Serving As A New Creation

SUNDAY MORNING WORSHIP SERVICE, 12 November 2023

Sermon Text: 2 Corinthians 5:11-21
Sermon Series: “Serving in Church” (#2)

Main Points:
Introduction
I. The old way and the new way
II. The ministry of reconciliation
III. Serving all according to the love of Christ
Conclusion

As Spring days mature, trees get greener and some summer flowers start appearing. This change of season reminds us of God’s faithfulness and immutability. The law imposed on His creation is always loyal to its Creator. People talk about weather change but any observable change is, in the Creator’s order, like a grain of sand on a beach rolled from one place to another. God never changes and so is the nature.

While seasons change in a circular pattern, every living being move on and progress. Trees grow and flowers bloom; babies become teenagers who soon reach their adulthood. Every living being grows. So do God’s children. We grow in wisdom and the fear of the Lord. The word of God brings food to our souls and the Holy Spirit deepens our faith and enables us to stand firm in Christ. This is like the picture He talks about in the Scriptures that He provides the early and the late rain upon the land in which His beloved Israel dwells.

This is much like what happens to all living beings in the midst of changing seasons. Generations change in a repetitive pattern – I mean, a godly generation is followed by an evil one, then, that evil one is replaced by another generation. In the midst of this repetitive pattern, all the living in Christ’s Church grow in faith and become mature in Christ.

My prayer in this month of November is that the Lord may teach us to grow in living out our faith, grow in serving one another in His Church. So, we heard last Sunday that we should seek to serve one another as we seek to serve God. And today, I’d like to talk about the nature of our serving others in Church. Simply put, what is this that you and I ‘serve’ each other? Why do we serve one another, and how is it different from the works and services the unbelievers do?

So I invite you to join me in prayer, and together ask the Holy Spirit to speak to us in His wisdom and mercy.

I. The Old Way And The New Way
In this passage of 2 Cor. 5, vs. 11-21, there is an amazing and outstanding description of a Christian, that is, ‘a new creation.’ Some other English translations render it as ‘a new creature’ instead of ‘creation,’ but the meaning is the same – it means, ‘if anyone is in Christ, he/she is a new creation or creature or even new universe.’ The emphasis is on becoming something completely new, having been detached, separated, severed from his former state. So the second half of v. 17 tells us, “The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

This explanation adds more interest to what has already grabbed our attention. It says, ‘the old has passed away,’ and this word ‘old’ is in Greek ‘archaios’ from which the English prefix, ‘archa-‘ or ‘archai-,’ comes to form words like archaeology, archaic and archaism that carry a meaning of lifelessness. ‘The old’ this verse talks about is not like a fashion style of a past generation which might grab the eyes of another years or decades later and return to show windows one day. No, that’s not what it means. Rather, this ‘old’ is something lifeless like fossils in archaeological museums – it’s gone and done with, having no hope of life at all.

Then, ‘the new’, meaning, something ‘previously unknown’ or ‘unheard of’ has come. It is like a new world or universe of which no one has ever imagined or dreamed is here before one’s eyes. So, you read from v. 17 a ‘new creation’ or ‘creature,’ but that doesn’t change its meaning – it means a complete division, disengagement, disjunction from the old world, and an absolutely new one, new creation has arrived. And that is someone, everyone, like you and me, who believe in Christ!

Having said, the apostle explained this ‘old’ and ‘new’ further in terms of ‘ways.’ Listen to v. 16 and see what the apostle talks about the old way in contrast to the new; he says, “From now on … we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard Him thus no longer.” The contrast he makes between two ways is strong and firm. The old way is gone and replaced with the new way. The basis of this change is your new status, that is, new creation in Jesus.

Let me lead you to go backward and have a look at v. 15 as this verse tells us what this ‘new way’ is. The Apostle Paul says this: “those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.” Simply put, you and I who are Christians live no longer for oneself but for Jesus! Through faith in Jesus, you and I are ‘new creation’ and, we have a new way of living and, that is, to live for Jesus. Our old way was to live for oneself, but this new way is to live for Jesus.

II. The Ministry of Reconciliation
This is what the Spirit-inspired apostle ‘persuades’ you and me, as he says in v. 11, and ‘implores’ us in v. 20. On behalf of Christ, he pleads with us to live for Christ.

