I am in the process of writing a special devotional for our church to use as we begin our march toward missions week. My desire is to help our people prepare for what is almost always a time of revival and renewal. Here is an except from the devotional:
Beside Ourselves
“You really shouldn’t do that.”š2 Corinthians 5:13-18›
For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, 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. 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…
“Why not?”
“Because people will think you’re crazy.”
“Oh. So what?”
I’ll admit it. There have been occasions over the course of my life where I’ve done things to get a laugh. In those moments, a conversation resembling something like what I’ve portrayed above has occurred between me and whomever had the misfortune that day to end up trying to talk me out of doing whatever silly, awkward, and unpredictable stunt I have impulsively have set my mind to do. As frequently as their plea goes unheeded, their expectation is realized. Yes, there have been times when people thought I was a little off. Thankfully, the most it has ever cost me is a few seconds of well-deserved embarrassment.
Maybe you are a little crazy like me. You too enjoy the surprise of doing something a somewhat unpredictable in order to get a laugh. If so, then you and I are in good company because it turns out that people were prone to think that the apostle Paul was crazy as well. But the difference between Paul and us is that he wasn’t trying to get a laugh. He was pursuing people with the Gospel with abandon. And it often cost him more than just a few moments of embarrassment. He was the apostle who famously wrote, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ!” Let’s take a moment to consider why people thought him mad and how he lived in spite of it.
The last phrase you just read above is from the first part of 2 Corinthians 5:18, “All this is from God”. To what is Paul referring? In the context, the apostle has been writing about the motivation for his Gospel-centered ministry. He writes that his true motive for persuading people to respond to the Gospel is because he fears the Lord, not man (5:11). As he writes this, he realizes that his boldness to preach the Gospel regardless of what people think of him as led many people to say that Paul must be “a little off his rocker” (v. 13). Rather than think he has become imbalanced or eccentric, Paul insists that his enthusiasm and passion for the Gospel is really the only sane response that someone who has been impacted by it can have (v. 14-15).
“From now on” he concludes in verse 16, “we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.” What Paul means here is that the fear of man can lead us to make poor decisions which, in retrospect, may even seem like madness. It’s like Paul is saying, “After all, weren’t we the crazy ones when we failed to realized who the Messiah was when he was standing right before us!”
So, having this perspective – the fear of God – changes everything! Not just from our point of view, of course. In actual fact, Jesus changes everything. Paul writes in verse 17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” When Christ came, he brought with him the new creation reality. But it has come in two stages. The first stage is here already. It is personal, spiritual, and individual in nature. As Christians, each one of us has been united to Christ and thus has been “born again”. As spiritually regenerate people, we are the first installment of the remaining new creation reality that has yet to come. This coming second stage of the new creation is global, physical, and political in nature. One day, He will Himself return to bring the physical new creation reality with him changing this world and reigning over it.
Since we know this – having experienced it ourselves as those who have been born again – what should mute us or keep us from imitating Paul’s bold example? “All this is from God”, writes Paul. The truly crazy thing would be to stand idly by rather than shout it from the rooftops! Madness is failing to be moved to missionary work once you’ve realized that He has done all that needed to be done in order to reconciling the world through Christ. The greatest work has already been accomplished. All that remains is for it to be proclaimed. It would be crazy not to act on that, wouldn’t it?
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