2 CORINTHIANS 5: 11-16 [GAINING PERSPECTIVE]
LIFE CONTROLLED BY LOVE
[Romans 6]
[Lost] people were wrongly judging the motives of Paul and accusing him of misleading people. Thus Paul wished to clarify his motives so that men would be willing to open themselves up to his message.
How do you judge the motives of a person? Do we do it by natural means such as a man made standard or is there a supernatural way to comprehend the motives of men? How can we as Christians be sure that our motives are right? If our motives are not right, what will bring about a change to correct them? We can be certain of our motives if we are, because of our love for Him, living life for God by the power of Christ's death and resurrection (CIT).
I. THE WITNESS OF CONSCIENCE, 11-13.
II. THE TRANSFORMING LIFE OF CHRIST, 14-16.
The judgment seat of Christ referenced in verse 10 motivates holy men to persuade others to follow Christ in verse 11. “Therefore knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to (revealed by) God; and I hope that we are made manifest (revealed) also in your consciences.
“Therefore” attaches this verse to the preceding. It was in contemplating the judgment seat of Christ before which Paul and all believers will be revealed moved Paul to fear the Lord and impelled him on in God's service (Mt. 10:28). Paul had a deep consciousness (eidotes) of the realization that he will be revealed and give an account of His stewardship to the Lord. The fear of this moment motivated Paul to persuade men to be reconciled to God. If God's judgment so motivated Paul it should motivate us to share also. [For “If it is with difficulty that the righteous are saved, what shall become of the godless man and the sinner?" (1 Pet. 4:18).] Recalling his coming judgment filled Paul with a wholesome fear and caused him to treat the ministry which had been entrusted to him with the utmost seriousness.
I read a fable about a dog who LOVED TO CHASE other animals. He bragged about his great running skill and said he could catch anything. Well, it wasn't long until his boastful claims were put to the test by a rabbit. With ease the little rabbit outran his barking pursuer. The other animals, watching with glee, began to laugh. The dog excused himself, however, by saying, "you forget, folks, that I was only running for fun. He was running for his life!"
Motivation makes a difference in almost everything we do. In fact, it determines the way believers serve the Lord. Some people serve Him halfheartedly because they feel obligated. But there are others who serve with urgency and zeal because they recognize the terrible plight of people lost in sin. They are deeply grateful for God's saving grace in their lives, so they go all out for the Lord.
That's the kind of zealous motivation the apostle Paul had. He wrote, “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” Paul meant business. There was much at stake.
To aid in this persuasion Paul and his fellow ministers had been revealed or manifested before the Corinthians by God. God had enabled the Corinthians to witness their authenticity and righteousness. Paul hopes that the Corinthians allowed this revealing by God of their character and integrity to be disclosed also in the Corinthians consciousness. He hopes that [in their moral judgment faculty] they have the ability to understand his truthfulness and genuineness (4:2).
Not only when you rebel against truth and sin does your conscious convict you but when God's man speaks truth it is also revealed in your consciousness. God made man capable to confirm a man and his message. He also made Heaven attractive and hell credible so that people are moved to long for one and shun the other. [He also motivates Christians to be on fire for God so that they will attract sinners to the light.]
Verse 12 insists that the reason Paul seems to be commending himself is so that they will have answers for those who are attacking his reputation. We are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart.”
Paul realizes that what he has just said will be seized upon by his opponents as arrogant and boastful. But he was providing his supporters reason to speak up boldly. The false charges were harmful to his character as well as to the unity and the growth of the church (Jn. 17: ). The church needed to regard Paul as a servant of Christ so that his message would be received as the message of God (4:1).
So Paul gave them this way of validating and affirming his testimony so that they “will have” [literally may have] something for facing his opponents who put stock in externals [i.e. credentials or associations (3: 1-2, 5:16a)]. It was not the external law but the internal of the Spirit that authenticated his ministry (3:3, Rom 2:28-29). Paul wanted them to be pleased or be proud of him and stand against those who look on the outward appearance-what is seen, rather than in the heart (see 1 Sam. 16:7).
In verse 13 Paul states that the motivation for any of his action is for God’s glory. “For if we are beside ourselves, (ecstasy), it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you.
Paul is stating that he can appear to be beside himself, as founded in an ecstatic condition [ÝîÝóôçìåí from åîßôìé; ek- out of & istmi -stand, place-be out of place, stand out-not be like everyone else], it is for God. Festus made this charge later concerning Paul in Acts 26:24. But he is in good company for similar charge was made against Jesus in Mark 3:21. His family thought He lost His marbles and the Jews thought He was demon possessed. People often accused those who bring them under sharp conviction of being a bit off.
