All Things New Week 3 • 2 Corinthians 5:11-21

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Thanks for listening.

We are in our last week in our series, All Things New, and next week we are going to start

a new series on 1 Corinthians.

Now, I know this is crazy because we just had Christmas, but I will say this, all right?

Where was I at?

This is very important.

Publix?

Yeah, I think it was Publix.

I walked into Publix.

Now, like at the beginning of December, I saw Valentine's candy.

But the Lord has shined his face on us, and we are blessed.

Because in Publix, right now, they are selling the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup eggs, all right?

That's right.

Joanne, lead us all in a round of applause for that, right?

So, Easter is coming, all right, soon.

And so, our 1 Corinthians Met series will take us almost all the way until our Easter series

will begin.

And so, we're excited about that, to kind of take each week on Sunday morning and walk through

1 Corinthians together as a church.

And for the most part, we're going to take it, like, chapter by chapter.

And so, if you want to join us in the reading of that, you can do so.

And so, you can read 1 Corinthians chapter 1 this week, and then that's where we'll begin

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

next week.

But also, and something that's important for us and important for you, our small groups

are going to be walking through this with us as well.

And for the most part, all of our small groups are going to be starting back next week.

There we go.

I can see your face, and I like to see your face.

So, also, on the chairs around you is one of these cards.

It's a little bit bigger than the other ones that are there, and it has all of our small

groups that are listed for here for our church.

And so, all these groups are going to be walking through this with us and want to encourage you

to be a part of one of those groups.

Now, what's exciting about this is we met with a group of people, I think, at the end

of November, the 1st of December, to talk about the new strategy moving forward.

And so, as you go through here and as you see names of groups that are meeting, there's

some changes that are there.

In the past, most of our groups met on Sunday afternoons to Sunday evenings, and now we have

a wide variety of different times from Sunday morning, Sunday evening, even throughout the

week for groups that you want to be a part of.

We've got groups that have been meeting and consistently meeting for years, and they're

a part of this.

And then we've got groups that are brand new, that have never met before.

And so, they're looking for those who haven't been connected to a group to be a part of that.

And so, let's just say, man, you're super extroverted, and you're like, man, I want to call these

numbers, and I want to talk to these leaders and find out what's going on so that I can be

a part of that group.

Absolutely wonderful and fantastic.

We want you to do that.

In fact, we encourage people, okay, take this and go sample a group for a Sunday night

and find out what they're about and what that dynamic is going to be like, and then try another

one the next week.

And you're not going to miss anything, because we're all going through this same series together,

and maybe you can find the group that God has for you.

But let's say that you're really uncomfortable with that, and you're a little bit nervous about

calling someone that you don't know and asking the details.

Well, that's fine, too.

Pastor Dave, his name and his numbers on this card, and part of what he does in his ministry

is to help connect you into a group that best suits you with where you're at.

So call him and say, hey, I'm looking for a group of people that fit kind of this dynamic

of what I'm going through in life right now, and I guarantee you there's a group for you.

And for us at Willow Ridge Church, and this seems maybe overly simplistic, but what this

card represents for us is the heart of discipleship, because it's so easy to come in here on a Sunday

morning and just kind of gather and listen to me and to do that and then to go.

But when men and women of faith can sit down in a room and dive into Scripture and talk about

what the Lord is doing and challenge each other and encourage each other and equip each other,

right?

Like, that looks more like the church in the book of Acts than, honestly, this does, all right?

And so maybe you've been here for years and you've never tried a small group.

Maybe you've been here for five minutes and never tried one.

We want to encourage you to be a part of a small group at Willow Ridge.

Give it a try.

We're excited to see what God is going to do.

There's a ton of them on here.

Guarantee it'll fit your time, fit your schedule, and fit the needs that you have.

All right.

So let's go ahead and jump in.

If you've got your Bibles, go ahead and open up to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 is where we'll

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

be this morning.

We've been going on in our series, All Things New.

And this is week three, so just kind of a little recap.

Let's say you've been out on vacation.

We want to kind of catch you up with what we're doing.

So first week, we talk about God makes all things new.

And what we looked at was the start of eternity and how God takes everything that was broken

and he brings it to newness.

And so there's a new sense of creation.

There's a new relationship with him that every part of sin that we feel and that we experience

in this world is gone.

