It was January of 1985 and the Hollywood sene was cashing in on a ton of hits. In the movies section the public saw hits like Red Dawn, Terminator, Karate Kid, The Neverending Story, The Muppets Take Manhattan, The Natural, Splash, and Ghostbusters to name a few. The boom most likely came from the recovering economy of the Reagan administration, that put more bucks in the pockets of people. From the small screen to the big screen, the consumer had money to spend and Hollywood cashed in on it.
It was in January that the pop singer Madonna released her second single off her second album, which solidified her as an 80s icon. That song was “Material Girl,” and truly reflected the the fervor of the 80s at that time.
Since the industrial revolution, something happened in the world, that never happened before. Access to luxuries had become increasingly more accessible and led to the creation of the Middle Class. People who weren’t rich, but could now afford things what were once only open to the very wealthy. That trend continued into the 1950s where, after War War 2, the Middle Class exploded in resources. By the 1980s the Middle Class was strong, and materialism was everywhere.
But what was a blessing of luxury, also was a pitfall of greed. Madonna proudly proclaimed what the culture held to, “We live in a material world.” But for the Christian, the drive to gather wealth for wealth’s sake, is a pitfall, because, at the very least, possessions hamper our trust, and reliance on God.
And it’s this idea of possessions that brings us back to our summer study, where we’ll pick it back up in 2nd Corinthians 5:11. And as we open to chapter 5 verse 11 of 2nd Corinthians, let’s take a look back at our previous weeks.
So far we’ve ended one small section of Paul’s letter where he showed his love for the Corinthians by confronting a painful situation with measured harshness and restoration purpose, and at the repentance of the Corinthians, Paul wrote back to them out of his joyfulness. This is what we find in the first three chapters of Paul’s letter.
This first section led us into last week, where we began to see Paul moving the Corinthians forward in their walk with God. Because they were back in a right relationship with both God and Paul, they needed to be encouraged to move forward.
So Paul began to instruct them to be in truthful and handle God’s word correctly, remembering that they are useful breakable jars of clay. When they hold these three ideas together they will realize that their position is one of value to God and comes with it a lot of responsibility. To deal with that responsibility, we look to eternity with Jesus and aim to please him, because he’s all that matters.
With this understanding as a foundation, Paul keeps the momentum going. Let’s read together.
5:11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 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.
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. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 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. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 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.
6:1 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says, 'In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 3 We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
Last week we talked about how Paul’s thinking for the next several chapters is one large idea. So in that big idea, we’re breaking it down into smaller thoughts, but trying to make sure we’re not missing how they are connected. So we see in verse 11 a connection point between last week’s thought and this weeks.
v. 5:11-15
Paul has this connection point of the future judgment of all people, being why we handle God’s word truthfully, and why we seek to please him. But that understanding of a future judgment for all people, and the fear of the Lord, is a motivator for him in sharing the Gospel. The fear of the Lord is frightful for the unbeliever, and is awe-inspiring to the believer. It cowers those who do evil, and motivates those who seek the glory of God. Because a person who understands who God is, are then motivated by the heart of God to be holy, as he is holy, and to love as he loves.
This motivation of the fear of the Lord, leads Paul into encouraging the Corinthians to boast in the work of the Lord that is done through Paul’s work, which is the proclamation of the Gospel in the ministry of reconciliation.
It seems like the reason why the Corinthians didn’t come to Paul’s aid when he was verbally attacked, was because they didn’t have an answer to give. They didn’t have a firm footing on the Gospel. Because, as seen in the letter of 1st Corinthians, the Corinthian Church didn’t grasp the idea that it isn’t in outward appearances that Christ is first revealed, but rather the endurance of the believer while ministering the Gospel, with a heart set on the Lord. So now, Paul is hoping to give them a foundation on which to answer those who boast in outward appearances, that it is the inward motivation at the heart, that matters.
Here Paul transitions with a clarification of the Gospel: “one died for all, therefore all have died; 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 (v.15).”
A person motivated by the fear of the Lord, lives out that fear by embracing Jesus’ work on the cross and living for his Savior by living by Jesus’ word, empowered now by the Holy Spirit.
v.5:16-6:1
Paul then gives a brief insight into how he regraded Jesus before, as a mere man in the flesh. To Paul, before his conversion, Jesus was just another man, another false Messiah. Even worse, a false Messiah, whom his followers equaled to God.
But Paul came to regard Jesus as his followers did, as the Messiah God, and that through Jesus old things have passed away and new things are here. So to Paul if you are in Christ, if you have put your trust into him, if you accepted the Gospel, you are a new creation. This is one of Paul’s most profound theological ideas in his last letter to the Corinthians and he states it in passing here.
