To the Glory of God Alone

if the Lord’s people would take
their Bibles and turn to 2 Corinthians. I’m not lost. I haven’t forgotten
that we haven’t finished 1 Corinthians. Soli Deo Gloria, to the glory
of God alone, that was one of the great cries of the Reformation.
And that cry was, of course, very much an echo of Paul’s admonition
in 1 Corinthians 10 31, that we are to do all to the glory
of God. All of life is to be an opportunity
of bringing more and greater glory to God, including and especially
in the Christian ministry. But it would be a colossal mistake
to assume that just because we’re engaged in ministry, or think
we’re engaged in ministry, that somehow God is inherently glorified. Some ministries are positively
a dishonor to the Lord. And so we have to ask, how do
we know Whether or not our respective ministry is truly God-honoring,
how do we know if it truly glorifies God and Him alone? And so this
morning, I’d like to take us to Paul’s second epistle to the
Corinthians, not only in acknowledgement of our missionary guests here
this morning, but also in keeping with the messages preached here
the last three weeks. Would God’s people please turn
to 2 Corinthians 2 and scroll down, if you would please, to
verse 12. Rather than reading the entirety
of the plan this morning, which includes almost four chapters
of scripture, I’m going to take it piecemeal as we go. And if
you would, just glance at those first two verses. Now, when I
came to Troas for the gospel of Christ, when a door was opened
for me in the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, not finding
Titus, my brother. but taking my leave of them,
I went on to Macedonia.” Here, in the middle of chapter two,
verse 12, Paul concludes the formalities and he gets to the
heart of this epistle. He opens here with a discussion
of not merely his ministry, but the Christian ministry itself.
And he provides not merely his itinerary, but much more the
divine ordering of it. Paul’s whole life purpose in
the gospel was the gospel, the message of salvation through
Jesus Christ, and he speaks here of an open door, an opportunity
given by God’s sovereign providence. Notwithstanding, Paul is looking
for Titus. He’s seeking to discover, learn
of a report about the Corinthian church. Paul was so burdened
about these people that he was distracted even from the very
successful season of ministry in which he was engaged. And
yet, even in the midst of this, God’s work was flourishing, even
though Paul was distracted. And so he proclaims a series
of truths to the Corinthians. He presents to them the firm
foundation of the Christian ministry. Would you please glance down
at verse 14, where the first element of the firm foundation
of gospel ministry is embedded in those words in 14 through
16. First and foremost, the ministry of the gospel is a sure revelation
of Jesus Christ. It’s a sure revelation of Jesus
Christ. That is the ministry. Look at
verse 14, but thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph
in Christ and manifest through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge
of him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ
to God among those who are being saved and among those who are
perishing. To one, an aroma of death to
death, and to the other, an aroma from life to life. Paul rejoices
in the favor supplied to him by God, even in the face of distress
about his Corinthian church. God, he says effectively, was
constantly blessing his ministry. It was a triumph in Christ. Many
souls were being won for Christ. Churches were being established.
Lives were being touched and transformed by the gospel. the language that Paul uses remarkably
here, he says that in preaching the gospel, God spread an aroma,
a fragrance of Christ. Even in the face of earthly difficulty,
struggle, frustration, heartaches, challenges, the gospel was going
out and people could, spiritually speaking, smell the fragrance
of Christ. It was a powerful and penetrating
aroma. The gospel was pervasive. It
was being disseminated by these believers who went about preaching
Christ The fragrant aroma of the gospel was wafting through
the entire region. The gospel was having its intended
effect, but perhaps most surprising of all to Paul was that God was
using him and others. Friends, God has chosen to work
through us, but ministry isn’t about us. It isn’t because of
us. It is due to the manifold grace
of God, and yet God does use us. In the end, however, whatever
relative success we may ever enjoy is due not to us, but to
the power of the gospel. Seizing upon this amazing metaphor
that he’s introduced about the aroma of the gospel, Paul highlights
a very sobering truth. Would you glance at verse 15?
For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being
saved and among those who are perishing.
