Who Are You Living For?

Verse 11. We looked at the first ten verses last

week. We talked about the idea that our earthly

dwelling is like a tent, Paul says. It's something

that's falling apart, it's wearing out, but we

look forward to something better. We look forward

to a day that we put on a... better dwelling,

that we dwell in the presence of the Lord in

a building, it says. We're moving from a tent

to a building, something that's being destroyed

to something that's indestructible, so to speak,

something that's eternal. And so Paul says, look,

this is what keeps me going. This is my focus.

This is my motivation to know that even though

this old body is being wore out, I'm going to

keep doing the work of the Lord until I go to

be with the Lord. And then he closed in the last

verse that we looked at last week with this idea

that we would all one day stand before the judgment

seat of Jesus Christ and to determine whether

the works we have done and the words we have

spoken, if they are good or if they are worthless,

if they are good or if they are bad. Tonight,

we will continue on with that idea in 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 5:11

5, verse 11. Let's pray, and then we'll start.

God, we thank you for your word. I pray that

you would help us to grow in your word, dear

Lord, that we would follow Paul's example, God,

that we would have a focus that is beyond the

things that we see in this world, but that our

faith would just strengthen us to continue to

serve you, even if we don't. Don't see things

the way that we want to see them, dear Lord,

even if they don't always make sense, even if

life is sometimes difficult, dear Lord. I pray

that we would trust you in everything that we

do, and I pray that we'd be faithful to you.

I pray that your Holy Spirit would be among us

tonight and just guide me in the words to say

and help us all to hear your words. In Jesus'

name I pray it. Amen. Verse 11. Therefore, now

keep in mind, therefore he just talked about

standing before the judgment seat of Christ so

that each may be repaid for what he has done

in body, whether good or worthless. Therefore,

because we know the fear of the Lord, we seek

to persuade people. We are completely open before

God, and I hope we are completely open to your

conscience as well. So with this in mind, the

fact that one day we will all have to stand before

God, Paul says, this is my motivation. We know

the fear of the Lord. We know what it's going

to be like to stand before the Lord in judgment.

And so we want to make sure that we are serving

the Lord and living in obedience to him. But

not only ourselves, we want to make sure that

we're doing the work so that others will hear.

So that they will know that the things that we

do and the things that we say and the things

that we think, the things that are in our heart,

one day will come to light. One day we will have

to stand before the Lord. And that should strike

some fear into us. It does Paul here. He says,

we know the fear of the Lord, and the fear of

the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the Proverbs

tells us. And so Paul recognizes that. Hey, this

is a serious thing that we need to consider,

that our actions are going to have consequences,

that one day we'll have to answer to God for

what we do. And so he says, we seek to persuade

people. That is to persuade people to follow

Jesus Christ, to persuade people to repent of

their sins, to follow God, to live in obedience

to him. He says we are completely open before

God, and I hope we are completely open to your

consciousness as well. I think what he's saying

there is, look, God sees everything that we're

doing. He knows that we're doing what is good.

And we hope that you guys see that what we're

doing is good. It's the work of God that you

would listen to us. You may remember. early in

the book, or throughout the book, really, up

to these first few chapters. Paul seems like

he's kind of trying to make a defense for himself,

that there are some others that are teaching,

and that some of the other teachings and some

of the other people may be questioning Paul and

those who are with him and their teachings. And

Paul is saying, look, we've done the Lord's work.

You can look at the way we've been living, the

way we've been treating you, the things that

we've been saying. This is from the Lord. The

Lord sees that what we're saying is good. He

approves of that. And we hope that in your conscience

that you too, if you just think about it, that

you'll know, that you'll realize, that you'll

understand that the words that we are saying

are of the Lord. And so pay attention to those

who are teaching, I think Paul is saying. Look

at their life. Look at what they're teaching.

