2 Corinthians 5:14-21 Epiphany 3
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Tucson, AZ
January 21, 2024
It was a Cadillac—silver, I think (there were a few of them over the years). It was my dad’s—the car he drove every day to work in Detroit, an hour and half each way. So, it was important, it was pricey, and it was special because it was Dad’s. Just the feel of the keys in my hand the first time I was allowed to borrow it for the night was something else! I took it seriously and was careful with the car because my Father trusted me with it. Paul wrote to God’s people in Corinth about something our heavenly Father had entrusted to him and his coworkers. God is trusting you with it too. It is important, and it is special, and it came with a price tag greater than anything you could ever imagine. This thing that God entrusts to you and me? Words. That’s it—words. That may not sound like a “Cadillac” kind of big deal, but I assure you, it is—because these words are God’s words for the whole world, words that have touched your life and soul, and words God has entrusted to you to share. Those words are… GOD’S LOVING MESSAGE OF RECONCILIATION 1. A Message for the Entire World (Universal Reconciliation) 2. A Message that has Changed You (Subjective Reconciliation) 3. A Message You are Called to Share (Doctrine of the Ministry) A Message for the Entire World (Universal Reconciliation) Paul and his associates had come to a certain important conclusion. It’s not like they just sorted through some information, added their own thoughts, and determined this thing. The Holy Spirit had done his divine work in their hearts and minds and taught them this: One died for all; therefore, all died. In his previous letter to these people in Corinth, Paul had written about the One who died for all—Jesus—and what his life, death, and resurrection meant for sinners, so he doesn’t spend time here recounting the details. Instead, he focuses on this astounding thing, this vital thing to know, this thing we could also never know without the Holy Spirit bringing us to this conclusion. This is the thing: Jesus died for all; therefore all died. Therefore all died. All people died? God’s message is that when Christ died, all people with their sins died too. When the beaten and bloodied and sin-burdened Son of God died, the death penalty for all people was paid. And this opened up a new kind of relationship between God and sinful people—all sinful people. When Paul needed a word that explained this, he dipped his pen into the ink, then slid the point of it across the papyrus sheet, and he wrote this particular word that describes the bringing together of two sides in a hostile relationship—enemies. The word that describes bringing those two sides together into a peaceful, harmonious relationship is…reconcile. What a great word to explain that Christ’s death changed this hostile relationship between God and sinners into a friendly one!
God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them. All the sins of all the people in all the world are not counted against them. This time, a bookkeeper’s word rolled off the point of Paul’s pen. The sins of people are no longer charged to their account (not counted). The way God reconciled with sinners was to simply not charge them for their sins because of Jesus. What love and mercy and grace! Have you seen the recent Discover Card commercial? A woman is sitting at a diner across the table from Thomas, who is trying to get her to sign a paper he needs. He’s a good listener which makes her feel special. Her Discover debit card also makes her feel special, she says, because it gives her cashback on everything she buys. When Thomas gently breaks it to her that everyone with the card gets cashback on their purchases, she is stunned. “What about Debbie John? All those years that I couldn’t find my bike, it was in her garage. Like, she gets it?” She thinks she’s quite special and that not everyone deserves cashback, particularly bad people like Debbie. She’s stunned to find out that the cashback policy is universal. God has a universal policy too. He doesn’t distinguish between special people and bad people either. That’s because there are no special people without Christ’s living and dying for them. Sin makes all people “bad” in God’s perfect eyes. What Christ did for the entire world is that he created a peaceful relationship with God by taking something away—their sins. If you want a big church term for this, you can call that Universal Reconciliation. 2. A Message that has Changed You (Subjective Reconciliation) I’ll give you another big church term, if you want it—Subjective Reconciliation. You don’t have to remember that if you don’t want to, but you do want to think about what it means. It means that God’s Loving Message of Reconciliation has Changed You and your relationship with him. What God wants—what he really, really wants—is for all people to believe the message of reconciliation. He wants them to know that their sins were laid on Jesus and charged to his account rather than theirs. God wants all people to know that they don’t have to do something to gain God’s love, they simply need to believe that they already have it because of Christ. When they do, it all becomes personally theirs. Faith applies to them what has already been earned for them by Christ. It has been done by Jesus for everyone; it is applied individually to all who trust in him. Think of it like this: If the sun is shining in the sky, but you never go outside to see it, you miss its light and warmth. Your refusing to go out to see it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. It does mean that you do not experience it for yourself. So it is with the reconciliation that has been worked by God through his Son.
