Love Reigns Over Our Past

Week 2: Love Reigns Over Our Past

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

2 Corinthians 5:17–21 NLT

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

Write Up: Jesus Christ demonstrated his love for humanity by sacrificially giving his life on the cross and resurrecting from the dead. Because of this incredible act of love, those who are in Christ have become new creations. All of our past mistakes, sins, and miscues have been covered by the blood of Jesus. Our past no longer has the last word and final say over our lives. We have been given a fresh start. We have been reconciled to God and we, in turn, can give hope to others by making an appeal for God’s forgiving love to them as well.

Think: My past does not define me. I am more than what I have done.

Feel: The heavy burden of my past no longer weighs me down.

Do: Decide to get past our past by believing in the forgiving love of Jesus.

Sermon:

Last week, on Easter Sunday, we began a new series titled Love Reigns. We celebrated together the miraculous resurrection of Jesus Christ because his victory over death is proof that he is the true King over everything. We committed once again to live under the reign of Jesus’ love so we might become more like him. Today we continue in this new series as we consider the ways that the love of God reigns over our past. Because of Jesus’ work on the cross, we do not have to be controlled by the mistakes or miscues that happened long ago

Many people believe that their past is a hindrance to their present and future. It can be a heavy burden to bear when you feel weighed down by previous choices you made. One area in life where the past can have such difficult consequences is sports.

Story: Almost every sport on earth has some story about a team, franchise, or organization that has bad luck because of their past. One of the most famous streaks of misfortune came upon the Boston Red Sox, when, in 1919, Harry Frazee made the decision to sell the famous Babe Ruth to the Yankees. Many fans believe that that decision was the inauguration of an 86-year drought in World Championships. It was not until 2004 that it was finally broken. For 86 years they bore this burden, believing that they could never get past their past. There are many other supposed legends of bad luck based on the past, such as the so-called Madden Cruse or the Sports Illustrated Cover curse.

Our past does just weigh us down in the sports world, many of us can probably point to one or two decisions which we have made that we have trouble living down. Some decisions are just honest mistakes that do not have many consequences, while others can have devastating effects that last for years. Though we cannot change our past, though many would love to, we can ensure that our past does not control our present nor our future.

The gospels are full of stories of individuals with shady pasts experiencing a fresh start because of their interactions with Jesus. The New Testament often speaks about the transforming power of Jesus’ selfless sacrifice on the cross and His triumphant resurrection from the grave. When people placed their trust in Jesus, they were different, they were forgiven, and they were made new. It is the greatest news of all that all of our decisions, that have caused such guilt and shame, can be nullified by Jesus’ love. Paul speaks to this truth in 2 Corinthians.

READ 2 Corinthians 5:17

2 Corinthians 5:17

2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

New International Version

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here!

Love reigns over our past!

Paul sets up this verse by bragging on God’s amazing love that would offer Jesus’ life to rescue ours. This is where we find this word “therefore”. It is because of God’s love that we who are in Christ is a new creation. This phrase, “in Christ”, is used often within the New Testament. In fact, it is used nearly 216 times in Paul’s letters. It is a way of showing connection to Jesus and union with Jesus. When we are united with Jesus because of our faith in him, we experience a transformation that makes us new. For this newness to be a reality, the old must then be removed.

Love reigns over our past!

POINT #1 – OUT WITH THE OLD AND IN WITH THE NEW

The love of God removes all the old sin, shame, guilt, mistakes, and failures from our lives. When God’s love reigns in us, it overpowers the hold that all the old things used to have in our lives. However, it must be cleaned up, and space made for the new things God wants to do in us.

Story:

My wife and I have remodeled our homes Severa times in our 45 years of marriage. We love seeing the potential that exists in old, established homes. We can see past all the old wallpaper, the rotten wood, and the cracked linoleum floors, and can see what it could look like if it were all new. Because of this, one of our favorite days in a remodel season is the first day. Demo Day is when a remodel begins and everything old is removed, often by force, to make way for the new materials. Like when I removed the driveway and the entry way of our house and not preparing my wife for the mess she was going to find when she came home from shopping.

When God comes into our lives, he does not simply overlook our sinful past. Instead, he forgives it and removes it so that it does not have power over us anymore. We confess our past to Jesus to experience his radical forgiveness. To confess means to agree with God. When we confess, we acknowledge the old sinful ways as just that, old and outdated. When we confess, we agree to allow God to replace those sinful ways with godly ways that are new and better.

1. We go from telling lies to speaking truth,

2. from being selfish to being selfless,

3. from spreading gossip to offering encouragement,

4. and from burning with anger to being filled with joy.

When remodeling a house, it is important to remove any of the old and rotten pieces and replace them with new and fresh materials. If you do not take out the old parts, then they are destined to come back to haunt us. When we try to live as a new creation while holding on to our past vices, we end up frustrated, and our relationship with God and others always suffers. We must allow God to remove it all, start us fresh with a renewed heart, and instill within us a desire to live for Him.

