2 Corinthians 5:11-6:10 • Your Life Has Purpose
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What does Christ’s love compel you to do in your life? The engine that should drive our spiritual life is the overwhelming gratitude we should feel at the gracious love of God for us. We are the beloved. If you are not firmly grounded in that TRUTH, what motives are fueling your spiritual life? This is post #6 in the God-Dependent Woman blog series. In the last article, we looked at the purpose and reward for enduring life’s challenges as God-dependent women. This post covers 2 Corinthians 5:11-6:10. We will look at the gifts we receive from God as new creations in Christ, including having a new perspective of people and having a new purpose for life.
Life Is Hard but Full of Purpose
God has put His “light” treasure in your imperfect, easily broken and bruised body so that He can show His all-surpassing power in you and through you. He chooses to use every weakness of yours to demonstrate His strength when we give it over to Him and rely on Him more than on ourselves.
No one denies that life is hard. But it is full of purpose for you and for those whom you touch with your life. As the Spirit daily renews you from within (2 Corinthians 4:16), you can choose to view your struggles as Paul did—light and momentary—because you know for certain you have a pain-free, hardship-free, joy-filled forever future in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Seeing the face of Christ will make it all worth it!
New Perspective
With our future in mind, Paul wrote this,
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. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. (2 Corinthians 5:14-16)
Christ’s love compels us
To compel carries the idea of being carried along by an irresistible force. Picture a river being forced into a narrow canyon. The water and anything floating on it will be carried through that canyon with great energy.
The engine that should drive our spiritual life is the overwhelming gratitude we should feel at the gracious love of God for us. We are the beloved. If you are not firmly grounded in that TRUTH, what motives are fueling your spiritual life?
Christ’s love is the motivating factor for us to live for Him rather than for ourselves. What does Christ’s love compel you to do in your life? For me, it is presenting my day to Him so that I stay focused on what is truly important in life that contributes to living more for Him than for myself.. It is asking Him to lead me through it, being grateful more than fearful, and obedient more than haughty. It is also loving others well.
Regard no one from a worldly point of view
A worldly point of view means “according to the flesh.” It refers to the human perspective.
To look at Christ from a worldly point of view would be to think of Him as just a man, not God. He is dead and gone so His life is irrelevant now, certainly not Lord of all. One would be satisfied with self-sufficiency and having no need for Him.
The same applies to regarding people from a worldly point of view. This would be seeing people as the unbelieving world sees them. You would see only their mistakes and weaknesses, thinking that each one is just one of billions on this planet. You don’t see how God loves them but that they are nasty unbelievers who should be avoided. You would want God to smite them rather than save them.
Regard everyone from God’s point of view
The opposite to the worldly point of view would be God’s point of view. Jesus is God’s Son, the Christ promised to come and save us from ourselves. And God loves the people in this world.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:3-4)
God wants everyone to know Him truthfully, trust in Him, and live in obedience to Him. That is the right perspective. I like what Dr. Constable said about this,
Before his conversion, Paul had looked at people on a strictly physical basis, in terms of their ethnicity rather than their spiritual status—which was the merely human perspective. Now, whether a person was a believer or a non-believer was more important to him than whether he or she was a Jew or a Gentile. Paul had also formerly concluded that Jesus could not be the divine Messiah, in view of His lowly origin, rejection, and humiliating death. Now he recognized (knew) Him for who He really was, and what He really had done. (Dr. Constable’s Notes on 2 Corinthians 2017 Edition, p. 63)
God saves people and makes them new in His sight.
New Creation
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (2 Corinthians 5:17, NASB)
The gospel is an announcement to the world of an accomplished fact. What God set out to do for humanity, He accomplished. The apostles declared this from the time of Pentecost in Acts 2 and beyond.
Salvation is available on the basis of a single condition: faith (or “belief”). Belief is not just intellectual agreement that something might be true. Belief is a commitment of the will. It is the difference between walking alongside a pool of water (seeing it is there) and jumping into the water (experiencing the water personally). God acted. We are to respond to His action by saying yes to faith in Jesus Christ and jumping into the new life God has for us.
