Changed: Part 1, “From Now On” 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

“From Now On”

2 Corinthians 5:16-6:13

If you would take your copy of Scripture and turn to 2 Corinthians 5. (Pew Bible and take a Bible…)

The musical, The Greatest Showman, is based on the life of P.T. Barnum. And while it is mostly fictional, there’s a song in the musical that strikes a chord with most of us.

The song is entitled “From Now On” and its a song about putting what is most important first. But, the context is that like that of a renewal. Barnum has let the pursuit of fame and fortune take him away from the people and parts of his life that are most important. It’s a song of commitment, almost like a song of repentance and restoration…

The song goes like this:

I saw the sun begin to dim, and felt that winter wind blow cold

A man learns who is there for him

When the glitter fades and the walls won't hold

'Cause from that, rubble what remains, can only be what's true

If all was lost there’s more I gained

'Cause it led me back to you.

From now on… These eyes will not be blinded by the lights.

From now on… What's waited till tomorrow starts tonight.Tonight.

Let this promise in me start, like an anthem in my heart. From now on…

From now on…

Now, I am not about to preach a sermon on a song from The Greatest Showman. But, I think it’s demonstrates the truth that there are some things in life that leave us forever changed. Those moments serve as markers that we look back on. We base our life story on those moments, we tell of those life altering moments when we talk about ourselves with others. I’m not talking about the highlights, I am talking about the moments where who we are and what we are going to be hang in the balance. These moments where we move forward motivated and shaped by what we have been through.

I bring this up because our passage this morning aims our attention at that kind of life altering, future changing moment.

Look with me at 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, and lets stand together in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

“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. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 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. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” - 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Prayer… (then seat the congregation)

Our sermon is titled “From Now On” and it’s the first in a short sermon series from 2 Corinthians 5 & 6 entitled; Changed: living a Christ-centered life in a self-centered world.

Identity…

Verse 16 begins, “From now on…”

And it refers back to what Paul was writing about in the previous paragraph. Verses 14-15 say, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 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.”

5:16 says, “From now on…” a life altering future changing event has happened.

Believing in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is a life-altering moment.

Paul said in 5:14 “because we have concluded this”

He is speaking of their belief and trust in the truth of the gospel. What is it that they have concluded? That the death and resurrection of Jesus is true. And, if it’s true it changes everything.

And before that he said, “for the love of Christ controls us”

And why or how has he gotten to the point where he would say that the love of Christ controls? Or why would he say that “from now on…”?

Because believing the truth of the gospel… believing in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is faith. And it is by grace through faith that you are saved, and when you are saved you are changed.

“From now on” refers to the spiritual transformation that happens when someone is saved.

God changes you when He saves you.

2 Corinthians 5:17-19 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 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.

From now on… after the life altering and future changing moment or event… Paul says, “therefore…” You see that God changes, transforms, you when He saves you.

Which leads to a few questions:

Why does God save?

God saves because the curse and consequences of sin are real.

Romans 3:23-24, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”

God saves because He loves.

Earlier in 2 Corinthians 5:14 it says the love of Christ controls us.

“For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 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.”

Some translations say that the love of Christ compels us. Paul references the death and resurrection of Christ as the example and motivation for the Christian life… but he refers to it as the love of Christ. The love that controls is displayed by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

The cross is not leverage or manipulation.

The cross is the demonstration of God’s love for you.

1 John 3:16, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”

Romans 5:6-8, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Paul is referencing the love of Christ as exemplified in its fullest extent through the cross of Jesus Christ.

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

How does God save?

God saves by redeeming you from the curse of sin through the death of Jesus.

I go back to 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 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.”

One has died for all, therefore all have died.

This is speaking of what Romans 3:23-26 is referring to.

Romans 3:23-26, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

God redeems by the death of Christ, because the death of Christ is a willing sacrifice called a propitiation. A propitiation is a sacrifice that removes wrath. The Father puts the son forward in the place of sinners for the removal of the curse. This happens because Jesus took the curse and its consequence in the place of those who believe.

Galatians 3:13, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”

And again, back to John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

God saves you by redeeming you from the curse of sin because Jesus became the curse for us… like Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5, “one died for all.” And like John 3L16 says, salvation is given by the love of God as a gift of grace to those who believe.

How does God saves? He saves by redeeming you from the curse of sin through the death of Jesus… and God saves by giving you the gift of His grace and through your response of faith in Jesus.

God saves by giving you the gift of His grace and through your response of faith in Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:18 says, “All this is from God…” This means that salvation is not the result of your works, its the result of God’s reconciling work in Christ.

Ephesians 2:4-5 & 8-10, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved… For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Salvation is a gift of His grace, and Jesus is that gift… and it is a gift that you must receive by faith.

You cannot be saved apart from faith

You cannot be saved apart from grace… you are saved by the grace of God in Christ and your faith in Jesus.

Which is why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5 “that we have concluded this:” Faith is the response of those who are saved.

This is why John 3:16 is such a big verse when it comes to the gospel. But the next two verses in John 3 make it even more clear.

John 3:16-18, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

What does God change when He saves?

2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

God changes your relationship with Him.

Reconciled

Redeemed

Identity

God changes your relationship with sin.

Forgiven

Free

Right understanding of morality

God changes your relationship with everyone else.

Your relationship with God changes everything else, and that includes the way that you relate to everyone else.

Selfish to selfless

Self-centered to Christ-centered

From now on, your life is marked by the change that occurred when God saved you.

Invitation moment:

What about you? Has God changed your life? Do you have a “from now on” in your relationship with God? 2 Corinthians 6 says that today is the day…

Do you believe? Do you want to be saved?