Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us when He who knew no sin became sin.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. ~ II Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)
READING: II Corinthians 5:16-21
We church planters love Jesus. We admire Him more than anyone, we want to bring Him glory, and we want Him to be proud of us. We want to spend time with Him, obey Him, become like Him. We are church planters because we love Jesus and want to see others come to love Him, too.
We love Him because we remember what He did for us. We remember our sin. And we think back to the time when we heard the gospel. It was the best news we had ever heard, almost too good to be true.
We must never lose sight of the greatness of Christ’s sacrifice for us. Paul kept reminding the churches he planted about Christ’s atonement. When he wrote to the Corinthian church, he stressed two wonderful truths.
First, “for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin.” The Father made Jesus, who was perfect and holy and sinless, to be so identified with our sins that He became sin in His sight. “He made him to be sin.” Oh, how we love our Savior for willingly bearing the filth of our sins!
But that’s not all. The second truth follows: “So that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
God has “reckoned” Christ’s record of obedience and perfection as ours! Though we are not righteous, He has declared us to be righteous because of Christ!
Thank You so much, Lord Jesus, for bearing my sin upon Your own sinless life, and for letting Your righteousness be reckoned unto me. I love You, Jesus. Amen.
