The Love of Christ Compels Us

In one paragraph

This message worked through 2 Corinthians 5, centered on the question of how a person truly knows the message of the cross, not just mentally but experientially. The pastor described himself as a pastor-teacher by gift, then gave fair warning that this passage and the one coming next week are unusually evangelistic in nature. The whole thrust of the sermon was the divide between those who find the...

Read together

1. 2 Corinthians 5:11 starting point for the sermon passage, knowing the fear of the Lord, we are persuading men
2. 2 Peter 3:9-12 the Lord is long suffering, not willing that any should perish, and the day of the Lord coming as a thief
3. 1 Corinthians 3 gold, silver, precious stones versus wood, hay, stubble passing through fervent heat
4. 2 Corinthians 5:12 not commending ourselves again but giving opportunity to boast on behalf of Paul against those who boast in appearance and not in heart
5. 2 Corinthians 5:13 if beside ourselves it is for God, if of sound mind it is for you, addressing ecstatic utterances
6. 2 Corinthians 5:14 the love of Christ compels us, because we judge that if one died for all then all died
7. 2 Corinthians 5:15 he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died and rose again
8. 2 Corinthians 5:16 from now on we regard no one according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to the flesh
9. 1 Corinthians 1:18-19 the message of the cross is foolishness to those perishing but the power of God to those being saved
10. John 3:16 used to illustrate God's purpose, man's problem of sin, God's remedy through His Son, and the condition of belief
11. Galatians 2:20 Paul's statement I have been crucified with Christ, referenced in connection with dying with Christ
12. Luke 1 Mary's response to the angel, using the word ginosko, I have never known a man
13. 2 Corinthians 5:17 closing verse, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, old things passed away, all things become new

Talk about it

1. The pastor talked about the difference between knowing something mentally and knowing it experientially, using the Greek word 'ginosko.' What is a time in your own life when your knowledge of something moved from just a fact in your head to something you actually experienced as real?
2. Peter writes that God is 'not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.' How does holding that truth alongside the reality that not all will come to repentance shape the way you think about the people in your life who are outside of Christ?
3. The pastor said Paul's point in 'we regard no one according to the flesh' is about the way we see people, not about separating from them. What is the difference between seeing someone through fleshly eyes and seeing them through spiritual eyes, and what does that look like in a practical, everyday situation?
4. The sermon drew a contrast between the super apostles who preached outward prosperity and Paul who preached the cross through suffering and affliction. Where do you find yourself tempted to measure God's faithfulness by outward circumstances rather than by the cross?
5. Paul says it is Christ's love for us, not our love for Christ, that compels us. How does starting from His love rather than your own effort change the way you think about sharing the gospel or serving others?