Compelled By Love

0:48Well, a couple weeks ago, my family and I drove down to the Woodlands Mall and ate at the Cheesecake Factory. I guess we decided that we all needed to gain 10 pounds. So to me, the best part of going to a big mall like that is the people watching. I mean, it's just fascinating, isn't it, what you see in a mall? So at one point, the girls, my wife and my daughter, they go into a store and the boys have been into plenty of stores and we decide to sit down. Remember, we did eat at the Cheesecake Factory and so we weren't really excited about a whole lot of physical activity. So we sit down and we are right across from one of those popular Up stands that sells the shoe cleaner.

1:33You know which one I'm talking about? So, this poor young man, he must have been around 14, he's walking by in a pair of well-loved Adidas with his mom. And the sales guy at this stand just jumps right on him. And he's doing all that he can to persuade this kid and his mom that a can of shoe cleaner is the answer to his problems. He's selling them so hard, and the kid looks so uncomfortable, and I can't look away because it's like watching a train wreck in slow motion. And so, this kid is just so uncomfortable. And you know, he's just thinking, you know, man, I just brought my mom here to buy me a new pair of Jordans. I don't really want a shoe cleaner can.

2:25And so, he's selling them so hard, and they're right at the point where somebody's going to be disappointed. Either the sales guy because he doesn't make a sale, or the kid because he buys a can of shoe cleaner. And then the girls come out, and I don't see the ending. I know, I'm sorry, but here's the thing: I walked away thinking that salesman challenged me as a Christian. He was just determined to persuade that young man. Young man, through his words and his demonstration, that he needed a can of shoe cleaner. He established the need.

3:10He tried to show him the benefits. He called him to respond by buying a can of shoe cleaner. And whether he made the sale or not, that's really not the point. The point is that he was faithful to do his job, though undoubtedly it was uncomfortable for him, too, to walk up to this kid and to hundreds of strangers every single day and to try to sell them a can of shoe cleaner. But what a picture of our calling as disciples of Jesus Christ.

3:43And so today, friends, we find ourselves in 2 Corinthians 5, verses 11 through 21. And what we're going to learn today is that compelled by the love of Christ, we implore others to be reconciled to God. So let's jump into the text now. You'll notice here that in verse 11, it begins with the word therefore. And what that means is that Paul is drawing a conclusion from the previous section. So the question is, how does that previous section end?

4:19Well, let's go back here to verse 10. It says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due. For what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Every person is going to stand before God to be judged for what they've done in their lives. Every one of us is going to give an account to the perfect and holy judge. So now Paul picks up in verse 11 and he says this: therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others.

5:01The fear of the Lord comes from the knowledge that we will give an account to God and be judged by Him without partiality or bias or favoritism of any kind. And the fear of the Lord leads us to persuade others, to attempt to convince them to believe as we do and then to act in accordance with those beliefs. See, the word persuade is very important because it's just not possible to coerce someone into becoming a Christian.

5:37You may be able to get somebody to change their behavior through coercion, but you can't change their hearts, you can't change their minds. And how do we persuade? Well, this past week, our staff was treated to a wonderful sermon at the Acts 29 conference by Tony Merida. And Tony took us. To this passage in 1 Peter chapter 3, it's verse 15, a very well-known verse. He says this: but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect.

6:23Now, Tony's excellent point in the sermon was that answering scientific or philosophical or moral or theological objections to the Christian faith, what we would call apologetics, he said all of that is very important. But this verse in 1 Peter 3:15, what it's talking about is giving a defense for the hope that is in us. Non-Christians may reject our scientific or theological or moral convictions. They may just not receive those things, but they cannot deny the hope that we have in Christ or the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

7:12My fellow believers, ask yourself this question: Is my life a persuasive apologetic for Christ? Consider the way that you live, how you approach each day, what others say. And hear from you, would they conclude that you have a supernatural hope in Jesus Christ and his victory over sin and death and his imminent return when he's going to make all things new? Is your life a persuasive apologetic for Christ? So Paul and his companions sought to persuade others because they knew the fear of the Lord.

