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A
New Creature in Christ
INTRODUCTION
We are
not ignorant of the secrets of the Apostle Paul’s life and ministry and
what kept him from being disheartened. All
true ministers of the gospel can expect in varying degrees, to be mocked,
whispered about, regarded as foolish, persecuted, slandered and falsely
accused of all manner of things. “all
who live godly will suffer…” 2 Tim.3:12. Paul
has told us that he relied on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to lift
the veil of darkness placed by Satan over the eyes of those to whom he
brought the gospel message. He
knew that he had in him this “treasure of Christ” and
therefore, even though he was simply a jar made of clay and his body a
fragile and temporary earthly tent which was wasting away and perishing
daily; this magnificent power of God to bring light to the darkness of men
made him stand for God and bring his gospel commendation at every
opportunity. He
knew that the life of Jesus was being manifested in his body and God was
using his afflictions, distresses, persecutions, and buffetings to bring
many to Christ. Men
are in such darkness that it is only the power of God and the glorious
gospel of Christ that can remove their blindness.
The power that raised Jesus from the dead was present and would
work for the honour and glory of God. The blessings that come to those who
are persecuted for the sake of the gospel of Christ, far outweigh any
present affliction. Therefore
Paul lived by faith, with his only motivation being to please the Lord
Jesus by his life and exercise of his gifts. So how
did Paul avoid being discouraged, keeping his inner joy and peace? He kept
his eyes fixed on the unseen things, his eternal home and the glory of
pleasing Christ and being with Christ. One
must keep focused on Christ, realizing that this life is only a
preparation time for the eternal glory into which we will be taken. This
should motivate us to preach the gospel. Note
that God is always there and his power and activity unceasing.
There is no need for the Christian to despair, for God is always
working and can be counted on. He
calls on us to follow him, to have courage, and to stand strong. Paul
even tells us that though his circumstances might be bad and trials
awaited him, he always looked ahead to the future and saw before him
constantly, the great and eternal weight of glory that is ahead for him.
The present troubles are only light and temporary. He
continually contrasted the eternal and temporary, advising us never to
hold on to the things that are only temporarily useful and rejecting those
things that last forever. He
knows that though his present body is wasting away, his inner man
is being constantly renewed. When he leaves this body behind, he has
awaiting him, not an earthly tent, a structure that is obviously
fragile, made of earthly material and therefore weak, but a ‘building’
in heaven, something made by God and not built with human hands; a lasting
and not a temporary dwelling, which in chapter 5:3-4, he describes as suit
of clothing that is not temporary clothing. As he
looks to the future with anticipation and as the body becomes increasingly
burdensome because of age and growing weakness, he sighs and groans,
wishing for his perfect resurrected body. (Verse 4) He
knows that when he dies, he is headed for a place that is much better than
this world, for when he is in this world he is away from the Lord.
But when he is ‘ absent from the body’, that is, when he
has died, he is present with the Lord. Note
here that our confidence is brought to us by the guarantee, or pledge, or
partial payment of the possession of the Holy Spirit.
But since we are present in the body, that is, as long as we are
alive, our assurance of the presence of God is a matter of faith, but when
we are absent from these bodies it will no longer be of faith for then we
will be walking by sight. Paul
knows that he will be with Jesus one day.
But whether he is away from him, that is, alive on earth, or with
him, his sole ambition is to please Jesus, to be a delight to him, to make
him happy when he watches Paul working for him. Paul
realizes that when he sees Jesus he will stand before his ‘judgment
seat’, where Jesus will personally evaluate him for what his life
was really like. Then all his inner feelings, hidden motivations, the purposes
of his heart will be unveiled, taken out of the darkness. Everything
that we do matters to Christ and we can encourage him or grieve him by the
things that we choose. He
will then expose what we really are like, our true nature, all the tricks
we have been playing, the things that we have done which might seem great
to us but which were done for all the wrong motives, the seductions of the
world to which we have fallen prey. He
will show us what we did right, when we exercised faith in him, were in
dependence on him, and acted for his glory and not for our glory.
