Sermon on 2 Corinthians 5:11-21

Introduction

I don’t know about you guys but I watched a lot of the impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump.  And I was fascinated to get a glimpse at an aspect of our government that I was all too unfamiliar with.  I’m talking about the work of our ambassadors to other countries.  I saw Gordon Sondland, Marie Yovanovich, and William Taylor.  I discovered that there are two different kinds of ambassadors.  Gordon Sondland is, or was, a political ambassador.  That means he was appointed as a political favor.  Presidents often give ambassadorships to big contributors or people who aided in their election.  Marie Yovanovich is, or was, a professional ambassador.  These are people who are trained as ambassadors and often serve in several different administrations.  William Taylor is, was, a professional ambassador who at this point was serving as a volunteer, filling in for Marie Yovanovich, having been the ambassador to the Ukraine under the Bush and Obama administrations.  As we all might know, the quality and character of each of these ambassadors was being called into question.  And it made me think, “What does qualify someone to be an ambassador?”

Let me read our passage from 2 Corinthians for today, Paul speaking to this church that is in some danger of leaving the gospel:

^[11] 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. ^[12] We are 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 is in the heart. ^[13] For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. ^[14] For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; ^[15] 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.

 ^[16] 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. ^[17] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ^[18] All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; ^[19] 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. ^[20] Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ^[21] For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (ESV)

Paul’s “therefore” in verse 16 says he is making a conclusion from what has gone before in his letter.  We may summarize that in this way:  Paul has embraced the New Covenant ministry, a ministry that empowers the weak, and so he carries in his body, he says, the death of Jesus.  He is much like Jesus who rode into Jerusalem a week before his death (Palm Sunday), knowing that in this city he would be killed, but offering the gospel nonetheless.  Paul is suffering persecution for Christ in order that others may know Jesus.  But as taught us last week, Paul knew that at death he would stand in the presence of Christ and, one day, be resurrected and have an undying body.  So he is not afraid to stand before the judgment seat of Christ to see whether what he has done in the body is good or bad.  Therefore, the Corinthians should find reasons to boast that Paul is their apostle who brought them to faith and who leads them faithfully in Christ, instead of devaluing his leadership like their worldly-leaders are doing.  The worldly Corinthian leaders are leading the Corinthians away from Paul and therefore away from the gospel that Paul faithfully represents.

Paul says he is an ambassador for Christ, one whom the Corinthians should find cause to boast about and defend to those in their church who have questioned that.  What makes Paul qualified to be an ambassador of Christ?  If we know that we will know what makes us qualified ambassadors for Christ.  Because, whether we choose to or not, we represent Jesus Christ.  Are we qualified representatives or not?  Are we ambassadors worth boasting about or not?

Let me show you the first qualification Paul mentions that makes him an ambassador to boast about:

Zeal for Christ (v. 13)

^[11] 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. ^[12] We are 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 is in the heart. ^[13] For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.

 Why would Paul say, “if we are beside ourselves”?  Because this is the charge that is being leveled against him by some leaders in the congregation at Corinth.  They have been building up their own reputation and seeking to tear down Paul’s.  When Paul doesn’t come to Corinth when he said he would, they are attacking him as being wishy-washy, unreliable, and uncaring.  When he doesn’t take pay for ministering among them, he must not think much of himself or his teaching.  He certainly isn’t very eloquent in his speech, so he must be a lightweight.  And he is kind of nuts in his zeal for preaching the gospel.  He is beside himself.  Like the Roman official Festus said who later presided over one of Paul’s trials, “Paul, you are beside yourself, much learning has made you mad” (Acts 26:24).

Paul was about one thing, and one thing only, telling others the good news.  As he says in verses 14 and 15,

…we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; ^[15] 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.

The “all” in this verse means “all who believe”.  One, Jesus, has died for all who believe with the result that, in Jesus, all have died to the penalty for sin.  In Jesus we have all paid the penalty for our sin and so we live now.  We are exempt from judgment, exempt from condemnation.  And we are so grateful that we no longer want to live for ourselves but for our Savior.  And to the world that seems crazy.  The world says, “you are beside yourself.”  But as Paul says, we are now, for the first time, actually in our right minds.  The worldly Corinthian leaders who judged Paul insane were actually expressing a qualification for a true ambassador.

I was watching one of the President’s daily briefings the other day, and he was talking about the businesses in America who were going to help produce needed masks and ventilators, and he called up to the microphone the pillow guy, the CEO of My Pillow.  Perhaps you’ve seen him in commercials.  The pillow guy came up and read a prepared speech explaining that his company’s manufacturing was going to start making face masks.  But then he turned to the President and said, well, let me show you what he said. [video]

This guy is beside himself.  You don’t bring unprepared and unplanned for remarks to a Presidential news conference, and you especially don’t use that to promote the gospel, but that’s exactly what he did.  I don’t think his remarks were the most attractive or effective way of presenting the gospel, but man, did he ever show that Christ was more important to him than anything else in the world.  That is the mark of a true ambassador of Christ.  It was the mark of Paul’s life and ministry and it should be the mark of our ambassadorship as well.

