“Living for the Eternal” | 2 Corinthians 5 | Pastor Israel

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

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

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

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

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.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

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

Ecclesiastes 12:1

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.

John 20:21

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.