The Life That Pleases God Series

Text: 2 Corinthians 5:9-21

Title: The Life that pleases God

Introduction

1.Jesus’ prayer for all believers - UNITY (John 17:23)

“That they may be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

Examples…one God, One Gospel, One Grace…

In 2 Corinthians 5:9 we are told we should also have one Goal- To live a life that pleases God.

“So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.”

In verse 10 we are told we will stand before God and be judged on how well we met the goal.

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”

We will not be judged on how much stuff we accumulated but how much we pleased God.

How do we live a life that pleases God?

Here are 3 thoughts from our passage

1.The life that pleases God begins at Reconciliation (v18-21)

Reconciliation means a change from a state of enmity between persons to one of friendship.

How do we change a state of enmity between me and God? Through reconciliation

How do we receive reconciliation between us and God?

V19 – He has reconciled us to himself through Christ

V20 – God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ

It is through Christ and only through Christ that we have reconciliation with God

What are the results of reconciliation?

1.God no longer counts our sins against us (v19)

(He counts our sins against Christ)

2.God counts the righteousness of Christ against us (v21)

The life that pleases God continues at Renewal (v17)

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, the old has gone the new has come.”

Is renewal a one time deal? NO! It is a life long process.

The correct translation is “if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, the old has gone and is going, the new has come and is coming.

Some of the new things Christ wants to bring us include a new heart, a new mind, a new covenant, a new song…

Is renewal automatic? No!

The secret to finding renewal in Christ is found in verse 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.”

The key to renewal is to live for Christ instead of living for ourselves

The more we live for Christ the more renewal we will experience.

Illustration: The throne room in our heart

Who sits on that throne; Christ or Self?

The life that pleases God finishes at Reaching out to others

“And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors as through God was making his appeal through us.”

There are three things we need in order to reach out to others.

1. The fear of God (v11)

We often have it the other way around. Instead of fearing God and trying to convince men we fear men and try to convince God not to ask us to reach out to others.

2. The Love of Christ (v14)

“For Christ’s love compels us because we are convinced that one died for all and therefore all died.”

We need to have the same love Christ has for the lost.

We usually have the love of Christ for the saints but not for the sinners

3.The eternal perspective (v10)

“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Through we once regarded Christ in this way we do so no longer.”

Having a worldly point of view of people and having an eternal point of view of people are complete opposites.

God sees people as either saved or lost he doesn’t give much attention to their physical appearance or status in life.