Message Description

Josiah Leuenberger, Life Stage Leader & Director of Young Adult Ministries, looks at 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 and how we can receive new life through Jesus and following Jesus.

Message Transcript

Well, hey there. Merry Christmas. It's great to worship God together this morning. I hope you had a great Christmas. My name is Josiah. I serve here at Orchard Hill with our adult ministries. If you're new this morning for the first time, if you're visiting, maybe you came to Christmas Eve and thought you'd check it out on a weekend, so great to worship God with you here this morning.

I want to share a special thank you for those of you who served at Christmas Eve, I just want to say thanks for your partnership and ministry. Christmas Eve here at Orchard Hill is so special, and a large part of that is due to the fact that this is something we do, all of us together. And stories are coming in of how God used Christmas Eve to touch people's hearts and it's such a privilege to hear those stories and to be a part of God's work. We had over 16,000 people come out to Christmas Eve this past year, so thank you for all of you who served.

One last thing, as we do turn the corner into 2020, it feels crazy to say that. I remember when Y2K was about to hit us. As we turn the corner to 2020, our year-end giving is wrapping up the Vision 2020 campaign. Thank you so much to those of you who have given your generous partnership in ministry. It makes everything happen here at Orchard Hill. If you'd like to give, Tuesday is our deadline. You can do that online at orchardhillchurch.com.

I am excited to share on that note of a New Year that in 2019, I implemented a new routine at the start of the year. And for the first time ever, I kept it. Seriously, for the first time ever, I kept it.

I had planned with some friends of mine, we had a conversation at the end of 2018 about how we really had a desire to become more consistent in our Bible reading in the year ahead. We got together and we said, "What do you guys say, that we read a chapter of scripture each day. And then, we write our notes down of what God put on our minds, maybe spoke to our hearts." As we did that Bible reading, we wrote those down in a journal, and then we would take a picture of what we had written and then we would send it out to one another, each morning. Did that, five days a week. I found it to be incredibly meaningful.

Here at Orchard Hill, something that we truly believe is one of the ways that God grows us in our faith the most is in relationships with one another. Last week, I'm really excited about what came for me in the mail, a fresh new journal. Nothing but blank pages. You'd be surprised what you can spend on a book with nothing in it.

A new journal, a fresh start. I don't know why, but for me, there's always been something about getting a fresh journal or a new tablet of paper that's really been exciting to me. It's not because I have some sort of extraordinary skills. Anyone who's seen my handwriting knows that it never progressed beyond probably a second grade level. Same with my art skills. But when I get a new journal, I have a feeling of excitement because the word that comes to mind for me is really, potential. There's an endless set of possibilities for what could be written down, what could be recorded, drawn, creativity for us to express ourselves. It's exciting to me to think of all that could be.

You can probably see where I'm going with this. I believe that we have a similar opportunity with the start of each new year. The start of each new year, there's a world of possibilities for each and every one of us in what life can be. We can't help but feel some excitement about what this new year might hold.

This is a great time for each of us to refocus in our perspective, to think about our priorities, the kind of purpose that we want to live with throughout our daily lives. I've been doing some reassessing myself, lately. I'm not sure if you've been doing the same. I know that many of us take this opportunity as a time to reassess. And for me, I am a creature of habit.

In 2019, I really enjoyed my routine of eating a bowl of ice cream, five days a week. It was a great routine, very enjoyable. But friends, I'm feeling convicted. I have some physical goals that I'd like to accomplish and I know I'm not getting any younger. In 2020, I'm putting a new structure in place to keep myself on track, so I can set myself up to more fully pursue those goals I have for myself.

I think it's important that each and every one of us not only think about ourselves in this season of refocusing, but we think about others as well. A few weeks ago, my wife, Brittany, said to me one night as the two of us were watching TV, "I feel like we've been defaulting to watching mindless TV too much lately." When she said that, I said to her, "Can this wait? I'm trying to watch this." Just kidding.

She said, "Do you think it would be good for us to stay engaged with one another a little bit more?" When she said that, I honestly couldn't disagree with her, even though I didn't like to hear it. For us, I think 2020, my great concern right now is that the fictional detectives I like to give oversight on Netflix are going to be able to keep the world going without me. 2020 for us probably includes more board games and puzzles, a little less time in front of screens. I think all of us have these kind of scenarios going around in our minds of ways that we'd like to refocus.

