Verse 11. We looked at the first ten verses last
week. We talked about the idea that our earthly
dwelling is like a tent, Paul says. It's something
that's falling apart, it's wearing out, but we
look forward to something better. We look forward
to a day that we put on a... better dwelling,
that we dwell in the presence of the Lord in
a building, it says. We're moving from a tent
to a building, something that's being destroyed
to something that's indestructible, so to speak,
something that's eternal. And so Paul says, look,
this is what keeps me going. This is my focus.
This is my motivation to know that even though
this old body is being wore out, I'm going to
keep doing the work of the Lord until I go to
be with the Lord. And then he closed in the last
verse that we looked at last week with this idea
that we would all one day stand before the judgment
seat of Jesus Christ and to determine whether
the works we have done and the words we have
spoken, if they are good or if they are worthless,
if they are good or if they are bad. Tonight,
we will continue on with that idea in 2 Corinthians
5, verse 11. Let's pray, and then we'll start.
God, we thank you for your word. I pray that
you would help us to grow in your word, dear
Lord, that we would follow Paul's example, God,
that we would have a focus that is beyond the
things that we see in this world, but that our
faith would just strengthen us to continue to
serve you, even if we don't. Don't see things
the way that we want to see them, dear Lord,
even if they don't always make sense, even if
life is sometimes difficult, dear Lord. I pray
that we would trust you in everything that we
do, and I pray that we'd be faithful to you.
I pray that your Holy Spirit would be among us
tonight and just guide me in the words to say
and help us all to hear your words. In Jesus'
name I pray it. Amen. Verse 11. Therefore, now
keep in mind, therefore he just talked about
standing before the judgment seat of Christ so
that each may be repaid for what he has done
in body, whether good or worthless. Therefore,
because we know the fear of the Lord, we seek
to persuade people. We are completely open before
God, and I hope we are completely open to your
conscience as well. So with this in mind, the
fact that one day we will all have to stand before
God, Paul says, this is my motivation. We know
the fear of the Lord. We know what it's going
to be like to stand before the Lord in judgment.
And so we want to make sure that we are serving
the Lord and living in obedience to him. But
not only ourselves, we want to make sure that
we're doing the work so that others will hear.
So that they will know that the things that we
do and the things that we say and the things
that we think, the things that are in our heart,
one day will come to light. One day we will have
to stand before the Lord. And that should strike
some fear into us. It does Paul here. He says,
we know the fear of the Lord, and the fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the Proverbs
tells us. And so Paul recognizes that. Hey, this
is a serious thing that we need to consider,
that our actions are going to have consequences,
that one day we'll have to answer to God for
what we do. And so he says, we seek to persuade
people. That is to persuade people to follow
Jesus Christ, to persuade people to repent of
their sins, to follow God, to live in obedience
to him. He says we are completely open before
God, and I hope we are completely open to your
consciousness as well. I think what he's saying
there is, look, God sees everything that we're
doing. He knows that we're doing what is good.
And we hope that you guys see that what we're
doing is good. It's the work of God that you
would listen to us. You may remember. early in
the book, or throughout the book, really, up
to these first few chapters. Paul seems like
he's kind of trying to make a defense for himself,
that there are some others that are teaching,
and that some of the other teachings and some
of the other people may be questioning Paul and
those who are with him and their teachings. And
Paul is saying, look, we've done the Lord's work.
You can look at the way we've been living, the
way we've been treating you, the things that
we've been saying. This is from the Lord. The
Lord sees that what we're saying is good. He
approves of that. And we hope that in your conscience
that you too, if you just think about it, that
you'll know, that you'll realize, that you'll
understand that the words that we are saying
are of the Lord. And so pay attention to those
who are teaching, I think Paul is saying. Look
at their life. Look at what they're teaching.