But what excites me the most within that, it's not just the external things that we feel within

that, but it's the internal things that we feel, right?

So not only do we no longer sin in eternity, but we don't even have the desire to sin in eternity.

And so God makes all things new.

And then what we looked at last week is that God makes us new.

And we looked at in a relationship with the Lord, all things are new.

In a gospel relationship with him, when we are saved, then all things become new in that.

And we looked at Jesus and the woman, the Samaritan woman at the well and the dynamic of what happened

there as he shared the newness of the hope of the gospel that for her was foreign.

They talked about worship and what it means to be in a relationship with him, free from the

bounds and constraints, a man-made religion and what he desires for us.

And then the purpose that he gave her, the life that he gave her as he made all things

new.

So in areas of her life that were once associated and filled with shame, where this lady would

be ostracized and ignored and shunned in her community, where she would have to hide herself

and not even want to be around because what people might think or might say about her or

even to her.

That because the power of the gospel, that what God does is God leveraged those things to say,

this is who I was, is what she said.

And this is what he told me.

You've got to come hear who this man is.

And the power of the hope of the gospel, that the gospel saves sinners like her and like

you and like me.

And so this morning, what we want to look at and what we want to do is God gives us new

purpose.

God gives us new purpose.

What we are to do and who we are to be on a daily basis.

All right.

Now, here's what I want to kind of ask you guys, a little quick poll, a little quick survey.

By a show of hands, how many of you, I'm just going to ask that you kind of pause and leave

them up there for a minute, all right?

How many of you in some way, shape, or form had some New Year's resolution, New Year's

goal that you set?

Just raise your hand.

I'm in there.

How many of us?

All right.

All of us who are glutton for punishments, right?

All right.

We had these.

Now, leave your hands up, all right?

Now, how many of you on January 9th, they're still going strong, leave your hand up?

I'm going to put my hand down.

All right.

Yeah.

We see hands dropping quick, right?

All right.

Appreciate it.

Y'all put your hands down.

Now, all these other people who didn't put their hands up, they probably said something

too, all right?

But they didn't want to be ashamed of it when they had to say, we failed with this, all

right?

So, I was there.

I wrote in my phone.

I'm weird.

Because I didn't want to say that I broke a New Year's resolution.

I'm not kidding y'all.

I did this.

I wrote my New Year's goals like that was going to change anything, right?

Like, mm-mm.

I never fall through with resolutions, but goals.

I can take care of that, right?

Nope.

Not at all, right?

We've got to recycle.

Monday's the new day.

We'll get going with it, right?

So, but here's what I learned about myself and about people when it comes to New Year's

resolutions.

As we notice this aspect in our life, let's just say we want to exercise every day, right?

That's mine.

So, I set the goal.

I'm going to get up and I'm going to exercise every morning.

Feel better about myself.

Start off the day with a good sweat, feel a little bit better, and then attack the day.

But here's what I didn't do.

I didn't decide for myself that I'm going to go to bed a little bit earlier so that I have

the energy to wake up a little bit earlier in the morning.

I didn't decide for myself that I'm going to drink a little less coffee and a lot more

water during the day so that I'm fully hydrated through the course of that.

I didn't set as a goal for myself that I'm going to eliminate the golden arches that are

there that draw me in, right, to double cheeseburger meals and Big Macs.

I didn't acknowledge all of those areas and instead what I said is here's this one aspect

of my life that I want to correct and I want to fix, but I'm going to ignore everything else

that's going on.

Well, then when it came to this, now I don't have the energy to do because I didn't go to

bed any earlier.

I don't have the hydration within my system and I can feel that when it comes to working

out, so I say, no, not right now.

And then when it does, I'm like, but I feel kind of bad because I got it supersized yesterday,

right?

And so it falls short.

Like, what in the world does this have to do with anything, all right?

Here's my point.

We do the exact same thing with the gospel.

That what we do with the gospel oftentimes is we say, I'm going to take what the Lord

is doing and I'm going to apply it to this area of my life and I'm going to apply it to

this area of my life and I'm going to apply it to this area of my life.

But there's all these other areas that are free in our mind from the effects of the gospel

and the power of the gospel.

And what we're going to look at this morning in 2 Corinthians 5 is what begins to happen

and take place, where we begin to find the purpose for what God has for us in this world

when the gospel infiltrates and takes over and consumes every aspect of our life, right?

