December 3, 2008

• 2 Corinthians 5 Part 2 by Pastor Don

  You can read Part One here.

  Pastor Don continued by saying that when Jesus called the apostles to follow Him, they did not follow him blindly, they had information about him. We are not asked to have blind faith.

  Luke 5:1-3 So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.

  Jesus taught the multitudes.

  Luke 5:4-5  When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.”

  Someone in our group pointed out that Simon obeyed Jesus, but just barely. Jesus told them to let down their NETS (plural) and Simon only let down his NET (singular).  It was a lot of work to do this letting down of the nets. But because he heard the preaching, he obeyed the rabbi – the teacher.

  Luke 5:6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.

  Their net was breaking – might not have happened like that if they had put down the NETS (plural).

  Luke 5:7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.

  Jesus is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, and even the fish obeyed Him.  Remember the disciples had been fishing all night and caught nothing.  Now they had an abundance of fish, so many that the boats were beginning to sink.

  Luke 5:8-10 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”  For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.”

  This dispels the myth that the disciples were poor – they were partners in a fishing business. And notice that Simon Peter recognizes that Jesus is Lord and falls down at Jesus’ knees.

  Luke 5:11 So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.

  They chose to follow him because their faith in Jesus had grown.  God will not ask for our faith without supplying something to help us build our faith. Remember when Jesus was baptized, John the Baptist pointed Jesus out to John’s disciples as the Lamb of God.  John and James chose to leave John the Baptist and follow Jesus. 

  Pastor Don reminded us that John knew what went on during the crucifixion and the events of the testimony because he was well known to the priests and pharisees.  He was also a disciple of John the Baptist, so when Jesus came through, He came with the recommendation of John the Baptist.  These disciples had information.

  God will not ask us to do anything to get us to the next level without giving us the grace (power) to do so.  We have to go through stuff, and then step into the next level, to step into ministry.  When we face harder tests it strengthens us, we must not go back but have to go forward.  We need to be tempered so that we can better yield ourselves to him.  When these guys placed their faith in Jesus and rowed out and cast their net, they had something to have faith on.

  2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

  This is a verse that can be twisted by those who preach.  This is a guarantee from God.  God is on the throne and we are not, when we are in the body in the same place as God.  When our body keels over, our spirit goes to be with the Lord, and our body is buried on earth. 

  Matthew 24:27-28 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

  When there is the rapture, there will be dead carcasses and the eagles, and carrion will gather. 

  2 Corinthians 5:9-11 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.

  There will be hell and judgment, do not believe teachers that tell us differently.  God holds us responsible for what we permit, and He is the perfect Judge. He looks at the situation relative to what we had to go through, that caused us do do what we did.  We cannot pretend to know who God will bring to heaven and who he won’t.  Those who do not know Jesus will still be judged and God will take all their lives into consideration. We can believe that His judgment is just. God will pay attention to what we do once we are saved as well. 

  Pastor Don talked about Lester Summerall’s book Alien Entities and told us that everyone has will power, and no matter how much satan has taken over a person, there is a point where that person will draw the line and go no further.  In this book, Summerall talks about a woman in an insane asylum who was possessed by satan.  She had major injuries and was kept in a locked room.  Summerall walked into that room and the demons were exorcized.  He asked her why she did not give herself sexually when she was possessed, and she told him that she determined that she would not give that part of herself to the demonic entity.

  2 Corinthians 5:9-10 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

  Why?

  2 corinthians 5:11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.

  We have an understanding of how sin, life, death, and the system of God works.  This can move us from pretending how wonderful we are, and realizing that we are at the mercy of God.  God is merciful.   When we look at our brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to be careful not to judge them, for we don’t know what they’ve been through.  God tells us that we need to be merciful, be kind.

  2 Corinthians 5:12 For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to boast on our behalf, that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart.

  We often get caught up in appearances, but God is looking at our heart. We need to judge the heart of things. Often we say one thing and do another.

  2 Corinthians 5:13-14 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;

  2 Corinthians 5:13-14 AMP For if we are beside ourselves [mad, as some say], it is for God and concerns Him; if we are in our right mind, it is for your benefit, for the love of Christ controls and urges and impels us, because we are of the opinion and conviction that [if] One died for all, then all died; it is the love of Christ that compels us.

