“For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

The apostle Paul is speaking of his thrill as he anticipates enjoying the fellowship of God in his eternal home in heaven (v. 1-6). But as he speaks about that, he is led to the subject of the judgment seat of Christ, for before anyone enters their eternal home whether in heaven or in hell, they must stand before Christ to be judged of him (v. 10).

In the case of believers, the degree of their enjoyment in heaven will be dependent upon how they have laboured for the Lord in this life. But in the case of unbelievers, the terror of the Lord awaits them at the judgment seat of Christ.

It is for this reason that Paul feels it necessary to engage in a ministry of persuasion and reconciliation. But what was Paul’s attitude as he goes about this ministry.

Did he serve simply because he felt compelled to do what he did as a duty? Did he serve because he desired a reward from Christ? Did he serve mainly because he felt compassion for the lost?

No, no; Paul himself tells us what it was that motivates him most—the love of Christ! “For the love of Christ constraineth us,” he says.

1. What is the Love of Christ?

Grammatically, the phrase ‘love of Christ’ here could mean our love for Christ, or the love of Christ for us. But the context clearly suggests that the apostle has in mind Christ’s love for us, for he speaks about Christ dying on our behalf.

Paul says, “if one died for all, then were all dead.” Now, we must not take these words out of context, to mean that Christ died for the world, for otherwise Scripture would contradict Scripture. Christ Himself speaks of laying down His life only for His sheep.

Paul is speaking about the love of Christ for all His elect or for His church as demonstrated by His dying for us. Elsewhere, in encouraging husbands to love their wives, Paul says:

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it” (Eph 5:25)

This is the love of Christ us. It is not an intellectual notion. It is not just an emotional feeling. It is not just empty words. It is a love concretely demonstrated by His laying down His life for us.

But what is so great about Christ laying down His life for us? Do not many soldiers lay down their lives for their country? Do not many terrorists lay down their lives for their religion? Do not many martyrs lay down their lives for Christ?

Oh, but Christ’s laying down His life for us is beyond comparison! For Christ laid His life down willingly for us, and for no other reasons than His love for us.

A soldier may lay down his life because of a sense of duty towards his country. But Christ laid down His life for us not because duty demands, but because of pure love.

A religious terrorist may lay down his life because he has been brainwashed into thinking that he would enter a sensual paradise the minute he blows himself up. Christ was in not in any way brainwashed to lay down His life for us. He laid down His life for us out of a deep love for us.

Again a Christian martyr may lay down his life out of gratitude unto the Lord because he knows he owes Him everything. But Christ laid down His life for us not because we deserve anything at all.

Christ laid down His life for us as a demonstration of His love for us. He laid down His life while we were yet His enemies, having done nothing to deserve His love, but everything to deserve His wrath.

Christ laid His life down for us in order to pay for the penalty due to our sin. We had sinned in Adam. We had sinned in ourselves. We have violated God’s laws. We have incurred God’s wrath. We deserve eternal damnation.

Christ, who is the eternal Son of God, and very God Himself, humbled Himself to take on human nature in order that He might represent us.

He was born of a virgin in a manger. All of us, I think, were born in the sterile environment of the modern hospital. Christ was born in a stable with all the animals and the smell of urea and excrement. He lived a life of poverty and suffering in the family of a carpenter. He knew what it was to have splinters in His hands, and blisters on His fingers from a young age. He who created the heaven and earth experienced tiredness, hunger and thirst, sorrow and pain. Why? Not because He needed to, but because of His love for us.

And not only did He live a life of poverty and suffering. His died suffering too. Though He had committed no crime, He was arrested, He was forsaken by His disciples, He was flogged, He was slapped, He had a crown of thorns forced down His head, He was nailed to the cross hand and feet.

And when He was hanging on the cross, He was mocked by Jews and Gentiles alike. Even the criminals crucified with Him reviled Him.

Then in His hour of sorrow when He was most in need of comfort, His heavenly Father, as it were, turned His face away from Him too. For three hours, the sun could not shine because the Sun of Righteousness was bearing our sin.

