2 Corinthians 5:1-21 | "Heaven Bound Ambassadors"

This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

It's nice to be with you this morning, and I didn't take I don't know where Jeremy's at, but I didn't have any classes in high school so uh with French, so you know God can use anyone, anywhere.

Um but it's it's really fun to be with you this morning in what I consider to be my hometown, my home church.

Fun to see so many familiar faces and then some new ones as well.

Um well I I just got an email of about a month ago now from a good friend named also named Jason, uh longtime friend who had actually just picked up a second job, and he had um it's a job in a factory, so he's working the night shift.

And at the end of our call, we we were praying for one another, and he specifically asked me to pray that God would give him an opportunity to be used in the lives of some of his co-workers there.

Well, listen to this email that he sent me a few days just after that, entitled, I got to tell somebody.

Hey Aaron.

I had an amazing interaction last night at work, and I just wanted to share it with you.

We ran out of parts to keep making the cabs so at 5 30 a.m.

we could either go home or stay at work.

I stuck around and was just spot sweeping.

It was kind of a drag.

Towards the end, I was more in the mood to talk to people, so I stopped to chat with this young guy who was in my orientation class.

Only talked to him once before.

I don't even know his name.

He was telling me how some kind of drug use kind of messed him up and left him struggling with anxiety and something called derealization.

The conversation was about to end when I asked him about God.

He said he'd prayed once when nothing else was working, and it really seemed to help, but he really had no idea who he was praying to.

Then he said he recently had a dream about angels and the Lord Jesus and all that crap.

So basically, he's in the woods with his friends, and in the grass there it there's a clearing that spells Jesus.

Then they're chasing this giant orange ball in the sky, but they can't reach it.

And a voice comes out of the sky that says, I love you.

And then he says back, I love you too.

And then the voice says, I have good news and bad news for you.

And that's all he remembers.

So he said, I could explain what the good news is next time we have more downtime.

Wow, you never know.

Pray that I'm faithful to follow up with boldness and sensitivity.

I'd love to have a 2:30 a.m.

lunch break Bible study going on someday, Jason.

What an email, huh?

Um, I wonder, have you ever had the chance just to be used by God to talk to others about him?

There is nothing like that joy.

But, you know, even if as I say this, there might be feelings creeping up in some, like, oh, I did once, that was a long time ago, or maybe there's feelings of guilt, like, I know I should do that more, but I just, I don't know if I don't know what to say.

I don't know maybe the Bible well enough, or can God really use me?

I don't have my life together the way I'd want it to be, maybe to be a witness for Him.

And, you know, what if I say something and that kind of affects my relationship and it's all weird and awkward with that person?

You know, those are all real concerns.

They can be real thoughts, but are they really obstacles for God to use any of us?

Well, the title of today's message is Heaven Bound Ambassadors from 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

The first eight verses talk about our journey towards our heavenly home.

And verses 9 through 21 talk about our identity in Christ as his ambassadors and ministers of this message of reconciliation with God.

So can I just pray before we open the word together?

Christ our glory, Christ our hope.

We want to focus our eyes on you this morning.

Father God, I pray that you would grant us eyes to see and ears to hear what is in your word.

Help me to be faithful to your truth, and I pray for the Holy Spirit to be wildly at work in our hearts this morning, so that each one of us can pull out what you want to say to us.

Amen.

All right, I'm reading out of the ESV Bible, Second Corinthians chapter 5.

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

For we know that if the tent which is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.

For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened, not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

So we are always of good courage.

We know that while we're at home in the body, we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith and not by sight.

Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others.

But what we are is known to God, and I hope it's known also to your conscience.

We're 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 experience, uh appearance, and not about what's in the heart.

For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God.

If we're in our right mind, it is for you.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died, 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.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh, even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old is passed away, behold, the new has come.

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

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.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ.

God making his appeal through us.