 

Conduits of Christ’s Love

For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. ^[14] For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; ^[15] 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.

Now it is clear that the Corinthians are souring on Paul and he is seeking to win them back.  But it is not because Paul is a narcissist who needs affirmation and praise.  It is because he loves the Corinthians and it is because separation from him, in this case, is leading to separation from the gospel.  The worldly leaders in Corinth are leading the people away from the truth of the gospel.  I don’t know how you would respond to the people you led to Christ and for whom you labored without pay night and day, and for whom you agonized in prayer, should they turn on you.  I would be very tempted to either ream them out or write them off.  But not Paul.  He loved them.  The love of Christ controlled him.

How controlled are you by Christ’s love for people?  I am amazed at Jesus’ love.  You remember the account of Jesus’ going to dinner with a Pharisee, who neither washed his feet nor greeted him with a kiss, as it was proper to do for a guest, especially one so honorable as Jesus.  But a woman of ill repute came into the Pharisee’s house and began to wash Jesus feet with her tears and kiss his feet.  She was beside herself with love for Jesus because he had forgiven her great sin.  Did Jesus wink at her sin?  He did not.  Did he criticize her for her sin?  He did not.  He loved and accepted her but also called for repentance.  And she got saved!  Does love mark your interaction with unbelievers?

Of course, one test that the apostle John offers for genuine believers in his first epistle is that we love our brothers and sisters.  How do you measure up?  What will people say at your funeral?  Wow, that Jane sure did come across as holier than thou?, or, that Jane sure made me feel special?  Frank really toed the line on right and wrong?, or, I never felt condemned by Frank but I wanted to be like him?  “By this,” Jesus said, “all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

 

Champions of the New Creation Gospel

[16] 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. [17] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. [18] All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; [19] 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. [20] Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. [21] For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

 This is the ultimate test or qualification of an approved ambassador.  The ambassador must rightly represent the one who sends him or her.  And this is nowhere more important than with an ambassador for Christ.  God was using Paul to make His appeal to the world to be reconciled to Him, the only true God.  What was at stake was the message that led to new creation, the passing away of the old life and the coming of the new life in Christ.  And God wants to use us as His voice of reconciliation as well.

But how are you reconciled to God?  Is it by works of righteousness that merit you heaven?  Is it by discovering secret knowledge of how the universe works that you align yourself with?  Who decides what it takes to be reconciled to God?  It can only be God.  And He says that the only way to be reconciled to Him is through Christ and what Christ did for us who believe.  Here is the crux of the gospel.  If we get this message wrong, we lead people astray.  We fail to see them reconciled to God.  The most important thing an ambassador can do is get the message of the one who sent him right.

And Paul had that message right.  The worldly Corinthian leaders did not.  And we must have that message right.  And here it is: [see illustration]

1  a lamb without blemish

  2  transfer of my guilt to that innocent lamb

3  transfer of that innocent one’s righteousness, blemish free-ness, to me

This is the only message that brings eternal life, or as Paul calls it here, new creation.  I cannot do enough to earn God’s love and forgiveness.  God has done everything necessary to reconcile me to Him.  I believe it and embrace it.  When I do I become committed to living for Jesus, beside myself with zeal for Jesus, controlled by Jesus’ love for people, and so, someone who champions this new creation gospel.  Is that the kind of ambassador you are or want to be?

When our colonies became a nation, the United States of America, it was important to have ambassadors to other countries to represent the interests of this new republic.  There was one family that produced three ambassadors in three generations.  Do you recognize these guys?

John Adams

John Quincy Adams

Charles Francis Adams, Sr.

John Adams, before serving as our second President, was our first ambassador to England. His aim was to restore the damaged relationship between the two countries and to create commercial ties by persuading Britain to open its ports to American products.  The son of John Adams, John Quincy Adams, before he became our sixth President, served as ambassador to the Netherlands and then Russia.  He helped negotiate the end to the war of 1812.  The son of John Quincy Adams, Charles Francis Adams, served as ambassador to England during our civil war.  The southern states were working to get support from England for their cause, but Adams directness, reserve and sheer logic won the admiration and support of England for the union cause.

These men were great ambassadors because they were committed to the cause of the United States, were rabid about it, you might say, expressed their zeal in an attractive and smart manner, and stayed true to the message of our constitution.  We will be great ambassadors for Christ if we are zealous for Christ, express that zeal as conduits of Christ’s love for people, and are champions of the new creation gospel.  The church will have reason to boast about us as ambassadors.