Reputation of Insanity

PJ Jimenez

Change • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

2 Corinthians 5:11–17

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The world sees us foolish, but it's Christ's love that compels us

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Introduction

Who am I?

I am the pastor of Communications

What is that?

A lot of change in my family

negative

Wife recently became unemployed

baby was born

Im at home teaching instead of being with my students.

God is good

My baby is cute

I got to spend more time with her then I could imagine

God challenged us to budget, and take advantage of opportunities he provided in my life.

We had to cut off the things that were not producing fruit.

God also moved me from youth to communications

Allowed for our youth Pastor to come on staff, what a wonderful addition

And I got to work on some fun tech stuff while think about the communications of our church.

Sometimes we don’t know what God has planned for us, or why things have happened the way they are

God has a forward vision, and it seems like many times we put the pieces to together when we are looking back.

Story

Story about Sheena

First Married

Went for dinner

Met a friend of Becky’s who had explained her belief of all religions that are positive are true

This is a common view what we look at today

Everyone’s “truth”

Becky and I were the only Christians at the table

Later she came to Christ and had become saved, and is actively involved in ministry today

Truth is exclusive.

We can’t have truth without excluding the other options.

What our world would say is that truth is truth according to the person you talk to.

Becky finds out my true height

Becky is tall

All our relationship I told her that I was 6 foot tall

This was no lie, it was easier to say this than explain to her that I am 5’11 3/4” tall

she came across my papers form the Dr. about my physical and found out my true height.

To her amazement I was not 6 feet tall

Despite her belief for the 8 years of my marriage that I am 6 foot, that did not make me 6 feet tall in reality

I will always be 5’11 and 3/4” tall.

Truth does not care about who believes what.

Different perspectives of truth-

World: Truth is perspective based off of what the individual believes

The Church: Truth comes from what God has made known to us

Reconciliation and Responding to Criticism

My hope today is to provide some insight on how can we communicate with a world that can seem to believe in something so different. How do we respond?

What wisdom does Paul share with us?

Paul witnessed many different negative situations when sharing the Gospel, yet he still shared.

I hope to share some insight with you all this morning, so that we may change the way that we look at how we approach believers and non-believers.

Lets read

Read the the Scripture today

The New International Version Chapter 5

11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. 12 We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. 13 If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 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, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

How do we persuade others in the world we live in today?

The perspective of the church has changed, and need to recognize that so we can be more effective.

in 1975 68% of American’s had a great deal on confidence in the church and what it had to say

in 2019 the number dropped to 36%

We recognize our audience, and earn to respect for their ear to listen.

We have to audiences that we face today

Non-believers

Believers who are hurt

Let’s see what God has to say about it.

v11-12

Paul responds to criticism and what motivates him

Paul says we fear the Lord

Paul is not afraid of God in a fearful way, but has a reverence for God.

He recognizes that his whole life and ministry will come under God’s scrutiny and this is what drives his ministry.

We should all have a fear for God

It should motivate us on what we accept and do not accept.

Groups that have a standard is a group that has morality.

This doesn’t mean we go about condemning each other or others, but that we teach and help each other not to accept the sin within our own lives

We help each other to change internally within our own hearts.

The fear for God is what motivates his will to persuade others.

Acts 19 once accounts that he spent 2 years in a lecture hall persuading others about Christ.

This is what brings out his obedience as he was commissioned by Christ to do.This is was his defense to his apostleship

.Paul is saying that I am persuading you, but trust me. Persuading you is usually a negative connotation

Says that God knows his heart and his intentions, and that his motives and actions lie open to God. He is saying there is no deception, nothing in it for me.

Appeals to the conscience of the listeners.

Intention is everything when approaching believers and non-believers.

When communicating with people of this world non-believers it is important to understand where people are coming from.

When communicating with non-believers it is important to understand where people are coming from.

We all see things from different perspectives

This due to life experiences and situations

When Communicating with the world....

We are persuading 2 different audiences.

We as the church no longer have benefit of the doubt

We must earn the right to be heard

In a world full of microphones and bull horns,

It’s not about being the loudest voice

as a church we must Be quiet, listen and Respond

In order to reach non-believers and hurting believers we genuinely care for each soul.There are two approaches that Paul may have been accused of from people

That he was arrogant

1. That he was full off himself and arrogant

v12- “We are not trying to commend ourselves”

So he is careful to provide reason for the listeners ear, but he tells the reader that if you still think this is out of arrogance, then let us understand that God knows my heart.

2. That he was insane

The World is going to see us a insane for putting our hope in one man

The governor of Judea, Festus, said this about him in Acts 26:22-24

At this point Festus interrupted Paul’s defense. “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is driving you insane.”

25 “I am not insane, most excellent Festus,” Paul replied. “What I am saying is true and reasonable.

Paul mentions how others would take the news of Christ in

1 Corinthians 1:18-24 says

8 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” l

20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

There is always going to be opposition to this message.

There will always be opposition to the message that Jesus died for us

People said Paul was arrogant and insane because they did not want others believing his message.

He defends his credibility as an apostle.

a. Rather than commending himself he is “giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart.”

Some people in Corinth took pride in what you had rather than the condition of your heart

They paid attention to the letters of recommendation you traveled with, Your jewish ancestry, visionary experiences or signs that you were able to perform.

All these Paul had all these, but he tells us that it is more important to focus on the conditions of our heart.

v.14-15

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.

Through all of the opposition, Paul rests on one idea.

How much Jesus loved us....EVERYONE

Paul rests on this single idea, Jesus died for everyone

He calls us to no longer live for ourselves, but to live for Christ

This means that Jesus even died for those who oppose you, and loves those people just as much has he loves you.

He loves: the people who beat Paul unconsciously, people who struggle with a sin, people who are untrustworthy, people who are addicted, and people who refuse to believe in God’s existence and refuse to repent of their destructive lifestyles.

He died for them, and raised again for them too.

Groups of people who believe in morality or standards do not accept the actions of people who are outside of those standards.

We are like that as Christians, but rather than outcast people because of sin, we help each other and encourage each other to live to a better standard.

All of us have fallen short of the standard that was set.

Being a new dad has given me new perspective

treat other the way that you would want other to treat your children

We should treat others the way we would want the world to treat out children

Encouraging them to live by truth, but also forgiving her when she falls short.

C.S. Lewis once said that only “the courteous can love, but it is love that makes them courteous.”

As Isaiah had mentioned, we are representatives of Christ, ambassadors. How we treat people who do not live by God’s standards will reflect how others see Jesus.

God’s reconciliation Through Christ

After talking about:

Persuading those who aren't so accepting

Loving those who Jesus died for

Paul talks about the change that Jesus brings about in us

Whether the believer knows about it or not, when we committed our lives to Christ we agreed to through out the old self by walking away from our old ways and our old perspectives

This is what Paul did.

The death of Christ changed Paul’s whole perspective and outlook on life

He was once a condemning Pharisee ready to kill others who believed in Christ

Christ being the whole reason he had so much passion for his ministry

Though he was a murderer, he knew that Christ’s death meant he was forgiven.His new outlook meant that he was no longer looking at things from a human point of view

The values of letters, and bloodline, and visionary experiences were no longer valuable

His new standing with God which is a gift of grace given.

In the same way he judged Christ from a human criteria and came to the conclusion that Paul, himself, was wrong

An inadequate View

He saw Christ from the human point of view is Christ who is inadequate.

He felt that the Christ was a false Christ, and that all his followers should be stamped out of existence

When seen after conversion he began to see Jesus as

The creator who makes all things new, including us.

And to whom all men must be called to respond in obedience of faith.

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