2 Corinthians 5 and Romans 1- Pastor Peter Spink

We're going to look at 2nd Corinthians chapter

5 and I'm going to I'm going to jump in at verse

14 for the love of Christ Controls us having

concluded this That one died for all therefore

all died and he died for all that they who live

should no longer live for themselves But for

him who died and rose again on their behalf Therefore,

from now on we recognize no man according to

the flesh, even though we have known Christ according

to the flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer.

Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new

creature. The old things passed away. Behold,

new things have come. Now, all these things are

from God who reconciled us to himself. through

Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

namely that God was in Christ reconciling the

world to himself, not counting their trespasses

against them, and he has committed to us the

word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors

for Christ, as though God were entreating through

us. We beg you on behalf of Christ be reconciled

to God. He made him who knew no sin to be sin

on our behalf that we might become the righteousness

of God in him. Let's bow together for prayer.

Gracious Lord, we ask that you would open our

eyes, open our ears and hearts to the reception

of your word, that by it we may grow in our Christ

-likeness, that we may be prompted to serve you

with our whole hearts, keeping our eyes upon

Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,

who for the joy set before him endured the cross,

despising the shame and a set down now at your

right hand. For it's in his name that we pray.

Amen. I want to begin this morning with a quote

that's been attributed to that American author

and humorist Mark Twain. He's reported to have

said, the two most important days of your life

are the day you were born and the day you discover

why. Think about that. There's a lot of truth

in that. The two most important days, the day

you were born and the day you discover, for what

purpose? The why. If we were to transform the

context of that quote into a Christian setting

and make the comment, the two most important

days for the believer, I would maintain that

they are the day you were born again and the

day you discover what Paul calls the hope of

God's calling. Why did God choose you and bring

you to Himself? What is the purpose behind your

being a child of God? You know, Paul states here

very clearly that there has been a ministry more

or less committed to you and me. We have been

given a word of reconciliation. And why have

we been given that? Because you and I bear the

title of ambassadors for Christ. I remember on

Tuesday reading through the program at Joe's

funeral. I'll be honest with you, I didn't realize

he had been on so many deployments, so many assignments,

received so many honors. He was a Green Beret,

Medal of Honor, Legion of Honor. I'm not sure

that I have it right. But he had attained a very

elite status, retiring with a full Colonel designation.

But you know, if Joe were here this morning and

I were to ask him, what honor do you hold to

be the highest honor? he might say something

like, being an ambassador for Christ. Through

all of his military service, when he was serving

his country, preserving, protecting, he was at

the same time serving his Savior and Lord as

an ambassador for Christ. Now what is an ambassador?

That is the highest ranking diplomat. that there

is among the government's service serving in

a foreign country. You're deployed, so to speak.

You're commissioned. You have a responsibility.

You are under orders. You have the heart of this

people that you represent before you at all times.

You know, throughout the Scriptures, The children

of God are given several different names. Here's

one of them that we're going to be focused on

this morning, what it means to be an ambassador.

But think about it. In Acts chapter 1, you and

Acts 1 · chapter mention

I are called to be witnesses, are we not? Jesus

said to his disciples, you will be witnesses.

Stay in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit has come

upon you, and you will be my witnesses to Jerusalem,

Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

On another occasion, he said to his disciples,

some of whom were fishermen by trade, you will

be fishers of men. You will be fishers of men.

In the Sermon on the Mount, he called his followers

the salt of the earth, the light of the world.

Turn with me to Romans chapter 1 for just a moment.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

I want to just take an excursion there because

we see in the example of Paul, the writer of

2 Corinthians, his own personal testimony to

this fact. Look at verse 1, if you have your

Bibles with you. Paul, a bond servant of Christ

Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the

gospel of God. Now Paul recognized three things.