To the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma
of life to life. One of the most frightening and
solemn truths of all is this, if God’s word does not quicken,
it must deaden. When we open our mouths to share
Christ with people, people are either drawn closer to God or
they are repelled further from him. To some, the message of
Jesus Christ is welcomed exactly as that which they know they
need. He is the loving Savior who has
already paid for their sin. To others, however, He is brushed
off as irrelevant, an intrusion into their lives. Either way,
the aroma of Christ is pervasive. When we faithfully and accurately
share the gospel, our effort is effective, even if it is not
fruitful from a human perspective. It’s no wonder that Paul asks
there at the end of verse 16, who is adequate for these things?
Paul knew that there was nothing inherently in him that equipped
him to preach a message that had the capacity to both heal
and kill, to awaken some for heaven and deaden others for
hell. Such a realization for the natural
mind would be impossible to bear. Paul was no better than anyone
else. No true servant of God is. In and of himself, he was
not adequate. And the next verse, verse 17,
goes on to tell us that Paul’s adequacy was that he spoke God’s
word. On God’s behalf and in God’s
full view, would you look there at verse 17? For we are not like
many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as
from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God. Paul lays
hold of a contrast here between those who mishandle the gospel,
those who seek, and those who seek to honor God in every aspect
of it. There are some, Paul says, who
think that they are self-adequate, and they go about carelessly
peddling God’s word, pardon me, they go about carelessly
peddling their own message, not God’s. They don’t think that
God’s message is good enough And so they improvise. And their
motives are impure. Paul speaks of it here when he
mentions peddling, indicating that financial gain is their
real motive. For their part, Paul and his
companions, however, preached with the awareness that they
were in full view of Almighty God. We speak in Christ in the
sight of God. They operated with integrity.
accurately and passionately preaching the good news of Christ. It was
God’s message, not their own. Theirs was not to improvise,
but to faithfully declare the gospel. And Paul’s ministry bore
every mark of genuineness. So the first foundational element
of gospel ministry is that it is a sure revelation of Christ. In the opening verses of chapter
three, Paul quickly dispels the notion that he was either boasting,
congratulating himself, or that he needed to pad his resume with
their accolades. It is the overwhelming success
of the Christian ministry and nothing of personal success that
is in view here. And in verses four through six,
we come to the second foundational element of gospel ministry. Just
glance down at verses four through six. Such confidence we have
through Christ toward God, not that we are adequate in ourselves
to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy
is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new
covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit, for the letter
kills, but the spirit gives life. The ministry of the gospel, secondly,
is carried by divinely fitted conduits. Here Paul speaks of the unbounded
ability to do such work as God had done in the lives of the
Corinthian people. This is what gave Paul such an
utterly optimistic outlook. He had seen God do it again and
again. Paul was confident, not in himself,
but in the power of the gospel. Would you find your way down
to verse 14 just for a moment? down to verse 14, and you see
there that Paul speaks of God’s work in elevated language. Look at this, verse 14, thanks
be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ and manifests
through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him. What a
fantastic thought. Paul was a conduit, but he was
a conduit for the very life-giving gospel. Look also just a few
verses later at verse 17, where Paul says, as from sincerity,
but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God. We
are nothing, nothing more than a conduit. Paul’s confidence
was not in himself. It wasn’t in his learning, his
oratorical skills. His confidence grew directly
out of observing the power of the gospel at work in people’s
lives. He had no need of boasting or
bravado. He had no need of commendatory
statements on behalf or by others. Paul knew that he was in the
service of Almighty God, whose power was regularly on display
in his ministry. His confidence was, as he put
it, through Christ toward God. In a very real and humbling sense,
it had nothing to do with Paul. He was merely a conduit for God’s
power. In chapter four, verse seven,
just listen, Paul will go on to explain that we have this
treasure in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness
of the power will be of God and not from ourselves. He gives
us these clunky clay pots and pours through us the powerful
message of the gospel, salvation by faith in Christ. Paul was
overwhelmingly confident, not only in the power of the gospel,
but in the assurance that God himself had called and fitted
himself to this task. To acknowledge such is not arrogance. This is effectively what he says
in verse four through five. Revert back, if you would, to
verse four. where he speaks of this as through Christ to God,
but in verse five, he strips away all doubt and he humbly
declares this. Not that we are adequate in ourselves
to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy
is from God, who made us adequate as servants of a new covenant.
