The Love of Christ

Good morning, my name is Juanita Sonia, and Summit has been my church home for four years. Today's sermon is going to come out of 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I'll be starting in verse 14. For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died. And died for all that those who live might no longer live for who for their sake died and was raised. 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. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to give to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 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. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. God, making his appeal through us, we implore you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Thank you. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thank you. You may be seated. Some years ago I was on death row, just visiting. I was spending, no hyperbole here, one of the most transformative stretches of ministry in my life. I was there with a group of other NFL players at the Angola State Prison there in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. They had asked me to come in and do a week of revival meetings to the community there, these inmates. I don't think revival is

an overstatement. So many of our brothers there in the prison are coming to faith in Jesus Christ. They've actually planted over 100 churches at Angola State Prison, inside the prison. It's quite amazing. Because death row inmates can't mix in with general population, what we would do is we'd get together in the evenings with the general population and share the good news of Jesus Christ. Then we'd spend the afternoons with our brothers there in death row. I was excited to be there, yes, for the ministry and to get to know these individuals. We saw so many come to faith in Jesus Christ, but secondarily I was excited because one of the individuals there, former NFL players, what happened to be one of my favorites, is now a Hall of Famer. I was looking for an opportunity to steal away and get some time with him. That did happen. We were able, on a break, to sit down, me and this former NFL player together and have lunch. So there we are.

I'm trying my best not to fanboy over him. I just said to him, I said, listen man, you're one of my favorite players and it's been great to see what Christ is doing in your life. We just spent some time together. I'm just watching how you interact and the tears. I've got to tell you, that's drastically different than what I experienced of you when you were actually out on the football field. In fact, I don't think it's a surprise for me to say to you, you played with an edge. Not just with an edge. I said, please don't look down on me for being a little forward. It seems as if you played with a sense of anger. He just kind of nodded his head. He affirmed it. So I've got to ask you, where did that anger come from? Without hesitating. He said, oh, that's easy. It came from my dad. I said, when I was a little boy, my dad walked out on me and

mom. I said, what's interesting, around the same time, I started playing Pop Warner football. At the same time. And he said, I remember my first game. Looking up to the bleachers, hoping dad would be there. Dad's not there. He said, I could feel the anger rising in me. And something in my head says, I'm going to play so hard and so well. Dad's going to hear about me and he'll have no other option but to show up and see me play. So I played hard. I went all out. Next game, I look up to the bleachers. Dad's not there. I'm going to play hard because I feel the anger rising in me. I'm going to play so well. Dad's going to hear about me. He's going to come. He'll have no other choice but to see his son play. That first season doesn't come. That's okay. Next season. Without thinking, I look up to the bleachers. Dad's not there. I get angry. I'm gonna play hard because dad's gonna come. That never happens during Pop Warner. Later on I go to high school, play my high school football team.

And without thinking about it, before each game I look up into the stands hoping dad's gonna be there. Dad's not there, anger rising. I'm gonna play with this edge. Never came to my high school games. I get recruited, go to a D1 school without even thinking about it, man. Walk out onto the field, I'm part of the special teams, gonna receive the kickoff, look up into the stands assuming dad's gonna be there. Dad's not gonna be, okay, even as a college student. I'm gonna play so hard, so well. Dad's not gonna have any choice. I get drafted. Surely dad's gonna see his boy play in the NFL. I play for over a decade and what grates on me to no end, he said, every single game. I'm a grown man. I'm looking into the stands secretly wishing dad's gonna be there. And he never came. That's where the anger came from. He said, and what drives me nuts, that thing gripped me and controlled me and my dad wasn't even thinking about me. What controls you? What has a grip on you? What's the organizing principle of your life?

