Compassion Without Prejudice

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. - 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 ESV

How easy it is to judge others from our limited human perspective. We are so quick to assess others' value based on external criteria. We are even prone to establishing someone’s unworthiness or lack of value based on how they look, their ethnic makeup, economic background, educational status, or personality profile.

The Old Testament contains the account of Samuel the prophet visiting Jesse's house to find a new king to replace Saul. When he set his eyes on Jesse’s son, Eliab, Samuel said, “Surely this is the Lord’s anointed!” (1 Samuel 16:7b NLT). But God responded, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:8 NLT).

Because of the life-transforming work of Jesus Christ and the Spirit’s power to give new life to those who were dead in the trespasses and sins, Paul states, “So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now!” (2 Corinthians 5:16 NLT).

Prior to coming to faith in Christ and recognizing Him as his Savior, Paul saw Him from a purely human perspective. Paul was a Pharisee who viewed Jesus as nothing more than a charlatan, a political revolutionary, and a threat to the religious status quo. But ever since his encounter with the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul’s view of Jesus had radically changed. His view of others had changed as well

…anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! – 2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT

Salvation was meant to be life-changing; it wasn’t just a matter of someone switching religious allegiances or choosing another way of pursuing a right relationship with God. What Jesus offered was a radical, out-of-the-ordinary life transformation that resulted in a totally new nature. Those who placed their faith in Christ were instantly transformed from death to life, from darkness to light, from enemies to friends of God, from condemned to forgiven, from guilty to innocent, and from outcasts to members of the family of God. And Paul states, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18 ESV).

It was all God’s doing, not man’s. Salvation is the work of God, from beginning to end. He is the one who reconciles, redeems, restores, forgives, justifies, regenerates, and sanctifies. He provides new life and places His Holy Spirit within us. And He accomplished it all through Christ. God sent His Son to be the payment for the sins of mankind. As the sinless Son of God, He became the acceptable sacrifice, whose innocent life was given to satisfy the Father’s just demands and holy wrath against man’s rebellion.

For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. – 2 Corinthians 5:19 NLT

It was through Christ that God had determined to restore His lost creation. It was through Christ that God had ordained a means by which He could satisfy His own righteous judgment against sin while also showing His love for mankind.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16 ESV

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. – Romans 5:8 NLT

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20 ESV

This message of God’s love and offer of reconciliation had been given to Paul and his companions. They were God-appointed ambassadors, sharing the good news that men and women could be reconciled with God and restored to a right relationship with Him.

So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” – 2 Corinthians 5:20 NLT

They viewed themselves as conduits of God’s grace. They were vessels in the hands of God, pouring out His goodness and grace upon all those they encountered, not pre-judging or predetermining who was worthy to hear their message of God’s love. They simply told of the death, burial, and resurrection of God’s Son, His offer of salvation, and the simple requirement of faith.

They shared, and God saved. Christ had provided the means; Paul simply shared the message.

For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. – 2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT

Sharing the gospel is really quite easy. It is simply pleading with people to come back to God. It is an impassioned and loving appeal for them to accept the only means by which they can be restored to a right relationship with God, by faith in Jesus Christ. It is not up to us to determine who deserves to hear or to judge who is worthy of receiving the message. It is not our job to predetermine who we would prefer to have as a brother or sister in Christ. We have been given the message of reconciliation, and, like Paul, we have been appointed ambassadors by God, with the sole responsibility of spreading the good news of His Son’s death and resurrection to a lost and dying world. God’s offer of salvation is non-discriminatory, and so should our appeal be.

Father, it is so easy to let prejudice and our own personal preferences to interfere with our sharing of the gospel message. We tend to cherry-pick and prioritize the list of those who we think are worthy to receive the message of salvation. But Jesus expressed love and forgiveness to the thief on the cross. He displayed unbiased love and compassion to the despised and disenfranchised of society, from lowly prostitutes to despised tax collectors. The apostle Paul outlined a rogue’s gallery of people we tend to withhold the gospel from: “Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people” (1 Corinthians 16:9-10 NLT). But he added, “Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 16:11 NLT). Never let me forget the fact that I was undeserving and unworthy of Your love. Yet, rather than pass judgment on me, You sent Your Son to die for me. And while I am grateful, I know I have an obligation to share that love with others – without prejudice or a predetermination of their worthiness. Help me to embrace Paul’s attitude: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all” (1 Timothy 1:15 NLT). Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Motivated By the Love of Christ

11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. 12 We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. 13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him– 2 Corinthians 5:11-15 ESV

Paul has just told the Corinthians that a day is coming when all believers will stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. – 2 Corinthians 5:10 ESV

It is that day Paul has in mind when he mentions “the fear of the Lord.” It is an awareness of the future judgment of our present actions that should create in us a sober-minded evaluation of all that we do in this life. As believers, we should carefully consider all our thoughts and actions, knowing that we will one day answer to God for all that we have done in this life since coming to faith in Christ. Paul told the believers in Rome, “Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God … each of us will give a personal account to God” (Romans 14:10, 12 NLT).