Jesus will go through everything that we ever did before we were
saved, as well as after we are saved, for after this evaluation it will be
determined whether we receive one, two, or more crowns as a reward for
services rendered, or no crowns at all. Paul
stresses several times that he labours and strives, and that we should
labour and strive, so that we do right in every one of our circumstances
and so be accepted by Christ. Paul
tells us that this coming judgment (evaluation) motivates him to please
Christ and so to always live in an awareness of this coming evaluation.
He will never let this life own him, be seduced by the promises of
the world, or follow the values of the world.
He looks always for the city that has foundations, whose builder
and maker is God. Clearly,
Paul is writing to those who are saved.
The unsaved will not be examined here, for their judgment, called
the Great White Throne Judgment, which is described in the Book of
Revelation, will lead to an eternity of terrors. As we
enter the study scripture, Paul is essentially saying that both the
physical and spiritual life he possesses will be used in a manner that God
will find pleasing. He has set before him the Judgement Seat of Christ where all
believers will give an account for what they have done, the good and the
bad, and will be rewarded accordingly. With
this inescapable event before us, Paul endeavours to demonstrate how
Christians should live and act in the light of the gospel of Christ, the
new life they possess and in the light of the coming judgement. Regardless
of our environment, circumstance or situation, it is required that we be
faithful, loyal and active; our lives to be a testament to Jesus, for our
affliction is light compared to what Jesus bore for us and we know that we
will be raised up as he was. Note
that since by definition we are a new creation and are also by definition
servants, we take orders from our Master, we do with vigour what is
expected of us. Jesus
expects us to work in his kingdom and to face up to the demanding and
difficult responsibilities, misunderstandings, energy draining, alarming,
risk taking, resource consuming, inconvenience, and failures that this
ministry involves. There
are important and eternal consequences to the practical exercise of the
principles of Christian living. What we do now will affect us throughout
all eternity, even if we have been saved.
Our goal therefore must be always to please God, especially while
we go through the trials of life. We now look in detail at this matter of motivations, for there are several important things that will sustain and motivate us to keep serving faithfully and consistently. In our lesson Paul focuses on these things. THE
TEXT
Verse
11. The apostles are
motivated to preach the gospel for several reasons, the first one stated
here being their knowledge of ‘terror of the Lord’, the fear of
the Lord. The second motivating factor later stated is the love of
Jesus Christ. This “terror
of the Lord” or “fear of the Lord” is a term that denotes the
absolute realization of who God is, resulting in a most realistic approach
to God. This
attitude indicates a healthy respect for God, a clear understanding that
God is a God of truth, that no one can escape His scrutiny, that he is no
respecter of persons, and that one cannot successfully plead with God to
escape his truth which has been spoken. This is not being scared to death
of God, but is a reverence for him, that means we do not take him for
granted or take him lightly. Those
who are continually disobedient but who profess to know him, as well as
those who have continually rejected and resisted the blood of Christ and
every offer of salvation, will stand before one or the other of the
judgement seats, and the wicked will not escape the wrath of God which is
reserved for them. Some
commentators believe that the word translated ‘terror’ is far
too strong and suggest that it should be rendered ‘fear’ as in
reverence to God. They claim
that this is not the language of love or of a god who finds no pleasure in
the death of a sinner, thus it could not be the motivating factor that
caused the apostles to preach the gospel. They downplay the other side of the gospel, and as it were
condemn those who preach hell fire and brimstone. It
seems that their reasoning is a little faulty; for Jesus himself preached
more about hell than he did about heaven.
Jesus did not come to condemn, but to seek and to save those who
are lost. Jesus apparently
believed it to be more vital to warn and divert sinners who are heading to
hell, than to indulge the righteous in the future blessing of heaven.
This is the language of love. It
seems clear that the apostle’s motive is ultimately propelled by love
and the fear of the Lord, and for this reason they warn people of the
terror of the Lord. The
problem seems to be that some believe that fear is not a good way to
motivate people. But this term “ Fear of the Lord” is not the kind
of fear which is powered by hatred and resentment for whom God is, or by
mistrusting him or being unsure whether he would be faithful to us. This
“fear of the Lord” is not bad at all.
