Again, good evening. Open your Bible, please, to the
book in the New Testament called Second Corinthians.
Tonight we're in chapter 5 in the title of tonight's message,
Living for the eternal, Living for the eternal.
I know that there are many in our fellowship that enjoy
camping, enjoy forward driving, enjoy getting out into the the
Wild West, Australian Bush or Outback adventures and so on.
I think many of us have been camping and we know all about
that and it's a bit of a, a break from the routine.
That's the appeal for us in that because we know that it's
temporary, that it's not our our permanent residence.
There's something alluring, nostalgic, almost romantic about
going out and just do a bit of bit of camping and, and hang out
in a tent for a little bit. But I'm sure that there's been
times when we have been camping that we've gotten sick of it.
We found ourselves irritated, frustrated.
Maybe we can't sleep because it's hot.
We don't have our air conditioning or it's cold, we
don't have our heating or there's something that's torn
off the canvas. Maybe there's a leak or the wind
is just, you know, whipping through, flapping in the tent,
all sorts of things that make us uncomfortable, maybe the
dampness creeping in when it rains, whatever the case might
be. And after a while, what happens
is you begin to long for and yearn for home, the comforts of
home, for that roof over your head, for that warmth in your
bed and for all of those things that you don't have access to at
a campsite, hot shower, maybe clean fresh water.
And so you begin to long for for that which is permanent, that
which isn't temporary what you're currently in, but
something that is more secure, something that is more stable.
Often times with my own children when they were younger, we would
camp out in the backyard. That was kind of, you know, the
extent of my willingness to go camping with the kids.
All right, you want to go camping?
All right, we'll, we'll pitch a tent in the backyard and we can
sleep out there. And, and the beauty of that was
that you knew because you could see it, that the house was right
there, that this was just a temporary thing.
This wasn't long term. And so, you know, you could put
up with some of those things and tolerate some of those
discomforts knowing that the house was right there.
Well, Paul says in my point in Second Corinthians chapter 5 is
that our bodies are like tents, temporary, fragile and often
uncomfortable. They wear down, don't they?
They weaken, they become frail. They can be damaged.
And in using this metaphor that we're going to read off,
particularly in the beginning part of the chapter when he
speaks of our bodies being a tent, what he's Speaking of is
the the impermanent, temporary nature of our physical bodies,
that in our current state, our bodies were not eternal.
But for those who are in Christ, he says that this earthly tent
will pass away and that something new, something
permanent will be obtained. And it's glorious.
We are promised, you see, a permanent glorious home in and
with the Lord. You know when we die, our
spirits join with him firstly, then our transformed glorified
bodies in the resurrection and forever in his presence.
And and some even think that that the timing of that, given
that God is outside of time, is that simultaneously our spirit
and our bodies come together in the very presence of the Lord.
Either way, what this chapter demonstrates and teaches for us
is the importance of living with eternity in view and in mind.
That's what Paul here is showing an eternal perspective to, to
shape within us a courageous heart to put up with the things
that we endure and experience on this earth to, to motivate what
we do in our ministry in particular.
So we're going to look at 3 truths in and through this
chapter. There's there's so much more
there, but just to focus our attention here in verses 1 to
10, we're going to have a look at our eternal home, our eternal
dwelling. And then secondly, our
motivating love in verses 11 through to 15.
Thirdly, and lastly for us tonight, our reconciling
ministry from verse 16 through to the end of the chapter.
So let's look at the first part in the 1st 10 verses as we do
that out of Second Corinthians chapter 5, I'm reading from the
New King James Version verse one says, For we know that if our
earthly house, this tent is destroyed, we have a building
from God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.
For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed with our
habitation, which is from heaven, if indeed having been
clothed, we shall not be found naked.
So in other words, in verse 3 here is that we're not going to,
when we die, just go out and be these sort of floating eyeballs
in the cosmos. You know, these spirit entities
disconnected from a body, our clothing, but rather we'll be
clothed with a glorified heavenly transformed body.
