Made New

2 corinthians 5:11-21

Introduction:

Happy New year

Introduce the Series: Gospel Priorities (Love, Justice, Mercy)

Excited about Our incredible line up

As we get started in this New YEAR, I have the privilege of speaking to you before you have potentially started your new year resolutions or had a chance to ruin your resolutions.

Paul has much to teach us in our passage: most importantly our dedication to Evangelism and Discipleship, changing the way we view and live life; and the importance of being an active participant in the work of Reconciliation.

This message is critical now more than ever; but it was just as needed in Paul’s day.

He writes this while in Macedonia, he had just left Ephesus. He writes to a diverse group of people, wealthy and well resourced, a group who had different perspectives on morality.

The Corinth was known for wealth, social status.

The church was marked by division: 1 corinthians (some following different teachers) . . many following false teachers. And the list goes on and on.

As Paul accessed the situation. . . he writes for us in our text today, a great word of encouragement to help us focus on what’s really important.

Paul says then, and for us today: don’t waste your time on things that have no Eternal value: what you look like, what your social status is, how much wealth you have or don’t have. . . don’t fixate on striving to acquire more status or success; Rather fix your mind on what has Eternal significance.

Paul tells us, all of us who have surrendered to the Lordship of Christ, that we are a new creation. Being new comes with a New Purpose, New Outlook on life, and a New Message.

we are to Live as Ambassadors for Christ. This is accomplished by teaching others about the Goodness of Christ. We must live out the Love of Christ, and we must do Mercy and Justice.

Read the Text:

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.

The Grass withers and the Flower Fades but the Word of our God stands forever.

Pray

New Purpose

2 Corinthians 5:11–14 “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;”

Paul starts off with a very strong charge. He gives us in our first set of verses two reasons why we have new purpose. These two reasons at first glance may not appear to be go hand and hand; however, God uses these to help Paul and others to move forward with this new realized Purpose. This Purpose is Evangelism and Discipleship. Making Christ Known and reproducing others who will make Christ known.

Fear and Love: The Fear of God and the Love of God.

This fear of God is not the fear for being afraid or frightful. It is not the fear you experience watching the final episodes of Stranger Things…

It’s reverence for the Holiness of God. It’s being overwhelmed by the Holiness and Majesty of God. Proverbs 1:7 “7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

This knowledge of God is what guides our lives. It keeps our minds on doing and being righteous.

having the proper fear knowledge of God is important for us to live out this new purpose of spreading the name of God to the ends of the earth.

Paul is not only thinking to the reality of the Knowledge of God.. . .he specifically spotlights God as Judge and the reality that we will one day stand before the Judgement seat of God to give account for the time He gave us in this life.

The Bema seat or Judgement seat of Christ is mentioned in verse 10. 2 Corinthians 5:10 “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.”

Paul has Judgement seat in his mind as he goes about warning all about Christ. Later, Paul will say that we are Ambassadors of Christ, and as Ambassadors we have the opportunity to teach all we come in contact with about the Goodness of God and the wrath of God that is being revealed against humanity.

Paul in Romans 1: after he makes the bold declaration: I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of salvation to all who believe. . . The righteous shall live by Faith.” the very next statement in his evangelistic explosion mentions the wrath of God!

Romans 1:18 “18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

Paul says:

“The Gospel is salvation for all. Oh Taste and see that the Lord is God. . . and oh yeah let me tell you about God’s wrath.”

That’s usually not a part of our witnessing; but it is critical. If we have the proper reverence for God’s Sovereignty and Holiness we must make others aware that the wages of Sin is death. But the Gift of God is eternal life.

It is because of this healthy fear of God and knowledge of the Judgement seat of Christ that we Persuade Others.

Paul says we persuade others since we have the proper fear of God. We tell the beautiful story of the Gospel and how it transformed our lives and we use that story to Persuade others to know Him.

Paul and persuasion. Paul, who when he spoke in front of different audiences said. . I come in fear and trembling. . . Paul who said his speech was not eloquent as many philosophers of his day.

Paul says: knowing I will give account for my actions on earth. . . I must make good use of my time to teach and warn others about Christ.

We persuade!

Last semester i had the great privilege to lead the Men’s Wednesday night Bible study with Bob Coleman. We would love to have you with us for the spring semester.

We are studying Romans and one night one of the men gave us a prayer request for a man who had been giving a bad diagnosis and death was near. Some in the room knew the man who was being referenced and we prayed. After the prayer one man asked the question of spiritual status of this individual. The facial response was not convincing. He asked again. . . finally he says give me his information and lets make sure he has surrendered to Christ.

I drove home that night wondering why was he so passionate about this man he barely knew. Why the urgency?

He understood and had a proper Fear of God’s holiness and was motivated by Love. And he was ready to persuade another person about the reality of Christ and the need to covered by His Grace.

