New Birth, New Life, New Job

2 Corinthians 5:14-21

March 14, 2010 – ©Rev. Dr. Linnea E. Carnes

Introduction

A college student told about a time when war had broken out between her roommate and her. They dealt with their anger by not talking to each other. One night she came in and found a note from her roommate: “I wish you Jesus.” She cried. Then she wrote a note asking her for forgiveness. She placed it on her pillow and went to sleep. Later, her roommate came home and shouted from the hallway that she had left a note on her desk—her sister had called and wanted her to send the music for “I Wish You Jesus”! They both had a good laugh—and were reconciled. [PreachingToday.com, “I Wish You Jesus” (Sue Martinuk, Saskatoon, Sask. Christian Reader, “Lite Fare.”)].

How often we all let little things become big things that end up separating us from those we love. Not wanting to be the one to give in, we continue to keep our distance from the other person. The relationship is broken. That’s when we need to hear a good word – like, “I wish you Jesus.”

Jesus is the one who came to restore our relationship with God and with people. Jesus restores peace with God and with others.

“I wish you Jesus.”

New Birth – Redeemed

Let’s turn in the Bible to 2 Corinthians 5:14. The Apostle Paul wants the Corinthian Christians to understand what Christ has done for them. He writes, “Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.”

In Galatians 2:20, Paul wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

The old self, the old life must die because we live to please, to satisfy our wants, our desires. The world around us tells us that all those things – pleasures, riches – should be ours. So we sell ourselves into slavery to the things of the world and end up losing everything.

That’s what the younger son did in the story from Luke 15. He took his inheritance and spent it on all the things he thought would make him happy. And when it all ran out, he was left with less than nothing. He didn’t only lose all his money. He lost his family, his friends, his job, his identity, his hope.

Jesus Christ gave up everything for us – his glory, his power, his identity. He came into this world with nothing. And he died on a cross with nothing that amounts to anything in this world. Yet when Jesus died on that cross, he took with him the sin of the world. Our sins were paid for by the sacrifice of Jesus’ life on the cross. Then, three days later, Jesus rose from the dead. He conquered death, so that those who believe in him can live with him forever.

We don’t have to fear judgment from God. We don’t have to worry about being condemned to hell. We don’t have to be afraid of death. We cannot have saved ourselves from judgment or hell. We cannot save ourselves from death. But Jesus has paid the price for our sins. He redeemed us from death.

First Peter 1:23 says: “You have been born again. Your new life did not come from your earthly parents because the life they gave you will end in death. But this new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.”

When we believe in Jesus, the living word of God, we are born anew. We are redeemed.

New Life – Reconciled

Once we have received this new birth through faith in Jesus Christ, we have a new life. Verses 17-19 say, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. … For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them.”

Colossians 1:20-22 also speaks of reconciliation. Through [Christ] God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. ²¹This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. ²²Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

God gave us the gift of Jesus so we can be reconciled to God. Jesus takes our sins and offers us a new life – sins forgiven, a new birth, a new life, no longer separated from God.

That was the message Jesus was trying to give his listeners when he told the parable of the Prodigal Son. Max Lucado writes this description of the story.

The prodigal son trudges up the path. His pig stink makes passersby walk wide circles around him, but he doesn’t notice. With eyes on the ground, he rehearses his speech: “Father I have sinned against heaven and against you. I’m not worthy to be called your son.” He rehashes the phrases. Should I say more, less, or make a U-turn to the barnyard. After all, he cashed in the trust fund and trashed the family name. Over the last year he’s awakened with more parched throats, headaches, women, and tattoos than a rock star. How could his father forgive him? Maybe I could offer to pay off the credit cards. He’s so focused on penance planning that he fails to hear the sound of his father . . . running! The dad embraces the mud-layered boy as if he were a returning war hero. He tells the servants to bring a robe, ring and sandals, as if to say, “No boy of mine is going to look like he lives in a pigpen. Fire up the grill. Bring on the drinks. It’s time for a party. [Max Lucado, Come Thirsty (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 2004) 29].

