2 CORINTHIANS 5:12-212005 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 2 Corinthians 5:12-21

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2005.

2 Corinthians chapter 5. We've been studying now for some time the book of 2 Corinthians, going through verse by verse, learning from the Apostle Paul, sharing his heart to us about ministry, about the heart of ministry and what ministry is all about. He's been defending himself a little bit with the Corinthians, explaining why he did not pass through there on the way back as he originally intended. But he's

Most of what he's been saying is really teaching us, giving us some great insight into the heart of ministry. For the last few chapters, he's been dealing with this. In chapter 3, pretty much through right now where we pick it up, in chapter 5, verse 12, he's starting to wrap up his discussion here and move on to other subjects in the coming chapters. But he's explained his heart in ministry, and now he's explaining his motives, his

His motives, what drives Him, what presses Him on in ministry. We saw this two weeks ago, the first thing, which was the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is what caused Him to press forward in ministry, to press on. And we saw that in 2 Corinthians 4, verses 9-11. 2 Corinthians 4, verses 9-11.

talking about we must all stand before Christ one day to give an account of the things that we've done and the way that we've lived. And so he says, we make it our goal, our aim then is to please God. And that is why he presses forward and presses on in ministry in the way that he does. In chapter 4, you know that he was talking about, I'm sorry, that was actually chapter 5 verses 9 through 11. But in chapter 4, he was talking about some of the

hard things in ministry, being hard pressed on every side and being crushed and being perplexed and all of the things that he listed there in chapter 4. Well, as he's talking about those things, the thing that motivates him, that keeps him going through those hard times and those afflictions and those troubles is the fear of the Lord, aiming to please God at all costs. Paul says, whether standing here or in front of him in heaven.

Our aim is to please God. And so the first motive that he shares with us, we looked at two weeks ago, which was the fear of the Lord. But the second motive he'll share with us this morning is the love of Christ is what motivates him or what he says is what compels him. And we'll find this today in 2 Corinthians 5. Now, as we talk about ministry and the heart of ministry, you and I need to understand that ministry is more than just this place.

To be involved in ministry is more than just pastoring a church or being involved in things at church. The ministry that you and I have been called to, the ministry that you and I have been given, is not the ministry of a building. It's not the ministry of a location. But it's the ministry of reconciliation, of bringing people to Jesus Christ. Our life's pursuit, the whole goal and purpose of our life,

should be this ministry, motivated by the fear of the Lord and the love of Christ. That's what Paul says. Let's read together 2 Corinthians 5. Starting in verse 12,

It says this,

And he died for all that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. Verse 16. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Verse 16.

Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.

Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Verse 21. I'm sorry. Verse 21.

Verse 21, for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this morning, God, and this opportunity that you've given us to understand and to look into your word. God, I pray that right now you would help us to open up our hearts, to open up our ears, Lord, that we might be able to hear what your spirit is saying to us, the church.

Heavenly Father, we ask that you would speak to us and convict us, challenge us. Lord, help us to be more like you. We ask, Lord, that you would do a work in our hearts. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Here is Paul continuing his discussion on ministry. He picks it up in, well, we pick it up in verse 12, and he's talking about not commending ourselves. He says,

but give you an opportunity to boast on our behalf. Now, we've talked about this word and this idea of commend, the idea of praising yourself and lifting up yourself in the eyes of other people. And Paul is saying, he's made reference to it a few times already and will continue to make reference to it. It's a theme throughout the book that he's not...

trying to or attempting to commend himself, not trying to lift himself up or lift up and praise himself in their eyes. But what he says here is a little bit interesting. He says, we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you an opportunity to boast on our behalf. And so we say, okay, we're not praising ourselves, right? Good, good. But giving you an opportunity to boast is

And you say, what? Come again? What are you talking about? Paul, what are you saying here? But he goes on to explain that you may have an answer. It's not that you could be prideful that he's explaining this or giving this heart of ministry, but he is giving you an answer. He's not praising himself. But there was a problem that was happening, and you remember it quite well because I make mention of it often. There was false apostles that were being reprimanded

raised up that were coming to Corinth and were proclaiming themselves and putting down Paul. They were praising themselves and they were attacking Paul's call to the ministry, Paul's call to apostleship. And so what Paul is saying is, I'm not sharing these things about ministry to you so that you can think so highly of me, but that you can understand what true ministry is, that you may have an answer to those who come in.

