2 Corinthians 5:14-21

Last week we considered 2 Corinthians 5:14,15 from the point of view of those who know Jesus. Today I want to look at these verses from another angle.

“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 (2 Corinthians 5:14-15, NIV).

Christ died for all. This means that, from the moment of Christ’s death, everyone, every human being on the face of the earth, has been given intrinsic and equal value.

Do you believe this? Do you really believe that every single person who lives and breathes and walks on this earth has equal value simply because Christ has “died for all”? Do you believe that every person, whoever he is, whether or not she has responded to Christ or rejected him, or worships in a church or a Synagogue or a mosque or a Hindu temple or on a hiking trail, or maybe doesn’t even believe in God, has equal value and is equally treasured by God simply because Christ “died for them and was raised again”?

I want to suggest that many of us do not believe this. Or at least we do not live as if we believe it.

In fact, most of us live quite the opposite of this. We want to say, “IF you do this, you do that, you live this way, you say these words, you vote this way, you vote that way, THEN you will have value.” or, I have more value to God because I know Jesus.

But Paul says that each person’s value has already been established through Christ’s death. The individual’s value does not depend on the response to that death. We don’t need to know whether or not a person has confessed Christ as his or her personal Lord and Savior before we decide to treat him or her with dignity and respect. We don’t need to know if someone is a woman or a man, is of African or Maori or Asian descent, a Muslim or a Buddhist, a degreed professional or a high school dropout, a corporate executive or a police officer, a homosexual or a heterosexual person. We don’t need to know anything about the person, because we already know all we need to know: he or she is valuable because Christ died FOR him or her. [-Dawn Chesser GBOD altd.]

Look at it from God’s point of view. He loves everyone he has made and wants each one to love him. We’ve heard from Andre of some of the lengths to which God will go to reach his erring and misguided children. He redeems them from the enemy’s possession, he calls them out of loss and failure, draws them out of darkness into his light. Our children are dear to us; so much more are we to God.

Remember the stories Jesus told of a lost sheep, a lost coin and a lost son? These tell of each person’s value to God. The sheep and the coin had to be searched for and found, the son ‘came to his senses’ and came home on his own two feet. Each one found out that God loves them dearly.

So, how come we are following the Lord and others are not? Are we more worthy than they? Are we smarter, more loving? No. We follow Jesus because we’ve been chosen and given the faith to do so. What about the others? Are they less worthy? They can’t be since Christ died for them, too. And the rest of the passage tells us that their salvation depends, in some part, on us. Thank God that someone shared the gospel with us. Let’s give the same gift to others.

‘Rich is the person who has a praying friend.’ Pray for your family, your neighbours, and people further afield. Pray that Jesus the Christ would reveal himself to them and call them to follow him. Do you consider them unforgiveable? They are no less forgivable than you and I. All people have sinned and are separated from God and God forgives all on the same basis: the atoning death of Jesus the Christ. There is salvation in no one else and by no other means.

God is sovereign. We have been picked out to live for the Lord who for our sake died and was raised. We have been chosen to serve the Lord, making him known by our deeds and words. Let this knowledge motivate us.