So let's start reading verse 14.

Paul writes and he says,

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.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away and behold, the new has come.

All this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not recounting their trespasses

against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.

And we implore you on the behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

And in that passage of Scripture, there's probably a couple of hot verses that, as we read through it, you're like,

Oh, yeah, that.

Oh, yeah, that.

And make really good bumper stickers and t-shirts.

But we see them so much more in the fullness of Scripture, of what Paul is writing for us.

And so just three things that I want us to look at this morning.

When the love of Christ, when the gospel, when it comes to us, when God saves us,

what that creates with us in every single aspect of our life.

So number one is this.

The love of Christ calls us to die.

The love of Christ calls us to die.

2 Corinthians 5, 14.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this,

that one has died for all, therefore all have died.

What I want us to look at within our life in this moment is the call that you and I have daily and in Christ to die.

And what we're going to see within this, and what I want to begin this is,

is in the context of believers, because the attack on sin rests uniquely on us.

The attack on our sin rests uniquely on believers.

Paul begins by saying,

for the love of Christ controls us.

This audience that he is preaching to,

the audience that he is writing to within this is in the context of believers.

And so the standard of what we are going to see here, to die, to sin, goes to the church,

and it goes to all of the church.

Every single one.

That when you and I say that we are in Christ,

there's not a removal from that in other aspects of our life.

Now, when we look at society, I can't, I'm not going to say that we can't mutually agree,

whether you're a believer or not, that there is this certain ethic that we abide by.

And it's an interesting thing.

When you move from culture to culture, you will find this agreed upon ethic,

whether they're done by government or society.

And it ranges.

And I'm not saying that as individuals,

but as residents of Lexington, of South Carolina, of the United States,

that we can't agree on like a mutual ethic to ends of different degrees, right?

From murder to jaywalking.

But what I am saying is that there is a biblical command for us who identify with Christ,

believe that we are called and saved by him uniquely on us to die to sin.

To die to sin.

And that's not the standard that we can carry to the world,

but it's the standard that we need to hold dearly here.

Paul writes in Galatians 2.20,

I've been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

In the life I now live in the flesh,

I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.

So all of this of what is happening is because we have identified in Christ's crucifixion.

We've identified in what he has done.

And we acknowledge it's not I who longer live, but it's Christ who lives in me.

And so in salvation, we align, we identify with the death of Christ.

It's the very first picture of baptism.

It's why we do what we do in baptism.

That as the person who is saved comes into the water and sits down in the baptistry that we have,

even though they are saved,

even though they are saved, the picture of what they are showing as they sit there is who they were before Christ.

And as Christ was died to sin and put into a tomb, they die to themselves.

And that's the picture of as they go down into the water.

And it's the beautiful picture of what we see and what we experience.

And so for us, what we begin to see in the crucifixion of Christ, what we agree with,

what stirs our hearts for him is that while Christ died for our sins,

we are dying to our sins.

And that's the knowledge of that.

Christ on the cross died for your sins and mine.

And the call that we have in the walking and the newness of life is to die to our sins.

So what does that mean?

Like, what does that look like in our life?

How do we begin to say, all right, but how do I take that?

How do I process that?

How do I let that transform in my mind to go to every aspect of my life?

And I read someone this week, and they summed this up in four,

and I thought it was just beautiful with what they said.

They said, number one, what does it mean to die to sin?

They said, sin no longer controls us.

That we wake up every single moment of every single day as a believer in Christ

and say, these desires that I have in my heart that are sinful,

these actions that I have done and that I may do again,

those are not what controls me,

but it is the Spirit of God who lives in me.

So it's no longer sin that controls me.

It's waking up, realizing the victory we have,

that we have identified with the death of Christ,

that is no longer sin that's there.

But then secondly, with that, we seek to eliminate sins.

We seek to eliminate sins.

It's not just that sin no longer controls me,

but it's actively looking at the sins that are in my life,

and I'm seeking to eliminate them.

And here's where most of us, myself included,

fall so many times short of this standard of eliminating sins.

You eliminate a sin by killing it.

And we don't look to kill sin.

We look to manage it.

We look to control it.

We look to excuse it.

We look to pacify it.

I've told this story once before,

and I'll tell it a million times as long as the Lord gives me this opportunity,

because I feel like this is what this looks like in our life.