It involves knowledge of the fact that God is good, loving, and
merciful as well as the knowledge that God is a God of power, might, and
judgment, who will carefully and impartially examine every human being.
He will judge, but he provides the way of escape from judgment.
This “ Fear of the Lord” is actually the beginning of wisdom
(Prov.1:7) and God calls on all men to seek wisdom. The
‘terror’, of which the Apostles speak, obviously involves the
wrath of God that will be unleashed against all the ungodly at his
appearing. People of God, who
are wise, will not face his wrath. It will not be their personal
experience, but their knowledge of what awaits those who reject Christ and
are unprepared to stand before the judgement seat. It is
for this reason that Paul and all the apostles and every true minister of
the gospel earnestly seek to persuade men to avoid the wrath of God and
prepare themselves to stand before the judgement seat.
This same kind of fear makes Paul avoid a superficial kind of
ministry, for he is aware that he will be evaluated and that his reward
will be determined by the quality of his work. Note
that Apostles have a ministry of persuasion.
This means that he lives the kind of life which will persuade men
to come to God. It is not just a matter of talking, but interacting with
many and developing relationships with them at every level, that are
always pointing people to Jesus. The
language used here indicates that the message was not designed to frighten
people or merely to play on theirs fears or emotions or insecurities –
but is a necessary part of the gospel, to demonstrate through the
scriptures, the fallen condition of man and his plight.
That because of sin the wrath of God was upon him, but through the
redemptive work of Christ, one could be saved and translated from the
kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Thus
arguing from scripture, Paul’s presentation of the gospel included
intelligent and systematic rebuttal of false doctrine, heathenistic
practices and untenable philosophies that hindered people from knowing the
Christ. Hence,
it was the knowledge that all who reject Christ would be judged and
sentenced to hell; that was a powerful motive for Paul, as it should be
for us, to persuade people to escape the wrath. The
church in Corinth as many of the other congregations that Paul had
planted, had suffered much corruption by way of false teachers and their
false doctrines. These false
teachers were in no way interested in bringing glory to God, they merely
present a façade to hide their true motives; they are more interested in
building their own following. Paul was probably accused of the same thing. However, Paul is sure that his motive is pure before God; that he was only interested in turning people from the wrath of God and bringing glory to God, not himself. Paul was confident that they knew he was certainly a man of integrity. His motives were always stressed. Verse
12. Here
Paul essentially repeats what he said in the last section of the previous
verse, and was ensuring that statements that he had made to defend his
integrity, were not misconstrued or interpreted as an attempt to seek his
own glory. Rather,
those who were converted under his ministry may indeed be certain that he
is a true apostle of the Lord, and they regarding him as their spiritual
father of sorts, could be confident that he would act only to please God,
and give them no occasion where they could not defend him from the
slanderous accusations of his enemies. It
appears that some were heavily criticizing his ministry, because he did
not promote himself, emphasize his letters of recommendations; his lack of
physical presence, skilful oratory, and impressive presentation.
Some were into that kind of ministry for they were not primarily
concerned about producing persons with changed hearts. He was
more interested in the church developing confidence in the message and
testing the message and to make sure that it was reliable. Here Paul stresses that he is a servant of Jesus and just a vessel. He only claim to recognition was based on the work that God had done through him, for no matter what was accomplished, it was due to the power of God alone. His ministry was aimed at people coming to faith in Jesus Christ, being changed, and growing and maturing to fullness and completion. Verse
13 . “If
we are beside ourselves…” Paul speaks of
the actions not only of himself, but all apostles and true ministers of
the gospel. “This Greek
phrase usually means to be insane or out of ones mind, but here Paul used
the expression to describe himself as one dogmatically devoted to the
truth…” The
thrust of this verse is the overwhelming zeal with which Paul took on the
task as a minister of the gospel; so consumed by its activity and desire
to bring glory to God, that he was often considered mad, or having lost
his marbles. After all, who
would go around preaching this radically different life style and even
risk his own life for doing so; is this not the action of a mad man! Some
regarded him as a fanatic who went to extremes.
They were saying that Paul was undergoing hardships and living a
hazardous life far beyond anything that was reasonable.