He was a bond servant of Christ Jesus. He had

been called as an apostle, and he had been set

apart for the gospel of God. So here we see the

messenger, we see the message, and we see the

ministry that he has been called to. Now what

I want you to relate to this is across the page

there in your scripture, look at verses 14, 15,

16, 17, and you'll see the correlation. Paul,

a bond servant of Christ Jesus, in verse 14,

I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians,

both to the wise and to the foolish. Paul realized.

that when God called him, he had a responsibility

to the Jews, his own people, to the Gentiles,

that would be the Greeks and everyone else. The

reason he realized he was under obligation is

the truth that the gospel is what everyone, everywhere,

under every condition, under every circumstance

needs to hear. needs to receive the good news

that there is hope in this world if your heart

belongs to Jesus if your trust is in the God

above Who loved you so much that he sent his

only begotten son that whoever believed in him

should not perish but have everlasting life Paul

said I am a bond servant of Christ Jesus. I'm

bound to him I serve Him, and I'm under obligation,

I'm under orders to Jews and Greeks, to all people,

because what they need is the gospel. He's been

called as an apostle. For that, we see the corresponding

response in verse 15. Called as an apostle, for

my part, I'm eager to preach the gospel to you

who are in Rome. You know, Paul... Started out

down that road of Damascus toward Damascus of

the mindset thinking that he was doing the will

of God in persecuting these people who called

themselves the way Later became Christians in

Antioch, but he thought he was doing God's will

but far from it He was struck down and the risen

Lord spoke to him and said, Saul, Saul, why are

you persecuting me? And his life was dramatically

changed. He became a new creature in Christ,

the very thing he writes about in 2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5. So he's a bond servant who's under

obligation. He's been called to be an apostle,

one who is sent. And he's eager to preach. He's

been set apart for the gospel of God. I love

this in verse 16. Set apart for the gospel? Has

he found his purpose? Does he know the why of

his life? I am not ashamed, he says, of the gospel.

For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone

who believes. To the Jew first, and also to the

Greek. Paul was not ashamed. He would take his

stance for the Lord. He would stand firm, cloaked

in the armor of God, even when it meant suffering,

pain, and trial. He was not ashamed. Let me just

briefly comment on what I see here as four reasons

that he is not ashamed of the gospel. We've mentioned

each of these briefly, but in a different manner.

First of all, he's not ashamed of the gospel

because of the people it serves. Jesus said,

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one

comes to the Father except through me. No one,

no one comes to the Father except through me.

That means that the gospel, the intentions of

God in the expansion of his kingdom are to reach

the world so that every tongue and tribe and

nation has had the opportunity to respond to

the message of the gospel. Paul was not ashamed

and he took the gospel as far as he possibly

could and he commissioned along with the other

apostles to take the gospel and go with that

message. The second reason why he's not ashamed

of the gospel is because there's no other power

in the world that is able to do what the gospel

does because of the power it shows. Consider

for a moment. You and I were dead in our trespasses

and sins. What does the gospel bring to you and

me? Life. You and I were in darkness. What does

the gospel bring to you and me when we come to

Christ? Light. It brings truth. It brings wisdom.

It transforms us from those who were certainly

headed not to heaven, but it grants us through

the forgiveness of sins, the confession of sins,

a guarantee. That we will be with him none of

his sheep are lost So Paul wasn't ashamed of

the gospel because of the people it served or

the power it showed but truthfully he wasn't

ashamed because It's the only answer to the question

How can God be both just and the justifier? Look

the scriptures tell us the soul that sins it

will die All have sinned. Unfortunately for you

and me, we're part of that group. All. Don't

you think? When it says all, it means all. It

means everybody. All have sinned and fall short

of the glory of God. It's no fun falling short.

Just ask Clemson. I mean, Carolina yesterday.

Watch that game. Fall short means you don't measure

up. You don't make the grade. And if God were

to mark iniquity, not one of us, not one of you,

could stand before him with clean hands and a

pure heart and say, here I am, Lord. I want to

be on your team. We don't measure up. So now

the word says that the soul that sins will die.