7:59And that fear of the Lord, that reverence for the holy God of the universe, is what led them to lead lives of holiness and integrity as they ministered. See, that's what Paul is saying in verses 11 through 13. He's returning to the theme of chapters 3 and 4, where he defended his ministry against the claims of the Jewish false teachers who were trying to get the Corinthians to return to the old covenant law. So he's saying, look, God knows exactly what we are. He knows not only what we're saying and doing on the outside, but also what's inside of us.

8:42He knows our thoughts and our attitudes and our motives and our aims. He knows everything. And so Paul says in these verses that he hopes that what they are is known to the Corinthians' consciences. So let me remind you of what Paul said in the previous chapter. Chapter and chapter 4, he says, but we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with the word of God. But by open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.

9:21So Paul is clear: look, we're not trying to deceive you, we're not trying to get anything from you. We commend ourselves, our words, and our actions, to your conscience before the Lord, who knows everything. And so now in chapter 5, Paul is saying, we're not commending ourselves to you again. We've already done that. What we want, take a look at verse 12. What we want is to give you cause to boast about us. Now, if I came to you yesterday and said, let's play a game called, Is That in the Bible?

10:07And I said, Paul says that he wants others to brag about him. Is that in the Bible? What would you have said? Unless you happen to have this verse memorized, verse 12, which you don't because no one has this verse memorized, then you're probably going to say, No, there's no way that the guy who Wrote in Galatians chapter 6, verse 14, but far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world, there's no way that man said, I want you to boast about me.

10:49But would you look at that? There it is, right there in the Bible, Paul saying that he wants to give people cause to boast about him. So let's try to understand this because this is a tough concept for Westerners to get. But I think people from certain Eastern shame-based cultures, they can understand this better. See, if you're from certain Eastern shame-based cultures, what is it that you want more than anything? You want to bring honor to your family. What's your greatest fear? It's bringing dishonor to your family. We should all know that, of course, but who can blame you if you don't have $300 to download Mulan on Disney Plus?

11:42What does Paul want? He wants the Corinthians to be proud of him. He wants to bring honor to the family of God. He wants the church to be proud of him. He doesn't want to give them any cause to feel ashamed of him, that he planted their Church, that he discipled them. And I'll tell you what, New Life, I have felt that on a deep personal level from the day that we planted this church. As one of your pastors, I want you to be proud of me. I don't want to say anything, do anything, post anything, write anything that's going to cause you to feel ashamed of me or of this church. I want you to be proud of me. I want you to be proud to be a member of this church. I want you to feel like you could invite the most mature Christian that you know or the most skeptical non-believer that you know to New Life with the full confidence that they're going to be treated with honor and love and that they're going to hear the word of God preached faithfully and clearly in love.

13:03And see, that's what Paul wanted. He wanted to bring honor to the church. He wanted them to be proud of him. See, all the false teachers boasted about themselves. They took pride in how things looked on the outside. But God cares about the heart. And so Paul did too. How he conducted himself was a reflection of what was in his heart. And how the false teachers conducted themselves, that was a reflection of what was in their hearts as well. And what was in their hearts was sinful pride and the lust for the approval of man.

13:46The meaning of verse 13 is somewhat unclear, but it seems from the context of these letters, 1 and 2 Corinthians, that it would not be a stretch to conclude that the false teachers were grandstanding with their spiritual gifts, which supposedly was a demonstration of their spiritual maturity and authority. And so, back in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul just drops the mic on this entire debate, and he writes this in verses 18 and 19 of 1 Corinthians 14. He says, I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. Nevertheless, in church, I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than 10,000 words in a tongue.

14:37So, in verse 13, Paul says this: Look there: for if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. In other words, any tongue speaking that we do is a private thing between us and the Lord. But, he says in verse 13, if we are in our right mind, it is for you. In other words, when they preach the truth openly, when they conduct themselves with integrity, when they answer objections to their ministry in a clear-headed way, that is all for the sake of the Corinthians.