But regardless of what people may say, Paul never shrunk back from
his duty. Thus
Festus was affected by his preaching, though he continued to resist the
Spirit, and exclaimed that Paul’s incessant study of the word of God had
made him mad (Act 26:24). One
writer says – “It is in the cause of God, and from love to him.
It is such a zeal for him; such an absorbing interest in his cause;
such love promting to so great self-denial, and teaching us to act so much
unlike other people as to lead them to think that we are deranged.” Jesus was consumed by the will of the Father, so different was his understanding of Scripture and his behavior from the norm, that he was also considered deranged. (Mark 3:21 and John 10:20) All who take such a stand for God and the gospel are often seen as mad, even by their own brethren at times. However,
let it be said that such an appearance or behaviour does not necessarily
mean one is righteous. There
are probably far more who have an intense expression of zeal, yet it is
not founded in God. Their
religion is not of God. Cult
leaders, and false teachers of every sort, through the misguided zeal, are
the ones who exhibit true madness. Some
apparently accused Paul of being “ too normal”. Paul assures his
readers that whether in the passion of the moment he is perceived as a
fanatic or out of his mind; or even if they consider him to be sober
minded, it was ultimately for their sakes, and that his love for God
compels him to seek the lost at all costs. Paul did not seem to care too much about what people said about him. He was solely concerned with the church learning about Jesus Christ and growing in their faith. He was definitely not a man-pleaser. Verse
14. “for
the love of Christ…” Paul now begins to explain the second great motivating
influence for his ministry and the reason for his extraordinary zeal. It
is rooted in the love of Christ and his substitutionary death. The
death of Christ is central to the message of salvation. The atonement for
our sin was the blood of the sinless Son of God, who died for us and bore
the wrath of God in our place, and bestowed upon us the eternal blessings
of Heaven. The
real magnitude of Christ’s sacrifice is almost always grossly
understated, but Paul knew what it meant; his aim now was to ‘Live
for him who died for me…my saviour and my God’. His
understanding of the unchanging love of God expressed through the
sacrificial death of Jesus, gave him a sense of focus, and laid behind his
purposeful living. The
phrase ‘love of Christ’ has been hotly debated, as to whether
it refers to our love for Christ or Christ’s love for us.
Although we may not be able to conclusively determine this simply
by looking at the grammar and syntax of the verse, it seems more than
likely, that from the immediate context that Christ’s sacrificial death
points undeniably to his love for man. “In this the love of
God was manifest toward us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the
world, that we might live through him.
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and
sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sin.” (1 Jn 4:9-10) “But God demonstrates
His love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for
us.” (Rom 5:8) God
freely gave His Son to us, but it was at infinite cost to Him.
If we would but meditate on these verses, on Christ’s work of
redemption, we would never quibble over doing the work of God. As for
Paul, he would give his very life, not in payment for his sin, for that
was wholly inadequate, but for the cause of Christ.
Paul was fully persuaded that not even death could separate him
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.
The love of Jesus had such compelling power over him that he
responded in overwhelming gratitude. Note
that the believer has been raised in newness of life, freed from bondage
to their own needs, and now we are free to care about other people. It is
critical that we understand that Ministry cannot be motivated by our own
needs, or out of a sense that we are needed.
Jesus has already met all our deepest needs, and therefore we are
free to express His Life through us. We do
not have to have our needs met by the people to whom we are witnessing,
for we are only servants. We
have died to our own needs, and our spiritual fulfillment comes from
giving our life to others, that is, with Jesus living his life through us.
That is the only way we can avoid being frustrated, and
disillusioned when we are rejected by others that we had hoped to serve. There
is a saying that there is no greater love than a man lay down his life for
a friend, but to give up ones life for a sinner, for one who was in
constant rebellion and hated you, is quantitatively and qualitatively
altogether a different kind of love.
It is divine love and can never be really expressed by man. When
we write love songs, suggesting that we have this kind of love for
another, it merely reveals that we totally lack understanding concerning
the true nature of God’s love. No
matter how intense our love may be, it is not the love of God.