as false apostles and false prophets. He's sharing with them this heart so that they can accurately judge those who make the claim. He goes on to say, those who boast in appearance and not in heart. It's those who have the appearance, those who look like it, those who put on the facade, but truly do not have this heart of ministry. That's why Paul has been sharing these things with them. Not so that he would be praised,

but they would have a defense, that they would be able to watch out and guard for those who were coming against Paul, those who were coming against the church, really, in having the appearance of ministry, the appearance of service, but not the actual heart. That's what was Paul's concern. Those who boasted appearance would come in, and they looked great, they looked the part, man, wow, they're beautiful, they have the appearance, but...

They're just good actors. There's no substance to it. They don't have the heart of ministry. Well, what is the heart of ministry that we've been talking about? I pulled out a few things there from 2 Corinthians 3, 1 all the way through chapter 5, verse 11. There's some more things in there, I'm sure, and I know that there's a great deal that God has been speaking to us, but just a few things that Paul has been sharing about the heart of ministry. The first thing he shared was that sufficiency is from God.

Paul says in our ministry, in us, in the heart of ministry, that sufficiency comes from God. The ability to meet the needs, the ability to carry on, the ability to do the things that we're called to do. It comes from God. It does not come from ourselves. The false apostles, on the other hand, their sufficiency is

is in themselves. What they proclaim and what they look to is the letters of commendation that Paul had made reference to. They look and proclaim the degrees that they've attained and the things that they've accomplished and the experience that they have had. Their sufficiency is from themselves. But Paul says, the true heart of ministry, sufficiency is from God. Another thing that Paul was sharing in those chapters was that ministry is

The heart of ministry is the ministry of the Spirit. The ministry of the Spirit, the ministry of life. We spend a great detail on that in chapter 3. Looking at the ministry of life, the ministry that frees and gives life, and life abundantly, not just regular plain old hum-jum life, but abundant life, free life in the Spirit. The false apostles that were coming in this day, and many that are around today, they

They proclaim not the ministry of the Spirit, but the ministry of the law, which Paul called the ministry of death. Legalism, binding to rules and regulations and things that do not really profit the soul.

Another characteristic of the heart of ministry that Paul shares is the manifestation of the truth. As Paul is telling them, look, we don't handle the word of God deceitfully for some profit for ourselves, but we manifest the truth. We're revealing the truth by teaching the word of God, what God has to say.

The false prophets, on the other hand, were not manifesting the truth, but they were handling the Word of God deceitfully so that they would have some profit. They would handle it in such a way so that you would be inspired to revere them or give them fame or give them honor or serve them or send them money. That's the way that false prophets, false apostles handle the Word of God. Paul says, we're not doing it that way. That's not the heart of ministry.

Another characteristic he shared was about dying of the Lord or carrying around the dying of the Lord that the life of Jesus may be manifest. Talking about dying to self and serving and really a ministry of affliction and heartache and trouble. That's not what the false apostles were teaching, I guarantee you that. A life of comfort and luxury to be healthy, wealthy and wise.

It's very much around today as well. The glory of God is another characteristic that Paul was teaching about in the heart of ministry. That all things are done by grace so that God gets all of the glory. Well, the false apostles, the false teachers, those who are raised up and have the appearance of the heart of ministry but not the actual heart, will not want to give glory to God. Their goal will be to glorify themselves, to glorify man.

Eternal perspective, another characteristic of the heart of ministry. Paul has talked about this in chapter 4, verses 16 through 18, talking about the things that are seen being temporary, the things that are unseen being eternal. Having the eternal perspective, understanding that the reason why I can cope and go through and...

endure these hardships is because I'm looking at all of eternity. But not only that, but the reason why I minister and reach out so passionately to people is because I have the perspective of eternity. So on and so forth. The eternal perspective. The false apostles, false teachers, their perspective is the here and now. How can we have pleasure here? How can we be satisfied here? Now, that's their goal. The last characteristic that he shares is

is the aim to please God in chapter 5 verses 9 through 11. The aim to please God. Paul says, in all things, whether we're here or there, we aim, our aim, our goal, our desire is to please God. False apostles, false prophets, false teachers, all of those who have the appearance but not the heart will aim to please self.

