II Corinthians 5:11-17

Morning everyone.

Thank you for tuning in and being with us.

My name is Mark.

I'm one of the leaders at City Church, and you're uh very welcome as we consider the passage that was just read uh for us.

Please keep that open or uh grab your phone and and Google the passage so that you have it in in front of you as we uh continue our studies uh through Paul's second letter to to the Corinthians.

Why don't we pray together as we um as we begin?

Father, help us uh this morning to fix our eyes uh squarely on you, on who you are, and what you have done for us uh through your son, the Lord Jesus.

May those uh realities uh compel, uh control, and motivate us uh for a life that follows you and uh seeks to reach others uh with the the good news of the gospel.

Help us now, we pray by your spirit in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Uh I guess one of the things that uh that many of us, and certainly hope that I'm not alone in this, uh, that many of us are struggling with is getting motivated uh at the moment, uh, motivated really to do anything, uh, motivated to do the things that we need to do, uh, never mind the things that we want to do.

It's hard to uh to get up and get out of the house, uh even go for a walk, or to uh stick uh Joe Wicks on the TV and uh to feel uh motivated.

And oftentimes when we are motivated, we're motivated by bad motives.

It's hard not to uh to have bad motives, self-serving motives, creep into why we do things.

It's virtually impossible uh not to have our motives be mixed.

Yes, there's a a desire to to love and serve others, but it's it's tinged, isn't it?

In Corinth, in Paul's day, people were motivated by destructive things.

They were motivated by a desire to look successful, motivated by a desire to achieve.

They were motivated by the now, by instant gratification.

They were motivated by a desire to elevate themselves and their status over and against other people.

And so they would put other people down in order to lift themselves up.

Success, immediate gratification, and self-elevation.

I hope that it doesn't take too much thought to see that some of those motivators, some of those uh cultural distinctives from current have carried over to our day.

We find it hard, don't we?

Uh, we've had a year of practice, but we find it hard, don't we, to delay gratification?

Because everything is so instantaneous in our world.

You just go onto Amazon, click the buy now with one click button, and behold, it arrives in the magical box with the smiley face on it.

We fixate on the now and we lose sight of the future.

Maybe that's one of the things that COVID has done.

It's kind of narrowed the focus of our of our world, and we fixate on what is immediately seen, and we lose sight of any future hope.

We as a society, even as individual people watching this, we love the the validation of others, the praise of others.

There are huge industries, burgeoning uh industries built around this.

People who look good and who are popular or who do interesting or spectacular things, and they make money doing that, and they sell products doing that just by virtue of being popular and liked by others.

You know this is true if you know who Mr.

Beast is, you know this is true if you know who PewDiePie is or who Amanda uh Cerny is.

People love the external validation of others and want to be seen as popular and beautiful, want to be praised.

And what about the motivation to disparage other groupings?

Is that carried over to our day?

Isn't there a sense in which uh a lot of our world is kind of fracturing into a person's group identity, who they identify with by virtue of their ethnicity or their sexuality or their uh their educational background?

And what happens is that group sets itself against group, and we disparage some groups in order to elevate other groups.

It's just like Corinth.

An increased tribalism and fragmenting is going on in our world just like the world that Paul inhabited.

Immediate gratification, praise of others, and a fracturing and fragmenting of the society into tribal groups.

The problem with being motivated by the pursuit of these things is that they don't sustain.

To live for uh that which is immediate, to live for the now, gives us no resources for the future.

It gives us no resources for suffering.

This is actually uh part of the reason why so much uh anxiety has grown up during COVID times, because we live in a world that is all about the now and forget any sort of future hope.

And so when the future becomes really uncertain, when the next day becomes really uncertain, that's actually not good for our mental health.

To fixate on uh on immediacy and on the need for the the now to be good and happy and fulfilling doesn't help us when we find the now uh destabilized or difficult.

This is why Paul last week in the passage that we looked at, last week had this tent imagery.

