Wednesday night 2 Cor 5:17-21
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You Have Been Changed
You Have Been Changed
You know as I think about life itself, man has a choice to make in the course of their days.
Do you know what that choice might be? The choice is whether to follow Christ or not. So think about this....
You have the choice to be a Christian or not, to experience a life with Christ or a life without Christ.
A choice to do your best by your own will and strength or the choice to allow Jesus to His best in and through your life.
And so there is a vast difference in these choices, there can also be a vast difference in the outcomes of these life choices.
Ultimately, if you choose to not to follow Jesus and his ways, you miss out on all that He would hope to do in and through your life. But I want to take a little bit of time and speak about the blessing of what it means to follow Jesus.
So lets look at 2 Cor 5:17-21
2 Corinthians 5:17–21 (ESV)
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.
There is a lot being said in this passage.... lets break it down.
1. The Choice to Follow Jesus means you are a New Creation....
This is the very first truth that Paul shares as He is writing to the believers at Corinth. The choice to follow Jesus results in a new creation.
It is not that God has made a totally new type of being in His creation, No, not at all… What God has done through the son is simple, He has change your life in such a way that you are new.
Have you ever thought about this? Being in Christ means that you are a new creation.
He says i”If anyone” is in Christ, the anyone speaks to the universal nature of the Gospel message. It was not meant for one or two groups or nationalities, no! The Gospel is meant for all people...
And to be in Christ means that a person has given their lives over to Jesus. They have said no to self and to selfish desires and wants and instead that have asked Christ to come into their lives and to make them like Him
And it is here where we see something beautiful .... to be a new creation, It means there has been a radical change in a person’s life. They have been made new.
But what does that mean… To be made new means there has been a change in mind, in the very core of a person that will effect every direction and action of their life.
That change (the new creation) began at the moment of their conversion. And this is the natural outcome for a person who receives Jesus as their Savior. Now of course, it is not that our outside has changed, but the inside.
Our whole outlook has changed because we have taken His life upon ourselves.
And look at what else Paul says in verse 17
“...The old has passed away behold the new has come....” There is a break in the “old age” and the “New Age.”
You see that person was one way before coming to faith in Christ, it was like a old era comes to and end and then you see when the new comes, a new view comes, a new outlook and a new way and a new hope.
To be in Christ means you have come to a new hope and a new possibility.
2. Christ Made this Possible....
How did this happen? It had nothing to do with us or any person, it is the work of God.
Lets go back and look at verse 18..
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
This verse sums it up totally, before the foundation of the world we know this was God’s plan. God planned to help us.
Paul says “All this is from God.”
God the father was the agent at work, He determined to send the Son that our lives would be changed. It was His redemptive plan.
We can truly only understand the fullness of the work of Christ as we understand the Father’s role in reconciling the world that has been touched by sin. The Father loves the Son and the father loves His creation and desires the best for them.
So in spite of the fall of man, God planned on sending the Son.
The second part of verse 18 says, “...who through Christ reconciled us to Himself...”V 18b
So reconciliation begins with God and through the death of the Son, reconciled us to himself.
To Reconcile something means.... restore or resolve one to friendship and harmony.
We were separated from God because of sin, sin breaks our fellowship with God, it will drive us away from God thinking we can live our own way, that we are ok and do not need God the Father. But that is a lie straight out of the devils mouth
We need God more than ever. So God acted on our behalf.
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
To be reconciled tells us that His peace isn’t just a stopping of His punishment, no! It truly says that our relationship with he Father has been mended, made right and never to be brought up again.
And since we have been so warmly saved, so purposefully made right we know that He has given us the task of helping others find the joy and peace we now know...
3. The Ministry of Reconciliation
The ministry of reconciliation is working to help other find the Savior that they might enjoy the peace of God.
Lets look at verses 19-20
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.
We get another look at the forgiveness here, God saved the world through the sacrificial death of His Son, Jesus.
Jesus was the lamb that was slain, His blood covered the sins of the world and thus we were made right in front of Hod. Our sins are no longer held us, we are forgiven and since we have been entrusted with such a gift.
Now this word for sin here, Trespasses, is important. It speaks to deliberate sin, you see it isn’t that we messed up and missed something accidently. No man has purposefully lived in a way that did not please God.
Do you remember when God counted the sins of the people in the days of Noah, he said the wickedness of their heart, the intention of their hear was continually evil or wicked.
So in Christ we are forgiven and we are to take that message to the world..
Therefore Paul says..... Because of all of this… we are ambassadors for Christ.
To be an ambassador, we are to represent all that Christ is, more especially the life saving message of the cross.
The hope is that others would see Jesus in us and thus receive Him as Savior.
Let me ask you a question… Are you a good Ambassador for Jesus?
You see, God desires to use your life to appeal to others of their need for a Savior. Thus others seeing their need would reach out to the Savior.
As an ambassador our purpose is to renew or establish goodwill, friendship and alliances. God purpose in sending His son and his ambassadors is to put and end to the hostility, to the evil and thus through seeing the heart of others change.
Are you actively calling others to come and know the Savior and his goodness. to come and see that He is good!
4. He took out Sin...
Do not loose sight that we have been given a wonderful gift my friends.
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.
Christ became our sin offering, He was the sacrifice, the price the item that was to be surrendered to atone for our sins. I mean think of this, people often brought items to the temple to the priest that would be used to atone for their sin, their unclean status before the law and God.
Jesus was that for us.
Listen to Romans 8:3
3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
2 Corinthians (6) Persuading Others to Be Reconciled (5:11–21)
We do not simply have righteousness from God, we are the righteousness of God as a result of being in Christ (see 1 Cor 1:30; 6:11).
30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Being in Christ is the answer. You must receive the Savior to be forgiven, and being in we can share that with others that they might enjoy his blessing as well.