And pray to the Lord and let the Lord help you
to be able to discern what is good and what is
not good. And I think what Paul says here, look,
we're doing the Lord's work. And so let your
conscience be your guide to decide whether or
not we are really of the Lord or not. And of
course, Paul and those who are with him were
certainly doing the Lord's work. He says in verse
12, we are not commending ourselves to you again.
but giving you an opportunity to be proud of
us. Now, we have this idea of Paul commending
himself, talking about a letter of recommendation.
We saw that earlier in the book, that he shouldn't
need a letter of recommendation. He shouldn't
have to write a letter of recommendation, that
the people of Corinth have seen his work. They've
seen his heart. They've seen his love for God.
They've seen his devotion and the beatings and
the suffering that he's gone through to do the
Lord's work. And that should speak for itself.
He shouldn't have to go back before these people
and say, oh, y 'all listen to me. What he's saying
is, look, y 'all have seen the way that I have
lived my life. And here he's not bragging. He's
not trying to draw attention to himself. And
he says that. We are not commending ourselves
to you again. But he's making a point. He's doing
this for a purpose, and he says, but giving you
an opportunity to be proud of us so that you
may have a reply for those who take pride in
the outward appearance rather than in the heart.
And so it appears as though there are some who
are there, and in whatever ways, they are much
more appealing to people. Maybe they look better.
Maybe they speak more eloquently. And maybe Paul
is kind of looked down upon because maybe he's
always being imprisoned and he's always being
beaten and probably not much to look at. And
some people have written Paul off. But he says,
look, I'm telling you these things. I'm talking
in this way so that you can know that you can
be proud of me, that you can be proud of us,
that we have done the Lord's work. Because there
are some among you who are going to try to attack
us and who are going to come against you and
going to come against us and say, well, you're
not following Paul, are you? Look at this other
teacher over there. Look at how much better they
speak or look at how much better they look or
how much better they're dressed or whatever the
thing was that was going on. Paul says, look,
I want you to look at the work we do so you'll
have something to be proud of so that you'll
have an opportunity to refute what they say.
And what he says is, is that have a reply for
those who take pride in the outward appearance
rather than in the heart. And so there are certainly
people that can look apart. But what really matters
is our heart. The same is true for us, too. Now,
we can look apart. We can try to look like Christians,
and we can say all the cool church words, and
we can say all the Christian -y stuff, and we
can go to church, but the outward appearance
is not what matters. It's what's in the heart
that matters. Now these other teachers that may
have been around in Corinth, they may have had
a good appearance. They may could have drew a
crowd, and they may could have spoken some good
words, but their heart was not right. We see
the same idea when we see David being anointed
as king, and Samuel's supposed to go and pick
one of Jesse's sons, and the first one he picks
is the best looking, the tallest, the strongest,
the best looking, and Samuel says, this has got
to be the guy. But what we see in that scripture
is God does not look at outward appearance. God
looks at the heart. And that's what Paul is trying
to get his audience to see here. Look, don't
write us off just because we might not be as
good in some ways as these other teachers. But
look at the heart of what we've been doing and
the way that we have been serving God. That's
what really matters more than anything else.
more than how we look or any of those kind of
things, is what does our heart look like? Verse
13. For if we are out of our mind, it is for
God. If we have a sound mind, it is for you.
Now, there's... Certainly lots of discussion
that can be had on that verse. It may be translated
a little different. Some of your translations
may say, if I'm beside myself or something along
those lines. But I think what Paul is saying
is this. If we are out of our mind, was Paul
out of his mind? Well, certainly not. But there
certainly would have been some that probably
thought Paul was out of his mind. He may have
even got carried away sometimes. Sometimes preachers
do that. They may get passionate about something
they're talking about. There may even be some
problems and they really get excited and preach
in a way that's pretty tough and pretty stern
sometimes. And to many in the community, perhaps
it looked like Paul was a madman. Maybe the other
preachers were a lot more smooth talking and
a lot more calm. And Paul comes in there and
he's really preaching hard. And to some, it may
have appeared that Paul was a madman. They may
have even said, look, this dude is crazy. And
so Paul says, for if we are out of our mind,
if I'm crazy, if I'm mad, it's for God. If anybody
says that Paul has gone crazy, then you just
know that whatever I'm doing, I'm doing it for
the Lord. And if they think I'm crazy, then so
be it. I'm going to keep doing it because I'm
not doing it for them. I'm doing it because this
is what God has called me to do. So if some think
he's crazy, if some think he's out of his mind,
he says, so be it. I'm doing it for the Lord.