And pray to the Lord and let the Lord help you

to be able to discern what is good and what is

not good. And I think what Paul says here, look,

we're doing the Lord's work. And so let your

conscience be your guide to decide whether or

not we are really of the Lord or not. And of

course, Paul and those who are with him were

certainly doing the Lord's work. He says in verse

12, we are not commending ourselves to you again.

but giving you an opportunity to be proud of

us. Now, we have this idea of Paul commending

himself, talking about a letter of recommendation.

We saw that earlier in the book, that he shouldn't

need a letter of recommendation. He shouldn't

have to write a letter of recommendation, that

the people of Corinth have seen his work. They've

seen his heart. They've seen his love for God.

They've seen his devotion and the beatings and

the suffering that he's gone through to do the

Lord's work. And that should speak for itself.

He shouldn't have to go back before these people

and say, oh, y 'all listen to me. What he's saying

is, look, y 'all have seen the way that I have

lived my life. And here he's not bragging. He's

not trying to draw attention to himself. And

he says that. We are not commending ourselves

to you again. But he's making a point. He's doing

this for a purpose, and he says, but giving you

an opportunity to be proud of us so that you

may have a reply for those who take pride in

the outward appearance rather than in the heart.

And so it appears as though there are some who

are there, and in whatever ways, they are much

more appealing to people. Maybe they look better.

Maybe they speak more eloquently. And maybe Paul

is kind of looked down upon because maybe he's

always being imprisoned and he's always being

beaten and probably not much to look at. And

some people have written Paul off. But he says,

look, I'm telling you these things. I'm talking

in this way so that you can know that you can

be proud of me, that you can be proud of us,

that we have done the Lord's work. Because there

are some among you who are going to try to attack

us and who are going to come against you and

going to come against us and say, well, you're

not following Paul, are you? Look at this other

teacher over there. Look at how much better they

speak or look at how much better they look or

how much better they're dressed or whatever the

thing was that was going on. Paul says, look,

I want you to look at the work we do so you'll

have something to be proud of so that you'll

have an opportunity to refute what they say.

And what he says is, is that have a reply for

those who take pride in the outward appearance

rather than in the heart. And so there are certainly

people that can look apart. But what really matters

is our heart. The same is true for us, too. Now,

we can look apart. We can try to look like Christians,

and we can say all the cool church words, and

we can say all the Christian -y stuff, and we

can go to church, but the outward appearance

is not what matters. It's what's in the heart

that matters. Now these other teachers that may

have been around in Corinth, they may have had

a good appearance. They may could have drew a

crowd, and they may could have spoken some good

words, but their heart was not right. We see

the same idea when we see David being anointed

as king, and Samuel's supposed to go and pick

one of Jesse's sons, and the first one he picks

is the best looking, the tallest, the strongest,

the best looking, and Samuel says, this has got

to be the guy. But what we see in that scripture

is God does not look at outward appearance. God

looks at the heart. And that's what Paul is trying

to get his audience to see here. Look, don't

write us off just because we might not be as

good in some ways as these other teachers. But

look at the heart of what we've been doing and

the way that we have been serving God. That's

what really matters more than anything else.

more than how we look or any of those kind of

things, is what does our heart look like? Verse

13. For if we are out of our mind, it is for

God. If we have a sound mind, it is for you.

Now, there's... Certainly lots of discussion

that can be had on that verse. It may be translated

a little different. Some of your translations

may say, if I'm beside myself or something along

those lines. But I think what Paul is saying

is this. If we are out of our mind, was Paul

out of his mind? Well, certainly not. But there

certainly would have been some that probably

thought Paul was out of his mind. He may have

even got carried away sometimes. Sometimes preachers

do that. They may get passionate about something

they're talking about. There may even be some

problems and they really get excited and preach

in a way that's pretty tough and pretty stern

sometimes. And to many in the community, perhaps

it looked like Paul was a madman. Maybe the other

preachers were a lot more smooth talking and

a lot more calm. And Paul comes in there and

he's really preaching hard. And to some, it may

have appeared that Paul was a madman. They may

have even said, look, this dude is crazy. And

so Paul says, for if we are out of our mind,

if I'm crazy, if I'm mad, it's for God. If anybody

says that Paul has gone crazy, then you just

know that whatever I'm doing, I'm doing it for

the Lord. And if they think I'm crazy, then so

be it. I'm going to keep doing it because I'm

not doing it for them. I'm doing it because this

is what God has called me to do. So if some think

he's crazy, if some think he's out of his mind,

he says, so be it. I'm doing it for the Lord.

