Ministry of Reconciliation | 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 | 04/12/26

You've heard the expression back to the

basics, haven't you? It's a phrase that

you would use when something has become

overly complex.

It's become so complicated that you've

become bogged down and inefficient. Like

a basketball team that's struggling to

win games, they might go back to the

basics and just focus their practices on

dribbling and passing and shooting.

Great musicians still practice their

scales and arpeggios. Successful

gardeners are obsessed about their soil.

Everything we're building on is built on

the basics. So complexity can be added

back in later once the basics have been

mastered or remastered a second time or

a third time or a hundth time.

So many times in our life when we hit

some kind of a plateau where we're

stuck, what we really need is to go back

to the basics. Go back to the

fundamentals. Start over.

in order to grow again. And it's the

same with our relationship with God.

Sometimes we can add all of these other

things to our faith and it starts to get

really complicated so we lose track of

the simple things that got us started in

the first place. When we first became

Christians, it was so simple, wasn't it?

Do you remember that? When you first

became a Christian, you were like the

thief on the cross. You didn't know

anything. We talked about the thief on

the cross on Good Friday two weeks ago.

How simple was that guy's faith? It was

so simple. Don't you envy him sometimes?

Like he shows up to heaven the day he

believed in Jesus. That's pretty

amazing.

One Scottish preacher imagined it this

way. The thief has been a Christian for

like three hours and he arrives at

heaven's gates and the angel guarding

heaven's gates says, "Hey, why should I

let you in?

And the thief says, "I have no idea.

No clue."

So the angel says, 'Well, do you believe

in justification by grace alone through

faith alone in Christ alone, not by

works?

And the thief says, "I don't know what

that means."

And the angel says, "Well, have you been

baptized in the name of the Father, the

Son, the Holy Spirit?" And the thief is

like, "I don't know what that is."

And the angel is like, "Okay, I'm trying

to help you out, man.

Tell me at least you've been sanctified.

Sorry. Tell me at least that you have

changed from the time you put your faith

in Christ till now."

And the thief is kind of frustrated. He

says, "Look, angel, I don't know

anything about what you're talking

about. All I know is the man on the

middle cross said I could come, so let

me in."

I don't know how to answer your fancy

questions. All I know is Jesus. I envy

that simplicity sometimes.

Now, of course, following Jesus does

become more complex as you mature. And

those complexities are good and

important. Baptism is important.

Theology is important. Sanctification is

important. But sometimes when we plateau

in our growth, we have to go back to the

basics and remember why we were doing

any of this in the first place.

Because God is kind of like the ocean.

The ocean is so deep and vast that we

can never fully explore the depths of

it. And yet it is so inviting that

children can splash in the waves.

Sometimes deep ocean explorers need to

take a break from their exploration to

play in the tides.

So it is with Christians. Sometimes we

need to go back to the basics of our

faith and remember why we started out in

the first place.

And Paul, the world's most accomplished

deep God explorer, most prominent

theologian, understood this better than

anyone. As Paul is addressing the

Corinthians in 2 Corinthians, he senses

that their Christianity has become too

complicated. It's it's it's become

complex. And so in our text today, he

takes them back to the basics. He's

like, "You guys are worried about what

makes an apostle about what what

constitutes a legitimate ministry

or why would a legitimate minister

suffer? You guys are asking these kinds

of questions." I'm going to take you

back to the basics. What is a Christian?

What does a Christian do? How do you

become a Christian?

Now, if you're thinking, "Oh, great.

Jason's just going to tell us how to

become a Christian for the 50th time. I

can just tune out." Well, hold on a

second. Let me let me push back on that

attitude.

First, we chose the book of 2

Corinthians specifically to challenge

you, to challenge us to grow as a

church. As elders, we knew that you all

would be humble enough to allow

yourselves to be pushed and pulled and

stretched by this book.

Second, if your attitude is that you

don't want to hear the basics of the

gospel again because you've heard it

before, you're demonstrating your own

spiritual immaturity.

If you don't want to hear the basics of

the gospel because you've heard it

before, you're demonstrating your own

spiritual immaturity.

And that proves all the more that you

need to go back to the basics.