He wanted you to look at your life and all of the physicality around you and see it as temporary.

He wanted you to look at your life and go, tent, body, tent.

This is this is all fleeting.

He's saying don't get obsessed with the now.

What you have now is shadows and dust, Maximus, shadows and dust.

It's a tent.

What you're going towards as a believer in Jesus, that's the heavenly dwelling built by God.

That's the structure that will last.

This won't last, but my resurrection body given to me by the risen Lord Jesus will last.

Say don't get fixated on the night, do you see?

But look for the future hope that will sustain you.

Similarly, and we'll get into this more in our pat in our passage this morning.

If you if you live motivated by the praise of others, who's to say what you will do in order to get their validation?

How much will you sacrifice your integrity in order to get other people to like you?

How much will you lie in order to get other people to think better of you?

Paul with these things wants to show us a better way.

He wants to show us what motivates the Christian, what motivates him and his ministry.

In this passage, there are two complementary, not contradictory, motivations.

The first is fear, and the second is love.

Paul is motivated by both fear and love.

And the Christian needs both fear and love.

Let's look at fear.

Verse 11 of our chapter.

Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others.

Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others.

And this verse is really the the governing idea over verses 11 to 13.

Now you'll notice that verse 11 begins with a therefore, and it's worth asking what's the therefore.

Therefore.

It links back to verse 10, doesn't it?

And what is verse 10 talking about?

Verse 10 is saying how Paul is confident.

So verse it for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.

He knows that judgment is coming.

Therefore, knowing that, knowing that judgment is coming, knowing that there isn't one Jesus will judge the world in righteousness, knowing that that fear of the Lord, we persuade others.

He's saying that I know that that I, Paul, as a minister, will stand before Jesus and give an account.

And that's what motivates me in my ministry every day.

So we persuade others.

This is something that um that people in in bygone eras uh knew really well and kind of um put into their uh their way of doing life and death.

So if you go to an old graveyard in uh in England, and I imagine in Ireland as well, but certainly in uh in England and Scotland and Wales, uh one of the things that you will see there is that if you um if you notice, all of the graves point the same direction.

They all point towards the sunrise, they all point east, okay, except for the ministers, except for the the clergy, they point the other way.

Why is that?

Well, the idea that uh the people had back in the day was that at the resurrection, uh the congregation would rise facing the the sun, okay, and the congreg and the the clergy, the ministers, would rise and they would have to look at those who they administered before the throne of the Lord Jesus and give an account, that they'd have to stand before and say, I have shepherded the souls of these people well.

That that sort of thing, that was the kind of idea.

They had this future judgment in view, and so that motivated and controlled them.

But let's dive a little bit deeper.

What do we mean by fear here?

What do we mean by fear in the Bible more generally?

Because it doesn't sound uh like a particularly positive thing.

Paul here is not terrified of Jesus.

There is no element of scared when the Bible talks about fear.

Fear doesn't have a scared element in it in the Bible.

Paul is not terrified that he will meet Jesus and that Jesus will, you know, be in a bad mood and will smite him and cast him down.

That's not what fear of the Lord is.

That's not what the Bible means by the fear of the Lord.

Now, the fear of the Lord is more akin not to terror, not to being scared, but to something like awe.

It's not really a word that we use very often, apart from when we say awesome, um, particularly if you're American, but the our American brothers and sisters have completely emptied that word out of uh out of any meaning.

But awesome is supposed to be that which strikes awe in you.

To be in awe of something or someone is to be overwhelmed by them, governed in a sense.

Kind of your your your actions are constrained by the awe that you feel.

The fear of the Lord as a Christian is not to be terrified of Jesus, it's to be in awe of him, to be overwhelmed by him.

It is perhaps similar to, uh, but not identical to the feeling of being starstruck.

Have you ever uh had that sensation of meeting somebody quite by accident on the street or in a restaurant or at the end of a concert or something, and you've you've met this person that you have followed and greatly admired for uh for a long time, and now you are face to face with them, and you have an opportunity to uh to snatch just 10 or 15 seconds to uh to say something of what they meant to you, and you you find that your your mouth is full of of cotton and you can't speak, and your your tongue begins to dry up, and you the adrenaline is coursing.