For we verse 4, who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not
because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed that
mortality may be swallowed up by life.
So what he's Speaking of there is the idea that we know that
that this physical body, this this rental that we're in is
impermanent, that it has problems, that it has issues and
we long for something more glorious, something more stable,
that it would be swallowed up, no longer exists, but that would
be replaced with something all the more better, our resurrected
bodies. One Corinthians chapter 15 was
big on that as Paul was writing. Now verse 5, he says he who has
prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us
the spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident,
knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent
from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by
sight. We are confident.
Verse 8 yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body, to
be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim,
whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.
For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ
that each one may receive the things done in the body
according to what He has done, whether good or bad.
Now, if you're the note taking type, you've got a pencil handy.
You can circle the words where we get out our sub points out of
this this heading. And you can go back into verse
one and circle the word tent. And then you can move ahead into
verse 2 and circle the words from heaven.
You can jump on ahead into verse 5 and circle the word confident.
So there's where we're going and what we're focusing on in our
keywords out of this, Paul describes for us our current
bodies, that they're like an earthly tent.
He uses this metaphor, this analogy that one day will pass
away, that they'll be destroyed. You know, tents aren't built to
last, are they? They're not, that's not their
purpose. They're not to be a, a forever
residence or abode, but they're temporary.
And as as a consequence of that, there's a fragility to them.
And in the same way our, our physical lives, our bodies are
subject to weakness, subject to sickness, subject to decay and
the ageing process. I think many of us can testify
of the truth of that. But originally Adam and Eve in
the Garden of Eden, as we read in Genesis, were created with
eternal bodies, right? The sin and the curse that came
as a consequence of that sin upon humanity made these bodies
now tent like and as a consequence of that, the
contamination of sin, the transformation that took place.
God knows that we cannot exist for all of eternity in these
tent like specimens that are our physical beings, imperfect,
impermanent, that they're in need of replacement.
A reversing of the curse needs to take place.
And that's why Jesus death and resurrection is so
transformative and so glorious for us to think about.
And again, we looked at that in first Corinthians chapter 15.
Maybe it is that when Paul is writing this letter and in
particular this portion of the letter in chapter 5 that he is
we know that Paul was a tent maker.
Perhaps he was busy in that day of, of doing his his his labours
as a tent maker and thought, oh this is a a great metaphor to
bring in and to connect with our bodies.
Certainly the Jewish mind would have been taken back to the time
of the Exodus for the people of Israel, where as they were
journeying out of Egypt, that the people of Israel in the
wilderness journey were inhabiting tents as they were to
enter in eventually to the promised Land, a land flowing
with milk and honey and and places prepared for them that
they hadn't built, that would become their permanent homes.
So the audience as well, certainly in the 1st century AD,
in the time of writing, well acquainted with tents travelling
often, particularly if they were any sort of form of business, as
they were traverse and very nomadic in their trading and so
on. That on their journeys they
would often stop, you know, for the night time and just erect a
little tent along the side of the road.
So it was a very common picture and familiarity that his
audience would have. And I think certainly you and I,
we understand the analogy of tents and what he's talking
about, that our physical bodies in our current state, a tent
like a temporary and not to be our permanent form of existence.
And it likewise also speaks of this, that we are pilgrims on a
journey, that this is not our home here on earth, right?
It's part of it. Now our culture, when we think
of applying this and thinking through what this explanation
means in reality in our lives, our culture tries to deny the
truth that life is temporary, does it not?
Billions spent again on anti ageing creams on all sorts of
things that we can poke in and, and you know, alter through
cosmetic surgeries and different fitness regimes.
And, and all of those things can be important and of value, but
they're not the priority because this is a tent and no amount of
patchwork on our tent will prevent the fact that it's
wearing out. I think the reality all too
familiar for many of us is that our tents are flapping in the
breeze, weak and and crumbling apart in so many aspects.
