Matt Chandler - New Creation

Good morning, church. My name is Jessica Hansen, and I serve here at UM in Kids Village and also as a home group leader. This morning, we are going to be reading from Second Corinthians 5, verses 16 through 20. 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 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. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Hey, guys, it’s good to see you! I want to do this again: if you are a first through sixth grader, why don’t you do me a favor and stand up for me? If you’re smaller, get up and just stand on that chair. This should probably be your only shot at it, so go on! Let’s do this. We don’t have a lot of time because—well, you know me. There we go. See? Look at you! You can see the birth order kind of happening all around the room.

Okay, now look at me. I’ve got a grassroots poll: how many of you are pumped about school starting in the next couple of weeks? Get those hands up if you are! Anybody rather have a month more of summer? Okay, it looks like many of you voted both ways, so there goes the scientific nature of the poll.

Hey, before you sit down, let me say this again: we love having you here in the summer. We truly believe that Jesus is going to use you in profound and beautiful ways throughout your lives, and we’re just glad to be a part of it with you in this moment, encouraging you and cheering you on as you get ready to kick the devil in the mouth. We’re so glad you’re with us this summer! I know you guys are about to head back, but I just wanted to express my love for you one more time.

All right, why don’t you guys have a seat? We’re going to dive into week two of «Every Angle.» Out of the overflow of perfection, beauty, and delight that exists in the Godhead—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—out of the overflow of that, the canvas of creation, the universe was born. The Bible is fairly clear that it was good, that it was beautiful and in rhythm. Man dwelt with God and with one another in a way that the Bible describes as being naked and unashamed. That has less to do with nudity, I think, and more to do with the state of the heart. Are you tracking with me on that? Like, nothing to hide, nothing to fear—naked and unashamed both with God and with one another.

There’s a kind of harmony, what the Hebrews would call «shalom,» that existed in the universe. We see that sin enters the cosmos via the rebellion of the man and the woman, fracturing that shalom—completely. It fractures it at the macro level, as far as the universe goes; as it continues to expand in every direction, it’s not what it was meant to be—it’s broken. And at the cellular level of our bodies, sin has ruined what God made beautiful. In response to this, God doesn’t start over; He doesn’t wipe the slate clean. He actually moves toward us in love, seeking to redeem and reconcile that which sin has twisted and broken.

We see that the love of God is actually made manifest—this is in First John—in the sending of His Son. The second person of the Trinity, co-eternal with the Father, came and dwelt among us. He put on flesh and blood, and He lived the life that you and I cannot live. According to Paul in Romans, weak as we are in the flesh, does anybody in the room know what’s right and have a hard time always doing that?

Okay, that’s a universal «amen» or you’re a liar—you just said «amen,» or you’re a liar. And maybe both, right? And so now, in that, Jesus does what we cannot do. Weak as we are in the flesh, He goes to the cross, and on the cross—if you’ve never really fully understood it—Jesus is absorbing God’s righteous wrath toward those who are in rebellion, and He absorbs it completely. We know that because He was resurrected on the third day. If Jesus isn’t resurrected, then we’re still in our sins; but if Jesus is resurrected, then we’re free from our sins and our bill has been paid in full, right?

So what I just gave you is kind of a high-level narrative arc of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What we want to do—what we started last week and will continue this week, with three more after this—is look at the gospel in all its glory, but we want to take a different angle.