2 Corinthians 5:14-21
It’s always been a thing that the few speak for the many, but in so many instances it was always the few who decided what the many either thought or directly needed. Part of the beauty of our Constitution is that it was set up not to give power to the representative (the few), but to give responsibility to them. Through the voting and selection process, the many hold onto the power, thus (hopefully) keeping the few accountable to make decisions based on the needs of the many. Franklin christened this new style of government—representative democracy—to be a slow-moving, deliberately hard to change mechanism that, if it was kept, would continue to serve the best interests of the many over the few.
For example, we entrust Risk Scott and Ashley Moody in FL to work in favor of our needs, knowing that they will be up for election soon. This is how it works in the U.S. That is, except for the problem of corruption and sin, which has found its way in and given ideas to people to distort and manipulate and steal. It makes our government tenuous in its ability to properly do what’s right. We, as Christians, belong to a different government as citizens of a heavenly Kingdom which we enter through our faith in Christ. It is not a democracy, but a theocracy under our Most Holy God with Jesus as our representative. This works out for us very well.
We are walking through a series that is all about learning who we are as a Christian. When a person gives their life over to Jesus for forgiveness of their sins and allows God leadership over them, there are certain declarations and automatics that happen which change our status. Last week, we learned that we gain adoption into God’s family. Today, we will learn about the new life we are given through God’s representative theocracy.
God Offers a Representative Theocracy
This is not really a message about faith-based politics, but this does provide a way of understanding the representative nature of our relationship with Christ. The One died, therefore all died (v14). Jesus, as fully human, fulfilled the Law. Because of His deity, because of His sinless life, because of His power to resist the temptations of the devil, Jesus completed the task that no other human could do – live sinless and therefore fulfill the law of God given through Moses. He did that and then took the burden of our sin on Him as He willingly suffered and died on the cross. What He ultimately did was to act as our representative for the payment of our debt to God. Jesus, the One, died in the place of the many, thereby acting as our representative and fulfilling the debt that was owed (Rom 6:23), the wages of sin is death. Jesus paid that debt and chose that death.
This means that in Him, we who believe have died to the Law. This is why baptism is such an important practice in our faith. This is why we practice believer’s baptism with the dunking method. It is a beautiful symbol of the death we die to sin and the new life we are given in Christ. We go into the water (symbolizing death and burial), then rise out of it symbolizing a coming back to life in Jesus. Since we have died to the Law, we are no longer beholden to it, stuck under it, or trapped by it. We are FREE from the flesh. We can certainly still choose it—choose sin—but we are no longer trapped, stained, or broken, because that life is over, gone, dead. We have been crucified with Christ and it is I who is no longer lives, but Christ who lives in me. (Gal 2:20) Through faith we join in His work and die, being raised anew.
Because Christ Lives, I Live
Since He was raised, we will be raised and are currently living a spiritually raised life. This is what v16 is explaining. Get rid of that word regard – the Greek word is better translated understand. Paul is saying that we see from a different perspective now. In the past all we had was flesh, but now we see things (understand things) through the Spirit – through life. That’s because we, spiritually, have been raised again to new life. Therefore we live in the life of Christ. As in baptism, we died with Christ, but we don’t stay under the water, no, we rise out of it. If we are with Him in death, then we are with Him in life. We have been raised back to life spiritually – not yet physically, though that is coming – and because death voided out everything that came before it (death erases the board – there is no RAM memory), we are officially a new creation in Christ. The old is gone, the new has come! Because Christ is alive, you are alive and fully free of the past, able to walk forward into the new.
Next Steps
What this means is that your eternal life started when your new life started. You are living your heavenly life now! We are currently living our eternity as fearless ambassadors for Christ!
- Begin your eternal life today by accepting a new life in Jesus
- Consider baptism to show that you are dead to sin and alive to God
- Live as an ambassador for Christ through your actions and words
Taxes are due this week. This is money we pay into the government to fund their work of representing the many for the good of the many. As thankful as I am to live in America and be a part of this beautiful democratic liberty experiment, my life here is temporary and I would rather live with an eye on my next 50 million years instead of only the next 50. You are living your heavenly life now, so step into it!
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