Part 2: Ambassadors for Christ

In the first part we saw the message: Christ died for our sins and was raised. Now we ask what kind of messengers God uses to carry it.

We turn to Second Corinthians chapter five. Paul is writing to the same church again, and some there had begun to look down on him. So he explains why he does what he does. And in doing so, he gives us one of the richest passages in the Bible about proclaiming the gospel. He calls himself, and those with him, “ambassadors for Christ”.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad. Therefore, since we know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is clear to God, and I hope it is clear to your conscience as well. (2 Corinthians 5:10–11, BSB)

“We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” Every person who has ever lived will one day stand before Jesus Christ as Judge. And Paul says “we”, including himself.

For those who belong to Christ, that day holds no condemnation, because Christ has borne it for them. But it is still the day when everything is brought into the light. And for those who do not belong to Him, it will be a day of judgement.

Paul knows "what it means to fear the Lord". He does not take that day lightly. And so, he says, "we try to persuade men". (2 Corinthians 5:10–11, BSB)

To persuade is more than to state the facts and walk away. It is to reason with people, to answer their objections, to plead with them, to try to bring them to see and to act. Paul persuaded people from the Scriptures: that they are in danger, and that salvation is only in Christ, who is able and willing to save the worst of sinners. And yet all our persuading does nothing unless the Holy Spirit works through it.

And Paul adds, “What we are is clear to God.” He persuades honestly, with nothing to hide. No tricks. No pressure. No pretending to be what he is not.

We are not commending ourselves to you again. Instead, we are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you can answer those who take pride in appearances rather than in the heart. If we are out of our mind, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. (2 Corinthians 5:12–13, BSB)

Some people in Corinth were impressed by outward show: polished speakers, a fine appearance. Paul did not try to compete. He was not promoting himself.

“If we are out of our mind, it is for God.” Some thought Paul was mad to care so much about the gospel. When the Roman governor Festus heard him speak, he shouted exactly that, as Acts chapter twenty-six tells us. Paul's answer is simple: whether people think him mad or sensible, he lives for God, and for the good of others.

Proclaiming the gospel will sometimes make us look foolish. That is not new, and it is not a sign that we are doing it wrong. What matters is that we do it for God, and out of love for the people we speak to.

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Corinthians 5:14–15, BSB)

Paul's deepest motivation for sharing the gospel is that “Christ's love compels us.” The love of Christ, shown at the cross, takes hold of him and drives him on.

Spurgeon preached a whole sermon just about this. He pictured a flood of water spread thinly across a field, going nowhere. Then the farmer banks it in, and makes it run in one channel. Now it gathers force. It turns a mill wheel. It becomes a river, carrying boats, until it reaches the sea. That, he said, is what the love of Christ did to Paul. It gathered all his energies into one stream, and drove them in one direction.

And look at what Paul is convinced of: “One died for all, therefore all died.” When Christ died, all those He died for died with Him. Their old life, lived for themselves, came to an end. He died “that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him”.

That is the answer to the question, “Why should I proclaim the gospel to others?” Not first because I am told to, though we are. But because Christ loved me and gave Himself for me, and now my life is His.

So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Although we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:16–17, BSB)

“We regard no one according to the flesh.” Think what this meant for Paul. Before his conversion, he judged the Messiah by the world's standards. He expected a Messiah who would come with power, splendour and obvious success. So when he looked at Jesus, he saw only a failure: a man from Nazareth who had ended on a cross. He was utterly wrong.

Then, on the road to Damascus, he saw Jesus as He really is: the Christ, the Son of God. And from that day his whole way of seeing changed. He no longer sizes people up by outward things: their background, their status, how likely they seem to believe.

That is important for us. We are quick to decide who might be interested in the gospel and who would never be. But every person we meet is someone who needs Christ. And the next verse tells us why we should not give up on anyone: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”

Becoming a Christian is much more than changing one religious label for another, or turning over a new leaf, or deciding to go to church more often. It is a new beginning, as new as the creation of the world. Paul himself makes that link, one chapter earlier.

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6, BSB)

On the first day of creation, the world was dark, and God commanded light to shine. Paul says that God does the same thing in a human heart. Where there was darkness, He makes His light shine, so that we see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Think what changes. The Jesus we once ignored, we now worship. The cross we once thought foolish, we now see as the wisest and greatest thing God ever did. And just as we did not create ourselves, this new creation is God's work. That is why no one is too far gone for God to make new.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18–19, BSB)

“All this is from God.” Paul is careful to say where salvation comes from. Man became God's enemy without any cause on God's side, and man did not come asking for peace. The first move for peace was made by the offended God. From beginning to end, it is His work.

The key word here is “reconcile”. To reconcile is to bring two parties who are at odds back into peace with each other.

Look at the world around us. Husbands and wives at odds, parents and children, neighbours, workers and employers, nations against nations: the news is full of broken relationships. But the Bible says that all of these are symptoms of a deeper breakdown: between people and the God who made them. The prophet Isaiah said it plainly.

But your iniquities have built barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear. (Isaiah 59:2, BSB)

That is the root of all our other troubles. Our sin has put us at odds with God. And it is not that both sides are a little to blame. God is in the right, and we are in the wrong.

And yet look who acts. Not the sinner, coming up with a way to make peace, but God Himself, “reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's trespasses against them”.

And notice the difference between this and the peace we make. When people make peace in our world, both sides usually have to give a little. They meet halfway, and some hard questions are quietly swept under the carpet. But a holy God could never say, “Let us forget the past and start again”, as if sin did not matter. And He did not wait for us to move first, or come halfway and wait for us to come the rest. He came the whole way, and He dealt with sin completely.

So how can a holy God not count people's sins against them? Is He simply looking the other way? No. Paul gives the answer in verse twenty-one, which we will read in a moment. Their sins are counted. But they are counted against Christ, not against the sinner.

And then: “He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” God has made peace through Christ, and He has given us the message of that peace to carry.

Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20, BSB)

An ambassador is someone sent by a king to speak for him in another country. He does not make up his own message. He does not speak for himself. He carries the words of the one who sent him, with that one's authority.

Imagine something for a moment. Suppose the leader of our country found a just and certain way to bring peace to a part of the world torn apart by war for generations. Then, the day before he was to fly out and announce it, he was injured and could not travel. So he picked up the phone, and called you, and asked you to go in his place, and say to every side: “Be reconciled.” If you were sure the plan would work, would you not count it an enormous privilege?

Now the imagining stops. Because Paul says this is what we really are: “ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us.” When a Christian explains the gospel faithfully, God Himself is making His appeal through those words. That should make us both humble and bold.

Have you ever wondered why God does not send angels to preach the gospel? An angel has never been forgiven. He has never known what it is to be a rebel brought home. But a forgiven sinner speaks to other sinners tenderly, because he remembers what he was. God sends people who have been reconciled themselves, to proclaim to others how to be reconciled.

Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’ (Ezekiel 33:11, BSB)

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18, BSB)

Now look again at the appeal in verse twenty: “We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God.” “Implore” is a strong word. It means to beg.

And this is how God Himself speaks to sinners all through the Bible. “Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die?” “Come now, let us reason together… though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow.” God does not only command. He pleads.

And Paul says that we speak “on behalf of Christ”, as if Christ Himself were pleading. So, we must not plead coldly, as if reading out a notice, but with a warm heart, the way Jesus wept over Jerusalem.

So the ambassador of the King of kings does not threaten or bargain. He pleads. And he pleads with everyone who hears him. We do not need to know whether a person will believe before we can say to them, “Be reconciled to God.” We say it to all.

So let us gather it up. We are commissioned to proclaim the gospel. We speak for Christ, not for ourselves. We carry a message we did not write. And we plead with people, warmly and urgently, to be reconciled to God.

God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21, BSB)

And here is the message the ambassador carries, in one verse. There are three steps in it. Christ was sinless. God made Him to be sin. And in Him we become the righteousness of God.

First, “Him who knew no sin”: Jesus never sinned, not once, in thought, word or deed. His enemies could not answer Him when He challenged them about it. The letter to the Hebrews says the same.

Which of you can prove Me guilty of sin? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe Me? … For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin. (John 8:46 · Hebrews 4:15, BSB)

His temptations were real. But His victory was complete.

Second, “God made Him… to be sin on our behalf.” We must be careful to say what this does not mean. God did not make Jesus commit a sin. He made Him to be sin: He counted our sin as His, and treated Him as the guilty one. On the cross, He carried the judgement our sins deserved.

Here is a picture of what that means. Imagine your phone held a full record of your whole life: every word, every deed, even every thought. And imagine all the good parts had been taken out, so that only the wrong remained. That is the record God laid on His Son. And that raises a searching question. If bearing sin cost the sinless Son of God so much, do you really want to answer for your own sin yourself?

Third, “so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” Those who are joined to Christ by faith are counted righteous before God, with a righteousness that comes from God Himself.

This has often been called the great exchange. Our sin was put on His account. His righteousness is put on ours. That is how God can be completely just, and still not count our trespasses against us.

Notice that this verse does not only say we are forgiven, as if God simply wiped the slate clean. It says we become “the righteousness of God”. God treats those who trust in Christ not only as if they had never sinned, but as if they had done everything right.

Here are some questions to think about.

Paul gives two reasons for speaking: the fear of the Lord, and the love of Christ.

Which one moves you more?

Verse sixteen says we regard no one according to the flesh. Is there someone you have quietly decided would never be interested in the gospel?

How would you explain verse twenty-one to a friend, in simple words? And what would it look like to plead with someone warmly, as an ambassador, without pressure or tricks?

In the last part of this study we will see why someone has to proclaim the gospel at all: “How can they hear without someone to preach?”