Oh, trust me. You have a thing, I have a thing, all God's children have a thing. For some of you, you can identify, cut and paste. That's my story. My mom, my dad left. Either they weren't there physically or they weren't there emotionally, man. And I'm just kinda, I'm just kinda driven everything in my life subconsciously. I'm gonna prove and I'm gonna prove I'm worthy of your love. And for some of you, that father wound, that mother wound, it works in the opposite direction. What you say is some of the best dads, some of the best moms I know are that way because at some point they said, my kids will never know the pain that I felt. So I'm gonna go in the other way. It just drives them. It controls them. Others of you, that's not your thing, but maybe what controls you is people pleasing. I just, I gotta make people comfortable with me. They gotta like me and if I don't get that, it disproportionately devastates me. Other people, what controls you is money. It's the bottom line and every decision. Yeah, I'll say a little prayer, but really the organizing principle of your life is money. It just kinda governs the way you allocate time

and governs the decisions that you make. Other people, what controls you is your kids. It's not just that you're being responsible and loving and affectionate. They're kind of the sun and you kind of orbit around them, your sense of well-being and identity. We all have a theme. Something that's gripped us. Now watch this. When we come to our text, Paul's gonna talk about the issue of control. But his argument is not don't be controlled. Because I think Paul understands that's an impossibility. Sort of like Tim Keller, he popularized it. I'm sure he didn't come up with it. Tim Keller talks about this concept of idols cannot be removed, just replaced. Something is on the altar of our hearts. So the issue is not control, it's what is controlling you. And there's so much in this text and I'm excited to wade through it, but I think we just peel back the layers. The epicenter of our text is found in verse 14. Notice what Paul says about the issue of control. Paul says, for the love of Christ controls us. Notice Paul talks about the issue of control, but he's not going to say don't be controlled. Paul understands that's an impossibility. He's wanting us to be controlled by the right thing or better yet, the right one.

Paul says, I'm controlled and if you're in Christ, you should be controlled, not by money, not by an absentee parent, not by the approval of others, not by anything else. You should be controlled, watch it now, by the love of Christ. Now the original language of our text is in English, it's Greek, the Greek word for controlled, I love it. It means to be gripped. It means to be squeezed. It's the idea of being backed into a corner. In fact, this same Greek word Paul uses in Philippians chapter one, verse 23, where he's pulling us into this tension. Man, I really do want to live and I want to remain because that means fruitful labor for me, but man, for me to die, it means I'm in his presence. And he says this, I'm hard-pressed between the two. The Greek word there for hard-pressed is the same Greek word for control in our text. Do you see it? Paul says, I am gripped, I am controlled, watch it now, not just by Christ. He says, what has gripped me, what I cannot get away from is the love of Christ. It's invaded my heart. I just can't step away from it. It's the organizing principle of my life. Now, I'm studying this text, I'm like, the love of Christ, okay, that's kind of broad.

Paul, do you give us any clues in this text that'll help us to get pinpoint accuracy on exactly what do you mean by the love of Christ? Yes, keep on reading, don't need to spend a day in seminary to figure out what Paul means when he says the love of Christ. Verse 14, because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died. And he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised. Jump down to verse 21. For our sake he made him, the him there being Christ, to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Here is Paul, Paul says what has gripped me, what I can't get away from, what has backed me into a corner is the love of Christ. Paul, what do you mean by the love of Christ? Here it is, Paul unpacks the love of Christ and he leads us to that glorious doctrine of the substitutionary atoning work of Jesus Christ. That you and I, sinners, it's not just that we did sin, we came into this world as sin. Romans chapter five, Paul would say, sin entered the world through one man, that's Adam. It infected everybody. David talks about this in Psalm 51. Behold, I was born in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.

