Compelled by Transformation
1 Corinthians 5:16-17 (ESV):
16 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.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.[a] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
I want us to begin our sermon this morning with the video regarding the conversion experience of Gabriel Saleh, a man who came out of the Muslim faith. (https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTbCtiopaSY)
What an amazing testimony of how God works in the lives of sinners like Gabriel Saleh! Of course, he is not the only one who can testify about the blessing of salvation. Each of us who has come to know Jesus as our Savior and Lord has our own story about God's grace in our lives.
The truth is that one of the exciting parts of serving the Lord is to experience seeing people who seem to be so far from God come to know Jesus Christ through us, and then, we begin to see these people start to live a life that would demonstrate radical change for the better. From being someone who was once in bondage to destructive, sinful habits, they be- come productive and responsible individuals. There are also others like Gabriel Saleh who had been blinded by false religious beliefs, and then their eyes would suddenly be opened by the Holy Spirit and come to the knowledge of the truth. Later, the same people would have the boldness to share Jesus Christ with their loved ones and friends. Undoubtedly, only God can bring about these radical transformations.
But, just like the apostle Paul, when you and I become sensitive to how God is moving in people's lives, these amazing stories of radical transformations become a powerful moti- vation in serving the Lord. So, if you ask the apostle Paul, why does he serve and boldly share Jesus with others? His third primary motivation is the transformation or the change of life that God can accomplish in the lives of others.
Before the church anniversary, I started this sermon series entitled "Compelled." This study focuses on 2 Corinthians 5, where in his attempt to defend his apostleship and ministry to his critics, Paul wrote about his four motivations in serving the Lord faithfully. We already covered the first two – The fear of the Lord and the love of Jesus Christ. This morning, we
will talk about "Transformation," or the radical change that God accomplish- es in the life of a believer. Examining our text, let's highlight three critical fac- tors regarding this motivation:
I THE PERSPECTIVE FOR TRANSFORMATION
As you begin reading our main text, the first sentence of verse 16 requires you to go back to the previous verse because it says, "From now on, therefore, we regard no one ac- cording to the flesh." If you consider verse 15, the main emphasis is that when a believer is truly grateful for the love they had received from Jesus Christ, which resulted in His death on the cross, this will result in unselfish living. Listen to these words again:
2 Corinthians 5:15:
15 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.
So, once you truly appreciate Christ's sacrifice, you will stop living for yourself, and in- stead, you will begin living for Jesus Christ. Once this decision becomes a reality, we should examine how we perceive or evaluate the people around us. This truth is indicated plainly by the words, "we regard no one according to the flesh."
Allow me to expound on what the apostle Paul meant with these words. You see, be- fore coming to know Jesus Christ, the way Paul perceived people was according to the flesh or according to the world's standards. I'm sure we are all quite familiar with this perception. For example, we often regard successful people by their wealth, education, and position.
If you read the last part of verse 16, Paul's perception of Jesus Christ before meeting Him personally on the road to Damascus was also according to the flesh. Perhaps, unlike Paul, who studied under Gamaliel, Jesus did not go through proper education, or Jesus was not a recognized teacher of the Scriptures, so he was easily perceived as a heretical teacher. As we all know, this false perception of Jesus Christ led Paul to persecute Christians before knowing Christ personally.
What is ironic is that the way he treated Jesus Christ and His followers is the same way he was treated by the people who wanted to destroy him and his ministry. Listen to what he conveyed in verses 12-13:
12 We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause 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.
13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.
His enemies judged him and his co-workers according to their outward appearance, not their hearts. Again, this type of judging is always according to the world's standards.
This type of judging reminded me of James' warning to the church in James 2 when he said:
1 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in,
3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, "You sit here in a good place," while you say to the poor man, "You stand over there," or, "Sit down at my feet,"
4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
The Bible obviously says we should stop judging people according to their outward ap- pearance or the world's standards. The new perspective is that we ought to see people ac- cording to how God sees them. There's no Jew or Gentile, no rich or poor, no slave or free, and no learned or unlearned. If they do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior, they are lost, hopeless, and condemned for their sins (Gal 2:6; 3:28). Pastor Adrian Rogers explains, "we regard no one according to the flesh," in this way:
Paul says, "I don't look at people as to whether they're big shots or little shots, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, weak, or strong, famous or non-famous or non-famous. That's all of the flesh. I see it as a soul for whom Jesus died."