Remember this uncomfortable question that Paul asked a moment ago
at the end of chapter two, who is adequate for these things?
How can we possibly wrap our heads around preaching a message
that saves some and damns others? This is his answer, nobody. Nobody is adequate for that.
Nobody, no man in and of himself is adequate. He says that our
adequacy is from God, if at all. Anyone tasked with so weighty
a task as preaching the gospel, an aroma of death or life, must
be fitted to the task by God himself. Paul knew that he was
a piece of pipe. Essentially, a conduit through
which flowed the message of the gospel, the power of God for
salvation. In such a servant, there will
be humility and meekness. In and of himself, he is nothing,
but in the hands of the God of redemption, he is equipped for
God’s use. He is the means of disseminating
a glorious message of the Savior. What a fantastic calling this
is, this seemingly worthless piece of pipe made useful by
the hands of his master. How could Paul concern himself
at all with what others thought of him, for good or for ill? Only such a person is adequate. Whatever fitness or sufficiency
or capability or strength or knowledge or opportunity, anything
that a person has in the service of Christ is God-given. It was
God. It’s always God who fits individuals
for the work of ministry. It isn’t talent, it isn’t wealth,
it isn’t good looks, denominational affiliation, or even superior
theological training. It’s God that makes the man. It’s God who prepares and gifts
and empowers and enables. It’s all God. And so, the first
foundational element of gospel ministry is that it is a sure
revelation of Christ, and the second is that it is carried
forth by divinely fitted conduits. And there’s yet a third element
of gospel ministry. And in the remaining portion
of verse six, the apostle points out that as a conduit for God’s
use, he was for use in a wholly new and different kind of ministry,
a new covenant, a ministry no longer of the letter, which kills,
but a ministry of the life-giving spirit. And it is, of course,
it’s a contrast between the Mosaic Covenant, on the one hand, and
the New Covenant, not of the law, the letter, but of the gospel,
the regenerating ministry of the Spirit of God. Paul takes
up this subject, and so do we in verse seven, point number
three. Point number three there is the
third foundation of gospel ministry. Not only is the ministry of the
gospel a sure revelation of Christ, carried forth by divinely fitted
conduits, but thirdly, it is attended with the very glory
of God. This is such an incredible point
that Paul makes. Look at verse seven, coursing
down through verse 11. But if the ministry of death,
in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the
sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses
because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how will the
ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For
if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the
ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed what had
glory in this case has no glory. because of the glory that surpasses
it. For if that which fades away was with glory, how much more
that which remains in glory. In these verses, seven through
11, Paul sets forth a contrast. He’s contrasting the law, the
ministry of Moses, with the gospel. the ministry of the spirit through
Jesus Christ. Paul sets forth this contrast
between the law and the spirit, and he strikingly describes the
ministry of the law. Would you just listen to this
review? Follow along if you wish. In verse three, he speaks of
it as engraved on stones. How lifeless is that? He speaks
of it in verse seven as the ministry of death. How endearing is that? He speaks of it in verse nine
as the ministry of condemnation. The law commanded, do this and
you will live. But no one who has ever lived
has met that demand. No one has ever lived according
to the law. When the law calls men to life,
it ultimately kills because no one can live up to it. And all
stand therefore condemned. So the law then is the ministry
of death. The law not only lays down the
law, but it indicts and condemns all who fall short. Deuteronomy
27, 26, cursed is everyone who does not abide by all the things
written in the book of the law. The law never saved anyone because
no one has ever been able to live up to the law perfectly.