This is the glorious doctrine of total depravity. Total depravity doesn't mean I'm as sinful as I could be. It's not total as it relates to degree. It is total as it relates to extent. I'm thinking now of that great pastor friend of mine in Arizona, Tom Schrader, since gone home to be with the Lord, he used to say, if sin were blue, we'd all be Smurfs. It colors everything about me. It's not just that I do it. I came into this world completely marked by sin. I had racked up a bill with God. I had no hopes of repaying and my sin, watch it now, Ephesians chapter two says, it triggered the wrath of God. Paul says, for we were by nature, by nature, objects of God's wrath. If you're here today, maybe you're a new believer or maybe you're not a believer. You're saying, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. I thought God loved me and you're saying he's angry with me. How can anger and love live in the same person? Oh, you must not have kids. Can't no one tick you off like those precious little tax write-offs. I mean, in fact, any therapist will tell you, if I really wanna know what you love, let me see what you get angry over. God's not indifferent towards our sin, it angers him. Watch it, because his anger is rooted in his love. Here's Jesus, we had no way out and Jesus Christ came

and God in his justice could not just let the bill just not get paid, someone had to pay it. Jesus, verse 21, who knew no sin, the perfect spotless lamb of God became sin. What does that mean? Our sin was put on him so that we might become the righteousness of God. And what does that mean? God authentically sees us, watch it now, as righteous. Watch it, because when we got saved, again, Romans chapter five, the righteousness of Christ was cash apt to our insufficient spiritual accounts. And so now he sees us through the righteousness of Christ. It's the glorious doctrine of the substitutionary atoning work of Jesus Christ. To be clear, this doctrine is not just. It's a New Testament doctrine. It's realized in the New Testament, but Isaiah, talk to this in Isaiah 53. Look at it with me. Surely, speaking of Christ, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, but he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds, not my good works. With his wounds, we are healed. Oh, we like sheep have gone astray.

We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Listen, every major religion would say, yes, there's sin, and just about every major religion wrestles with, now, how I'm gonna pay for that? What makes Christianity unique is it says you can't, but praise God in Christ, he did. He paid our bill. That's why you've heard this before. If you've been around church for a while, it's a well-used quote by that saint of a man, John Stott, who too has since gone home to be with the Lord. Stott said, the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man. Jesus in my place is the foundation. Of the Christian life. It's the substitutionary atoning work of Christ. Okay, Brian, I understand this now. Thank you for that. Paul is saying, what's gripped to me is the love of Christ. Paul says, specifically, when he's talking about the love of Christ, he's talking about Jesus in my place, the substitutionary atoning work of Christ. But Brian, practically speaking, what has that love of Christ done for me? Paul says two things. One, it's reconciled us.

All this, verse 18, is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. I love it. Our sins triggered the wrath of God. First John chapter two says that Jesus Christ, his death on the cross, he became our propitiation. The idea is, is that his death satisfied the wrath of God. So if you're in Christ, there is no condemnation. His wrath is satisfied. Now watch it. Propitiation takes us here. Reconciliation, watch it now, takes us miles down the road past it. Not only did Christ kill the hostility, but because of Christ, the floodgates are open, and now you and I can have an intimate, real relationship with the God of the universe. That's why the author of Hebrews says that when Christ died, the veil of the temple was torn in two. I mean, that was the only place that the high priest could go on the day of atonement. But now Christ has torn it in two, which means I don't have to be a high priest. I just have to be in Christ, and I get to commune in the holy of holies. It's reconciliation. I love what one Christian writer, I think it was Philip Yancey,

Philip Yancey says, the story of the gospel can be broken down into three three-word phrases from God. I love you, I forgive you, what's for dinner? What's for dinner is reconciliation. We get to sit at the table with him. But secondly, Paul says, the love of Christ that's gotten a hold of his heart, it's not only given us reconciliation, but it's made us new. Verse 17, Paul says, this love of Christ that's gotten a hold of our hearts, he says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new, new, new creation. Again, the original language of our text is Greek. Several Greek words for new. One is neos, N-E-O-S. Neos speaks of something that is new as it relates to time. It's the 2025 Chevy Tahoe. That is not the word Paul uses. He doesn't use neos, he uses kainos, K-A-I-N-O-S. Kainos speaks of something that is new as it relates to invention. Neos is the 2025 Chevy Tahoe. Kainos is Henry Ford in the Model T. While the world just knew horse and buggy, Henry Ford comes up with something so new, they didn't have a category. They didn't have a category.