But he says, If we have a sound mind, it is for
you. And so it's in the eye of the beholder.
There are some people who look at Paul and say,
this dude is out of his mind. And they go on
about their business. Paul says, I don't care.
I'm still doing the Lord's work. But he says,
if you're listening to what we're saying and
that you think we have a sound mind, then that's
good. Because the message that we're preaching,
it's for you. So if you don't write us off as
crazy, if you don't think we're crazy like the
rest of them, then praise the Lord. Because we
are persuaded to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ
to you. And so you need to listen to us. And
perhaps that's the same way. the same thing we
experience in our world today. Sometimes there
are Christians that are looked down upon by the
rest of the world as the message of Christianity
and the cross and Jesus Christ is craziness.
Well, so be it. All we can do is preach the gospel
of Jesus Christ. Some will accept it. Some will
reject it. Some will write us off as a bunch
of crazy religious folks. They'll say, oh, there's
no God. There's no such thing as Jesus. All that
stuff's a bunch of junk. All of us are crazy
for coming week after week. So be it. They think
we're crazy. But we keep coming. Why? Because
we know it's true. Because we trust in the Word
of God. We know God is the creator of all things.
We know Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We know
that there is no forgiveness of sins apart from
Jesus Christ. And so we continue to serve the
Lord, even if some think we're crazy. But there
are others who are going to hear that gospel,
who are going to see the love that we show to
them in the community, and they're going to see
that love of Jesus Christ, and it's going to
be appealing to them. They don't think we're
crazy. And praise the Lord. The message that
we're preaching, the things that we do, the things
that we talk about, all the things that we're
trying to point them to in Jesus Christ, then
they're going to draw to those things. And that's
what Paul said. Some will think we're crazy.
So be it. We're going to serve God. But for those
who seek and don't think we're crazy, then that's
good news because the message that we preach
is for them. Verse 14. For Christ's love compels
us. Now that's a good verse right there. For
Christ's love compels us. compels us. Now some
of your translations may say controls us or something
along those lines, but it's the love of Jesus
Christ that forces them, that pushes them as
if they don't even have a choice. They've experienced
the love of Jesus Christ and it's changed their
life and so much they can't not tell people about
Jesus. Now that's the kind of transformation
that we need to have. That's the kind of relationship
we need to have with God. That's how we need
to view Jesus Christ. We need to be so in love
with Jesus that we cannot help but promote that
love and share that love with other people. And
so he says, for Christ's love compels us to do
this work that they're doing. But the question
we have to answer in our life is what compels
us? What's compelling us today? What's driving
us? Is it to follow Jesus Christ? Is it to follow
the Word of God? Is it to tell other people about
Jesus Christ? Is it to love other people and
help other people? Is that what drives us? Is
there something else in our life that drives
us? Is there something else that we tend to gravitate
toward? And that kind of steers what we're going
to do in our life. Well, for Paul, he says what
compels him is the love of Jesus Christ. And
that should be what compels us too. We should
be compelled by love. Since we have reached this
conclusion, if one died for all, then all died.
