Mar 3, 2019
by: Jack Lash Series: 2Corinthians: Paul's Most Underappreciated Epistle | Category: NT books | Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:14–15
I. Introduction
A. 2Corinthians 5:14–15 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
B. Paul has been accused by some in the Corinthian church of ministering out of evil motives. So, in 2Coriinthians he is opening his heart so they can really know him. He’s revealing what makes him tick. Some false apostles, who had infiltrated the church in Corinth, lived for themselves and not for Christ, and were completely blind to what people like Paul were like inside. So what does he say to explain himself?
C. He says, “Look, I am controlled by the love of Christ. He died for all His people. He died in their place — bearing as their substitute the penalty they deserved.
1. And in His death all His people* died as well. (We’ll talk about what that means in a minute.)
2. And now that they all have died, His people no longer live for themselves but for the One who died for them and who was raised from the dead for them.
3. That’s who I am. I am a former enemy of Christ and His people. But I died with Christ, and now I live for Him, controlled by His love.”
D. Just two parts of the sermon today: First, what it means that in His death we all have died.
1. And second, the notion of “living for him who for our sake died.”
II. All have died (5:14b)
A. Most of us understand what Paul means that Christ has died for all. We hear about that all the time. But what does he mean that “therefore all have died”?
B. It is how Paul explains that he (who once was controlled by hatred) is now controlled by love. Christ died for him and therefore he has died too and so now lives for Christ.
C. So how can we understand this that all believers have died with Christ? How does the death of Christ means a kind of death for each believer? How do we die in His death?
1. It seems to me that what Paul is saying is something like this: When a person comes to life in Christ, he also comes to death to his old self. As Paul says two verses later, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2Cor.5:17).
2. Because of Christ’s death for us, we are not only forgiven and given new life, we are also subdued, we are conquered, we are captured by His love.
3. This is why the love of Christ controls us — because we have died to our old selves, which were controlled by our own fleshly impulses, and we have come alive in Christ. It is Christ in us who now holds sway, and we are controlled by His love.
4. He means the same thing as he means in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
D. This is the deal. Christ gives us His life, but we die in receiving it. When you take Christ, you let go of your old life. You can’t serve Christ and be your old self. You are a new, Christ-filled self.
1. “You must be born again” (John 3:1-8). And being born again involves a kind of dying.
2. Isaiah 5:4 the vineyard yielded wild, inedible grapes. But how does it become a vineyard of good, delicious grapes? First, the wild grapes have to cut down. You can’t make the new good vines grow till you get rid of the old ones.
3. Death is part of coming alive, just like you can’t have a real life without dying to your addiction.
4. You can’t have Jesus by giving a little bit to Him. You have to die.
5. Down through history many have tried to accept Jesus and add Him to their collection of gods.
6. Jesus refuses to be included in our Pantheon of gods. No man can serve two masters. Mt.6:24
7. You have to die. When Jesus looks at the throne of your heart, He doesn’t say, “Move over,” He says, “That’s Mine!” No one comes to Jesus as His lord, only as His surrendering captive.
8. It seems to me that this is what a lot of folks don't like about the idea of becoming a Christian: it’s the dying — just like an addict doesn't want to give up the very thing which is killing him.
E. Of course, this is completely contrary to our human nature.
1. By nature, we are self-willed: not wanting someone else tell me what to do, wanting to do things MY way, thinking I know best about what is best for me.
2. We can’t just decide to stop being rebellious and start living for Christ. We need to be changed. And only God can do it.
F. You see, in the Bible becoming a Christian is not a process of trying hard to do the right thing. And it’s not just a process of being declared justified/forgiven. It is a process of death and resurrection.
1. The old man dies, the new man comes to life. The new man lives not according to the old ways, but he has the Spirit and power of Christ. This is the only way sinful people can live like Christ: "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit," says the Lord of hosts. (Zech.4:6)
2. Paul didn’t change from a murderous enemy of Christ to Christ’s greatest servant by a lifetime of moral effort. Christ took him and changed him. The murderer was gone, the apostle had taken his place. And so it is with all of His people, though rarely so dramatically.
3. The reason folks are controlled by the love of Christ is because in dying for them in love, He remade them into people fueled by that love.
4. And I’m not just talking about being impressed by the love of Christ, like we might be touched by a movie or a story we read or hear.