Aim to please self rather than God. And so Paul is giving them these characteristics, these heart things of ministry, these things of the heart of ministry, so that they can have an answer. That when things come up and people come up and raise themselves up, there's something solid that they can look to and really test, really evaluate, they can judge and decide, is this person right?

He goes on in verse 13, and he says, If we're beside ourselves, it's for God, he says.

What does that mean? Well, he says, okay, if you think we're crazy, just understand that it's for God that we're doing all of this. It's for God that we are living. William Barclay, a Bible commentator, states this. I really like what he says. He says, the real enthusiast always runs the risk of seeming crazy to lukewarm people.

I'll read that again. The real enthusiast always runs the risk of seeming crazy to lukewarm people. Christians who are complacent, who are just simply satisfied in where they're at, not doing anything, not reaching out, lukewarm Christians will think this message today is insane, is crazy. Because...

The gospel that you and I have been called to is something that we should be enthusiastic about. The real enthusiasts, hey, you're going to run the risk of seeming crazy to people. Because if you go all out for this ministry, the ministry of reconciliation that God has given to us, the lukewarm people, the people who are not of the Spirit will not understand. They will not agree. They will say, you're crazy. You're beside yourself. You're insane. Verse 14 says,

For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus, that if one died for all, then all died for us.

Paul now goes on to explain his motive. What's the motive? What compels him? What drives him in this ministry that he's been given? This incredibly awesome ministry, as I described it a couple weeks ago, of telling people that their sins are forgiven, of bringing them into a right relationship with God, of delivering them into the hands of Jesus Christ that they might receive eternal life. What is the motive for this ministry? It is the love of Christ, he says, that compels us.

That's the second motive. The first one was the fear of the Lord, chapter 5, verses 9-11. But now he tells us the second motive. The second thing that drives him is the love of Christ. The love that Jesus has for you and I should be very motivating to us. Not only that, but as we experience, as we learn the love of Jesus Christ, we will learn to love others with the same love that he has for them.

And thus, the love of Christ compels us. The love of Christ, the love that He has for us, the love that He's given us for others, that is the driving force, the motive behind the heart of ministry.

He says the love of Christ compels us. Now, that word compel is interesting. It means to hold. It can also mean to be sick, to be hard-pressed, or to be seized. It's used in agriculture. It's used of a farmer. I don't know if that's agriculture or not, but it sounded good, right? It's used of a farmer who...

to hold his animal so that he could administer medication. And so they use devices or they use people and they hold the animal on all sides so that the animal cannot move. You ever tried to give a dog pills? You know, you got to wrap your whole body around the dog and hold open his mouth and then put the pill in and then close the mouth and...

pretty much just force it on all sides to stay there, to swallow the pill, and to do the things in order to have the medication that it needs to have. That's the word that's used here, this word compel, to be seized, to hold, to be hard-pressed. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4, 8-10 that we are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed. They're hard-pressed on every side by situations and circumstances, but the love of Christ...

The love of Christ is at the root of that. That's what's pressing them harder than any of life's outside circumstances. The love of Christ is what is hard pressing upon them. The burden of those around them who are lost. We need to have the love of Christ for the lost. Now, let me ask you, how much does God love those who are not saved? Well, He loves them very much to the point that He gave His life for them

And as we learn the love of Christ, that is what we will do. That is what we should do. That is our response to the love of Christ, giving our lives for the lost. The love of Christ that God gives us for those around us will cause us to give our lives for them, that they might be reconciled, that they might experience eternal life with Jesus Christ.

Paul goes on to say, This is our conclusion, Paul says.

The love of Christ compels us because we've come to the conclusion that Jesus Christ died. Our representative died for all of humanity, for all mankind. So therefore, all humanity died with him. You can check this out also in Romans chapter 5 and 6 where it talks about our first representative, Adam, in the Garden of Eden. He sinned and therefore, as a result, you and I today sit here as sinners.

But there was a second man who was our representative who went to the cross and he died on the cross for our sins that you and I could be forgiven. That you and I here and now...

have died with him. We've died with him, is what Paul says. We've judged thus, that if one died for all, then all died. Very similar to what Paul said in Galatians 2.20. You might remember it. He says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

I have been crucified with Christ. You have been crucified with Christ. That's our position. He was our representative there. We were crucified there on the cross with Him. You and I understand, and we need to understand if we don't, that we deserve death. I, Jerry Simmons, should be dead right now

Except that he paid the price and took my place. So I died with him. And right now, I'm living on borrowed time.

