There is a Jesus the world loves.
The one who was a humanitarian who cared for the sick, the oppressed and little children.
But there is also a Jesus the world hates.
The Jesus the world will hate is the Jesus who emphatically and unequivocally declared Himself to be the way, the truth and the life and says no one comes to the Father but by me.
Such a bold claim requires substantial evidence. That’s why the disciples preached, “He is risen!” That is the strongest evidence that Jesus was telling the truth.
This month we are talking more about the Jesus the world hates.
And the problem we have is the Savior we love is both Jesus’s.
• John 15:20 Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. “
• Luke 21:17 All men will hate you because of me.
The good news is we do not navigate this journey by our own wisdom, nor is it powered by our own strength. That is old thinking.
Today we are talking about how the gospel takes us from old to new.
Text: 2 Corinthians 5:11-21
Vs. 18 “All this [newness] is from God.” All that we are about to talk about is from God. When we read about Bible hero’s, like those in Hebrews 11, don’t think, “Wow! Those were great men and women of God.” Instead think, “Wow! Look at what our great God did with ordinary people like me.”
1. New nature
Coming to Christ is not just a moral decision, it is a life-or-death decision.
Vs. 21 “The righteousness of God.” You are the righteousness of God. Not by our efforts, but in Him. God does not see in us as “struggling Christians” but His righteousness.
Colossians 3:9-10 the new self is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
• This new nature allows us to receive personal knowledge of our Creator.
2. New status with God
“Reconciled”
Definition #1 To restore a friendly relationship; to bring back to harmony.
• We were enemies. Now we are friends.
Definition #2 To make things compatible or consistent
• He made us compatible with Himself so we are able to receive the spiritual gifts He wants to give us.
Definition #3 To make the net difference in credits and debits of a financial account agree with the balance.
• We owed a debt. We were way in the red and Jesus paid the price to bring us not to zero but infinitely in the black.
3. New relationship to people.
Vs. 16 “We regard no one from a worldly point of view”
• No longer evaluating people’s success and significance according to the world’s standards.
• Jesus was evaluated this way: Isaiah 53:2 “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.”
1 Peter 2:10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.
4. New way of processing life.
Romans 7:6 We serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. In relationship with the living God through His Spirit and not rote compliance to the rules of righteousness.
(Regarding my not opening the door to Jehovah’s Witnesses: 2 John 10-11 “If anyone comes to you but does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your home or even greet him. Whoever greets such a person shares in his evil deeds.”)
Processing life by faith and not by sight.
(2 Peter 1:4) Living by the precious promises of God helps us escape the corruption in the world, which is the old.
• It’s good to have “go to” promises for challenging times.
“Living by faith is learning to live securely beyond the circle of my control, my understanding and my perception.”
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