5. We’re talking about being born again, coming to life in a way in which we were dead.
6. We’re talking about Christ — through His Spirit — taking up residence in us.
7. Christ was controlled by love. And now that we’ve been captured by Him and under His sway, we’re controlled by Him and His love. He loves us and then He transforms us into channels of His love so He can love through us. He shows us His love, then He shows others His love through us.
G. Of course, the old self remains. The wild grapes keep cropping up from under ground.
1. This is why we don’t do the things we want to do. (Galatians 5:17 “The desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”) Cf. Romans 7:18-19.
2. And when we sin, it doesn’t mean we didn’t really give ourselves to the Lord. The problem with living sacrifices (Romans 12:1) is that they keep climbing down off the altar.
3. This is why we are continually “being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit.” (1Peter 3:18, see also Rom.6:11)
III. Now let’s talk a little about “living for him who for our sake died and was raised.” (5:15)
A. In verse 15 Paul elaborates on what he was saying in verse 14. Christ’s death results in our death, that is, the death of our old selves. He came to life for us so we might come to live for Him.
B. Christ had a calling, a mission: to die and then live for His people. Now His people have a calling, a mission: to die and then live for the Savior.
C. So, Paul is no longer controlled by self-interest. He has a new orientation. He is a new man. Now he lives for the One who died and rose again for him.
D. What does this "new life in Him" entail? It means "no longer living for ourselves, but for Him."
1. It means no longer living by ourselves, but with Him. And it means no longer living by means of ourselves but by means of Him (that is, by His power and not our own).
2. Now our lives are for Him, with Him and by Him. The secret of the Christian life is Jesus Christ.
3. He is not only our means of salvation, He is our life every day.
E. And this is such a privilege! It is not a sacrifice!
1. It’s not the end of real living, it’s the beginning of real living!
2. Following Christ is not a matter of giving up our happiness and freedom. That’s the lie Satan wants us to believe. But following Christ is what we were made to do. Therefore when we follow Christ, we blossom into who we’re supposed to be. We experience freedom and happiness impossible anywhere else.
3. Living for yourself is slavery. The drug addict lives for himself. The pornography addict lives for himself. The money lover lives for himself. The attention-lover lives for himself. The woman desperate to find a man lives for herself. They’re all slaves to something.
4. Think about marriage.
a. Most people get married for themselves. They’re out to be loved and cared for and happy. But they’re working at cross purposes. He’s trying to get from her; she’s trying to get from him. That’s why there’s so much divorce – and why even those who never divorce are often miserable, because their spouse never loves & cares for them enough and they never find happiness.
b. Then there is the couple who marry for the Lord. They work together for a common goal. They are supporting each other in serving Christ, like soldiers care for each other in battle. They’re not all about their own happiness because they have a higher purpose. But they are happy, because they know Jesus, the “Lover of my soul.”
F. By and large, people in our society either think that each of us is our own god and we should look into our own hearts for power and wisdom, or that there is no god or meaning to life.
1. By and large, all the philosophies of life which the people around us live by have one thing in common. When they wake up in the morning, they have no one to obey, they have no one to bow to, no one ultimately to live for.
2. Sure, some people would say they live for their family. They live for their children. These are the people who fall apart when calamity hits, because suddenly their whole reason for living is gone.
G. But living for Jesus is true greatness! The world is full of people living for themselves. They die & are buried & forgotten. Their lives are spectacular only in their insignificance.
1. But not the one who lives for Christ! Everything he does has eternal significance.
2. Matthew 10:41–42 “The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”
3. For believers, all that we do for Him, for His kingdom, for His glory, will never be forgotten. It may seem insignificant at the time, but it will be glorified and become a part of the beautiful, spectacular story of Christ’s kingdom being built.
H. This is also our greatest witness in the world.
1. Francis Schaeffer said that the greatest Christian apologetic was the love of believers, and the quality of their lifestyle.
2. People who don’t live for human approval, people who don’t live for creature comforts, people who do the right thing even to their own earthly disadvantage, people who care for others — even those who don’t care for them, people who have an anchor even when calamity strikes, people who are humble even when they get promoted or honored.
3. This is what makes people ask, What’s with you? What do you have that I don’t have? What do you know that I don’t know?
