Be The Church Week 6
2 Corinthians 5:10 -6:2
Important Announcements!
Connect Group Leader Meeting - This Sunday at 5:00 pm @ STC in the small auditorium! Come be poured into and be encouraged!
Mark your calendar for October 16th! This is the day we will be having our Fall Festival. Connect Groups have a huge part to play in this. More details coming soon.
Talk with your group some more about doing a Missional Community Project!
If you need a list of ideas, contact Blake Hardiman or Ethan Floyd.
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Theme: Vs 11-21 Sometimes we forget that God doesn’t just save us out of something but He saves us into something! God doesn’t just want to save us from our sins He wants to use us for His kingdom. We say it this way… Reconciled people live Reconciled lives. The Gospel not only saves us it transforms us and gives us a new worldview with a new purpose and changes how we treat others and it changes how we live our day to day loves! The Gospel changes everything!
A few things that Paul points out to us in chapters 5:10-6:2
1… Reconciled to God
A.. The Gospel (It all starts with the Gospel)
-verse 16-18 “Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (18) Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ…
“According to the flesh” meaning enmity between man and God. Meaning we were separated and at war with God.
Romans 5:10-11- 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
-After 3 circles.
-being reconciled to God changes everything.
2 Cor. 5-15-18 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has
come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ…
The Gospel Simply Stated:
1.. God’s original Design - Enjoying God's Grace and Extending His Glory!
2.. A Broken & Sinful World - We went our own way! Enjoying God's Grace extending Our Glory!
3.. The Gospel (Jesus in our place) Jesus paving a way to Reconciliation!
4.. Salvation (brought back into god’s design through Christ alone.)
5.. Ministry of reconciliation (Saved not just from something but to something.)
B.. New Creation
The Gospel Changed Everything! If we are reconciled to God then we are a New Creation in Christ. This is what God is interested in. He is interested in making you a new creation! Bringing you from death to life! There is only two types of people in the world, Lost and Saved. Dead in Adam or Alive in Christ. When we come to faith in Christ we come alive spiritually and we go from an old creation in Adam to a New creation in Christ. Our stories may look different but e everyone who is truly saved is a New creation.
Examples:
Nicodemus - A religious leader of the day! Israel’s teacher! Jesus says “ you got to be born again.” You want eternal life? You have to become a new creation!
Woman @ the well - Jesus says “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
That does not mean you become perfect overnight, but it does mean your identity changes and your position changes before God. Sin to righteousness.
John 1:12-13- “12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
-your identity no longer is a coach, a teacher, a doctor, an addict, a father, a mother, an alcoholic, an athlete, a pervert, a husband/wife, an ex-convict, you have now become a CHILD OF GOD!
Have you become a new creation in Christ? What evidence reveals this?
If you really saw yourself as a New Creation… How would that change your everyday life?
2… A New Lens
Remember, Paul was a tent maker. This makes perfect sense why he would use this language to show us that the life we live in this body is temporary! It does not last forever. Let's be honest... no one likes to stay in a tent for long periods of time! In that same way, we have something better to look forward to in Christ.
We may have an eternal home as a Christian but we live in an earthly tent here on earth! How are we to live in the present? What are some things that will help us live the life God is calling us to live on earth?
A. Seeing people through a Heavenly point of view
Your Worldview is the pair of glasses/lenses through which you see everything through.
Worldview- how you see the world and make sense of things.
In Christ, We get a new worldview.
Context Key.
The whole context of the letter of 2 Corinthians is Paul trying to reconcile his relationship with the church of Corinth.
Paul is an example of what it’s like to live a Gospel-centered life.
You see when we experience the Gospel we become like the Gospel in our relationships with others. This applies to marriage, friendships, and our personal relationships with others.
Jesus talks about this in Matthew 18- The parable of the unforgiving servant.
In light of what Christ has done for us, we are to love others unconditionally.
if we are holding onto a grudge or unforgiveness, we forget what Jesus has done for us… or we may have never truly experienced the Gospel ourselves.
The idea of a church being unforgiving is a contradiction. The idea of a Christians being unforgiving is a contradiction.
B.. Seeing all people through a Gospel Lens
2 Cor. 5:11-16.
Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. 12 We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. 13 If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.
You see Paul lived in this tension between:
1.. The Fear of God
2.. Compelled by Christ’s Love
we now see people primarily as either in Christ or not in Christ.
we were once old and wasting away in sin, and now we have been reconciled to God and made new. So, our primary concern should be, are they the OLD or the NEW?
We should see people through an eternal lens.
“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously.” C.S. Lewis
This world identifies us by what we do, what we have accomplished or who our family is, or even what we look like.
If we are made new, we are a new creation and we have a new lens through which we look through.
Vs. 14-15- the love of Christ compels us to not live for ourselves.
A lens in which we have died to ourselves by being “crucified with Christ, so that we may also be resurrected and walk in a new way of life”.
16- “therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.”
because we are a new creation, we now see people differently.
It’s the Gospel LENS (eternal lens) that understands that everyone is going to stand before a Holy God one day, and God will either welcome them with open arms or say, depart from me for I never knew you.
How can we better see others through a Gospel lens?
Are there any relationships in your life personally right now that need reconciliation?
Is your first priority seeing people in light of eternity? If not… take some time to pray and ask God to give you His eyes for people.
3… Restored back to God’s Purpose
A.. It’s who God is!
Isn’t this the story of the Bible?
Our God is a missionary God.
Our God is a God of Multiplication.
He created us to enjoy His Grace but also to extend His Glory.
B.. It’s Who we are!
We are restored to our identity and purpose.
Genesis 1:28, Gen 12:1-3, Salt and Light, fishers of men, etc…
2 Corinthians 5:17-20
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
Ministers of reconciliation.
Galatians: 2:19-20
“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
C.. It’s our Purpose
We are now Ambassadors of the Gospel.
We are God’s messengers.
v. 20 “as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God”.
If we Love God we will Love people and not live for ourselves, if we love people we will share the Gospel.
Two Extremes
1.. We don’t feel good enough to share. We feel like we don’t know enough.
Answer - Christ is righteous in you. And the Holy Spirit is speaking and working in your and through you.
2.. We are being disobedient to God’s command to make disciples of All Nations and we are justifying it with the excuse of being scared.
Answer - It’s our life and our words that matter. Not just our lives. Yes you have to model the Gospel by how you live but you still have to share the Gospel with words!
Paul says “as though God were making an appeal through us.”
Romans 10:13-17
13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
16 But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”
17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.
Who is responsible for sharing and being an Ambassador of the Gospel?
We are! The Church!
D.. It’s our motivation
Remember Paul's motivation that kept him living for God’s purpose.
1.. Fear of God
2.. Compelled by Christ’s love.
Have you accepted God’s purpose in your life?
Are you walking in it?
What is keeping you from walking in God’s purpose for your life?
Understanding that we are all ministers of the Gospel, and are ambassadors of God changes everything! How does this identify change affect your life? How should it affect your life?