2 Cor 5_17_21 Sept_18_22
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Verse 17
Therefore (hōsper) (17) = So then. Takes us back to vs. 16 We no longer know Jesus according to the flesh now we know him personally (intimately) according to faith.
In Christ (17,19) Christ (Christos 4x) In Him (21)
New Creature (kainos ktisis) (17) – New, what has been created (Creation is exclusively God’s work!)
Old Things – (archaios) (17) ancient. This is the idea of the original. The original man has passed away (parerchomai) or ceased to be. Christ died for us we have died in Christ. (Romans 6:6, Gal. 2:20).
Come (ginomai) (Verb) – come to exist
Summary
Since we now know Jesus according to faith (compared to once knowing Him through flesh {15}) God has created us new. The original man has ceased to live having died with Christ Jesus now take notice a new creature has come to exist.
Verse 18
From (ek) – out of, because of, by means of
God (theos) – God
Reconciled (katallassō) (18, 19, 20) – Reconciled, This is the idea of being restored. In this text it is being restored to the family of God after sin had separated you. You are made a child of God.
Through (dia) – through, by, in this we have been reconciled by means of Jesus
Gave (didōmi) – To give; this is the Idea of appointing one to a task
Ministry (diakonia) – service, help, role or position of service
Reconciliation (katallagē) – reconciliation, the act of reconciling
Summary
The passing away of the old you and the creation of the new you took place by the work of God who restored you to His family through the sacrifice of Jesus and now He has appointed you to the task of aiding others in being restored as well.
Verse 19
Namely (hōs) – how, in what manner
God was in Christ (theos eimi en Christos) – This statement is proof of the diety of Jesus as stated again in Col. 2:9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.
The World (kosmos) – created order of man
Counting (logizomai) – keep mental record, bear in mind, take account (Romans 4:8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account)
Trespasses (paraptōma) – sin, transgressions
Committed (tithēmi) – Appoint
Word (tithēmi) – Gospel message
Reconciliation (2nd use) - katallagē
Summary
Here’s how, God came to restore the universe to His family and through faith in Jesus He remembers their sin no more. He has appointed you to tell this message.
Verse 20
Therefore (oun) (20) = indeed, surely, then; this is a marker used for emphasis
Ambassador (presbeuō) - representative
As though (hōs) – like
Were making an appeal (parakaleō) – to ask earnestly, To Invite!
We beg (deomai) – plea, ask, beg
Summary
Therefore, He has appointed you His representative as He makes His appeal through you to earnestly invite people to be restored to His family.
Verse 21
Made (poieomai) – cause to be
Knew (ginōskō) – to be familiar with through personal experience
Sin (hamartia) – wrong doing
Behalf (hyper) – for the sake of, FOR OUR SAKE!
Righteousness (dikaiosynē) – Justice, this mean the believer is put in the Right relationship in Jesus
Summary
God made Jesus who had no personal experience of sin become sin so that we can become right with God in Christ Jesus.
Passage Summary
Since we now know Jesus according to faith, God has created us new. The original man has ceased to live having died with Christ Jesus now take notice a new creature has come to exist. The passing away of the old you and the creation of the new you took place by the work of God who restored you to His family through the sacrifice of Jesus and now He has appointed you to the task of aiding others in being restored as well. Here’s how, God came to restore the universe to His family and through faith in Jesus He remembers what separates them no more. He now has appointed you to tell this message. Therefore, He has appointed you His representative as He makes His appeal through you to earnestly invite people to be restored to His family. God made Jesus who had no personal experience of sin become sin so that we can become right with God in Christ Jesus.
Intro: I woke up Wednesday morning in a great funk. The pressures and stresses of life engulfed me. The long hours of burning my candle both ends and the middle had caught up with me. I found myself in need of a great word, I prayed for a fresh word from God to renew me and bring joy to life. It wasn’t long before God breathed and reminded me of how blessed I am in Him.
This may not be my normal expository sermon it is a fresh word that is timely for me.
CPS: Today I want to meditate and rejoice over what Jesus has done for me and hopefully what He has done for you!