  It is the love of Christ that compels us.  As we absorb the truth of this passage we will begin to see Christ change us.

  2 Corinthians 5:14  For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;

  The love of Christ compels us.  If Christ died for all, then all died.

  2 Corinthians 5:15  and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

  This is heavy stuff.  If Christ died, then we all die.  He died for all of us.  We identify with His death, and then we have to die too.  Our living is no longer for ourselves, but for Jesus – we die to self. If we are convicted of our sins, then something in us dies.  We, once we come face to face with our sins and are convicted, can’t deal with our sins in the exact same way we did in the past. 

  Jesus’ death was no easy death, he suffered tremendous pain that we cannot even imagine.   As we begin to identify with the Cross, it makes us begin to pray, “thy will be done.”  When we understand this and identify with the death of Christ (He died for us), when He died, we died.  There is no way for us to stay detached.  We need to accept our responsibility for our sins, and our hurting of others. Christ paid the sacrifice for us, we are indebted to Him.  We owe Him a debt.  We want to find a way to help someone else, love compels us.  We want to help as many people as possible, for we are aware of our mortality.

   2 Corinthians 6:16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.

  Christ died for us, and we owe a debt to Him.  We pay that debt by serving others but we do not gain salvation by serving others, it is something we do out of love for Jesus.  We know Christ not in our flesh, but in our Spirit.  And we can know Him through the Spirit.  We want to live by the principle that is popular today, “pay it forward.”

  2 Corinthians 6:17-18  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,

  The concept Corinthians Chapter 6 is that God did something and the Spirit in us guarantees that we are citizens of Heavenly realms.  Our fleshly man has changed.  If we identify with Christ’s death, we can’t pay Him by works, but we, through the love of Jesus, will reach out to help others for Christ.  Therefore we are a new creation.  We have our identity with Christ, and we owe a debt we cannot repay.  We are now a new creation, subject to the Heavenly realm, no longer subject to the earthly realm.  We cashed out of the Kingdom of Earth.  Now we are an Ambassador of the Kingdom of Heaven. 

  Money will not rule a Kingdom person, who having citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven, sows a seed for the advancement of the Kingdom.  When ego and pride changes, we begin to realize what really is important, and our perspective changes.

  In John 21, John and some of the disciples went back fishing, but that was not what God wanted them to do in His Kingdom.   He wanted the disciples to preach the Gospel and they could afford to do that.  Their father was the captain of a successful fishing fleet, and the sons never laced for finances.  It is a myth that the disciples and Jesus were poor.  They had sufficient for their needs.

  To keep us focused on what is important, all we need to do is look at the Cross.

  2 Corinthians 6:19  that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

  We looked back at verse 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

  In other words, we still have sins and some unrighteousness in our flesh, but when we identify with the cross and with Christ, it is not imputed to us, we are covered by the blood of Jesus.  Although some of the seeds we sow on earth that are sinful may reap hell on earth, and problems as a result of those sinful seeds.  We must deal with it now, but there will be a judgment seat of Christ.  And although satan will try to accuse us, our sins will be covered, and Jesus will be glad to see us because we identify with the life and death of Christ.  We are new and different, although we may still have some fleshly problems hanging around us, our spirits are new.

  2 Corinthians 6:20-21 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

  The Word of God (Jesus) is our righteousness, it is nothing that we can do.  Jesus took all of our sins and for those who believe Him our sins will not be imputed to us.  Jesus took our pain, suffering, life, death, upon Himself – The Word (Logos) became flesh.  Jesus put on a human suit.  He wants us to look at our words and make sure they line up with His best for us. 

  Time isn’t so long when you compare it to eternity.  Some seeds take time to grow, but there will be changes and growth as we grow closer to Him.  We need to ask ourselves how important Kingdom thoughts and being a new creation in Christ is to us.  Let us become reconciled to God, and be ambassadors for Christ, because through Christ we become the righteousness of God.

  Hoping your day is blessed.

  Heather

  • 6:12 am
  • 2 Comments