But he says, If we have a sound mind, it is for

you. And so it's in the eye of the beholder.

There are some people who look at Paul and say,

this dude is out of his mind. And they go on

about their business. Paul says, I don't care.

I'm still doing the Lord's work. But he says,

if you're listening to what we're saying and

that you think we have a sound mind, then that's

good. Because the message that we're preaching,

it's for you. So if you don't write us off as

crazy, if you don't think we're crazy like the

rest of them, then praise the Lord. Because we

are persuaded to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ

to you. And so you need to listen to us. And

perhaps that's the same way. the same thing we

experience in our world today. Sometimes there

are Christians that are looked down upon by the

rest of the world as the message of Christianity

and the cross and Jesus Christ is craziness.

Well, so be it. All we can do is preach the gospel

of Jesus Christ. Some will accept it. Some will

reject it. Some will write us off as a bunch

of crazy religious folks. They'll say, oh, there's

no God. There's no such thing as Jesus. All that

stuff's a bunch of junk. All of us are crazy

for coming week after week. So be it. They think

we're crazy. But we keep coming. Why? Because

we know it's true. Because we trust in the Word

of God. We know God is the creator of all things.

We know Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We know

that there is no forgiveness of sins apart from

Jesus Christ. And so we continue to serve the

Lord, even if some think we're crazy. But there

are others who are going to hear that gospel,

who are going to see the love that we show to

them in the community, and they're going to see

that love of Jesus Christ, and it's going to

be appealing to them. They don't think we're

crazy. And praise the Lord. The message that

we're preaching, the things that we do, the things

that we talk about, all the things that we're

trying to point them to in Jesus Christ, then

they're going to draw to those things. And that's

what Paul said. Some will think we're crazy.

So be it. We're going to serve God. But for those

who seek and don't think we're crazy, then that's

good news because the message that we preach

is for them. Verse 14. For Christ's love compels

us. Now that's a good verse right there. For

Christ's love compels us. compels us. Now some

of your translations may say controls us or something

along those lines, but it's the love of Jesus

Christ that forces them, that pushes them as

if they don't even have a choice. They've experienced

the love of Jesus Christ and it's changed their

life and so much they can't not tell people about

Jesus. Now that's the kind of transformation

that we need to have. That's the kind of relationship

we need to have with God. That's how we need

to view Jesus Christ. We need to be so in love

with Jesus that we cannot help but promote that

love and share that love with other people. And

so he says, for Christ's love compels us to do

this work that they're doing. But the question

we have to answer in our life is what compels

us? What's compelling us today? What's driving

us? Is it to follow Jesus Christ? Is it to follow

the Word of God? Is it to tell other people about

Jesus Christ? Is it to love other people and

help other people? Is that what drives us? Is

there something else in our life that drives

us? Is there something else that we tend to gravitate

toward? And that kind of steers what we're going

to do in our life. Well, for Paul, he says what

compels him is the love of Jesus Christ. And

that should be what compels us too. We should

be compelled by love. Since we have reached this

conclusion, if one died for all, then all died.