He Reconciled Me
Our text opens with the conjunction “therefore,” then is followed by the phrase “if any man be in Christ.” Whenever we see the conjunction “therefore” we must always ask ourselves what it is there for? This conjunction returns us to vs. 15 that tells us that those who are in Him no longer know Jesus according to flesh, now we know Him according to faith; thus we are in Him.
Once I lived a life according to the flesh, I was a lost and rebellious sinner who was at odds with God. In the flesh I was hostile towards Him and an enemy towards Him, there was a wall of separation that kept me from the God who created me. Yet in all my rebellion He loved me. His love was proven that while I was still a sinner Christ died for me. In His sacrifice He extends reconciliation and righteousness to me through the Gospel message.
Reconciliation
The person who has yet come to Jesus through faith is estranged from the God who loves him/her and stands in need of reconciliation. The word reconciliation literally means to be restored to one whom you have been estranged from. In this context it means that those who come to Jesus through faith is restored to the family of God. I was once cut off from God’s family but now I have received son ship having come home to the Father whose arms were ready to receive me through Jesus Christ my Lord.
ILL: Its horrible for a person to be cut off from their family. Deep within the child desperately desires his parents embrace and the parents deeply long to hold their child in their arms again. I recall the story of Jessica McClure, “Baby Jessica” as the world knows her. It was Oct. 14, 1987, the 18 month old girl fell 22 foot down a well located in her yard in Midland Texas. For 56 hours rescue works worked to free her from entrapment as the world watched. Workers drilled a shaft alongside the well then cut through the rock and 8 inch well casing using a water jet. When the workers got close they could hear baby Jessica though she was pinned in the well with one foot stuck above her forehead, singing Winnie the Pooh. Ten hours later Paramedic Robert O’Donnell inched his way through the shaft releasing baby Jessica and delivering her to her family and the waiting ambulance where she was taken to the Hospital.
Like those rescue workers who rescued baby Jessica and returned her to her parents, Jesus rescued me on Calvary’s Cross and by faith placed me in the loving arms of the Father. I can only imagine the wonderful reunion celebration that took place at the McClure’s home but that was nothing compared to the wonderful reunion celebration in heaven when one of God’s children is returned.
Righteousness
Along with being restored to the family of God comes righteousness or “right standing with God.” The Bible tells us that all have sin and fallen short of the glory of God. Glory is the Greek noun doxa which means splendor, in the context of human experience this is the idea of being separated from God’s personal presence. Only the righteous can stand in the presence of God. But the sacrifice of Jesus took care of that as we see in vs. 21. He made Him who knew no sin became sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
There are two words that we must look at, Knew and behalf. Knew literally means to have familiarity through personal experience. Jesus did not know sin because He and only He is the perfect righteousness of God. Though He never sinned God made Him become the atoning sacrifice for our sin. Our behalf or “for our sake!” Jesus took our place on the cross, imputing His righteousness to us taking our sin as His own!
ILL: Barabbas, (Matt. 27:16,17) the murderous revolutionary released by Pilate on good Friday is the only man in the world who could say that Jesus took his physical place at Calvary. But by grace through faith I can say that Jesus took my spiritual place, for it was I who deserved to die. It was I who deserved the wrath of God poured out on me. I deserved eternal punishment. But Jesus was delivered up for my offenses. He was handed over to judgment for my sins. JESUS WAS MY SUBSTITUTE! I deserved hell; but Jesus took my hell and now there is nothing left for me but His heaven!
Jesus became what He was not that I might become what I was not! Jesus reconciled me and made right at His own expense! How blessed I am!
He Recreated/Renewed Me
Once I was a bag of death encased by living flesh, I was dead in my trespasses and sin. I did only the things that carnal flesh led me to do. I was a slave to sin and trapped upon its salve market. I was not a child of God but a child of the devil as is everyone who has not been born again. But the Bible tells me that in an instance, when grace touched my heart and faith flooded my soul that I was no longer who I once was.