If that's your attitude, I want to

caution you. Just from my experience as

a pastor for a decade, the spiritually

the most spiritually sick people I have

ever pastored have been those who knew

the most advanced doctrine,

but they forgot the basics. The most

spiritually sick people that I have ever

had the opportunity to shepherd have not

been the former prostitutes or the

adulterers or the addicts. Those people,

they're it's easy to shepherd them. and

they're like, "Hey, the man in the

middle on the middle cross said I could

come." That's their kind of faith. It's

easy to shepherd those kinds of people.

They love the basics. They cry out with

the thief on the cross.

But the most spiritually sick people

I've ever worked with, and I think all

the other elders can attest to this, the

most unhealthy people we've ever tried

to help have been those who think they

have matured past the gospel.

Those

who try to use doctrine

devoid of gospel to justify their sins,

their actions. Those who use scripture

to defend the sinful behavior. Those who

have lost their first love.

Now on to second Corinthians. Let me

remind you of what we saw two weeks ago

before Easter when we were in 2

Corinthians. And then we'll get into our

text this morning. Two weeks ago, Paul

was defending himself yet again. Seems

like he's doing that a lot with the

Corinthians. He was defending himself

yet again to the Corinthian church

because they were looking at the outward

appearance of their leaders.

On the one hand, you had Paul. Paul who

planted their church and then left.

From the outward appearance of things,

he wasn't very impressive.

He was always getting beat up and kicked

out of places. He's like that

embarrassing uncle, right? like why he

was getting kicked out of places.

They had some kind of embarrassment of

him as a leader because he was usually

unpopular and seemed unsuccessful.

He was generally quiet and reserved when

he was publicly ridiculed. He was

usually broke.

He wasn't considered eloquent or full of

charisma. So that's Paul on the one

hand. And then on the other hand, you

have the Corinthian impostor leaders who

snuck into the church and gained

influence after Paul left. These guys

were impressive. They were bold in

conflict. They were eloquent and had

lots of letters behind their names,

credentials to showcase their

authorities. Their authority. They could

win large crowds with their sermons.

They were wellreceived and well-liked by

all. And they never got beat up for

their preaching.

They were influential,

cool under pressure.

So when you compared these two based

only on outward appearances, many

Corinthians and many of us might choose

the outwardly impressive leader rather

than the spiritually faithful leader. We

might regard people according to the

flesh or to their outward appearance

instead of what truly matters, namely

what God has made that person and called

that person to.

So that's where our text picks up today.

2 Corinthians chapter 5:es 16- 21 is our

text. If you've got your Bibles, make

your way over to 2 Corinthians chapter 5

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

and I'll read verses 16- 21.

Paul 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. 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 counting their

trespasses against them, and entrusting

to us the min 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 so that in him we might

become the righteousness of God. This is

the word of the Lord.

Today, Paul is going to take his beloved

Corinthians and West Hills back to the

basics. He's going to answer three

questions in our text. First, what is a

Christian? Second, what does a Christian

do? And third, how do you become a

Christian?

So, first, what is a Christian? Paul

starts in verse 16 by giving the

Corinthians a gentle rebuke. He just

corrects them. These people are judging

Paul and his opposition group of leaders

in Corinth based on what they can see on

the outward appearance. And so he says

in verse 16, "From now on, therefore, we

regard no one according to the flesh."

What Paul is saying here is stop stop

looking at the outward appearance to

assess somebody's spiritual health.

Stop only noticing what you can see with

your eyes. There is way more to a person

than what you can see. And then he gives

this example. Finish verse 16. Even

though we once regarded Christ according

to the flesh, we regard him thus no

longer.

This is Paul reminding the Corinthians

that to even become a Christian, they

have had to do this before. They have to

they've had to stop regarding somebody

according to the flesh and start looking

at what's really there. They had to do

it with Jesus to even become Christians.

And this was a challenge for Paul before

he was a Christian. When he saw Jesus,

he only regarded him according to the

flesh before he was a Christian. All

that he could see was a fake Jewish

Messiah.

Somebody who was causing a stir in

Jerusalem. Somebody who was challenging

the authority of his group, the

Pharisees

who was undermining him and his friends.