We implore you, on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Well, let's dive a little bit into the context and consider who the Apostle Paul is writing this letter to, and then try to pull out some application for our lives.

Well, the Christians in the city of Corinth in Greece were a group of fairly new believers that came from a polytheistic background of Greek, Roman, and Oriental gods.

As a port city, it was the gateway between Asia in the East and the Roman Empire in the West.

And Corinth had a reputation at that time kind of like Las Vegas.

It was kind of the sin city of the Roman Empire.

It was the home of the temple of Aphrodite, who is the goddess of sensual love and pleasure.

And it's been said at any given time there were a thousand prostitutes hanging around to drum up business with the sailors who were going through there.

And they even used the word Corinthian, the Roman Empire used the word Corinthian to designate someone who is excessively immoral, that Corinthian.

But sometimes the most immoral and broken people are the ones who are the most receptive to the gospel.

And it's in this context that God uses Paul to plant a church.

But as you can imagine, just believing in Jesus Christ doesn't whisk away all the bad habits of the past.

Their sins are forgiven, but a lot of their past sins and habits from the culture as well were kind of brought into the church community.

And the the book of 1 Corinthians was written to help kind of correct a lot of the things that they were hearing about that community.

And so there was a dialogue of some letters being passed back and forth, and here we are in the book of 2 Corinthians.

And so it just gives you a little bit of a picture of this of the group of people that Paul is addressing.

Now, would God Almighty use this ragtag group of people to be his chosen representatives for himself?

Well, as we see in verse 20, both Corinthians and we are called to be ambassadors of Christ who are given a ministry of reconciliation.

So let's go up to the first eight verses of the passage.

And in verse 7, for example, Paul says how Christians are to walk by faith and not by sight.

Well, while this verse can certainly pertain to a lot of different circumstances in our life, look at the context of where it's cited.

He's especially talking about our bodies and having eternal perspective about where we will live.

So let's look again at verses one through six.

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.

For while we're still in this tent, we groan, being burdened, not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

So we are always of good courage.

We know that while we're at home in the body, we're away from the Lord.

Well, if someone were to ask you, where do you live?

Uh, what are the first things that come to mind?

Well, usually it might be our city or our state, but probably your home or apartment.

Well, according to this passage, the first place of residence is not exactly the address on your bills.

Tent, home, house, building, dwelling, and body.

These words are quoted ten times in this passage as synonyms for our dwelling place.

And so the big idea here is that Christians on earth are not home yet.

And we're described more like nomads on our way home to heaven.

There's a clear contrast between our earthly and temporal habitation versus an endless heavenly home.

And in this earthly tent, we groan.

There are burdens with these bodies.

You know, how often do we ask for prayer either for ourselves or maybe for someone else, and it's health related?

And even if God might be merciful and he answers that prayer, um, well, something's gonna come back for that person at some point, whether it's the same problem or something else.

And it's the same with all of us.

If if any of you have ever owned an old vehicle, you know how this goes.

Like let's just say you've got a car that's 10 years old, and you know, all the parts are about that age.

Well, by the time you have to replace the discs and brake pads, spend 500 bucks on that, soon after you need a new muffler, and then a new battery, or the engine needs a timing belt, etc.

etc.

And so our body is kind of like this mobile home that we try to keep in shape the best we can to go the distance.

But no matter how hard we try to keep it in shape, this body that was once brand new starts to break down, depreciate in value and performance.

But thankfully, one day we have this eternal body shop in heaven where we get to exchange this old vessel in for this brand new souped-up sports car body that is revved up and ready to go forever.

And uh, you know, and it is normal to have some concerns about our bodies breaking down, of course.

Um but I think this passage is trying to encourage us to not be overly concerned about getting cancer or COVID, but to focus on something that is way, way, way beyond that.

This, you know, and that perspective is helpful for today.

And, you know, just like it's it's good to think of um and exciting to think of a great vacation coming up or seeing family or or just even look to look forward to earthly retirement.

