Christ’s Ambassadors
Like never before in human history this generation of disciples has been a chance to literally reach the world for Christ in one life time! Looking to the example of Jesus and the apostles we must be willing to go wherever God sends us and preach the gospel of Jesus. Through the use of technology, travel, and social media the world is in our reach and by the power of the Holy Spirit we will prevail. Therefore, let us remove all excuses and hindrances and run the race marked out before us with this anthem in our hearts, “My life for your glory!”
SERMON TEXT
2 Corinthians 5:9-21, “9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. 12 We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. 13 If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
TERMS
- JUDGMENT SEAT OF CHRIST: Also known as the “Bema Seat,” the place where Christians will give an account of their lives before God and receive receive rewards or public humiliation, 1 Corinthians 3:12-15.
- FEAR THE LORD: To both honor God as your Father and understand that all who reject God will be eternally destroyed, Proverbs 1:7.
- RECONCILIATION: To restore and bring together two opposing sides to a mutually beneficial relationship, vs. 18-19.
- AMBASSADOR: A diplomatic official sent on behalf of a King or country to live among a different people to express the desires of their leadership, v. 20.
- RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD: The right standing before God being free from all sin, wickedness, and condemnation, v. 21.
APPLICATION
- Be born again and made a new creation, v. 17.
- Accept your calling as Christ’s Ambassador, v. 20a.
- Preach the message of reconciliation in all you do (i.e., the gospel), v. 20b.
- Believe and do all things from the finished work of Christ relying upon His power and guidance; Psalm 23:3, Ephesians 2:10, & Colossians 1:28-29.