Practice Sermon for personal study

2 Corinthians 5:11-21
11Therefore, knowing(O) the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But(P) what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. 12(Q) We are not commending ourselves to you again but(R) giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. 13For if we(S) are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14For the love of Christ(T) controls us, because we have concluded this: that(U) one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15and he died for all,(V) that those who live might no longer live for themselves but(W) for him who for their sake died and was raised.
16From now on, therefore,(X) we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is(Y) in Christ, he is(Z) a new creation.[b](AA) The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18All this is from God,(AB) who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us(AC) the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling[c] the world to himself,(AD) not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us(AE) the message of reconciliation. 20Therefore,(AF) we are ambassadors for Christ,(AG) God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21(AH) For our sake he made him to be sin(AI) who knew no sin, so that in him we might become(AJ) the righteousness of God.

Lord, sanctify us by the truth. Your word is truth. Amen

“You shall be holy, for the LORD your God is holy.” Here is God’s command. We may understand this as being perfect, good, righteous, just. This is what God demands. Paul, as a minister of reconciliation truly hopes that the fear of the LORD would be known to the consciences of the Corinthians. We learn from Paul that we should not judge from outward appearances, but from what is in the heart, and our LORD Jesus Christ tells us what comes from the heart: lust, adultery, murder, theft. We by nature try to find rest in our flesh, but our heart continues to bleed forth sin. We wonder how others might see us. We might see someone in a higher authority or higher status and see success. This guy must have been doing some things right. He shows such maturity, such control and power over what he does. He is really good at what he does. Now you do something stupid or just plain shameful in front of him, and you see what you keep forgetting exists: you see the filthiness o f your heart. Maybe this person works with you and has caught you slacking off during work. Maybe this person is your boss and caught you cheating the company. Maybe this person is your own spouse, or your mother or father, or your brother. I for one cannot count the times that I disappointed my mother or father by my disobedience, and fortunately, my mother and father do not bring any of it up. They do not judge me according to these deeds. They forgave me every time. Not that I never was disciplined, but I was certainly forgiven. Why did they forgive me? Because they are forgiven; they are Christians.
Christians forgive. He who does not forgive is not a Christian, but a heathen and a child of the devil. But sometimes this person who is so important to us, whether or not we always acknowledge it, does not forgive… and it hurts. It hurts because your flesh automatically runs to the law to find comfort. Well, he shouldn’t have been so harsh on me. Actually, he had every right. Yeah, but it wasn’t that big of a deal what I did. Actually it was, and you deserve what you got. The fact that this person did not respond to your apology by saying, “It’s OK. Don’t worry about it!” kills you inside. Why can’t it just be OK?
There is a reason why the Psalmist says, “Do not put your trust in princes.” Because, in this son of man, there is no salvation. The comfort for these wretched Corinthians starts with the fact that their pastors are compelled by the love of Christ. Jesus died once for all. He does not count your trespasses against you. But even Jesus, the soul’s great friend, does he say, “It’s OK!”? Jesus says that if you truly love Him, keep His commandments. He says that sin leads to death and hell, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. He says that you must be righteous in order to enter into the Kingdom of God. Jesus took sin seriously. That is why He bore it on the cross. And He sends His Holy Spirit to convict the world of sin, righteousness of and judgment. In other words, the Holy Spirit comes with the law to tell you that you are sinning. It is kind of like when you hear that you did something wrong, and the assumption is that you are sorry because you got caught. That is exactly how the Spirit works. He catches you, and it is only when the Spirit catches you when you can truly be led to repentance. For only the Spirit after catching you is going to also forgive you. He will not rub it in, saying, “You really messed up!” He will tear you down only so that He might freely give you the merits of Christ earned for you on the cross. So the minister who the Spirit speaks by is compelled by this love which bore you sins on the cross.
Be reconciled to God! Why? Because He has given you a pastor whose only job is to preach reconciliation. And how do you know that you are truly reconciled to God? Because He was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Be reconciled to each other. Do not hold onto your sin nor anyone else’s. It is not yours to hold on to, since Christ has already claimed it as His own. Knowing no sin, he became sin for us.
But it is hard not to let sin condemn us, isn’t it? It is hard to let go of our failures. We might feel like such hypocrites when we want to call ourselves people of God, yet we allow our sins to take hold of us, whether they be adultery, theft, or murder. Maybe you told your sibling that you hate him or her. Maybe you neglected to stick up for the little nerdy kid who isn’t worth your time anyway. And yet, you claim to be of God. You claim to be of righteousness. Doesn’t the well of God’s grace seem like it should have gone dry by now? It may seem like it, but Christ promises otherwise. He promises that we will be filled. He promises righteousness to those who, in their weakness and sin, thirst after it. He became our sin so that we may share His righteousness.
This means that He forgives us. Jesus, the God of creation, became man, emptied Himself to take on the form of a servant, and he died for our sin and rose again for our justification. The risen LORD, the firstborn of all creation forgives you. So when the prince of your life, whether he or she be you teacher, friend, boss, brother, or sister, shows you no salvation, rejoice. For the LORD of hosts and heavenly power is with you and forgives you. If he does forgive you, rejoice since this is by God’s grace alone. This is the very power of God for all believers. This righteousness which you thirst for is yours, you hypocrite! And do not be afraid, you righteous hypocrite, because you will be filled. You are filled. In your baptism, you were clothed with Christ and His righteousness. In the Lord’s Supper, you receive the body and blood of your LORD for your benefit. You hypocrite who Jesus loves, you will be shown mercy. For in Christ, you are the mercy, the righteousness of God. Trust that. Hold to that! Put not your trust in princes, especially those who do not forgive you when you wrong them. Do not let that get to you. You are forgiven. Jesus, who is God above all, forgave you before you even came into existence. And He will never cease forgiving you. Cling to Him. He is your life. He is the only truly righteous one. He is the only truly merciful one. He is the only truly powerful one. And He gives all that He has to you freely.
Have you committed adultery? Christ became that adultery. Have you stolen? Christ became that thief. Have you hated your brother? Christ became that murderer. Christ died, so you die too. Christ is risen, so you are risen too. Christ is victorious. You are victorious too. Christ is righteous , and this is yours as well. So continue to seek righteousness, but seek it in Jesus, because that is where it is. And you are filled. Whether you feel it or not – you may feel like you really messed up this time or that you cannot believe you did this again -- Christ is yours. This means God is yours. So in your baptism, just as your Heavenly Father spoke of Jesus, hear Him say it of you as well: this is My beloved son/daughter in whom I am well pleased.
Amen