It's good to cultivate an anticipation of our heavenly home.

And just being home with Jesus, in perfect relationship with him, face to face, where we will one day have eyes, and that can behold his glory without squinting or looking away.

We'll have voices that can sing to him without getting hoarse or tired.

We'll have strength and rest without ever needing to leave.

It'll be great.

Excuse me.

So let's just do our best to keep an internal perspective day by day so that we can say with Paul in verses six through eight.

So we are always of good courage.

We know that while we're at home in this body, we're away from the Lord.

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Yes, we are of good courage.

And we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

So he's encouraging believers not just to have all our thoughts and emotions and plans just revolving around earthly retirement, but our heavenly retirement.

And we can't really say this authentically with Paul if we don't train our minds to long for heaven and to think about eternity with the Lord.

Well, as we'll see in the next few verses, as long as we're here in this body, we've got a job to do.

He's given us a mission.

And while we're in this world, uh, we are to share about our Savior Jesus.

And when we die, that part of our mission's over.

There is no evangelism in heaven.

When we get there, we'll just be among family.

And there'll be other things to do.

We get to keep singing.

We and uh He'll give us other things to do.

But um this is our chance to bring others with us.

And um isn't it great, you know, whether right now you are feeling like your walk with the Lord is close and vibrant, or maybe you're feeling distant right now.

Isn't it great to know where we will finally end up?

That is just that simple reminder of that absolute truth of our eternal home in heaven, should encourage us and give us wings for our mission here on earth.

So who are we?

We are heaven-bound ambassadors for Christ.

Well, in the second part of the passage, verse 20 talks about how we're ambassadors who are given the ministry of reconciliation, which basically means we are appointed representatives or messengers to kind of help bring two sides together.

How do we do this?

Well, we'll see in the remainder of the text that we do this by seeking to persuade others, motivated by the fear of the Lord and with the love of Christ.

Let's pick it up in verse 9 through verse 12.

So, whether we're at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

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.

We're 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's in the heart.

For if we're beside ourselves, it's for God.

If we're in our right mind, it is for you.

Well, the the vocation of an ambassador is to represent the one who sent him.

And some in Corinth thought that Paul was like big and tough in his letters, uh, but in person he wasn't all that impressive or as a spokesperson for God.

Well, whatever the perception of others about Paul's motivation or what his spiritual authority was, his intentions are clearly seen here in verses 9 through 11.

More than wanting to please man first, Paul wanted to please God.

He's got his priorities straight.

He keeps the reality of needing to appear before the judgment seat of Christ in mind.

And he knows he'll receive one day his dues for his faithfulness or lack thereof of what God has given him to do.

And this transformation that he experienced into a new creature was not just for his benefit and salvation, just kind of like Jeremy talked about earlier at the beginning of our service, but it was also for others who would be saved through his life and witness.

How about you?

Do you feel the weight of this call on your own life this morning?

To be a disciple who makes disciples.

I wonder if if anyone's coming to mind, if you can think of just any coworker or family member or friend or neighbor, anyone who doesn't yet know the joy of Christ.

And what would it take to motivate you to take a step for the Lord to maybe initiate a conversation or to maybe start praying again for that person or just to be used in their life?

Well, I hope that the motivation that would be in your heart would be following the example of Paul here to fear the Lord, but also to have the love of Christ as your motivation.

And now the writer of Proverbs says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

Let us be faithful with the time and the message and the mission that God Himself has entrusted to us.

What thoughts and emotions are evoked in you when you think about having to stand before God Himself on the day of judgment?

A reverent fear is the appropriate response.

Anything less, well, let us pray that we're not becoming hardened or numbed or blinded to the spiritual reality that awaits each one of us.

And again, in verse 11, Paul writes, Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we do what?

We persuade others.

And so, yes, we don't hide that we seek to persuade others.

Now, I know this can be touchy, especially nowadays where it just seems like everybody has such polarized viewpoints.

