The Father’s Opened Gift
2 Corinthians 5:11-17
We have been looking at some of the gifts of the Almighty God in sending Jesus, the Messiah, the one-and-only-one-of-a-kind “Son of God”, anointed to come to earth in the Flesh to demonstrate the lavish Love of God in Christ’s Incarnation, being conceived by the Holy Spirit, and living, dying, and rising from the dead to bring you back to life.
God works in us, planting His Holy Spirit-seed in US to give us NEW LIFE so that we are given a new nature that desires to follow the Savior and to Love God more than anything else. The theological term is “Regeneration”, being born again. Last week we witnessed God’s visit to earth in Christ and to the Cross of Christ as the Horn of Salvation. We know that Jesus killed satan’s work and power at the cross because Jesus rose from the dead and ascended again to His Heavenly throne. In doing so, He became our most prized gift, OUR Savior, our mighty Horn of Salvation.
This is not the end, but only the beginning! Does it “taste like MORE”? That’s what my Grandmother us to say to us when we had a special treat, like a root beer float: “It tastes like MORE, doesn’t it? Let’s have MORE!” Psalm 34:8 says: “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.” We are going “taste more” on a walk through 2 Corinthians 5:11-17:
2 Corinthians 5:11 “Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. (This fear is reverent worship, living humbly and obediently before God because of His Love to us. We know that there is NO HIDING from God. Our hearts are an open book before God.)
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. (Is your reputation as one who fears and loves the Lord and loves the Body of Christ “showing”? Sometimes YOUR WITNESS and behavior are the only things that others will read concerning God’s Love in Christ in YOU. Are you showing the LOVE OF God IN CHRIST in your words and actions?)
13 If we are out of our mind, (or beside ourselves) it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. (If people say that we are crazy, it is because we are out-of-our-minds in love with God because of His Love for us! If we are IN HIM we have the mind and loving attitude of Christ. If we appear to you that we ARE always LOVING, it’s because we are demonstrating this UNREAL LOVE FOR God through the Spirit of God who lives in us. We are IN-control of our actions and our RE-actions because we have the Spirit of God living in us and through us!)
14 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, (HIS LOVE CONTROLS US and we profess that Christ’s substitutionary death is the ONLY WAY to receive forgiveness!) and therefore all died. (Everyone who DIED IN CHRIST receives the benefits of His substitutionary death AND HIS RESURRECTION! We are overwhelmed with gratitude that He made us a part of the “ALL” of His Body!)
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. (Our old SELF-CENTERED lives are finished. That’s what kept us FROM God. We’ve been released from that and our lives are now DEAD to SIN and ALIVE to God in Christ: The Power of Christ and the Gospel! “I only live for the Lord, I only live for righteousness' sake, not for myself." Anything less than that is unacceptable.)
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. (We don’t regard people according to worldly external standard.,) Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. (We do not merely regard Jesus from a fleshly perspective, but according to WHO HE REALLY IS: The Love of God to become Savior, the Word becoming flesh, the only way to God, the only way of forgiveness, the only access to the Kingdom of God! Our Redeemer, our LORD, the King whom we serve.)
17 “Therefore, (A VERY BIG “THEREFORE” –on account of these things of God) if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation (or CREATURE); the old has gone, the new has come!”
New IDENTITY
A NEW CREATION or New Creature! The rabbis in the Old Testament era, as well as in modern times used the term "new creature" or “creation” to describe someone whose sins were forgiven. If you are in Christ, your sins have been forgiven, and Jesus says, “Welcome to MY world. You are a new Creation.” God welcomes you into His everlasting Kingdom because God’s Gift is LIFE-changing.
The “first” Adam fell into sin at Creation and caused destruction to the human race and to the world in which he was born. The “last” Adam, the LORD-over-all-creation Jesus Christ recreates a new and eternal humanity. If you have opened the gift of God’s Love, you have a New identity in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have accepted His Gift, there has been a profound change, a new birth. You know that you have been given a new life in Christ because you finally HAVE LIFE! Babies don’t immediately even KNOW they are alive, but YOU know that you have a new spiritual life in Christ because you were spiritually dead before.
1 John 2:29 “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.” That’s my desire, to practice righteousness.
“The expression "in Christ" sums up the significance of man's redemption. It speaks of our security in Him who has Himself borne in His own body the judgment of God against our sin. It speaks of acceptance in Him in whom alone God is well pleased. It speaks of assurance for the future in Him who is the resurrection and the life and the guarantee of our inheritance. It speaks of the inheritance of glory in Him who is the only begotten Son, is the sole heir and therefore we inherit only in Him. It speaks of participation in the divine nature in Him who is the everlasting Word... And when you're in Christ, you're a new “kainos”, (creature) new in quality, not just new in sequence, new in quality, new in creation, at a new level of excellence.” (John MacArthur, “A Ministry of Integrity”)
Eph. 2 :1-5: ”And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).
