A sermon delivered on March 30, 2025 by the Rev. Dr. Patrick H. Wrisley.
Turn in your Bible to 2 Corinthians 5:16-21. Paul is writing to the church describing his intent to come and see them, but he has been delayed. Just before our passage today, Paul reminds the Corinthians of what keeps him and his companions going in the face of hostile persecution; he tells them, “The love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that… he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them.”
Paul was passionate about the life Christ gave him. If we know anything about the Apostle Paul, it’s that passion that enabled him to endure so much hardship. His motivation is Christ’s love urging him forward. He wants to tell as many people as possible the Jesus Story. Paul wants others to experience the same transformation he has experienced. Now, let’s turn our attention to today’s reading, beginning with verse 16.
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.[1]
Have you ever had one of those experiences that when after you have it, you just know that life is never going to be the same. I had one three years ago just after my wife died. After ten emotional days of leading up and then getting through her memorial service and entertaining family and friends from all over the country, I drove my daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter to the airport as they had to return home. They were trying to beat an approaching April blizzard in Boston. I noticed time slowed down for me after I kissed them goodbye at the terminal and began my drive home. It was Sunday morning, and the streets were empty, but I drove home slowly, nonetheless. Honestly, I didn’t want to go home, but I had to.
When I arrived, I walked slowly from the car to the front door of my apartment. As I grabbed the door handle, I froze. My hand trembled as I held the handle. I stood there for about thirty seconds before stepping inside. It was my first time being alone in the apartment since Kelly’s death. As I crossed the threshold, I felt acutely aware that I was leaving a wonderful past. I was stepping into an unknown future. It could be a lonely future. It was one of those moments etched into my memory. Walking through that door, I realized my life was forever changed and there was no going back.
Beloved, this is what Paul describes today. He’s describing a total transformation. When a person is pursued by the love of God and embraces Jesus, life is never the same. Paul says that he or she becomes a new creation. The word he uses for ‘creation’ denotes making a place, region, or a person habitable. It’s the same word to describe God’s work at Creation making something from nothing at all. Consequently, people in Christ have a complete transformation, a heavenly reboot, and have had a new operating system installed. Everything changes as we step into a redeemed future. Our lives will never be the same.
Or at least, they shouldn’t be. This is why Paul writes to the Corinthians. He reminds them that a relationship with God in Christ will reflect a life that is distinct. It will differ from those still living in the old empire. This is not because we must earn God’s love by following rules. Instead, His love radically transforms us. It fills our lives with divine peace and hopeful buoyancy.
Pastor and Professor, Alan Roxburgh, indicates that our lives change in at least three ways after we embrace Jesus:
- The way we see the world, others, God, and issues of injustice changes.
- The way we speak about God, others, the world, and its injustices changes.
- Our community and the people we hang out with changes because the values of our old networks no longer align with our Christ-infused life.[2]
Get embraced by Jesus, and the way you see, speak, and live is dramatically transformed. Now, let us pause. Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Reflect upon these questions:
Do I see others with the eyes of God and see them the way God sees them or do I even notice them at all?
Can those around me — at the kitchen table, in the boardroom, at the checkout line, or in the classroom —experience that I treat others, the environment, the immigrant differently from others in our harried, selfish world?
Has my way of speaking about others, social issues, and justice evolved and changed?
Do my life and the company I keep outwardly reflect I am a transformed person working to reconcile differences?
Paul reminds us that Christ reconciled us to God. Our new life in Christ carries a responsibility. We must execute the specific ministry of sharing the unmerited love we received with others around us. This is part of what it means to step into a new life with Christ. Paul says that when we follow Christ, we become his ambassadors. Interestingly, the Greek word here for ambassador is presbeuo, the same word we get the term Presbyterian. Paul calls us to be “Presbyterians in the world,” not only spreading the message of reconciliation but by becoming active agents of reconciliation ourselves.
Reconciliation means restoring balance—not just in financial ledgers, but in our relationships with God, others, and environment. It means reconciling between communities, even with those we dislike or even hate. Scholar Casey Thompson reminds us: Once we have discerned Jesus to be the Savior of the world, we cannot limit our estimate of other human beings—the born or unborn, exploiters or murderers, terrorists or militarists, frauds, or failures—as dwelling beyond his reach. We cannot see any person as anything other than a creature for whom Christ has died and risen, and thus as one meant also to become ‘a new creation.’”[3]
Jesus is so passionate about reconciling us back to God that there is no place he would not go to make it so. He went so far as to descended into the abyss of hell because, as one person put it, “He didn’t want to leave anyone out who may not have had a second chance.” Another said, “Because he descended into hell, it reminds us that there is no place too dark and scary that God can’t go.”
Wow. Just wow.
This is Paul’s message: God actively goes into spiritually dark and scary places. He reconciles and restores people and creation to balance back to Godself. This is what drove Paul forward in his new transformed life in Christ. This is what Paul wants to drive us in our as well.
Today, Paul calls us to be vital Presbyterians — ambassadors — engaged in the ministry of reconciliation and restoring balance. At a time when our country and the world is so fractious and violent, it needs bold ambassadors for reconciliation. We are called to be ambassadors actively trying to restore balance in an unbalanced world. When we profess our faith, we step through the door into new life. We leave the past behind us. We walk into a fresh new spring garden of seeing, experiencing, speaking, and relating to those around us. Our lives will never be the same.
In the Name of the One Who is, Who was, and Who is to come. Amen.
© 2025 Patrick H. Wrisley, Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, NY 12801. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church of Glens Falls, New York and may not be altered, re-purposed, published or preached without permission. All rights reserved.
[1] New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] I read this by Rev. Dr. Alan J. Roxburgh in a book that has been misplaced. I wish I could remember the book! He is the one who highlighted these changes in newly-faithed people.
[3] Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 2: Lent through Eastertide by David L. Bartlett, Barbara Brown Bartlett. See https://a.co/4NevUkz.
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