In the next few minutes, what I'd like for us to do is really zoom out to that 30,000-foot level and think big picture about what scripture speaks to us about who we are, who God is, and what's most important for us in life. I think that can really be a helpful exercise for each and every one of us, as we think about who we want to be, how we want to live in the year ahead. Because in the same way that in any building project, it's absolutely critical for us to begin with a sound foundation. Here at Orchard Hill, we believe that there are truths about life and faith that each and every one of us need to establish as the foundation of our own lives if we're going to find meaning. If we're going to find satisfaction that lasts, we need to establish our lives on the foundation of God's truth.

This morning, we are in the Apostle Paul's second letter to the Corinthians. Let me pray for us, and then we'll dig into it.

Father, thank you for this opportunity that we have to gather in your house. When we do, we come with an expectation that you are among us. We invite your Holy Spirit into this place now. As we gather, we recognize we all come here from different places on our spiritual journey, different thoughts and feelings about you. There are areas of excitement in our lives, and there are areas of anxiety. Maybe even for some of us, hopelessness. And so now, as we open up your word, we trust that you are with us and that your word is alive and active, and you can impact us in heart and mind right now and even in the way that we live, and so would you show us the beauty of your grace? We ask this together in Jesus's name. Amen.

Well, let me give you a little bit of understanding on the context of this letter that we are going to read, so that you know how Paul is addressing these folks. You know how sometimes when you have a really difficult conversation with someone, maybe a boss, a coworker or a friend, family member? The next time you see them, you don't want the relationship to remain tense, and so you try and keep conversation really light and positive. You want to be able to move forward in a good direction and so the next time you see them after that tense interaction, you keep things really positive. I think that's a common relationship-building tactic for us. A lot of us do it subconsciously. I think that's the kind of dynamic we can feel at play, when we go through 2 Corinthians.

You see Paul is writing this letter as a followup letter to some friends in a church where he had heard not long ago, a report that these folks were living in a way that was blatantly different from how they were called to live as followers of Jesus Christ. Their sexual conduct was way off base for some of them. Others of them were prioritizing themselves. They're prioritizing their own agendas in a worship setting rather than pursuing what was best for the community. And so Paul, he cared about them enough to write to them and speak some words of tough love because he wanted to see them thrive in their faith and in their witness to who Jesus is and the power that he has to change lives, and so that's Paul's first letter to the Corinthians.

In this second letter, we heard from just a moment ago, Paul, he really does keep things upbeat, especially so in the part of the letter that we are looking at today and the part of the letter we are going to focus on, Paul shares how the gospel, the good news of God's grace and Jesus Christ is powerful to shape our perspective in life. Not just to give us salvation, but to actually shape our perspective as we walk through life, to give us a new set of eyes, seeing the world around us and it even leads us into a new purpose. His words were meant to direct and encourage the readers, and I think they do that for each and every one of us as we look to them today.

So, let's look at the passage. 2 Corinthians, chapter five. We'll start in verse 14. 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. When it comes to Paul's perspective and his purpose, he says here that I am driven by an overarching conviction. I am compelled because I am convinced, Paul writes. There is a guiding truth that is motivating him through life because of his own personal experience. I am compelled because I am convinced. His language is present tense. It's active. Paul's personal experience of a greater truth is motivating him to live in a different kind of way, and this is a relational dynamic that each and every one of us have experienced in our own lives in one way or another.

A couple of years ago, my wife, Brittany and I traveled to a wedding. I was performing for some students that I knew during my time in college ministry. It was up on one of the Great Lakes in the summer and the hotels up there, they really filled up. So we kind of got scalped on our rate for the hotel.

When we went to the hotel to check in, we went to the front desk. They gave us our keys and so we went upstairs to open up our room. And when we unlocked the door, we opened it up and there were bags of someone else's luggage all over the floor, on the beds. We were just grateful that no one else was in there. We went downstairs and we thought, you know what? Let's be gracious. This happens. We gave our keys. They traded them back in and said, "I am so sorry."

We took our new set of keys. We went upstairs to our room and we opened the door, and there was more luggage on the beds. Guys, I was furious. We went down those stairs. I had my wife have the conversation because I didn't know what I might say.

We got new keys and we went upstairs, and we checked into a third room. And thankfully, everything was all right. The thermostat was set to 83 degrees when we walked into the room, but I would never remember that. When it came time for us to check out the next morning, we went down and we said, "Listen, guys. When we checked into our room, there were other people's bags in the room, twice. And when we finally got our room, it was 83 degrees. Is there anything you can do for us?" The manager behind the desk said to me, "Sir, I am so sorry for your troubles. 10%." Oh man, that was the nail in the coffin.

