2 Corinthians 5:18-21

My name is Jerrod Leonard and I have the privilege of being the Youth Ministries Pastor here, and also the privilege of speaking this morning. Many of you know this. I grew up on the mission field in Brazil. My parents are missionaries down there. And in fact, I have the privilege of this next week going down there with them on January 1st, helping them get back on the mission field to what they believe God has called them to do, to share the Good News, the Gospel, with the Brazilian people.

In our student ministry, it’s our desire to partner with parents to see more students become more like Jesus. In a sense, even though I’m grown, I get to do that this week. I get to partner with my parents, helping them get back on the mission field. In fact, I’ll be preaching down there next Sunday in Portuguese. And my Portuguese is a little rusty. I’ll have to admit to you. So if you could help me out here this morning, if I were in Brazil next week, for example, saying good morning, I would say, “Bom Dia,” and you would reply by saying, “Bom Dia” back. So help me out here, knock some of the rust off. Are you ready? Here we go. Bom Dia. Bom Dia.  Man, you guys are great! Now I’m ready. I’m ready to go. I’m preaching next week. That’s all I need. That’s all I need, right there.

So open your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 this morning. That’s where our main passage is. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 18 through 21. That’s gonna be our main passage in, our title for this morning, is Ambassadors for Christ. Our big idea this morning, our main point is that Christians represent God by sharing His message of reconciliation. So if you like to take notes like I do, you can write that down. Christians represent God by sharing his message of reconciliation.

Since we’re jumping into second Corinthians right in the middle here, I thought I’d give you a little bit of context for this book. Paul is the author of the book. This is the second letter to the Corinthian church, and it’s clear throughout the book that Paul is very concerned for this church. He’s concerned for his relationship, Paul’s relationship, with the people of the Corinthian church. It’s not a good relationship. Though Paul desires to be reconciled to these people, he’s actually more concerned that they would be reconciled to God and that they would be ambassadors for Christ, to be ministers of the reconciliation that they have received. As one commentator put it, he said,

“Second Corinthians is a letter stained with Paul’s blood, sweat, and tears.”

Un-named commentator

To know this letter is to be moved by Paul’s life. What is most striking, however, is not what this letter reveals about Paul, but what it says about God. So if you’re there, second Corinthians chapter five, verse 18. I’ll ask you to stand with me out of reverence, out of respect, for God’s word as we read, if you would. If you’re able to, please stand. We do this on Wednesday nights. I ask the students to stand as we read God’s Word out of reverence for God’s Word. Here’s what God’s Word says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 18 through 21.

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (ESV)

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, (There’s no option here. If you know this ministry of reconciliation, if you’ve been reconciled, he doesn’t give us an option. You are an ambassador 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.”

This is the word of God. Let’s pray.

God, thank you for Your Word. Now let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, in Jesus’ name. Amen. You may be seated. Thank you.

As we wrapped up our Christmas sermon series here this last week, and talking about Jesus’ first coming, his incarnation, and as we’ll jump into our Revelation series here this next week, talking more about his second coming, I thought it would be good to remind us of why we’re even here. What is our purpose in between Christ’s first coming and our second coming? Why doesn’t God just snatch us up right when we accept Christ and we can live forever with Him? Well, it’s because of what this passage is calling us to do. God is calling us, those of us who know Christ, to represent Him. Christians are called to represent God by sharing His message of reconciliation.

But before we can really represent Christ well, we need to recognize God’s work. So that’s our first main point today. We are called to recognize God’s work of reconciliation. We see that in verse 18; “All this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to Himself.” We see a word repeated over and over in this passage, five times in fact, that word “reconcile” in different forms; reconciled, reconciliation. So what does that word mean? If we see a word repeated over and over in a passage, that means it’s an important word, what does that word reconcile actually mean? One commentator defined it like this.

“To be reconciled is to have a change on the part of one party induced by an action on the part of another.” Un-named commentator

Now, it’s It’s kind of a mouthful, and if you’re a simple guy like me, you like simple definitions. So put simply in this passage today, this word “reconciled” means to be made right with God. It means that there was some sort of relationship there before, and then it was broken, and now you must be reconciled. All of us have probably been reconciled or experienced this before.

This happened just a few weeks ago with my wife and I. I love my wife. We have a great relationship. Marrying her was one of the best decisions of my life! —second to coming to know Christ as my personal Savior, of course. And this last week, we were at a family Christmas. We had a disagreement on something… on something. I’m sure none of you can relate. This never happens to anyone else except for us. And we had a disagreement and we kind of moved on with our day, and at the end of the night, we both recognized that we had that disagreement we needed to make things right. So she came to me first as often she does because I’m dumb and don’t remember things. And she said, “Hey, earlier when we disagreed I was wrong. Will you please forgive me?” I said, “Of course.” And I was reminded that I was also wrong, and I sought her forgiveness. And so we had this relationship, but it was broken because of this disagreement that we had and then we were reconciled.

