The Life of a Genuine Christian

2 Corinthians
Written By Steve Estes

Download MP3
Speaker: Steve Estes
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:11-17
June 18, 2023

2 Corinthians 5:11-17: Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. 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.

Sermon Outline

1. The life of a genuine Christian — particularly of a genuine minister — is fueled by the fear of God

2. The life of a genuine Christian — particularly of a genuine minister — is fueled by a sense of Christ's love

  • Text speaks of Christ's death as a substitutionary one

  • Result of Christ's death: We sense his love and change how we live

3. The life of a genuine Christian — particularly of a genuine minister — will sometimes be attacked

  • Said directly elsewhere in 2 Corinthians

  • Hinted at in this passage

  • Paul's goal in defending himself

4. A genuine Christian — particularly a minister — should be defended by other Christians who know him well

  • It's right for a minister to defend/explain himself

  • It's right for Christians to defend other Christians — particularly ministers — when those Christians are slandered

  • Only a change in the heart by Christ will give Christians the insight and courage to act this way

Steve Estes

Steve Estes has been senior pastor at Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, Pennsylvania, for over thirty-five years. 

Steve’s books and other writings began with his longtime friendship with Joni Eareckson Tada. As teenagers, they grappled with why God allowed Joni’s paralysis in a swimming accident in the Chesapeake Bay. Steve left for college . . . they kept in touch . . . she liked the style of his letters. When her 1976 autobiography Joni spawned thousands of reader responses, she asked Steve to join her in crafting a follow-up. The result was A Step Further in 1978.

Later, Wycliffe Bible Translators commissioned Steve to write the biography of former college friend Chet Bitterman, a Wycliffe linguist who was kidnapped and murdered by political terrorists in Colombia in 1981. Other books and articles followed, including When God Weeps (with Joni) and A Better December (a giveaway book for non-Christian friends at Christmas.)

Steve was educated at Westminster Theological Seminary, Columbia Bible College and Jerusalem University College in Israel. He has taught homiletics at Westminster and is a board member of the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation.

But Steve would say his most significant life achievement was persuading college classmate Verna Stoltzfus to marry him in 1974.  They now have eight children and more grandchildren than can fit in a van.

Previous

God, Humans, Hatfields and McCoys
Next

Christians on Judgment Day