Sermons

I am sure most of you know that Lori’s mother passed away a little over two weeks ago. Lori’s mom was quite ill and during the last days could not respond much when we tried to talk to her or ask her questions. Her time of life and service had passed at 75 years old. If I were to die at age 75, that would give me another 45 years or so if I would be so blessed to live as long as she. As I sat with her just two days before she passed away, I caught myself thinking about all the chores, work, emails and schedules I had. Then my thoughts would drift to the time where I may be in the same circumstance at the end of my life sometime in the future. On one hand I feel so busy; on the other hand I began to wonder what am I so busy for! So much of what I think is truly important seems to get neglected.

One of the brothers I talked to had similar feelings. He told me that he and his wife have a lot of activity in their life, but not a lot of direction. They feel the need to work long hours, take care of their family, and then serve at the church. Many times their priorities could not be carried out.

Perhaps you have had the same experience where you arrive at the end of the day and wonder where the time went. In the process you neglected the simple devotion of faith—reading the Scriptures, going to fellowship, prayers, and serving brothers and sisters. It is not our natural inclination for us to live as Christians. We need motivation. Our passions seem to lie elsewhere—and even our Christian activity can seem like we are just going through the motions.

We may struggle with doing what we know is important to do because it has not become a part of us. Paul gives us a rare insight into his own inner world. He lets us know that what he does, his outward activity, is driven by an inward reality. When we think of the Apostle Paul, we can see a man whose faith has become a part of him. He lived out his faith with passion, vigor, and conviction. He faced beatings, jailing, and all kinds of persecution, but continued sharing the Gospel with joy.

What was his secret? He was directed to serve God as his priority because he abided in his clear convictions.

Let’s look closer at this passage in 2 Corinthians to gain a deeper understanding of what motivates Paul. In doing so, we hope to gain insight and motivation to live as believers from the inside out.

1. Motivated From Within (5:14a)

My Father’s Work
For many years I did not know what career I would pursue. I changed my major from Undeclared to Economics to Mechanical Engineering to Civil Engineering and finally to Geography. In the end I became a minister.

My father was quite different. As a young child he dreamed of becoming a civil engineer. He was a refugee from the war in Vietnam. After being moved to Taiwan, he lived in an orphanage with his younger sister. He tells me they had to fight for food. Few of those in the orphanage went to college. But my father wanted to be a civil engineer. He disciplined himself and studied to pass his exams. In 1966 he had the opportunity to come to the United States Midwest to work toward a Master degree in Civil/Structural engineering. He borrowed money from my grandparents to come to the U.S. and spent his money wisely in school. When he left school he had a few dollars in his pocket.

Guess what my father does today? He is a civil engineer. From the beginnings of his childhood to upcoming retirement, his commitment to his work has never faltered. He never considered any other choice for a career. It was as if he were a water drop in a river, confined to the banks of the river. The choices for any decision in his life were limited by his motivation to become and work as an engineer.

The word “compel” in verse 14 could be used for my father regarding his career. It is the word Paul used to describe why he is so committed to His work.

This word is used only one other time in the NT in Philippians 1:23-24. There Paul says, “I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far, but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.’ Paul was boxed in by two options—to die or to live. It is as if he was in a tunnel or walled into a narrow valley. He was in jail and was near the end of his life. Going to be with God would be a good option, staying to be with the believers another. There were no other choices for him.

Let’s take this idea to our current verse. Christ’s love “compels” means that His love is so deeply motivating that he feels constrained by it to serve others selflessly. God's ministry for him was going to the Gentiles to bring them to God. In the following verses of chapter 5 he describes being an Ambassador for Christ in the ministry of Reconciliation. What he does in life is walled in or constrained by that love. There are no other options but to have his life and work merge with Christ’s given mission.

A question we might ask at this point is, what kind of love is so compelling that it would direct a person’s life? It must be an exceptional and extra-ordinary love, a love that deeply touches a person’s life. It is none other than Christ’s love for us.

Paul gives us two profound truths about Christ’s love that makes it an exceptional and extraordinary love.



2. Convinced of His Substitutionary Atonement

14 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.

Verse 14 gives us the first truth about Christ’s love: that Christ died in my place.

What does it mean that one died for all? This concept is called the Substitionary Atonement of Christ. This is a big term to say that Christ died in place of sinners—or as a substitute. As 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 says,

18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation] 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. Each of our sin's are not counted against us because Christ took on our sins. Galatians 3:13 drives home this point, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."

Each of us should have paid the penalty of our sin—to be hung on a Cross. But thanks be to God that Jesus took that penalty in our place.

In the movie The Last Emperor, the young child Pu Yi, anointed as the last emperor of China, lives a magical life of luxury. He has a thousand eunuch servants at his command. His brother comes to visit him.