Let me tell you, after I book hotels online and we complete our say, I always get an email inviting me to fill out a review for how that experience went for us. And for me, that's normally an easy delete. But after this experience, I'll tell you I had a draft in waiting. when that email arrived. My friends, I was convinced this is not the way a hotel stay should be and I was compelled to write a review that was less than kind, I must say.

The Greek word that Paul uses here that is translated, "Compelled", in verse 14 is synéchō, and it means to be pressed in, on, to be taken hold by. And when it's used in scripture, there are some images that are commonly drawn out. We see a city that's under attack with soldiers pressing in on it from all sides. There's the image of a ship going down a narrow passage with the banks pressing in on it, an image of a herd of cattle with the cattlemen directing them in a direction by surrounding them all sides to move them in a similar way.

What Paul is communicating here is that his own experience of God's grace, God's grace has captured his heart in a way that is so profound. It's changing his whole approach to life. He says, "God's grace is pressing in on me. God has me in the grip of his grace." It's all-encompassing. I can't help but act on it in the way I see the world, in the way that I live.

Listen to verses 14 and 15, again. He writes, "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." And it's here in verse 15, that last verse we read, that Paul lays out the essential message of the Christian faith. That through Jesus's death on the cross, His resurrection from the grave, each and every one of us who would recognize our own need for a savior from our own sin could share in death to sin and new life along with Christ.It's the ultimate exchange. Our human brokenness for the perfection of God. Our spiritual death for eternal life. It's the ultimate exchange.

The Apostle, Paul, he describes it again at the end of this passage in verse 21, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." What he's saying that each and every one of us is born with an inclination to put ourselves at the center of our lives, to live as our own God. And when we do that, we harm ourselves. We harm one another, and we alienate ourselves from the God who made us. But what Paul shares here in this passage is that God's love for all of humanity is so great that He sent his son, Jesus Christ, His only son at Christmas, fully man, fully God to come and live among us and live the perfect life in our place in order to lay it down as the substitute to pay the penalty for our sins. This is the greatest expression of love that the world has ever known.

The best part of this good news isn't just that Jesus died, but it's that death could not hold him down. He rose again from the grave to accomplish that ultimate exchange, that any one of us who will recognize our need can share in his new life and be restored to the favor of God, our Father. It's all because of God's love for us.

Listen to the words of verse 18 in this passage. Paul writes, "All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation." I think Paul's words here are very specific. What he wants us to recognize is that the good news isn't that God hates us for our sin, but Jesus Christ has pity on us and so he came to get us out of it, to take our sin away.

What Paul writes here, all of this blessing has come from God, who's reconciled Himself to us through Jesus Christ. This wording is making it very clear, Paul wants us to know the Creator God of the universe loves each and every one of us so much that he has taken the weight, the penalty of our sin on his own son. He's placed it on his own shoulders out of love for us, that we might be restored to his favor and his own family. That's why Jesus came to restore each and every one of us who would look to him in faith to the family of God.

My friends, if you've come here this morning and you know that there is a void in your own heart, that you have been searching for meaning in yourself, that you've been looking for justification, that knowledge, that all is well, that all is right in your life. Whether that's in your own mind, in yourself, or before God. I want you to know that scripture points us to a greater truth, that there is a longing within each and every one of us that can only be satisfied through having a relationship with Jesus Christ by faith, accepting that gift of grace that he offers each and every one of us. One that we could never merit on our own by whatever habits, whatever sincere efforts we could make to gain God's favor through our effort. The only way to receive it is to come before God and admit that we are on empty and we need grace. That's available to each and every one of us through Jesus Christ. If that's you today, if that's where you are, this can be a moment for you, where you can live with confidence from here to the very end of time, for all of eternity, even beyond, knowing that all is well and your future is secure in Jesus. You can do that right now in a simple prayer in the quiet of your own heart.

Father God, I know I am a broken person whose only hope is your grace. I thank you that in the midst of my lost-ness, you have met me and given me a new story. I trust you with my life. I give you my heart. I know that I am new in you, now and forever in Jesus's name. Amen.