Flip back with me. I love the the poetry in
Solomon's writing in the book of Ecclesiastes when he talks about
the ageing process. Turn back in your Bible to the
Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes and into chapter 12
and I think that many of you will be able to make a a
connection to what it is that Solomon writes of of ageing and
and all of the metaphors that he uses for the various parts of
our bodies in that deterioration of the tent in which we live.
Ecclesiastes 12 verse 1. He says, remember now your
creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days
come and the years draw near when you say I have no pleasure
in them, while the sun and the light, the moon and the stars
are not darkened and the clouds do not return after the rain.
And now verse three, look at how he describes parts of our bodies
in the day when the keepers of the house tremble and the strong
men bow down, when the grinders cease because there are few.
You know, you can see there is Speaking of teeth and prior to
that, Speaking of our, our legs no longer being able to support
our bodies. And those that look through the
windows grow dim our eyes when the doors are shut in the
streets and the sound of grinding is low.
Yeah. What?
Turn it up. What'd you say when one rises up
at the sound of a bird? And I had a bird this morning
out my window. We've got a little bird bath out
there. And you know, it was just, it
was praising the Lord, no doubt but me, and I could have
strangled that thing. When one rises up at the sound
of a bird and all the daughters of music are brought low also
they are afraid of height and of terrors in the way.
This is some of the more scary aspects of ageing, of just that,
that fear that starts to come upon us.
And when the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper is a
burden. Desire fails, for man goes to
his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets,
and he goes on. Remember your crater before the
silver cord is loosed, or the golden ball is broken, or the
picture shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at
the well. Then the dust will return to the
earth as it was, and the Spirit will return to God who gave it
man. Solomon knew that.
You can turn back in your Bibles.
Now to 2nd Corinthians 5. And Paul knows that as he's
riding, that our bodies are fragile, that they're tent like.
But Christians, you and I, and as we read this, we're very
realistic. We acknowledge the frailty of
this life, but we also live in the hope of something more, of
something beyond this. Paul, don't you think he knew
this truth all too well? Think of Paul's life and
consider from the moment that he was saved what physically the
impact the toll was upon his body.
We read that he was converted on the road to Damascus and that in
Damascus that no sooner had he become saved, that the impact of
of Christ at work in him and the ministry of God at work as as it
was flowing out caused people to desire to kill Paul.
So much so that they said, Paul, you got to get out of Damascus.
And how did they have him exit Damascus By lowering out of the
the city walls through windows there via ropes out.
Then he commences his missionary journeys out by cities called
Lystra, Derby, Iconium and they take Paul and they stone him to
death. The Bible says they thought he
was dead. Of course he wasn't.
We know the story. He's he's resurrected.
And maybe that's the story later on in Second Corinthians where
he talks about having ascended into the heavenly realm and
seeing things that he can't even express in words.
And we'll get into that in a moment.
But he gets to a city called Corinth, which we're reading of,
creates a stir in this city, has to go back before the council
goes to Ephesus and a riot breaks out, makes it to
Jerusalem after prophets are saying don't go to Jerusalem,
don't go, don't go. Why?
They'll kill you, they'll arrest you, they'll bind you.
And he says, who cares? I'm willing to give up my life
if that's what it means. And he just presses on, gets to
Jerusalem and of course, gets arrested in Jerusalem.
What happens? There's 40 assassins who have
committed by way of a vow to killing Paul, and that plot's
found out. It's foiled, but he nonetheless
goes on to Caesarea where he is imprisoned and trial after trial
after trial eventually sees him make his way through to Rome,
having been shipwrecked along the way, where again, he's put
on trial and ultimately beheaded.
So when Paul talks about personal trials, about his body
being like a beaten up 10, I think he knows what he's talking
about. It's not like, man, it's been a
hard day for me. Yeah.
You won't believe somebody pulled out in front of me on
Mandra Drive. Well, you know, I went to Grill
Burger the other day and they undercooked my burger.