Most of us share what we love with others. Whether recipe, vacation experiences, new golf techniques. We are walking Billboards for the things we love and enjoy.

We can walk through the parking lot and see all the things we love and support. Stickers and decals on our vehicles show what we love and what we support!

I’ll admit there has been a new wave of Ole Miss support in the past few weeks..

We always share, why not share about the one who redeem your life from sin and place your feet on Christ the solid Rock.

Question: What are we doing with the moments God gives us to be His Ambassadors His walking demonstrations of His faithfulness to us?

{Pause}

Our love for Christ and His sacrifice for us gives us the encouragement we need to share Him to other people.

So, knowing the fear of the Lord causes us to persuade others. We want to put Christ on the minds of individuals who live for themselves…

we do this because we are Controlled by God’s Love.

Having the proper fear of God, allows us to Embrace God’s love completely.

. . . . .Have i lost my mind.. . . .

Paul makes his boasting all about Christ. And because of this, he at times just like we may feel. .. we are out of our minds. We are beside ourselves.

Why do i continue to witness.. standing firm in a society that is all about individualism and selfishness. Why continue to talk about a God who loves and gave His only son to be the propitiation for sin, when Sin is really not a big deal?

Are we out of our mind?

No, Paul maintains we are in our right mind for those we serve.

The Love of Christ controls us. .

2 Corinthians 5:14–15 “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.”

. . . .No one wants to be controlled. . .

Control!! This is what we want! This is what we long for.

Janet Jackson supports the idea of having control in her Song Entitled: Control:

Got my own mind

I wanna make my own decisons

when it has to do with my life

i wanna be the one in control

Janet’s lyrics is the Theme of so many in our culture. It’s my life, I’m going to do things my way. I’m in control.

That was my thoughts when I went off to college: I will do things my way.

We all have some of that in us: it’s a bit of self centeredness guiding us through life.

For Paul to say we are controlled by God’s love is offensive to anyone who wants to live for themselves.

Because it comes at a cost: “those who live might no longer live for themselves but for the one who died and was raised on their behalf.

Those who are in Christ put our own personal Agendas aside and live to make God’s Kingdom Agenda realized to those who are lost!

We see life through what Christ accomplished on the Cross…. Justice, Love, Mercy!

We put our political agendas aside to focus on the Kingdom

We put our family . . . lifestyles aside to advance The Kingdom

We preach and teach:

The Truth of the Gospel

Justice - Love- Mercy

This requires us to take inventory of of the Cost of Discipleship. Am I really willing to deny myself. . . take up my cross daily to follow after Christ.

Since Christ, our Head, has ascended to heaven, we should leave our carnal desires behind and lift our hearts upward to him.

John Calvin (French Reformer)

If we are to be serious about Making Him known; Its going to require Boldness.

Boldness to warn others about the wrath of God against ungodliness and the Love of God displayed in Christ.

Boldness:

I was challenged by the leadership in 2:42 about being Bold. We were making plans last year after Easter and I was convicted teaching one week about how eager i had been sharing grilling recipes for the summer with some friends of mine. I was trying to channel my inner Barton Kimbro (who has mastered smoking every type of meat, wrapping everything in bacon. . perfecting his own horseradish…..

i was like this is my plan for summer 2025.

so i’m sending stuff out 3-4 times a week with new grilling methods and techniques. . .

eagerly and very excited to do so and I made the statement about how we share what we enjoy.

in that very Moment i thought about over a hundred or so guys who have regular text communication with who i never verbally shared any Gospel anything with but had shared cooking material.

So I started writing some devotionals to send to this mixed group of believers and non-believers.

I was a little nervous because of being rejected. . no one may respond.. . they might kick me out the group. . . and all other doubts.

i shared for weeks. . no response. . months . . maybe 3 likes.

finally one of the men reached out and told me to keep sending. The men were discussing the devotionals in smaller groups and had been challenged by the scripture being shared.

I shared because i was convinced and had strong belief in the God of my salvation.

I was Convinced I am convinced that Christ died for all and that my life should persuade others likewise.

Christ Died for all.

Why did He have to die?

Adam sinned and brought sin into the world. Adam’s disobedience caused damnation upon mankind. Everything has been effected by Adam’s sin

The world is as it is today because when Adam sinned all sinned, and ever since, sin and death have been universal and have come upon the whole of mankind. It is a mystery, it is an astounding fact. Assurance, 212

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Welsh Preacher and Writer)

All died because Adam’s disobedience!

Paul can therefore say both “all die because all sin” and “all die because Adam sinned” with no hint of conflict because the sin of Adam is the sin of all. All people, therefore, stand condemned “in Adam,” guilty by reason of the sin all committed “in him.

Douglas J. Moo

We all stood guilty of our sin but praise be to God that Christ would come and live perfectly under the law without sin and be obedient to death on the cross.