He says, when the love of Christ in the world made it your heart and you were made new. He didn't just remodel the home that is your life. He blew up the old home and has completely made a new home. I don't know about you, this introduces a problem, does it not? Okay, I've been made new, but God, if I'm honest, your son Brian talking to you, when I look through the rear view mirror of not just my life, but of very recent moments in my life, there's moments in my life where I'm not acting new, I'm acting old, so how is it that I've been made new, but man, I'm acting old, do you not see the tension? Here's how I want you to process it. The idea of this word new, it is, watch it now, here it is. It is both positional and experiential. So when we got saved, we became the righteousness of God. So he sees us through the substitutionary of Tony, we're completely new, and now sanctification, watch it now, it is me living into what he's already declared me to be, which is new. July 3rd, 1999, my wife and I got married, 1030 in the morning, Englewood, California. What a day that was. Right down the street from Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles, I tried to talk my wife into having the reception there, she was not praying with me. For those of you who are married, our wedding like your wedding, they pronounced on us

that we're one, husband and wife. Those early days of marriage, the friction that Corey and I experienced was, even though we had been declared one, we were oftentimes acting as two. So we've been declared one, but we're not acting into what we've been declared to be. 26 years of marriage, it is Corey and I walking out our oneness that was declared 26 years ago. When you got saved, God says, new. And I'm gonna give you the Holy Spirit, Paul says in our text, as a guarantee. He's gonna help you live into what he's already declared you to be. Oh, I'm thinking now that North African theologian, Augustine, I think Augustine's around the fourth, fifth century, somewhere in there. Augustine, if you've ever read him, Augustine is painfully transparent about his life prior to Christ and his struggles. And he just puts all of his business out there. He says, I was sexually immoral. I was sexually depraved. I did not even try to control myself. And then I get saved, I'm made new. And then what happens, not long after getting saved and being made new, he runs into an old girlfriend. And this old girlfriend, he says, was really aggressive with him, trying to tempt him. And he's dismissing her and he's rebuffing her.

And she says to him, Augustine, Augustine, stop tripping. I don't think they said that in the fourth century, but you understand. Augustine, she says, it is I. Augustine responds, I know, but it is not I. See the newness there. So I got to ask you, when you run into the old buddy that you used to party with at the frat house, do they have to take a double take? On your jobs, do your coworkers say something to the effect of, something's different. When you run into that old boyfriend, that old girlfriend, do they say a version of, you've changed? One of the ways you know you're gripped by the love of Christ, it's changing you. You're being made new. Hey, Brian, I need some more vitamin A. Application. I get, Brian, that the epicenter of our text is being controlled by the love of Christ. I understand the love of Christ is a substitutionary atoning work of Christ. That's what Paul gets to. That's what he specifically has in mind. But Brian, how do I really know that I'm being controlled and gripped by the love of Christ? Paul tells us three practical things that the atoning work of Jesus Christ helps us with on a moment by moment, day by day basis.

First, Paul wants us to understand that being controlled by the love of Christ. gives us a new outlook on life and death. Listen, I understand some of you are maybe especially paranoid by this prospect of death. Listen, the older I get and what's freaking me out, I've been going to funerals of peers, like two guys in my friend group have died within the last 12 months. I mean, that's sobering. I remember annual physicals at 25 meant nothing. 52, they start to mean something. So how does this help me process my mortality? Verse one, for we know that of the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed. We have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, for in this tent we groan. Longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked, for while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened. Wow. Hear the words Paul uses to describe life on this earth. Groaning, being burdened. He's helping us to understand something we already know. Suffering in this life is unavoidable. It's inescapable. And then he uses the idiom of a tent. It's a temporary structure that's here for a moment and then it's taken down.