I was reading an article one time.

I don't know how I got on this article,

but I was reading this article about a snake charmer

that for years had been a snake charmer with these very poisonous cobras,

and that he would charm these snakes,

and that he would go up and he would touch the head of these poisonous snakes,

and then eventually pick up the snakes and handle these snakes.

And then the article said that one day a snake bit him,

and he died.

And I thought, yep, mm-hmm, that's what they do, right?

Just a matter of time, bro.

You were lucky for a long time, right?

And we would look at it and say,

yep, that's what happens when you continually seek to touch the head of a snake.

It's going to destroy you.

It's going to kill you.

This is what's going to happen.

But here's the truth about so many of us.

That's what we do with sin.

That's what we do with sin.

I'm just going to get near it.

I'm just going to touch it.

I'm just going to excuse it.

It's been years, and it hasn't brought anything for me.

But what the Bible says, we're to die to it.

We die to it by killing it.

And we kill the sin that's there.

Number three, what does it mean to die to sin?

It means we pursue the things of the Lord.

We pursue the things of the Lord.

So we stop looking at this world and saying, what does it have to offer me?

But we wake up every morning with a renewed energy and passion for, Lord, what do you have for me today?

Lord, what do you have before me?

What are the relationships?

What are the opportunities?

What are the things that are there?

And we're going to pursue the things of the Lord.

We're no longer going to pursue the things that we want.

We're no longer going to pursue the things that the world leads us to.

We're going to pursue the things of God.

And to find those and to see and to wrestle with.

And when decisions need to be made in our life, we ask God, God, is this what you have for me?

Is this what you want for me?

Is this what you desire for me?

I was having a conversation with someone even just earlier today.

And it was just a beautiful and wonderful, refreshing conversation.

Because as we were talking, he said, you know, there's all of these opportunities that I find that are opening up for me right now.

And within me, I kind of feel this longing to maybe take them.

But I'm just stopping right now and asking the question, God, is this what you have for me?

Is this what you desire for me?

Is this what I'm to do?

Right?

We pursue the things of the Lord.

So we understand that sin no longer controls us.

We understand that we seek to eliminate sin.

Number three, we pursue the things of the Lord.

And then the fourth thing that we need to understand is this doesn't mean we are sinless.

It doesn't mean we are sinless.

And just really shortly and quickly, we understand that what covers us in this moment is no longer guilt or shame, but it's the grace of God.

And that's what we begin to see and what we experience.

And so the love of Christ calls us to die.

But then the second point is that the love of Christ calls us to life.

It calls us to live.

Verse 15 through 17.

And he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

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.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away, and behold, the new has come.

So this is the second picture that we see of baptism, right?

So when we baptize, you go under the water.

But guess what?

We bring you up and out of it, right?

We don't leave you underneath there, right?

We don't hold you down for an extended period of time.

You go under, you come back up, and the picture of coming out of the water for us is the new life that is found in Christ, of what God has for you, and what God is calling for you, and what God is having for you to do.

And so we see this, and so because we have died with Christ, we can overcome sin and bear fruit for God's glory.

So now who I was is no longer who I am, and who I am now is to walk in the newness of the Lord.

Romans 6, 4, we were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death for a reason, for a reason.

In order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

And so just as Christ was raised from the dead, we too can identify in the resurrection of Jesus and walk in the newness of life.

Christ died our death for us so that we may live our life for him.

Where he didn't leave us in the tomb, and that's why Paul says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

He is a new creation.

The old has passed, and the new has come.

That's who we are in him.

And as the body, we place this on one of the most beautiful words that is in this passage.

Is the word anyone.

Is the word anyone.

Anyone.

So if anyone dies in him, he is a new creation, is what the scripture teaches us.

So what does anyone mean?

Anyone means anyone.

And so we have to apply this to what we believe, to what we practice, to what we expect.

We talked about this in the message before Christmas.

That God saves the unlikelies and uses them.

And in this room right now and standing on this stage is a group of unlikelies.

And that God saves us.

And doesn't just save us for what we've done, but then saves us for what he has for us.

And he uses them and he uses us for his glory, for his name, for his renown.

And that in this life, it's a life of joy, excitement, meaning, purpose, all found and rested in him.

But this passage of scripture covers not only who we are in Christ, but this passage covers also how we see the world in Christ.