The apostle tells us that whoever is in Christ Jesus is a new creature. Creature is the Greek noun ktisis, it means what has been created and let me tell you that Creation is exclusively God’s work! Verse 18 tells us “that all these things are from God.” God once created me in His image as His image bearer but sinned marred that creation. But, by grace through faith in Jesus I have now been recreated in the likeness of Jesus to display His love and holiness. The things I once desire to do are not the things I now do. The sinful pleasures I once desired are no longer the deepest desire of my heart. The places I used to go are no longer where I go and the people of sin that I once enjoyed are no longer who I enjoy. God has put His mark on me and I have ceased to be who I was once.
The apostle tells us that “the old things have passed.” Old Things is the Greek noun archaios it means ancient. This is the idea of the original. The original man has passed away (parerchomai) or ceased to be. Christ died for us and we have died in Christ.
The Romans 6:6 tells us “that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin”
ILL: When Augustine was still without God and without hope, the Holy Spirit convicted him on the basis of Paul’s words in Romans 13:14, “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” Augustine acknowledged his sinfulness, accepted Jesus as his Savior, and became a different person. His entire outlook on life began to change because of his new nature. One day he had to attend to some business in his old haunts in Rome. As he walked along, a former companion saw him and began calling, “Augustine, Augustine, it is I!” He took one look at the poor, disreputable woman whose company he had formerly thoroughly enjoyed, and he shuddered. Reminding himself of his new position in Christ, he quickly turned and ran from her, shouting, “It’s not I! It’s not I!”
Augustine had found the secret of Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and 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 up for me.”
Jesus recreated me in His likeness! How blessed I am!
He Repurposed Me
(He repurposed me for His glory!)
I once had a purpose, it was destruction. Had I died in my sin I would have spent eternity in death and destruction in the fiery pit of hell. But Jesus blessed me and by grace through faith He gave me a new and glorious purpose. It is to invite mankind to receive the good news that the Just God of heaven and earth will Pardon their sins if they will only receive His invitation and come to Him.
You say that might be your purpose but not mine, I’m not a preacher. The only way for that to be true is to be loss in sin.
The apostle tells us (19) He “committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” Who? Us the believer! The apostle goes on to say that Jesus made each of us His ambassador (representative or spokes person) that through us Jesus makes His appeal to the world inviting mankind to receive a pardon for their sins!
Listen to me! He put in our hand the Pardon for the sins of man.
ILL: During the revolutionary war there a pastor by the name of Peter Miller who lived in Ephrata Pennsylvania. Miller was greatly loved by everyone in the community, but there was one man who lived near the church who hated him and had earned a distasteful reputation for his abuse of the minister. This man was not only a hater of the church, but also turned out to be a traitor to his country and was convicted of treason and sentenced to death.
The trial was conducted in Philadelphia, and no sooner did Miller hear of it than he set out on foot to visit General George Washington and interceded for the man’s life. But Washington told him, “I’m sorry that I cannot grant your request for your friend.” Friend! Miller cried. “Why that man is the worst enemy I have in the world!” “What?” the general exclaimed in surprise. “Have you walked sixty miles to save the life of an enemy? That in my judgment, puts the matter in a different light. I will grant him a pardon for your sake.”
The pardon was made out and signed by General Washington, and Miller proceeded at once on foot to a place fifteen miles distant where the execution was scheduled to take place that afternoon. He arrived just as the man was being carried to the scaffold, and when he saw Miller hurrying toward the place, remarked. “There is old Peter Miller. He has walked all the way from Ephrata to have his revenge gratified today by seeing me hung” but scarcely spoken the words when Miller pushed his way through to the condemned man and handed him the pardon that saved his life.
As Peter Miller interceded for someone who had wronged him and hated Him, Jesus intercedes for those who hated Him and brought a pardon made out and signed with His blood. As Peter Miller carried this message of the man’s pardon we carry the message of Jesus’ pardon.
I was once destined for doom but Jesus repurposed me for His glory. How blessed I am!
Conclusion: Today it is my honest prayer that you can say along with me regardless of the life’s trials. How blessed I am! Jesus reconciled me! Jesus recreated me! Jesus repurposed me! HOW BLESSED I AM!