It only condemns because it holds men to a divine standard, the
righteousness of God. And so the law is the ministry
of death and condemnation, and yet Paul says of it, quite astoundingly,
that this ministry came with glory. It was a glorious ministry. Think of Moses on Mount Sinai
with all of those theophanies, a pillar of fire and Moses’ glowing
face and the burning bush. All of those were manifestations
of God’s glory. The ministry of the law bore
the signs of glory. And Paul illustrates this at
the conclusion of verse seven with the episode recorded in
Exodus 34, where Moses’ face, remember, exhibited the reflection
of God’s glory. It was so bright that the people
were unable to look at it, and Moses began to veil his face. But the glory of Moses’ face
was only symbolic of the greater glory of God attending his ministry. In other words, it wasn’t just
the brightness of Moses’ face that testified of glory, it was
the whole ministry of the law. But Paul here under the direction
of the Holy Spirit indicates that Moses’ glory was a fading
glory. The ministry of the law was a
fading glory. It was transient, it was passing,
it was this glory on Moses’ face effectively wore off in time,
and eventually Moses himself even passed away. But as part
of his ongoing contrast between the law and the gospel, Paul
boldly challenges, look at verse seven, that if the ministry of
death came with glory, and it did, Then verse 8, how will the
ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? This new ministry, this ministry
of God’s only begotten Son, God incarnate in human flesh, the
righteousness of God, the salvation of sinners, this new ministry
is attended with God’s glory. In fact, Paul says it abounds
with glory. And so great is the glory of
the gospel that as Paul tells us in verse 10, it is as if the
ministry of the law never had any glory at all. Whatever glory
it once had is gone, faded, forgotten. The ministry of the gospel exceeds
in glory. Because it is a ministry of the
Holy Spirit in the lives of sinners. It’s a ministry of life. It’s
a ministry of grace. It’s a ministry of salvation.
It’s a ministry of justification. It satisfies the law’s demands. And therefore it supersedes the
law. The glory attending the ministry of the law was fleeting. But the glory attending the gospel
is permanent, it’s forever, it’s eternal. And so we have this ministry
of the gospel firmly established on this firm foundation. The
ministry of the gospel is a sure revelation of Christ, it’s carried
by divinely fitted conduits, and it’s attended with the very
glory of God. I’m not even close to being finished.
What do we do with all that? What do we do with this truth
that the ministry is attended with the glory of God? Paul applies
it. He applies it over the course
of the next several chapters, three, four, and five. Over the
course of these next chapters, Paul unfolds the glorious nature
of the Christian ministry. And he says that God alone is
glorified in the true ministry of the gospel. Glory is a major theme in these
chapters. Let me just take you on a brief,
and I mean very brief, flyover over these verses. Paul unfolds
the glorious nature of the Christian ministry in verse 3, 8. Chapter
3, verse 8, he’s already alluded to it. The ministry of the Spirit
came with glory, the ministry of righteousness. In 3, 18, he
speaks of beholding the glory of the Lord, and later on in
that verse, transformed from glory to glory. It only gets
more and more glorious for the child of God. In chapter four,
verse four, he speaks of the light of the gospel of the glory
of Christ. In chapter four, verse six, he
speaks of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Christ. Chapter four, verse 15, he speaks
of grace that it may cause the giving of thanks to abound to
the glory of God. Glory is a major theme. Basically what Paul does here is he will make four applications
of that foundation that he’s laid. And he does it by means
of four therefore statements. Because of all that Paul has
declared there in 212 through 311, the ministry of the gospel
is a sure revelation of Christ, carried forth by divinely fitted
conduits, attended with the very glory of God. Because of all
of that, Paul draws four conclusions. God alone is glorified, first
of all, when we boldly proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Would you look at verse 12? Chapter 3, verse 12. Therefore,
having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech. Because of the solidness of the
foundation on which the gospel stands, we boldly proclaim the
gospel. This is not merely an openness
about our Christianity, about the gospel. There is an outright
boldness when we speak openly and eagerly and confidently. We are not timid. We are not
ashamed. We courageously declare that
Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation, faith alone, in
Christ alone. By contrast, would you glance
at verse 13? We are not like Moses, who used
to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would
not look intently at what was fading away. Paul here, of course,
is contrasting the new ministry, the ministry of the gospel, with
the old, the ministry of the pure law. The ministry of Moses,
a ministry obscured by shadows and mystery, veiled and covered
over five times, it says in this short section. Listen to this.