Look back at verse 16.

From now on, therefore, regard no one according to the flesh.

Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.

So here's what Paul's talking about.

Paul writes to this church and he says, look, in salvation, we see Jesus differently.

We see him as our Messiah and as our Savior and not simply a man.

We understand his divinity and we see him in this.

Now, if you were saved later in life, all right, or if you were saved from, and when you were saved,

like maybe you were in a different faith or different understanding of scripture, then you understand what Paul's talking about, right?

Now, for some of us, let's say, and there's nothing wrong with this, right?

It's the beauty of what God does and the blessing that he's provided for my family and for my kids.

If you were raised in church and the only understanding of Jesus that you've ever had and to your knowledge that you've ever believed is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,

then this is a little foreign to you, maybe this concept of what Paul is talking about.

But for Paul, Jesus was a heretic before Paul was saved.

For many of the people that he's talking to, this is a foreign concept of this man, of who Jesus was.

But he says, now that we've been saved, we see him differently.

We no longer just see him by the flesh, but we see him differently as well.

And now, take that, and as you see others, see them differently as well.

And so we see them as someone with a soul.

Now, when we look at people, we probably determine, or the world or the culture has determined to look at people

and to see them primarily in different categories, right?

We see them by their race, we see them by their political party, we see them by their gender,

we see them by their socioeconomic standing, we see them by their choices that they've made.

But Paul comes in here and says, now we're to look at each other, we're to look at the world differently,

and what we see is in the spiritual context, and we see that these are individuals with a soul,

and now this is replaced with lost or saved, because this is what this is going to push us to in our life.

That is, I look at the world that surrounds me as a follower of Christ.

It's not that I don't look at and appreciate the beautiful diversity of the world, because I do.

It's not that I can't sit down with someone who maybe has a different political party that they have

and have the conversations that we have back and forth, because we do.

But it's saying that when I take the mind of the gospel and I look at that and I begin to apply that,

that very quickly what becomes the driving force in my life is that every person that I interact with,

every individual that I see, that I recognize that there's a soul that's there,

and there's eternity that awaits, either with Christ or not.

That they're either saved or they're not.

And so in light of the gospel, everything becomes secondary.

Everything becomes secondary.

And it's what drives us and pushes us to this last part,

is that the love of Christ calls us to ministry.

The love of Christ calls us to ministry.

Look at verse 18.

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself

and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself,

not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.

We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

For our sake he made him to be sin, who knew no sin,

that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

So when you got saved, whether it's 7, 17, or 77,

when you got saved, God didn't say,

all right, cool, you're saved now, just come to church a little bit, right?

Maybe throw in some mission trips,

really kind of get your good quiet time,

hit up a few small groups, see you in heaven, right?

That's not what he did, right?

What this tells us is that when God saved us from something,

he calls us to something.

Verse 18, all this is from God,

who through Christ reconciled us to himself,

and then gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

And this is what we see happening in salvation.

First is that Christ reconciles us to himself.

So let's talk a little bit about reconciliation.

In a message that could take another hour,

just really quickly, Christ reconciled us to himself

by paying the price for our sins,

and we are now united to him.

So there's sin that separates us from the Lord.

And through Christ's death on the cross,

he takes opposing forces and joins them together.

And so that we are now reconciled to him.

What did divide us now brings us together.

But he didn't, when he reconciled us to himself,

he also gives us this unique ministry

only found for believers,

the ministry of reconciliation.

And so that you and I,

we don't get a choice in the matter.

There's not like, no, I'm not volunteering for that.

It's given to us this ministry of reconciliation.

And so Paul writes about this,

and he says it's work that believers have been given.

And so this ministry, we show it,

we model it, we fight for it,

we fight for peace.

And it's where we begin to understand the concept

blessed are the peacemakers.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

what Jesus is gonna say in the Sermon on the Mount.

Blessed are the peacemakers.

Those who understand this message of reconciliation,

that because of sin, man has been separated from God,

but through the unique and only work of Jesus Christ,

they can be reconciled to him.

And peace can reign, right?

Blessed are the peacemakers.

But it's not only just the work that we do,

that we show, that we model, that we fight for,

but it's the message that proclaim.

It is the gospel and we proclaim it.

A few years ago,

I had the opportunity to go to Taiwan on a mission trip.