It's our bodies, it's our lives. One writer says, inside of every old person is a young person who looks in the mirror and wonders how that happened. One celebrity says, I know I'm gonna die, I just don't wanna be there when it happens. It's not to say that we don't have some angst about death. I think that's fine. But Paul is saying if your life is gripped by the love of Christ, you're not inordinately rattled by the prospect of death because while our bodies are a tent, it is inside of a permanent structure, Paul says, not made with human hands, but a building made by God, which means to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. I read this and forget the triteness of this analogy. I immediately, the vision that I had, I immediately went there to our little home in Memphis, Tennessee when our boys were little. They used to do something I'm sure maybe your children have done. They used to set up these forts and these tents. They used to get boxes and I can still see Miles and Quentin and Jayden get these big blankets and they'd pin them to the inside of the cushion of one sofa, they'd pin them to the inside of the other sofa and they'd stretch it across an empty space and pin it inside the cushion of another sofa. They'd hang out there, they'd eat their snacks and cookies and watch TVs under their tent.

I think they'd watch The Sweet Life of Zack and Cody, whatever it was, shout out to that. I mean, they just love these tents. They love these forts, but inevitably at some point it came crashing down. And they'd be upset, angry, at times even cry. But can you imagine the devastation if that was their only dwelling place? Oh, they slept good that night because that temporary structure was inside of a much fixed permanent structure called our home. So they grieved, but they didn't grieve without hope. It's the same way with us as believers having been gripped by the love of Christ. Yes, we've got this momentary tent. Yes, we're passing away, but this world is not our ultimate home. We're going, as Tremaine Hawkins says, up yonder. Soon and very soon, Andre Kravitz says, we are going to see the king. Gives me great sadness, but also great joy. Later on this week, I'm going to, I've been asked to help officiate a funeral of one of our dear, precious members. Saint of a man, deep encouragement to me, went to this campus. I think he was 96 years old when he died. I'd always had a word of encouragement for me. I was with the family in the hospital last week as he's fighting for his life.

I'm seeing him there on the hospital bed, fighting for his life. God bless his daughters. They had to make some really tough decisions and they're processing out loud these tough decisions. And then his one daughter says, I know my dad, he just wants to be home with Jesus. And I got in the car and headed home and it got me thinking about my kids. Yes, I'd love to see them get married if God should so will. Yes, I'd love to see them have my grandkids if God would so will, but can it be said of me, but at the end of the day, Brian just wants to see Jesus. Paul wants us to understand being controlled by the love of Christ gives us a new outlook on life and death, but secondly, being controlled by the love of Christ gives me a new outlook on my life, verses nine and 10. Paul says, so whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the, underline this phrase, judgment seat, judgment seat, 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. Paul says, I've been gripped by the love of Christ. And so what that means is being gripped by the love of Christ, it now pivots me from self-centered living to God-centered living.

My aim in life is to please him. Part of the reason for that, Paul now says, part of the motivating factor is I'm going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. The phrase there for judgment seat is the Greek word bema, bema, bema. You're looking right now at the actual bema seat in Corinth. Some of you all have been to Corinth. My wife and I have been to Corinth. That's the judgment seat. So the people in Corinth, they would have thought about that. That's where the judge would sit and would hear the arguments and would render a verdict. Paul says, in Christ, we've received his love and we're going to appear before the judgment seat. In fact, Paul would say this earlier to the Corinthians. Will you look at it with me? Paul in 1 Corinthians 4 says, therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. Now, believer in Christ, the judgment seat has nothing to do with whether or not we get into heaven. The bema seat is not a place of condemnation. You're in. You're in, not because of your performance. You're in because of what Christ did.