That's all that Paul could see when he

saw Jesus. But then and then when Jesus

was finally crucified and and Paul was

thinking, "Wow, the reign of this fake

messiah is finally over. We finally got

him in the ground, finally defeated

him." Paul felt vindicated because of

this passage in the law. In Deuteronomy

21 22 and 23, Paul knew this. We read

this. And if a man has committed a crime

punishable by death, and he is put to

death, and you hang him on a tree or a

cross, his body shall not remain all

night on the tree, but you shall bury

him the same day. For a hanged man is

cursed by God.

So Paul felt vindicated. He's like,

"Yeah, I knew he was cursed. I knew

Jesus was cursed. That's why he got

crucified.

He was leading the Jews astray, trying

to distract them from what the Pharisees

were telling telling him to do. Of

course, he was cursed by God. And no

wonder he ended up on a tree. Before

Paul was a Christian, he was only

looking at the outward appearance of

Jesus. He regarded him as the fake

Messiah leading his country ministry.

And then that's why he was cursed by

God.

Jesus was just a man who got himself

into trouble with other men and with

God. and he got himself killed by men

and cursed by God. He got what was

coming to him. So he thought based on

outward appearances, that's who Jesus

was.

But Paul says in verse 16, even though

we regarded Christ according to the

flesh, we regard him thus no longer.

And that's because Paul learned who

Jesus really was.

He met Jesus

face to face after he was alive, after

he was crucified. He learned that Jesus

was not only man, but he himself was God

in the flesh.

He learned that yes, he was cursed by

God. He was cursed by God, but he was

cursed by God for the sake of Paul's

sins and for the sake of the rest of the

world. Paul and every Christian ever has

come to regard Jesus as more than just a

man.

We have looked beyond the outward

appearance of a 33-year-old Middle

Eastern man to see what's really there,

the God of the universe.

We don't regard him according to the

flesh. We know who he really is. And so

Paul is saying to the Corinthians, look,

you did this with Jesus. You can do this

with other people, too. You can do this

with me.

With Christ, you realize that there is

more there than you can see. Can't you

acknowledge that there is more there in

all people than just what you can see?

Can't you recognize that there is more

to me than just my unpopularity, my

beatings, my poverty, my lack of

charisma? And can't you see that the

leadership in the church is not a

popularity contest? And can't you see

that there is something nefarious,

something dangerous about these guys who

have come into the church and have begun

to poison you against me? Can't you see

that there is something more going on

than just what you can see? There's

something unseen about them. There's

something you cannot discern according

to the flesh.

And what is that? Verse 17.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is

a new creation. The old has passed.

Behold, the new has come. This is the

answer to the question, what is a

Christian? A Christian is a new

creation. something you cannot see,

something you cannot assess from outward

appearances entirely.

Of course, being a Christian is more

than being a new creation, but it's

definitely not less than that.

Now, before I tell you what a new

creation is, let me talk about the

qualification that Paul gives. He says,

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new

creation." Let's focus on that phrase

for a second. What does it mean to be in

Christ?

The phrase in Christ is Paul's favorite

way of referring to Christians.

We are in Christ as in we are united to

Christ. Like how the in the Old

Testament, a person who was in trouble,

who was in danger could flee to a city

of refuge and they would be in the city

of refuge and therefore safe from their

enemies.

That's what it means to be in Christ, to

be in refuge. or how Noah and his family

were safe from the flood because they

were in the ark.

The New Testament expands on this

imagery and it says that we are to be

branches in the vine.

Christians are to Christ what branches

are to a tree. We're attached to him.

We're intimately connected to him. We're

a part of him.

So when Paul says if anyone is in

Christ, he's talking about Christians

and he's using his favorite designation

for Christians.

Okay. Now, what does he mean that

Christians are new creations?

Well, theologians refer to this as

regeneration.

You can hear the word generate in that

word or genesis, right? As in the

beginning of something.

If we are a new creation, it's because

we had to be recreated. Regenerated

like God had already created you once

the first time. In your mother's womb,

you were knit together. Your body formed

according to your DNA. And that's how

you were personally created. Each and

every one of you were created just like

that.

But when you were born, you were born a

tiny rebel.

You had a sin nature. You had a will

that was self-interested

and defiant towards God. You were

predisposed to smack other babies and

take their toys.

Then as you grew, your sin grew, too.

In your nature, you did not desire God.

You did not love him, but you loved

yourself.