And he died for all so that those who live should

no longer live for themselves, but the one who

died for them and was raised. Okay, so here's

the thought. We are compelled, the Christ love

compels us, and therefore we've reached this

conclusion. Christ died for all and we have died

in Christ. And so a change occurs once we recognize

that Jesus has died for us and we put our faith

in him and we repent of our sins and he becomes

the Lord of our life. There should be a change

in our life. There cannot be two Lords in our

life. There can only be one. Now we have to decide

what that Lord of our life is going to be. Maybe

it's going to be Jesus Christ. Maybe he's going

to be our Lord. But maybe our Lord's going to

be our wealth. Or maybe our Lord's going to be

our material things. Maybe our Lord's going to

be our family. Or maybe our Lord's going to be

our friends. Or maybe our Lord's going to be

our job. I mean, it's a million things. But whoever

our Lord is, or whatever our Lord is, is what's

going to drive the decisions that we make in

life. And so if money is our Lord, then every

decision we make is going to be how can I get

more money? If material gain is our Lord, then

everything we're going to do is going to be how

can I get more material gain? But if Jesus is

our Lord, then we're going to say how can I serve

Jesus and love him and tell others about him

so that they can experience his love? And so

Paul says here, look. We are compelled by the

love of Jesus Christ. We know that he died for

us and that we died in him when we chose him

and we will be raised to life. And therefore,

he says, those who live should no longer live

for themselves, but for the one who died for

them and was raised. So who are we living for?

That's a good question. Who are we living for?

Now, it's hard as human beings because we're

just selfish by birth. We just want for ourself.

We think about ourself. Everything we do, we

kind of live for ourself. And that's a hard thing

to allow someone else to be the Lord of our life.

But if we are Christians, then that is the decision

that we have made. We have acknowledged the authority

of Jesus Christ, and we have made him the Lord

of our life. That is to say we are going to follow

what his commands are, not to live for ourselves.

And that's a hard thing to do because we want

to live for ourselves. I suspect there's a lot

of people who have not followed Jesus Christ

for that reason because they read the words of

Jesus and they don't want to follow Jesus. They

don't want to do the things that Jesus said.

They like to be the Lord of their own life. But

Paul says it's not true of the Christian. Of

the Christian, we don't live for ourselves. Once

we put our faith in Jesus Christ, the one who

has died for us that we have died to, then we

live, we have a new life in Christ, and therefore

we seek to live for him. We no longer live for

ourselves, but for the one who died for them

and was raised. So who are we living for? Maybe

you're living for the Lord well today. Maybe

you know you should be, but you're not. Maybe

you never have. Maybe we've done a good job of

playing the part. Maybe we've come to church

a lot. Maybe we look like a Christian on the

outside, but maybe we're some of those people

that Paul is talking about that our heart is

not right. Maybe we fooled other people. Maybe

we fooled ourselves. Maybe we realize tonight

that we have not been living for the Lord. But

we've been living for ourselves. Well, there's

good news. Jesus died for you. He died for every

one of us so that our sins could be forgiven.

If we would only repent tonight and trust in

him, if we would only make him the Lord of our

life and say, God, I'm not going to live for

myself. I'm not going to live for these other

gods that I have put in my life, but I'm going

to make Jesus Christ my Lord so that I can live

for him and serve him. That needs to be our goal

and our desire. If you've never trusted Jesus,

you need to trust him. If you are a follower

of Jesus, then we need to make sure that he is

the Lord of our life. Let's pray. God, we come

to you. We thank you for these words. And I pray

that you'd help us to wrestle with them, dear

Lord, because maybe there are some things in

our life that have taken the spot of where Jesus

should be. Maybe we have made some other things

in our life the Lord of our life. Maybe we've

been trying to be the Lord of our own life. Maybe

we've been selfish to do things our way. Maybe

we are reluctant to hand over power, dear Lord,

but that's what you call us to, to give everything

to Jesus. God, to give our burdens and our sins

and everything, dear Lord, and seek to follow

His command, to follow His example. And so I

pray that you would help us to do that tonight,

that you would help us to know Jesus for those

who may not, and that you would help us to follow

him as the Lord of our life. In Jesus' name I

pray it. Amen.