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2 Corinthians 5:17-6:2
We have great news to proclaim to a very unhappy world. We are all by nature separated from God, our Creator. It is only when we have a relationship with Him that we can know love, joy, peace and purpose. It is possible for sinners to come into a soul-refreshing relationship with an eternal God, and enjoy all the blessings the world craves but cannot get for themselves.
The Ministry of Reconciliation
The message God declares is not a message that church crafted over the centuries. It is something that has come directly from God. It is a message God wants us to hear. How are people going to hear it? We have to put our faith in Jesus Christ and what He has done for sinners. How can people hear about Jesus Christ? How is the world to know of the need, the way of reconciliation? God has given the news to His people and it is our responsibility to make it public (v19-20). This is true of all who follow the apostles. We have work to do, a task entrusted to us by God. Isn’t that amazing!
“Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.” (2 Corinthians 6:1). Only He can bring sinners to Himself, but He gives us a part in this work and the joy that comes from it. A joint enterprise with God! By His grace we are workers together with Him. We are ambassadors for Christ – only saying what God wants us to say, word for word. We simply say what God has said without fear or favour. Remarkable!
It is those who have been reconciled that God gives the message of reconciliation to. We have been where unrepentant sinners have been, and can say we wouldn’t want to be again out of fellowship with God, under His wrath. If anyone can understand the message of reconciliation it is us because we have tasted it firsthand. Also, we know the joy that could be theirs, if they would only come to Christ.
What qualification do we need to be an ambassador for Christ? Quite simply, ourselves. That we are reconciled. Once we are reconciled, we become reconcilers. How did Paul go about this work? What was his manner and motives?
Paul’s Manner.
Paul implored people. God chooses our voices, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:20). Paul implores the people. He begs them and presses upon them with all the force within him. Why was Paul so passionate? He implores them to be reconciled with God.
Paul was well aware he was working against the clock (2 Corinthians 6:1). There is a time when people will be reconciled. There is an acceptable time, a day of salvation, “In a favourable time I listened to you,
and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”
Behold, now is the favourable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
(2 Corinthians 6:2).
That is good news! The door is open. You can be forgiven. But there is an implication – when there is a day when the door will be closed. We work against the clock. Now we have the freedom to preach the gospel. God’s door is open. If we call on the name of the Lord we shall be saved. But, when Christ comes, there will be no more opportunities. There is a time coming when those who are estranged now will be cast from the presence of the Lord. Do we ever think of that? If they do not come to Christ, they will go to hell and experience the full weight of God’s wrath. We have the message that can deliver them. With that in mind, Paul pleads with the people to repent.
Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America, never did come, it seems, to real faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He had a friendship with George Whitfield, the great evangelist. He liked to go and hear Whitfield preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Someone once asked him, ‘Why do you keep going to hear him preach when you don’t believe what he says?’ His answer was, ‘I don’t believe what he says, but he does. I can see he that.’ When we speak of hell and heaven, a God we must come to for forgiveness, do we feel what we say? Are we imploring people to come to Lord Jesus?
Paul’s Motives.
“So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.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.” (2 Corinthians 5:9-11).
Paul says he is motivated, driven because we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ. Unbelievers will have to appear before the judgement seat of Christ and answer for their sins. What a devastating thing that will be. Paul says knowing what is coming to the ungodly, I must speak.
Also, Paul says, ‘We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ.’ Paul says because of that, we make it our aim to be well pleasing to Him. Paul includes himself here. We will not appear before God for our sins to be judged if we are the disciples of Jesus Christ; our sins have already been judged in Jesus Christ at Calvary. Our sins deserve to be judged and they are judged. Our sins are punished. Our sins are answered for. The glory of the gospel is that Jesus Christ answered for them instead of us. God called His Son to account for our sins instead of us. We must not live in fear our sins will be judged at the end. They have been answered for through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But we will appear before Christ to answer for our service to Him. Your salvation is not in the balance. If we are trusting in Christ we will live with Him in glory. But we have to give an account of the use we have made of the gifts He gave us, of the opportunities that were given. We will have to give an account of what we have done with the life that He redeemed from the pit. It appears in scripture that there will be rewards. It seems the responsibilities we have in the new creation will be linked to our service here. Those who have served well for Christ on this earth will be given greater responsibility in the new heavens and the new earth. Those who have served Him poorly, I even shrink to say that, thinking of the opportunities I have let go of in my life to serve Christ, it seems will have lesser responsibility.
We will all be there, but we will have to answer for our service. Paul says knowing that he will have to give account, that his service will be assessed according to the gifts he has, according to the opportunities, according to what he could have done, he knows there will be some measure of accountability – so he makes it his aim to be well-pleasing to Him.
We will have to give an account to God of what we did with the opportunities that were presented to speak of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not want this to become a great weight upon us. Ultimately, our service for Christ should be motivated by joy in what He has done for us. But we should be mindful in our living for Christ, that there is coming a day when we will have to give an account of our good works post conversion, which God prepared beforehand for us to walk in.
Paul is motivated by the love of Christ for the lost, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died.” (2 Corinthians 5:14). The love of Christ compels us. When I think of what Jesus Christ has done for me, how He suffered for me – perhaps that is what Paul is speaking of. Paul sees the love of Christ for His enemies. God, loving His enemies! Who does that? Who dies for sinners when they’re still rebelling against Him? Do I really love the lost? Am I really bothered about their eternal plight? Where is the love for sinners?
Isaiah writes,
“How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
(Isaiah 52:7).
What an odd thing. Feet refer to a custom in old times when men were off to war. The people at home couldn’t keep up with what was going on until the end of the battle. When the battle was over, someone from each side was dispatched to send news home. People would see the messenger in the distance. They would look at his feet. If the nation had lost, they would prepare for judgement as they looked at the feet trudging towards them. Before they heard what the messenger was going to say, they could know by his feet.
If the side won, the messenger would be running, and people would be shouting for joy. When someone brings good news, feet are beautiful. Whose feet are beautiful in your sight? Whose feet are beautiful because they brought you glad tidings of good things? What are you going to do for that? The good news is life in Jesus Christ.
It is a privilege to be co-workers in Christ. That is our work. May God grant us love, passion and responsibility to do it. That is what Penuel, Roch has been doing for all these years. May the Lord give you what you need to keep going.
Penuel Baptist Chapel, Roch 