Paul was not saying that he feared the judgment of God in the sense that he might lose his salvation or lose his place in the eternal Kingdom. It was that he was strongly motivated not to do anything that might displease God on the day of judgment. He lived to please God and wanted to do His will — at all costs and at all times. He was unwilling to allow the opinions of men to alter his behavior in this life because he knew he would stand before the judgment seat of Christ in the next life. That is what led him to persuade others and prompted him to risk everything to save some. His reputation took a back seat to the message of redemption. What concerned Paul the most was what God thought of him.

God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. – 2 Corinthians 5:11b NLT

Over the life of his ministry, Paul had spent a great deal of time defending his apostleship. Unlike the original disciples of Jesus, he had not been there at the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry. He was not one of the twelve and had not been personally taught by Jesus. This led his opponents to argue that he lacked apostolic authority. To complicate matters, it appears that Paul had a less-than-impressive aura about him. He was evidently small in stature, unimpressive in appearance, and had gained a reputation for being a second-rate communicator. He even admitted as much in his first letter to the Corinthians.

I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. – 1 Corinthians 2:3-4 NLT

The only reason Paul defended his apostleship or said anything about himself that might come across as boastful was to silence those who kept trying to diminish his influence. Paul didn’t mind if people thought he was crazy, as long as he was being faithful to God. If he came across as crazy, it was only because he was obsessed with sharing the gospel with as many people as possible. When it came to the good news, he was “out of his mind.”

Paul said he was controlled by the love of Christ, which meant that everything he did was done out of gratitude and not for gain. He wasn’t in ministry for the money, accolades, power, or popularity. He couldn't care less whether someone thought he was crazy or sane, as long as they saw Christ in him. He was motivated by his love for the lost and his Christ-like compassion for believers, and his love for others was the direct result of God’s love for him.

The apostle John wrote, “We love each other because he loved us first. If someone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?” (1 John 4:19-20 NLT). And how did God express His love? “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him” (1 John 4:9 NLT). It was that sacrificial love that motivated Paul. Because of what Jesus Christ had done for him, Paul was willing to risk everything to tell everyone about the good news of salvation through faith in Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross.

He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. – 2 Corinthians 5:15 NLT

God’s love for us required that Jesus die in our place. His death on our behalf made our new life possible, and that new life has freed us to live for Him, not ourselves. Our newfound capacity to live unselfishly should show up in our desire to selflessly share His love with all those we meet.

For the love of Christ controls us. – 2 Corinthians 5:15 ESV

Father, I hate to admit it, but I am controlled by a lot of things other than the love of Christ. I worry way too much about what people think of me. I spend too much time thinking about me instead of thinking about others. Far too often, I allow my pursuit of personal comfort to prevent me from   carrying out the commission Jesus gave me. But Paul reminds me that I should be motivated by Christ’s selfless love for me, not my selfish love of self. I have so much for which to be grateful and none of it has to do with my reputation, possessions, or personal accomplishments. My only value is found in Your unwavering love for me. You loved me so much that You sent Your Son to die in my place. You sacrificed Your Son so that I might be restored to a right relationship with You. And that undeserved and unfathomable love should motivate me to love others. It is the least I could do to show my gratitude and love for You. I no longer want to live for me. That is a path that leads to nowhere. It is a life that produces no fruit and little satisfaction. So, open my eyes to see the magnitude of Your love for me so that I might pour it out on others. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Salvation Belongs to the Lord!

When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord! – Jonah 2:7-9 ESV

Jonah 2:1-9

The Psalmist wrote, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” (Psalm 107:1 ESV). That was the exact sentiment of Jonah as he wrapped up his prayer. When the conditions of Jonah's life had reached an all-time low, he remembered God and called out to Him. But what is it he remembered that caused him to call out? The steadfast love of God. In spite of his own stubbornness and refusal to obey God, Jonah knew that God still loved him and would respond to his cry for help. Again, the psalmist reminds us, “Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in; hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress” (Psalm 107:4-6 ESV). Why did God deliver them? Because of His steadfast love. 

From the literal depths of the sea and from the belly of a large fish, Jonah called out to God and his cry reached the very throne room of heaven. Distance was no problem. His own disobedience proved no barrier. When he called out in repentance, acknowledging his need for God, he was heard. Jonah knew that his God would hear him and respond in love to him. He also knew that those who worshiped idols would lose hope, because their gods were incapable of hearing or helping. Idols can't extend help or express love. Only Yahweh, the God of Israel, possessed the unfailing capacity to love and the power to back up His love with salvation. Not only does God care about the needs of His children, He can do something about it.