15:16You see, Paul and his companions weren't controlled by their sinful desires. They weren't controlled by their emotions. They weren't even controlled by their spirits. You might remember back in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 32, he says, the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. So nobody can say after doing some nonsensical thing, I don't know, man, the spirit just took over. No, no, they weren't controlled by their emotions or by their spirits. What were they controlled by? Look at verse 14.

15:53For the love of Christ controls us. The love of Christ was the animating and driving force of their lives. His love is what controlled them. And why is that? Look again at verse 14. Because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died. And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died. And he was raised. This is it, guys.

16:38These verses here are the essence of the Christian life. I don't know of a better place in scripture to point people than to these verses if you're asking, what is the Christian life all about? What does it boil down to? I've met many people over the years who will sit there and tell me that they are Christians because they believe in God or because they believe in Jesus. But you know what? The demons believe in God. The demons believe in Jesus. The demons believe that the Bible is true. The demons believe all of that. See, it boils down to this. Does the love of Christ control you?

17:27Are you living for yourself or are you living for Christ who died and was raised? Friends, there are not two types of Christians. Less serious Christians who believe in God but live for themselves, and more serious Christians who believe in God and live for him. There is only one type. Of Christian, one who is controlled by the love of Christ and who no longer lives for himself, but who lives for Jesus Christ, who died and was raised.

18:13And so some of us need to soberly evaluate our lives and ask, what is really controlling me? What am I really living for? Some of us need to have hard conversations with roommates, with family members, with friends who are convinced that they're fine because they say they believe in God. But they're living for themselves. They're not living for him. See, these verses are the essence of the Christian life. So we all need to ask God for grace to be able to be controlled by his love.

18:54And we also need grace to have our eyes opened if we are, in fact, living for ourselves. Because if that's the case, we're in danger of hearing from Jesus on the day of judgment, depart from me. I never knew you. Let's pick up now in verse 16. Paul writes, From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regard no one, Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.

19:37Because all believers have died and been raised with Christ, and because all people have immortal souls that will never die, we don't view anyone through an earthly lens. Paul is saying here in verse 16 that he used to view Jesus that way. He saw Jesus as nothing more than a heretical rabbi who led thousands of other Jews astray with his teaching and his lifestyle. But Paul says no more. Now he views everyone, especially Jesus, through the lens of eternity. And we have to do the same thing.

20:16Just the other day, I was visiting with someone whose father doesn't have long to live. And he was telling me that he was doing everything he could to share the gospel with him because he knew that his dad was going to spend eternity somewhere. He couldn't view him through an earthly lens because he knew that was true. He knew that there was no such thing as a mere mortal. And that's the outlook that we have to have, friends. We have to remember that we can no longer look at people through that earthly lens only. We have to look at them through the lens of eternity.

20:57And that includes how we view ourselves, which brings us. To verse 17, which is one of the most well-known and well-loved verses in Scripture. Look what it says. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. In the third chapter of John, this famous Jewish rabbi, Nicodemus, comes to see Jesus in the middle of the night, so he won't be seen by others. And when he comes up to Jesus, he says, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God because nobody could do these signs that you do unless God was with him.

21:49And Jesus says to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Here in verse 17, Paul is explaining that truth in slightly different language. He says that if we're in Christ, if we have received him through faith, then we are new creations. The old has passed away and the new has come. We've been born again, as Jesus says in John 3. And many of us are familiar with God's promise in Ezekiel chapter 36. Says, I'm going to give you a new heart. I'm going to put a new spirit within you. I'm going to remove your heart of stone. I'm going to replace it with a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit in you and cause you to walk in my statutes and obey my rules.