Paul was so totally true to the Spirit, living so fully for the next life instead of this one, so living for God instead of self that he was radically different. Paul went to extremes. He was fanatical. He courted life and death hardships and hazards (11:1, 16-19) that a man of natural reasoning would not place himself. He fought wild beast, was whipped, stoned, and beaten all for preaching the Gospel. He was a fanatic for Christ.
Yet at the same time Paul was “of sound mind.” His teaching was brilliant (Acts 18:11) and His caring was like that of a loving father (1 Cor. 4:14-16). When He ministered to them he was of sound mind but when He ministered for God he let the spirit control. Yes, Paul's self-less ministry made him radically different. He loved the Lord his God with all his heart, mind, soul and strength and his neighbor as himself. That would make anyone stand out.
When DWIGHT L. MOODY was ministering at his large Sunday School and church in Chicago, people often called him "Crazy Moody." In the eyes of the unsaved world, Moody was "crazy" to have given up a successful business career to become a Sunday School worker and evangelist; but time has proved his decision to be a wise one. Today, we don't know the names of the people who laughed at him, but we do know - and honor - the name of D.L. Moody.
It behooves every Christian to examine his own life regularly to see if he is ready for the Judgment Seat of Christ. Though it may cause your life to appear different before men, wanting to give a good account before Christ is a worthy motive for Christian service.
II. THE TRANSFORMING LIFE OF CHRIST, (14-16).
Verse 14 provides the greatest motivation possible for reaching others for Christ. “For the love of Christ controls us, (holds us together) having concluded this, that one died for (on behalf of) all, therefore (consequently) all died;
Why was a life of self-pleasing impossible for Paul? Because of the supreme example and motivation of his Lord dying for all. God’s beloved Son Jesus gave His life as a sacrifice so that we could have eternal life with God. There could be no greater motivation than that to reach people for Christ.
The love Christ has shown for us compels us to love and serve Him, because when He died sin’s penalty was paid. For us who live in His death we have died to the self-life and through the power of His resurrection we live to please Him.
Oh that “the love of Christ” would “control us!” Not the standards of this world or the opinion of men, not the philosophies of man, but that the love of Christ would control us! It is not my love for Him that could control me, but His love for me! Oh that Christ's love would stream through my life and direct it where He wills!
How did this controlling love of Christ occur? Paul had become captivated by encountering a love that would carry Jesus to the cross of calvary. He experiences and is bound by Christ's love in His atoning sacrifice for mankind. What brings such love to bear is believing and experiencing it, then we will responded to it with our life. In order for Christ's love to constrain us we must view Christ’s crucifixion like the faithful apostle did. The great softener that melts men's hearts is the great proof that Jesus loves me, He died for me and I died with Him. When Christ died, we died in Him and therefore the old life should have no hold on us today. "I am crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20). He died for me and He died for you! [Huper -ὑðåñ- instead of, on behalf of, is used in the sense of substitution -Jn. 11:50, Gal. 3: 13]. He experience the agony of hell on behalf of us so that we will not have to experience the agony of Hell. He died the death we should have died, took the penalty of our sins and bore them in our place and took the doom that should have been ours. And now by our identification with Him we too can die and live by His constraining love. Yes He dies for all because He died for each, but why did He die for me? Love a love so great He laid down His life for us.
This understanding of Christ's love for Paul held him together or constrained him and kept him on task whatever men may say or do. The great compelling motive, the force and drive in his life since his conversion is that of love. Not the love that originates in himself but the love which originates in Christ. We love because He first loved us (1 Jn. 4:19).
[I heard of a successful insurance SALESMAN. He succeeded because he saw everyone he met as a potential client-even when he went to church. But when he was saved, he began to see people differently. He saw the church goers as brothers and sisters in Christ and the unsaved as people in need of Jesus. He no longer viewed everyone as his walking retirement plan.
We see people differently when we believer in Christ and are born again. We look t them through new eyes because we have become a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).
Before his Damascus-road experience, Paul saw Jesus Christ as a threat and His followers as enemies. He spearheaded a fierce persecution of Christians. But after his conversion, Paul saw Christ as He is-the Son of God and Savior of all who believe. Before, he had evaluated Jesus through the eyes of flesh; after, he saw Him through the eyes of one who had been spiritually restored.
How do you view people? Do you look at them through the eyes of the world? Do you think about how you could use them, or outdo them, or get them to serve you? If so, it's time to stop regarding them "according the flesh' and begin to see them through new eyes. When you open your heart to the Lord, He will open your heart to the lost.]
Verse 15 tells us why Christ died for us. “and He died for (for the sake of) all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for (for the sake of) Him who died and rose again on their behalf.”