"What happens when you do wrong?" his brother asks.
"When I do wrong, someone else is punished," the boy emperor replies. To demonstrate, he breaks a jar, and one of the servants is beaten.

Reflecting on this scene in the movie, Philip Yancey says in What's So Amazing About Grace , “In Christian theology, Jesus reversed that ancient pattern. When the servants erred, the King took the punishment.”

This is the essence of Substitutionary Atonement. The punishment for our sin is death. Jesus took this punishment onto his own body on the Cross. Another great truth in Christian theology is that when Jesus died, all those who are in Him by faith also died.

What happens to those who have died to themselves and their sin?

3. Convinced to Live For Christ

15 And he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

Verse 15 gives us the second truth about Christ’s love: If Christ died for me, I should live for him. Baptism is such a great picture for what happens to us when we become a Christian. We are buried with Christ in His death, but raised to life with Him in His resurrection. Going in the water and coming out of the water shows just how the Christian is now identified with the death and life in Christ. So what Christ did on the Cross for us should make a profound difference on the way we live life today.

He gives us this truth in two parts—in the negative and in the positive.

Stated in the negative, Don't live for yourself. The truth stated in the positive says: Live for the one who died for you, Christ.

Right after those planes crashed on September 11th, I have to confess I was afraid to fly. I had nowhere to go in particular, but at first the thought of flying anywhere, even to Los Angeles, made my stomache uneasy. If anyone asked me, I would certainly say I was not afraid. But deep down I was. I am considering going overseas for a short term missions trip this coming Summer. To get there, I'll probably have to fly! I don't know if in the end I'll go or not, but the thought of hours and hours of flying each way made me confront my fears. If I decide to live for myself, I will not even entertain going.

What may hinder us from serving God is simply ourselves. So much of our lives is focused on protecting ourselves, securing ourselves a future, and fulfilling our dreams. But in the final analysis, we need to consider if we are really living for ourselves. If I am truly dead in Christ, then my will and desires apart from Him must die. We must move away from our comfort zones, our fears, and our anxieties. We must submit them to God.

When we decide to step out in faith, then we are truly living.

We have two truths about Christ's love that directs the Christian to serve and follow God from the heart: Christ died in my place and I should live for Him. These truths show us that Christian activity comes from deep Christian convictions in our heart.

What are we to do with these truths? We now need to abide in them.

Skeptical of God’s Love
The love we discussed what many would consider a “too good to be true” kind of love. What this kind of reaction underscores is that people are skeptical. In Romans, we are told that very rarely would anyone die for a righteous man, though somebody might possibly die for a good man (Romans 5:6-8). That is human love. But Godly love is different—not for righteous and not for good people—but for sinners Christ died.

I came to know someone who wanted to learn about Christianity. Jill had never experienced this kind of love. She had questions about creation and evolution, and how a good God could allow suffering in the world. I gave her as many arguments as I could think of, but I could not convince her. Jill needed to be convinced herself. After about a year, she worked through all her questions and received Jesus into her life.

But as much as she understood Christ’s love in her mind, she could not accept God’s forgiveness when she made mistakes. She had become convinced of Christ’s love, but did not remain and abide in it. As she continued to grow in her faith, Jill began to receive God’s forgiveness. Now when she sins or makes mistakes, she remembers that when she confesses to God, God will be faithful and just to forgive her sins (1 John 1:9). She was freed from her fear of making mistakes to serve God freely—even if she was not perfect. She has finally become convinced of God’s love in the area of forgiveness to the point it affects her experience with God.

This is a process the Apostle Paul went through as well. He says in 2 Corinthians 5:14 that he is “convinced” of Christ’s love. The word for convinced is literally to judge and weigh arguments and come to a conclusion.

Paul met the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus. Sometime after he met Christ, he came to these conclusions about Christ’s love—that Christ died for him and he should live for Christ. We do not know exactly when this was, but the conclusions he came to became convictions that ordered the rest of his life.

We may have once made decisions to follow God and love Him. But over time, our conclusions about what is important may have faded in the suffering and struggles of every day life. Some of us may have forgotten that Christ’s commandment is to love God and love others.
We once came to church to meet God, worship Him and love Him, but now come to church to just participate in activities.

We decided to share the Gospel at work and with our family, but our fears have the best of us.
We wanted to pray and read Bible with our loved ones, but there was no time to do so.
God understands we are forgetful people. Today Paul’s life example is like a beacon of light pointing us back to our spiritual priorities.

• How do our actions match our beliefs?
• Do we abide in Christ’s love such that it compels us to live for Him?

Let’s pray to our God that we abide in the deep-seated principle that if Christ died for us, we should live for Him.

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