Made new
At the moment of salvation, every believer is made into something that never existed before then. In God’s eyes, you are now fused with Christ (Romans 6:5), one of God’s saints (2 Corinthians 1:1), adopted as His child (Romans 8:16; Galatians 3:26), permanently indwelt by His Spirit (John 14:16-17), and made a member of the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13).
Viewing every person as to whether they are in Christ already or needing to be introduced to Him changes our perspective about people (v. 16). And God is committed to the process of changing you (Philippians 1:6; 2:12-13).
Changed relationship with God
As a direct result of Christ’s finished work on the cross, our relationship with God is changed forever because of our faith in Jesus Christ. It is much more than having our sins forgiven and going to heaven when we die. So, it takes more than one word to describe what Jesus’s death on the cross accomplished for us. In fact, it takes 6 terms, and these are sometimes called the “words of the cross.” You may have heard them used at church or read them in your Bible. They are gifts we receive as new creations in Christ—Propitiation, Reconciliation, Redemption, Forgiveness, Justification, and Sanctification.
- Word of the Cross #1 Propitiation means that “God’s holy wrath against sin is fully satisfied.” Because you have trusted Christ and are now found in Christ, you can dwell on the fact that God is satisfied…no longer angry at your sin—ever!
- Word of the Cross #2 Reconciliation means that “your relationship with God is restored.” You can dwell on the fact that the barrier that separated you from God has been taken away. Because of your faith in Christ, your relationship with God is restored…no longer broken.
- Word of the Cross #3 Redemption means that “you are purchased out of bondage to sin and released into freedom to serve God.” You can dwell on the fact that you, as a believer, have been purchased by the blood of Christ out of slavery to sin. You are released…no longer in bondage to any entrapping sin.
- Word of the Cross #4 Forgiveness means that “Your guilt has been taken away.” Because you’ve trusted Christ and are now found in Christ, you can know and live with confidence that you’ve been forgiven…no longer burdened by your sin and guilt. Allow Jesus to cleanse your conscience from any residual guilt.
- Word of the Cross #5 Justification means that “you are declared righteous in God’s eyes.” You can dwell on the fact that you have been declared righteous (justified) and are now perfectly acceptable to a holy God based on your faith in His Son.
- Word of the Cross #6 Sanctification means to be “set apart as God’s possession for His exclusive use.” You can dwell on the fact that God declares you holy because of your faith in Christ. In His sight, you are perfected…no longer flawed. Your behavior matches this status when you submit to the Spirit’s work to intentionally separate you from what God calls sin and then commit yourself to being used for His purposes throughout your everyday life.
Do you see yourself the way God sees you? Or do you tend to allow the baggage of your past tell you who you are?
Rejoice, my friend, because of who you are in Christ as a new creation. Knowing THAT TRUTH is so much better than being swallowed up by the baggage that we carry around from our past or from what others place on us.
As one of my high school math teachers would say when moving a number from one side of the equal sign to the other,
“When you cross the river, you change your clothes.” (Mrs. Berger, High School algebra teacher)
It was totally God’s work to make us sinners acceptable again in His sight. Our proper response as new creations is one of love and gratitude as we live dependently on Him and let Him work in our lives. Part of our prosper response is to see the new purpose for our lives that He gives us.
Read “God’s Gospel Message” blog series describing these 6 terms in greater detail. Or listen to these podcasts which also describe these 6 terms: The Gifts of the New Creation, Part 1 and The Gifts of the New Creation, Part 2.
New Purpose
All this is from God, who 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. (2 Corinthians 5:18-20)
His ambassador
In spite of our frailties, God has put us to work as His ambassadors to the world relaying His message of reconciliation. God is the seeker! We are His messengers.