When we equate our love to divine love, we really devalue the blood
of Christ, or else we would be led to believe that there is redemptive
power in our own blood. That
is a heretical view that is held by some who also profess to be Christian. Paul
thus states that for this reason, i.e. ‘the love of Christ’,
he is compelled to serve Christ, he is not deranged, he has an
intense desire, produced by the indwelling Holy Spirit that drives him to
serve the Lord with gladness. ‘One died for all…’ This expresses the truth of Christ’s substitutionary death.
The preposition ‘for’ indicates He died ‘in behalf of,’ or
‘in place of’ all (Is 53:4-12; Gal 3:13; Heb 9:11-14). This truth is
the heart of the doctrine of salvation. God’s wrath against sin required death; Jesus took that
wrath and died in the sinner’s place. Thus he took away God’s wrath
and satisfied God’s justice as a perfect sacrifice. (Rom 5:6-11,18-19; 1
Tim 2:5,6; Eph 5:2; 1 Thes 5:10; Titus 2:14; 1 Pet 2:24) ‘Then
all died…’ Everyone who
died in Christ receives the benefits of his substitutionary death (Rom
3:24-26; 6:8). Paul thus
defines the extent of the atonement and demonstrates its proper
application, as Jesus dying for all those who died in him. The
doctrine of the atonement is the ultimate work of Christ, central to the
Christian’s faith and therefore targeted by Satan; whose aim is to
undermine the work of Christ. The
debate has existed for centuries, and in part revolves around the
definition of that little word ‘all’. There is no question
as to who died for all; the question is who are the all for whom
Christ died? This question divides theologians into two groups: those who
insist that Christ died for all men, and those who argue that Christ died
in order to save the elect. The beauty and wisdom of God that is to be found in the design of the atonement, is more often than not, obscured by man’s inability to rightly divide the word of truth (consistently). Intellectual knowledge and philosophical debate engineered in the minds of godly men are still subject to the effects of the fall. Though we believe, as implied in a previous comment, that the scripture support an unconditional but limited atonement; we admit that this topic is quite weighty and in no way intend to pass it off as any little matter. However, it is not in the scope of this lesson, it is however safe to say that this doctrine is of vital importance, and a correct understanding of it, will go a long way in producing a rock-solid confidence in Christ and an undaunted zeal to do his work, as is evident in the life of Paul and the other apostles. Verse
15.
All people belong to Christ, as he is
their creator; some are vessels of honour while the remainder are vessels
of dishonour. All those for
whom
Christ died unequivocally belong to him as
Saviour, Lord and Master. Purchased
by his blood they literally owe him their lives – this new life that
they now possess must be used in service for him, they belong to Christ
and are no longer their own. His
death paid for their sins and his resurrection brings new spiritual life
and the future assurance of a resurrected body like His’, perfectly
suited for heaven. We are new
creatures so that He can live His life through us. Verse
16.
When we have this attitude, we will see and we will treat everyone
differently. When
one comes to Christ he no longer sees or judges
people according to the flesh, that is we do not follow the ways or wisdom
of the world, neither do mere appearances dictate how we act.
We see people from a spiritual perspective and this is what directs
and drives our behaviour. We
will no longer be impressed with those with attractive outward
appearances, money, education and status.
We will never treat people as if they have no value.
We see people from ‘love's’ point of view. Even
those who knew Jesus while he was here on earth, could not fully
understand the infinite depth of his work until they could perceive him
from an heaven perspective.
When
people even looked at Jesus from the earthly point of view, they decided
that a man such as he could never be the Messiah.
His family was too poor, he came from a obscure town, had no
political connections nor formal education. They
had expected that the Messiah would deliver Israel, restore the throne of
David, set up God's eternal reign, and place the nation at the top of the
totem pole.When he did not do this, they thought he was worthy of the
death of a criminal. But
now Paul saw Him not according to the flesh but according to who he truly
was, the Lord of Glory. His
former false standards of judgment were thrown out, and he now understood
what everything was truly like. Our flesh will produce a mere human assessment of Jesus, thus we may conclude that he was a good man, a godly man, even a worker of miracles. But without spiritual sight, we would not perceive him as the sinless Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world; we would not honour, exalt or recognize him. Let us
remember that many who knew Christ in the flesh at first followed him but
afterwards deserted him. This
kind of knowing guarantees nothing. It
was only on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit came, that the one
hundred and twenty disciples really knew him. We are in need of a fundamental change, and in fact, though we understand him better now, we will only fully see him when we ourselves are glorified.
