The Love of Christ Compels Us

In one paragraph

This message came from 2 Corinthians 5:11-17, with Pastor Nathan returning to a verse from the previous week before pressing into the heart of the passage. The thread running through all of it was the question of what compels a person to keep carrying the message of the cross, and what it means to actually know Christ rather than simply know about him. It ended with an open invitation to anyone...

Read together

1. 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 verses pastor asked congregation to memorize two weeks prior
2. 2 Corinthians 5:9 reviewed from previous week: making it our aim to be well pleasing to God
3. 2 Corinthians 5:10 each duly recompensed for actions whether good or bad performed through the body
4. 2 Corinthians 5:11 knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men but are well known to God
5. 2 Corinthians 5:12 not commending themselves again but giving opportunity to boast on their behalf against those boasting in appearance
6. 2 Corinthians 5:13 if beside ourselves it is for God, if of sound mind it is for the congregation
7. 2 Corinthians 5:14 the love of Christ compels us, one died for all therefore all died
8. 2 Corinthians 5:15 he died for all that those who live should live no longer for themselves but for him
9. 2 Corinthians 5:16 from now on we regard no one according to the flesh, even Christ is no longer known that way
10. 2 Corinthians 5:17 if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, all things have become new
11. 2 Peter 3:9-12 God is not slack concerning his promise, not willing any should perish, day of the Lord comes as a thief
12. 1 Corinthians 1:18 the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, power of God to those being saved
13. John 3:16 used to illustrate the four elements of the gospel: God's purpose, man's problem, God's remedy, man's reply
14. Luke 1 Mary's response to the angel, used to illustrate the meaning of the Greek word ginosko as experiential knowledge

Talk about it

1. The pastor said that knowing the fear of the Lord is what compels Paul to persuade people, and that Christ's love for us, not our love for Christ, is what drives that. How have you experienced that distinction in your own life?
2. Paul writes that from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. What does it look like practically to perceive the people around you through spiritual eyes rather than earthly ones, and where do you find that hardest to do?
3. The sermon described two responses to the message of the cross: either it is foolishness or it is the power of God, based on personal experience. When did the cross stop being an idea and become something you had actually experienced?
4. The pastor used the bridge illustration from John 3:16 to show that belief is what crosses the chasm, and that good works follow saving faith rather than produce it. How does that order change the way you think about your own obedience day to day?
5. The sermon closed with 2 Corinthians 5:17, that anyone in Christ is a new creation. Where in your life right now are you still waiting to see that newness, and what would it mean to walk in it this week?