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Love

Teaching Text: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21

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. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 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. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Themes

Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:

Built Up in love
Equipped to be Ambassadors of Reconciliation
Series Intro:
- So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
  Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
  From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
  – Ephesians 4:11–16
- The Kingdom of God is most accurately represented when all the saints are equipped and participating in the mission of God to love show his love to our world.
- The word EQUIP was used to refer to…
  - THE SETTING OF A BROKEN BONE - things are are broken in our lives being healed.
  - THE TEACHING OF A SOLDIER TO FIGHT - to be made ready of for struggle of life and the way of love in Christ by the Spirit
  - THE SUPPLY OF WHAT IS NEEDED FOR ALONG JOURNEY - that we would have what is need for the long journey of life
  - THE RESTORATION OF SOMETHING TO ITS ORIGINAL CONDITION - maybe its been worn out, beaten down, damaged, and it gets restored to like new…

Formation

Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:

The missing “ands”
And so just to be clear I don’t mean the ands really aren’t there. I just mean that when we read these passages we can sometimes tune out around the and and miss what’s next or sometimes feel like we can just make the ands into ors.
So lets look at it again quickly so you can see what I mean….
- 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. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 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. 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: 14–21

One died for all AND therefore, all died - So Christ has given us His life and in trust and receiving that in faith we also die ourselves. Our old way of living on our own, out of our our old resources is dead.

We died with Christ and now we live with Him.
And one of the first places this shows up, this resurrection life is:
- How we evaluate each other
- How we consider worth
- Decide wether to love
- Decide whether to include
  - Jew. Gentile, Slave, Free. Republican. Democrat. Rich. Poor. Artist. Banker. Teacher. Doctor. Citizen. Immigrant.
These things may affect our lives in many ways, but they are not the basis of how we regard one another any more.

When we are united to Christ - we are living in a new type of world.
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. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here.
– 2 Corinthians 5: 16-17

As we live this way, we are getting a glimpse of the new creation right here in the middle of the old.
When we start to have this new way to regard one another that begins in Christ’s love for us, that goes to the lengths of Christ’s death and resurrection…
Then we start that see the world of Shalom break into the fractured reality of life without God.

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.
– 2 Corinthians 5: 18-19

What is that ministry? Reconciliation
God has been reconciling the world to Himself - not counting people’s sins against them - not because God doesn't cane about sin, but that He loves us so much that He died to free us from the power and penalty of it.
AND he has give us a message - What is the message? Reconciliation
A ministry and message of reconcilation
So is this what the church is carrying?
Is this what we are carrying?
“As a lifelong evangelical, I’ve been taught to hope, pray and work for revival. I’ve even experienced small-scale revivals — in my law school Christian fellowship and at a small church in Georgetown, Ky., where my wife and I served as volunteer youth pastors for a short period.
I love the succinct description of revivals by my friend Russell Moore, an editor at large and columnist for Christianity Today magazine. “Revival,” he wrote in The Atlantic, “is a concept with a long history in American evangelicalism, rooted in the Bible, that says a people who have grown cold and lifeless can be renewed in their faith. It is a kind of resurrection from the dead.”
In 2023, shortly before he died, Tim Keller, the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York and one of the leading evangelical pastors and theologians in the nation, wrote that genuine revival has three characteristics: It wakes up “sleepy” Christians, it converts nominal Christians into a more vital and genuine faith, and it brings non-Christians to Christ.”
– David French
In other words, revival begins with the people proclaiming, by word and deed, “I have sinned.”
[Certain streams of American Christianity] have a different message. It looks at American culture and declares, “You have sinned.”

“And it doesn’t stop there. It also says, “We will defeat you.” In its most extreme forms, it also says, “We will rule over you.” That’s not revival; it’s revolution, a religious revolution that seeks to overthrow one political order and replace it with another — one that has echoes of the religious kingdoms of ages past.”
– DAVID FRENCH
Humble yourself. Turn to God. Receive mercy. Be reconciled.

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. 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: 20-21
We are talking this fall about the ways God has equipped us
And I want you to know friends
- That you are ambassadors of peace with God
- You are agents of reconciliation
- As though God were making His appeal through you
- Passing the Kingdom through the relational lines of changes lives