And he died for all so that those who live should
no longer live for themselves, but the one who
died for them and was raised. Okay, so here's
the thought. We are compelled, the Christ love
compels us, and therefore we've reached this
conclusion. Christ died for all and we have died
in Christ. And so a change occurs once we recognize
that Jesus has died for us and we put our faith
in him and we repent of our sins and he becomes
the Lord of our life. There should be a change
in our life. There cannot be two Lords in our
life. There can only be one. Now we have to decide
what that Lord of our life is going to be. Maybe
it's going to be Jesus Christ. Maybe he's going
to be our Lord. But maybe our Lord's going to
be our wealth. Or maybe our Lord's going to be
our material things. Maybe our Lord's going to
be our family. Or maybe our Lord's going to be
our friends. Or maybe our Lord's going to be
our job. I mean, it's a million things. But whoever
our Lord is, or whatever our Lord is, is what's
going to drive the decisions that we make in
life. And so if money is our Lord, then every
decision we make is going to be how can I get
more money? If material gain is our Lord, then
everything we're going to do is going to be how
can I get more material gain? But if Jesus is
our Lord, then we're going to say how can I serve
Jesus and love him and tell others about him
so that they can experience his love? And so
Paul says here, look. We are compelled by the
love of Jesus Christ. We know that he died for
us and that we died in him when we chose him
and we will be raised to life. And therefore,
he says, those who live should no longer live
for themselves, but for the one who died for
them and was raised. So who are we living for?
That's a good question. Who are we living for?
Now, it's hard as human beings because we're
just selfish by birth. We just want for ourself.
We think about ourself. Everything we do, we
kind of live for ourself. And that's a hard thing
to allow someone else to be the Lord of our life.
But if we are Christians, then that is the decision
that we have made. We have acknowledged the authority
of Jesus Christ, and we have made him the Lord
of our life. That is to say we are going to follow
what his commands are, not to live for ourselves.
And that's a hard thing to do because we want
to live for ourselves. I suspect there's a lot
of people who have not followed Jesus Christ
for that reason because they read the words of
Jesus and they don't want to follow Jesus. They
don't want to do the things that Jesus said.
They like to be the Lord of their own life. But
Paul says it's not true of the Christian. Of
the Christian, we don't live for ourselves. Once
we put our faith in Jesus Christ, the one who
has died for us that we have died to, then we
live, we have a new life in Christ, and therefore
we seek to live for him. We no longer live for
ourselves, but for the one who died for them
and was raised. So who are we living for? Maybe
you're living for the Lord well today. Maybe
you know you should be, but you're not. Maybe
you never have. Maybe we've done a good job of
playing the part. Maybe we've come to church
a lot. Maybe we look like a Christian on the
outside, but maybe we're some of those people
that Paul is talking about that our heart is
not right. Maybe we fooled other people. Maybe
we fooled ourselves. Maybe we realize tonight
that we have not been living for the Lord. But
we've been living for ourselves. Well, there's
good news. Jesus died for you. He died for every
one of us so that our sins could be forgiven.
If we would only repent tonight and trust in
him, if we would only make him the Lord of our
life and say, God, I'm not going to live for
myself. I'm not going to live for these other
gods that I have put in my life, but I'm going
to make Jesus Christ my Lord so that I can live
for him and serve him. That needs to be our goal
and our desire. If you've never trusted Jesus,
you need to trust him. If you are a follower
of Jesus, then we need to make sure that he is
the Lord of our life. Let's pray. God, we come
to you. We thank you for these words. And I pray
that you'd help us to wrestle with them, dear
Lord, because maybe there are some things in
our life that have taken the spot of where Jesus
should be. Maybe we have made some other things
in our life the Lord of our life. Maybe we've
been trying to be the Lord of our own life. Maybe
we've been selfish to do things our way. Maybe
we are reluctant to hand over power, dear Lord,
but that's what you call us to, to give everything
to Jesus. God, to give our burdens and our sins
and everything, dear Lord, and seek to follow
His command, to follow His example. And so I
pray that you would help us to do that tonight,
that you would help us to know Jesus for those
who may not, and that you would help us to follow
him as the Lord of our life. In Jesus' name I
pray it. Amen.