Introduction
This passage is
part of a long digression which describes authentic Christianity.
Here is yet another striking description.
Read vs 17.
Christianity is not an addition to or improvement of the old life; it
is a new life altogether. When you receive Christ you become a
fundamentally new person, with new resources-which makes possible a
whole new way of life.
In this passage,
Paul discloses 3 aspects of this new life . . .
New
Motivation (vs 14,15)
The first aspect is a radically new source of motivation for your
life (read vs 14,15).
Read vs 15b: Talk
about a radical change! It is possible to be liberated from living
for yourself to live for Christ.
PAUL as the
EXAMPLE (distill Phil 3: turned his back on a successful life as
"dung" & gladly lived as a vagabond, finally being
executed for his loyalty to JC) >> Phil. 1:21; Gal. 2:20.
How does God
motivate this change?
Not by
fear-threat. Not by duty-obligation. Unfortunately, Christians have
usually resorted to these to motivate people to live for Christ ("GOD
WILL GET YOU;" "HE HAS DONE SO MUCH FOR YOU - YOU ARE
OBLIGATED TO RETURN THE FAVOR"). Both of these can produce
behavioral change, but the change is superficial: you do the bare
minimum, you comply grudgingly, etc. The church is filled w/ people
living this way and it is a tragedy because God never intended or
desired this.
God motivates this
change by love (vs 14a: sunecho - impels; urges on).
There is no more
powerful motivator in the human realm than love (MYSELF: "The
ones who have loved me the most have changed me the most.").
Nothing produces zeal and loyalty and the willingness to gladly go
beyond what is required like love.
The same is true
in the spiritual realm. God's love has the ability to completely
revolutionize your life. This is why Paul always prayed that his
converts would keep growing in their comprehension of God's love for
them (read Eph. 3:18,19).
How do you get
motivated by Christ's love?
Notice the
connection between vs 14a & vs 14b: it is the result of forming
conclusions (krinantas) about the meaning of Christ's death -
that he died in your place and for you. As you learn what the Bible
teaches about the cross, and as you choose to believe it, the Holy
Spirit enables you to experience the motivating power of his love in
your life (Rom 5:5).
This is why new
Christians are so motivated to serve Christ. They don't serve him
because they are afraid of him, or because they feel they "have
to." They can't stop themselves from talking to him &
talking about him to others, etc. Why? Because they have "tasted
of the kindness of the Lord" (1 Pet. 2:3) - they have freshly
experienced the power of Christ's love by believing in his work on
the cross to forgive them.
But this
motivation wanes unless it is cultivated by continuing to learn more
about the work of the cross, and reflecting on it and believing in
it.
Are you an
unmotivated Christian - just going through the motions to keep up
appearances, or out of duty to God? You need to ask God to
illuminate your heart to grasp in a fresh and deeper way the work of
the cross - and then go to the Bible's explanation of it. Remind of
2 Cor. 3:18;4:16,18.
New
Way of Evaluating People (vs 16,17)
The second radically new thing Paul mentions is a whole new way of
estimating or evaluating people. God replaces the old way with a new
way.
Read vs 16. What
does it mean to evaluate people "according to the flesh?"
This refers to
faulty human standards rather than according to God's way. Human
standards are arbitrary & superficial.
7th GRADE: One the
basis of clothing, shoes, hair length, and who said "hi" in
the halls, people were either accepted or rejected. I was
intimidated and corrupted by the "in" crowd, and I despised
and rejected the "out" crowd.
We laugh at how
foolish this is, but it doesn't really change in the adult world:
DEGREES; SALARY; JOB; POSSESSIONS; NEIGHBORHOOD. How much of your
life is dominated by evaluating others in this way, and responding to
them in the above way?
The proof that
this is faulty is that it leads to a faulty evaluation of Christ (vs
16b). According to the world's standards, JC was a total loser: JEW;
NAZARENE; CARPENTER; SMALL FOLLOWING; REJECTED BY JEWS & ROMANS;
CRUCIFIED. Yet he was the Messiah, God-incarnate, the most important
Person in the world and the One who has indisputably affected
humanity more than anyone else.
Instead, we are to
evaluate people in terms of their potential in Christ (vs 17). This
is the way Jesus viewed people (NICODEMUS; WOMAN AT THE WELL; PETER).
No matter how
great you are, you still need Christ or you are fundamentally missing
the purpose of your existence. As we take on this perspective, we
can be freed from intimidation to help these people by sharing Christ
with them.
No matter how
goofed up you are, you are still significant to Christ and he is able
to redeem you and give you a meaningful life. As we take on this
perspective, we can be freed from writing people off to helping them
realize their potential in Christ.
New
Purpose (vs 18-21)
The third radically new thing that Jesus gives us is a whole new
purpose for life.
No matter how
young or old, new or mature spiritually, etc. - we have all been
given the most significant ministry (service) in the world - the
ministry of reconciliation (read vs 18).
Reconciliation
means "bringing estranged parties together into a relationship
of love and unity." As those who have been reconciled to God,
we have the privilege of helping others do the same.
In vs 19-21, Paul
tells us how to be effective in this ministry. Notice 2 things:
First, we are to
emphasize that God is ready to get reconciled with people just the
way they are. He does not hold their sins against them as a barrier
to knowing him and experiencing his life-changing love.
We are not to
stress their sins and God's judgment. This only confirms people's
misconception that he doesn't want to know them, that he has written
them off, etc. This is why I wince at the BIBLE THUMPERS: they are
misrepresenting God's attitude toward people.
Does this mean
that God is soft on sin? Not at all. Sin was a very real barrier to
God & he hates sin with a deadly seriousness. The point is not
that God takes sin lightly, but that he has dealt with the sin issue
completely through the death of JC.
Vs 21 is the
definitive description of grace (undeserved favor). Because Christ
was willing to receive what he did not deserve (all of your sins &
the infinite wrath of God against them), God is free to offer you
what you don't deserve (perfectly right standing w/ him as a
permanent and completely free gift).
So we are to
explain and emphasize the grace of God: he has dealt w/ your sins; he
is ready to be reconciled to you as you are.
Secondly, we are
to personally invite and urge people to respond to God's offer and be
reconciled to him (vs 20).
The grammar makes
it clear that Paul is not urging the Corinthian Christians to be
reconciled to God (the "you" is not in the Greek) - they
already are (vs 18a). Rather, he is telling them what we should urge
non-Christians to do.
You know what it
means to be reconciled to someone. Turn to him personally. Call out
to him. Tell him that you are willing to lay down your alienation
from him. Tell him that you want to know him. Tell him that you
trust Christ's death to make you acceptable to him. This is all
that it takes. You don't need to clean yourself up before you can
come to him. You don't need to promise him that you'll never sin
again. Just come to him as you are be reconciled to him.
Conclusion
Vs 18a. Praise
God for the new life that is possible through Christ!