Christ had to live a life of perfect obedience to God in order to earn righteousness for us.

Wayne Grudem

John Calvin:

‘Christ’s obedience, even to death on the cross , is the cause of our righteousness and the fountain of life”

Christ has given us new life: and a new Purpose. . . lets make him known to those around us.

next we see we have new vision

New Outlook/New Vision

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.

Because we have experienced Christ Love and understand the fear of the Lord. .. now we see things differently.

We don’t see things through the earthly standards because we live by the spirit.

This is to say that we ought to have a new set of standards and beliefs now that we have justified by our faith in Christ. We have been justified by faith now we have peace with God. . . and this peace this new life changes our Perspective.

To see this I want to turn to Paul’s life before Christ to illustrate the difference in our outlook on life.

We regard no one according to the flesh. . I once regarded Christ in this way.

Paul had a life altering experience with Christ. Paul had made persecuting followers of Christ a Sport. He did not believe the claims of Christ. Salvation in Christ alone. . the perfect life and substitutionary atone of Christ. Christ raised from the dead.

This was Paul’s life:

Paul’s life was impressive to himself and those around him and he was not at all ashamed of his accomplishments.

He pins in Phil 3 his resume of sorts and many of his accolades: page 981 Pew Bible

Paul’s achievements

Philippians 3:3–11 “3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

Paul had much to be proud of from a worldly point of view. Grew up in the right family and the right part of town. Had the right resources, went to the right schools. Did what was right in his eyes.

He judged people in the same way. . through the lens of what he had accomplished and the circles of influence he had achieved.

Then something happened to Paul. He had an encounter with Jesus on Damascus Road and it changed everything. He comes to the knowledge of the necessity of Christ in his life and surrendered to Jesus.

Afterwards he can now say, we don’t regard anyone according to the flesh. World values and standards don’t matter. Superficial things don’t matter. All that matters is that we live for the one who died for all.

We know this because of how Paul’s outlooked changed. Still in Philippians 3: Paul says this: Philippians 3:8–10 “8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,”

Everything Paul thought was meaningful, every status symbol that gave him a sense of value and worth. . . “it was all loss. . .count them as rubbish.. . . so that I can know Christ and be found in him.

What are you willing to count as loss for knowing Christ? Maybe we have something we are holding on to that we need to let go, because it is taking our attention off what’s really important.

and

How do we use worldly principles to guide how we deal with other people?

We have a new Purpose of Evangelism and discipleship. We have a new outlook on how we view people and causes in our world.

Lastly we a new ministry: AMbassadors for Christ.

New Ministry: AMbassadors

2 Corinthians 5:17–21 “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.”

Paul calls us new creations. The old is gone and the new has come.

The Old way: Living for myself, living apart from God. That’s the old way. The old is trying to keep the law to be accepted by God. . that’s the old way.

Since we have been transformed by God we now live selflessly, we live a life of Godliness, display characteristics of the Fruit of the Spirit.

Obedience to Christ who perfectly obeyed the law.

This is the New.

This newness pushes us forward as we serve as Ambassadors for Christ.

As ambassadors we reflect God’s initiative of reconciliation.

This idea of reconciliation is all done by God, reconciliation was what God intended for all creation.

Reconciliation is For God, and Through God. God is the author and initiator of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians—Power in Weakness Reconciliation is All of God (5:18–20)

reconciliation is not something we do—it is something God has accomplished. The ministry of reconciliation is not telling people to make peace with God, but telling them that God has made peace with the world

Reconciliation had been a great mystery for some time:

Ephesians 1:9–10 “9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”

Colossians 1:19–20 “19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”

God has done the work of reconciliation, and we model this to the world.

How was reconciliation accomplished:

Christ became sin for us. He did not sin or become a sinner, but He became sin. Christ became the substitution and sacrifice for us.

As He became sin, Our sins were imputed on Christ. And because of His finished work on the cross, His righteousness is imputed to us. Sinners made righteous!

We talk about unity and coming together to witness this unity, this reconciliation to the world . . . and many efforts cease because we see it incorrectly. God has reconciled us by the blood of The Cross of Christ. And before we can be reconciled to others we must be reconciled with God.

The first step toward reconciliation with others is getting right with God.

Warren W. Wiersbe

Les Mes

Jean Val Jean- former criminal was pardoned by the Bishop and experienced reconciliation. He was able to demonstrate this in his new creation status. helping to build up what he had previously messed up. . . . Finds new life

Jovert- not reconciled to God and not reconciled to man. Kills him

In order for us to more forward with any initiative to make our world better, we must be willing to participate in the reconciliation God has already accomplished, rather than building walls of hostility throughout or world.

prayer

benediction

may the Lord bless you and keep you

may He make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you

may The Lord shine His countenance upon you and give you His peace

amen