But at some point, maybe when you were

very young, maybe when you were too

young to remember, or maybe when you

were much older, if you're a Christian,

at some point your heart changed,

your will changed,

your desires changed, your affections

changed,

your interests changed, your motivations

changed, your ethics changed, your whole

life changed. You were made up of the

same flesh, but you became a different

person.

Now, why did that happen?

God recreated you.

He recreated you. He regenerated you. He

used the same substance. You didn't

change in your substance, but he made a

whole new person out of that substance.

Imagine like you go to the the ocean.

I'm full of ocean analogies today for

some reason, but imagine you go to the

ocean and you find an anchor just like

in the shallow water, an old ship's

anchor, and it's super rusty and it's

covered in barnacles. It's actually

useless as an anchor anymore. Now, you

can, you know, get your truck and pull

that thing out of the water, and you can

paint it, can try to chip off some of

the barnacles, but you still have a

painted useless anchor.

What God does in regeneration is he

takes that anchor and he melts it down

and reforms a new anchor. It's it's new.

Same substance, brand new, and now it's

useful.

Now, you might object, well, I don't

always feel like a new creation.

I don't feel like a new creation.

Yes, I have new desires, but I have some

of the old ones, too. often.

Yes, I desire holiness, but I still like

to sin sometimes.

Why is that?

The answer to that is that to that

objection is that God has made you a new

creation. He has not made you a perfect

creation.

That's not for this life.

It's not time for that.

He made you a new creation and put you

on a journey.

I think sometimes we as Christians

mistake new creation for perfection.

There will be a day coming when we when

that will be the case. But we're not

there yet. God has deliberately allowed

our weaknesses, our flesh, some

vestigages of our old man to be mixed in

with the new so that we would learn to

depend on him for the rest of our lives.

Okay. Then what do we do with the last

part of verse 17? If anyone is in

Christ, he is a new creation. The old

has passed away. Behold, the new has

come.

That makes it sound like the old you has

died and shouldn't you shouldn't

struggle with your flesh and your sin

nature anymore, doesn't it?

Well, Paul is not talking Paul is

talking about where you are

positionally, not where you are

practically. What I mean is this. Paul

has been referring to us as in Christ.

He's been talking about what you are,

what you truly are in God's eyes. Not in

the outward appearance, not as you see

yourself, but how God sees you.

We look at the outward appearance, but

God sees the reality. We look at a a

struggling person who's somebody who's

struggling with sin and we think, "Oh,

bad person." We look at ourselves

struggling with sin and we think, "Oh,

bad person." Because we look at the

outward appearance. God, on the other

hand, looks at someone who is in Christ

struggling with sin and he sees beyond

the superficial. He sees what you truly

are.

That you are a beloved son or daughter.

That you're on a journey toward

perfection that will be accomplished one

day when you finally arrive in his

presence.

Even though right now you're still

pretty close to the starting line,

that you will one day be a person, be

the kind of person that angels will be

tempted to worship

all because you are in Christ. God who

sees the reality of things sees you as a

new creation, a whole new person.

Okay, so we've answered our first

question. What is a Christian? A

Christian is a new creation.

What does a Christian do? That's our

second question. What does a Christian

do? Look at verse 18 with me.

All this is from God who through Christ

reconciled us to himself and gave us the

ministry of reconciliation.

Pay attention to that first phrase. All

this is from God. All what is from God?

Well, everything that he just said

before, the fact that if we're in

Christ, we are a new creation. The old

has gone, the new has come. That was all

from God, not from you.

In fact, it was all from God and none of

it was from you.

When we think about what we contribute

to our own salvation, it's a pretty

short list. I'll start sin.

That's it. That's how short the list is.

That's all we brought. That's that's all

we contributed to our salvation is the

need to be saved. That's all we could

bring.

This is what Jesus meant in John 6:63

John 6:63

when he said, "It is the spirit who

gives life. The flesh is no help at

all."

You did not help in your own

regeneration.

You could not help.

Do not make the mistake of thinking that

you're a Christian today because you're

wiser than other people who reject

Christ

or that you're more humble than other

people who are too proud for Christ or

that you're more honest or

self-reflective or introspective. You

were no help at all in becoming a new

creation. God had to do all of it.

