Raise you up from the evil sleeps, make you one with the breath of dawn. Well, good morning, Chester A.R.P. Church devotional podcast. Clint Davis, your host, thanks so much for being with us. Second Corinthians chapter five, beginning in verse 11, Paul writing about the ministry of reconciliation that he has received from the Lord, and this is what he says. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you calls to boast about us so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. If we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died. 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. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh, even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh. We regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself. not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled unto God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Now this second part of chapter five, Paul talks about our heavenly dwelling in the beginning of chapter five, and then he talks about this call that he has received upon his heart, and that this ministry that God has given him, a ministry of reconciliation, is to call people to be reconciled to God. Now the first part of this passage we read has to do with Paul recognizing that there are those who are going to make judgments based upon outward appearances, based upon the appearance of giftedness, etc. They're going to make judgment about one's ministry, about one's ability, about one's call to ministry and leadership, etc. They're going to look the part of the world and they're going to make judgment based upon the judgments of the world. It kind of is a New Testament equivalent to God speaking to David, I think, and Samuel in 1 Samuel chapter 16, where God says in his rejection of Saul that the people chose Saul who was head and shoulders of everyone else, but God looks upon the heart, not the outward appearance. And David was the man whom God had chosen to be his God. great king, the one in whose line the Messiah would come. And so even in that passage in 1 Samuel chapter 16, when David is being anointed by Samuel, we find God saying, I look to the heart, not to the outward appearance. Well, same problem happening in this church in Corinth, people looking on the outside rather than the inside. And Paul says, I'm not really concerned about their judgments of my outward appearance, or how I look, or how I appear, or how people judge what I am saying. If I'm in my right mind, it's for God, it's for you. The love of Christ controls us. He died for all, and so we'll do what we need in order to proclaim the good news of Jesus, to meet people where they are, to share the life of Christ. And then chapter five, verses 16 through 21, he talks about, in 2 Corinthians, he talks about the reality that we are no longer regarded according to the flesh because we are in Christ we are a new creation. The old flesh maintains its Marks of sin and grief and hardship and it still gets sucked away and tempted and the challenges of the old outward nature Which is dying off day by day But the spirit is renewed when we come to the Lord Jesus Christ become a new creation in the Lord Jesus Christ the Hatterberg Catechism talks about what is necessary for conversion faith and repentance talks about what is necessary for repentance and What is necessary for repentance is dying unto the self the old self and rising to the new life through the idea that we must die to our old selves, our old sinful nature to rise to new life in Christ and in the explanation of dying to self, the catechism talks about how we got to learn to hate sin more and more, how we learn to feel sorry for our sin and we flee from it. But the old fleshly nature is drawing us back to sin all the time, right? Paul talks about that in Romans chapter 7. This body of death that I carry around with me, pulling me back, pulling me back, and I've got to learn to kill it off and to flee sin through the power of the Spirit of God at work within me and the renewed spirit that he's given unto me. And so now I am seeking to learn to walk in the newness of life. You're learning to walk in the newness of life through the ministry of God's Spirit. And that's only possible, Paul says, by understanding that we are a new creation and being reconciled unto God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who for our sake took upon sin, though he knew no sin. so that we might become the righteousness of God. And so Paul says there's a great exchange. Jesus took our sin, the consequences of our sin, the punishment of our sin, so that we might have the righteousness of Christ. His righteousness, he didn't do anything wrong. He never broke God's law, yet he was punished for your sin. so that you might have the righteousness of Christ. And so therefore we live in the light of the glory. We don't regard each other in outward terms and fleshly terms anymore as followers of Jesus, especially when we see each other, brothers and sisters in Christ. We acknowledge each other as we are new creations in the Lord Jesus Christ. The outward distinctions become less and less important as we walk with Jesus and as we grow in our faith. And what becomes real to us is the connection that we have with one another in Christ Jesus our Lord through faith. And so Paul says, this is how I view you and this is how I ask that you view me and I don't really care. I'm not writing to commit myself to you guys anymore. I'm just giving you a way that you can answer all those people who've come out against me. I don't really care what they think. I want you to know that I am walking with Jesus and so are you and we're united in my plea as an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ is to beg you to be reconciled unto God. If you've never been reconciled to God, today is the day for you to do that, dear friends. But also, let me say this, if you have been reconciled to God, acknowledge that you're a new creation in Christ. Walk in Him and treat each other as we are new creations in Christ, and so encourage one another in the gospel of grace. Take care, see you next time. ♪ Raise you up from the evil place of sin ♪ Oh, don't make me cry.