I'm living in time when I should be dead, when I should have been punished, when I should have been judged. There was a t-shirt that, I haven't seen it around for a long time, but it was a Christian shirt that said, life is just sudden death in overtime. Now, I didn't understand it at the time because it's a sports thing. Sudden death in overtime is a next point wins, basically. But I didn't know that. But I just thought the t-shirt was cool, that life is just sudden death in overtime. The idea being that

hey, we're in overtime and any second now we could be gone. Sudden death is just right around the corner.

We're living on borrowed time. We think we have all the time in the world and we kind of lollygag around through life, but we're living on borrowed time. Hey, if you're in sports and you're in overtime seeking to win, that's not when you mess around and make jokes and that's when you be more focused than ever. That's when you put all of your energy and concentration into winning the game. And that's where you and I stand right now. We're living on borrowed time in overtime and

And sudden death is just an instant away. So the love of Christ, Paul says, compels me so that I take advantage of every moment He gives me

in order to accomplish the thing that He's called me to do. Verse 15, And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. So, the love of Christ compels me, because we judge, we've decided, we've come to the conclusion, that if one died for all, then all died, and He died for all, not that we could continue to live for ourselves, but that we would live for Him.

who died for us. Which makes sense. It's a debt that we owe to Him. Not the debt of sin, not the debt of judgment, but the debt of life. That we would give our lives for Him. Now, this really should convict every single one of us. We should be convicted by this. Because we live our lives for ourselves.

We live our lives for our own pleasures. We live our lives, many times, in the flesh. It's our natural desire to live for the here and now, to live for ourselves. But he says, Paul says, the purpose that he died was so that I would not continue to live for myself, but that I would live and give my life to him. That should have been me on the cross, paying the price for my sin.

But he did it for me. Not so that I could keep living my own way and doing what I want to do and have life however I want to have it, but that I could live my life for him and do the things he has asked me and called me to do. He set me free to live for him and not myself. Now, we often say, well, yeah, I live for the Lord. But is that really true in our lives? Let me ask you, what is the Lord interested in?

Is He interested in houses? Is He interested in cars? Is He interested in 401Ks or in money or in position or fame, prominence, whatever? Is He interested in the things of this life? No, He's not. What is God interested in? He's interested in souls. He's interested in people's lives. Listen, if the purpose of my life now is to please God, then my interest will not be in the things of this life. If my life is given to the Lord...

then it will not be accomplishing things on this earth, but it will be accomplishing things eternally. It will be accomplishing souls being brought to Jesus Christ. My lifelong pursuit should be to do what He wants, to fulfill His pleasure. What pleases Him? What is He interested in? He's interested in people living eternity with Him.

That should be our goal. That's why He died for us. That we shouldn't live for ourselves any longer and just be about our own things and what we want and our plans and all the things that we have mapped out for our lives, but that we would surrender ourselves to Him and say, whatever you want, Lord, it's your life now. You died for me. I'm living on borrowed time. You tell me what I should do. You tell me what you want me to do. And I'll do whatever it is because you died for me.

You loved me when I don't deserve it. You paid my price, which I could not pay. And so I'll live for you. That's why he died. Verse 16, he says, Therefore, since he died for me so that I could live for him, and since he's interested...

In people's souls and not anything in this life. Paul goes on to say in verse 16, Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, from now on, from this point on,

We regard no one according to the flesh. What is the flesh? The natural man, the natural desires, the natural ways. Since my life goal is to please God, Paul says, I don't look at people the same.

Now that my life goal is to please God, I look at them and I see them the way that He sees them. Without Christ, we look at people and there's lots of different categories we can fit them into. There's friends, there's co-workers, there's family, there's enemies, people we like, people we don't like so much, people we don't even want to talk to, people we wish we never knew. We have lots of different categories of people that we know outside of Christ.

But in Christ, after Christ has come in, if we're living our lives to please Christ, there's only two categories. Maybe three. There's the lost. There's the lost who are hurting and going to hell. Or there's those who are saved, our brothers and sisters in the Lord. The third category you could throw in there would be those who are backslidden, those who have walked away or are in the process of walking away from the Lord.