22:49See, the new covenant doesn't supply us with a second chance, it doesn't give us another opportunity to try harder to do better at obeying God. No, the new covenant supplies us with what we need, it gives us a new heart and a new spirit. By his power and grace, God transforms us into new creations with new hearts and new spirits that will also receive new bodies when Jesus returns. So, friends, if you are in Christ, you are a new creation.

23:33The old is gone, you are not that person anymore. That old person has been crucified with Christ. You have been raised to walk in a new life because you are a new creation. From time to time, we will struggle with what Scripture calls the flesh. There are going to be times when you're going to do things. Or say things that you used to do, or you used to say before Jesus saved you. But when that happens, you need to remind yourself: that is not who I am anymore. I am a new creation. That person is dead and gone. I have been washed, I've been sanctified, I've been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I don't have to live that way anymore. We all have to remind ourselves of that truth from time to time.

24:35Let's pick up in verse 18. He says, All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. So, after stating that we are new creations in Christ, that we have been born again, Paul at the outset of verse 18 says, All this is from God. All of it. You can't make yourself a new creation any more than you could cause yourself to be born again. That's something that God does to us and for us.

25:20You remember the conversation that Jesus was having with Nicodemus? This truth that Jesus shares with him just blows Nicodemus' mind. That he must be born again. He's like, how in the world does that happen? And so Jesus tells him, Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. He goes on to say, the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

25:58In Scripture, the same Greek word, pneuma, means both spirit and wind. So Jesus capitalizes on this word play with Nicodemus, and he says, the work of the pneuma, the Holy Spirit, is like the pneuma, the wind. We hear it sound, but we don't see it or cause it to blow. We can't make ourselves new creations, but we can absolutely see the effect of becoming a new creation, of being born again. And so Paul says, all this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself.

26:44So when Paul writes those words, he means it. We didn't reconcile ourselves to God through works of any kind. God reconciled us to himself. And now that he has reconciled, Reconciled us to himself through the person and work of Jesus Christ, he says he has given us the ministry of reconciliation. And if you look ahead to verse 19, you'll see that he also says that he has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation. That's amazing. So let's consider the message first and the ministry second.

27:30What is the message of reconciliation? Well, Paul begins to explain that in verse 19. Take a look there. In verse 19, Paul says, In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them. So the message of reconciliation is that God chooses not to count our trespasses, that is, our sin and our rebellion toward him and his law. He doesn't count that against us. Wonder of wonders. That is incredible. That is the greatest news that we could ever receive.

28:17But friends, how could God not count our trespasses against us? He presents himself in Scripture as perfectly holy, as a judge. Judge who will by no means clear the guilty. But we are guilty, aren't we? Adam's guilt and his sinful nature was passed down to us, and as a result, we have rebelled against God by breaking his holy law time and time again. And if God is a perfectly holy, just judge, then he can't just not count our trespasses against us. Letting people off the hook when they're guilty isn't justice. Somebody has to pay for our sin.

29:08So skip down now to verse 21. Take a look there at the last verse in this chapter. He says, For our sake, he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Well, friends, if verses 14 and 15 are the essence of the Christian life, then verse 21 is the essence of the Christian message. This is the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, and theologians call this substitutionary atonement.

29:54All of us have lived unrighteous lives of sin and rebellion against God, and Scripture teaches that. The wages of sin is death. So we deserve to die. But Jesus of Nazareth lived a perfectly righteous life in every way. He deserved to live forever, as Adam would have had he not sinned against God. But for our sake, verse 21 says, for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin. And this is what we see in the gospel narratives. Jesus is there hanging on the cross, and the sky goes completely black for hours in the middle of the day. And Jesus cries out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

30:52It's because God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us. Though he had kept God's law perfectly, he bore the curse of the law for us. He stood in our place. He was our substitute. He atoned for our sins. As the prophet Isaiah foretold, the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all, and his soul made an offering for guilt. And so, through faith in Jesus' substitutionary. Death and resurrection from the dead, His righteousness is credited to us. We are justified or declared righteous in God's sight. Christ takes our sin and gives us His righteousness.