So, actually, what begins to happen is you begin to to shake a little bit.

You wouldn't say at that point that you're terrified of that person.

It's not that you're scared of them like they're like they're a monster under the bed.

No, you would say that you are in awe of them.

It's kind of like that.

Paul is in awe of Jesus and so is controlled and compelled by that reality.

He wants the people to stand on that judgment day meeting Jesus as savior, lord, and friend, not as judge there to condemn.

And because he is in awe of Jesus, he is motivated to persuade others, that is, to tell the gospel, to live a Christian life that is distinctive, talking about the hope that he has.

And so this isn't just something for ministers of the gospel, people who who are paid to do this sort of thing.

This is actually something that needs to control and compel each one of us.

Because the contrast to be motivated by the fear of the Lord is to be motivated by the fear of others, to be motivated by the opinion of others.

That's what these last few chapters have been circling around, and Paul refuses to play that game.

Look at verse 12.

He says, We are not commending ourselves to you again, but we're giving you cause to boast about us.

He's not gonna say, Look, I'm not just gonna tell you what you want to hear, I'm not gonna play the game of uh of sacrificing my integrity, uh sacrificing and knocking off the rough edges of the gospel just so that you will think better of me.

He's not gonna put the emphasis on these outward things, he keeps it where it matters.

What matters is not the outward things, but the heart.

Keep reading verse 12, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart.

I'm not going to act like a social media influencer, Paul says.

I'm going to focus on integrity of heart, on being motivated by the right good and godly things.

And here's why this is important for us to reckon with.

Every one of us watching this this morning will be motivated by one of two fears.

The option before you is not to be motivated by fear or not fear.

You will all be motivated by fear of something.

It will either be fear of the Lord or it will be fear of other people.

Fear of man.

That's your choice.

Fear of others is needing the external validation of other people.

Fear of others is needing the uh the praise and affirmation of other people.

That's what was driving the uh the super apostles, the the preachers that had come in after Paul.

They they looked impressive, they sounded impressive, and they told people what they wanted to hear.

Why?

Because actually, what they wanted, what they craved was the limelight, they wanted the the praise, the adulation, the likes, the retweets, they wanted all of that.

That's what gave them a sense of meaning and value and purpose.

How easily we are swept up in similar thinking that we want to be validated.

This is not to say that it is some great sin to to want to operate in a way that um that you are liked by others.

It doesn't mean that you need to be um you know contrary or uh or divisive or grumpy in all of your interactions, but it does cause you to uh to do a little bit of a heart check and see actually, am I motivated to speak because I want other people to like me?

The way that you will be able to diagnose that, the way that you'll know that is do I shy away from saying things that people don't want to hear?

Even if it's the truth?

Do I shy away from telling people about Jesus because I'm scared that it might cause a bit of social awkwardness or jeopardize a relationship or a friendship?

When we are controlled by the fear of others, it has some consequences.

It could mean that we end up paying lip service to people, that we just become a yes man or a yes woman.

We maybe even lie.

We embellish our achievements, we downplay our failures, we maybe even just outright deceive people so that they won't really see what we're like and will like us better.

Fearing the opinion of others can.

can also lead us to put other people down.

Because when you're putting other people down, you elevate yourself.

You show yourself as more superior.

So you become critical or judgmental.

Often that is a mask to your own self-loathing.

But it's a way of deflecting away from that.

So that other people are are also sneering with you at the other person.

And thinking better of you.

Remember what Paul is motivated by.

People need to be saved from their sin.

If you fear others your mouth will go cotton wool.

Your tongue will dry up when it comes to saying the more difficult parts of the gospel.

That you are a sinner in need of salvation, that judgment is coming and that hell is real.

Paul in fearing the Lord not others is actually liberated.