When Paul urged the Corinthians to Be reconciled to God, he was not contradicting what he had just said about God already reconciling the whole world to himself. He was talking about the way faith brings that peace and healing won by Christ to the individual sinner. He wanted them to trust this message. I can probably get the kids to agree with me that Play-Doh is awesome—so is modeling clay! Maybe you have some of that at home…or you remember playing with it as a kid…or you act like a kid when that’s stuff is around! My grandson can tell you that I do that. What’s so cool is that you can take what is just a lump and create something great with it. Can you picture God doing that with us? Taking a sinful lump and turning it into a new creation? Taking something that actually looks horrible to him and making it beautiful in his eyes? If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. The new has come! How? This is not from us—it is all God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ! By faith in Christ and what he has done, you are God’s new creation! The message reached your ears and your heart and you believed it. That Message has Changed You, making you confident of your forgiveness and certain about eternal life! 3. A Message You are Called to Share (Doctrine of the Ministry) A customer at a tire store sat there waiting for his vehicle to get done, and while he waited, he overheard a man on the phone with his wife. He was told the repair was going to be an extra $50, which they clearly didn’t have. It was obvious that he didn’t know what to do. He continued talking while walking out the door, then took a seat outside, still on the phone. The man who overheard all this just could not shake the feeling that he needed to help. Something inside of him wouldn’t let it go. He thought this relentless impulse was weird because he had not experienced it like that before. He pulled out his wallet and walked outside. He handed the man $30, explaining that it was all he had, but that he hoped it would help. This is what it means to be compelled. Sometimes we just can’t help ourselves; we simply must do something. When it came to the message of God’s love, this is the way the Apostle Paul was. He just couldn’t help himself. It had so touched his heart that he couldn’t help but tell others about Jesus. In his first letter to the Corinthians, he wrote something very much like what is in front of us today: For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. (1 Corinthians 9:16a)! If you know Paul from his New Testament letters and the book of Acts, you know he didn’t go about this is some weird or annoying way. He was caring and thoughtful and reasoned and unafraid, no matter who he was around. He could be before the Jewish ruling counsel or the Roman governor, Felix, or writing words like these to his friends in another city—stating the facts about sinful people and the saving Son of God, urging people to listen because this message of reconciliation is vital for all people.
God is sending you out with this same message of love and hope in Christ. He has put the keys in your hand, and he is trusting you with this thing that came at a great cost to Jesus. You can do what Paul did. Yes, he is probably the greatest evangelist ever to live, but you know what? He was a sinful man. Imperfect, but changed, or as he wrote here, “reconciled” to God through Christ. He came to understand that the law he had tried to keep so strictly as a Pharisee (but couldn’t) was kept perfectly by Jesus. He learned that the perfect life of Jesus was lived for all people. He came to know that when Jesus’ life ended on a cross, payment for everyone’s sin was complete. He realized that what the people he had formerly persecuted had said—that Jesus rose from death—was the truth. The Holy Spirit did a number on Paul, giving him the good news about Jesus and changing his relationship with God. This was all so special to him, so impactful. It filled his heart. It captured his mind. He was changed man—and he was compelled to tell others that God had in mind a change for them too. It made him see people differently too! He no longer looked at them from a worldly perspective. Every person was someone Christ lived and died for. Every person needed to hear the message that God had reconciled himself to them through his Son. What happened to Paul happened to you too, didn’t it? God’s message to you and your new life with him make you think differently about people too. Knowing and trusting what Jesus has done for you helps you to overcome the sinful nature that still clings to you—the thing that makes you occasionally think of people the way Jonah thought of the Ninevites—underserving of God’s love; the thing that makes you feel that you’re special and certain types of people are not—you know, like murderers and rapists and bad parents and oppressive bosses and insensitive family members and that mean kid. Why would we share God’s undeserved love with people who are so undeserving?! Sadly, there are times we don’t even realize how dumb that sounds. But, when we do realize our sin, we repent, thankful that these sins are forgiven in Christ! Our thinking gets right again and, like the Apostle Paul, the Spirit works in us. We remember that God’s message is for everyone and that he has made us his ambassadors, people he has trusted to share that message. May God give you such appreciation for his love to you and such love for others that you cannot help but tell people about the great exchange that has taken place: Jesus trading his perfection for our sin so that we could be righteous in the sight of God. Urge them to believe the good news of God’s love for them. Amen. Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen.