On Mission with a Message
“On Mission with a Message”
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Intro –
Last week I introduced a three week series on carrying out the functions of a church biblically. And if you recall, we narrowed it down to Worship, Discipleship, and Evangelism. These are the three things that we deem essential to implement in the life of the church because they are driven and emphasized by Scripture. We need to ensure that we are all individually and corporately active in worship of the living God, investing in one another in discipleship, and proclaiming to all the good news of Jesus Christ. I emphasized last week that a call to discipleship is a call to forsake all for the cause of our Lord and Savior. We have denied ourselves. We have crucified ourselves. We are carrying a cross, putting our hand to the plow without looking back. We are looking to Christ even at the cost of family and friends. We are holding with open hands the things of this world. We consider all to be loss for the sake of Him.
We now turn our attention to the issue of evangelism. Evangelism comes from the Greek word, “eujaggevlion”, which means “Gospel” or “good news”. “Eujaggelivzw” is to proclaim good news. So, the word, “evangelism” asserts that we are expected to proclaim good news. And that means we need to know “what” it is that we are to proclaim and “how” we are to go about it. A biblical text that I believe deals with both of those issues is found in 2 Corinthians. I would ask that you turn to 2 Corinthians 5:17-21.
This sermon I have entitled “On Mission with a Message” because I believe it gives us a solid foundation for the message that we are to proclaim and the commissioning to do so.
And just to set up the context, we need to know what this book is about as a whole. This book is generally listed as one of Paul’s General Epistles. But as Rick Holland recently asserted, he thinks that this should be re-categorized as a Pastoral Epistle. I believe he has a point. This appears to be a very personal and powerful letter that defends Paul’s ministry. He is apparently under attack from those he identifies as “super-apostles”. Paul goes through great lengths to reaffirm the Corinthians that he has done all for their sake and with a clear conscience. He has no agenda other than to further the proclamation of Jesus Christ. He recounts his struggles and hardships in his defense. He emphasizes the spiritual nature of his ministry. And in our text he reiterates that he is an ambassador for Christ. It is truly a fascinating book and worth study as a whole. But for now we are going to look at chapter 5. Let’s begin reading with verse 11.
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.
Now the transition to our passage really stems from vv. 14-15. You will notice a “therefore” which begs the question, “What is it there for?” You will also notice a “therefore” in v. 16. I believe that both of those look back to verses 14 and 15. So our text is a second result of those verses. And basically those verses communicate that Christ loves us and died for us. “Us” does not refer to universalism. But rather it looks to “those” who live not for themselves but for Christ.
My first point this morning is that there is a Message Explained. Please look with me at verse 18. Paul says God was reconciling the world to himself through Christ – meaning his death and resurrection. Now the very fact that Paul alludes to reconciliation between God and man indicates that there is a problem that needs reconciling. We only need to take a cursory look at Scripture to assess the situation. We recall the Garden of Eden when God gave Adam and Eve the choice between obedience and disobedience. And we all know that it didn’t turn out so good. Adam and Eve chose to rebel and they stand as the representatives for all of humanity. Because of their sin, all of mankind is birthed in sin. The Psalmist declares in chapter 51, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
And in Romans 5:12, Paul says, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” Romans 3 tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Ephesians 2 tells us that we are by nature children of wrath. That, to me, sounds like a VERY BIG PROBLEM.
So, there’s the bad news. And we need to know the bad news because the good news, the Gospel, does not make any sense if you don’t know the bad. In order for someone to give you great news about a cure for your illness, you need to know what the illness is. Imagine your doctor sits you down in his office and says, “Great news. You’re going to love this! We have found the cure for your illness!” And presuming you had no idea of any illness at all, would this make any sense whatsoever? Of course not! But there are many out there who are trying to convert the lost by telling them that if they will accept Christ, they can enjoy happiness, success, fame, and fortune - without a call of total commitment. In fact there are many people who are quite happy living lives of pleasure and wealth. People need to know that apart from Christ, they have a problem. And it is a sin problem. Remember Paul’s words in Romans 7? He said that if it had not been for the law, he would not have known what sin was.
You see it all through the Old Testament. After sin was introduced in the Garden, God introduced the law to begin to communicate holiness and what His standard was for mankind. We all know and would acknowledge that no one can uphold all the laws in the Old Testament. Therefore God held up that standard and then instituted that Israel had to offer up sacrifices continually for the sins of the people. As you know, these were incomplete and insufficient sacrifices that pointed toward the ultimate Sacrifice – Jesus Christ.
So mankind stands alienated from God and in need of reconciliation. One commentator notes that, “reconciliation denotes a transformation of relations, not in the sense that original friendly relations are restored… but in the sense that friendly relations now replace former hostility. Reconciliation restores humans to a proper relationship with God (the vertical aspect) and with fellow human beings (the horizontal aspect), just as sin produces in humans a twofold alienation, from God and from other human beings.”
There is something here that is quite intriguing and overwhelming at the same time. If what the Bible says is true, and we are children of wrath, deserving of nothing but death because of our sin, does it not baffle you that GOD is the initiator and the source of reconciliation with us? It wasn’t us who realized we had a problem and are pleading with God to do something. God takes the initiative! And do you know when he did it? At the cross? At the incarnation? At the time of the prophets when they foretold the coming Messiah? How about from eternity past? Remember Ephesians 1 where Paul tells us that those who trust in Christ were chosen before the foundation of the world? God knew that when He gave us a choice, that we would rebel against Him and be in need of a Savior. He initiated the remedy before the problem manifested itself. Before the foundation of the world He was planning how He might reconcile us to himself.
The text says in verses 18 and 19 that God reconciled us to himself in Christ (meaning death on the cross) by having the penalty of our sin paid for. It wasn’t that he could merely close his eyes and not see our sin anymore. It demanded a price. A TREMENDOUS price! It cost the life of his one and only Son.
Look at verse 21 with me. In this text, I believe we find the heart and essence of the message that we proclaim – the good news, the Gospel. “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 focal point of the entire Scriptures. In fact Jerry Bridges says, “It would not be an understatement to view this verse, properly understood, as the single key verse of the entire Bible.” Let’s now look at a second theological term: Imputation. Jesus Christ, the sinless one became sin for us. The Holy Son of God left his abode, sitting on a throne next to the Father in heaven, sustaining and ruling all of creation, to enter into humanity. You remember human beings, right? They were the ones who were created perfect - created to enjoy an eternal, joy-filled, unhindered relationship to the Almighty God. They were the ones who chose to turn their backs on this very God so that they could attempt to be their own gods. They decided that what God offered them was insufficient or incomplete. They brought nothing to the table, nothing to offer. And yet they felt as though they had some right to live as they desired. Baffling, isn’t it? All throughout history, they continued to shun God and spit in his face, walking in sin even though God DESPISES sin.
That’s where Jesus went. He went to become one of them – even a tiny baby in the remotest of places – a stable in Bethlehem. Not only did he come to become one of this traitorous race, he came to live among them, to experience the suffering, the hunger, the thirst, the temptations. Not only that. He came to DIE for THEM! What?? Paul says in Philippians 2 that Jesus, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a “doulos”, a slave, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
The Scriptures are clear that he was the sinless sacrifice. The Apostle Peter tells us he committed no sin. John, likewise, wrote that there was no sin in Him. Besides these statements being the inspired words of God, these were the guys that were closest to Jesus his entire ministry. He knew no sin. That means that there was no active participation on his part.
The text literally reads, “For us”. uJper hJmw`n. And it essentially means two things, encapsulated in this one phrase. It means that Jesus died “in our place” and “for our benefit”. He bore the wrath that we deserved. We were the ones to be judged for our sin. He took our place and the punishment. And this is certainly for our benefit. And the benefit is two-fold. By his mercy, we did not receive the punishment. And by his grace, we acquire his righteousness. God can view us as righteous because we have inherited the righteousness of Christ.
Listen to the words of the prophet Isaiah who wrote nearly 700 years before the event. Tell me if you think this sounds familiar. He writes in chapter 53:
1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Now I also want to be clear in saying is just because this event in history happened, doesn’t reconcile all people. There needs to be an appropriation of the good news. It needs to be a message embraced. And that is my second point, a Message Embraced.
Jesus’ righteousness is imparted to those who trust in him for salvation. It is not merely an intellectual assent. Also, faith in Christ is not adding one belief to a host of other religions. It is a faith the casts all one’s eggs in one basket. Paul writes in Romans 5 that, “since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And in chapter 10, “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” And Ephesians 2:8-9 reads, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Reconciliation is appropriated by faith. It needs to be the righteousness of Christ and not our own righteousness. We cannot do enough to be righteous in God’s eyes, we must believe in Christ to obtain his righteousness.
Perhaps you have been living as though your good actions were going to outweigh your bad actions. Well, I’ve got good and bad news for you. The bad news is that you were born in sin and that already renders you guilty before a holy God. And you are also unable to meet God’s standards of goodness. He doesn’t weigh your actions on your scale. He compares them to his holiness. Romans chapter 3 says that we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 6 says that the wages (or payment) of that sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So, the good news is that God himself paid the debt for that sin and all you need to do to acquire Christ’s righteousness is to appropriate it by faith.
Now that doesn’t make it cheap because a tremendous price was paid in that it cost Jesus his life. And it does, and will cost you to embrace Him. The cost we talked about last week is a faith that forsakes all else (everyone and everything else) to follow him. This involves repentance. Repentance is a turning of living for self to living for Christ. For who “believes” this message without it changing them? You cannot embrace this message without it affecting you to the core.
And we know that Paul embraced this message. It impacted him so much that his life was changed dramatically. He went from being a persecutor of Christians to it's leading proponent. You recall that he encountered Christ on the road to Damascus. And the rest, literally, is history. That is how it should be for all of us. When you recognize that apart from Christ, you stand condemned because of your sin, but God enters the picture and grants you payment of that sin, reconciliation and eternal life in heaven, how can that not dramatically change your life?? And, in fact, that is my final point. There is a Message Exemplified.
The message is exemplified in two ways. Verse 20 tells us that we are ambassadors for Christ. And in verse 19 it says that we are given a message of reconciliation. First, we are ambassadors. Harris notes in his commentary that “to be an ambassador in the ancient world…, as in modern times, involved three things: (1) a commissioning for a special assignment; (2) representing the sender; and (3) exercising the authority of the sender.” Paul viewed himself and believers as commissioned to proclaim this message of reconciliation – that sinful man can be reconciled to a holy God. That is our special assignment. We communicate on behalf of Christ. In Matthew 28 we recall Jesus commands us to go and make disciples, and to baptize and teach them. In Acts 1:8 Jesus says that “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” We are witnesses, ambassadors. We represent Christ to the world. We have a message to impart to those separated from God. The New American Commentary puts it like this: “God continues to act through those who have been reconciled. They have the privilege and responsibility to share in this great divine enterprise and are to call others to be reconciled to God.”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, there is a message to proclaim! And sadly, there is a growing tendency in some churches to shy away from preaching anything. Some avoid topics such as sin, wrath, judgment, or even substitutionary atonement – that Jesus died in our place for sin. And that confuses me. Many suggest that such harsh topics alienate people and thus cannot continue a “conversation.” I often try to put myself in the position of someone who does not know Jesus and I would conclude that the best way that someone could show the love of Christ and themselves for me is to tell me that my sin separates me from God. And because of his great mercy and love for me and the glory of the Father, He died for me so that I could have an eternal relationship with him. I would know that that person cared for my soul! I’m not trying to attack any sort of friendship evangelism here. What I am saying is that at some point we need to say something. We need to declare the Message. That is why we are here. We are ambassadors for the one who saved us.
The second way that we exemplify the message is through a changed life. Look at verse 17 with me. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." Now we remember that the "therefore" looks back to vv. 14-15 and says that those who no longer live for themselves but Jesus Christ, are those that are "in Christ". Paul uses the "in Christ" terminology repeatedly to refer to those who have placed faith in Him. It means to be united in faith with the risen Christ and to be secure in Him.
He says that the old has passed. That is an aorist tense verb denoted a completed action. The word means "to become invalid" or "to lose force". There has been a lens change. You no longer see the world the same way. You don't view people the same. You live selflessly. Behold! New things have come. Things change in an instant.
One commentator adds, "when a person becomes a Christian, he or she experiences a total restructuring of life that alters its whole fabric - thinking, feeling, willing, and acting. Anyone who is "in Christ" is "under new management" and has "altered priorities ahead".
He or she is a new creation. With the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, newness abounds throughout the New Testament. Romans 6 refers to the newness of life we experience. Romans 7 says that we serve in the new way of the Spirit. Mark writes in his Gospel of new wine and new wineskins. There is a new covenant, new humanity, new self, new song of redemption, new name for believers, new commandment of love, a new heaven and new earth, a new Jerusalem. In Christ we are a new creation. He makes all things new!! The old has passed. Behold! The new has come!
And verse 18 tells us that all this is from God! All things are from Him - from the creation of an entire universe to a new creation of the converted soul. After all, we were helpless to save ourselves. You remember Ephesians 2, don’t you? Paul writes, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God…” God intervened, and because of his grace and love and mercy, He made us alive with Christ.
I must interject that this does not mean that we will no longer sin. The first letter from John makes that clear. And other passages reveal a progressive sanctification. What it does mean that you’re awareness of sin is all the more evident. Your life will be marked by a growth in holiness. You will no longer be characterized and driven by your sin. As you trust more fully in Christ from day to day, your relationship to Him will grow, your disdain for sin will grow, your obedience to him will increase, you will be filled with the Spirit, and you will enjoy him more each and every day into eternity.
If this change has happened to you, there should be a sense that you cannot keep this good news to yourself. If you truly believe that the Son of God died in your place to receive the just penalty for your sin so that you can be reconciled to God for eternity, you should be bursting at the seams!! And that is exactly what happened to the Apostle Paul. Why else would he give up his privileged position to endure beatings, ridicule, imprisonments, and shipwrecks? He saw Jesus Christ, saw his need of a Savior, committed his life to him, and committed his life to proclaim him.
If you don’t consider this to be an accurate assessment of your life, I would like to challenge you this morning to search your heart and see whether you have truly given your life to Christ. Please come see me or somebody sitting with you this morning. This is something you want to confirm. From the words of the Apostle Paul, “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
It is because of this text and many others that we believe that evangelism is crucial in the life of Squamish Baptist Church. We do not assemble merely to huddle together. Rather we come to worship, to minister, and to scatter to bring more people to Jesus Christ our Savior. Let’s Pray.
Benediction
Ambassadors, those that are in Christ, you have been given a special assignment. You are to go out in number from this place and infiltrate a lost and dying world. You possess a message that speaks of the deliverance from eternal destruction and the possibility of an eternal relationship with God the Father.
You go out representing the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He has been given all authority from eternity past. And He has commissioned you.
Hear His prayer to the Father:
I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.