The Great Exchange
Text: 2 Corinthians 5:21
Theme: We can trade our sin for the righteousness of Christ.
Application/Purpose: Take it or leave it – the choice is up to us. We can walk away or receive it by faith. We can trade our sin for the righteousness of Christ.
Here’s a thought: Martin Luther declared, “Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness; I am your sin. You took on you what was mine, yet set on me what was yours. You became what you were not, that I might become what I was not.”
I would like to make you an offer. I have here my bank card that gives you access to all the money in my chequing and savings accounts. In exchange, I ask you to:
· Become a member of my family.
· Give me all your moral failures – I will pay the penalty for anything you have ever done wrong.
· Let me become the leader in your life and follow my directions.
Who would be interested? You might be if:
· I convinced you that we are alike enough to become members of the same family.
· I convinced you that I had enough money in my bank accounts.
· You could trust me to become the leader in your life.
The Apostle Paul describes an offer like this in 2 Corinthians 5:21:
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. NIV
Jesus offers to:
Receive Our Sin
700 years Before Christ, the prophet Isaiah foretold this offer in Isaiah 53:1-6:
1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. NIV
Jesus became so riddled with our sin as He hung on the cross that His Heavenly Father had to turn away. Jesus cried out in anguish, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
If you had the opportunity to gaze upon Jesus as He hung upon the cross, you would have wanted to turn away in disgust. Here was the One who claimed to be the Son of God, being treated so poorly with no resistance or retaliation.
While we despised the crucified Jesus of Nazareth, God was fulfilling His plan. While we thought God was punishing him for His outrageous claims, God was placing Him on His altar as the one-time, perfect sacrifice for our sins. While Jesus hung on the Roman Empire’s symbol of humiliation and torture, He bore in His body all of our sin and filthiness.
We don’t talk much about sin today. Somehow it has become an outdated word, and we are too sophisticated and advanced to use it. We might speak about indiscretions, mistakes or bad decisions, but we avoid using the word “sin.”
What is sin? The word’s root meaning is “to miss the mark” or “to miss the target,” which Old English archers used. What is “the mark”? God’s holy and perfect standards.
James 2:10-11 describes “missing the mark” this way:
10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. NIV
Would anyone claim to have always kept the Ten Commandments and to have never broken them? No, not one person. If they made this claim, they would be lying and breaking one of the Ten Commandments not to lie.
Paul says in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” NIV
We fail to realize how holy God is and how offended He is by sin. Rather than focus on Him and His perfection, we look around and compare ourselves with the people around us. We say to ourselves, “I don’t beat my wife. I have never been to jail. I have never killed anyone. I help other people. I am a good person.”
If you and I flew to Vancouver, jumped into the Pacific Ocean and tried to swim to Hawaii, we would fall far short of the mark. Yes, you would probably swim further than I would, but we would still miss the target.
The people who are the furthest from God think they are good enough to spend eternity with Him. As Jesus lived and taught in Palestine 2,000 years ago, He was most annoyed by self-righteous religious leaders. He embraced those who knew they were sinful, inviting them to follow Him and leave their life of sin. He reserved His harshest words for those who did not think they needed a Saviour to pay the price for their sin.
Listen to Luke 18:9-14:
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” NIV
Do we believe that all good people – including ourselves – will make it to heaven because God is a loving God? If we think this, we are far from understanding God and His ways. Have we become overwhelmed with our sinfulness and by how far we are from God’s perfection? If we believe this, we are close to the kingdom of God.
Jesus offers to:
Receive Our Sin
and
Give His Righteousness
When Jesus breathed His last, the curtain (estimated to be between three and six inches thick) for the Holy of Holies in the Temple was torn in two, removing the barrier between sinful people and the holy God. Until then, only the High Priest was allowed into the Holy of Holies once a year when he would offer the sacrifice on behalf of the whole nation of Israel. The High Priest would have to go through strict requirements for his cleansing and offer the sacrifice with great fear and trembling. His assistants would tie a rope around his ankle so they could pull him out of the Holy of Holies if God were to strike him dead.
Romans 3:21-26 describes a whole new approach to cleansing from sin:
21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. NIV
The Son of God became a man so He could offer Himself as the sacrifice on our behalf. God faced a dilemma before Christ’s sacrifice: either He had to overlook our sin in His mercy and neglect His justice or in His righteousness pour out His wrath upon all humanity and neglect His mercy. He remained faithful to His mercy and justice by sending His Son to die on the cross.
Walter Wangerin, Jr. (in “Reliving the Passion,” Christianity Today, Volume 39, no. 4) observes:
This is a mystery, that Christ can be the obedient, glorious love of God and the full measure of our disobedience, both at once.
The Father offers all of the riches of heaven to us through Jesus Christ. The One who made us loves us so much that He presents His Son as payment for anything and everything we have done wrong. Not only that, He is offering to us His Son’s status as the One who is sinless and perfect. When we receive the terms of His offer, we are declared “justified,” establishing a relationship with God as if we had never sinned.
Our faith begins with receiving the great exchange, and theologians call this justification. Our transformation continues as we allow the indwelling Holy Spirit to change us from the inside out, and theologians call this sanctification.
The Apostle Paul refers to sanctification in Philippians 2:12-13:
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence - continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. NIV
The moment we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, He comes to live inside. We are “born again” or “born from above,” a new creature in Christ Jesus. He then begins to work in us from the inside out. He might deal with specific behaviours and habits right away, but He is more immediately interested in our thoughts and motives. Our attitudes, words and actions change as we let Him show us the necessary adjustments and respond obediently.
When we follow Jesus Christ, we become more like Him. When we focus on pleasing ourselves, we become less like Him. Once we agree to the great exchange, we are now free to live to please our old sinful nature or let the righteousness of Christ shine through us.
Students’ unruly behaviour was kept in check by severe discipline in a one-room country schoolhouse. The teacher ended the noon recess by interrogating the class about the disappearance of Sally Jane’s lunch. After a few minutes of verbal threats and demands, the teacher heard a sob. It was little Billy - a thin, malnourished child. His family was the poorest of the poor.
“Did you take Sally Jane’s lunch?” demanded the teacher.
“Yes, sir,” mumbled Billy through his tears. “I was hungry.”
“Nevertheless, you did wrong to steal, and you must be punished,” declared the teacher. He removed the leather strap from its place on the wall and ordered Billy to remove his shirt and come to the front of the room. The teacher raised his arm over little Billy’s bent and trembling body.
“Hold it, teacher!” shouted a husky voice from the rear of the room. Big Jim was striding down the aisle, removing his shirt as he came. “Let me take his whipp’n,” he begged.
The teacher was shocked, but he knew that he must administer justice. He consented and laid the belt to the back of Big Jim with such force that even the more muscular boy winced, and his eyes watered. But Billy never forgot the day that Big Jim took his place.
Billy could have refused Big Jim’s generous offer to take his punishment for him. You could refuse my bank card if you wish.
Martin Luther (1483-1546) declared, “Lord Jesus, You are my righteousness, I am your sin. You took on you what was mine, yet set on me what was yours. You became what you were not, that I might become what I was not.”
Are you interested in the great exchange? I assure you that:
· Two thousand years ago, the Son of God became a human for 33 years and became much like you by taking on your weaknesses and temptations.
· The One who offers the great exchange is wealthier than you can imagine.
· You can trust Him to become the leader of your life – He loves you and wants the very best for you.
Jesus offers to:
Receive Our Sin
and
Give His Righteousness
Take it or leave it – the choice is up to us. We can walk away or receive it by faith. We can trade our sin for the righteousness of Christ.