Many of you know that.

There's even still some pictures out in the hallway of that.

And on our mission trip to Taiwan,

we had a 36-hour layover in Hong Kong.

Kind of unique, kind of cool.

I've never been to Hong Kong before.

Yep, I liked it.

It was good.

We enjoyed it.

We were walking through the streets of Hong Kong,

and if you don't know much,

if you've never been to Hong Kong,

seen pictures of Hong Kong,

think New York City.

Skyscrapers everywhere.

People everywhere.

But what I think is cool about New York City,

as I've gone there,

is in the midst of the skyscrapers,

in the midst of the businesses,

in the midst of all that's going on,

there's parks.

So you can walk around in downtown New York City

in Manhattan.

And we all know about Central Park,

but there's so many other,

these smaller parks.

And so we're walking around,

going through Hong Kong,

on our way to go prayer walk at a temple.

And all of a sudden,

we see a guy who's out there

playing basketball by himself.

And we were kind of intrigued.

And one of the guys looked at us and said,

when are we ever going to have the opportunity

to play basketball in Hong Kong?

And so we were like, let's do it.

So we walked down there

and began to play basketball with this guy.

Fortunately, he spoke pretty good English.

And so we played basketball

for about 30 minutes with this guy.

And at the end of it,

he was kind of like,

all right, so what are y'all doing here?

He didn't say y'all, but you know.

I'm translating, translating.

He didn't say you guys either, right?

And so we told him we were pastors

that were on a mission trip

and what we had been doing.

He said, oh, I've heard a lot about Christianity.

Thank you, Lord.

And we said, well, do you have a set of beliefs?

And he began to describe his beliefs.

And he said, yeah, I've got some beliefs.

He said, but what I've kind of done

is taken a list of a lot of beliefs.

And I just kind of bring them in together.

And what I've come to in my understanding

is that I'm just going to be

a really good person.

And then I feel like at the end of that,

that God will reward me.

And so we're sitting there

on this basketball court

in the middle of Hong Kong.

And so can I ask you a question?

What does that mean to be a good person?

And he said, I don't really know.

Just be good.

And I said, okay.

I said, can I tell you what we believe?

And he said, yeah.

And I asked him,

because the universal suffering

that we all experienced

of the question of brokenness.

And I said, do you believe in that?

And he said, yeah, yeah, there's brokenness.

We talked about sin and what sin was.

And so we walked all the way back

to the fall and the creation

of what happened.

And said, you know what we believe

in there is that Jesus came

because I can't be good enough.

No matter how many mission trips I take,

no matter how many things that I do,

no matter how good I am to my wife,

how good I am to my kids,

how good I am to everybody else

that I'm going to be around,

how I try not to do bad things,

think bad things.

As long as there's one in me,

there's one too many

and we all have that.

Except for this guy named Jesus.

And told him who Jesus was.

And walked him all the way through.

And said, and in Christ,

and in Christ alone,

we can be reconciled to God

because of who he is

and what he has done.

He didn't believe.

He didn't profess.

We asked if we could pray with him.

He said, yep.

And then we like bowed our heads

and closed our eyes, you know,

because that's what we do.

And he said, could we not do that?

Yeah.

Sure, why?

He said, because people are watching.

Cool.

So we prayed.

Eyes open, staring at each other, right?

Really uncomfortable for Southern Baptists

to do that, but

we did it.

God hurt us, right?

It's not just enough.

Oh, hear me with this, church.

It's not just enough to do it.

We've been entrusted with a message,

is what Paul says.

And we've got to carry it.

God's word said that we've been entrusted

with the message of the gospel.

Now, let me ask you something.

What does it mean

to entrust

someone

with something?

Of all the things

that you have,

are they all

of equal worth

and equal value?

No.

It's not.

It's a weird thing

that I have

at our house.

I've got a lot of shovels.

I don't know why

I have a lot of shovels.

I've got a lot of shovels.

Shovels at my house

do a unique thing.

They grow legs

and walk away.

They do that.

So anytime

there's like

a deal on shovels,

guess what?

I'll take another shovel.

I'll take another shovel.

And if you want

to borrow a shovel,

come to my house

and I don't ever care

if you give it back,

all right?

I know where Lowe's is.

I can get more shovels,

right?

So come get

a shovel.