The veil covering Moses’ face, again from Exodus 34, it was
a fading transitory ministry. The veil separating the Shekinah
glory of the Holy of Holies. and a continued veil over Israel’s
heart, preventing a saving understanding of Christ. This is contrasted
with the ministry of Christ’s gospel, manifesting all of God’s
glory. We can see it. It’s a message which he boldly
proclaimed. Dear saints, we cannot shy away
from a clear proclamation of the gospel. We cannot cover it
over by worldly means. We cannot gloss over it. We cannot
try to dress it up. Paul concludes his first point
here, the bold declaration of the gospel, by addressing the
concern that some people might have that the gospel ministry
is sluggish, doesn’t happen quickly enough. or it’s unproductive
or unfruitful. Look at how Paul says it in verse
17. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face,
beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being
transformed. There’s your proof. There’s your
glory. We are being transformed into
the same image, the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, from glory
to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. Paul declares here
that God’s glory is being unveiled. That there is an enduring, increasing
panorama of God’s glory on display in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And we see it dimly, but it’s ever increasing. And we see it
most clearly in the lives of those who are being transformed
by the Spirit of God, God’s people. All you have to do is look. And so we are bold because of
that. We are fearless. We are confident
because we see the glory of God in the outworking of the gospel
in real people’s lives. Secondly, God alone is glorified
when we boldly proclaim the gospel of Christ. Number two, when we
steadfastly hold to the means of God’s pure word. We don’t
get cute. We don’t get creative. We preach
what God tells us to preach. Would you look at chapter four,
verse one, the second of our therefore statements. Therefore,
since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we
do not lose heart. Paul again applies the greatness
of the gospel ministry to his own particular calling. Because
of the glory of this ministry and his place in it, Paul says
that no one ministers except by God’s abundant ministry. No
one deserves to be there. This is something that Paul would
acknowledge over and over again in his epistles, Ephesians 3,
8. To me, the very least of all
saints, grace was given. 1 Timothy 1, 13, I was shown
mercy. Romans 15, grace was given me
from God to be a minister of Christ Jesus. Paul says here
in verse one, it was because of a merciful gift of God, that
he was in service to Christ. And because of that, he said,
I do not lose heart. God put me here. We don’t double
back in fear. We don’t abandon our post because
of cowardice. We don’t shudder and cower, or
as the King James puts it here, we do not faint. We do not give
up. We don’t quit. Paul knew the
truth of God’s Word. He had seen it in full display
in the saving and sanctifying power of the gospel. In verse
2, Paul declares what this losing heart might look like in practical
terms. Would you look at it? He says,
but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not
walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation
of truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in
the sight of God. What Paul says here in verse
two is that he had renounced the things hidden because of
shame. Now, he is not referring here to the shame brought on
by past sinfulness. He tells us what he’s referring
to in the middle of this verse. Walking in craftiness, adulterating
the word of God. Paul basically tells us, we don’t
employ unscrupulous methods. We don’t employ approaches that
are unbiblical and call it ministry, where we try to justify the means
by the end goal. These things are often conceived
and adopted out of shame for Christ and his cross. We don’t
live like that. We don’t serve like that. This
was the same craftiness and deceitful scheming about which Paul warned
the Ephesian church. There were then, as there have
always been, men who will nullify and disregard the pure word of
God for their own favored means and methods. Paul calls it an
adulteration of the gospel. It’s an abuse of divine revelation,
whether from admixture, adding stuff in to the gospel message,
or a disregard of certain elements, or an outright misrepresentation
of what God has said. Paul says, He had done away with
any idea of being ashamed of Jesus Christ, the suffering servant,
or of his cross, or of his death, or burial, or resurrection. Paul
had long since resolved that he would not shy away from a
clear proclamation of the gospel, thinking that it was disgraceful
or scandalous, because for him, the gospel was the power of God
for salvation. Now, of course, the motivation
for such shameful behavior is always the perceived lack of
success of the God-given means, the preaching of the gospel of
Christ. And Paul deals with this head-on,
