2 Corinthians 5.17-19

Pentecost 12

Hymns: 471, 472, 469, 467

What Paul is describing here in our text is the change of attitude in the heart of someone who was once did not have faith in Christ and then received the gift of faith in Christ. The phrase, "If anyone is in Christ," means, "Whoever believes in Christ." Believes what? Believes that Christ...Jesus...is that person who lived on his earth 2000 years ago, who was the human-born son of the virgin, Mary, and at the same time, was the divine Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, who was given the task to be that person to pay the debt of sin for all of humanity. This is what you believe.

Further, the phrase, "If anyone is in Christ," refers to a Christian, to you who believe, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that be-cause you are sinful people, totally incapable of being perfect and sinless as God expects you to be, are deserving of eternal damnation in hell because of your sinful condition. You under-stand clearly what you deserve from God...not his love but his wrath...not heaven but hell...not his blessings but his curse...not his forgiveness but his punishment. This is what you believe.

Further, the phrase, "If anyone is in Christ," is a lead in as to what makes a Christian different from someone who is not. You, Christian, believe that what you deserve from God is his eternal punishment in hell. But you also believe that instead God gives you his forgiveness and has reserved a place reserved in heaven for you. Faith in God gives you an attitude that is completely different from the attitude of someone who is not a Christian.. You are "a new creation" (read text again).

Because Jesus paid for your sins when he died on a cross, and because God the Father accepted his payment for sin and gives you the credit for that payment, you believe that the fear and terror of hell and the punishment of God has been forever removed. Jesus rescued you from hell. This is what makes you a new creation, gives you an attitude about God that a nonChristian does not have. YOUR LIFE IS A REFLECTION OF YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARD GOD (SANCTIFICATION). Your love for God is on display every day of your life.

Last week we spoke about the Doctrine of Justification. That is, God has declared you to be innocent of the guilt of sin, free from the debt of sin because Jesus paid that debt by living a perfect life for you and paying the debt of sin by dying on a cross. As a result the sins of all people have been paid for; heaven and not hell is now possible for all people.

However, heaven will be in the future only for people who believe that Jesus is the world’s Savior from sin...people like your-selves...Christians. And because you believe this about Jesus you will show that in your attitude toward God and in the way you life your day-to-day life. This is the Doctrine of Sanctifica-tion. You want to live a holy life that is pleasing to God (sanctification) because God has declared you to be not guilty of sin (Justification). Or, to express it in the words of John (1 Jn 4.19), We love (God) because he first loved us.

Let me give you some examples of how people changed their attitude toward God and identify what it was that gave them that change of attitude: After Adam and Eve sinned against God they ran in fear because he told them that if they sinned, they would die. They knew what they deserved, damnation, so they ran away and wanted nothing to do with God. Their attitude toward God was an attitude of rebellion and fear and even hate. Then God promised that he would send someone who would pay for their sins so that they could still go to heaven when they died and not be punished in hell. How did their attitude change and what changed it? It changed from fear to thanks because God said he would save them from their sin and not condemn them because of their sin.

And they reflected that attitude toward God in their life. They stopped running away from God. They worshiped God; they named their first child Cain, which means, "God has given me a son." In this name we can see Adam and Eve’s attitude and faith in God’s promise that he would one day send a Savior from sin and death. They loved and trusted God; they were thankful be-cause he did not condemn them but forgave them.

Look at Peter. He was a wonderful man...a faithful and loving disciple of Jesus. But he was full of himself. He was so confident of his own spiritual inner strength that even though Jesus himself warned him that he would deny even knowing him, Peter vowed that he would never do such a thing...and then he did, three times on the night Jesus was arrested. He wept bitterly and was consumed with guilt that he could not forget what he had done. Then Jesus got Peter to talk about his sin. "Peter, do you love me?" Jesus asked him three times. And three times Jesus said, "Feed my sheep/lambs." "Peter, I forgive you and I have work for you...to tell others. Peter’s attitude toward Jesus was an attitude of trust and love and he showed that as he spent his life...even going to his martyr’s death as a missionary.

And think of Judas, Jesus’ disciples who stole money from their treasury and betrayed Jesus to his enemies for money. Judas’ guilt overwhelmed him and he took his own life. His attitude was that it was too late to do anything about his sin so he ended his life in despair. What if...what if Judas had really understood who Jesus was, if he had gone to Jesus to confess his sin and heard Jesus tell him that his sin was forgiven...what would have been Judas’ attitude then? One of thankfulness and relief. He would have returned the money to the Pharisees and would have made his love for Jesus evident in his life. But he didn’t.

Your life is a reflection of your attitude toward God...your whole life...everything you do out of love and thanks to God for forgiving your sins and sparing you from eternal damnation is your life of sanctification. The Christian life is all about attitude and motivation. You are motivated to love God because of his love for you. You will not love your family and forgive others, be diligent at work, say your prayers, bring your offerings and worship God in church because you have to as though you were under some obligation, but because you want to...because love wants to. Nothing the Christian does for God is out of compulsion but only out of love. No, not everything we do is perfect; we still sin. But then in love we ask God to forgive and get back to letting our attitude of thanks be reflected in our life of love toward God because of his love for us in Jesus our Savior.