We've got a problem. How can we possibly be justified

and viewed as righteous in God's sight when the

only thing that we bring to our salvation is

the sin that makes it necessary in the first

place. Is there someone out there who has lived

a sinless perfect life who is willing to take

your place and pay the penalty for you and me?

and satisfy the demands of the law and the righteous

wrath of the Father." I tell you, there's a beautiful

verse from the Psalms, one of my favorite verses,

Psalm 85 -10, that speaks about this. Loving

-kindness and truth have met together. And in

typical Hebrew poetic parallelism, the next line

says, righteousness and peace have kissed each

other through Christ as Paul says in 2nd Corinthians

he became he who knew no sin became sin on our

behalf so that we in turn might be made the righteousness

of Christ in him he fulfilled the righteousness

which God and the law required he offered himself

on our behalf that you and I who were enemies

of Christ may now be reconciled to God and find

peace. Loving kindness and truth have met together.

Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Paul was not ashamed to declare that message

because it secured our pardon rather than the

wrath of God. And so for the believer, there's

now no condemnation for those who are in Christ

Jesus. Now, with that as our backdrop, we return

to 2 Corinthians 5 for this closing thought.

Don't you want to share that message? Do you

feel any obligation, as Paul did? Isn't that

part of why God called you? You know, there's

a general sense in which each of us has the same

calling. we're to become like Christ. The purpose,

the why, is that we be conformed to the image

of His Son. There's also a more specific sense

in which that call involves using the gifts and

the talents and the uniqueness of each one of

you in serving to stand for the gospel as witnesses.

a Fisher of Men, as an ambassador, as someone

who wants to take the message of the gospel to

the world. The one illustration with which I

will close is one that I found many years ago,

but it's one that has stayed with me throughout

many years of ministry. I can't pinpoint a message

that I've preached here where I've used it, but

undoubtedly I have. Maybe some of you will remember

it. It revolves around a husband and wife who

served with the Evangelical Alliance mission.

It was called TEAM, T -E -A -M. And they had

been called to serve in Indonesia. And when they

arrived on the mission field, they discovered

that Most of the people there believed, were

pagans, and believed in idols and idol worship.

And they knew that the ministry there for Christ

was going to be a great challenge. But they labored

on. They persevered. And they were used by the

Lord to bring many to salvation. One day, Blanche,

Blanche Nelson was the wife's name. was on her

way by train to a village below where they had

been ministering for a series of meetings there.

And when she got to the train station, it was

like everybody was in a celebration mode comparable

to what perhaps we might find on the 4th of July

here in the States. They were shooting off fireworks,

they were just celebrating the day, and she asked

someone, what's going on here? And what she was

told was that a village, the very same village

that she was going to, to hold meetings, had

requested from that city to borrow a particular

idol that was a god of fertility. and they had

asked the city to send it to them in the hopes

of being able through prayers to that wooden

carved idol that many more children would be

born. And it just became in her mind a reflection

on how frustrating ministry and service can be.

how people can be so blinded that they place

their trust and hope and faith in a wooden statue.

And she got at first very frustrated because

this is what she had been up against for years

there. I'm sure we've all experienced times when

we feel like we're beating our head against the

wall. trying to persuade someone or influence

someone to turn from that kind of fantasy to

the truth. She got on the train about halfway

to her destination. Her mind began to change

and it moved away from the frustration that she

had felt and sometimes experienced in ministry

to real conviction. Because she began to think

to herself, when was the last time someone asked

to borrow my God? I think you know what she meant.

We realized there's no magic in laying hands

on a child, a youth, and just transferring your

faith to them. But what she realized was her

presence and her calling was to stand beside

the Apostle Paul and say, I'm not ashamed of

the gospel. I'm called to be an ambassador for

Christ. He's given me the word of reconciliation,

and I'm not ashamed. And I need to be ready to

give a reason for the hope that is in me. Because

without the reality of Christ in a person's life,

they're still under condemnation. but they can

pass through death into life through faith in

Christ. So I just leave that thought with you.

How willing are we to accept this title of ambassador?

How willing are we to share what it means to

know the Savior? When's the last time someone

asked?