Don't Forget Who You Represent!

Standing on the promises of God, my Savior, standing,

standing, I'm standing on the promises of God.

Alrighty. Thank y 'all. Yes, sir. Thank you.

2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention 2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

5. It's been a couple of weeks since we were

here. Of course, we had a cottage prayer meeting,

and then we had a revival, so we were a couple

of weeks removed from where we left off in 2

Corinthians 5. But we left off with the key point

being, that all who have died to Christ should

live for Christ, that we no longer live for ourselves,

but we should be those who live for Jesus Christ,

that Jesus has been raised from the dead, and

therefore we can be raised from the dead, and

we can have eternal life, and if we put our faith

in Jesus and give our life to him and seek to

serve him, We die to ourselves. We're not living

for the flesh. We're not living for the world.

We should be living for Jesus. And so that's

kind of a brief summary of the last couple of

verses before we get into the verses tonight.

So let's pray. And then we'll get started. God,

we thank you for your word. And I pray that your

word would challenge us tonight, that we would

grow in it, that your Holy Spirit would speak

to us. God, that you would hide me behind the

cross, that I would preach and teach in a way

that brings glory and honor to you. And just

let your Holy Spirit be with us. In Jesus' name

I pray. Amen. All right. 2 Corinthians 5, verse

2 Corinthians 5:16

16. Verse 16. Well, what exactly does this mean?

It doesn't really necessarily jump off the page

exactly what he's saying here, but he's saying

this. When we put our life in Jesus Christ, we

should be a new person. We should be changed,

as we're going to see as we read through these

verses. And so he says, Once that moment comes

in our life that we've put our faith and trust

in Jesus and we have been cleansed from our sins

and we begin to live for Jesus and not for ourselves,

there's a change. Now he says, look, from now

on then, okay, there was a point before we knew

Jesus and his resurrection and in all of his

power and glory, but now we know Jesus. after

the resurrection, and in his power and glory.

So from now on then, we do not know anyone in

a purely human way, even if we have known Christ

in a purely human way. So he's saying, we knew

Christ in a purely human way. He came, he was

a human, he walked on this earth. He was a human

just like you and I. But he's much greater than

that. He's the Son of God. He's the Messiah.

And so we know people in a human sense, in a

fleshly way, in an earthly way. We all know each

other as humans. But what the Bible really calls

us to is a spiritual knowledge of each other,

that the Spirit would guide us, that the Spirit

would lead us in our life. And so he's saying,

look, we don't just know each other as humans

anymore. We are now brothers and sisters in Christ

through the Spirit of God. And so we don't look

at things from a purely human perspective. We

have to ask God to help us through the Holy Spirit

to look at things maybe in the way that he looks

at things. And so we don't want to look at things

from a human perspective. We want to look at

it from a godly perspective. Now, the story of

Samuel is a good story here. When Samuel had

to go appoint the new king and it was going to

be one of the sons of Jesse. And when he goes

to see the sons of Jesse, he looks for the best

looking, tallest, strongest, the best looking

guy there. And he says, this has to be the guy

that God wants to be king. Now what he was looking

at was the physical. He was looking at the purely

human part of Jesse's son. But what God was concerned

about was the physical. what was in the inner

man. And so Samuel goes through all the sons,

and he thinks he's going to pick the right one,

and God says, no, that's not the right one. Even

though physically, in a human way, they look

like they were the one for the job, it was the

one who had the Spirit of God upon him that had

the heart of God that was going to be the one

for the job, and it ended up being David. Not

the one maybe from a human perspective would

have looked like the one who would have been

fit to be king, but it was God who was going

to appoint him as king because his heart was

right. So God looks at things in a different

way than we do. And so once we are filled with

the Spirit, then we need to begin to take on

some of the attributes of God and pattern our

life after Jesus Christ so that we can... Try

to be more like him in every way. So what does

that look like? Well, from a strictly human sense,

we may look into the world and we may see bad

things that go on and bad people and bad people

that do bad things. And we may be quick to say,

well, they shouldn't do that or they should live

their life a different way or they should make

better decisions. And we might look at them in

that sense and maybe some of those things are

true. But how does God look at people who are

struggling? who are making bad decisions. He

looks at them and he says, I don't want them

to make those bad decisions. I want them to know

that I love them. I want them to know my grace.

I want to shower my grace upon them and shower

my love upon them so that they'll know there's

something better than what they're living in

the world. And so what do we do when we see people

who maybe aren't living right, who are struggling

with some sin, with some lifestyle choices? Now,

we don't pretend that those things are okay.

We know that sin is sin. We call sin, sin. But

is compassion what drives us, or is it a spirit

of judgment? That's easy to look at somebody

and say, shame on them, we want to pass judgment.

