I love these verses!
Paul writing to the Corinthians says this, picking up in 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 NLT, “It is because we know this solemn fear of the Lord that we work so hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. Are we trying to pat ourselves on the back again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart before God. If it seems that we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. Whatever we do, it is because Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for everyone, we also believe that we have all died to the old life we used to live. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live to please themselves. Instead, they will live to please Christ, who died and was raised for them.
So we have stopped evaluating others by what the world thinks about them. Once I mistakenly thought of Christ that way, as though he were merely a human being. How differently I think about him now! What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!
All this newness of life is from God, who brought us back to himself through what Christ did. And God has given us the task of reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others. We are Christ’s ambassadors, and God is using us to speak to you. We urge you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, “Be reconciled 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.”
There is so much you could unpack here, I just want to look at a few things and share a little story with you.
1. Don’t shy away from the fear of the Lord. Paul says it is because we know this solemn fear of the Lord that we work so hard to persuade others. The King James version reads like this, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men….”
- We know that Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but to save it, but there is coming a terrible day of Judgement for those who have rejected the offer that has been given to all men in Christ. Be sensitive to the Spirit of the Lord and speak to each situation, reason with everyone according to what they need to hear, the good news of Jesus’ love and sacrifice may not seem like good news unless someone understands that there is a day of judgement coming like in the days of Noah.
2. If you are in Christ, it’s not about how many toy’s or pleasures you can accumulate before you die. It’s about living your life for a greater purpose, no longer living just to please yourself.
- The world may ever be seeking new pleasures but you have been called to lay down your life. You have been given the ministry of reconciliation. The ministry of pointing people to the person of Jesus whom you so dearly love because he loved you and now you can introduce others to his goodness.
3. You don’t get to pick and choose who you share this good news with. It’s for everyone and because of this Paul had stopped evaluating others by what the world thinks about them.
- No one we meet is merely human, what I mean is everyone has an eternal soul or spirit (no need to argue about the verbiage). As new creatures in Christ you are to stop judging and evaluating people the way the world does. When we see people we need to see 1. that they have created value. God has created them. 2. Christ has died for them. How much value does that place on them? The very blood of our precious Saviour has been spilled for them just as it was for you.
- Not knowing men as merely men but as souls that are to be reconciled because of the blood of Jesus, this removes prejudice. The ministry of reconciliation that you have been given is not just to those who look like you, who smell like you, who work like you, who have the same economic status as you, who think like you, and the list goes on. The ministry that YOU have been called to in Christ is to everyone, for that is who Christ died for, everyone.
Some years ago I worked in the rail car industry. The company I worked for refurbished and repaired freight cars. There were lots of good workers there and some not so good workers. There were a few who worked there who were a cut above. If you needed info on how to get something done and get it done well, they were the few you went to learn from, these guys had been in the business for some time.
One of these men, who I held in respect for his knowledge of rail cars, approached me one day and began to verbally assault black people. I looked at him with a confused look on my face (I think sometimes because of my often shaved head people must confuse me for some kind of skin head) and asked him what he was talking about, I said, “Bob (we will call the man Bob), God has created all nations of ONE blood. I know white people I have an easy time liking and white people I don’t have an easy time liking. I know black people I like and black people I don’t like and one of my best friends is a very Godly black man. Your talking foolish…..”
He stood there for a few seconds looking at me, only to finally respond, “Well I guess your right….. but those Mexicans, I don’t care what you say about them!”
I couldn’t believe it. He hadn’t really heard anything I said. This is a huge reason that we all need to be born again, so that we can have a minds renewed by the truth.
My friends, don’t be like Bob. Let the truth of God’s word renew your mind about the life you have been called to and how you are to love those around you, both the lovely and unlovely both the likeable and unlikable.
God bless!
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