This is what Paul means in verse 18 that

all of this was from God. But he goes on

in that same verse, all of this is from

God who through Christ reconciled us to

himself. Paul is trying to drive this

nail deep into your hearts. He doesn't

want the Corinthians or you to make the

mistake of thinking that you were the

deciding factor in your salvation. No,

reconciliation came from God to you,

not the other way around. Paul doesn't

say, "And you reconciled yourself to

God." He doesn't say that as if you took

the initiative, as if it was your idea.

He's careful to phrase it the way that

he phrases it because as humans, we are

so prone to look for reasons to boast.

We would love to be able to say, "I was

a sinner, but I made peace with God.

I figured it out.

I was wise enough." No, you didn't. No,

you weren't. I wasn't either.

He made peace with us. Now, you might be

like, Jason, what's the difference? He

made peace with us. We made peace with

him. It's just semantics. What's the

difference? The point is, we're at peace

with God. But it actually matters. It

actually matters. If God did not

regenerate your heart, did not take you

a dead man or a dead woman, dead to

spiritual things, dead to the will of

God, and make you new, you would never

have come to him in your natural state,

in the way that you were born. If God

did not first remove your heart of

stone, and put in there a heart of

flesh, graft you into Christ like a

branch into a tree, you would never have

come to Christ to receive his

forgiveness.

He reconciled you. This is why Jesus

says in John 6:44, "No one can come to

John 6:44

me unless the father who sent me draws

him."

Now, a quick side note, because I know a

lot of people who have struggled with

feeling, "Wow, am I actually one who has

been drawn? Am I a new creation?" The

fact that you asked that question says

that you are. If you're struggling with

these things, if your if your heart is

soft towards God and you're like, "Man,

I really want to be a new creation, but

I don't know if I am, that's a pretty

good sign that you are because God has

given you the eyes to see the reality of

things. He's given you eyes to see him

and his ability to make you new.

People who are not regenerate don't ask

those kinds of questions typically,

but we're supposed to be looking at what

Christians do." I'm way off track here.

So, let's look at the second half of

verse 18. Verse 18 says, "All this, this

new creation, your salvation, your new

life is from God who through Christ

reconciled us to himself and gave us the

ministry of reconciliation." So, that is

the first thing that Christians do. We

do the ministry of reconciliation.

Now, what does that mean? Well, he

explains it in the next verse in verse

19. What is the ministry of

reconciliation? That is in Christ, God

was reconciling the world to himself,

not counting their trespasses, their

sins against them and entrusting to us

the message of reconciliation.

When someone is reconciled to someone

else, it means that though they were at

odds with each other. Though that they

they were at enmity with each other,

they were in opposition to each other,

they made peace and their relationship

was renewed.

That's reconciliation. And in any broken

relationship, a reconciliation requires

one party to go first. One party has to

take the initiative. Who took the

initiative in our broken relationship

with God?

You know the answer. God did. God took

the initiative. Look at verse 19. In

Christ, God was reconciling the world to

himself. The world was not taking the

initiative to reconcile itself to God.

God has a message for the world. His

message is this. I will forgive your

sins. I will send my son. I sent my son

to die for you. Come and be reconciled.

Put down your weapons of your rebellion.

Come and be at peace with your maker.

Come be my son. Be my daughter. And we

have been given that message to take to

the world. We who have been reconciled

are the very ones entrusted with the

responsibility of taking that message to

those who are not yet reconciled.

That is what Christians do.

We take the message to those who need to

be at peace with God but are not yet

because they haven't heard.

We bring the message of peace.

And when we bring this message of peace

on God's behalf,

some people will reject it.

People whose hearts are still hard,

people whom God is not yet drawing to

himself, they will reject it. But so

many others God is drawing. So many

others will hear the message and God

will make them new so that they can

believe it. And when they believe this

message of reconciliation, they will

find peace with God and they will find

forgiveness and freedom and they will be

in Christ.

Now one more important thing to point

out in this section and it's very

important. Look at verse 20.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for

Christ. God making his appeal through

us. We implore you on behalf of Christ,

be reconciled to God.

Paul calls us ambassadors of Christ.

That's what we are as Christians who

bring the message of reconciliation. We

are like representatives from another

country, another kingdom. Technically,

we are like ambassadors from heaven. But

that's not the part I want to focus on

here. Do you see how Paul ends verse 20?

We implore you on behalf of Christ, be

reconciled to God.

Paul is talking to professing Christians

in Corenth.

The these people think they're

Christians.