But Paul is helping us to see that even in Christ, while we have escaped condemnation, we cannot escape evaluation. Evaluation. It's the whole idea of rewards, crowns. Paul says, 1 Corinthians 4, everything we've done, even the stuff hidden in darkness, is going to be revealed, the bema seat. We're in. Best way I can explain it to you. Look, look y'all, I was the laziest student, the laziest student in high school. My modus operandi was what is the bare minimum I can do to get through it. So here I am, I graduate, graduation ceremony. I didn't go to a small school, didn't go to a large school, but it was small enough to where when we walked in, I've got on my cap and gown, we each get a program. I noticed immediately that on this program is a list of all of us graduates. I've graduated. I immediately noticed that a select few of these graduates had a certain set of symbols. One set of symbols meant that Keisha graduated summa cum laude. Another set of symbols meant that Connor graduated magna cum laude. And then there's my name, no set of symbols, meant I graduated, thank you laude. So I'm sitting in graduation ceremony,

do the whole tassel thing, I'm in. But you know what's interesting? This festive occasion, I'm sad. Because I'm looking at my name, no set of symbols, I reflect on my high school career. And I have this thought, I wish I would have tried harder. I wished I would have pushed it. I wished I would have had more of a moment. Focus, look, the point of crowns in heaven is not to parade around and brag about what I have and what you don't have. We'll all lay them at the Savior's feet. But what if that person has nothing to lay at the Savior's feet? I believe for that person, you're in, no condemnation. But there'll be a level of sadness. Finally, Paul says, being controlled by the love of Christ gives me a new outlook on others. Verse 16, I really believe, is one of the most counter-cultural statements Paul ever makes. From now on, therefore, we regard the Lord as our Savior. I regard no one according to the flesh. It's right on the heels of him saying, the love of Christ has backed me into a corner, it has gripped me, it controls me. And one of the ways I know that is from now on, I regard no one according to the flesh. I believe there's two applications of this. Let me deal with the secondary application first and then jump to the primary one.

I want you to process this with me for now as a first century citizen of the Roman Empire. I call this the most counter-cultural statement, one of the most that Paul ever made, because the whole system of Rome was a caste system predicated on the flesh. You valued or devalued people based on gender. Men got all the cards and rights and privileges and women were looked down on. You were valued if you were free and really valued if you were a citizen of Rome. Slaves, not at all. You were valued if you were of a certain ethnicity and Jews looked down on Greeks and Greeks looked down on Jews, in fact, Paul is right to read it yourself in Acts chapter 18. There's a multi-ethnic church made up of Jews and Greeks and to this caste system, Paul says, if the love of Christ has truly invaded your life, you do not see people by those worldly categories. We regard people no longer according to the flesh. I want us to process this on two sides of the tape. I think this is a needed word for us. Unfortunately, even today in the United States of America, I think it's just kind of baked into all of us to value or devalue people and so I think Paul is saying if you're a part of a group that your culture sinfully privileges, don't you dare look down on somebody else. The gospel has blown all that up.

In fact, in Galatians chapter three, Paul would say it this way. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither slave nor free. There's no male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. He's not denying those differences. In fact, what's interesting, you read the Pauline Corpus and you'll see he takes time throughout his letters addressing each of those groups. But he's saying the only status that matters isn't gender, isn't class, isn't culture, ethnicity. The only status that matters is the foot of the cross. So if you're a part of a group that is being sinfully privileged, don't look down. Men, don't look down on women and don't leverage your position to take advantage. You're not controlled by the gospel if you do that. People of means who have a measure of wealth, don't look down on and don't leverage that to unjustly treat the poor. People of one ethnicity who's privileged, don't use that to look down on other ethnicities. No, what matters is your status at the cross. But I think there's another way to look at this. If you're on the other side of that, I think to not regard people according to the flesh means do not automatically think or assume the worst in others. Women, is patriarchy and misogyny a real thing?

Absolutely. I say that with sadness. But at no point should we automatically assume the worst in men. Poor people, do you have historical receipts of the rich leveraging their position and power and money to be? Are there cases of injustice? Sadly so, but don't automatically assume that to be wealthy is to be ungodly or to have bad motives. So my wife is half Mexican, half Irish. I'm African American. I guess that makes us a tri-racial couple. We spent some 12 amazing years in Memphis. If you know anything about Memphis, long sad history of racism in Memphis. And so we get to Memphis and not long after planning the church, one of the couples from our church invited us over to their house for dinner. My wife and I get there and you ever walked into a place and be like, something's different here and I can't quite put my finger on it? Well, it took me about 20 minutes to realize all the couples there were interracial couples. So we're sitting there at the dinner table and the conversation just drips into, you know, how hard it is.