Jesus died that we might live in Him, by Him and for Him. He went down into the darkness that we might walk in the light. Yes Christ died so that we might have forgiveness of sin, but He also died and rose again that we might life “for Him,” and not for ourselves. It has been said that Christ died our death for us that we might live His life for Him. If a lost sinner has been to the cross and been saved, how can he spend the rest of his life in selfishness?
In 1858 Frances Ridley HAVERGAL visited Germany with her father who was getting treatment for his afflicted eyes. While in a pastor's home, she saw a picture of the Crucifixion on the wall, with the words under it: "I did this for thee. What has thou done for Me?" Quickly she took a piece of paper and wrote a poem based on that thought; but she was not satisfied with it, so she threw the paper into the fireplace. The paper came out unharmed! Later, her father encouraged her to publish it; and we sing it today to a tune composed by Philip P. Bliss.
I gave My life for thee,
My precious blood I shed,
That thou might'st ransomed be,
And quickened from the dead;
I gave, I gave My life for thee,
What hast thou given for Me?
Only a risen victorious Savior has the power to bestow His redemption. By His death He put an end to the law which barred our way and by His resurrection He made a new beginning, a new life for us. But this new life is not to be lived like the old life, it is not to be lived for ourselves. Our new life is to transform us into the image of Christ. Did Christ live for Himself? No, He lived for us! He made our concerns His and asks us to make His concerns ours. We not only have a duty because of His death for us, we have power to do so because of His resurrection.
Charles T. Studd also gave himself without reservation to Christ. He was born into a wealthy British family in 1862. He became an outstanding cricket player, most notably at Cambridge University. In his third year at the university, he was converted at a Moody-Sankey meeting and dedicated his life to Christ. Author Stanley Collins explains, "The world was at his feet, as had been forecast and expected, when suddenly the whole picture changed... He announced he was giving away his personal fortune, leaving the world of sports, and becoming a missionary to China." Studd was forced to return to England 9 years later in 1894. A few years later, a growing burden led him to begin plans to open Africa from the Nile to the Niger for Missions. He left for the continent in 1910, and in 1919 he established the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade. Studd explained his motivation in these words: "If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice that I make can be too great for Him.” You may serve without loving, but you cannot love without serving.
We do not engage in missionary work simply because of Jesus' commanded us to go, but because God so loved the sinful world that He devised a means to redeem it. We go to tell it because the plan of salvation is indeed good news. The love of God, poured into our hearts, obligates us to share that converting love with those who remain lost in sin.
May God's love for the world move us to go with His love to the world. That's the highest motivation. May we reach out to a world in need with the Word it needs.
[While President Harry S, Truman was in office, there was an attempt made to assassinate him. Endeavoring to protect the President, one of the guards was slain. With deep solemnity and sadness, the President commented, "You can't understand how a man feels when somebody else dies for him."
I would think, after such an experience, that the remainder of life would become very special. After all, without the self-sacrifice of that guard, the President would not have had those remaining years. Each day would seem very precious, its having been purchased for him by the shedding of another man's blood
Thinking of the cross we may all too casually utter the words, "He died for me.” Do we see the suffering Savior dying for me, or more for the whole human race, than for us particularly?
In the old spiritual, "Were You There?", some meaningful questions are raised. This song is asking if we saw Him crucified, nailed to the cross. Did we see the earth plunged into darkness when the sun refused to shine? Did we see Him laid io the tome? Such
contemplation of soul "causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble," so the song goes,
Once I am gripped by this sight of Him who "there on the cross was wounded for me," the remainder of life takes on a new and different meaning. Hershel L. Dyer]
Verse 16 reveals a consequence of knowing Christ by and through His Spirit. “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.
The world of fleshly evaluation rejected the Christ and as a result of our new life which is no longer lived after the manner of the flesh, after the manner of this world, we too are not to assess people by worldly standards and distinctions.
IN CLOSING,
The “terror of the Lord” is a strong motivation for each disciple to be involved in evangelism. An even stronger imperative for involvement in leading men to Christ though is the love of Christ who died that we need not be separated from Him.
Have you come to know Him because of His life living through your life by the Holy Spirit? Do you know and experience the love of Christ for you? Do you know and believe that you had a place in His heart when He hung on the cross for the salvation of the World? Have you answered that love with yours? Is the love of Christ the supreme motive which urges you to the good and restraints you from the bad? Is Jesus' love the magnet that draws, the anchor that steadies, the fortress that defends, the light that illumines, the treasure that enriches? Is His love the law that commands, and the power the enables?
Then you are blessed, no matter what people may say about you, your life is well pleasing to God, to the Christ who is the One who will ultimately judge you and them.
