Lessons from Paul: Ambassadors for Christ
For an exhilarating week I had the privilege of barnstorming through Honduras with an indigenous pastor friend named Louis, teaching at churches and at a seminary in Louis’ hometown of Siguatepeque.
Honduras is a beautiful country, with mountainous at the center. During one long drive, we stopped at a scenic overlook in the nation’s capital of Tegucigalpa, a city of around a million people. From that overlook, we could peer out for miles down into the valley, right into the heart of the city.
However, just behind us on a hill were several large buildings, seemingly complete, but eerily unoccupied and off-kilter just a bit. When I asked Louis about them, he said they were unfit for occupation, as they were built upon an inadequate foundation.
Had those buildings been erected upon a good foundation, they could have been useful, occupied, with an incredible view people would have enjoyed.
Foundations are important, not only in the physical realm, but also in the spiritual realm.
One of the most foundational passages in Paul’s epistles expounds the gospel message and our gospel responsibility. Herein, we can only briefly touch on its magnificence. If we can grow in our understanding and application of this short but profound section of 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, our witness will undoubtedly also grow.
Note the following teaching points:
God has done something for us—He’s reconciled us to Himself. (v.17-18)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18).
When we trusted in Jesus for salvation, He made each of us a new creation in Messiah. He brought us into His family. We, who once were citizens in the kingdom of darkness, are now citizens in the kingdom of light, the kingdom of God.
What does it mean to be a new creation? In part, it means we’ve been born again.
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13).
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:3-4).
Being a new creation also means we’ve been reconciled to God. This word reconciled, or reconciliation, is found five times in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21. The Greek word for reconciliation means “change” or “exchange” and involves a change in the relationship between God and man. Reconciliation assumes there has been a breakdown in the relationship, but now there has been a change from a state of enmity and fragmentation to one of harmony and fellowship.
In Romans 5:6-11, Paul said that before reconciliation we were powerless, ungodly, sinners, and enemies. We were under God’s wrath, but when we’re reconciled to God, we’re made new.
“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation” (Romans 5:6-11).
Because we are now new creations, reconciled to God, our spiritual goals and ambitions should also be new, for when we become His children, He gives us marching orders, the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20), which includes a ministry to steward and dispense.
God has given something to us – The ministry of reconciliation. (v. 18-19).
“…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” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19).
The Greek word in this verse for ministry (also “word” or “message” in other translations) refers to the concept of service, like waiting on tables. God has called us to serve others, and we need to remember that we’re servants, doing the bidding of our master in everything we do.
Just as Jesus said of Himself that He came not to be served, but to serve and give His life (Mark 10:45), so we are also called out as His followers to serve others and give. Evangelism is one avenue of service.
What has the Lord committed to us in verse 19? The “word of reconciliation,” the gospel message itself! Jesus came. He died for our sins. He rose again the third day. He desires that people be reconciled to Him through faith, that they might be forgiven of sin, receiving abundant and eternal life. So we’ve been entrusted by God with the gospel, the “word of reconciliation.”
“But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts” (1 Thessalonians 2:4).
A beautiful aspect of our Great Commission responsibility to make disciples includes the fact that the Lord is not only with us, He’s also dwelling within us through the person of the Holy Spirit. But there’s more. He’s also working in and through us to reconcile men and women to Himself!
God is doing something through us, begging others to be reconciled to Him. (v. 20-21).
“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were 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” (2 Corinthians 5:20-21).
What does it mean to be an ambassador for Christ? In the time of Christ it described a man who served as a representative of a king from one country to another. In this passage, Paul described this role for all believers as representatives of the King of heaven, Jesus.
As we represent the Lord and share the gospel, the Holy Spirit works in and through our witness! And when a person responds and comes to faith, we praise God that He is the one who does the work of salvation,
“And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8).
In 2 Corinthians 5:21, Paul concluded this section by summarizing the heart of the gospel and ministry of reconciliation:
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
As ambassadors for Christ entrusted with the word of reconciliation, this verse is our message. He wants to bring people, who are enslaved to sin, out of bondage and into freedom—reconciled to the reconciler.
As His ambassadors, may we love, serve, pray for, and proclaim the gospel to people, and may these action points serve as the foundation of our witness, a witness that will bless people and glorify the Lord.