This Easter might turn out to be greater than any other Easter we’ve had before. It’s tempting to think that when we’re unable to do the ministry we think is awesome, God doesn’t do anything awesome. But that’s not the case. Often it is in times like these when God does His most awesome work.
For you, maybe this is normally the only Sunday you would have gone to church. Perhaps this is God’s way of getting your attention so He can speak to you.
This Easter, the main message is this: God is calling us to live a new way of life based on Jesus’ death and resurrection. You may believe in this, but is your life based on it? Does Christ’s death and resurrection motivate your decisions? Or is this belief tucked away and only brought out when you need it?
In 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, we see three things that this new life involves:
- a new perspective
- a new reality
- a new relationship
A New Perspective
For the apostle Paul, the Corinthians didn’t consider him to be a credible minister – he suffered a lot and wasn’t very flashy. Similarly, Christ looked humble and even seemed defeated by the cross. But Paul wanted the Corinthian Christians to see things differently. He wrote:
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.
– 2 Corinthians 5:16 (ESV)
Being a Christian involves a renewed perception. We don’t see things the same way we used to when we were non-Christians.
When you look at Jesus, who do you see? Do you see a teacher? Do you see a leader? Just a good man, influential person or historical figure? The fact is, non-Christians cannot see Jesus for who He truly is (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). But those who have been saved are able to see Jesus as the glorious, living Lord. As Christians, this is the new perception that characterizes our new life.
If you can’t see the glory of Jesus when you look at Him in His Word, ask God to change that. Just be honest – admit that you don’t see Jesus as someone worth building your life around – and God will answer that prayer.
A New Reality
The new life in Christ involves a new perspective. It also involves a new reality.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
– v. 17
That is a big IF at the beginning. You are a new creation if you are in Christ – if you are trusting and following Him as your personal Savior and Lord actively. It applies to you not if you accepted Him years ago and are now living your own way, but if you are trusting and following Him in an ongoing manner.
When you enter into a new life in Christ, it’s a dramatic change. You enter into a whole new reality. The old you has passed away and the new you has come. Before, Christ seemed either insignificant or a fraud. Now, He is seen as the Savior and Lord.
Christians and non-Christians really do live in completely different worlds. The biggest difference between these two worlds, though, is in relationships.
A New Relationship
Our new life in Christ involves a new perspective, a new reality and a new relationship.
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation …
– v. 18
None of what we have as Christians is from Paul, from super-Christians or from our local pastors. It’s all from God.
You are designed to be in relationship with God. He made you very carefully, and at the center of it all is the desire and need to be in relationship with Him. Without this, you’re living contrary to your God-given design. Life just doesn’t work without it.
The same way that COVID-19 has separated us from relationships with other people, sin separates us from God. We can’t be close to Him in our sinful state – so something must be done to fix this.
This is where Jesus Christ comes in.
Through the death and resurrection of Christ, God “reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” This is essentially what all of Christianity is about. It’s helping fellow Christians live in light of their reconciled relationship with God and helping non-Christians be reconciled to Him. This is also what Easter is all about. God wants us to be reconciled to Him and live in light of it.
How does this work?
… 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.
– v. 19
In order for us to be reconciled to God, someone had to pay the consequences. So God did. He absorbed the consequences of our sin through Christ. He paid the debt that we can’t pay so we can be right with Him.
Now you might think, “I’ve done such horrible things that I can’t possibly be reconciled to God. I’m way too sinful to be part of church.” But none of that is true. Everyone including Christians sin and fall short of God’s perfection (Romans 3:23). But God offers forgiveness and reconciliation through Christ so that we can be His children with Him as our Father.
And so Paul appeals to us in verses 20-21:
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to 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.
We are ambassadors for Christ. And on behalf of Him, we implore the world to be reconciled to God. He wants you to be in a right relationship with Him.
The question is . . .
Have you experienced that different perspective we discussed earlier? Have you experienced a new reality? And have you experienced a new, reconciled relationship with God?
Being reconciled to God is the basis for our new life in Christ. May we all truly and fully experience this.