Tullian Tchividjian explains being “in Christ” this way: “Moralism beats this drum: If I improve, then I’ll be accepted by God, by others, even by myself. But the gospel says something radically different. The gospel announces that everyone “IN CHRIST” is already accepted by God because of Jesus’ work for them. Therefore, no improvement, good behavior, or performance is necessary in order to experience the deep acceptance we long for and in fact strive for on a daily basis. This may seem like an impractical distinction, but it makes all the difference in the world.” (“Jesus+Nothing=Everything”, p. 62) You were in the darkness before, but now you see the Light of Life. You had NO LIFE in Christ before, but now you have NEW LIFE in Christ because it has been GIVEN to you.
PRESENT Reality
Being IN CHRIST, you now possess a New present reality- It is a reality, it is NOW, and at the same time it's ALSO a process. It means that you have new loves, new appetites, new desires, you place different price tags and values on everything that you once thought were important: Things that had very high value before, now appear paltry and puny in price and value. It doesn’t means we are totally without sin, but our desire is to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. The old ideas, values, plans, and passions are gone. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” There is a new quality of excellence in your life because the Spirit of the Living God has come to live in your heart and life!
Isaiah 43:18-19 says: "Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past. "Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it?” This “newness” is a process we call "sanctification." It’s an ever increasing understanding of this new identity and expression of what CHRIST means to us. A whole new world exists for us because God lives in us. God's perfect standard of holiness and righteousness is before us and we long to see and experience more of it. We don't meet it perfectly, but we seek it imperfectly with the help of His Spirit in us, His Word being poured into us, and the encouragement of the Body of Christ. This process goes on until our glorification, when we see Christ, and we will have the FULLNESS of that newness.
In the meantime, we grow together within the Body of Christ because we have received NEW LIFE. There is a present new creation growing and being transformed into the image of the Lord Jesus, not just individually, but locally and corporately. We should be GLORYING IN THE GOSPEL OF GRACE shown to us in Christ!
1 Peter 1:3-5 says: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, (that’s still coming, but it is guaranteed) 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” That is what we long for! Just beyond our reach…
FUTURE Reality
As a believer in the Christ of Christmas, you and I possess that New future reality in Him: “The old has passed away, (Parerchomai) the new has come.” Jesus said in Matt. 24: 35 (Mark and Luke): "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.” Has your old life passed away? Has it been replaced with His new identity, with a present reality of His Love, AND with a secure future reality?
The Greek tense of the verb for “has come” indicates that this newness is a continuing condition. The old passed away, the new is CONTINUALLY coming. A believer who has received a spiritual rebirth has a new perception of everything in terms of eternity. It is a constant reality, not a fleeting feeling. Feelings will ALWAYS change, but this reality is not temporary nor is it temporal.
Isaiah 65:17-18 prophesied in the Old Testament: "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. 18 "But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing And her people for gladness.”
Paul said in Rom. 6:4: “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” The old passed away, the new is CONTINUALLY coming.
Ephesians 2:10 says: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
Paul is saying this: “The same thing that happened to me will happen to ANY PERSON who comes to CHRIST. It does not matter where you have been, who you are, no matter how wicked, how prideful, how self-righteous you might be; If any person is IN CHRIST, that person will also be a new creature in CHRIST. It happened to me and it can happen to you.”
If you are a new creation in Christ, that should leave you with a taste FOR MORE! When you put your faith in Jesus Christ you are in Christ, His substitutionary death is your death and His resurrection life is your life, and now you begin to live a new life, which leaves you with a taste for much more of Christ.
Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth ; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea…5 And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And He said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true." 6 Then He said to me, "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. 7 "He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.”
Outline:
God’s Gift is Life-changing:
A. You possess a NEW identity: (Eph 2:1-5, 1 John 2:29)You are now In CHRIST.
B. You possess a NEW present reality:(1 Peter 1:3-5, Isaiah 43:18)
A reality NOW but ALSO a process.
C. You possess a NEW future reality: (Isa. 65:17-18, Eph. 2:10, Rom. 6:4)
The old passed away, the new is continually coming.
“Lord, we desire a passion for you from within, a reverence for you, concern for the church, devotion to the truth, gratitude to the Savior for the love that sent Him to the cross to die in our place, an unwavering desire for righteousness and such a burden for the lost that we want to maintain faithful integrity to the gospel at all costs. I pray, Lord, that You'll save all Your faithful people not only from sin but from false accusation so that their lives and witness would not be discredited so that You would receive the glory you so deserve!
