We are all familiar with caterpillars, those little worm-like insects that crawl up and down plants eating the leaves and other plant matter. Sometimes in grade school we would watch and study them as they made their cocoons or chrysalis, and later emerge as a beautiful butterfly or moth. We wonder how, after a matter of a few weeks, the worm-like caterpillar can be transformed into something beautiful like a butterfly or moth. There is an even more wonderful transformation that can happen, one which we will read about in our Scripture today.
The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to believers within the church in Corinth. As our passage begins, he continues with the well-known truth that all people, all mankind, are dead in trespasses and sin, and that the Lord Jesus died for our sins, in our place (vs. 14-15). Now, all those who have personally accepted His death as payment for their sins, belong to the Lord Jesus.
Since we belong to Him, it only makes sense that we should be doing His will in our lives. The love that Jesus had for us by dying on the cross for us compelled Paul to live his life in service to Jesus, spreading the Gospel message. Paul’s old self-centered life was over, and he had an all-out desire to live righteously. Believers are not only dead to sin, but alive to live righteously.
How can we be both dead and alive at the same time? As Paul teaches here, and in other Epistles of the New Testament, when one accepts Jesus as their Savior and are born-again, their sin nature has been crucified with Christ, and they receive a new nature, one alive in Him (vs. 17). When a person is saved, their old value systems, priorities, beliefs, loves, and plans should all change. A true believer will have a new spiritual perception of everything. If we still desire to cling onto our old sinful attitudes, they will stifle the fruits of the Spirit. We are not reformed, rehabilitated, or reeducated . We are recreated, a new creation living in union with Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit.
When we continue to live in our old nature, it is futile to say that this is just the way we are. That person died with Christ, and we are now a new creation. What would you think if you saw a butterfly emerge from his chrysalis, but continue to crawl along the plant just like he did when he was a caterpillar? You would want to tell him to spread his wings and fly, that he is a butterfly, so fly and float from flower to flower! We need to allow God to complete His work in us, and then we can see what fruit our life will then produce.
Before we were saved, while we lived in our old nature, we were enemies of the Lord. However, now that we have been redeemed, we are no longer God’s enemies, strangers, or foreigners to Him. The Lord Jesus made it possible to be reconciled to God (vs. 18-19). We now have the privilege of encouraging others to do the same. We are to proclaim the Gospel of reconciliation to others.
Paul states here that believers have the position, the job of being ambassadors for the Lord Jesus (vs. 20). We are His messengers, representing the King of Heaven to the world with the Gospel. We are to plead with the people of the world to be reconciled to God, who is their rightful King.
As we close, let's look at the final verse in our passage (vs. 21). On the cross Jesus did not become a sinner, as some falsely believe that this verse is teaching. Jesus remained as holy and sinless as ever. However, Jesus was treated as if He were guilty of all the sins ever committed, though He committed none of them. The wrath of God was poured out on Him, and now believers are treated as if they were righteous. God offers to exchange His righteousness for our sins, something of immeasurable worth for something completely worthless.
Have you come to the Lord Jesus, asking forgiveness for your sins, and accepting Him as your Savior? Are you a new creature in the Lord Jesus, being transformed just like a caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly? And if so, do you continue to crawl around in your old nature like a caterpillar, or are you living for God in your new nature, like a butterfly? Let’s all be butterflies!
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