Now, what a tough day. You know, that's that's kind of
when we moan and complain about stuff constantly.
Paul, his life was on the line. And so that's why for him,
heaven was so much a focus because he could die at any
moment, at any time. And so for him, his body, it's
like a tent. I'm just passing through.
And then he builds on, he says, I've got, you've got, we've got
a heavenly home. And so he's, he's seeing his
tent, but all the while, it's like for him camping in the
backyard, he sees the house. This is where I'm going.
This is what's permanent. And so he contrasts the tent
with the building that comes from God eternal in the heavens.
He says, and this is our resurrection body, imperishable,
glorious, raised in power again as he would speak about in our
teaching through 1st Corinthians 15.
And Paul says that our bodies, I don't know if you caught this
language in verse four, that our tents groan.
Paul says we groan in these bodies, longing to be clothed
with our heavenly dwelling. In Romans, Paul writes about
three types of groaning that takes place.
He speaks of the groan of creation, of the heaviness of
the curse that sits upon it. And you know, you can often
think of natural disasters like the groaning of creation, that
there's something wrong in there as the curse is is experiencing
is forcing them to to groan under the pressure, under the
weight of that. But then in Romans it talks
about the groaning of our bodies, that we groan.
And then a third groaning. He speaks of the the spirit
within us groaning. Well, the groaning here in
Second Corinthians is not so much that of despair about the
ageing process, but that's certainly a groan that we have.
But what that is, is a groaning that speaks of a hope filled
longing for something better. Let me try to explain it in this
way. It's like, again using Paul's
analogy of when you're camping and you're in a tent and I don't
know if you've ever been camping, experiencing the tent
and you start to become homesick and there's like this groaning
within you. I've had enough school camps
with kids who have been homesick and I remember one particular
instant where a a young boy was so homesick that he was moaning
as he was trying to sleep. I just want to go home.
That type of groan within him. Man, isn't that often the groan
that we feel as we live life here on this fallen cursed world
in our frail tent like bodies. I just want to go home.
I just want to be with the Lord, just want to be in his presence.
Paul puts it this way. He says I'm not seeking to
escape the body necessarily, but to be clothed with a better one.
That's what it's about. Verse 3 when he talks about that
will not be found naked or unclothed.
So the connection is it's like trading in a temporary shack, a
tent for a solid permanent home, custom built by God himself.
And there's the physical component in this for sure, you
know, for the elderly or the unwell amongst us, we can take
heart from that, that our groaning for heaven is not
wasted in this way. And it points us forward to
glory to come, you know, and for many of us as we age to, we have
probably more Saints in heaven who have gone before us than
those still on earth. For the young, don't be fooled
into thinking that this tent will last forever.
At the moment on the outside, it's brand new and it smells
good. It's all of those sorts of
things that are wonderful. But don't build your your life
on that false notion that it will last forever, because it
won't. But the groaning that we
predominantly experience is the strain again of living in this
fallen world, in the mess of humanity, the taint of sin, you
know, and just dialoguing with a few people through the week and
just today and, and just their experiences.
And you can just hear the, the emotional weight and the groan
of, of the pain and the difficulty and the pressure of
living life in these tents. And it wears us down and we
yearn and we groan for our eternal home to be in the
presence of the Lord. But Jesus made this promise to
his followers, to you and I. He said, if you believe in God,
believe also in me. And listen to this.
In my father's house are many mansions, and that's the word in
the New King James Version. Probably a better translation is
in my father's house are many rooms, many abiding places,
literally. And if it were not so he goes
on, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go, I will come again and receive you unto myself.
That's the promise of Jesus. He's talking about his Father's
house and the permanent place that you and I have in that when
our temporary tents are destroyed.
And so that flows on from verses 6 into 10 to spurring within us
a confident courage to live. Then in light of the fact that
this tent, though leaking, though falling apart, though I'm
groaning within it, it's temporary.
