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The last Sunday of every month in 2010, I will be preaching on the Scripture memory verse for the month, as well as the theme that this verse brings out. This month’s focus has been on the new life we have in Christ, and the verse is 2 Corinthians 5:17 - “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” Let’s read 2 Corinthians 5:14-21:

¹⁴ For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵ 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. ¹⁶ 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, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ 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. ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

This passage was written by a man who would know this from experience. Paul, or Saul as he was originally known, was a Jewish Pharisee who believed in God and also believed that Jesus and his followers were leading people away from true worship of God. Therefore, his goal was to have all Christ-followers killed or put in jail. Until, that is, Jesus met him in a vision on the road to Damascus and transformed his life. From that point on, Paul could point to the new creation he was in Christ, that the old was gone and the new had come, that his old way of life had been crucified with Christ, and now he had the job of being reconciled to God. This morning, I want to focus on three old/new dichotomies we see in this passage: two that are encouraging, and one that is very challenging.

(1) Verse 18 tells us that we have been reconciled to God through Christ. We were once enemies of God, but have been restored to fellowship. Now, if we are in Christ, we have a relationship with God. Remember what Jesus said in John 17:3 - Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Eternal life is not just life after death; it is a relationship with God, which begins now and extends beyond death into eternity.

Now that we know God, we are adopted into his family, heirs of all his riches. We are given the Holy Spirit. We are now living a kind of life that is impossible apart from God.

(2) Verse 21 tells us that in Christ, our sin is gone. We are no longer under the penalty of sin. Remember Romans 8:1-2 - Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

Even though we still experience the presence and power of sin, we no longer are under the penalty. In Christ, the sinless one became sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. He lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died. We are justified; guilt is gone and condemnation is no more. In Christ, you are free. When you are beating yourself up, remember this – you are a new creation, and the old has gone. When you think God’s love for you is based on your performance, remember that it’s not – it’s based on His perfect performance, his perfect relationship to the Father.

(3) Verses 14-15 tell us that when we are in Christ, we no longer live for ourselves, but for God. This is the challenging part. Our wants, our desires, our dreams, our rights, our possessions – all of it gets laid at the cross when we come to Christ. Remember Galatians 2:20 - I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.