What Paul tells us here in this passage is that when we receive that gift of God's grace, it changes everything for us. It's so profound. He writes, there's only one way to describe it, Verse 17. "If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here." What this means for us is that our past no longer determines our future. Whatever brokenness may haunt us, whatever sin that we've done against someone else, the ways we've harmed God, whatever sin has been done to us by another, it no longer defines us. It no longer determines our future. And guys, this is good news that the Corinthians, Paul's readers would have needed to hear. Remember some of their story that I shared with you earlier, the things that were in their past. This would have been a word that gave them some great peace of mind, and it can do the same for you and I. Whoever is in Christ is a new creation. The old is done, the new has come.

The first key that I hope you'll take away from today's passage is that any one of us who looks to Jesus in faith, we can live confident and secure knowing that we've received not just a second chance, but a new life and one that lasts for all of eternity. That's life-changing news. It's great news. But the only problem is that sooner or later, even when we believe it, it feels too good to be true. Paul's words, thankfully, they really, they give us a a strong direction to go in and addressing that issue for each and every one of us as well. Because when Paul writes, "If anyone is in Christ, a new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here, his language there is very deliberate as well.

What he's emphasizing is that when God does a work of grace in our lives, we're saved for new life, but that's only the beginning. Because with our future secure with God's favor on our side, the Holy Spirit inside of us, there's a whole new world of possibility before us in terms of who we can become and how we can live, walking through life and even our most difficult trials because God's grace is our foundation. It's a new beginning, but it's not a new beginning, like a starting line that we leave. God's grace is a new beginning in the sense that it is a foundation on which we build our entire lives. The rest of our lives moving forward are established on God's grace.

The second key I really hope you'll take away is that following Jesus is about continually coming to him for more grace, and this has big implications for each and every one of us, who is a follower of Christ. First, what it means for us is that in our deepest struggles with sin, you and I have hope that we can actually see progress. We can put them behind us because the power to change does not depend on us. Paul says, "The old is gone, the new is here." The rules have changed.

If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, you have the resurrection power of God living inside of you. Change is always possible. God's in the business of bringing light to our darkness, so we can follow after him with the same attitude that Paul expresses in Colossians, chapter one, verse 29. He talks about disciplining ourselves by faith. I strive with all the energy, Christ works so powerfully within me. What an awesome example for us to follow after God and our pursuit of becoming more like Jesus. I strive with all of the energy, Christ so powerfully works within me.

We can discipline ourselves by faith and trust that the Holy Spirit really is powerful to work within us because sin no longer has a hold on us. The Holy Spirit who lives inside us goes before us in that effort, and he will back us up.

Second, Paul is teaching here about the importance of recognizing God's grace, our need for it in every moment, every season of life. We can find encouragement and knowing that through Christ, the new creation has come and what that means for us is that even in our moments of darkness and confusion, we're not without hope. Even in our moments of deep darkness and confusion, we're never without hope.

Guys, as I say that, I know that for some of us here, 2019 has been a heck of a year. Some of you have dealt with pain and loss in very difficult ways. You've gone through trials personally in relationships or even in community. Some of us have dealt with real disappointment, but I want to say to you, God's word speaks hope to us that we are never without a good future because of what Jesus Christ has won on our behalf. The old has gone, the new has come and we can know that one day, it will come in full. And pain and confusion, even though they will remain a part of our present lives on this side of eternity, we're never without hope because we can be confident that there is a day when Jesus Christ will return to make all things new. And as we wait for that day, we can know that he holds us in the palm of his hand. He will meet us with the sufficient grace we need, new, every morning.

Paul's words here, the hope that each and every one of us can have through Jesus Christ for every stage, every season, everything we experience, they're a sure foundation for us on which to build our lives. They set our perspective, and like I said at the outset, they also challenge us to see that if you're in Jesus Christ, you have received a purpose with lasting importance. We see that in verses 18 through 20, "All this is from God, who has 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."

Friends, we could spend another week just on these verses, but here is what I want to highlight for us as we think about our own perspective and purpose, heading into the New Year. It's that when God meets us in our lives with his grace, he does so for a reason. Certainly, God wants to bless us by restoring us to his favor, but he does that so that when we've received his grace, we might reach out to others with the gift that we have received.

Paul writes, "We are Christ's ambassadors," as if God were making his appeal through us. I love his words there. We are Christ's ambassadors, and the role of an ambassador is really to act as a representative as another. You don't speak on your own volition. You're a representation of someone else in your words and in your interaction.

