Ambassadors For Christ

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

Ambassadors for Christ

Oak Ridge Baptist Church

October 27, 2019

Introduction

Today I want to challenge you with one simple idea. I want to plead with you to give your life to Christ. If you’ve never trusted Jesus Christ as your savior, I plead with you even now to give your life to Christ. If you’ve be saved for a couple of months or a couple of decades, I want to plead with you to give your life to Christ. Our message today will come from 2 Corinthians 5. While you’re turning there let me tell you a little about the Corinthians.

Now, they may not have had cell phones and cars or comfy buildings with padded chairs and central heat and air or 10 versions of the Bible to choose from, but they were pretty much just like you and me. They weren’t as spiritually mature as they should have been. They were prone to cliques, were guilty of not taking sin seriously, could be petty, were idolatrous, had trouble with irreverent worship, and they were guilty of judging the spirituality of others by how outwardly blessed they appeared to be. They had money problems and marriage problems and problems with getting people to use their gifts and talents for Christ. I’m sure they didn’t always like their jobs and probably would have enjoyed a Walmart. The church couldn’t appreciate Paul and his entourage and the way they suffered for the gospel – and like us, it was very much a church who struggled to find freedom from their culture and be different for Christ.

We have that struggle don’t we? I’m not saying we’re not basically good people who come to church and carry Bibles and try to love other people. But if there’s a major difference between the lives most of us live and the lives we’re called to live, it’s that we struggle to get both feet out of our love for this world and embrace the life to which we’ve been called. I believe that’s at the heart of this passage of Scripture.

Ask people to stand as we read 2 Corinthians 5:20. Say this: I’m an ambassador for Christ. If you’ve been in church any length of time you already knew that. You’re an ambassador for Christ. Pray with me.

So, you’re an ambassador for Christ. So what? What does that really mean? In short it means two things for you. First, an ambassador is someone who represents the interests of another. We have US ambassadors stationed in other countries. They’re not there on vacation or to pursue their own interests. They’re stationed there to represent the interests of the United States – after all their citizenship is in the US! We’ve been stationed here to represent the interests of our homeland – and our homeland isn’t the US, it’s not Texas, it’s not Grayson County – it’s heaven!

Second, an ambassador is someone who bears the message of the one who sent him. When you’re an ambassador you’re not tasked with making people like you or telling them what they want to hear or to please an audience. When we interact with those who are far from Christ, we’re supposed to bear His message, not our opinions or ideas, not our goals or our interests. You’re an ambassador for Christ and you bear His message.

So, say this with me again: I’m an ambassador for Christ!

Now let me ask you this – are you a good one? Or are you a bad one? Over the years I’ve heard church members want to get church bumper stickers, and we all know why most churches don’t do it. There are some people you just don’t want to represent the church. They aren’t good ambassadors. But I believe that everyone in this room wants to be the best representative of Christ they can be. You want to be the best ambassador for Christ you can possibly be – right? So, here’s what I believe needs to happen: wherever you are right now in your walk with Christ – give yourself to Him. Offer yourself to Him as a living sacrifice even now before you’ve heard the rest of the message. If you want to be a better ambassador for Christ than you were last week or yesterday or even before you got here, then I believe, from our text, that there are several things that need to become a reality in your life.

You need to become convinced of the terror of the Lord – verse 11a

Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others…

Some of your Bibles say the fear of the Lord, others say the terror of the Lord. Do you know that every human being is going to stand before the Lord one day? If you’re saved, you’ll stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ mentioned in verse 10. It’s for believers, and we’re going to give an account for what we did with Christ and for our motives. How many of us will stand there with little to show? Who wasted our lives on carnal, short sighted living? Paul said in 1 Corinthians that one day all of our works will be burned up to see if the life we built on the foundation of Christ was of any eternal value. I’m glad that in Christ I’m safe and secure, but it scares me to think of standing before Him with my little faith.