New Creations - Himalayan Heights - April 26 Readings: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 – Reconciled

Himalayan Heights: 2 Corinthians 4-5

All Scripture is God-breathed and useful, but there are some Scriptures that we can consider the Himalayan mountaintops of the Bible. In the next few months, we will be looking at a series of great texts that inspire and move us - the "Himalayan Heights" of God's Word.

Today's Reading:  2 Corinthians 4-5

If you have time, 2 Corinthians  4-5. Our focus passage today is 2 Corinthians 5:16-21. Meditate on it carefully. Though I have called Romans 8 the Mt. Everest of Scriptures, there are not many 6-verse sections of Scripture that have this much meat!

16 From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! 18 Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” 21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Through the Bible Readings: 1 Samuel 11-12, Luke 17:1–19, Psalm 51:15–19, Proverbs 11:23-24

If you wish to read through the Bible in a year, follow these readings. 

Devotional: New Creations

There are so many gems in this short passage, it is difficult to settle on one for a devotional. So why not just do a roll call of great truths?

1. In verse 16, Paul reminds us not to look at people from a worldly perspective. We are eternal creatures and we need to view people in eternal terms. When we speak of worldly, we tend to think of sinful things, but that is not what Paul is talking about here. He is referring to a perspective that regards this world and its rewards, it goals, its pleasures, and its things as of highest importance. We must live for eternity and see people from an eternal perspective.

2. This eternal perspective begins with our rebirth in Christ, when we are made new creatures. There is no concept in the New Testament of an unchanged Christian. When we come to Christ it doesn't just change our lives, but gives us a radical new life in him - one in which Christ is our Lord and the Spirit is our source of power.

3. Because we have been made new in Christ, and we have been reconciled to God, we now the ministry of reconciliation. It is our highest duty to tell people that they can be right with God. The focus of evangelism in the Bible is different than ours. When we present the gospel, it is usually in terms of where we will go when we die. That is important, of course, but that is not what the NT Gospel keys on. Our biggest problem is that TODAY we are separated from God and under his judgment for sin. Jesus died not just to take us somewhere when we die, but to reconcile us to God today. Our job is to tell people they can be right with God today.

4. We are ambassadors - a key concept. An ambassador is a representative of one country living in a foreign nation. That is hard for us patriotic Americans to process at times, but this world, and even our beloved nation, is not our true home. We are citizens of heaven and represent our king here on earth. Our highest duty is to serve him!

5. All of this is rooted in the beautiful truth taught in verse 21. Jesus never knew sin - he was the pure and holy Son of God. But he BECAME sin for you and me. On the Cross he took all the sins of all the world for all of time and became sin, standing in our place and receiving our punishment. Because he did that, sinners such as you and me, people who deserve death and hell, can become the righteousness of God. He became sin so we could become the righteousness of God.

Anyone up for a chorus of the doxology?

Father, I thank you for Jesus who became sin so that I could be reconciled to you and become righteous in your eyes. Thank you for making me a new creation. May I be an ambassador for you, serving your interests in this world and a minister of reconciliation. 

Think and Pray:

Think through each of the five truths spelled out above.

• Do you look at people from a worldly or heavenly perspective? 
• Have you been made new in Christ and are you walking in Christ's newness? 
• Are you a minister of reconciliation in this sinful world? 
• Are you a good ambassador for Christ in this sinful world? Is heaven your first loyalty? 
• Praise the one who became sin so that you could become the righteousness of God.