2 Corinthians 5:14-21 (NIV) 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. 16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 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 men’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. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
What compels you? Isn’t that a good question? When was the last time you evaluated your internal motivations? Another way to ask that question is, “What motivates you?” What is it that drives you? Are you motivated by competition, by one-upping someone else? Is it important to you to feel as if you are passing others and winning in some kind of status race? Are you driven by comparison? Do you take your cues from culture when it comes to your personal pursuits? Are you “Keeping up with the Kardashians?” When you see something that someone else has or has achieved are you compelled to acquire the same?
Are you motivated by applause? Is it the need to be recognized that gives you a motive to work hard? Is it the desire to be noticed or thanked for a job well done that motivates you to keep on keeping on? What is compelling you? Are you “working for the weekend” as the song says? Do the appetites of your flesh drive your agenda and plans? Do you have a lust for more and more of whatever more is, and is that what keeps your mind occupied and your heart hungry? Do you keep pursuing more of IT in hopes that someday IT will satisfy and finally be enough? Is it a drive for money, sex or the pursuit of some kind of adventure that keeps you motivated?
Why DO you do what you do? What is your reason for getting up every day? It’s a great question to ask ourselves because it has implications for every aspect of our lives.
Paul said in verse 14 of our text that he was motivated to preach the Gospel because he had been changed by the love of Christ.
Who are you living for? Look again at verse 15: And he (Jesus) died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
For Paul it was a no-brainer. Jesus had died for Paul, so Paul would live for Jesus. Paul went all in for Jesus. He said in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who LOVED me and gave himself for me.” Do you see it? He was constrained by the love of God to count his life as over the moment he met Jesus because his desire was to pick up the life of Jesus and to live Jesus’ life out instead of his own. What devotion! What dedication! What passion! What purpose! And oh, the power and authority that Paul lived with. Wasn’t it evidence that he had accomplished his goal of being dead to himself and alive to the life of Christ being lived out through his own life?
Paul had a motto by which he lived that said, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21. Can you receive the intensity and intentionality of that statement? Paul said that living for Christ was the only life he could even call life and that because death would bring a new face-to-face opportunity with Jesus, that he considered it a step up? Can you hear this morning that Jesus died so that you can live, but Jesus also died so that you can die without fear. Paul embraced that when you live for Christ you certainly don’t have to fear death, and you can look forward to the new opportunities it brings for life with Jesus. No wonder people thought he was mentally “coo coo for cocoa puffs.” That is crazy talk UNLESS you have found a love worth living for! That is nuts unless you have seen and experienced something that is better than and beyond than the things of this world.
So, Paul, compelled by the love of Christ, chose to live his life for Christ. How do we live FOR Christ? I believe the rest of this passage helps us understand that we live for Christ through peacemaking.
That is the climactic challenge of this passage. Look at verses 18-20: 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 men’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.
What does it mean to no longer regard someone from a worldly point of view? Well, first, I think we need to quit taking our cues from the culture regarding how and what we should think about people.
We need to quit viewing people as our enemies and as problems and instead view them the way the Apostle Paul did in verse 15. He said that Christ died for everyone.
While it is true that some people will never change, to think that all people cannot change is worldly thinking. Paul tells us all things can be made new in a person’s life. We are new creations IN CHRIST. Peacemakers are people who believe that getting people to Jesus is the way to help them be made new. Instead of lamenting how bad people are living, instead of shaming folks on social media for their sinful choices, how about we get them to Jesus and let Him make them new?
Verse 19 says that while God was reconciling the world to himself, He wasn’t counting men’s sins against them. In an effort to be a peacemaker, are you willing to drop some labels you have put on others? Are you willing to not count people’s sins against them?
In verse 19, Paul says God has committed the ministry of reconciliation, the ministry of peacemaking to us, His church. Are you in the ministry, Christian? Are you in the ministry of reconciliation?