All our Lord saw in those hours was the angry face of God. He cried out at the end of the three hours, “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me.” The Son of God who had enjoyed ever-blessed fellowship with His Father, tasted the darkness and pain of hell for our sakes in order that we may enjoy eternal fellowship with Him and His Father and the Holy Spirit.

This is how much Christ loves us! This is the love of Christ that we are commemorating today.

This is the love of Christ that constrained the apostle Paul.

2. What is it to be Constrained
by the Love of Christ?

What does it mean to be constrained by the love of Christ? Well, the word ‘constraineth’ (sunevcw) translates a Greek word that literally means ‘to hold together’ or ‘to press together.’

This word occurs 12 times in the New Testament and is variously translated. In Luke 22:63, we are told, “And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him” (Lk 22:63). The word ‘held’ is the same word as the word rendered ‘constraineth’ in our text. I suspect that the men were manhandling our Lord and holding Him tightly. Likewise in Act 7:57, we are told that the Jews who were listening to Stephen “cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord.” The word here is ‘stopped’. The men were using both hands to press their ears together.

Now Paul speaks of being constrained by the love of Christ. That is, he felt that the love of Christ, as it were, had strong hands, and these hands were gripping him, and were by a gentle force, compelling him to move in a different direction.

Paul was, as it were, standing at the cross road of life. The old man within him beckons him to head in the direction of the world, to seek the freedom and pleasures of the world. But the new man within him hears the voice of Christ, and feels the hands of the love of Christ.

The strong hands of the love of Christ prevailed. He follows Christ out of a deep gratitude and love for Him. He could do no other.

And ever since, then, he has felt the constraining hands of the love of Christ. He has not turn back. “The love of Christ constraineth us” he says. Notice the present tense. In the Greek, it is in the present continuous tense: the love of Christ is constraining us. It is an ever-present, ever-abiding, ever-exerting power that is constantly driving Paul and those of like-mind as him. Many things tug at Paul’s heart—the world, honour, pride, self-gratification, civility, friendship, duty, etc. But none of these are as strong as the constraining love of Christ.

Paul is constantly motivated in all he does by the love of Christ. His heart was bounded by a sense of gratitude and indebtedness to Christ.

Beloved brethren and children, what is it that constrains you in your Christian life? I would suggest to you that you cannot fully enjoy eternal life or life abundant and free unless the thing that constrains you in your life is Christ and His love.

I am not sure how many of us can say with the confidence that the apostle Paul had that the love of Christ constrains us.

What is it to be constrained by the love of Christ? It is to be motivated by the love of Christ. It is think, speak, do and decide on things with the love of Christ as a major factor in mind. It is to live a life in which materialism and wealth, carnal pleasure, pride, the approval of man and even a sense of duty is never the primary reason behind our decision and actions.

Ask Paul or any man, woman or child who is constrained by the love of Christ, “Why did you do that, that good work?” and the answer will be “Because the love of Christ constraints me.

Why do you go to the Gentiles, Paul? Because the love of Christ constrains me! I am a debtor to the Gospel of Christ.

Why do you go to Jerusalem, Paul? Because the love of Christ constrains me! Gratitude to Christ demands that I labour to magnify His name by bringing unity to the Jews and Gentiles.

Why do you want to go to Spain, Paul? Because the love of Christ constrains me! Christ loves me so dearly, I want all the world to know Him!

Why do you appeal to Caesar, Paul? Because the love Christ constrains me! Love for Christ demands that I preserve my life so that I can preach in Rome for Christ’s sake.

Why don’t you give up Paul? Because the love Christ constrains me! How can I give up when He laid down His life for me,—the chief of sinners,—to save me from sin, and from death and damnation!

What about you beloved brethren and children? Are you constrained by the love of Christ?

If I ask you, “Why are you here for worship?” Can you say honestly: Because the love of Christ constrains me!

Why are you an elder or deacon? Can you say: Because the love of Christ constrains me!

Why do you desire to be a minister of the Gospel? Can you say: Because the love of Christ constrains me!

Why are you manning the PA system? Can you say: Because the love of Christ constrains me!

Why did you cook for us today? Can you say: Because the love of Christ constrains me!