And topics, if we're not in agreement, can get so emotional.

And trust me, I get it.

I mean, we live in France, where there's 10% of the population come from basically a Muslim background.

A large majority of the population would say that they're atheist or agnostic.

Many are kind of culturally Catholic, but that was kind of for grandma and grandpa.

And today, among youth, among university students who we work with, less than one half of 1% are true followers of Jesus.

I mean, it's like an unreached people group.

And it takes a while to see somebody come to know Jesus.

It doesn't just happen in a 20-minute conversation.

And so, you know, so I understand that this persuasion thing takes time and takes effort, takes prayer, takes dependence on the Lord.

But scripture is clear that of the many important problems that we have in this world, the main problem is not global warming, corrupt governments, poverty, or COVID.

The main problem is sin in the human heart towards God.

And when people are reconciled to God, it has a positive impact, first and foremost, on that relationship with the creator of the universe, of course.

But also in the relationships with those around us.

We start caring more about others.

We try to live like Jesus did.

We do have more inner peace and purpose.

And we do care about the planet that God's entrusted to us a little bit more to.

But as good ambassadors, we need to step up our listening skills, our diplomacy skills, and our and find ways to communicate the good news of the gospel in a way where the other people feel like we're on their team.

So, you know, in a tone that is humble, respectful, but confident.

Learn how to share how following Jesus has made an impact on your life and how others can have a chance to know him as well.

But I know this notion of persuasion, sometimes it hits people the wrong way.

It's kind of like an over-ambitious salesperson or something.

But being the bearer of the message of reconciliation is like a physician who has both the joy and the responsibility to help see people healed.

It's persuasion like a doctor first wants to explain what's wrong so that you see the need and you want the cure.

It's persuasion like a big roadside saying, dangerous, like flooded road ahead, go that way.

It's persuasion like a sticker on a medicine bottle saying, bad for pregnant women and children.

It's persuasion like seeing somebody who's totally starving and knowing that there's an all-you-can-eat buffet over here, and just saying, hey, I know where you can go get food, right over here.

So it's it's okay to persuade others when it's ultimately for their good.

And it's a good and loving desire to awaken others' need for a savior because the world needs saving.

The Bible doesn't allow us to ignore the fact that judgment day is a real event.

Just like today is happening, judgment day will happen.

And it's actually cruel to keep this information for others if they're not aware of it.

But I know sometimes we have these thoughts like, ah, we shouldn't bug these guys with this God stuff.

It'll ruffle their feathers, or it might negatively impact our relationship.

I might not know what to say, etc., etc.

But have you ever noticed that one of the greatest tactics of the devil in spiritual battle is not necessarily big, spooky, spiritual, natural, supernatural signs and wonders, but it's more of a psychological attack.

And we see this in our own lives, but also in scripture.

So just think about Genesis.

You know, God says, Don't eat of the tree, and the serpent comes along, and what does he say?

He says, He seeds, he sows the seed of doubt in the Garden of Eden by saying, Did God really say, You will not eat of any fruit of the trees of the garden?

You will surely not die.

Who are they going to believe?

Or how about Jesus?

Just after he was baptized, a voice from heaven says, This is my son, in whom I am well pleased.

Then right after that, Jesus goes out into the desert for 40 days to fast, where he's tempted by the devil.

And how does the devil confront Jesus himself?

He actually dares to use those very words that he heard from the Father and says, If you are really the Son of God, turn these stones into bread or throw yourself down from this mountain.

Well, think about our own lives, isn't it?

Thoughts of doubt, discouragement, fear, and our own limitations in life that kind of keep us from really walking with the Lord the way that we know we want to, to live a life by faith that witnesses joyfully to others and is continually filled by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Well, how do we battle those thoughts?

So we can persuade others of the relevance of the gospel.

Well, we fear God more than man, and we share our lives like Paul with an attitude of love.

Verse 14.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this that one has died for all, therefore all died.

Other versions say that the love of Christ compels us.