A. 2Corinthians 5:14–15 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
B. Paul has been accused by some in the Corinthian church of ministering out of evil motives. So, in 2Coriinthians he is opening his heart so they can really know him. He’s revealing what makes him tick. Some false apostles, who had infiltrated the church in Corinth, lived for themselves and not for Christ, and were completely blind to what people like Paul were like inside. So what does he say to explain himself?
C. He says, “Look, I am controlled by the love of Christ. He died for all His people. He died in their place — bearing as their substitute the penalty they deserved.
1. And in His death all His people* died as well. (We’ll talk about what that means in a minute.)
2. And now that they all have died, His people no longer live for themselves but for the One who died for them and who was raised from the dead for them.
3. That’s who I am. I am a former enemy of Christ and His people. But I died with Christ, and now I live for Him, controlled by His love.”
D. Just two parts of the sermon today: First, what it means that in His death we all have died.
1. And second, the notion of “living for him who for our sake died.”
II. All have died (5:14b)
A. Most of us understand what Paul means that Christ has died for all. We hear about that all the time. But what does he mean that “therefore all have died”?
B. It is how Paul explains that he (who once was controlled by hatred) is now controlled by love. Christ died for him and therefore he has died too and so now lives for Christ.
C. So how can we understand this that all believers have died with Christ? How does the death of Christ means a kind of death for each believer? How do we die in His death?
1. It seems to me that what Paul is saying is something like this: When a person comes to life in Christ, he also comes to death to his old self. As Paul says two verses later, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2Cor.5:17).
2. Because of Christ’s death for us, we are not only forgiven and given new life, we are also subdued, we are conquered, we are captured by His love.
3. This is why the love of Christ controls us — because we have died to our old selves, which were controlled by our own fleshly impulses, and we have come alive in Christ. It is Christ in us who now holds sway, and we are controlled by His love.
4. He means the same thing as he means in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
D. This is the deal. Christ gives us His life, but we die in receiving it. When you take Christ, you let go of your old life. You can’t serve Christ and be your old self. You are a new, Christ-filled self.
1. “You must be born again” (John 3:1-8). And being born again involves a kind of dying.
2. Isaiah 5:4 the vineyard yielded wild, inedible grapes. But how does it become a vineyard of good, delicious grapes? First, the wild grapes have to cut down. You can’t make the new good vines grow till you get rid of the old ones.
3. Death is part of coming alive, just like you can’t have a real life without dying to your addiction.
4. You can’t have Jesus by giving a little bit to Him. You have to die.
5. Down through history many have tried to accept Jesus and add Him to their collection of gods.
6. Jesus refuses to be included in our Pantheon of gods. No man can serve two masters. Mt.6:24
7. You have to die. When Jesus looks at the throne of your heart, He doesn’t say, “Move over,” He says, “That’s Mine!” No one comes to Jesus as His lord, only as His surrendering captive.
8. It seems to me that this is what a lot of folks don't like about the idea of becoming a Christian: it’s the dying — just like an addict doesn't want to give up the very thing which is killing him.
E. Of course, this is completely contrary to our human nature.
1. By nature, we are self-willed: not wanting someone else tell me what to do, wanting to do things MY way, thinking I know best about what is best for me.
2. We can’t just decide to stop being rebellious and start living for Christ. We need to be changed. And only God can do it.
F. You see, in the Bible becoming a Christian is not a process of trying hard to do the right thing. And it’s not just a process of being declared justified/forgiven. It is a process of death and resurrection.
1. The old man dies, the new man comes to life. The new man lives not according to the old ways, but he has the Spirit and power of Christ. This is the only way sinful people can live like Christ: "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit," says the Lord of hosts. (Zech.4:6)
2. Paul didn’t change from a murderous enemy of Christ to Christ’s greatest servant by a lifetime of moral effort. Christ took him and changed him. The murderer was gone, the apostle had taken his place. And so it is with all of His people, though rarely so dramatically.
3. The reason folks are controlled by the love of Christ is because in dying for them in love, He remade them into people fueled by that love.
4. And I’m not just talking about being impressed by the love of Christ, like we might be touched by a movie or a story we read or hear.
5. We’re talking about being born again, coming to life in a way in which we were dead.
6. We’re talking about Christ — through His Spirit — taking up residence in us.
7. Christ was controlled by love. And now that we’ve been captured by Him and under His sway, we’re controlled by Him and His love. He loves us and then He transforms us into channels of His love so He can love through us. He shows us His love, then He shows others His love through us.