Why are you seeking baptism or to be admitted to the Lord’s Table? Can you say: Because the love of Christ constrains me!

Why are you working so hard at your job? Can you say: Because the love of Christ constrains me!

Why do you seek to train and discipline your children? Can you say: Because the love of Christ constrains me!

Why do you bother to seek reconciliation when it was not your fault? Can you say: Because the love of Christ constrains me!

Oh beloved brethren and children, does the love of Christ constrain you? Christ suffered terribly and laid his life down for you. His love for you knows no bounds? Do you love Him in return? Are you constrained by the love of Christ?

But…

3. What does a life constrained by the
love of Christ look like?

Obviously it is not only about being able to answer questions about the motivation in our lives. Paul puts it this way:

¹⁴ For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: ¹⁵ And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

What is Paul saying? He is saying two things. First, he says “that if one died for all, then were all dead” (v. 14). Notice the past tense. We were all dead. We were under a sentence of death, and therefore in a spiritual sense, legally dead. We were dead in sin and trespasses. We could not do any spiritual good at all. We were spiritually dead. We were without hope. Our lives were without meaning. But Christ rescued us.

He died for us. He died for us because we were dead legally and spiritually. He died in order that we can have life.

But since, Christ died for us, then, v. 15—we should not henceforth live unto ourselves, but unto Him who died for us and rose again.

Since we were dead and Christ died for us to raise us from the dead, our lives can no longer be lived for ourselves. We must live for Christ.

We must no longer live out of self-love, self-righteousness, self-gratification, self-promotion.

We must now live for the sake of Christ. Our lives must be consecrated unto Him. We must live for Him to in every aspect of our lives. We must be new creatures:

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Cor 5:17)

Who should live for Christ? Not just those who are in fulltime service for the Lord. Not just the elders and deacons. But all of us whom Christ died for.

This morning we are remembering the death of Christ for us. The question you must ask yourself is: What is the death of Christ to you? Do you live for Him? Does His love constrain you?

Consider your life. How much of your life is lived as a matter of routine, convenience, cultural expectation, and money making?

How much of your life is Christian? Or more precisely, how much of your life is what it is and how it is because you are constrained by the love of Christ?

Are you a parent? Think about how you speak to your children. Is it with a voice of irritation or do you exhibit the gentleness of Christ?

Are you a covenant child? Think of your behaviour at home and in schools. Are you meek and obedient as a lamb of Christ should be?

Are you an employee? Think of your conduct at work. Do you colleagues, even your unbelieving colleagues, know you as an exemplary Christian?

Are you an employer or superiors at work? Think of how your subordinates think of you? Do they think you are unreasonable and uncompromising, and add “and he calls himself a Christian”?

Such as are constrained by the love of Christ, will surely so conduct themselves in such a way that the name of Christ is magnified through their lives.

Conclusion

The Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died for you on the cruel cross. He bore your guilt to pay for your sin. And he gave you His Spirit to redeem you from death.

You belong to Him. All that you have belongs to Him. Should you not live for Him? Should you not be constrained by His love in all areas of your life?

Look into your heart, and search it with the help of the Holy Spirit using the Word preached. Is there a dark corner you have yet to surrender to the Lord? Are there areas in your life which are not motivated by Christ’s love, but by materialism and wealth, carnal pleasure, pride, the approval of man and a mere sense of duty?

If so, will you not come before the Lord confessing you lack of love for Him and asking Him for strength.

If you are living an outwardly Christian life which is not motivated by the love of Christ, then I am sure you will feel miserable in your heart. You will find the things you do burdensome and you may be tempted to give up altogether.

Unless your Christian life is a life which is constrained by love of Christ, you will not fully appreciate the meaning of eternal life or a life of fellowship with God. This is a life that is abundant and free. This is a life that is envious to the world. It is a life that is not without problem, but it is a life which is full of peace, hope and joy unspeakable!

Oh will you not meditate on the love of Christ beloved brethren?

Behold the body of Christ broken for you and the blood of Christ shed for the remission of sin. Think of what terrible suffering our Lord undertook for you and let your heart be overwhelmed by His love that you may live a life constrained by His love! Amen.

—JJ Lim