But it is the Lord who judges. But it's also

the Lord who has compassion. And so maybe when

we look at people with the Holy Spirit that's

in us that we receive once we follow Jesus Christ,

we are no longer purely human. We've been changed.

We've been transformed. And we see people in

a human way, but we also see them through the

eyes of God. Or we should, as we see how Jesus

interacts with people through the Scripture.

We see it on more than one occasion that Jesus

has compassion on the crowds. He has compassion

on the people. Even the Pharisees and the Sadducees

that are out trying to trip him up, even the

things he says to them that are kind of harsh

or things that should get their attention, he

calls out the very things that they do and they

should have said, whoa, wait a minute, he's talking

about us. And they did do that. They did do that.

He'd say something, they'd say he's talking about

us, but instead of saying, hey, you know, he's

right, I need to change, they would get mad at

him. He would say, here's the thing you're doing,

and you're doing wrong. And they should have

said, whoa, maybe he's right. But instead, they

said, we've got to find a way to get rid of this

guy. And so when we experience people and encounter

people in the world, we see the purely human

part of them, but we don't always know their

story. We don't know why they make the decisions

they do or how they got to the situation they're

in. And again, we're not justifying anything

that occurred. But people go through a lot. People

experience a lot. And once the Holy Spirit indwells

in us, then I think we need to have a little

bit of that compassion that Jesus had. So we

knew Jesus in a human way. He was a carpenter.

But he was not just a carpenter. He was the Son

of God. And he changed the world. And he changed

the lives of many people while he walked on this

earth. And he changed the lives of many more

when he was crucified. and resurrected for all

of eternity. Verse 17. Therefore, if anyone is

in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have

passed away, and look, new things have come.

Now that's good. It's good when something old

is made new. It's good when something that's

worn out is made fresh again. And when we give

our life to Jesus Christ, we are a new creation.

Now, we need to remember this, and we need to

stand firm on this, because our old self was

pretty rough, and maybe even our new self is

sometimes. But before we come to Christ, we're

probably pretty rough. We've got lots of stories

of things that we did, and the way that we acted,

and the way that we treated people, and the things

that were in our heart that are just not good

things. And sometimes the thoughts and the memories

of our old self, they just kind of bombard us.

You know, we'll wake up in the middle of the

night and we'll remember something we did 20

years ago that just kind of keeps nagging at

us. But that's our old self. Yeah, we were sinful.

We're not proud of that, but we're free from

that. We're not enslaved in that. We're a new

creation. And so we need to rejoice in that.

I'm not who I was yesterday. And if we say we

are in Christ, but we're living like we did yesterday

today, then maybe we need to reexamine our life.

Maybe we're not a new self. Maybe we're the same

old self. Now that's not to say that even when

we're a new person that we don't sin, we're not

perfect when we come to Christ. But we need to

be able to gauge our life and say, If I'm living

pretty close to what I was living before I came

to Christ, after I supposedly came to Christ,

then maybe we're not a new creation. Maybe we're

just an old creation trying to fake it. Trying

to put on the new clothes but they don't fit.

Because really deep down inside we're still the

same old person. But the scripture says that

those who are in Christ... are a new creation.

So praise the Lord. If we've done things in the

past, then we repent of those things and we'll

never forget about those things, but we cannot

allow them to overcome us and get us down and

weigh us down. We have to realize we're a new

creation and we're called to new things and better

things, not the old lifestyle, not to be depressed

by the old lifestyle, but to rejoice in the new

lifestyle and say, God, these are the things

I did, but God, what do you want me to do? I'm

a new man. I'm a new woman now. God, how do you

want to use me? Verse 18. Everything is from

God who reconciled us to himself through Christ

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 he has committed the message of reconciliation

to us. Okay, the first part here, great little

word. Everything is from God. Everything is from

God. There's a good reminder. Everything is from

God. Everything we have is from God. Everything

in the world is from God. Now, it's a good time

in our life when we come to that realization.

Now there's a lot of people in our world that

haven't come to that realization. They think

everything that they have is from themselves.

It's from their own doing. That they're just

entitled to all of the resources of the world

and the waters of the seas and the trees of the

earth and the air that we breathe into our lungs.

Some people just think, well, I'm just entitled

to those things because I just live. But everything

is from God. So every breath we take, it's from

God. We didn't do anything to earn that. We didn't

make the air. The water we drink, it's from God.

We didn't make the water. God made the water.

Everything that we have is from God. Everything

that we make, every paycheck that we get, every

crop that comes into our garden, it's from God.

