Compelled by God’s Love in Christ (2 Cor 5:13-16)
In 2 Corinthians 5:13, the Apostle Paul says, if we are beside ourselves, if we appear a little bit crazy, it is for God. If we are a sound mind, it is for you. Either way (verse 14), the love of Christ controls us. It compels us, urges us forward, shifts, and shapes the way we act, the way we talk, and the way we are.
When Paul says, “the love of Christ controls us,” he isn’t talking about our love for Christ. He’s speaking Christ’s love for us. We don’t focus on loving Jesus. Focusing on His love changes us. “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded...” Having done the math! Instead of demanding a payment we could never pay, Jesus, the Son of God, willingly laid down His life for us.
“Having concluded that one, Jesus Christ, died for all, therefore all die.” Paul is saying big things here. This is called vicarious atonement. Jesus died for all. Think of Jesus as our stunt double. He took our place on the cross. He stood in our place. He stood in for us. He bore the penalty of our sins as if we paid them with our very lives.
When he died, positionally speaking, identifying with him, we died. When Jesus was baptized, he identified with us sinners. That’s you and me. When he died on the cross, it’s as if we died. So, when God tells us we’ve died through Jesus’ death on the cross, this is God’s way of telling you it is finished. You are, again, forgiven, paid in full.
When God tells us we’ve died through Jesus’ death on the cross, this is God’s way of telling you it is finished. You are, again, forgiven, paid in full.
The way God sees you (us) is completely different. You are no longer who you were. Our old identity, our old self, our old standing before God as sinners, tirelessly exerting effort, trying to please God, and yet failing all the time. That person has been hauled before God, judged, sentenced, and executed. Your identity hinges on Christ. You bear His righteousness and His standing before God. Therefore, you are righteous. You are holy. You are a child. You’re no longer subject to the old rules. You’re free to live for Him.
When we “do the math,” it changes us. So, verse 15: Look at this. “Jesus died for all so that they who live…”
Let me pause. When Jesus died, he said he died for all, and all died. ALL. All people, not just believers. He died for the sins of the world. Everyone’s sins are paid for in full. Everybody’s sins have been forgiven on the cross. As Paul said, everyone died. BUT… “He died for all so that they who live...” Who are “they who live“? He’s not talking about all people anymore. Jesus died for all. So that “they who BELIEVE,” who trust Jesus for eternal life, may no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf!
Jesus died for all… so that they who BELIEVE, who trust Jesus for eternal life, may no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf!
That’s huge. Jesus paid for the whole world’s sins, but only those who BELIEVE take full advantage of the benefits, the new life, the life-changing relationship with God, and the eternal promises of God given to them.
Jesus didn’t just die to erase our sins. He died so that we can be free of self-obsession. He died to bring us into a relationship with God, where we are known and loved and fully accepted and promised eternal life!
Christ died to bring us into a relationship with God, where we are known and loved and fully accepted and promised eternal life!
God promised that we can never lose it, promised that He doesn’t treat us according to our sins anymore. They have no bearing on His view of us anymore. We’re in a relationship with God marked by sacrificial love! His, not yours.
We’re in a relationship with God marked by sacrificial love! His, not yours.
When we weigh the glory of who Jesus is, what He accomplished for us, how He did it, and what He went through to do it, well, that crazy passion that God’s love creates can bloom and blossom in our own hearts.
Look at verse 16. “Therefore, from now on, we recognize no one according to the flesh.” Because Jesus died for all, and in God’s eyes, when Jesus died, we died. So by faith, from now on, we recognize no one according to their physical stature, their sin nature, their mere mortality.
That’s a mature way of living. We don’t deal with other believers as mere mortals anymore. According to their sin nature, according to what they do, their physical stature. Rather, let’s affirm each other’s stature and significance in Christ.
This is what we do when we get together. A life group, when Christians are together, when three of us are together, we need to believe Christ and the power and hidden reality of what our LORD has done for us. We don’t always see it. We rarely remember it. But God places us in relationships where we remind each other who we are in Christ.
I think it was C.S. Lewis who said, One of these days, when our bodies are redeemed, when we get our new glorified bodies, people who see us will be tempted to worship us. Or to run from us. Because when we have the glorified bodies, Paul is saying, that’s how we need to see each other, now. We are chosen. We are holy. We have been bought and paid for with the blood of Christ. We belong to God. We are God’s children.
The world doesn’t see that, so they won’t affirm it. And the whole world is trying to find an identity like that. The whole world is confused. They don’t like themselves. They don’t like what’s up. They’re pushing each other down to get up. They’re saying they’re this so that they can have worth, can have significance. And we’re saying, listen, here is your significance. Christ died for you! It’s greater than anything that you could wish you were. This is who we are.
People are saying they’re this so that they can have worth, can have significance. And we’re saying, listen, here is your significance. Christ died for you! It’s greater than anything that you could wish you were. This is who we are.
And we need to recognize that in each other. Even when someone is doing something that is beneath this new nature, beneath this identity, which we do all the time. Sometimes people do things that drive you crazy, right?! Does anybody offend you with what they do? With what they say? With how they act? With how they look at you? With what they post? With what they drive? We’re all… Even when somebody in our church is doing something that is beneath their new identity, their standing in Christ, sure what they do might bug the crap out of me, but it’s not who they are. We need to see Christ in them (or them in Christ). And affirm this in them, stoke their new nature. It’s easy to stoke someone’s flesh. A little poke here. But it’s a little more difficult to stimulate their faith, their new life in Christ. But when we do that, we help them, and we help each other too.
Stoke their new nature. It’s easy to stoke someone’s flesh. A little poke here. But it’s a little more difficult to stimulate their faith, their new life in Christ. But when we do that, we help them, and we help each other too.
Verse 16. “Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him in this way no longer.”
The apostles viewed Jesus Christ according to the flesh, according to mere human nature. We used to think he was just a guy. And then when we started to believe more, we thought he was the Messiah. And so we knew he had God’s hand on him, but we still looked at him in his human nature. But then one day he died. And then three days later, he rose from the dead. And we saw him. We beheld his glory. The glory of the one and only begotten Son of the Father. Glorified. Boom, he was gone. Boom, he’s there. He eats. He’s got holes in his hands. He’s alive. We no longer view him the way we once did. Read Revelation. He’s not the same.
In the same way, let us see one another as God sees us. As eternal beings. Glorious. Hidden in these pukey bodies. Beloved. Belonging to God. Destined for glory. 1 Peter 2.9 says we are God’s chosen. We are a royal priesthood. We are a holy nation. We are the people of God’s treasured possession. And this is true of all believers. Whatever your lifestyle, whatever your hang-ups, whatever your addictions, whatever your problems, whatever your stature, this is who we are.