But not very many categories. As we see people now, it should not be, oh, you're my enemy, but you need the Lord. You're hurting. How can I serve you? How can I minister to you? How can I help you? Friends, family, co-workers, in the Lord, outside of, that's our focus. That should be the way that we regard people. No longer according to the flesh, according to earthly ties, but according to the way that God sees them.

He goes on to say, even though we've known Christ according to the flesh, yet we know him thus no longer. We used to only understand Jesus or look at Jesus from the natural point of view. Paul certainly knew about this, right? Because he looked at Jesus from the natural point of view. And what did he do? Well, he went on the rampage and he hated Jesus. He hated everything about Jesus. And he tried to kill all of those who would walk with him, would serve him, would love him.

His view, naturally, of Jesus was of hatred. But no longer, Paul says, do I look at him this way. No longer is this my view. Things have changed. When we're born again by the Spirit of God, we don't look at Jesus the same anymore. In a sense, we come to him basically because of what we can get out of it. We come to him because, oh, I can get eternal life. Oh, I can have my sins forgiven. We come to him because

for our own self. Right? We do. That's why we go to Him. That's why we come to Him. So that we can be saved. But, now that we're born again, we come to Him with that motive, with those desires, but the Spirit of God makes us born again. And so, our desires...

are not the same any longer. Now we live for Him. We don't look at Him the same because of what He's done for us and our relationship with Him. We live for Him because of what He gave and not what I benefit. We live for Him because of what He's done and not what I get out of it. We live for Him because that's what pleases Him and that's what I want to do. That's

The new regard of Christ for those who are born again, for those who are in Christ. Now, verse 17, he goes on to say, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Now, understand what he's talking about here. He says, okay, we don't look at...

people any longer nobody else we don't look at people in the same way that we used to we don't look at Christ in the same way that we used to and he says therefore since we don't look at these things in the same way we don't regard them in the same way that we used to in the natural man

If anyone is in Christ, then all things have become new. He's a new creation in Christ. Totally different, completely different from something that was there before. Since we used to view people naturally, since we used to view Christ naturally, but no longer. We are a new creation in Christ. That word new is not just reformed or revised, but it's something completely different. Totally new.

That's the work of God in our lives. That's why I've shared this with you before, but you can't simply try God. Let me just taste a little bit and see if that's something I want to do with my life. No, if you're in Christ, He completely changes you. He consumes you. He consumes your life. He doesn't just change a few bad habits or, you know, kind of shape you up a little bit where you need help, but He makes you completely new and different.

That's the work of the Spirit. That's what happens when you're born again. Something new, something different. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. He goes on to say, old things have passed away. What are the old things? Well, they're the former things. Our sin, our sinful lifestyles, the sinful past, the many things that we're shameful of now, it's all passed away. It's gone. It's wiped away, cleaned by the blood of Jesus Christ. But not just our sin.

Everything about us. Our old mentalities, attitudes, habits, purposes, desires. Everything about us. Old things in our lives in Christ are passed away. They're the past. They're old things now. It's a life-altering change that we're talking about. A life-transforming change. He gives us new life. Completely different. Now, get the picture here. Understand what Paul is saying. A child is born. He goes to school all his life.

goes through college, has in mind his career plan, has in mind his family plan, has in mind the things that he wants to do and where he wants to live, he gets saved. Guess what? All of the purposes that he had before, all of the career plans and family plans and the places where he was going to live and the things that he was going to do, all those things have passed away. If anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things become new.

God didn't come to just help us in the current life that we live, but to give us a completely new and different life that's far better than anything we could know outside of Him. All things become new. Every aspect of our life is new in Christ. Those who knew you before you got saved will have to get to know you again afterwards because you're new. You're different. God has done a new work. There's new life where there was only death before.

So we're a new creation in Christ. Now, many of us here have been believers for some time, and let me say this to you. If you've gone back to some of the old things, you need to take them back to Christ and let Him do a new work in you again. Because we often do that, going back to the old things. But in Christ, we are to be a new creation. As we come to the Lord, He does something new. He wipes away the past, all of the things that were there in the background, that were there in the shadows.

Maybe we're ashamed of. Or maybe we're excited about. All of those things, they're gone. They're past. There's nothing to look to back there. There's nothing to worry about. We're a new creation. God is doing a new work. So in verse 18, he says, Now...