Now,

the Lord

has blessed me

with two kids.

Two kids.

And if you

want to

come

and get

one of them,

this is a little different

than the shovel,

right?

And for me to say,

yes,

they can go with you.

I'm entrusting

them with you

because they are precious

and they are valuable

and more importantly,

and not in a way

that is belittling to them,

but hear this,

they are mine

and they are my wife's.

The gospel

isn't a story.

The gospel

isn't just

a good statement.

The hope

that we've

been given

with this

is that

God's word

says that

you

and I

have been

entrusted

with this.

Now,

let me back up

a little bit.

Here's what

we said earlier.

God didn't ask

your permission

to entrust

you with this.

Regardless

of what

you're doing

with the gospel,

you've been

entrusted

with it.

Some of us

are doing

nothing with it.

It does not

mean that we

have not been

entrusted

with it.

When we

have been

reconciled

to Christ,

the Bible

tells us

we are

given

the ministry

of reconciliation.

And so

there's a

core

of hypocrisy

in the

heart of

us

if we

want to

claim

the benefit

of salvation

but not

the work

of it.

Right?

And that's

the purpose

that we have.

And that's

the ministry

that we're

called to.

It's not

a ministry

that we show

up for an

hour on

Sunday

morning.

It's not

a ministry

that we

check the

box because

we've done

this quiet

time with

a group

of co-workers.

But it's

the ministry

that we've

been given

that the

Bible says

that Paul

writes and

says here

we've been

entrusted

with it

and we

are now

the ambassadors

of Christ.

That's

who we

are.

And for

an ambassador

it is filled

every single

aspect of

their life.

So how

does the

gospel do

that every

single day

for us?

We die.

We live.

We go

and proclaim

and live

out and

model and

share the

gospel of

Jesus Christ

that comes

to reconcile

all that

is broken.

All that

is broken.

Would you

pray with

me?

Lord we

come to you

this morning

and Lord we

thank you

that all

things are

new.

All

things.

And that

in Christ

we have

new life,

new hope,

new meaning,

new purpose.

when it

begins

Lord in a

relationship

with you.

Lord I

pray that

as we're

here this

morning

that in

the hearts

and the

minds of

some who

are here

Lord that

in this

they would

see their

own

brokenness.

Lord they

would see

that maybe

even within

their life

Lord they

desired the

benefit of

salvation

without

the

ministry

of

it.

And that's

not Lord

who you

are,

who you've

called us

to be,

and what

you've

saved us

to.

And so

Lord I

pray that

right now

in this

moment

Lord if

that's

the

battle

of the

heart

Lord that

we could

understand

the

simple

power of

the

gospel

for an

individual

to admit

to

themself

that

they're a

sinner

that what

separates

them from

you

is all

of their

sins.

Lord and

they can't

fix that.

They can't

control that.

They can't

manage that.

and they

need to

be saved

from it.

Lord that

they believe

that Jesus

is the only

one who

can do

that.

They would

believe that

Jesus is who

the Bible

says he

is.

He is our

Savior,

that he is

our Messiah,

that he is

our Lord.

And Lord

they would

confess

to you

right now.

Jesus

is their

Savior and

Lord.

They would

be reconciled

to you

right in this

moment.

They would

die a

spiritual death

life with

you

and you

alone.

And it's in

Jesus' name we

pray.

Amen.

In just a

moment we're

going to stand,

we're going to

respond.

We got prayer

encouragers on

either side of

our auditorium.

If you're here

this morning

maybe that

was you.

We'll talk

about a

relationship

with the

Lord.

If you

confess that

in your

prayer,

what I want

to encourage

you to do

right now

is confess

that to

someone.

Our prayer

and courage

would be

great.

I'll be

right down

here in

front as

well.

Confess

that to

me.

Maybe

you're here

this morning

filled with

struggles

and with

doubts.

Feel loss

of hope,

loss of

purpose.

Need someone

to pray with

you.

They would

love to do

that.

Here's my

heart.

I want you

to respond

to the

Lord as

He leads

you this

morning.

Would you

stand as

we worship

Him?

thanks again

for listening

to the

Willow Ridge

Church

weekly

podcast.

We hope

that you

enjoyed

listening to

this week's

message.

If you'd

like to

learn more

about who

we are

or explore

additional

resources,

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www.willowridgechurch.com

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