant of Moses - a Jewish, law-keeping Jesus. Their high view of Moses vs. 12-15 necessity of a low view of Jesus. Before the Damascus Road event Paul’s knowledge of Jesus had also been ‘according to the flesh’, not n the sense of having known the historical Jesus, but of having a false and superficial view of him. ‌When we turn pages in scripture we no longer see Christ in this way, it becomes clear for Paul in an instance that the glorified, crucified one could only be the Son of God who in death received God’s curse; not a false Messiah, but the divine appointed agent through whom forgiveness and reconciliation would be mediated to sinful humanity. ‌Everything rises and falls on your view of Jesus Christ and what He came to do.

*Our Lives are Reoriented through the New Creation

Paul’s reference to a New Creation summarizes the changes which occur within the life of any believer; these changes are dramatically focused within his own life.

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Love now controls us as our motive in place of hate.

Serving the one who died for uOneas taken the place of selfishness.

The true understanding of Jesus, his identity, and his achievements have replaced ignorance and error.

‌The Creation Narrative ‌Paul uses the vocabulary from the creation narrative in Genesis. It is implied that unbelievers (as Paul had been) are blind and live in darkness analogous to the primal darkness at the first verses of the book of Genesis. Just as God has spoken then, and there was light. ‌He too speaks the gospel word and once again there is light, though it is inward within the heart. The same way by the agency of God the world was made, so now by the word of God, the message of reconciliation, people are remade. ‌So, anyone who is in Christ now has a new covenant that is written on their heart, there is also a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.

Here is the kicker, we should note that what is said about the new creation does not include a happily ever after zipidie doo da life that is a trouble-free existence. The new creation is in no way immunized to life’s problems and pain.

The new creation was inaugurated at Easter when Christ conquered sin and death; in relation to individuals, it begins the moment we accept the message and ‘BE RECONCILED TO GOD.’

For humanity, the full effect of the new creation will not be realized until the end of history when Christ returns. Therefore, the reality for us today is that since its effects have not yet been abolished, everyone will continue to undergo, in varying degrees, difficulty and hardship - including those in whom the new creation has begun.

As we read in 5:1, we have an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. The process of edification or upbuilding continues quietly in our lives until, at death, when the earthly tent we live in is pulled down, and God presents us with our new home.

‌The Message of 2 Corinthians (10. Ministers of God (5:20–6:10))‌Reconciliation is an accomplished fact (‘God … reconciled’, 5:18) and also an incomplete process (‘God has committed to us the message of reconciliation’, 5:19). Because the two themes overlap, it is necessary to go back to 5:20 to find the beginning of the section about the ongoing ministry of reconciliation.

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*Our Lives are reoriented as Christ’s Ambassadors

‌If you are to be a representative of someone or something don’t you think it would be important to know about the person or thing that you are representing. ‌In the Old Testament God raised up prophets to be the mouth piece of God. Now you are that mouthpiece, you are God’s spokesmen and women to the world. God is now making His appeal through you and me. ‌This work cannot be exercised in a detached and cold manner. This is a deeply emotional and passionate plea before the watching world. ‌To be reconciled means to seek and to receive forgiveness from the wronged party. God will surely forgive; there is no doubt about it. But we must first ask, and this means humbly acknowledging our need for forgiveness by God.

CONCLUSION

Big Idea: Don’t Miss the Journey for the Destination

Missing the Journey for the Destination

It isn't easy to commit to this world and the next, to this life and the next. Consider the following analogy of a busload of tourists en route to the Grand Canyon.

On the long journey across the wheat fields of Kansas and through the glorious mountains of Colorado, the travelers inexplicably keep the shades down. Intent on the ultimate destination, they never even bother to look outside.

As a result, they spend their time arguing over such matters as who has the best seat and who's taking too much time in the bathroom. The church can resemble such a bus. We should remember that the Bible has far more to say about how to live during the journey than the ultimate destination.

Some people of faith tend to be either/or. … [But] the world does not need either/or people…. Rather, we need both/and Christians, people devoted to God's creatures and God's children as well as to God, and as committed to this life as to the afterlife, to this city as to the heavenly city.

We must continue to turn the pages of scripture as we live the Journey God has called us to live here on earth in preparation for the destination that will one day become a reality. Church, it is time to open the shades of the windows of your life and experience the ride.