Everything that we have is from God. Some people

say, well, I worked. I made my empire. I made

my millions. Yeah, you did. But you didn't start

from nothing. You started from something. You

didn't just start from the existence of absolutely

nothing that we can't imagine. You started from

something, and that something was made by someone,

and that someone is God. So everything that we

have in life, everything that we have is from

God, and we need to remember that. It helps us

to stay grounded, I think, to say, okay, I wouldn't

be here if it wasn't for God. The fact that I

can get up and walk and breathe today is because

of God. The fact that everything I eat is from

God and every money I make is from God, then

maybe what we have from God should be used in

some way to serve God. Because everything that

we have is from God. And who is God? God is the

one who reconciled us to himself through Christ

and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. What

does that mean to be reconciled? It means that

people are at odds with each other. You might

have known people like that. You may be people

like that. You may be like that right now. There

may be somebody that you are at odds with, a

family member or a friend or a co -worker, and

you just don't get along. There's something that's

happened. They said something to you. You said

something to them. They looked at you wrong one

day, and for whatever reason, you're just at

odds with each other. You might speak. You might

do just enough to get by, but there's a tension

there. And there's no good relationship there,

and it's like you're always butting heads, and

it always makes you feel angry when you see them.

And that's what it means when you're at odds

with somebody, is that there's something between

you that's hindering you from getting over that

and having a relationship with that person. Well,

that's, for us, the Bible calls sin. There's

something that's between us and God. that separates

us from God, and it's our sin. But God gave us

a solution to that sin. Wasn't anything we could

do. After all, everything we have is of God.

There's nothing we can do to earn God's salvation.

It's all His, so we can't do anything that's

His for ourselves to earn our salvation. There's

something between us, our sin, that separates

us from God, but God, through Jesus Christ, reconciled

us to Himself. So now we're in good relation

with God. Now we can have that relationship,

that tension that keeps all of us as humans from

God, our sin. That's washed away through Jesus

Christ. So we're not at odds with God anymore.

We're not enemies of God, as Romans 5 says. We

are friends of God. That's a good thing. You

read the Bible, you see what God does to his

enemies? It's not good. What does God do for

those who are his? Even when they mess up sometimes,

God is faithful. God provides for them. God protects

them. God fights for them. God feeds them. It's

a good thing to be a friend of God. And here

we are told that we are reconciled to God through

Jesus Christ. So we no longer will be at odds

with God if we have trusted in Jesus Christ.

If we've put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ,

we are reconciled to God. Verse 19, that is,

in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself,

not counting their trespasses against them, and

he has committed the message of reconciliation

to us. Now listen to that. Paul says, This message,

this good news that we were at odds with God,

we were sinners against God, we were separated

from God with no good relationship, we were enemies

of God. He says, good news, Jesus came, he died

on a cross, he was resurrected, our sins are

forgiven, we're a new creation, we're reconciled

with God, we are friends of God, and therefore,

he says, the message of reconciliation needs

to continue through us. Now, I don't think he's

just talking about just himself and those who

are with him. I don't think he's just talking

about the apostles that were with Jesus. I think

he's talking about Christian men and women. That

if we have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ,

then we are reconciled of God, then we are the

ones who God has called to bring the message

of reconciliation. That's a big responsibility.

That God has called us to be the ones to bring

the message of reconciliation. So how's the world

going to hear the good news? How are they going

to know that they're a sinner but God loves them?

How are they going to know that there's grace

and that there's love and that there's someone

to have compassion on them? How are they going

to know that if they don't see it through us?

God can work a miracle. He can appear to them

in a bright ball of light and he can tell them

that. And maybe he still does. There's people

that say that that happens, and I don't doubt

it for a second. But I think way more times than

not, the way that people are going to be reached

is through us. Because we are the ones who are

called to bring the message of reconciliation.

So are we doing that? Does the world see that

in us? Do they see compassion and love and grace

in us? Or do they see someone who's judgmental?

And angry and unloving. What do they see? I don't

know. We have to answer that question for ourselves.

Maybe we don't like the answer we come up with.

Maybe we try to fake ourselves out and say, I'm

pretty good. But maybe if we're honest, we say,

man, the world doesn't always see good stuff

from me. They don't always see compassion and

love. But we are the ones who are called to bring

the message of reconciliation, the good news

of Jesus Christ. Continuing on, verse 20. Therefore,

we are ambassadors for Christ, certain that God

is appealing through us. We plead on Christ's

behalf, be reconciled to God. Listen to that.