Verse
17.
A fundamental fact of salvation, is a changed nature.
There is hope for everyone or everyone no matter how evil can be
changed. Thus if one is ‘in Christ’ he already possesses a new
nature. Being in
Christ is a term that denotes our position before God.
It speaks of the great significance of the believer’s redemption,
our eternal security, that when God the Father looks at us, he sees the
work of Christ and we are then acceptable in The Beloved.
He is our guarantor of eternal inheritance and we will ultimately
share in the divine nature of Christ - a thought that really exceeds our
comprehension. We can’t
even imagine the things that God has prepared for those who love him. The
new creation describes a totally new aspect of our being.
It is not merely an improvement to our old nature, an overhaul or
remodelling. We have a
completely new nature, we are born of God.
This refers to the new birth and regeneration.
Qualitatively we now experience a new level of excellence.
(Jn 3:3; Eph 2:1-3; Titus 3:5; 1 Pet 1:23; 1 Jn 2:29; 3:9; 5:4).
This expression includes the believer’s forgiveness of sins and
Christ’s substitutionary death. (Gal
6:15; Eph 4:24) ‘Old
things have passed away’ This
phrase refers to the fact that beginning at the new birth, a person’s
old system of values, priorities, beliefs, the way they thought and acted,
are gone. Yes, evil and sin
are still present, but they are seen in a totally new light.
They no longer control or have dominion over believers. This
is called regeneration. A
person who is saved is not only forgiven but they are changed.
Anyone who says that they are a Christian must therefore show a
changed life. This is only
reasonable, for even though we are not perfect, we definitely are changed.
Everything has become new. Let us
have less excuses. It is
amazing how we often say that we cannot change from our behaviour in the
flesh. If we truly are believers,
God will not fail to perform a good work in us.
Let us therefore have great respect for the fact that we cannot
fool God or hide anything from him. We
must constantly live a life which is controlled by the love of Christ,
being renewed in our minds by the Spirit. “In
fact the Greek grammar indicates that this is a continuing condition of
fact. The believer’s new
spiritual perception of everything is a constant reality for him, and he
now lives for eternity, not temporal things.” Verse
18. ‘Now all things are
of God’
All things refer to the subject of the previous verses, in
particular verses 14-17. And
what it expresses, is the fact that our transformation and conversion are
all the work of a sovereign God. Sinners
cannot independently choose to participate in these new realities.
It is God who begins the work in us, and it is God who will
complete it, and everything in between. It is
by his power that we were quickened, for we were dead in trespasses and
sin. It is his power that
sustains us; it is through his power that an unprofitable servant can
accomplish anything that pleases him; it is his power that will bring us
into eternity. Thus it is by
his power that we have been reconciled to Him. Paul
here begins to describe the plan of God using the word reconciliation.
God did not offend, yet he was the one who initiated this ministry
of reconciliation. Again
the means of reconciliation has come by way of the redemptive work of
Christ. Having then been
reconciled, God now gives the believer the inestimable privilege of being
a part of the process of reconciling others to Himself. It is
God’s desire that we serve him primarily by means of serving others, and
in particular, by sharing the message of salvation with unbelievers. Note
that this tremendous ministry was established by God and committed to us.
Therefore we are responsible to him.
We do not need permission from the Pastor, elders, deacons, or
anyone else for this ministry, for it is our responsibility to God. Those
leaders of the church have responsibilities but it is not their
responsibility to control everything that goes on.
Their job is to help, give counsel, guide, facilitate, encourage,
and edify. Just remember that some early Christians went and ministered to
the Gentiles and started the church in Antioch without the permission of
the Apostles. God
puts us exactly where we are, in that home, that neighbourhood, in that
job, in that school among all those terrible people, those pagans who mock
at God, and tells us to reach out to those around us, just as he reached
out to us. Note
however that he first reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ.