Love reigns over our past!

The Bible says it like this.

READ Psalm 103:12

Psalm 103:12 NLT

He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.

We do not have to walk around defeated and full of shame anymore. If you are a Christian and a disciple of Christ, you can be confident in the fact that you have been forgiven, and your sin has been removed as far as the East is from the West. You are a new creation. Your past does not control your present nor your future.

READ 2 Corinthians 5:18-20

2 Corinthians 5:18-20

2 Corinthians 5:18–20 NLT

And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”

New International Version

18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

This is all God’s gracious gift. It is all from him. This means that getting past our past is not something we can do on our own. We cannot overcome our mistakes or make up for them by doing good things. God has reconciled us to himself. Though our sin broke our relationship with him, his love reigns over our sin and makes us right with him.

Story: When I was a young boy I used to sneak into kitchen to eat the yodols that were hidden from me. I was not supposed to have any because they were trying to control my weight gain. So, I had a few and threw the wrapper into the garbage that day like a basketball player that I was. To my surprise I missed, and I did not notice it, but my mother and father did. They located the silver wrappers alongside the garbage can, and the jig was up. I asked him if he eaten any of the yodols. My response was, “no”. It was a lie. They had found the empty wrapper alongside the trash can. I was busted. They confronted me with the evidence, and I continued to deny his involvement. Finally, they told me that they were disappointed because I was not truthful with them. I had sinned. I had hurt our relationship. After a few minutes, I went up to them and apologized. I said I was sorry for disobeying and for lying about it. They told me that they loved me and that I was forgiven. We were reconciled. Then I asked for another Yodol!

When we confess our sin against God and receive his forgiveness, we experience a restored relationship with him. Love reigns in us and we are made new.

Not only that, but we then become conduits of this reigning love for others around us.

Love reigns over our past!

POINT #2 – GOD’S LOVE FOR US AND GOD’S LOVE THROUGH US

God is interested in the entire world being reconciled to himself. He does not want anyone to live a life weighed down by a sinful past or shackled by shame and guilt. God extended grace to us through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Now we are to be ambassadors who implore others to confess their sin and be reconciled to God as well.

A love for God is better caught than taught. People want to SEE you live it out. We can tell people all day long about being a Christian and what it is like to have our past wiped clean. However, people do not want to have you lecture them, they want to see you live it. If they see the joy that comes from knowing God and the freedom from being united with Christ in your life, then they may be drawn to a reconciled life with God as well.

A love for God is contagious. People want to HEAR that it means something to you.

Illustration:

Turn to someone next to you and tell him or her about your favorite movie, sports team, family member, or something else you really care about. (Let the congregation share about their passion for something.) This was probably not a challenge. It would have been different if I told you to tell the person next to you about your last visit to the DMV or your recent meeting with your tax accountant or the dentist. Our passion is evident when we share with others.

When a person really loves something or someone, they cannot help but tell other people about it. It just oozes out of them. When we really love God and his love truly reigns in our lives, talking about him and celebrating his love for us should be second nature.

1. Tell your story.

2. Share how your past has been forgiven.

3. Let people know who you were before you met Jesus,

4. Tell them who you are now since He has changed your life.

Jesus wants to make his appeal to the world through the way we live and the things we say. It has been made possible through the person of Jesus Christ.

READ 2 Corinthians 5:21

2 Corinthians 5:21

2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT

For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

New International Version

21 God made him who had no sin to be sin[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus took on our sin, mistakes, brokenness, and past shame and nailed it to the cross. He became sin on our behalf, even though he was perfect and sinless. It was an act of love for him to die for us, even as we were still sinners.

Love reigns over our past!

POINT # 3 – OUR WRONGNESS IS REPLACED BY GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS

There is an incredible exchange that takes place at the cross of Calvary. Jesus takes on our wrong way of living and we are given the righteousness of God. The Greek meaning behind this righteousness is the idea that we are approved in the eyes of God. His righteousness is his divine approval. Maybe some of you in this room need to hear this today. If you are united with Christ, if you are in him by your profession of faith, then God does not see your sinful past. He looks through the blood of Jesus Christ and sees you as forgiven. It seems too good to be true, but that is the good news of the gospel.

Love reigns over our past!

Many individuals believe that It has to be more complicated this message of salvation. They should whip them selves , repeat many prayers, do penance or something.

I have found that often the truth that God has forgiven us our past by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is too good to be true and far too simple to trust. Many of us think we must add to it somehow with penance that is not required or by trying to earn something that is priceless. Rather, we are invited to simply receive the love of God and allow it to reign in our lives. Then, and only then, will we experience the joy and freedom of new life.

PRAYER