We are ambassadors for Christ. You think about

that for a second. You, as a Christian, are a

representative, of Jesus Christ. Now, let's talk

about politics for a second. I know we all love

that, especially in church. But you think about

every state, and every state you vote on people

that we call representatives, right? And these

representatives, they go to Washington, and they

represent you and what you want and what you

like and what you desire for this country. But

then you turn on the TV. and you see your representative,

and he's saying this thing, and you say, wait

a minute, I don't want that. And he says this

other thing, and you say, well, I don't want

that. And everything that he says and does and

fights for, you don't want. He's a bad representative.

He's not doing anything he should do. He's not

representing any of the things that are important

to you. So what about us with God? We are God's

ambassadors. We are his representatives. So when

God looks at us, does he look at us like we look

at our political representatives? Do the things

that we do is God saying, yep, that's exactly

what I want. That's exactly the way I want people

to act. That's exactly what I want people to

know. That's exactly what I want people to hear.

That's exactly what I want people to see. This

is exactly what's going to get my kingdom growing

in this world. Is that what God sees from our

actions? Or does he look at us and say, well,

he ain't representing me when he did that. She

wasn't representing me when she said that. That

doesn't represent my love. That doesn't represent

my compassion. That doesn't represent my grace.

That doesn't represent my son. So what kind of

representatives are we tonight? We are ambassadors

for Christ. Now, if you've trusted in Jesus Christ,

there's only two types of ambassadors you can

be, a good one or a bad one. There ain't no in

-between. So we have to look at our life and

say, okay, when we go out there and we tell people,

I'm a Christian, well, what do our actions say?

If you were to go stand in a court of law today

and you were accused of being a Christian, would

your actions be enough to get you off the hook?

If you're accused of being a Christian, would

your actions be enough to call you to be guilty

there? Is there enough evidence in your life

that would convict you? Maybe it is, maybe it's

not. Maybe we say we're Christians and we don't

live like it at all. Maybe we're horrible ambassadors

for Christ. Maybe we're not ambassadors at all.

Maybe we're just pretending. Paul says here,

look, you are called to be ambassadors for Christ.

Certain that God is appealing through us. We

plead on Christ's behalf. What do we plead? We

plead, be reconciled to God. That is the message.

We are pleading on Christ's behalf. What are

we pleading to people? We're telling them, look,

God loves you, but he does not love that you're

living in sin. Your sin has separated you from

God just as my sin has separated me from God,

but I've got good news. He sent Jesus Christ

so that your sins could be forgiven. So therefore,

repent and be reconciled to God. That is the

message. And Paul says that we, Christians, ambassadors

for Christ, are to carry that message to a lost

and dying world. Verse 21. He made the one who

did not know sin to be sin for us so that we

might become the righteousness of God in him.

Isn't that a beautiful, beautiful verse tonight?

Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us. He

took the curse. He took the punishment for our

sin. He took what we deserved. We deserve to

die. We deserve that punishment that he experienced

on the cross. And if God would have allowed us

to experience that punishment, it would have

just been the beginning of that punishment. We

would have been punished on a cross, or in whatever

form we would have been punished, and then we

would have died and been separated from God for

all of eternity. That was our punishment. That's

what we deserve. Because we're sinners. Jesus,

who knew no sin, took our sin. He took our punishment.

And with Jesus, it was nailed to the cross. So

Jesus got what we deserved. And in turn, when

we trust in Jesus, we get something that only

Jesus deserved. So that we might become the righteousness

of God. In him. We have been made righteous through

Jesus Christ. We don't deserve that. It's not

like God's going to look down and say, okay,

you did a pretty good job in your life, and the

good outweighed the bad, therefore I'll consider

you righteous. Nope. We are made righteous by

one thing and one thing alone, and that is the

blood of Jesus Christ. That he was nailed to

the cross, that his blood was shed for us, that

his body was nailed to that cross for us. that

he was put in a grave, and that three days later,

he arose. And that is the source of our righteousness.

Now, if we're living in the righteousness of

Jesus Christ, praise God, we are a new creation,

and we are ambassadors for Christ. We are representatives

of God. How are you representing him in your

daily life? Let's pray. God, we thank you for

this good passage and what a challenge it is

and what a call it is for us to examine ourselves,

dear Lord. And maybe we fail the test when we

start examining ourselves, dear Lord. Maybe we

don't represent you good or hadn't represented

you good. I pray that you would help us to bring

your grace and your love and your mercy and the

truth of reconciliation through Jesus to this

world, dear Lord. I pray that you would help

everyone here and listening. To be a new creation

in Jesus today that the old would pass away and

that we would know that it's passed away and

that we would rejoice in knowing that we are

in Jesus Christ. God, if we have received the

righteousness of Jesus Christ today, we thank

you that our sins have been forgiven and I pray

that you would help us to live in that righteousness.

I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.