Jonah was so confident in God's love and ultimate salvation, that he pledged to offer sacrifices with thanksgiving as soon as he got the opportunity. As all of us are prone to do when we find ourselves in trouble, Jonah had evidently made some promises to God based on God's deliverance. You know how that goes. “Oh God, if you get me out of this one, I will _______________.” You fill in the blank. Jonah told God, “what I have vowed I will pay.” He was confident God was going to deliver him, so he pledged to keep his promise to God. But the greatest statement found in Jonah's prayer is his closing one. “Salvation belongs to the Lord.” It reminds me of the statement of Peter made before the Jewish Council. Referring to Jesus, Peter said, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12 ESV). Salvation is the sole prerogative of God. Only He can save – from disaster, trouble, trials and from sin and death itself. Jesus Christ is the ultimate expression of God's saving power. He sent His Son to die as the payment for the sins of mankind. He sacrificed His own Son so that men might be made right with Him. Jonah's salvation was temporary in nature. He would live only to die again. But the salvation Jesus brought is permanent. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV). Salvation belongs to the Lord. And why would God offer that kind of salvation to sinful men? Because of love. For God so loved the world. Paul reminds us, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 ESV). The offer of salvation is an expression of God's steadfast, unfailing love.

Jonah knew God loved him, so he had confidence to call out to God – in spite of his own rebellion against Him. If we don't understand the love of God, it will be hard for us to trust Him. If we fail to recognize just how much He loves us, we will find it difficult to place out hope in His salvation. We can never earn it. We will never deserve it. His love will always be the motivating factor behind His salvation. It's why He sent a fish to Jonah. It's why He sent Moses to the slaves living in Egypt. It's why He sent prophets to His people living in Canaan. It's why He sent Jesus to earth as a man. Out of love. And in order to offer salvation to men who didn't deserve it. Salvation belongs to the Lord. It was His idea. And it is the greatest expression of His love for men.

Knowing (Loving) God.

O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. – John 17:25-26 ESV John 17:1-26

Jesus ended His prayer with an acknowledgement that the world into which He had come had, for the most part, refused to accept Him for who he was. The majority of the Jews had rejected Him as the Messiah. “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:10-11 ESV). And because they had failed to know or recognize Him as Messiah, it had left them ignorant of who God really way. Earlier in His ministry, Jesus had said, “no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27 ESV). With His coming to earth, Jesus had made God known. He had made the invisible, visible and the unknowable, known. When Jesus said He had made to His disciples the name of God, He was saying that He had made known to them the very nature and character of God. Jesus' very presence on earth was an expression of the love of God. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 ESV). “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10 ESV). “…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 ESV).

Jesus was the revelation of God's love. But He was also the revelation of God's righteousness. Jesus lived a perfectly sinless and righteous life. He demonstrated in a real and tangible way exactly what God expected from men. His life of sinless perfection was a demonstration of God's righteousness “fleshed out.” Sinful man was only capable of living up to God's standard of righteousness with God's help. Not only that, Jesus revealed God's righteousness by becoming the very demonstration of God's holiness and love lived out. God always does what is right. He never does anything that would contradict His own character. In sending His own Son, God was able to satisfy His own sense of justice against sin, while providing a conduit for His love at the same time. Paul puts it this way: “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:23-26 ESV). Jesus' death on the cross was a visible reminder of God's hatred of sin. The sins of mankind could only be atoned or paid for by the death of a sinless man. Since no human existed who could measure up to that standard, His sent His own Son. “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT).

Jesus made God known. He made known His holiness by living it out for all to see. The holiness of God is not ethereal and invisible, but highly practical and tangible. Jesus demonstrated it in the way He lives His life. He showed that the holiness of God was achievable in the life of any man or woman who recognized their own sinfulness and accepted God's free gift of righteousness made available through His Son's death and resurrection. Jesus also made known God's love. He showed us that God's love is so great that He sent His own Son to die for us – even while we were mired in our sinfulness with no hope of ever changing our ways. God loved us so much that He did for us what we could never have done for ourselves. And Jesus was the demonstration of that love.

In His prayer, Jesus promised to continue to reveal the love of God to His followers. He would do so in His coming death on the cross. But the resurrection of Jesus would also reveal God's love for His Son. God would raise Jesus from the dead and restore Him to His rightful place of prominence and power at His side. And it is the full scope of that amazing love that Jesus wants His followers to know and experience. To know God is experience and understand the full scope of the love of God. It is also to love God in return. When we begin to grasp just how loving our God really is, we can't help but return our gratitude in the form of love for Him. Our growing comprehension of the love of God produces in us a love for God. And that is exactly what Jesus prayed for – “that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”