Let remember exactly what God did for us personally and so when we
go around we can tell people that God has reconciled us and healed the
breach and close the gap between us and himself and we are now in his
divine arms, forgiven and supported by his divine grace.
He loves us personally. No one
can carry the message for us, for this is the message of reconciliation
that God has given us personally to share with others. Just
understand that God entrusts us with this ministry, and if he did not
think that we could do it, or that our life experience would not make a
difference to others, he would not ask us to tell anybody anything and
given us this powerful ministry of reconciliation.
God believes in us and this should be a powerful motivating force
in us. People might not think that all have the ability to communicate, but we should never let people's opinions undermine our confidence as a minister of reconciliation. We are accountable ultimately and responsible to Jesus Christ who saved us, commissioned us, and then sent us out to reconcile people to Himself. Verse 19. ‘God was in Christ’ this is the design of God in redemption, that He would use Jesus (God the Son) as the only acceptable and perfect sacrifice. God had to deal with the problem of man’s sin before or as an essential part of reconciliation. Note that the message began with God, and God rules over the entire process. He reached out and sent Jesus not to condemn but to forgive men who in their heart of hearts knew that they were under judgment and condemnation. “For
it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by
Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or
thing in heaven, having made peace through the blood of the cross.” (Col
1:19,20) Regarding
‘reconciling the world’ one writer states: “God
initiates the change in the sinner’s status in that he brings him from a
position of alienation to a state of forgiveness and right relationship
with Himself. This again is
the essence of the gospel. The
word ‘world’ should not be interpreted in a universalistic sense,
which would say that everyone would be saved, or even potentially
reconciled. ‘World’ refers rather to the entire sphere of mankind or
humanity (Titus 2:11; 3:4), the category of beings to whom God offers
reconciliation – people from every ethnic group without distinction.
The intrinsic merit of Christ reconciling death is infinite and the
offer unlimited. However,
actual atonement was made only for those who believe (Jn 10:11,15; 17:9;
Acts 13:48; 20:28; Rom 8:32,33; Eph 5:25).
The rest of humanity will pay the price personally for their own
sin in eternal hell.” Imputing
can be translated as ‘reckoning’ or ‘counting’.
The sense is that God no longer holds the repentant sinner
accountable for his sin, as he is now covered with the righteousness of
Christ. This is the heart of
the doctrine of justification whereby God declares righteous a repentant
sinner the moment he wholehearted places trust in Christ and his
sacrificial death. “Word
of reconciliation, here Paul presents another aspect of the meaing of the
gospel. He use the Greek word
for ‘Word’, which indicated a true and trustworthy message, as opposed
to a false or unsure one. In
a world filled with false messages, believers have the solid, truthful
message of the gospel” Verse
20. An
ambassador is a statesman, one who has officially been given the
authority to represent his King in a foreign land.
The Greek adds to the definition, in that it is often translated
‘elder’ – thus an ambassador is seen as an older or more precisely,
a more experienced person. Thus
we aught also to earnestly endeavour to be thus minded.
Having personally experienced salvation, we should continually
build on our experience as we are now commissioned to give out the message
of salvation, to those who are not yet a part of our Father’s kingdom. An
ambassador does not bring his own message, but the message of the king.
It is then God speaking through us whenever the gospel is
presented. This message comes
from God with a tremendous amount of authority, for believers are
controlled by Him, and do his mission and bring his message and are should
therefore be confident. No
believer in Christ should be embarrassed when performing their ministry,
but should confidently and with authority, as ambassadors of God, invite
people to turn to God because he first loved us.
This title of ambassador is a great title.
It carries with it a passionate concern for people.