It's not permanent. And so because we know that
death is not the end. Paul says we are always of good
courage. Verse 8 to be away from the body
is to be home with the Lord and that changes then how we view
both life and death. But he adds with that a sobering
reminder we must all in verse 10 appear before the judgement seat
of Christ. And this isn't about salvation
because that's secure in Christ Jesus, but about accountability
in the way in which we live. We will, you and I, give an
account for our service unto God, our faithfulness, our
obedience, our living. Think of it in this way when it
speaks of judgement, of an athlete standing before the
judge, but not to be condemned, but to receive the reward for
how they ran. There's a distinct difference in
that, isn't there? And this perspective then
changes how you and I live. It begs the question, in our
living, are you living for what will matter, for what will last,
for what will stand before Christ, or for what will fade
away? We have an eternal dwelling.
Verses 1 to 10. Now let's look at the motivating
love that flows on through that into why we're to do what we do
as we live in these tents here on earth, as we're pilgrims
journeying on ultimately into the presence of the Lord.
Verse 11 he says, Knowing therefore the terror of the
Lord, and the fear the respect of the Lord, we persuade men,
but we are well known to God. And I also trust the well known
in your consciences, for we do not condemn ourselves.
Sorry, commend ourselves again to you, verse 12, but give you
opportunity to boast on our behalf.
You may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not
in hearts. So again, there were people who
were challenging Paul's credibility and his motives for
ministry, trying to diminish Paul's character and then
therefore diminish the message that Paul was bringing in the
gospel of Jesus Christ. For if we are beside ourselves,
it is for God, verse 13, or if we are of sound mind, it is for
you. We'll come back to verse 13 at
the end. For the love of Christ, you can
circle that love of Christ. Verse 14 compels us because we
judge thus that if one died for all, then all died, and he died
for all, that those who live should live no longer for
themselves, but for him. You can circle those two words
for him who died for them and rose again.
So Paul, because we were given account and he says in verse 11
that that we're to stand before the judge and God.
He says knowing the fear of the Lord in verse 11, we persuade
others having a a reverence and an awe and a respect.
The King James has terror, but it speaks of fear and reverence,
understanding who God is, living in light of His Holiness.
You know, a healthy fear of God in the way that we live
motivates and gives weight to our decisions and spurs us on,
compels us with an urgency to witness of the good news of
Jesus Christ. You know, it's to motivate
ministry, an urgency to persuade, he speaks of.
Now, this phrase here could be used in reference to sharing the
good news of the gospel. Yes.
And we have that application. But particularly, again, Paul is
defending his integrity against the false teachers who
ultimately were challenging the gospel by questioning Paul's
legitimacy as an apostle. So there's very much that
wrapped up in what he is writing here.
But the point is that the fear of the Lord reverence or respect
and understanding and awareness of God's holiness motivated,
pushed Paul on despite all that he was enduring and experiencing
and going through. And he builds on that, that what
also motivates me is the love of Christ within.
In verses 14 and 15, Paul says that he is compelled.
Literally. It means hemmed in.
It's a kind of like surrounded where I've got no other choice.
I'm controlled by Christ's love. I can't do anything but because
of Christ's love for me. At the cross, he speaks of a
demonstration of love so overwhelming that for Paul it
left him with no option but to live for Jesus Christ.
Because he experienced the love of Jesus Christ and he was
desirous of others to know the love of Jesus Christ.
And it was a love for Jesus that motivated him in the ministry of
Jesus that he was about. So explains.
Christ died for all so that those who live should no longer
live for themselves, but for him.
Jesus. And this really in in my life,
in your life, in our life as a as a body corporately of
believers is the essence of discipleship shifting from self
centred living to Christ centred living.
You know, everything we do, we do because it's motivated by our
love for Jesus Christ. We've received his love, we've
experienced his love. We can't help but want to love
him in return. The Bible tells us we love him
because he first loved us and then serve him in return.
And and Paul's words are Christ's love compels me.
It pushes me, it spurs me on. It motivates me.
