“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, and therefore all died. 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. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:14-21 NIV).
We have once again found ourselves in one of the most joyous seasons of the year, the Easter season. Holy Week, from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, is quite possibly my favorite time of Christian calendar. It certainly is the most important week that this world has ever known, and I enjoy remembering and reflecting upon all that Jesus accomplished for us during this week. Of course, that includes remembering and reflecting upon the pain, suffering, and death that He endured on our behalf on Good Friday, a most solemn and somber occasion as we recount how our Savior was brutalized and killed.
The thing that makes Good Friday bearable, however, is the knowledge that Easter Sunday is right around the corner; Easter Sunday with all of its joyful and exuberant celebration of the fact that the grave could not hold Jesus Christ, our King. The sorrow of Good Friday is replaced with the glory and pure joy of Easter Sunday. Death has lost its victory, it has lost its sting; Satan and hell have been defeated! Hallelujah! What an amazing work Jesus completed on our behalf on Resurrection Sunday! And that’s what I want us to think about now, exactly what Jesus accomplished on our behalf when He arose victorious over sin and death.
First, let’s consider what Paul means when he writes, “One died for all, and therefore all died.” What Paul is saying here is that Jesus died for all who would place their faith in Him, He died for our sins, He died as the punishment and sacrifice for our sinfulness. Therefore, when we place our faith in Him and accept Him as our Lord and Savior, it is as if we have died right there alongside Him; because His death was the penalty for our sin, when we place our faith in Him, our sins are immediately forgiven and washed away. We are, as Paul says, a new creation; our old, sinful selves are dead and we are born again to new life in Christ. It is a statement of the substitutionary nature of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection; He paid the penalty of death and won victory over it on our behalf so that we could know eternal life in God’s Kingdom. He bore the weight of God’s wrath so that we could experience the depth of God’s love.
Second, let’s consider what Paul means when He talks about God reconciling us to Himself through Christ and giving us a ministry of reconciliation. The purpose of Jesus’ death and resurrection was so that we might be reconciled to God. A reconciliation is the restoration of a broken relationship. When Adam and Eve committed the original sin, they fractured humanity’s relationship with God, they drove a wedge between us and our Father. This relationship remained fractured throughout early world history, as evidenced in the fact that a large, thick veil was placed in front of the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and temple to separate the people from God. But, when Jesus came onto the scene, when He defeated sin and death in His crucifixion and resurrection, He repaired and restored our broken relationship with the Father; He is the glue that holds us to God; and, my friends, Gorilla Glue ain’t got nothing on Jesus!
Third, let’s consider what Paul is telling us when He writes, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” What Paul is saying here is, in the crucifixion, God placed all of our sins on Jesus as the substitutionary sacrifice for our sinfulness; then, in the resurrection, God credited Jesus’ righteousness to us. So, in the work of Good Friday and Easter Sunday, we have a transaction taking place whereby Jesus took our sins upon Himself and placed His righteousness upon us so that, when God looks at us, His believers, He doesn’t see our sinfulness, He sees His Son’s righteousness.
And, finally, let’s consider what Paul tells us that all of this means for us; what we are supposed to DO in light of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection on our behalf. First, Paul tells us that Christ died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. Paul is telling us here that, once we accept Christ as our Savior, we are called to no longer live for ourselves, but to live for Christ. This means that we no longer focus on our own personal wants, whims, and desires, on living life on our own terms; rather, we focus on what God is calling us to do, where He is calling us to go, on living life on His terms. It means that we faithfully and lovingly serve others, care for others, just as Jesus did.
Second, Paul tells us that we are called to be Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. Paul is telling us here that, just as ambassadors serve a King in a foreign country, we are called to serve THE King in this world. Ambassadors do not speak for themselves, they do not share their own opinions and ideas; rather they are representatives of the king delivering the king’s message. And that is exactly what we are called to do; we are called to be Christ’s representatives on earth delivering the message of the saving work that He accomplished in His death and resurrection. We are called, as Paul says, to implore people on Christ’s behalf to be reconciled to God through faith in Him and His victory over sin and death.
Jesus died for YOU, He arose on the third day for YOU. But, he also died and rose on the third day for the woman working the register at the grocery store, for the man walking his dog down the street, for the children playing basketball in the driveway, for the homeless, drug-addicted and abused. These people all need to know the work that Jesus accomplished on Good Friday and Easter Sunday some 2000 years ago. So, this Easter season, I implore you, as Christ’s ambassadors, go and tell them about Jesus, go and tell them the deep love that He has for them, a love so deep that He willingly died for them and then rose victorious on the third day; share all of this wonderful news with everyone because, if you don’t, who will?
May the blessings of the Father and the peace of the Son be with you,
Pastor Keith