this kind of shame in verses three and four. Would you just
glance there for a moment? Even if Even if our gospel is veiled,
we suffer some season of relative lack of productivity. Not many
converts. Even if our gospel is veiled,
it is veiled to those who are perishing. In whose case the
God of this world, the devil himself, has blinded the minds
of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the
gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. And
we would do well, we would do well when evaluating the relative
success of our ministry to remember the absolute sovereignty of God
in salvation. That there are some to whom even
the very best, clearest, most faithful presentation of the
gospel is utterly obscured. It’s impossible for them to grasp. Salvation is of the Lord, Paul
continues in verse five, would you glance there for we do not
preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord and ourselves as bond
servants for Jesus sake. For God who said light shall
shine out of darkness is the one who has shown in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Christ. You know what Paul says here? Essentially he says that if we
would but pause and consider the results of diligent, faithful
gospel ministry, we would see God’s hand. We would see God’s
blessing. That he is at work in the hearts
and lives of others, including our own. God alone is glorified when we
boldly proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. God alone
is glorified when we steadfastly hold to the means of God’s pure
word. God alone is glorified thirdly
when we faithfully cultivate integrity in ministry. Would you turn to chapter five
and verse 11. The fourth, therefore, that we’ll
consider. To enter into this third means
of glorifying God, you find your way down to chapter five and
verse 11, where Paul says, therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord,
we persuade men. But we are made manifest to God,
and I hope we are made manifest in your consciences. Paul was
not shy or reticent to defend himself from false accusations
and charges. Paul’s character, what others
thought of him and said of him, was not unimportant. Paul knew
that in the course and conduct of his ministry, he stood the
possibility of being maligned and misunderstood. But ultimately,
Paul knew that he stood first and foremost before God. What
men thought of him was secondary. He knew that what God thought
of him was infinitely more important than what any man or men collectively
thought of him. God knows us intimately. We are made manifest to God. He sees, He knows, He hears. In heaven, we will be fully revealed
for who we are. And men, people may misunderstand
us. They may misread us. They may
mistrust or even judge us harshly. God doesn’t misread. God doesn’t
misunderstand. He sees us as we are, and we
know that ultimately we will stand before Him fully revealed
precisely for who we are. Paul knew this, but he also knew
the importance of integrity in ministry, trustworthiness, believability. And so while he knew that he
walked and worked before an all-seeing God, he knew that men, likewise,
needed a sound view of his character. And so he prayerfully says, I
hope, I hope that we are made manifest also in your, I hope
that you see me as God sees me. God himself knows us thoroughly.
but it’s desirable that men be gently convinced by sincerity
and constancy over time. People are not omniscient, and
they’re necessarily distrustful of others, aren’t they? Primarily
because they know their own hearts all too well. For Paul, just
knowing that he, like all people, will have a hearing with Christ
to evaluate his ministry He eagerly seeks to win people in his consistency
of life. What people see with their eyes
is not the full picture. God sees with eyes that peer
into the inner man, to the heart, to the motives, the thoughts,
the intentions. Men are typically prone to forget
this, and thus they play to the eye of other men, and they forget
about the eye of God. Paul’s sincere desire is that
in time God’s people would see him as God saw him, but he hopes
to be manifest in time before them as a true, sincere, genuine
servant of God, a man of integrity. What you see is what you get.
Could you please scroll down to verse 14? Look at this powerful statement. For
the love of Christ controls us, having included this, that one
died for all, therefore all died. And he died for all so that they
who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who
died and rose again on their behalf. What great marching orders
are those? If we were to just take that
verse and live it out, In this declaration, the love
of Christ controls us. It isn’t a whimsical, emotional,
fleeting burst of enthusiasm. Rather, it’s a life commitment
born out of devotion to the Savior, the Savior who first loved him.
Christ’s love was intensely practical in Paul’s life. Not only did
it present itself in the cross, securing our salvation, but it
issues forth a testimony that it must be weighed in the mind
and heart of every child of God. This is Christianity, right?