G. Of course, the old self remains. The wild grapes keep cropping up from under ground.
1. This is why we don’t do the things we want to do. (Galatians 5:17 “The desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”) Cf. Romans 7:18-19.
2. And when we sin, it doesn’t mean we didn’t really give ourselves to the Lord. The problem with living sacrifices (Romans 12:1) is that they keep climbing down off the altar.
3. This is why we are continually “being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the Spirit.” (1Peter 3:18, see also Rom.6:11)
III. Now let’s talk a little about “living for him who for our sake died and was raised.” (5:15)
A. In verse 15 Paul elaborates on what he was saying in verse 14. Christ’s death results in our death, that is, the death of our old selves. He came to life for us so we might come to live for Him.
B. Christ had a calling, a mission: to die and then live for His people. Now His people have a calling, a mission: to die and then live for the Savior.
C. So, Paul is no longer controlled by self-interest. He has a new orientation. He is a new man. Now he lives for the One who died and rose again for him.
D. What does this "new life in Him" entail? It means "no longer living for ourselves, but for Him."
1. It means no longer living by ourselves, but with Him. And it means no longer living by means of ourselves but by means of Him (that is, by His power and not our own).
2. Now our lives are for Him, with Him and by Him. The secret of the Christian life is Jesus Christ.
3. He is not only our means of salvation, He is our life every day.
E. And this is such a privilege! It is not a sacrifice!
1. It’s not the end of real living, it’s the beginning of real living!
2. Following Christ is not a matter of giving up our happiness and freedom. That’s the lie Satan wants us to believe. But following Christ is what we were made to do. Therefore when we follow Christ, we blossom into who we’re supposed to be. We experience freedom and happiness impossible anywhere else.
3. Living for yourself is slavery. The drug addict lives for himself. The pornography addict lives for himself. The money lover lives for himself. The attention-lover lives for himself. The woman desperate to find a man lives for herself. They’re all slaves to something.
4. Think about marriage.
a. Most people get married for themselves. They’re out to be loved and cared for and happy. But they’re working at cross purposes. He’s trying to get from her; she’s trying to get from him. That’s why there’s so much divorce – and why even those who never divorce are often miserable, because their spouse never loves & cares for them enough and they never find happiness.
b. Then there is the couple who marry for the Lord. They work together for a common goal. They are supporting each other in serving Christ, like soldiers care for each other in battle. They’re not all about their own happiness because they have a higher purpose. But they are happy, because they know Jesus, the “Lover of my soul.”
F. By and large, people in our society either think that each of us is our own god and we should look into our own hearts for power and wisdom, or that there is no god or meaning to life.
1. By and large, all the philosophies of life which the people around us live by have one thing in common. When they wake up in the morning, they have no one to obey, they have no one to bow to, no one ultimately to live for.
2. Sure, some people would say they live for their family. They live for their children. These are the people who fall apart when calamity hits, because suddenly their whole reason for living is gone.
G. But living for Jesus is true greatness! The world is full of people living for themselves. They die & are buried & forgotten. Their lives are spectacular only in their insignificance.
1. But not the one who lives for Christ! Everything he does has eternal significance.
2. Matthew 10:41–42 “The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”
3. For believers, all that we do for Him, for His kingdom, for His glory, will never be forgotten. It may seem insignificant at the time, but it will be glorified and become a part of the beautiful, spectacular story of Christ’s kingdom being built.
H. This is also our greatest witness in the world.
1. Francis Schaeffer said that the greatest Christian apologetic was the love of believers, and the quality of their lifestyle.
2. People who don’t live for human approval, people who don’t live for creature comforts, people who do the right thing even to their own earthly disadvantage, people who care for others — even those who don’t care for them, people who have an anchor even when calamity strikes, people who are humble even when they get promoted or honored.
3. This is what makes people ask, What’s with you? What do you have that I don’t have? What do you know that I don’t know?
* It may sound like he’s talking about all mankind in the first phrase (as opposed to all of His people), but the second phrase makes it clear he’s just talking about believers. This is one of a number of times when language is used in the NT which at first reading seems like it’s talking about all mankind when further examination reveals that it’s talking about all of Christ’s people (e.g. Is.53:6; John 12:32; Rom.5:18-19; 1Cor.15:22-23; 1Tim.2:4-6).