31:49Friends, the message of reconciliation isn't simply that God doesn't count our trespasses against us as though He's not actually that holy and therefore our sin isn't really that big of a deal. The good news is that God is holier than we could ever understand, but that He is also gracious and merciful. And so, out of love, He punished His own perfect Son in our place that we might become the righteousness of God. So, God has entrusted us with the message of reconciliation, but He's also given us the ministry of reconciliation. What does that mean? Take a look at verse 20.

32:41He says, Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you, on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Well, what's an ambassador? Ambassador is a person who represents or speaks on behalf of a king or a government. And amazingly, that's what God calls us. He calls us his ambassadors through whom he is making his appeal for reconciliation. So we've been sent out by our Lord the King as His ambassadors, and our task is to appeal to others, to implore them to be reconciled to God by sharing the message of reconciliation. Our job is to communicate the King's message, His entire message, without adding to it or subtracting from it or altering it in any way. Because a faithful ambassador faithfully delivers the King's message.

33:56And the King's message is to be reconciled to Him by receiving the person and work of Jesus Christ, whom He sent to live and die and rise again for us. You see, Church, our mission statement, which is represented on our t-shirts and our website and all over this building, our mission statement isn't just branding, it's this passage boiled down to two words. Preserve and proclaim. We have been trusted with the message of reconciliation, and so we have to preserve that message. We don't want it to be added to or subtracted from or altered in any way.

34:50But we've also been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation. And so after preserving that message, our calling, our job is to persuade others, is to proclaim that message and urge them and implore them to be reconciled to God. We exist to preserve and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, to make mature disciples of all nations for the glory of God. We are all about what this passage commands us to do. Friends, some of you are not followers of Jesus Christ, and you don't claim to be.

35:40Others of you do claim to follow Jesus Christ. But our passage today has raised some questions in your mind. And my challenge to you this morning, especially to those of you who may be wondering whether you really have. Been reconciled to God is to carefully and soberly assess your life. Don't go on thinking that you will be fine because somebody pacified your conscience by telling you that you will be fine in eternity. Don't go on thinking that you're definitely a Christian because you've always said that you are one.

36:28Evaluate your life in light of God's Word. Are you controlled by the love of Christ? Are you living for yourself or are you living for Jesus Christ, who died and was raised for you? If you're not living for Him, then I implore you, we implore you, to be reconciled to God. Turn from your sin this morning and receive Jesus Christ by faith. And for those of us who are already following Christ, we are His ambassadors. We may be faithful or we may be unfaithful, but that is who we are. And so we need to ask ourselves this morning: am I taking seriously the message and the ministry of reconciliation that God has entrusted me with?

37:30Am I seeking to persuade others by my words and my actions, by my lifestyle, that Jesus Christ is Lord? Church, Jesus promised that he would return soon to judge the living and the dead. So, compelled by the love of Christ, we must implore everyone to be reconciled to God. Would you pray with me? Father, you have entrusted us with such a serious calling. You have called us those who were estranged from you, those who were your enemies, some of us not long ago.

38:44You have called us your ambassadors. You have said that we represent you, we speak on your behalf in this world. That is an incredible calling. It is a sobering and humbling calling. Forgive us for all of the times that our words, our actions, our attitudes, our motives, they do not honor you. They don't point people to Christ. We pray, God, that you would help us to be the kind of ambassadors that point people to Jesus accurately because we are sharing the biblical message of reconciliation with our lips and because we are living out the ministry of reconciliation with our lives.

39:41We pray for those who are hearing the word of God this morning who may have thought that they were Christians. I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would work in their hearts, that you would reveal to them that perhaps they have called themselves Christians for a long time, but they're not controlled by the love of Christ. They're not living for you, they're living for themselves. We pray that you would call them to saving faith today and that you would do the work that only you could do because all of it is from you. We pray that you would make them into a new creation this morning.

40:26God, we thank you for your word to us and we thank you for your word. Thank you for hearing our prayers. In Christ's name, amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.