Our Position In Christ

Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. We are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded 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 Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 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.    Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

We are looking this morning into a portion of the Apostle Paul’s second letter to the Church in Corinth – what we know as 2 Corinthians in our Bibles.

In his writing, Paul focuses on the need for the church there to understand their need to live in the new birth in Christ, in reconciliation, and in an attitude of righteousness.

In Christ, God has restored us to our original position --- in fellowship with Himself. He has restored in us a new creation with a new power.

When we believed, repented, and confessed Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives, and were baptized for the forgiveness of our sins, we experienced a new birth–a conversion and forgiveness– and were added to God’s family.

From God’s viewpoint, our past has been completely wiped away.

It is as if we had never lived in sin in our past.

All new things are new because we have been restored to be in fellowship with Him.

So, what things, in particular, have passed away because of God’s restoration in our lives?

First, Our Alienation From God Has Passed Away – verse 12.

When we are “in Christ,” it means that we are controlled, not by our own power or by our own sinful nature, but our behavior is controlled by the Holy Spirit.

He says in verse 13 –

“For if we are beside ourselves (out of our minds), it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you.”

Paul speaks of this change in his letter to the Church in Rome –

Romans 8:9 as he tells them:

“...you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him,”

Because we are no longer alienated from God, we are made heirs of God

(1 Corinthians 8:17 – that we are

“heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffered with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”

In our earthly families, we have people who are our heirs, and we have been heirs of our grandparents and our parents for many generations past)

Secondly, in Christ, the only thing that counts is our faith that expresses itself through love.

It is truthful that nothing above love for one another is of greater value.

Paul writes in his letter to the church in Galatia:

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncurcumcision means anything, but faith working through love.” ---- Galatians 5:6

Paul’s teaching about the surpassing degree of faith is also seen in the Old Testament writing of Isaiah – Isaiah 65:17, where he writes: 

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.”

God’s purpose – and His plan – is unite all His creation of mankind in Christ. In Christ old things are abolished – that is: the Law given to the people of Israel as we know from the Old Testament.

Paul writes in Ephesians 2:14-16

"For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity."

– the law – ordinances – governing the flesh.

In the abolishment of the Law, peace in created. We can be reconciled to Him.

All hostility has been abolished. We are no longer foreigners --- we become, in Christ – fellow citizens – verses 19-22. We are members of God’s household.

"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit."

Before Jesus Christ came, the old Jewish Law was massively restrictive.

Living under the Law was as much a scorekeeping daily grind as anything else. Go through your daily life keeping track of every detail of the events of the day – noting which were against the Law, and how severe they were – what the punishment was and so on.

Now, as we think about the Law and its restrictions, and then we look at the life we have in Christ, we cannot continue sinning thinking that because Jesus has taken the sin of the world and His shoulders, even dying for them, that we may then continue in sin, asking for forgiveness once a week, then going back into the same behavior the next day.

Unfortunately, there are facets of religion in our world today who subscribe to that line of thinking and believing. And, as they do so, they drag many unaware souls into the depths of hell with them.

So, the Scorekeeper of Sin is passed away. READ verse 19.

"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,"

We are not strangers or aliens, but we are “fellow citizens with the saints of God’s household.”

The ledger is clean, and so are we when we become fellow citizens with the saints of God’s Household.

There is no list of sins that we are bogged down with --- there is no stack of unpaid debts.

Nothing is written against us as we live in Christ.

We are justified by God’s grace. We are free. Christ Jesus redeems us.

Thirdly. Our purposeless life has passed away.

Look at verse 18:

“....for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.”That is to say that we have the “ministry of reconciliation”.

We need a purpose bigger than ourselves to be healthy.

People do not become irresponsible because they get mentally sick, but people get mentally sick because they become irresponsible.

It is our responsibility to become ambassadors to reconcile lost people to Him.

• Reconciliation comes as we make peace through His blood.

• Reconciliation – according to Mr. Webster – means “to make friendly again.”

• Reconciliation can also mean changing from enmity (ill will) to friendship.

• Reconciliation is something that God does to us – for us – through Christ.

We, as the mortals God has created as, must experience this change of attitude in order to be reconciled to Him.

Brother Ben Merold – a longtime preacher in the Restoration Movement once said in a sermon – We need to be both HEAT (evangelizing) and LIGHT (speaking and living Bible Truth).