The role of an ambassador is to be an official representative of a sovereign or nation. An ambassador’s role is to represent her king or nation well. For us, that is representing both our God and His Church well and to deliver His messages to an audience truthfully. It is being that fragrant aroma of Christ, His living letter of recommendation, and God’s light-bearer to those around us.
Our message to the world is simple: “Be reconciled to God. God wants you. He’s not counting your sins against you once you trust in Christ. Come to Him for amnesty.”
Only one sin separates anyone from God permanently. That is rejecting His Son.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. (John 3:16-18)
One of the Holy Spirit’s jobs on earth is to convict people of their sin of unbelief regarding Jesus as the Son of God (John 16:8-9). Those who refuse to respond to the Holy Spirit’s leading are not saved.
In Mark 3:29, Jesus talks about blasphemy (slander) against the Holy Spirit.
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is this: “The malicious resistance against the Holy Spirit’s converting power after one is shown that Jesus is the Christ.”
It is like a line in the sand. Those who cross the line by believing in Jesus are saved. Those who refuse to cross and believe will be held accountable for their sin of unbelief and receive condemnation.
Reconciliation complete
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
This is the “Great Exchange.” When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned (Romans 5:12). We sin because we are sinners. At the cross, God made Him who knew no sin (Jesus) to be sin for us so that we could receive His righteousness as our own in place of our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21) forever.
Recall how Paul talked about having the treasure of the gospel in jars of clay (2 Corinthians 4:7). The treasure includes the message of reconciliation. You can know and live with confidence that the barrier of sin has been taken away and a bridge has been built between you and God because of Jesus’s finished work on the cross. This was God’s act of reconciliation offered to you and the reason He is no longer counting your sins against you (2 Corinthians 5:20). By believing in His Son, your relationship with God is restored…no longer broken.
How does that make you feel? Hopefully you feel happy, joyful, and relieved. Believe it, friend. Embrace it. Relish in it. Bask in it. Share it.
If you struggle believing your life has purpose, please visit youarebeautifultoo.com for encouragement.
Do my happiness, health, and blessings in life depend on obedience to God?
Now, to evaluate our saying for this blog. Saying to evaluate: “Your happiness and your health and your blessings in this life depend on your obedience to God!” True or false?
At first glance, you might think, “Yes, when you obey God, things go better in life.” Really? Would Paul agree with you?
Obedience to God does give us protection from some of the consequences of sin. But if happiness is based on good happenings, obedience does not guarantee that.
Paul and Silas were under so much pressure they despaired of life. They were hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down. Yet, Paul writes about continual joy in his life, not happiness from good happenings.
Consider health. Paul was certainly obedient to God and yet he had a physical ailment that tormented him and would not go away (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
What about blessings? Paul said in 2 Corinthians 6:3-10 that we are to respond to troubles in a godly manner. Godly people have troubles. And Paul considered all those difficult life situations as light and momentary troubles that had purpose and reward. He would have considered those God’s blessings because God’s hand allowed them. We would hardly call them blessings in our culture.
So this is a false teaching, slanted to making you feel guilty for lack of obedience to God if bad things happen to you. It is not biblical. Delete it from your social media thinking.
Reasons Why God Wants Us to Depend on Him More Than 0n Ourselves
From this passage, here are some reasons why God wants us to depend on Him more than on ourselves:
- So we can live for Him rather than for ourselves. (5:15)
- He’s made us into a new creation. (5:17)
- We are His ambassadors and speak for Him. (5:19-20)
- He exchanges our sin for Christ’s righteousness. (5:21)
- We are His servants. (6:4)
- So we respond to troubles in a godly manner. (6:4-9)
- Our lives influence others. (6:10)
In the next post, we will look at how to purify ourselves from that which contaminates us.
Let Jesus satisfy your heart with confidence that you can depend on Him. Then, live each day as a God-dependent woman!
All of the above information is covered in The God-Dependent Woman Bible Study of 2 Corinthians.
AI was not used to generate this post.