This is the basic response of the child of God to his merciful
call in our lives. Because of Christ’s death on
our behalf, our entire life is to be devoted to Him, loving
Him, serving Him. We want to be the right kind
of men and women before God and to be seen exactly for who we
are by others. No guile, no phoniness, no pretension,
no dissimulation, no hypocrisy. We are what we are before God
and no more. There’s a fourth means of glorifying
God. God alone is glorified when we
proclaim the glorious gospel, when we steadfastly hold to God’s
word, when we faithfully cultivate integrity in ministry, and four,
when we reciprocally reconcile sinners to God. This last point,
would you just go down to verse 18? Paul acknowledges this, I’ll
come to the therefore in just a moment. Now all these things
are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and
gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses
against them, and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. When God reconciled us to Himself,
enacting that wonderful peace treaty between Himself, a holy
God, and us as sinners, by enlivening us in His Spirit, bringing us
to repentance for sin, giving us faith in Jesus Christ, when
He did all of that, He also commissioned us to a life work of reconciling
others to our Savior. Would you just glance down at
verse 20? Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were
entreating through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ,
be reconciled to God. Reconciliation here is spoken
of as our indispensable duty as believers. Here, having been
reconciled, we are commissioned, turned into ambassadors to perpetuate
reconciliation. And how eager, having been reconciled
to a holy God, ought we be in fulfilling that great calling. To go about at peace with God
by His doing, With God’s calling, God’s grace, God’s message. And it’s not just any message.
It’s the greatest message that sinners have never heard. It’s
the message of the gospel. Laid out simply and clearly as
only God could put it here in verse 21. This passage, verse
21, has been called the heart of the gospel. Another called
it one of the most tremendous statements written by Paul’s
pen. Would you just look at verse
21 in closing? He, that is God the Father, made
him, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin on
our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. as we often do, would you consider
just the simple sentence to begin with? He, God the Father, made
Him, Jesus Christ, to be sin. He made Him to be sin. God made Jesus Christ to be sin. The atonement by Christ’s death
on the cross was not an accident, was not a contingency, It wasn’t
a crisis event in the course of God’s plans. This is part
of God’s plan of redemption, to make Christ sin. Jesus Christ
did not become a literal sinner. He was not made to sin. Rather,
he was considered, reckoned, and treated as a sinner, bearing
the sin of humanity, Our sin was imputed to Him. And He took
those sins upon Himself, knowing that He would pay the ultimate
penalty for them. But this gospel report becomes
even more astounding as we look at the particulars. Would you
glance again at verse 21? He, that is God the Father, made
Him, Jesus Christ, who knew no sin. Jesus certainly knew what sin
was. It was an offense against a holy
God. He certainly knew the beginning
of sin, the corrupt nature of humanity, and He knew the punishment
of sin, that sin brings death. But Jesus knew no sin in the
sense that He was absolutely without sin. He was the unblemished
and spotless Lamb of God. As Isaiah has it, he committed
no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. Jesus was, first
of all, sinless. Would you glance at the verse
again? He, that is God, made him, that is Jesus, who knew
no sin, to be sin on our behalf. This verse presents the unparalleled
doctrine of substitutionary atonement. Jesus died the just for the unjust,
as Peter puts it. Had millions of humanity consented
to die for one person’s sin, such atonement would not have
sufficed in the eyes of God because we are all equally sinners. But
what humanity could not do, Jesus did. Our sins, 1 Peter 2, 24,
he himself bore in his body on the cross. Isaiah 53, the Lord
has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him. He died on
our behalf. Jesus was not only sinless, he
was our substitute. Would you look at the verse again?
He, God, made Him Christ who knew no sin to be sin on our
behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
The righteousness of what Paul speaks here is no other than
divine moral excellence. It’s the very thing that we lack
in our standing before God. But through faith in Jesus Christ,
the righteousness is made available to the sinner. The righteousness
of God. Not by development over time,
not by direct transfer where we’re made righteous in an instant,
but by divine declaration. God declares you righteous. By
placing our faith in Christ’s fully completed payment for our
sin, we are justified. We are declared righteous by
God himself. And in that sense, Jesus Christ
is not only sinless and our substitute, he is our savior. Martin Luther put it this way,
Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness. I am your sin. You have taken
upon yourself what is mine and given me what is yours. You have
become what you were not so that I may become what I am not. Would you humble yourself before
Almighty God?