HOW TO BE GOD’S GOOD FRIEND
II COR. 5:16-20 AUGUST 17, 2003 Chester’s First Baptist Church
Mike Fogerson, Speaker
Introduction:
[23] And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God’s friend. -Jms. 2:23
B This morning we will hearing "How To Be God’s Good Friend."
a God wanted to use his friends at the Corinthian church to restore the world’s relationship to himself. (ETS)
b God wants to use you to make those around you aware of his offer of friendship.
2CO 5:16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. [17] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! [18] All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: [19] that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. [20] We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
C I hope you will invite at least four people to our first revival service. (Objective)
a Who will be God’s good friend? (Probing Question)
b Let’s look at two things that happen to those who become God’s good friend.
Pray & Preach
I The first thing that happens to those who become God’s good friend is. . . THEY ARE CHANGED. (vv:16-17)
A Paul saw two key changes that took place when someone became a believer.
a v:16 First Change. . .NEW ATTITUDE.
Seeing people in a different light (former was superficial, now spiritual)
Jesus (They had seen him as a homeless man from Nazareth, NOW they see him as the Messiah from Heaven.) Superficial vs. Spiritual
*By the way...If you don’t ever see Jesus for who he really is, you will NEVER be saved!
Not so much a new behavior as it was a new attitude.
b v:17 Second Change. . .NEW CREATION
Old life is gone, new life had bloomed.
Old is gone (gk. "parelthen") Passed out of existence. Dinosaur!
New has come (gk. "gegonen") Come to stay!
New What? 1st is a new attitude!!!
B Becoming a believer (God’s friend) is more than saying a prayer. (In fact, you can say a "sinner’s prayer" a million times and if it’s not from your heart, you still lost.)
a New birth is NOT putting your name on a church membership roll, baptism, quarter in the offering the plate.
Deep & radical change of the heart.
Play by different rules, different agenda!
Old is GONE, New has COME (Your name is no longer Deb, Mike, Sue. God calls you "his."
b We must daily examine our heart and see if that change that makes us God’s friends has taken place.
If it hasn’t. . .something is wrong!
If we are still living like hell, talking like hell,. . .guess where we are probably headed?
C Two college boys were home for the summer trying to make a few extra bucks. They were hired to cut firewood for a man. (The boys had never cut firewood so the man showed them how to do it.)
a That afternoon, the man got a phone call from his boss down at the office and said, "The entertainment for tonight’s Customer Appreciation Dinner just cancelled. We’ve got to find somebody. . .quick!"
Just then, the man saw the college boy run across the yard, run halfway up the wall of the garage and do a double flip.
The man told his boss what he had just seen, the boss said, "Go ask him if he’d preform for $100 at the dinner." So he did.
The college boy asked his flying buddy, "Hey Fred, this man wants to know if you’d cut off another toe tonight for $100?"
b So many of us mistakenly believe that we serve and live for Jesus without changing our lives. Some things MUST be "cut off."
*The old is GONE, the NEW has COME! God’s friend are changed!
II The second thing that happens to those who become God’s good friend is. . . THEY ARE CHALLENGED. (vv:18-20)
A Paul made it crystal clear what the holy challenge was to the changed Corinthian.
Two Challenge was in two parts.
1 The Ministry of Reconciliation: (v:18)
[18] All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the Ministry of reconciliation:
Ministry (Diakonia) Service, Labor, Assistance, Helping somebody out!!
Ministry is an action, event, you can "see" it!!
Exterior manifestation of an Interior regeneration. (The God that is inside of you comes out!!!)
2 The Message of Reconciliation: (v:19-20)
[19] that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. [20] We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
Message (Logos) Intelligence. Words are what you use to show that intelligence. Verbally telling about God’s offer of friendship!
God isn’t speak very often through burning bushes anymore.
NU 22:26 Then the angel of the LORD moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. [27] When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat her with his staff. [28] Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?"
*When was the last time you heard God use a Jack Ass to speak through? (Be careful!)
Paul told the believer that God was speaking/appealing through "us."
vv:20 is the Message "Be reconciled to God."
B We have been challenged Christians by the one who has reconciled us to himself.
(Reconciliation: quarrel that broke our friendship with God. God was so anxious to restore his friendship with us that he sent his Son to die on a cross. If he waited for one of us to be sinless, he knew it would never happen!))
a What did God gain by the cross?
He wasn’t benefitted by it. (He wasn’t lonely)
God is infinitely blessed & content, even IF we all died and went to hell. (God has never had a bad day!)
God is eternally pure, holy, & just, it wasn’t necessary to vindicate his own Character.
If God wouldn’t have DONE anything to restore our fractured relationship, God’s throne would be pure & spotless.
b Why? Love. (Pure, benevolent, holy love that can only be shown by a pure, benevolent, holy God.
A love that deserves our fullest & deepest gratitude, a love that deserves our one & only life.
God has called us to tell people about how God has restored our fractured relationship! Ministry of Reconciliation!
C The Times-Reporter of New Philadelphia, Ohio, reported in September, 1985 a celebration of a New Orleans municipal pool. The party around the pool was held to celebrate the first summer in memory without a drowning at the New Orleans city pool.
a In honor of the occasion, 200 people gathered, including 100 certified lifeguards. As the party was breaking up and the four lifeguards on duty began to clear the pool, they found a fully dressed body in the deep end. They tried to revive Jerome Moody, 31, but it was too late. He had drowned surrounded by lifeguards celebrating their successful season.
There are people that die in our walks of life, surrounded by Christians. . .and we never through them a life line.
b Bad news travels fast. Within two hours the whole world knew that President Kennedy had been killed, who killed him, where he was killed and how he was killed. Today, still half the world does not know the good news that Jesus died, where He died, and the purpose of His death. People do not know that Jesus died for them.
Conclusion:
God wanted to use his friends at the Corinthian church to restore the world’s relationship to himself. God wants to use you to make those around you aware of his offer of friendship.
A We’ve looked at two things that happen to those who become God’s good friend.
Changed * Challenged.
B I hope you will invite at least four people to our first revival service. (Objective)
a Let work God through you. . .refuse Him.
b Yeah, it’s that simple.
C Who will be God’s good friend? (Probing Question)