If we see this in the world in which we live in, in the
pursuits that people have. Let me give you some just
cultural famous examples of of people who are motivated by
temporal trivial things. You know, Lionel Messi,
debatably one of the greatest soccer players in the world,
said this and I quote money is not a motivating factor.
Money doesn't thrill me or make me play better because there are
benefits to being wealthy. I'm just happy with a ball at my
feet. My motivation comes from playing
the game I love. If I wasn't paid to be a
professional footballer, I would willingly play for nothing.
You know, if he speaks about his love for a sport motivating him,
how much more the love of Christ within us?
Leonardo DiCaprio, the actor, he said.
I don't think I ever expected anything like an Oscar, ever.
That is not my motivation. When I act, I really am
motivated by the love of being able to work with great people
and create a body of work that I can look back and be proud of.
Michael Jordan. When I lose the sense of
motivation and the sense to prove something as a basketball
player, it's time for me to move away from the game I love.
You know, if people in the world will gladly give themselves
fully to sport, to fame, to success, things that will fall
aside and are temporary and will pass and go, should we not give
ourselves more fully to Jesus Christ, who loves us with an
everlasting love, whose love rescued us from sin and death?
And Paul knew that truth. He says it's the love of Christ
that motivates me to do what I do.
And then everything I do is about living for Christ in verse
15. Let's read that again and focus
on that. And you can underline this whole
verse for for what it's worth because it's so wonderful.
And he died for all that Those who live should live no longer
for themselves, but for him who died for them.
And rose again, You know, the controlling centre of our lives
is no longer me, but our Saviour.
Every decision, every ambition, every relationship shaped by,
guided by, for Him. So again, we can ask and, and I
did in studying this man, what am I living for?
What do I value? What is important?
What do I prioritise? And if Christ's love truly
compels me, then I don't think we can compartmentalise our
lives either. It will change when we
understand the love of Christ for us and, and that being a
motivator and then our our focus and our reason being about Jesus
Christ. It will change how we spend our
time, how we use our money, how we view our future.
You know, motivation. I love how how Paul is putting
this all together is the key, isn't it?
Because many times you and I, we might think as we look at our
lives, man, I'm not accomplishing a great deal.
Do you have the right motive and the right heart?
And you love God and you're serving him and you love his
people and you're sharing the gospel with people and you're
trying humility to reach them and, and to lead them.
And you're discouraged because you can look around and go,
well, you know, I haven't LED as many people to Christ as they
have. I mean, look at them.
They've LED thousands to the Lord and but you know, if you
can do a small thing in a huge way, the right way, the right
motive, then there's reward in that.
In fact, I know you're going to get rewarded for that.
That's what the Scripture is teaching here.
But you can also do the right thing in the wrong way, can't
you? If you do the right thing in the
wrong way to be seen by men for the plaudits of men for whatever
motivation, then you've already received the reward.
And my my, my rather is to have the reward come from Jesus
Christ than from men. So our eternal dwelling, verses
1 to 10, our motivating love, verses 11 to 15.
Now finally, from 16 to 21, our reconciling ministry.
And there's a a transformation that takes place when we
understand this in the way that we not only see ourselves, but
other people. And so there's a new perspective
that comes upon us in verse 16 and 17.
He says, therefore, from now on we regard no one according to
the flesh, according to the tent, according to the physical,
even though we have known Christ according to the flesh.
So, you know, many of them perhaps had seen Jesus in
person, his physical body. Some suggest that this is even
Paul talking about having himself encountered Jesus prior
to his salvation. It's an interesting thought, but
there were many at the time of Paul's writing that had
witnessed with their own eyes that had physically experienced
Jesus Christ in the flesh. But then he says, but now we
know him this way no longer. Therefore, verse 17, Because of
that, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
All things have passed away. It's not about the physical
anymore. Behold, all things have become
new. Now all things are of God who
has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has
given us the ministry of reconciliation.
That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to
Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has
committed to us the word of reconciliation.