As a result of this, all things are of God. All things are of God. In verse 18, he says, Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. So, now that I'm a new creation, the old things have passed away. Behold, he's made everything new by making me born again in the Spirit. Now everything in my life...

is for God's purposes and not my own. Now all things are of God. My job, it used to be how I would make money. It used to be how I was going to make my mark on the world or how I was going to get to the place that I want to be. But now it's not of myself any longer and my own desires and my own pursuits. But now it's of God. I'm there to do His will and to bring people to His name.

My family used to be of me, what I want, what I desire. The kind of husband, the kind of wife that I want or that I desire. The kind of family, the number of kids that I want or that I desire. You name it, so on and so forth. Now it's of God. How can I please God? How can I bring others to the knowledge of Jesus Christ? My hobbies used to be of myself, what I enjoy, what I like, what I want to do, what makes me feel good.

But now, no longer. All things are of God now. New in Christ, born again. Surrendered completely so that my hobbies belong to God. What brings Him pleasure? How can I serve Him in the things that I do? All things in my life need to be surrendered to God so that He can accomplish what He wants to accomplish in this new creation that He's made me.

wholly devoted, completely committed, living not to please myself, not living for my own self, but living for Jesus Christ. Who is this Jesus Christ? Well, Paul goes on to say it's, well, God who has reconciled himself through, or reconciled us to himself, sorry about that, reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ. He's reconciled us to himself. All things are of God, not

Not just the God that you and I worship, the idols that we have in our lives, but the true and living God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ. Now, that word reconcile, it's a banking term. It's the idea of exchanging or changing completely. It's the term that would be used if you were going to exchange money. If you wanted to exchange dollars for yen or for pesos or something else, you would use this word, reconcile. It's a complete change, something that...

is an exchange, a transaction that takes place. Now, our relationship with God has been exchanged. We used to be at enmity with God. We used to be God's enemy. But now through Christ, we are at peace with God. Turn with me very quickly to Romans chapter 8. Hold your thumb there in 2 Corinthians 5. Turn back to Romans chapter 8. It's two books back to the left there. Romans chapter 8.

Romans chapter 8, starting in verse 6, it says this, Verse 9,

Paul here in the book of Romans says something very clear. That

That to be carnally minded is death. What's carnally minded? Well, that's fleshly minded. Same thing that Paul is talking about there in 2 Corinthians 5. The natural mind. To be in the natural mind is death. But to be spiritually minded, on the other hand, is life and peace. How do you be spiritually minded? Well, you be spiritually born. You be born again of the Spirit of God. John chapter 3. You can read about it for yourself.

To be born again of the Spirit. Now, he goes on to say in verse 7, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God. So here's the contrast here. The carnal mind, the natural mind, the fleshly mind, is an enemy of God, and that is the relationship that we had with God before he came into our lives. That is the relationship that we had with God before we came to Jesus Christ.

So, to be carnally minded is death, to be an enemy of God. But we've exchanged this through Jesus Christ. God has reconciled us. He's exchanged this relationship that we had, a relationship of being at odds with or being an enmity with, to a relationship of being spiritually minded. Life and peace. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, I've come to give you life, an abundant life, overflowing life. That's what God has given. And so this word reconcile means to exchange. We've exchanged the carnal mind for the spiritual mind. That exchange

being an enemy of God to being at peace with God. This exchange that's taken place, reconciled through Jesus Christ. He's brought us back into right relationship with Him through Jesus' work on the cross. Back in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 now.

The last part of verse 18 says, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. So not only has he saved us and forgiven us, cleansed us and washed us and redeemed us, but he's also given us the task and responsibility of doing the same work in others, of bringing others to him. Now we don't save them, but what we do is we lead them

To Jesus Christ. He's given to us the ministry of reconciliation. That word ministry is service. The way that we serve God is by bringing others to Him.

By giving them the message, as we'll see in a moment. That's our call. That's our purpose. That is our life's pursuit. For those who are in Christ, a new creation, old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new, and now everything in my life is centered around this pursuit, this call, this ministry that has been entrusted to me.

Of bringing other people to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Verse 19. God in Christ was reconciling the world unto himself. God's desire is to have relationship with man.

with you, with the person sitting next to you, with the people at your work, with the people in your family, with the people that you don't like very much. God's desire is to have a relationship with them. God's desire is to get to know them and for them to get to know him. In John chapter 12 verse 32, Jesus says, look, if I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all peoples to myself, all men to myself. That's God's desire. As he was lifted up and crucified, he

He is now drawing all men to himself. That's his desire. That's what God wants. That's what pleases him. That's what he's interested in. 2 Peter 3.9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promises. Some count slackness. But is longsuffering toward us. Not willing that any should perish. But that all should come to repentance. He's not willing. He's not pleased. He's not interested in people perishing. What he is interested in is people being drawn to him.