Why does Paul say this? Why does he talk

to them like this?

He's begging professing Christians to be

reconciled to God.

Aren't they already reconciled?

Evidently, Paul is questioning that.

Now, Paul is nuanced enough to know that

the church is a mixed group. Like in any

church, there are Christians, and then

there are people who think there are

Christians, but are not actually

Christians. There are those who know

they're not Christians, but are

pretending to be Christians. And then

very often, there are people who are not

yet Christians, but are interested in

becoming Christians, who are exploring

Christ. So, Paul gets that. But clearly

what's been happening in Corenth has

alarmed him enough that he feels the

need to remind them of the basics and

say, "You might not be a Christian."

Some of them have rejected Paul and in

favor of these impostor leaders. Some of

them have rejected the true gospel and

Paul is like, "I beg you, become a

Christian."

And I can imagine some of them being

highly offended by that.

How dare you imply we're not Christians,

Paul.

And Paul being like, "Well, you're not

acting like one."

Christians are new creations. Christians

are at peace with God and man, and you

are breaking that peace with God by

rejecting his gospel. And you're not

acting like a minister of reconciliation

because you're breaking peace with me.

Paul has no problem calling the

Corinthians out because at least some of

them need to become new creations. Some

of them are not regenerated

and all of them need to go back to the

basics.

Maybe you need to hear this plea today,

too.

Have you been born again?

Have you become a new creation?

Or have you just painted the anchor?

just tried to say the right words or

shine it up,

but you're still the same old dead

person inside.

I can't tell. I can only see the outward

appearance. I I I don't know what's in

your heart. God knows.

What do Christians do? We bring the

message of reconciliation to the world.

That's what Paul is doing. That's what

he's reminding the Corinthians to do.

Again, for some of them, they need to

believe in the simple gospel. They need

to be reminded that the man in the

middle cross said you could come.

Won't you believe him?

Okay, so we've answered our first two

questions. What is a Christian? And what

does a Christian do? Let's tackle our

third question. How do you become a

Christian? How do you get this

regeneration?

How do you become born again? as Jesus

tells Nicodemus to do. And Nicodemus is

like, "How is that possible?

How does somebody go back inside their

mother's womb?" And Jesus is like, "No,

you're missing the point. For God so

loved the world that he gave his only

begotten son that whoever believes in

him shall not perish but have

everlasting life." God did not send his

son into the world to condemn the world.

How do you become a Christian? We see

this in the last verse of our text,

verse 21. For our sake, he made him to

be sin who knew no sin, so that in him

we might become the righteousness of

God. How does someone become a

Christian? Historically, people have

answered that question all kinds of

ways.

Is it baptism?

Is it confession to a priest?

Is it adhering to a specific moral code?

Is it praying a special prayer? Is it

walking down a specific aisle?

Can you just declare that you're a

Christian and it be true?

There's this scene in the sitcom The

Office where Michael, the manager of the

office, runs into financial trouble. And

so, not really understanding how

bankruptcy works, he walks out of his

office and just says, "I declare

bankruptcy."

And one of the accountants, Oscar, says,

"Michael, you can't just say bankruptcy

and expect anything to happen." Michael

says, 'Well, I didn't just say it. I

declared it.

Can you Does it work like that with your

Christian faith? You just declare it

and you're a Christian.

Is that how it works?

Can you just declare it and expect new

creation to happen to you? Is it as easy

as registering Democrat or Republican or

checking a box and switching parties?

It's actually something you don't do at

all. It's not something you do, if you

can believe it. Look at verse 21 again

and tell me what action do you see in

this verse that we do? For our sake, he

God made him Jesus to be sin who knew no

sin.

So that in him we might become the

righteousness of God. What did we do in

that verse?

Nothing. We became something.

We became the righteousness of God. It

happened to us.

We did nothing but get made into the

righteousness of God. So becoming a

Christian is not something you do. It's

something that is done to you.

That's not the only thing that God made

to happen in that verse. He also made

Jesus something. Jesus became something.

He became sin. He was made to be sin.

The sinless one became a lightning rod

for all of God's perfect anger against

evil.

In an effort to bring us back to the

basics, let me just try to say this

very, very simply.

This is how becoming a Christian works.

It's all God.

