1 Sermon Series: Designer Living: Becoming the person God designed you to be 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 Designed For Second Chances Pastor Brian Long: April 5th, 2015 Big Idea: Easter offers a second chance. Welcome to our Easter Celebration. I hope you have enjoyed our time so far. How many of you have ever played a video game? Did you see this past week on April Fool s Day, in honor of the 35-year anniversary of Pacman, Google enable the user to turn any Google street map into a Pac Man Game. I plugged our church address in and here s a screen shot of my computer. The church is right their below my yellow guy. I m not very good at most video games. And since I make lots of mistakes and end up running out of ammo, dying, or getting eliminated one of my favorite buttons is the RESTART button. Man, when you hit the restart button you get to start all over, with new life, and another chance to do better at the game. It s so great. Knowing you have a second chance to do better make the game way less nerve wracking for me. This is actually why Easter is so special. Easter celebrates the opportunity to hit the ultimate RESTART button in life! And since no one is perfect, the reality is every one of us could benefit from a second chance. Even if you feel your life is going pretty well right now, the reality is each of us needs to hit the restart button in our relationships with our creator at some point in our lives. As you can see from the banner behind me, over the past few weeks we have been in a series that I m calling Designer Living: Becoming Who God Designed You To Be. In this series we ve been looking at a New Testament letter called 2 Corinthians, written by the Apostle Paul. Paul was one of the pioneers of the Easter message and as people in the various areas of the ancient world where he traveled accepted the Easter message he started churches there. Then, as he traveled around to other areas, he would write back to these churches and continue to coach them on how Christians were designed to live. The letter of 2 Corinthians is one of those letters he wrote to a group of Christians in the Greek city of Corinth.
2 I want to show you a portion of that letter that talks about the SECOND CHANCE RESTART button that is made possible at Easter. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Easter s Meaning You get another chance at a great relationship with God. This is the Bibles description of the SECOND CHANCE RESTART button. And it is the core meaning of Easter. You get another chance at a great relationship with God. You get another chance to live a meaningful life. You get another chance to live as you were created and designed to live. Is this for real, or is it just naïve, wishful thinking? In the next few verses Paul actually explains how it is possible for us to actually have a SECOND CHANCE RESTART button in life. First, Paul assures us, Now all these things are from God (vs.18). This is really good news because it promises us that the one who was offended by your sin, is actually the one who initiates the do over in your relationship with him. In other words, the whole second-chance-button was God s idea. His love for you was so great that he took the first step to offer a second chance at a great relationship. Listen specifically to how he did it Next, Paul adds, Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ. This means God implemented his reconciliation-restart button idea by sending his Son Jesus the Christ to live, die on a cross, and then, miracle of miracles, be raised again to life! Paul unpacks more of the significance of this in verse 19 by saying, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them. In other words, something Jesus does enables God to no longer count our sins against us. Something Jesus does means you and I no longer have a debt to God on our ledger.
3 But, wait. How did that happen? What did Jesus do that made that possible? Paul explains, He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (vs. 21). You see, the way God established the Second-Chance-Restart button was to call on Jesus to pay our debt for sin for us. God in his holiness cannot simply overlook sin, or sweep it under the carpet. His holy standards required it be punished. So, he took the expense off our ledger, and he put it on Jesus. Jesus steps up and lovingly takes the amount we owe for sin, which is death, and proceeds to pay it for us on the cross. Then to prove that he had the power to do all this, and accomplish the transaction, he rises from the grave on Easter. With our debt for sin paid, God is able now to credit our account with his righteousness. Jesus took on our sin, qualifying us to take on his righteousness. Boom Restart button established. Opportunity for a second chance created! You see, a second chance at a great relationship with God is not wishful thinking. It is a God initiated, Jesus enacted reality. The peace and reconciliation possible now with God is not simply a cessation of hostilities or an uneasy truce. It refers to the mending of the broken relationship that results from God making us right through faith and changing us from enemies to friends (GNB). This is Easter s meaning. This reality is what Easter is all about. A secondchance-restart button made possible by Jesus death and resurrection. Paul goes onto say in these verses that God not only made reconciliation and second chances possible, he also calls those who experience all the goodness of second chances to become raving fans and spread the good news. Look at how Paul says it, He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us (vss. 19-20). If a second chance is
4 Easter s meaning this is Easter s Calling To be ambassadors of this good news of a second chance. Easter s calling To be ambassadors of this good news (18b-20a). In the ancient times, as now, Ambassadors or Envoys were usually sent to others as a sign of friendship and good will, to establish a relationship, to renew friendly relations, or to make an alliance. God s purpose in sending Christ and his envoys has the same end to put an end to hostilities and to bring about a reconciliation. God sends out envoys to continue to announce that now is the day of salvation and reconciliation. For these reasons, Easter is really the highlight of our year around here at Church of the Foothills. It is the central point of our faith as Christians. Because Easter means you get another chance at a great relationship with God through faith in Jesus. And one of the reasons we are most excited about our Easter Weekend services is because it allows us to be ambassadors of this good news of second chances. Now, I ve shared Easter s meaning to you a second chance at a great relationship with God. I ve shared Easter s calling to be God s ambassador in your world. Now, let me share one final piece: Easter s invitation. The last part of verse 20 says, We implore you on Christ s behalf: Be reconciled to God. Easter s Invitation Be reconciled to God (20b) All this good news of Easter though it is God s idea, and Jesus work it requires response from you. You have to personally hit the SecondChance-Restart button. You have to personally accept the reconciliation God is offering. Like the verse says, I want to implore you in the most loving way possible to accept Easter s invitation to be reconciled to God. Push the SECOND CHANCE RESTART button. Here s how you do it: Admit your sin No matter how good of a person you are, no matter how good of a life you have lived. No matter how good your intentions
5 are you are not a perfect person and you have not lived a perfect life. Each and every one of us needs to hit the restart button of reconciliation with God. Accept his forgiveness Know that his death and resurrection was on your behalf. Thank him for making you right with God by paying the price for your sin, and gifting you his righteousness. Agree to follow him Pushing the Second Chance Restart button of faith in Jesus is the starting place of a life-long journey with him where you grow to know and love him more and more. When you push the restart button of reconciliation you not only receive his forgiveness but you receive his leadership for your life as well. He will teach you how to live like you were designed to live. When you push the Second Chance Restart button remember what our opening verse proclaimed, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. If you are choosing to hit the Restart button with God today, or if you have additional questions or clarifications you d like to get I d love to know that. Inside the chair pocket in front of you there is a tall card with a green strip on the top I d love it if you d fill that out and toss it in the baskets during our offering time in a few minutes. Pray Church of the Foothills 2015