2 Corinthians 5:16-21

                                                                 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

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 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.

 

Our identity in Christ is a very important thing.  Who we are in Christ determines what we do as members of His body.  We were separated from God and condemned in our sins, but Christ has changed all of that because of His work on the cross.  This new relationship in Christ changes everything about who we are and why we live. 

 

WE ARE NEW CREATURES IN CHRIST: Prejudice is one of the most terrible consequences of sin that has occurred in the heart of man.  We all become so convinced of our own way of doing things and thinking that we automatically judge anything that is different as wrong or even evil.  We become fixed upon outside appearances to the point that we make assumptions about the hearts and minds of people based on nothing but physical attributes that are different than our own.  Nations go to war with other nations and ethnic groups live in fear of one another based on these assumptions.  The Gospel should change all of this.  The reason Christ was rejected by the Jews was because His physical appearance and actions were not what they expected.  They judged His flesh and not His heart.  When we come to Christ, we join a brotherhood of believers from all kinds of different nations, ethnicities, ages, languages, and skin colors.  Despite all of these differences, we are brothers and sisters in Christ.  We are part of the same beautiful and diverse families.  Our cultural differences should be admired, appreciated, and enjoyed by all.  We have all become new creatures in Christ and are all being conformed to His image.  There is no place in Christianity to try to conform others to our own image.  The sinful aspects that are part of every culture must be adjusted or abandoned because we are new in Christ.  The God-honoring aspect that are present in every culture must be appreciated by all. 

 

WE ARE AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST: The Gospel is a message of reconciliation.  First, and foremost, sinful people who were separated from God and under His wrath have been reconciled with Him.  We are declared to have the righteousness of Christ by His grace simply by placing our faith exclusively upon Him.  Since we are all now members of the same family, we are also reconciled with one another despite the many differences in our cultures and backgrounds.  However, beyond being reconciled with God and one another; we have been given the message of reconciliation to proclaim to all people in all nations.  As members of His family, we become participants in His mission.  That mission is to make disciples of Christ in all the nations, tribes, languages, and ethnicities on the planet.  Jesus wants to have people from all these places in all these languages worshiping the Father.  We have been called to be His representatives in all these peoples for that very purpose.  Sin has stained the hearts of men and they choose to worship sticks, stones, things, power, and themselves instead of the God who created them.  This brings nothing but dissatisfaction and suffering to everyone on the planet.  We were created to worship God alone.  Nothing but that will bring us joy and satisfaction.  We have been given the message of the cross of Christ to proclaim on His behalf.  Nothing but forgiveness in Christ, being reconciled to God and living to worship and serve Him that will satisfy. 

 

APPLICATION: Don’t judge people by the physical differences that we observe in one another.  Learn to appreciate and learn from the cultural and physical differences we observe in one another.  Join in the mission of our Father with our brothers and sisters from all nations to call others into the joy of worshiping God by believing the Gospel and being reconciled to God.

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