It's all God. He makes two things

happen. First, we who are sinners are

made righteous by him. Second, Christ

who was righteous is made to be like a

sinner. Not that he sinned himself, but

he metaphorically picked up our sin, put

it on his back, and then was treated

like he was the one guilty of committing

our sins. He became sin. He became

cursed by God in ex and and in exchange

we became righteous, cleansed, innocent

and God did it all.

This is how you become a Christian. It's

an act of God wherein Christ trades

places with you.

It's a fact. It's a thing that happened.

It's an action performed by God upon

you. And the way that you realize or

enter into this new you, the way that

you engage your newly created righteous

self is simply by receiving it.

You just receive it.

You say, "Okay,

let it be. God,

I have a new heart, a new I'm a new

creation. Let it be. I believe you.

You simply believe that it is true. If

you can believe it, that means you are a

new creation. If you can believe it,

that means that you have been

regenerated. If you can believe it, that

means that the father has drawn you to

himself. If you can believe it, that

that Jesus has become sin for you. That

means that you have become the

righteousness of God. And when he sees

you, he sees the pure, holy, innocent

son that he loves.

Now I want to give you three

implications for being a new creation

based on this text.

Paul was concerned that the Corinthians

were regarding people according to what

they could see and not according to the

unseen realities of new creation of

being born again. We can make the same

mistake.

So here's the first implication when it

comes to forgiving others.

When it comes to forgiving others,

sometimes a person sins against you and

you don't want to forgive them. You

don't want to let it go.

But if they repent, do you know what

that means? That means they're a new

creation. It means they have a new

heart. They've been regenerated.

They might be early on in their journey,

but they're on the journey.

Can we as a church get better at not

regarding each other according to the

flesh? Instead, let's recognize that God

has what God has done in each of us. And

let's be careful in how we assess one

another. Some people are just much

further along in the journey than you

might be. And it's not even really fair

to assess where somebody is on the

journey. It's a fair assessment if you

consider where they started, too.

Because some people are just born into

really good households and have really

amazing personalities and have been

given really easy temperaments.

You might seem really godly because you

had all those things. Other people might

have been raised in a horrific household

and have kind of a garbage personality

and just have a really, you know,

terrible temperament. And for them to

get to a point where they can repent and

say, "I'm sorry for what I did to you."

That's tremendous growth. They're very

far in their journey relative to where

they started. So, let's be gracious and

forgiving to one another. Second

implication,

repent when you sin. Repent when you

sin. Some of you might not be forgiving

yourself about something you did. You

might have acted out of your old self,

given into your old desires. So repent.

Tell God, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I fell

again.

Help me this time. Give me the strength

to fight this old man for the hundth

time." New creation doesn't mean

perfection.

New creation means a heart that repents

when you sin, when you fail. It's a

heart that apologizes to someone when

you sin against them and owns what

you've done

because there's no condemnation for you.

You can freely own it. There's no

punishment coming your way. There might

be some consequences. There might be

some harmed relationships that you have

to mend.

There's no condemnation from God. You

are the righteousness of Christ in his

eyes.

Keep on repenting. Keep on fighting.

Those are the signs that you're a new

creation.

Finally, one more important implication

for those who are trying to become

Christians by fixing the exterior, by

painting the anchor,

trying to grow as a Christian by

focusing on what's on the outside, on

only what people can see.

Consider whether you're relying on

surface fixes rather than Christ's

transforming work.

Christ can transform you.

That offer stands.

It's been held out for 2,000 years.

Are you trying to paint the anchor? Or

are you recognizing that you are like a

completely remade anchor?

That you're now useful for God's

purposes because he remade you.

Let that fact shape how you live.

There's an old hymn entitled I Love to

Tell the Story.

I want to recite two verses of it for

you and then we'll close. In this song,

the story is referring to the simple

gospel.

It goes like this.

I love to tell the story. It is pleasant

to repeat what seems each time I tell it

more wonderfully sweet. I love to tell

the story for some have never heard the

message of salvation from God's own holy

word. I love to tell the story for those

who know it best seem hungering and

thirsting to hear it like the rest. And

when in scenes of glory I sing the new

new song will be the old old story that

I have loved so long.

This song captures what all mature

Christians have experienced. That the

gospel is the sweetest, most relevant,

most beloved, never gets old story that

they have ever heard. We must go back to

the basics often. Let's pray.