How many of us share the same perspective? We need this perspective to have a greater urgency to share Jesus Christ with our friends and loved ones. Often, we tend to as- sume that if we could win someone important, then that would be great. But the fact is that all people are essential to God.
II THE POWER OF TRANSFORMATION (v. 17)
The second factor we need to emphasize from our main text is found in these beautiful words in verse 17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." To understand
these words better, we need to explain the phrase "in Christ" first. If you are
familiar with Paul's epistles, you would quickly realize that Paul used the
term "in Christ" or "in Him" repeatedly. For the entire New Testament, these
phrases are used about 180 times. And Paul used it around 143 times. Every
time Paul used it, the theological emphasis was the believers' union with Jesus Christ. The moment we know Jesus Christ as our Savior, we are immediately placed on Him and be- come united with Him.
To appreciate this union with Jesus Christ, we need to understand this doctrine accord- ing to the power that Jesus shares with the believer:
A. The Power of Complete Forgiveness (Positional)
One of the most incredible blessings we receive the moment we receive Jesus Christ is the complete forgiveness of our sins (past, present, and future). There is one verse from the same chapter that we could use here:
2 Corinthians 5:21:
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
The ultimate reason He died on the cross is so He can completely forgive us of our sins and give us the righteousness of God. He took our place, so His blood could thoroughly cleanse us from our sins. So, today, we stand before God, holy and righteous, as if Jesus were standing before Him!
B. The Power of Changed Life (Practical)
The second application of this power in Christ is linked with the phrase "new creation" in verse 17. This new creation is brought by the Holy Spirit, who regenerated us and gave us our nature in Christ. Listen to these words in Titus 3:5:
5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
The doctrine of regeneration, or being born again, is a precious teaching in the New Testament. It means our faith in Christ allowed the Holy Spirit to give us a new nature that is no longer in bondage to self and sin. The old nature we inherited from the first Adam was corrupted by sin. So, when we believed in Christ, we received this new nature that is attached to Jesus Christ and able to overcome sin's dominion over us.
Now, to avoid confusion, this verse does not suggest that the moment we get saved,
old habits, evil thoughts, and lustful desires are forever removed from us.
And we become practically new in and out. We know that this experience is
not true. Positionally that is true, but not in practice. However, we need to
be conscious that we are given a new nature that can give us the power to
overcome the old nature. Again, the key is found in the phrase “in Christ.” Let’s not forget that Jesus Christ is our partner in our Christian life. If a sinful habit dominates our lives today, we need to surrender it to Jesus and ask Him to help us overcome this specific sin. Let me quote Charles Colson when he said:
“Conversion may occur in an instant, but the process of coming from sinfulness into a new life can be a long and arduous journey.”
I totally agree. But we should always have the desire to be overcomers and not be de- ceived into thinking that we don't have what it takes to kick off harmful and destructive sinful habits. By God's grace, we can sin less and less each day until one-day perfection sets in at the coming of the Lord Jesus.
III THE POTENTIAL OF TRANSFORMATION
Lastly, I also want to emphasize that if we stop evaluating people according to the flesh, we can see every person as a potential candidate for divine transformation. I'm remind- ed again of what Pastor Adrian Rogers said:
"When we fish, we fish out of a beautiful life into death, but when we fish for men, we take men out of a horrible life into heaven, into a beautiful life."
These words should challenge us to have the confidence to share Jesus Christ with oth- ers. I know sharing Jesus Christ with others is hard. There's always the fear that we will be re- jected or mocked or the possibility of not knowing how to answer difficult questions when we are asked. But helping another person move out of a horrible and destructive life is always worth it.
Think about it – what if you didn't know Jesus Christ today? Where would you be? What kind of life would you have? I know without Jesus Christ, my life would be messy and miserable today. My life may not be perfect, but I know it is much more beautiful because of Jesus Christ. Let me continually challenge all of us to be more active in sharing Jesus Christ with others. Remember, if Jesus Christ is worth having, He is definitely worth sharing!
There is this song I love that reminds me of what I have gained in Christ. The title is Something Beautiful. The lyrics say:
If there ever were dreams
That was lofty and noble
They were my dreams at the start
And hope for life's best were the hopes
That I harbor down deep in my heart
But my dreams turned to ashes
And my castles all crumbled, my fortune turned to loss So I wrapped it all in the rags of life
And laid it at the cross.
Something beautiful, something good
All my confusion, He understood
All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife
But he made something beautiful of my life
Bishop Jeremiah Lepasana/November 27, 2022