But we should pause and recognize where the Holy Spirit put this idea in the context of this letter. The Corinthians have repented, and Paul is rejoicing in that. They are then to turn their attention to Gospel work with eternity in mind. No it would be easy for them to think they need to have a second conversion experience, because of their faltering in the faith. This is something that I’ve run into a lot with young believers who stumble and think they’ve lost their salvation because they overtly committed sin. But Paul tells them that they are new creations if they are found in Christ. In other words, if they have truly repented, you need not think of your current stumbling in the faith as a lost of salvation, but by developing a relationship of repentance, what you’re seeing are the old things passing away.
Paul isn’t dwelling in the past mistakes, he is moving forward in new creation work, and so should the Corinthians. It’s why Paul emphasizes that God isn’t counting the trespasses.
For Paul, at a repentant heart, it’s about moving forward, and getting into the work that God is doing.
This work, this ministry of reconciliation, is “entrusted” to Paul and is a part of all Christian ministry per Matthew 28:19-20. Where every believer, whether young or old in the faith, is to live as a new creation, and when that old comes around, we repent and move forward in God’s work. Both in God reconciling the world to himself, and in our personal reconciliation relationship with him. How can we say to the world, repent and God will separate you from sin, if we don’t live that out too?
So Paul “implores” the Corinthians to be reconciled, and “not to receive the grace of God in vain (v.6:1).” This is reminiscent of Jesus’ Parable of the Sower in Mark 4:1-9, where Jesus tells us that there is seed that falls on pathway, seed that falls on rocky ground, seed that falls with thorns and weeds, and seed that falls on good soil.
Paul wants to really hit this home, Corinthians make sure your repentance is real. Make sure you are seeking the Lord. Make sure you’re living in that new creation life. That will show that you are that good soil. This is what Paul wants as an ambassador of God to the world.
6:2-10
It’s then in verse 6:2 that Paul makes the statement, “now is the day of salvation.” This is a call for all people, even those in the Church, that we must be in a state of assurance of our salvation and a forward movement in our walk with Jesus.
Paul again puts eternity as a focus point of the believers’ life. We must live in the day of salvation, not pushing off to tomorrow. Eternity is always at hand and all we have is the moment, so Paul is calling us to take hold of it.
To receive that eternity at hand, no obstacle should be placed in front of it. Whether religious as in the veil of Moses, or physical in the case of disorder that Paul addressed in 1st Corinthians. To address this, Paul again uses a back-and-forth of ideas to describe the fullness of getting obstacles out of the way so that people may hear and respond to the Gospel. In other words, whatever needs to be done to get the message out, if it isn’t unrighteous, needs to be done. If we need to suffer for the Gospel, then we say praise God.
And with Paul’s words in verse 10, we see that he brings his talk of comfort from his opening in chapter 1 full circle. He possesses everything because he is in the ministry of reconciliation between God and man.
God is calling us to such a ministry. To be at work with him as he works to bring people to himself. But that ministry isn’t 1-to-1 with Paul. The ministry God has given us as individuals, isn’t the same as what he gave to Paul. Yet, through Pauls’ call to the Corinthians, we can glean a few things that we are also called to.
First, we are called to new creation living. That means, we are both seeking the Lord to make us holier today than we were yesterday, and when we falter, we repent and move forward in that relationship.
Second, we need to take and inventory of the things that we do that could put obstacles in the way of people coming to know Jesus as Savior. What do we do, or don’t do that would hamper the work of the Gospel? We could be having expectations for unbelievers that we might have of believers. Things like, you shouldn’t cuss. You shouldn’t dress that way. You shouldn’t act that way. But to hold the unbelievers to standards of a regenerated believer, is to put the obstacle of works in the way of the door of faith. That’s something we might do to put an obstacle in the way, but there are things that we might not do as well. We might not give a reason to why we believe in Jesus. We might not share that we are Christian. We might not speak the name of Jesus in certain situations.
We need to seek the Lord in showing us where we put obstacles in front of people and seek the Spirit to remove those.
Finally, we need to learn that we possess all things in Christ. The world is failing, the ship is sinking. Christ is the only thing that endures, so we need to look to him. If we died today, our job would be looking for a replacement within the week, the government would be looking to recover a death tax, and the world will continue on. The only thing that matters is Christ in us, and the work of reconciliation. Because today is the day of salvation and eternity is tomorrow. Let us not be captivated by the material girl.
My challenge for you this week, is to take each of these areas: living in new creation life, getting rid of obstacles, and being content in having Jesus for eternity. Take this week and seek the Lord in each area. If you’re living as if sin still has control over you, then you need to seek the Lord to break down that stronghold, which starts with repenting of that sin. Then, as we said earlier, seek the Lord to take away purposeful and non-purposeful obstacles you’ve developed that keep people from hearing the Gospel from you. Finally, seek to be at ease in the world, knowing that all of it will pass away, and Jesus will be the only thing that endures. So let’s not get attached to this material world, because we are not a material people.
God has called us to be a people that are ambassadors of the reconciliation that comes through Jesus alone. Let us walk in that calling that others may awake to eternity with the Lord. Amen.
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