The father opens his arms to his son and welcomes him home. Father and son are reconciled, not because of anything the son has done to deserve it, but because the father loves him so much.

Whether we know it or not, we are all prodigals; we have all sinned. None of us deserves God’s forgiveness and love. “All of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ.” [v.18]. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.” [v.19].

God says to us, “I wish you Jesus,” and when we receive Jesus by faith, we are reconciled to God.

New Job – Reconciler

When we begin to live the new life God offers to us we find that we not only have a new birth and a new life, but we have a new job.

Verses 18 – 20 read: “God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. … He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’”

Our new job is to be reconcilers for God. What God has done for us, in reconciling us to God through Jesus, we are to tell others. This message is to be shared. Jesus died for all people. God wants all people to hear this message of reconciliation.

Reconciliation needs to be seen in our lives. Married couples must seek to reconcile their differences, rather than let them drive them further apart. Family members need to learn to restore relationships when there is a problem. We must also be willing to be reconciled to brothers and sisters in Christ when something happens to cause a break in the relationship. As it says in Romans 12:18, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”

Paul knew that reconciliation was needed in the church. He had seen the struggles been Jewish and Gentile Christians. In Galatians 3:26-28 Paul wrote, “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

And in Ephesians 2:19-20 he said, “You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.”

If we are going to prove to the world that Jesus Christ has reconciled us to God and to one another, we must live it. The primary way we can live out the message of reconciliation is by how we treat others.

Dr. Duane Elmer wrote, “Because every human being is made in the image of God, each is intrinsically connected to him and is therefore sacred, being stamped with God’s own imprint. How I treat ‘the least of these’ is how I treat their Creator. If I extend to them hospitality, I reveal God’s beauty and grace. If I am uncharitable toward another person, I fail to honor the God who gave them dignity. [Duane Elmer, Cross-Cultural Servanthood (Downers Grove, IL, IVP Press, 2006) 44-45].

The older brother in the story of the Prodigal Son would not welcome his younger brother home. He resented his father’s outpouring of love for this brother who had disgraced the family. But in his unwillingness to be reconciled to his brother, he also separated himself from his father.

If we are unwilling to welcome someone because they are “different” from us, we show our unwillingness to welcome God. We dishonor God when we don’t proclaim the message of reconciliation by our words and our actions. Our job, as ambassadors for Christ, is not to decide who is worthy of God’s gift of reconciliation, but to share it with all. As ambassadors of Christ we are to extend God’s hospitality to all people so that they believe the message of reconciliation.

Every Sunday we come together as the family of God. You may think that the pastors and leaders are here to do all the work, to serve the people. But the reality is that every Christian has a job to do. Each person is to be an ambassador for Christ.

This time together is not just about singing, praying and preaching. It’s about extending Christ’s welcome to everyone you see. If there is a visitor, welcome them. Talk with them. Make them feel welcome. Invite them to join us for food and fellowship. If there is someone you don’t know well, talk to them and get to know them. How we treat one another is what makes people want to come back. Everyone who walks in the door of the church is a gift from God and provides us with a chance to share the message of reconciliation.

Remember our 2^nd goal: Live the Golden Rule. “Always treat others as you would like them to treat you.” Matthew 7:12.

Conclusion

God has given us new birth. We have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

God has given us new life. We have been reconciled to God by Jesus’ death and resurrection.

God has given us a new job. We are to be God’s ambassadors sent to proclaim the message of reconciliation to the world.

So rejoice in what God has done for you through Jesus Christ.

Rejoice in the wonderful opportunity with which God has entrusted you to share this message of reconciliation.

Let your words and your life invite people to “Come back to God!”

Let everything you do reflect Jesus in you.

“I wish you Jesus.” Amen.

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This sermon is copyright ©2010 by Rev. Dr. Linnea E. Carnes, Immanuel Evangelical Covenant Church, Chicago, Illinois.