Hearing this, I know many of you would feel more puzzled than the beginning of the sermon. You heard that you were a new creation – fine. Then, you heard that there was a new way – that’s fine also. Then, you hear this new way is to live for Jesus – and it sounds fine but not quite, because you have this question in your mind – ‘What is to live for Jesus?’

To be frank with you, I used to consider this instruction, ‘to live for Christ,’ was the vaguest command in the entire Bible. I could not see what exactly was to live for Him the Lord. Is it to be honest and remain honest? Or is it reading God’s word regularly or attending Sunday worship service weekly? Or giving tithes and freewill offerings? Is it being more active in telling Jesus to my neighbours? What is to live for Him who died and was raised for me?

The Holy Spirit speaks to us through Paul the Apostle and explains this difficult question in vs. 18 and following. The most significant term He uses in His explanation is ‘reconciliation’ or ‘restoration of friendly, cordial relations.’ So, living for Jesus is, firstly, to be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus. Then, secondly, to carry out ‘the ministry’ of reconciliation God gave us and entrusted to us.

Keeping a cordial, warm, sincere relationship with God is easy to understand. We worship God, knowing Him as our Creator and King and Heavenly Father. We thank Him for sending us Jesus His Son to die for us, thus, cancel our sins. That’s not all. Jesus rose from the dead to be our eternal hope for His coming glorious kingdom. So we come to God in worship in the righteousness of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

But what is not clear to us is the next thing, that is, to carry out the ministry of reconciliation. So, what is this ‘ministry’ of reconciliation God entrusted to us? This ministry of reconciliation is equally important as our reconciliation to God. So, what is it?

Its answer is found in v. 19. God through the Apostle Paul carefully and kindly explains that it is to ‘reconcile the world to Himself.’ In another word, bringing sinners to God through faith in Jesus. Hearing this, you might consider evangelism, mission, going out on the streets and marketplaces to invite people to Jesus, crossing oceans to reach out to the remotest tribe, and the like. Of course, that’s a part of it – but not the whole of the ministry of reconciliation. Jesus’ Great Commission is to go to the ends of the earth, but His command is to be His witnesses ‘in Jerusalem and in all Juda and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’

Moreover, the main focus of Jesus’ command is not on reaching out but on making disciples and baptising them in the name of the Triune God and teaching them to observe all His commands. In a word, to reconcile sinners to God through repentance and faith.

Putting this in the simplest form, we help and encourage one another to be better disciples of Jesus, observing His commands. Such is the new way we walk and the ministry of reconciliation we carry. Consider this – anyone’s conversion is not what we can do. It’s the work of God the Holy Spirit. We carry His words to as many people around us, and once anyone becomes God’s child, then, we serve that person in Christ’s church to grow in faith and commitment. That is the ministry of reconciliation entrusted to us. In short, our serving others in church is our ministry of reconciliation.

III. Serving All According to the Love of Christ
So we regard one another and serve each other according to the love of Christ. Previously, we used to regard others as the world does, that is, as the objects of taking advantage of, if not looting or stealing or robbing. We used to be experts of selfishness. Each one was protagonist while all others served as setoffs or secondary players. That is what the apostle meant by regarding even Jesus according to the flesh in v. 16.

But no longer do we regard others in Christ. Instead, we consider everyone according to the love of Christ. We, collectively, are the equal members of God’s household. We are to one another siblings in a better and deeper sense than that of flesh and bones. We share the same Lord and Saviour as He died for each of us and equally rescued us from sin and death. We call Him our loving Saviour and His Father our Heavenly Father. Into His coming glorious kingdom, we will enter and live together forever. We’ll sing the same songs of praise and dine at the Lord’s Table eternally. We regard one another in Christ’s church according to the love of Christ.

This is our service in Church. This is the new way given to us and we follow ever since. This is the ministry of reconciliation God gave and entrusted to us.

No wonder why the Apostle John testifies that all who love God love their fellow members of Christ’s church. Listen to him saying this in 1 Jn. 3:14, “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.” His conviction of brotherly love as the metre of one’s love for God is so firm and flawless.

Conclusion
Having said, let me invite you to look around and find your brothers and sisters in Jesus with whom you’ll live eternity. Is there anyone you feel reluctant to spend eternity together? Repent from it because that reluctance is your lack of love toward God.

Do you delight in seeing all your brothers and sisters? Then, give thanks to God for being kind to you and enabling you to love Him, thus, love your brothers and sisters.

Are you serving others in this church? If you find yourself not serving others enough, ask God for deeper love in order to serve everyone in this Church, in this body of Christ! ***