He goes on to explain that he's not imputing their trespasses to them. Not imputing their trespasses to them. It's another banking term, this word impute. It means to reckon, to count, to hold it against you, basically. He's saying, look, I'm not holding your sins. I'm not counting your sins against you. I'm not charging you the debt that you owe. That is an amazing thing, that God would not hold us responsible for this debt. That God would not charge us or count against us.

these things. Tell someone next to you, God is not counting your sins against you. It's worth telling someone. Tell someone, God is not counting your sins against you.

He's not counting your sins against you. He doesn't hold them against you. He doesn't make you pay the price for them. He doesn't make you suffer for them. As we're reading through the book of Job, going through the Bible in a year, it's something we understand. He's not making Job suffer to pay for sins. Even though his friends think that, even though his friends declare that, that is not what God does. He does not impute our sins against us. He doesn't make us pay for them. He doesn't make us suffer for them.

He paid the price already. He suffered for us so He does not impute our trespasses to us. Now, it would be a scary thing if God was doing this work that we just talked about of drawing us to Himself. He's drawing us close and beckoning us closer and closer. It would be a very scary thing if He was...

still imputing our trespasses to us. Because he would be drawing us close. You know, like when you're a kid and you get in trouble and your parents say, come here, just so they can smack you, right? That's what God would be doing. Drawing us close so he could smack us and judge us. But he's not imputing our sins against us. He's drawing us close to embrace us. That's good news. That's the gospel message. Jesus paid the price. He paid the debt that we cannot pay.

But we owed it and it was real. So he died on the cross for our sins. And then he goes on to say, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. The word, the message of reconciliation. He's drawing all men to himself. How's he doing this? Well, it's not by angels flying around in the sky because you'll notice there haven't been very many. But he's doing this work of drawing men to himself by using you and me to get the word out, to get the message out.

That He loves us. That He's not imputing our sins against us. That He's died on the cross for our sins. He's entrusted us with the message. He's not holding your sin against you. Come to God. Come to God. Find life. Find peace. Find grace and mercy and truth. Come to Jesus.

Verse 20, Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. This is the message that we have been given. He says we're ambassadors of Christ now because he's given us this ministry. He's entrusted us with this task. We represent him. We speak for him. We live to draw people to him. We're ambassadors. Everything that we do

We represent him. We're his representative here. In other words, we speak on his behalf. What does he want to say to people? I love you. Come to Jesus. I'm not imputing your sins against you. Come and find life and find peace. That's our message. We represent him.

We're his ambassador. Now, just kind of as a funny side note, listen, some people say, well, you know, I don't put bumper stickers on my car because I don't want to be a bad witness. Well, listen, bumper sticker or not, you're his ambassador. You are his ambassador. If you put the bumper sticker or not, it doesn't matter. You're his ambassador. And it's a privileged position that he has given us.

So use it and speak the words and share the message and teach the things that God has put on your heart. Because people need to know that God is not holding their sins against them. People need to know that Jesus died on the cross for them. Preach it, teach it, whatever way, whatever method you can. He's given you the word. He's given you the message.

Do something with it. It's a privileged position that he's given to us. We don't deserve it. We fall short. But it's how he's chosen us. It's how he's chosen to reach the world. It's how he's chosen. It's how he's decided he wants to reach everybody. And it's through you and it's through me. He's given to us this ministry of reconciliation.

Paul goes on to say, as though God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. This is the mission. This is the ministry, the message that he has given to us. To plead with people to be reconciled to God. To be brought back into right relationship with him. Listen, if we're living for him, our lives will center around this message. When there's decisions that need to be made with our employment,

It will not be simply because of the status that we want or the position that we want or the thing that we hope to accomplish. But what should be a big part of the equation, what our purpose should be is, well, what does God want me to do? Is He done with me here? Does He want to do a new work somewhere else? My job is not to make money, but my job is to make disciples, to plead with people to be reconciled to God. Financial decisions that we make

If I purchase this, will I still be able to help in sending missionaries and supporting the work overseas in drawing people to Jesus Christ? If I live this lifestyle, will I still be able to do the things that God has called me to do financially in supporting the kingdom of God? Family decisions. Will I be able to do this or that? Everything in our life should center around we're an ambassador.

