Pastor Slaughter
1-21-2024
Epiphany 3
For the Love of Christ Compels Us
2 Corinthians 5:14-21
Have you ever looked at the Apostle Paul and just ever wondered why? Later on in 2 Corinthians he describes some of the things he suffered, “I’ve done more hard work, been in prisons more often, been whipped far more, and I’ve been close to death many times. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three time I was beaten with rods. One time I was stoned. Three times I was a Shipwrecked…. I’ve been hungry and thirsty. I’ve gone without food many times. I’ve been cold and lacked clothing.” Later he was put in prison. He was also killed. When we hear this it sounds like he was a fanatic, right, Why would he endure such sufferings and hardships? Why would he be willing to die?
It’s because the Apostle Paul became convinced of something. Something so great. Something so profound. Something so marvelous that he was willing to endure suffering, hardship, even to die for it. In our lesson for today, Paul tells us. He says, “For the Love of Christ compels us…” When Paul saw the love of Christ, the love Christ had for him… for the world, he couldn’t help but carry out the ministry of reconciliation. My prayer is that today we see this love that Christ has for us and the world and we carry out our ministry of reconciliation. For the love of Christ compels us.
So what is this love of Christ? Let’s look at verse 14 “For the love of Christ compels us, because we came to this conclusion: One died for all; therefore, all died.” What kind of love would compel Paul to suffer so much? It was the love of Christ that died. This love was no small thing. It wasn’t like Jesus died for just for Paul. One (that’s Jesus) died for all. Jesus’ death wasn’t just for a select few. It was for all people of all time.
Think about that truth for a moment. I want you to think about your sins. The idols in your hearts (the people or things you are tempted to love more than God), the attitudes you have (towards sin), the sins you have done and struggle with. The guilt that may weigh you down. Because when we are confronted with our sins, the devil… guess what… he will accuse you. He will point out your faults and say, there is no way that God would forgive a person like you. No way that God would forgive you for that sin.
“For one died for all; therefore, all died.” He took every sin, of every person that has ever existed that ever will exist and died. Paying the price for our sin. When Jesus died on the cross, it was just like the world died with him. With Christ’s death our death penalty has been paid. When Jesus says all, that means all. No one is excluded. The love of Christ is so great and boundless it extends to the whole world.
The joy in knowing that all means all. That we have the certainty that Jesus died for our sins. That we are forgiven. When we begin to doubt it. Go back and see Christ’s love who died for the sins of the whole world. I can just see Paul rejoicing in this truth. A man who vehemently persecuted the church, a murder. And Jesus died for the world and that includes him and his sins.
This love compels us. And he died for all, so those who live would no longer live for themselves but for him, who died in their place and was raised again.” This love compels us to live for Christ who not only died but rose for us.
What does it mean to live for Christ? It means that because God has reconciled us to himself, we are given a ministry reconciliation. To understand our ministry, we need to first understand what it means to be reconciled with God. Paul uses that word 5 times in verses 18-21. The basic mean of the word is to change. The word deals with a change in relationship with people. Changing from a hostile relationship to one of peace and friendship. Sin couldn’t go unpunished. By nature we had this hostile relationship with God. But because one died for all no one is left out.
Paul talks about reconciliation He says in vs 19 “That is, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.” Notice the object of God’s work of reconciliation. It’s the world. No one is left out. Yet God can’t ignore our sins. As a Holy God, he must punish them. How did he do that? Verse 21, “God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.”
Jesus became our sin on the cross. All of God’s righteous anger over every sin was poured out on Jesus, So that the sins of the world might be completely punished. And what has God given us in exchange? His own righteousness. What great love Jesus has given to us!
Through repentance and faith worked by the Holy Spirit in our hearts we receive the full forgiveness already won for the whole world. When God sees us, he sees his Son. Its like he says, ‘In my eyes you re no longer guilty sinners. Your sins have been forgiven.” At one time we were foolish, disobedient. We were deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived with malice and envy, being hated, and hating one another. But now as Paul says in verse 17, “So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. The new has come!” The love of Christ has changed us.
With the gift of being a new creation, comes with a responsibility. Christ gave us the ministry of reconciliation. This ministry is the way by which God gets the message of reconciliation out into the world. Paul says, “And he has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation.”
How do people receive the benefits of what he did for the world? It is through the message of reconciliation. What love that God has shown to us that he would entrust us with that ministry! It’s crazy to think about. That God chooses us to share that life saving message with people. If you believe in Jesus, you are entrusted with the message of reconciliation. Telling people what God has done.
What keeps us from carrying out this tremendous responsibility? I mean Paul stopped at nothing to proclaim Jesus. What about you? I wonder if we think that telling people about Jesus is someone else’s job. It’s the pastor’s responsibility. I mean its pretty cool that I get paid to this full time. But even as I stand before you today, I know there are other people who could do a much better job at preaching then I do. Do you think the same thing that there are other people are better equipped and qualified to tell people about Jesus then you, so you don’t? But I also wonder if we view people as beyond hope, beyond saving. They are too sinful. Where we don’t see them as people that Jesus has died for them and has already won forgiveness for them.
There are all kinds of things, excuses, that we can come up with. Someone’s else’s responsibility, Someone else is more qualified. There is no way they would believe. But these excuses really like a fog our view of something. “For the love of Christ compels us…” The love that God has for us… the love that God has for the world! “God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.”
When we look at God’s love for us… for the world, it makes us want to serve him. And it makes us want to share what we know with others so they too can receive the benefits of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, inasmuch as God is making an appeal through us.” An ambassador doesn’t speak in own name, he doesn’t act on his own authority, and he doesn’t communicate his own opinion. So as ambassadors of Christ, we act on the authority of Jesus. We speak in his place by sharing his word with people. The message is a simple one: Be reconciled to God.
Why was Paul willing to suffer so much? Because Christ’s love compelled him. He didn’t see any other option then to tell people about Jesus. My family, why do you share Jesus with people? Because the love of Christ compels you. Jesus love for you is so great that he died and rose for you. But that love wasn’t just for you it was a for the whole world. But there are many who don’t know about Jesus and his love. He has equipped you with the message of reconciliation that has saved you, to share with others. He has put people in your life, at the right time so you can share Jesus with them. You don’t need a fancy way of share the message of Jesus share with them the message of Jesus, “God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin of run, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.”