En français, l'amour de Christ nu presse in French, the love of Christ urges us on.

Well, if we had time to go around the room and I could ask people to take a microphone and just tell the story of somebody that you know that has come to Christ, somebody who's a friend or that you really love, I imagine two things would happen.

The first thing I think would happen is that you would smile while you're telling the story.

There's just something about when you you're just uh you've seen a life touched by by God Himself, and you're just amazed that God in His mercy would use imperfect, broken people like us to share the gospel with somebody else, and something happens.

And it's just such a thrill to see a soul switch lanes from eternal separation from God to eternal life with God.

And the second thing I think would happen is that we would hear about how, in that story, how God used both the message and the messenger in that person's journey to faith.

The message of the gospel wasn't just kind of read or heard in a vacuum, but it was attached to a person or a community of people who love them with the love of Christ.

Now, the power of Christ, or the power of salvation, of course, is in Christ alone.

But God uses a combination of his word, the Holy Spirit, and his people to bring people to the knowledge of him.

I mean, just think about your own life.

Who did God use for you?

I imagine that you love both the message of the gospel and the faces of the people who might be popping into your mind right now.

Now, for those here who this maybe Jesus and the church is all this stuff is kind of new for you, or you might still be considering the claims of Christianity, please think about the offer that God has given you.

We are all infected with the a moral cancer of the soul called sin, which ultimately leads to death and the merited eternal wrath of God.

But, but thankfully the story doesn't end there.

God Himself has provided a cure in his son Jesus.

And for your sake, your sake, God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin, to take on your sin at the cross, so that in him you would have life.

Why refuse this amazing gift that is being offered to you?

You could be reconciled with God Himself and be able to live forever with Him.

Why not choose even today to turn from your sin and follow Jesus?

He loves you and He wants you to know and experience His love.

Verses 17 through 21 talk about the caterpillar to butterfly transformation that happens when we put our faith in Jesus Christ.

We get reconciled with God and then are commissioned to tell others to do the same.

I'd like to conclude simply by rereading these verses, and as I do, perhaps it will, the Lord might use this not only as a reminder, but as a sort of recommissioning as we go out of this place today.

If God can use Paul, if he can use the Corinthians, he can use you and I.

Let me read verse 17 through 21.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old is passed away, behold, the new is come.

All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

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.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ.

God making his appeal through us.

We implore you, on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God for our sake.

He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

So if you are a follower of Christ this morning, you've been reconciled to God and have a new body and an amazing future to look forward to in heaven.

Let us live every day with this eternal perspective and try to bring as many other people with us as we can.

We are heaven-bound ambassadors for Christ.

And if you have any doubts about yourself, if God can really use you to persuade others to be reconciled to God, just battle those thoughts with the fear of the Lord in your minds and the love of Christ in your hearts.

And if God can use the Corinthians, He can use you.

And perhaps by the end of the week, you'll be writing an email to a friend saying, I got to tell somebody because you just told somebody.

There's nothing like that joy.

Let me pray to help us just ask God's help to be better ambassadors for Him.

Lord God, thank you, thank you for the amazing privilege of knowing you and all the promises that are true for us in Jesus Christ.

We were once enemies of God and now we're at the table.

For any in this room who are or are watching online, perhaps, who are not reconciled to you at this moment, I pray that they would feel pressed to confess their sin to you, receive the fullness of your grace and love for forgiveness.

For those who want to be used by you in the lives of others, help us to know where to start.

Grant us courage and boldness to pray and to seek to introduce others to Jesus.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Lord, we see a world in such desperate need of peace, of hope, of truth.

And you have given us all these things through Jesus Christ.

For those this morning whose bodies are aching and going through suffering, remind them of what you have in store for them.

Help us to live with eternal perspective day by day.

Thank you for this hope and for the privilege to bear your name and to be your ambassadors.

With your help, we can become who we truly are in Christ.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.

Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.

You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.