What Do You Love?
This next section of scripture starts with the Greek word Hoste, which means therefore. So, we must look at what came right before. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 says, For Christ’s love compels us, 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 for the One who died for them and was raised. Now that we have that in our minds, let’s jump into the next verses.
Vs 5:16-21 From now on, then, we do not know anyone in a purely human way. Even if we have known Christ in a purely human way, yet now we no longer know Him in this way. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come. Everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 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. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, certain that God is appealing through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
For Christ’s love compels us, therefore, Paul says, we no longer look at things from a purely human viewpoint. We don’t even look at Christ from a purely human way anymore. The Greek word for compels is sunechó. The word means to hold fast or to be seized by, as in an illness has taken control of us. It is not an illness, but Christ’s love that has seized us. Therefore, we look at all things through Christ who died for us. His love compels us, and now, we look at the world and others through the lens of His love. Because of this, the old things have passed away and new things have come. We don’t think about things as we did before Christ. We don’t look at things as we did before Christ. And, we don’t walk the same way as we did before Christ. We think, look and walk in a new way – compelled by the love of Christ.
Yesterday, my pastor preached on 2 Corinthians 3:3 which says, “It is clear that you are Christ’s letter, produced by us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God—not on stone tablets but on tablets that are hearts of flesh.” We are the living letter of Christ, compelled by the love of Christ to walk like Christ in this world. When people see us, they should see Christ in us. Paul goes on to say that God reconciled the world to Himself, not counting our trespasses against us. How is that possible? How can a Holy God even look at us – who are not holy? It is because God so loved the world that He gave His only Son – who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. So, we can be that living letter written by the Spirit of the living God, because we have been made new through Christ. Through Christ, we have a new world view – one that looks at everything through God’s amazing reconciliation, sunechó by the love of Christ. This means I can’t look through a worldview lens based on social economics, politics, world philosophy or even a ultra religious point of view. Instead, my worldview lens is based on God’s view of the world. What is that worldview? “Everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” This broken world is in need of Him. This hurting world is in need of comfort. This world needs a Savior. As His letter written by His Spirit, I look past everything I read about this world or hear about this world straight to the heart of this world. Then, led by God’s Spirit into the ministry of reconciliation, I seek to lead them to be reconciled with a loving Savior who can make all things new.
Vs. 6:1-2 Working together with Him, we also appeal to you, “Don’t receive God’s grace in vain.” For He says: I heard you in an acceptable time, and I helped you in the day of salvation. Look, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation.
Paul quotes a specific passage of scripture here – Isaiah 49:8. The 49th chapter of Isaiah deals with the Servant who brings salvation. He will restore and make the people a light to the nations. Kings will see and stand up and princes will bow down. Paul says, this is coming true right now. Don’t receive this great grace He has given you in vain. Instead, work together, compelled by His love. God is calling us to work together – to unite in our effort. Not only that, He is calling us to work with Him. He wants us to partner with Him in this work. I want to explore the word work for a moment. To do that, I must go all the way back to the Hebrew word for work as we find it in Genesis 2:15. We find that God has called man to work in the garden of Eden. The word for work is abedah, which means to be in service of or to cultivate or to worship. These meanings don’t seem to go together very well until you look at it in context. God called man to tend the garden and to cultivate it as an act of worship and service. In fact, God has always called us to work. Not in the drudgery sort of way, but as an act of worship and service. In this verse, God continues to call us to work together with Him. So, what are we tending now? Instead of the garden of Eden, we are called to plant the seeds and cultivate the soil. God will send the rain and sunshine to grow the seed so that there will be a harvest. Paul says, and now is the acceptable time to see God restoration and to be a light to the nations. Jesus told us in Matthew 9:37-38, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” Now is the day of salvation.
Vs. 6:3-13 We give no opportunity for stumbling to anyone, so that the ministry will not be blamed. But as God’s ministers, we commend ourselves in everything: by great endurance, by afflictions, by hardship, by difficulties, by beatings, by imprisonments, by riots, by labors, by sleepless nights, by times of hunger, by purity, by knowledge, by patience, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the message of truth, by the power of God; through weapons of righteousness on the right hand and the left, through glory and dishonor, through slander and good report; as deceivers yet true; as unknown yet recognized; as dying and look—we live; as being disciplined yet not killed; as grieving yet always rejoicing; as poor yet enriching many; as having nothing yet possessing everything. We have spoken openly to you, Corinthians; our heart has been opened wide. You are not limited by us, but you are limited by your own affections. I speak as to my children. As a proper response, you should also be open to us.
Paul then comes back to the problem he is having with the Corinthian church. They look at his difficulties as a reason for him to be discredited. But Paul makes his point again. These difficulties are a part of what it means to walk in the light. In fact, he is doing everything he can to avoid causing someone to stumble because of him. He is a letter written, not in ink, but by the Holy Spirit. He wants everything in his life to point to Christ, not himself. So, he is willing to endure great hardships. They are all listed here – beatings, imprisonments, riots, sleepless nights, hunger, slander… He desires to be pure, patient, kind, sincere in his love, speak truth… All this to show the church they are not limited by his afflictions but by their own affections. They wanted to play the victim and blame Paul for any problems they encountered, but it was really their own affections that caused all the problems. The Greek word for affections here is splagchnon. It refers to the inmost parts – the internal organs – and the gut level sympathy. The church at Corinth loved the wrong things. Their gut level sympathy was not the work of the Lord, but how the world saw them. They were overly concerned with what society thought of them and their influence in worldly things. Their affections were not placed in the right place. In fact, their affections went so far as to limit their ability to be light in the world. It limited their influence as believers. Their letter, not written in ink, was not saying the right things in the right way. They were not compelled by the love of Christ.
As we look at how these scriptures impact our own lives, we must ask ourselves, “What do we love”? If we are being honest, we would probably see some things we need to change. God promises that when we are ready to look away from those things we love that limit us, He will make all things new. If we trust in Him, the old things will pass away. He will renew us and reconcile us to Himself. We can walk in the Spirit, our lives being a living letter to the world of His grace, mercy and love. His Spirit will lead us to work – to plant and cultivate – serve and worship. And then, we will see the harvest. He is calling us. What is our response?
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