June 21 2009    Reading: 2 Corinthians 5.14

 Theme: One died for all

The Guinness Book of Records has described Sir Ranulph Fiennes as "The World's Greatest living explorer". He has been up the White Nile in a hovercraft; parachuted onto Europe’s highest glacier; forced his way up 4,000 miles of the mightiest rivers of Canada and Alaska; trekked on foot and unsupported to the North Pole and in a great Transglobal expedition Ranulph Fiennes and his companion Charles Burton became the first men in history to reach both Poles.His expeditions to date have raised over £5 million for charity. In March, 2007, despite former frostbite injuries, limited climbing experience and a fear of heights, at the age of 63, he successfully climbed the North Face of the Eiger to raise money for the Marie Curie cancer charity. At the age of 65 and at his 3rd attempt, he conquered Mount Everest. He told the BBC, "This is the closest you can get to the moon by walking." Prince Charles has said of him: My admiration for Ranulph Fiennes is unbounded ........... he has been called ........an inspirational figure and an example of one who works at the limits of personal motivation and challenge."

In this text in 2 Corinthians........... we read the words of Paul the apostle. He is writing about the experiences he and his other friends have had in following and serving Jesus Christ, he writes of their trials and hardships, and their confidence and strength.

And more than this, he tells us, what it is that motivates him. It is this: “we are ruled by the love of Christ now that we recognize that one man died for everyone.........” Here, Paul is talking about motivation, driving force. Now, of course, we all know that Jesus had met Paul on the road to Damascus......... in a blaze of light Paul slid from his horse, and found himself falling, it seemed like for an age, until the ground came up to meet him, and he lay, with the dry dust settling slowly around him. Jesus spoke to him halted Paul, stopped him in his tracks with a word of absolute command, and called him to follow.

“we are ruled by the love of Christ” says Paul.

The love of Christ................

This is Paul’s compass, his driving force, and what was drawing, always drawing Paul onwards in the great tasks and challenges was the love of Christ. The love of Christ.

Away back in the 12th. century that great saint, Bernard of Clairvaux wrote a poem about Jesus - we sing it sometimes as a hymn. In one verse he writes so lyrically of the love of Jesus, and what that means to those who long, seek and find the love of Jesus: “But what to those who find ? Ah this, nor tongue nor pen can show; the love of Jesus what it is, none but His loved ones know............ “ All of Paul’s letters are suffused with this - the love of Jesus Christ...... the joy that Paul finds in Him........ ” ! What is the love of Christ ? The love we once sang about when we were children: ‘Jesus loves me this I know ?’

Certainly, wherever we look in the gospel we see the love of Jesus. Loving compassion for the crowds; for the poor, the sinful, the oppressed, the heartsick and the outcast. We are struck by His Love for those weak and failing men, who had believed in him, His disciples. The Gospel of John puts it in this incomparable way......... "Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them to the end."

Well of course all of this speaks to us of the love of Jesus. And somewhere in these words: we are ruled by the love of Christ ! we have a key to Paul’s enormous strength and confidence. The reason why he wrote: I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love; neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.

The love of Jesus shown at the Cross

But notice that here Paul is speaking of something quite specific. “we are ruled by the love of Christ now that we recognize that one man died for everyone...........” ! And it is this - the love of Jesus is shown at the Cross. The love of Jesus is shown at the Cross and it is this that carries Paul out to the end of the known world.

In other words, what we have here, is what motivates Paul !

Imagine, a great industrial plant, all the huge turbines are there, the machinery, the relays, the computers that control everything, the huge lighting systems, the pipe flow mechanisms. And yet nothing is moving. All is silence. So quiet, you can here the wind blowing round the building, the birds singing faintly in the trees outside. So an expert is called, who systematically checks everything, turbines, relays, computers, and so on....... and finds that the fault all runs back to the main power cable far out beside the perimeter fence. There lies the fault. Out at the main transformer the line is disconnected and no power or energy comes into the building itself.

When Paul says: “we are ruled by the love of Christ now that we recognize that one man died for everyone...........” ! He is here speaking about a power, that flows through and is behind all his work, his planning. And it runs back to this What Christ has done at the Cross. This, says Paul is the secret of our eagerness, hope, strength.

Speaking of disconnection, of power, energy, cut off: Paul once wrote to the congregation at Ephesus “you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope, without God in the world.” Actually, in one way Paul could have been writing about himself ! On that road to Damascus Paul was not seeking Jesus, quite the opposite, he was on his way to destroy the Church....... he was at that point far from Jesus............ But, now”, declares Paul, “in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away, have been brought near - ” How ?

Through Jesus Christ the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world all our sin is taken away, once and for all, laid on Jesus Christ at the Cross. And so we have peace with God.

There, Jesus Christ has taken our place, taken our sin, and our death on Himself, and we have peace, peace with God............ Christ died, in our place, for our sin the burden of our guilt is taken away, and healing peace wells up from the depths of the soul, relieving and cleansing us in its power. Why ? Because Christ has brought us, bought us peace with God........... He has brought us peace with God. Without the Cross we are still sinners, burdened with guilt, far away from God. But Jesus has dealt with our sin at the cross, and so we have peace with God.

How wonderful then...... if we are at peace with God, if He touches our lives, what more do we need ? We have comfort in Him, when we are sore in spirit, joy even in sorrow, strength in Him when we are exhausted. When the hours of day fail, and the darkness falls, and night draws on. Light in Jesus Christ.

We recognize this, that One died, for all ! for everyone ! through the Cross of Jesus we have peace with God. And, says Paul, we must reach the ends of the world with this news, this gospel, that we have peace with God through the cross of Jesus Christ !

We cannot all be great apostles, or evangelists like Paul........ If we walked always in His Love and allowed the wonderful Love of Jesus Christ to draw us and mould us and shape us, what self-sacrificing lives we would live! How we would love one another and in love serve one another. What peace we would know. With a deeper knowledge of the Love of Jesus in our hearts, we would know joy in all the trials and troubles that surround us. How glad we would be to come in quiet and deep prayer before God at the beginning or the end of each day..

Yes, captivated by what Jesus Christ has done for us at the Cross, true and deep thankfulness would mark our lives, and out of that glad thanksgiving, the desire and the strength to serve others...........

Amen.