If the United States sends out an ambassador to some other nation and they totally forget about the United States and just kind of do their own thing in their nation and establish their own family and get the own job that they want and do the things that they want to do, they're not a good ambassador.

They've been assimilated. They've become part of that nation. An ambassador needs to represent. Everything that they do in that other nation, in that other country, is to represent the United States. That is what you and I are to this world. We're not part of this world. We're not to be part of this world. We're not to fit in. We're to speak a different language. We're to look different. We're to act different because we're ambassadors. We're ambassadors. We're ambassadors.

Sent by God with the message of reconciliation. Not of judgment, not of death, not of condemnation, but of life, of peace, of grace, that He's not impeding our sins against us. In verse 21, He says, "...for He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

This is why God has given us this message. Because he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us. Listen, this is where our love for him comes from. He's a sinless man who is God, yet he became sin. He bore my sin. He paid the price for my sin on the cross. And that should cause us to love him. That's what 1 John says. We love him because he first loved us. Romans 5.8 says,

While we were yet sinners, He demonstrated His love by dying for us. He loved us and paid the price for us. And so now, now, because He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might have the righteousness of God, the love of Christ compels us because we judged thus. If one died for all, then all died.

Now I can have His righteousness, the right standing before God, and I can receive eternal life. That's the ministry. It's the position. It's the place that God has given to you and I. We're called into the ministry. And it's more than just this place. It's more than just what happens at church and church events. The ministry of reconciliation is wherever you're at.

He's using you. He wants to use you to draw all men to Himself. It's the only thing that matters. It's what God is interested in. And it has eternal rewards. And listen, if you ask God, He'll give you opportunities. He'll show you open doors to deliver this message, to give this word. And you will have the strength and the power, the help of the Holy Spirit, the one called to come alongside to deliver the message.

But the main thing is, we need to get the word out. We need to take this message of reconciliation, this ministry of reconciliation seriously to become a new creation in Christ. That everything in our life revolves around this message, revolves around Jesus Christ and how can we bring others to Him. How can I live a life that draws people to Jesus? How can I make decisions that

that draws people to Jesus? How can I serve in a way that draws people to Jesus? Job, home, wherever you are, the ministry of reconciliation. It's not just pastors and leaders and church people who are called to this. Every single one of us have been given this, have been called to this ministry of reconciliation.

Warren Wiersbe has this to say. He says, Listen guys, like I said, this should be convicting to all of us.

It's not easy. But let's be motivated by the fear of the Lord, knowing that we are going to stand before Him one day to give an account of the things that we've done here on this earth. Knowing that we will stand before Him to give an account of how we use the opportunities and the abilities that He's given to us. Being motivated also by the love of Christ, what He did for us, and the love that He has for those around us. Let's change our lives. Let's become a new creation. Let's come to Jesus and ask Him,

to consume us completely, that everything, every aspect of our life is for the purpose of reconciling people to Him, bringing people into right relationship with Him. That is the heart, that is the motive of Paul's ministry, that is my prayer for this ministry, for your life and my life, that our hearts would be in tune with what God desires.

That we would be interested in the things that the Lord is interested in, which is people's souls, people's lives. And our life would be to serve them, to love them, to deliver the message, to implore, to plead. Come and be reconciled to God. Come to right relationship with Him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You, Jesus, for the work that You're doing and the word that You're speaking to us this morning.

And God, we ask that you would help us, Lord, because we are convicted and we do fall short, Lord, in the ministry of reconciliation. Lord, we live our lives for ourselves too often, so help us, God, to surrender our lives to you completely. Lord Jesus, we come to you. We ask, Lord, that you would make us new. Lord, that you would do a new work in our hearts, that our lives would be wholly devoted, given over to serving you, to loving you.

to drawing all men to you, Jesus. Because you're not willing that any should perish. Lord, let us not be willing that men should perish. Give us a love for you, Jesus, the love that you poured out for us. Lord, may we respond to it. Lord, may we respond. May we be compelled and hard-pressed, seized by the love that you have for others, that we might give our lives for them, just as you did. We thank you, Jesus. It's in your name we pray. Amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.