It requires us to persuade people to make the choice of being
reconciled to God, accepting and receiving the
truth, and entering into a person relationship with God. Remember
that ambassadors are dedicated people and do not give their opinions but
give the word of their Master. This
word cannot be given if one lives only in a Christian enclave, and only do
church things, ignoring the needs of the people around him. Mindful also that the message of reconciliation is not
primarily one of condemning people for their sin and talking about the
judgment of God for sins. Men
already know that they are sinners. The
message is that God is not counting their sins against them. God is
definitely concerned about sin and evil and takes it seriously. But
the message is that God has paid a tremendous price to remove the
problem of sin. He sees our loneliness and hurt, and our struggles, and he
wants us to tell men that he has taken care of the problems. This is the
‘good news’ that we must take to the world. This is the ministry of
reconciliation. Ambassadors
do not use trickery to get people into a false allegiance to Christ,
watering down the message, creating false agreements, ignoring any lack of
change in their hearts. They accept their grave responsibility. They know
their message requires voluntary acceptance. Through
his ambassador, God begs sinners to repent and be reconciled to Him, to
put away enmity and embrace peace. Just note that there would be no point
in pleading with men, if they were going to be automatically saved. Men
must be entreated. This
is a dangerous job and one might get killed for entreating men to be
saved. Beseeching men, pleading with men, certainly not commanding men to
be saved, or condemning them, will not necessarily win any plaudits. There
is going to be certain rejection. Verse
21. Paul
now summarizes the heart of the gospel, and shows us how sinners can be
reconciled to God. Paul brings verse 18-20 together as he explains that sinners
are reconciled to God through Christ Jesus. In
this verse we also find probably the greatest statement of the doctrine of
imputation and substitution. ‘Who
knew no sin’ Christ is
the sinless Son of God, and is presented as such throughout scripture.
The phrase means that he has never sinned, nor will he ever. (Gal
4:4; Lk 23:4, 14, 22, 47; Jn 8:46; Heb 4:15; 7:26; 1 Pet 1:19; 2:22-24;
3:18; Rev 5:2-10) We
now see the principle of imputation – God made Him to be sin for us,
that is God the Father treated him as though he was a sinner, as though he
had himself committed those sins; and thus he paid the price. He
bore in his body the penalty for the sins of all the people who believe in
him. (Is 53:4-6, Gal 3:10-13; 1 Pet 2:24) On
the cross he did not become a sinner, as some suggest; his perfection and
holiness were unaffected, but he bore the complete wrath of God for those
sins and thus the just requirements of the law were met by him on behalf
of those for whom he died. The
doctrine of substitution is most completely revealed is this verse also.
As Christ was not a sinner, but was treated as one for our sake, on
our behalf; His righteousness was substituted for the sinner’s lot.
But the transaction would not be complete until the sinner received
the righteousness of Christ in place of his sins. This
ministry of reconciliation results in achieving the righteousness of God.
This is what men have always wanted.
One writer says: “
Reconciliation is made possible by the great exchange-Christ takes our
sins, we receive His righteousness” This
is a very mysterious transaction but it is a life changing transaction.
Christ was made sin, not made a sinner, and this act was a
righteous act of love. Beauty,
purity, value is now given to those who accept Jesus Christ.
The death of Christ makes each of us a new creation, completely
new, free from all the bondage of the past.
This ministry is therefore of critical importance. Thus
the sinners who are not yet fully righteous, and this will happen when
they are glorified, still reap the benefit of being righteous. God now treats the believer as though he does only the
righteous works of the sinless Son of God. This
is the heart of the gospel and the ministry of reconciliation.
It is the greatest expression of God love for us.
We indeed are blessed if we are found in Christ. CONCLUSION
God
treats sin as a most serious matter.
He knows our struggles and he has dealt with them.
He has lifted us up, forgiven us, restored us, strengthened us, and
is staying with us forever. He
has met all our needs. He now
gives us great authority and strength to bring others to Him though they
may be hard, selfish, love less, self-righteous and terrible workers of
iniquity. We can
do it, he has told us that now is the accepted time for us to start acting
in love toward the people who are around us.
Show them by our lives that we are ministers of reconciliation.
Do not wait. Be
effective now. Live the life of Christ, for that is all we should be
doing. Be
strong in this powerful word of reconciliation.
Do it now, urgently, confidently.
Be passionate in our appeal. Do
not squander opportunities we are given to speak.
Do not refuse to speak about God's saving grace for that will make
it null and void. God has given us tremendous resources to perform this ministry effectively, and is available constantly to help us. Do not be a walking contradiction. One writer begs us: “You
must hear the urging, the pleading, and passion of this great apostle as
he challenges us”.
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