1.God’s Special Ministry – Reconciling us to Himself
Intro: In Genesis chapter 3 and Romans 5:12-14. From the very beginning God wants us to be reconciled to Himself through His Son – Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ was not a hesitant savior but a pro-active one.
Genesis 3:9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" 1 Tim. 2:4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. Ezekiel 34:16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.
A. Jesus Has Reconciled all Sinners.
2 Cor. 5:14-15 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; [15] 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. 2 Cor. 5:18a All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself
Here Paul the Apostle never lost his sense of wonder at Christ Love, it controlled Him. All throughout His epistles Paul was never lost for words about the Love of Christ.
Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? [36] As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." [37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Illustration: A missionary in Africa was once asked if he really liked what he was doing. His response was shocking. “Do I like this work?” he said. “No. My wife and I do not like dirt. We have reasonable refined sensibilities. We do not like crawling into vile huts through goat refuse. But is a man to do nothing for Christ he does not like? God pity him, if not. Liking or disliking has nothing to do with it. We have orders to ‘Go,’ and we go. Love constrains us.”
Galatians 2:20 It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Christ love controlled Paul because he had concluded that one died for all, therefore all died. The preposition “for” could be translated (for the benefit of). This speaks of Christ atoning sacrifice. Christ died in our place to fully satisfy God’s Justice.
Read: Day 1 – To Absorb the Wrath of God (The Passion of Jesus Christ)
This was accomplished by the death of Christ on the cross. Through his death we no longer enemies of God, reserved for His wrath.
Romans 5:9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. Col. 1:20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
B. Jesus has Given us a New Nature
2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Christians are new people. The Holy Spirit gives them new life, and they are not the same anymore. Christians are not reformed, rehabilitated, or reeducated—they are recreated. At conversion, believers are not merely turning over a new leaf; they are beginning a new life under a new Master.
Illustration: A few years before John Newton died, a friend was having breakfast with him. Their custom was to read from the Bible after the meal. Because Newton’s eyes were growing dim, his friend would read, then Newton would comment briefly on the passage.
The day the selection was from 1 Corinthians 15. When the words “by the grace of God I am what I am” were read, Newton was silent for several minutes. Then he said, “I am not what I ought to be. How imperfect and deficient I am! I am not what I wish to be, although I abhor that which is evil and would cleave to what is good. I am not what I hope to be, but soon I shall put off mortality, and with it all sin. Though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor yet what I hope to be, I can truly say I am not what I once was: a slave to sin and Satan. I can heartily join with the apostle and acknowledge that by the grace of God I am what I am!”
C.Jesus has Forgiven All our Sins
2 Cor. 5:19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
Although we were enemies of God, Christ reached out to us, saving us from certain destruction. He even washed us in order that we might approach God with clean hearts
Isaiah 59:2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
Expressing His joy (excitement) of God’s Forgiveness David wrote:
Psalm 32:1-2 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. [2] Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. Psalm 103:12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
2.Our Special Ministry
A. The Task
2 Cor. 5:11-13 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. [12] 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. [13] For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.
Paul had a solemn fear of the Lord. The Fear of God means having a proper respect for his perfect nature and great power. Believers who fears God should be filled with reverential awe, standing in wonder and amazement at his greatness. Knowing God’s perfection and that he will judge everyone’s actions should drive Christians to work hard to persuade others to know God.
Verse 13 Paul tells us that they are beside themselves meaning crazy. The Corinthians had begun to think that Paul had a mental problem, because He welcomed all kinds of trials, difficulties, and sufferings and even listed them (see 4:7-9). Later, Festus would call Paul mad because of his unquenchable zeal to preach the gospel (see Acts 26:22-24).
Verse 15 furthermore tells us His desire to lived for Jesus Christ. In his parting words to the Ephesian elders:
Acts 20:24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
Romans 14:8 If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. Philip. 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Col. 3:4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
That was Paul’s attitude after He has seen the risen Christ. Last week we saw the Passion, what should be our response, lived for God or lived for ourselves – to pursue this present world.
B. The Title
2 Cor 5: 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
Paul considered himself Christ’s ambassador. What is an ambassador? He is an authorized representative of a sovereign. He speaks not in his own name but on behalf of the ruler whose deputy he is, and his whole duty and responsibility is to interpret that ruler’s mind faithfully to those to whom he is sent.
Paul used this “ambassador” image twice—both in connection with his evangelistic work. Pray for me, he wrote from prison, “that utterance may be given me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak” (Eph. 6:18-20). He wrote also that God “gave us the ministry of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:18-20).
Paul called himself an ambassador because he knew that when he proclaimed the gospel facts and promises and urged sinners to receive the reconciliation effected at Calvary, he was declaring Christ’s message to the world. The figure of ambassadorship highlights the authority Paul had, as representing his Lord, as long as he remained faithful to the terms of his commission and said neither less nor more than he had been given to say.
God was using them to speak to the Corinthians the message that they be reconciled to God—accept God’s free gift of reconciliation. Paul did not announce this message halfheartedly. He implored—even urged and pleaded—everyone who would listen to him to accept God’s free gift of salvation. It was extremely urgent, for it would change their eternal destiny.