And somebody says, we need a support group. And my wife and I got in the car, we went home and we're like, man, amen. They may need that, but that's just not for us. Because early on in marriage, my wife and I said, if we're out to eat and someone's staring at us, I'm gonna look at my shirt and just automatically assume I've spilled ketchup. It's a miserable way to live, assuming the worst in others. That doesn't mean that, you know, we're not aware of certain realities, but if unity is to reign in the body of Christ at summit, it begins with being gripped by the love of Christ. But the primary application isn't just that. Paul actually says, now that you have been gripped by the love of Christ, verse 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. Paul says, my heart is so controlled by the love of Christ, I make it my aim to persuade others. This is the idea of sharing my faith or evangelism. You just gotta understand, I grew up in a very legalistic church culture that believed in evangelism, but they came at it through the portal of obligation. You gotta share your faith and do this and do this. Hear me, Paul comes at it another way.

He talks about evangelism and the ministry of reconciliation and making it our aim to persuade others, but notice the context is the controlling love of Christ. So that evangelism is what I do in response to a heart that's been gripped by a substitutionary atoning work. So the question is never, when was the last time you shared your faith? The question is, do you love him? Has he gotten your heart? Because here's what we know, we talk about what we love. So if you go to a restaurant and you have this amazing meal, you ain't keeping that to yourself. If you fall in love, someone's gonna know about it. If Jesus has this, he has this. Several years ago, as we close, there was an amazing film that came out called Three Seasons. Many years ago, shortly after the Vietnam War, it's about this, it's an Asian love story about a guy, the guy's name is Han. Han is poor, he's a rickshaw driver, eking out an existence, he's, excuse me, his name is Hai. He's in love with a girl named Lan. The problem is Lan is a prostitute. It's the only way she thinks she can support herself. Hai would love for Lan to stop her work and be with him, but he can't support her. Lan, the primary place where she works is at this big, fancy hotel, and one of her bucket list items

outside of being with Hai is, she would just love a night at the hotel without any customers and to just enjoy just a night to herself. Hai enters into a race, as the story goes, and he wins the race, gets all this money, and he knows immediately what he's going to do. He purchases a room. For Lon now what you think is let me fast-forward because it's gonna be a steamy love scene I'm sure Lon thought that as well, but it shocks you. There's none of that One critic writes this about the movie will you look at it with me? He has only purchased her a place in the normal world. She dreams of living And he only asked permission to watch her fall asleep in it Slowly comfortably she falls asleep and he's gone by the morning having demanded nothing from her But only the chance to fulfill her desire to belong But something snaps in her She finds she can't go back to her old job of prostitution Having a experience for the first time someone who used his power to serve her rather than use her She gets a new sense of her own dignity She's not the same person She's changed by the transforming grace of selfless love That's what a window into the story of the gospel I'm sorry. Hi, but there's an even greater story of selfless love And I hate to break it to you we're all on Prostituting ourselves to the idols of this world He who knew no sin Became sin on our behalf Through him we might become the righteousness of God And I'm telling you just like this critic says you you let that transforming love truly set up shot and shop in your life Something in you is gonna snap can't go back

New creation I'm I'm gonna live into that new creation So father in the name of Jesus Oh For this glorious Texas glorious truth pray for anyone here today Lord God who does not know you as Lord and Savior Thank you that the message of Christianity is Jesus in my place Thank you for the substitutionary atoning work of Jesus Christ that not only satisfies the wrath of God But who prompts God to say what's for dinner? It opens up the table to intimate relationship with him There's no better deal in town Help us Lord God to live into this Thank you for the grip you have on our hearts It's in Jesus name we pray Amen You