What Paul is telling us here is that if you are a follower of Jesus, the message of Jesus is the message that you and I are to send with our own lives. Guys, I know that life can get pretty complex for each and every one of us. There are a lot of hats that we wear. A spouse maybe, a child, a parent, a boss, an employee, a leader, a follower. And sometimes in shifting those back and forth, we can lose our direction in the midst of all the busy-ness. But what Paul reminds us here is that every follower of Christ has a simple, straightforward assignment. Ambassador of Jesus. That is the role that we have been created to fill, every day. Everywhere we go, our purpose in Christ is simple, to be an ambassador of Jesus, to make his message the message of our own lives.

Let me ask you, what would the people who know you best say is the message that you are sending with your life? What's the primary message of your life in the way that you interact with people and the way that you spend your time, and the things that captivate your attention, in the ways that you spend your money? What message are you sending? Maybe even better, whose message are you sending? I don't ask this question to beat you up. Know that if it beats you up, I'm smacking myself in the face as well.

There's grace for each and every one of us. But Paul's words here, they should challenge us to think about what we are pursuing with our lives if we are followers of Jesus. We have been given grace in order to make that message of God's grace, the hope of Jesus, the message of our own lives. And guys, let me be honest, if that's going to be my message, if that's going to be the message of my life, if I'm going to live for Jesus, first order of business for me each day is to wake up and remember that I am completely out of luck on my own. My only hope is the grace that I've been shown and the grace that I am going to need, and then recognizing how completely God has met that need in Jesus. I've got to preach the gospel to myself, every single day. And I'll tell you when I do that, then I'm convinced of the beauty of God's grace and it's only then that I can be compelled to act on it in the way that I live.

Let me leave you with one last takeaway. This one, a question for application. What opportunities has God given you to serve as a representative of Jesus in your own life in 2020? In John, chapter 20, verse 21, Jesus says to his disciples, "As the father has sent me, so I am sending you." That's our statement that sends us out, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ. You go out with his mission, with his purpose, and I believe that God equips. He has made each and every one of us. He's designed us and he equips us all uniquely to serve as his ambassadors in the world. And as a result, I believe that there are people that you can reach who I could never reach as a pastor because there are people that you rub shoulders with on a daily basis that you can build a relationship with because of how God had designed you, where he has positioned you, the personality that he has given you that I could never impact. God has called you in the same way as he has sent Jesus Christ, so Jesus sends you out into your world.

What opportunities has God given you to serve as a representative of Jesus Christ? I want you to think about that. I want you to pray about that. Make a plan to take advantage of that opportunity that God has put in front of you in 2020.

The last thing I want to share is I'd like to invite you, if you are interested in thinking about this topic further, on Saturday, January 18th. Saturday morning from 9:00 to 11:30, there will be a Missional Living seminar, here in the lower room of our Wexford campus. All are invited, whether you attend our Wexford campus, or Butler County, or even down in the strip. We'd love to be together for this. It'll be two hours of excellent teaching from authors, Tim Keller and Rebecca McLaughlin, video teaching on how we can better engage with people in our everyday lives as representatives of Jesus Christ. Really helpful applicable stuff. And then, we'll have a half an hour of discussion. That's 9:00 to 11:30, Saturday morning, January 18th. Lower room, Wexford campus. You don't need to sign up. Just show up.

Guys, we have a new year before us. Nothing but blank pages. We have opportunity, so much potential. Let's set our perspective. Let's establish our purpose on the foundation of Jesus Christ. A foundation that will last. A foundation that gives us meaning in all that we do. A foundation that gives us hope in all that we experience because we know that God's grace will sustain us to the very end. From that moment we first trust Jesus, on for eternity. We are foreshadowing the day he will come again as his ambassadors. Let's make that our ambition for the new year. Would you join me in prayer?

Father, we thank you for your word, the way that it encourages us, and we also thank you for the way that it challenges us. Father, we thank you for the new story that each and every one of us has to be a part of. We have the opportunity to be a part of your work in the world through faith because of your grace and Jesus Christ. Would you give us eyes to see all of the opportunity that's in front of us, God, to live each day knowing that you have shown us your mercy? You've given us your favor when we come to you with our needs, so that we can be people who shine a light on who you are, that we can live for your glory, God. That gives us such a drive, God. We're convinced and we are compelled because of your great love for us. Would you make that the ambition of our hearts in 2020? And we ask this together in Jesus's name, amen.