This is the goodness of fearing the Lord and not other people.

You're actually set free to live a life of integrity a life not governed by um by people constraining your speech the constraints in your speech come from the Bible.

You want to speak words of love and truth you're freed if you fear the Lord fear of man will shut your mouth fear of the Lord will open it.

And he hints that in all of this the Corinthian Christians know this deep down deep down he says you know that they are just after your approval and you know that I am not you know that I have integrity and that you don't that's what he means uh by um by verse 13 for if we are by our sorry by the end of verse 12 when he talks about uh not boasting not an outward appearance but what is in the heart he says in your gut you know that this is true whatever you fear will either shackle or liberate your tongue he is motivated first by fear of the Lord second and there are only two points today second he is motivated by love verse 14 for the love of Christ controls us or compels us drives us forward that's the the word that's used in some other translations the love of Christ controls us these two things fear and love are not opposites or contradictory they both have an overwhelming quality don't they you can be overwhelmed by love as well as being overwhelmed by awe they both compel they both motivate and his fear Paul's fear his awe is born out of Christ's love for him that Jesus would meet him Paul on the Damascus road on the way to to wipe out other Christians and that Jesus would love him.

This love overwhelms Paul and motivates his ministry but he seeks to persuade others not just because Christ loved him but because Christ loves people because Christ loved others Paul does whatever he can in whatever circumstances through whatever suffering to tell people about Jesus because Jesus loved them the love of Christ love for who well in one sense it's it's Christ's love for Paul but it's also Christ's love for other people and that's what verses 14 and 15 are about look at them with me for the love of Christ controls us 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 for him who for their sake died and was raised now verses 14 and 15 can seem a little confusing uh on first reading uh all of these alls so there's there's three alls uh that can even be thinking okay who are we who are we talking about and what does what does this mean uh some have read these verses and concluded that that what this is talking about is a kind of universalism that uh that everyone will be saved in the end that uh christ died for all people without exception but rather what is going on here isn't it when it talks about jesus died for all when paul talks about jesus died for all he's not talking about a death for all without exception but all without distinction all sorts of people all types of people all of those groups this is going back to the to the uh to the fracturing and uh and factional tribalism that there is in the culture where where you look at one group and say that that that group is they are all bad and we are all good or that group is to be uh is to be ostracized and cast out and group against group against group against group and paul says no that's not how the gospel works christ died for all sorts of people all of these different groupings christ died for people in those groupings it's not all without exception it's all without distinction in essence paul is saying christ died for all his people he loved them without distinction so I Paul as a minister of the gospel will also love people without distinction and that is such a good thing in our world where we by nature perpetuate division because of our sin we divide along lines like like skin color class education appearance sexuality achievement we set up people against other people group against group that is what we do and the gospel comes along and it and it breaks down those barriers it dissolves those lines when the world does that when we do that we are doing the end of verse 15 we're living for ourselves when you are when you see yourself as part of the in group and despise others because they are part of the out group you are living for yourself but Paul is saying no no no what the gospel does is it it flips that around it challenges that it breaks that down says no no Jesus lived a selfless life he died a selfless death for others so that you might live a selfless life jesus loved you loved you selfless selflessly without regard for his own good and that is the heart that we get through faith in Jesus because this is look at what he says he says christ died for all all his people all his people without distinction and all of his people have died you and I through faith in Jesus when Jesus died we died and what did we die to we died to the old way of thinking we died to immediate gratification we died to fear of man we died to tribalism we died to all of those things so that we don't now live for ourselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised this is what motivates us the result is that we no longer look at people as people to be despised or people to be used to make us feel better about ourselves used for our own validation or for our happiness imagine how much happier our world would be if we loved people and stopped using them.

Imagine how much happier some of your relationships might be if you didn't use people for your own sense of self-worth or value but loved them selflessly this is the perspective that the gospel gives we no longer regard people according to the flesh that's what Paul says in verse 16 he says from now on that is from the start of your Christian life through faith in Jesus he gives you a new perspective verse 16 from now on therefore we regard no one according to the flesh even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh we regard him thus no longer we don't look at people and make surface level judgments.

