PAY ATTENTION!

2 Corinthians 5:16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake He made Him to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

"Uh, OK. New Years. 2025. If you really feel the need to end 2024 and begin 2025 with a passage of Scripture, couldn't you at least make it inspiring. Maybe a little funny. I just don't see the point here, Pastor."

Well, to be honest, I thought about all of that. Actually fried a few brain cells working it all up. But this passage wouldn't leave me alone. So, I thought we would take a look at this snippet of Paul's writing. It is, after all, a New Year's message.

Paul starts by saying that we shouldn't see others according to the flesh. He says in verse 16 that we even saw Christ in the flesh. You remember. You called Him the big guy upstairs. You would say 'me and Jesus are like this' while holding two fingers touching. You even had that bumper sticker, GOD IS MY CO-PILOT. I bet you even asked the Lord to make your team win the big game. And if we looked at Jesus in the flesh, we certainly looked at regular folks the same way. That moron who passed us doing 65 in a 35. That idiot who flipped me off! WHO IS HE BLOWING THE HORN AT? Or, my personal favorite, "when is that preacher going to shut up?" The correct way to look at the Lord is with awe and humbleness and a desire to serve. And the correct way to look at others is to realize we all have our moments and we all need Jesus. We don't need the Lord to be our co-pilot. We need Him to be our Pilot.

In verse 17 Paul says that if we are believers, we are a new creation in Christ. We are changed! That old language, those old thoughts, those old things that were so important...all changed! We are all new! So why are we holding onto the old things? Why do we let the old language surface? More to the point, why doesn't it bother us? Why do we still look at things as we used to look at things? Why the old thoughts, the old desires? We are new creations, for goodness sakes.

Then Paul tells us what our purpose is as a new creation in Christ. The world is far from the Lord and the world and Christ need to be reconciled. The world needs to be brought back to Godliness. And we believers have that ministry of reconciliation. In other words, we need to be the example, both in word and deed, that draws people to Jesus. It isn't political, it isn't our favorite cause, it isn't signing petitions. It is bringing the world to Jesus. For those who know me well, you know that I despise abortion. Back in the 1980s I was pastoring a church in Warren, Ohio. The local antiabortion group was going to hold a well publicized protest and it was going to go right down the street on which our church was located. They asked me to bring a fifteen minute message condemning abortion. I told the nice lady that I would open the church to all the protesters to come and spend the same amount of time they would use to protest, to pray instead. I was told off in interesting language and a sign was placed in front of the church proclaiming me a baby killer. And so, our little group of praying believers prayed for these 'Christians' and the abortionists to be reconciled to God. Reconciliation first involves prayer and then seeking the action God wants from you.

Then Paul says we are ambassadors for Christ. A USA ambassador is on his or her best behavior. They follow the plan of the country and they put forward the best face of our country they can, or they face the consequences. As believers, we are citizens of heaven and we are ambassadors. 

And finally, Paul reminds us of what Jesus did for us. We talk of His sacrifice, but we tend to focus on the horrible physical ordeal. We should never forget that. But equally as horrible (maybe even more horrible) was the fact that Jesus took on the sins of all people for all time. Jesus had never crossed the line. He was tempted in all ways as we are, yet He stayed true. But in His sacrifice, He became sin for us all. He didn't just pay the price. He took our sin as His own.

So, dear friends, this is my New Years message for you. Be that new creation in 2025. Take seriously the ministry of reconciliation that the Lord has placed in your hands in 2025. And never, ever forget the full impact of His sacrifice as you navigate 2025.