If you're ever wanting the gospel in a nutshell, verse 19,
look at it. That's where it's at now then
verse 20, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God we're
pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's
behalf be reconciled to God, for he made him who knew no sin to
be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God
in him. Paul delivers this new
perspective and it's a perspective that he has towards
people and why he was able to do the things that he was able to
do. If anyone is in Christ, he says
they're a new creation. The old has gone and new has
come and conversion is totally a recreation, isn't it?
The transformation, but the application is in now our
interactions with other people. We no longer see them through
worldly lenses. We see them as eternal souls.
We see them as people that can become new.
The old passing away and behold all things becoming new.
And, and again. No one knew the beauty of this,
I think, more than Paul. For what was he before Christ
intervened? Pharisee, yes, a rabbi, a leader
amongst the people, privileged, but also in that he was a
persecutor of believers, a murderer of Christians, a
violator of Christians, young, old, male, female.
And he called himself the chief of sinners.
And yet now he's an apostle by the very grace of God.
What a transformation. The old had passed away for
Paul. Behold, all things have become
new here on earth as it will be for all of eternity.
And that motivated then him in his life, a new perspective in
the way that he would interact with people.
He's like, man, I'm I'm seeing their frail tent.
I mean, I'm experiencing my tent, but I remember what I once
was. And so I'm compelled by the love
of Christ within me and the power of the gospel within me to
speak and to preach and to share the good news of Jesus Christ.
Because one day for them, possibly the old will pass away
and all things will become new. And it builds on that now with
this reconciling message that that I'm about in verse 18 and
19 and that he says that where to be about that there's
certainly to be about. But you and I, he said God
reconciled himself to us through Christ.
And now He gives us the privilege of being ministers of
this reconciliatory message to pass on to others that they can
enjoy and experience the same. Now you and I, humanity
generally the greatest problem that we possess is alienation,
is separation from God. But in Christ, God, you see,
does not count our sins against us.
Why? Because verse 21.
He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might
become the righteousness of God in him.
And so now then, having experienced the blessing and the
power of the gospel at work, we've been entrusted with the
message to tell others of this powerful work of Jesus and the
possibility that they have to be reconciled with a holy,
righteous God. And this isn't notice here, just
the preacher's task. This is this isn't just what
Paul says. And that's my job.
So you guys just kind of, you know, sit, take it easy, I'll
take care of it. Now he says, we are about this,
you know, every Christian carries this ministry, carries
this privilege. He says in verse 19, he has
committed to us the word, the ministry of reconciliation.
And so he builds on that, that idea that we've got the message.
And now he says, I want you to understand that you and I with
that message are like ambassadors.
Verse 20, we're like representatives here on earth
for Jesus Christ. We are ambassadors for Christ,
He says, Now what does an ambassador do?
They speak for the king that they represent or the government
or the nation in modern terms that they represent.
And you and I, as ambassadors, we carry the King's message.
Be reconciled to God. That's our message.
That's the gospel, verse 19, and it's there.
God made him who knew no sin, verse 21, to be sin for us so
that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
I don't know if you see yourself as an ambassador or not, but you
are. Whether intentional about that
or not, you are a representative of Jesus Christ.
Every interaction, every conversation carries the weight
of representation. Our country knows that.
This week of an ambassador having been kicked out of
Australia, right? Consider the following of
ambassadors #1 they are chosen. Paul had been chosen by Christ
to represent Jesus Christ. Paul did not represent himself.
You have been chosen by Christ. You represent Christ #2 about
ambassadors. They are protected.
An ambassador, as a citizen of the nation that they represent,
has every need supplied, every protection afforded as and when
necessary. Christ supplied Paul's every
need and stood with him in every crisis.
And the same is true for you and I as ambassadors of Jesus
Christ. Thirdly, ambassadors are held
accountable. Each ambassador will give an
account for what they say and what they do in their role.