The Christian should not look at someone and primarily see a skin color the Christian should not look at someone and primarily see a sexuality the Christian should not look at someone and primarily see a socioeconomic class or an educational background or a geographical background we no longer regard people according to the flesh and Paul says that's what he did with Jesus Paul looked at Jesus before he was a Christian and saw a wretch criminal a blasphemer and in essence what Paul is saying here in verse 16 was man I got it wrong when it came to Jesus you have no idea how wrong I was in how I viewed Jesus maybe some of you this morning are viewing Jesus wrongly you're looking at him according to the flesh and saying I don't see what's compelling about this guy.

I don't see what's even remotely interesting about this guy.

Are you regarding him according to the flesh?

Because what happened to Paul is that the scales literally fell from his eyes and he saw Jesus for who he really was but he's realized that if I was that wrong about Jesus then how can I look at others with such similar loathing and disdain this is the lesson that Paul has learned he doesn't see people according to their gender or their usefulness or their ethnicity or their beauty or their achievement and doesn't make judgments based on that.

No he looks at every human being and sees them as someone for whom Christ died how would that change our interactions with people not like us if we looked at them and thought that is someone for whom Jesus died that is someone who Jesus loved so as a follower of him what should my response to that person be when this sinks in it will do well it will do at least two things two things will suffice now first it will transform what motivates your life it will transform what motivates your mission what you value and it will also revolutionize how you see your brothers and sisters in Christ in the context of the church that is verse 17 therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation the old has passed away behold the new has come if anyone is in Christ united to Jesus by faith inextricably and intimately joined to him if you are in Christ you are a new creation we will look at this more next week we'll essentially start at verse 17 and go to the end of the chapter but the point here for today is that in the church when someone looks at you or when you look at someone we do not see those surface identity markers that our world obsesses about we don't see skin color we don't see a person a person's achievement or what they can do for us we don't see them either as success or failure what we see with the eyes of faith is we see a new creation that is what has broken in through faith in Jesus that in your own body your soul your mind your emotions the perfection of eternity has already broken in and begun to bud and germinate in your life through Jesus those heavenly eternal realities have been inaugurated in your soul and that is what you are going to that is what Paul means when he says that we are being transformed from one degree of glory to another until we achieve until that is achieved in us the full realization of that glory this is who we are in Christ the old has gone the old way of thinking the old way of viewing the world of prioritizing of loving people of viewing people it's passed away and what the the call of the Christian from this passage is to live into that to view those old ways of thinking feeling speaking acting as old as that which has passed away and will fully one day pass away and to live into that which is new a new perspective new way of feeling new way of thinking a new way of valuing a new way of speaking so what are you motivated by if you are a people pleaser if you're motivated much by the opinion of others how should the gospel reshape that instinct how does the gospel help to break that down what assurances does it give you that means you can turn aside from seeking your value and validation from other human beings how does the gospel help to liberate your thought liberate your speech through the fear of the Lord how would we look at others differently if we viewed them through the lens of Christ's reckless non-discriminatory love how would that change how you loved others how would that change how you viewed others around you let us cry out to Jesus and ask that by his spirit he would reshape and reform our priorities and our motivations so that we would be motivated not by the things that the world values that are fleeting and destructive but be motivated by that which Jesus has modeled for us in his life achieved for us in his death and promise in his resurrection let's pray together help us Lord to be motivated by the right things to be motivated by awe of you to be constrained by your majesty by the awesomeness of your salvation and coming judgment may that drive us out and liberate our tongues to speak of you help us to be motivated by love of others without distinction help us to adorn the gospel in our lives by not just loving people who are like us but people who are from different groupings backgrounds and so put on display the diverse and good and flourishing community that is created by the gospel we ask for the help of your spirit in the name of Jesus Amen see you all soon