Paul knew and he already expressed the same for us in our
passage. Do you and I know the reality
and the truth of that? Fourthly and lastly, on that,
ambassadors are often called home before war is declared.
You know, when war breaks out, ambassadors from countries are
called home, you know, lifted out for their protection.
God has yet to declare war, judgement on this Christ
rejecting world. But as we've been reading
through Revelation, one day very soon that will happen.
There is coming a day of wrath. There is coming a time of war
when God will judge the wicked. But you know what?
Christians ambassadors will be called home before that day
comes on Thessalonians 5. Now Paul was motivated by the
fact that he was commissioned by God.
Now, in fact, you and I as believers like Paul, we need to
understand and know we are ambassadors whether we accept
the Commission or not. As the Father has sent me, Jesus
said so also. I send you John 20 verse 21.
All right, let's finish. Paul.
He made a pretty remarkable statement back in verse 13.
He can turn there and have a look and some thought and some
were accusing Paul of this. You're out of your mind, Paul.
You've gone crazy from following Jesus.
And isn't that still true? You know, to the world, it often
seems crazy for you and I to go to church twice on a Sunday, for
some of us to live with eternity in mind, to do all of the things
that we do, you know, to sometimes sacrifice ambition,
comfort, or reputation for Christ.
It seems foolish. To the world, you're crazy.
You've gone out of your own. You're getting too religious,
Paul says. If we're crazy, call me what you
will, it's for God. If we seem ordinary, it's for
you. But what compels us, Paul says,
and what should compel you and I is not sanity by worldly
standards, but the love of Christ.
So our dwelling, this life is a tent.
Don't cling to it long for the eternal home.
Our motivation, Christ's love compels us.
Live for Him, not for yourself. Now ministry, you and I, we are
ambassadors of reconciliation, a holy, righteous God and sinful,
depraved humanity. And we, we carry the greatest
message the world could ever hear in that.
And so practically, what that means is to hold loosely to this
life and the things of this world.
It's a tent you're holding on to tent pegs and and strings and
things that will will fall and and pass away.
Invest rather in eternity and let Christ's love be an engine
motivating obedience and service of him.
Don't fear in that being thought of as crazy by the world.
It's actually a sign that you're living for eternity.
But fourthly and lastly, live as an ambassador.
Represent Christ faithfully wherever he places you.
One day this tent will give way to glory.
One day the ambassador will see the King face to face.
Until then, live with eternity in view.
Even if the world thinks you mad.
It might hurt now, might feel the weight, the tension, the
groaning of this experience, and it might be difficult, but know
this, it's going to get better eternally in the eternal realm.
Now think about this, Paul, our author.
Do you think that Paul the apostle right now in heaven
regrets any of the suffering he went through on the earth that
think he's going? Man, I wish I had a cushier life
just kicking back on the Mediterranean, but I hadn't gone
out and been so radical for Jesus everywhere I went.
And having, you know, to open my mouth and get in so much trouble
as I did, I don't think he regrets it one bit.
So tell the good news of Jesus Christ.
Let me share this final thought. I don't know if you know how a
honeybee operates and functions. When they find a field of
flowers and the nectar is good and a honeybee doesn't arrive
back at the hive and selfishly try to keep the location to
himself instead. You know they're not afraid that
the nectar will will run out. No, if you know anything about
it, they do a little GPS dance. Give everybody the coordinates,
the good news. Let me tell you what I found and
here's where you can find it, you know, and then the hive just
becomes vibrant with activity. You found what?
Where? Let's go and off they go.
I'm embellishing it a little bit here, but my point is that the
the honeybee explains how to find and get to what they have
discovered. An experience and soon many are
blessed to enjoy and encounter the same man If if we were just
grasp that that simple concept of what it is that we have in
Jesus Christ and in the Gospel. It's just like man, I have
tasted and seen that the Lord is good.
Let me do a little GPS dance. You might think it crazy, but
I'm going to show you where you can find Jesus and the
reconciliation that He has to offer with a holy righteous God.