See, being reconciled in this passage today means being made right with God. So why do we need to be made right with God? Well, it’s because at one point, back in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were good with God. When God created them, they were perfect. They had a perfect relationship with God. And yet we, through Adam, sinned. And so that relationship was broken. We broke that relationship. Now we are all born sinners. We are all enemies of God. So in order for us to be reconciled with God, we need to agree with God on that. We need to agree that we are sinners and we need to be reconciled to God. There’s no amount of good deeds, no amount of attending church, or being baptized, or partaking in communion, or anything like that that will wipe away the debt that we owe. You might be saying, ‘Okay, okay, I get it! I get it. There’s nothing that I can do to be reconciled to God. But clearly in this passage, it’s calling me to be reconciled to God. So how can I be reconciled?’ Another way to put it is, ‘How can I be made right with God?’ Well, I’m glad you asked. Thank you for asking. The answer to that question is actually found in verse 21. Look down with me at verse 21. “For our sake, he made him, (meaning Jesus) who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Many of us just celebrated Christmas here at Saylorville. The reason we celebrate Christmas is because we celebrate Jesus coming to this earth. And the ultimate reason he came to this earth is to die for us. It’s found right here in this verse. It’s the Great Exchange; Jesus takes on all of our sin and then he gives us his righteousness. Since we are sinners and God is holy, we can never attain salvation on our own. We can never be reconciled to God because he is holy. There’s a debt that we owe that we cannot pay. That’s the bad news. But the Good News is that Jesus came. He died on the cross for your sins and for my sins and HE paid that debt! Praise God!

So how did Jesus pay that debt? Well, if you keep a finger here in 2 Corinthians 5 and turn with me to Matthew chapter 27. It’ll also be on the screens behind me. I want us to be reminded of what Jesus endured so that this reconciliation would be possible for us. Matthew chapter 27, beginning in verse 20. This is what the Word of God says.

Matthew 27:20-31

20 Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.

21 The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.”

22 Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, (Let’s say it all together) “Crucify him!”

23 And he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, (Say it with me) “Crucify Him!”

24 So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.”

25 And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”

26 Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.

27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him.

28 And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,

29 and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

30 And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head.

31 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.”

This isn’t exactly the picture of Jesus that we see during the Christmas season normally. Jesus, meek and mild, coming as a baby. But ultimately the reason he was born was for this right here. He was born so that he could reconcile you and me to himself. Every time that you sin, every time I sin is another reason that he had to die on the cross that day. In essence, you’re saying, “Crucify him!” — every time you sin. That is what Jesus endured so that we can be reconciled to God.

Back to our passage in 2 Corinthians 5, at the beginning of verse 18, it says this. It says,

2 Corinthians 5:18, “All this is from God…”

What is “this” referring to? Well, it’s referring to the previous verse, verse 17, which says,

2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come.”

You see, God is the one doing the reconciling. This is what happens when someone comes to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. They are reconciled to God. They become a new creation.

Just a few weeks ago at the Mission’s Conference there was a young man named Laden. And he had heard the Good News of the Gospel before, but he had never made it personal. He never accepted Christ as his own personal Savior. He went to my parents, my dad was sharing a little bit about his ministry. And so he went to that breakout session heard about his ministry and Laden felt like maybe he should be a missionary after that time. And so he went up to my parents and informed them, “Hey, I think I’d like to be a missionary someday. I’d like to be an ambassador for Christ.” And my mom very wisely looked him in the eyes and said, “Well, have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?” “Well…” he said, “well, no.” Well, my mom very wisely said, “Well, before you can be a missionary for Christ, you need to have a relationship with Christ.” — So that day, Laden did just that. He believed in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection for his salvation. That day, Laden was reconciled. That day, he went from death to life. That day, he became a new creation. And that’s the work of reconciliation that God does and only God can do.

Now once we’ve been reconciled to God, we have a job to do. We become ambassadors. Not when you’re a missionary, not when you’re a pastor, not when you become a deacon or anything like that. God says as soon as you accept Him as your personal Savior, you are now an ambassador. So if you weren’t aware of that, congratulations you are now. You are an ambassador for Christ. The only question is, are you a good one? — or a bad one? Look back with me at verse 20.

2 Corinthians 5:20, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

That verse begins with, “Therefore, since we have been reconciled to God, we are now ambassadors for Christ.” So our first point this morning was to recognize God’s work of reconciliation. Our second point is to respond by representing God. We’re called to be ambassadors for Christ. So what is an ambassador? I looked up a definition of an ambassador. An ambassador is a diplomat sent by a country as it’s official representative to that foreign country.

Back in the Roman Empire days, there were some provinces that liked Rome and some provinces that did not like Rome. So Rome would send ambassadors to keep the peace in those different provinces. Those ambassadors represented Caesar. And when rebels rejected the ambassador, It was like they were rejecting Caesar himself.

This past summer I had the privilege of going to Uganda with some students from our student ministry. And actually, it was two summers ago. But we had the opportunity to partner with one of our supported missionaries at the Eagles Wings Children’s Village. And when we went there, we were kind of like ambassadors from Saylorville Church to Eagles Wings. Much of what we said, how we said it, how we interacted with the students at that village and in the school and with the teachers, is probably how many of them view Saylorville Church and even view Americans. In a similar way, God has called believers. Those of us who know Christ as our personal Savior to be His ambassadors. If you are a believer, you are an ambassador for the Creator of the universe! What a privilege! God has placed you here on this earth, temporarily to represent him. As Pastor Pat has said,

“We are heavenly citizens holding earthly visas.” Pat Nemmers

When we understand this message of reconciliation that we have been entrusted with, we should not be embarrassed by it. We should want to share it with anyone and everyone.

Recently, my sister, Jeanne, and her husband, Andrew, had a little baby boy. His name’s Boaz. I know he’s so precious! You can actually pray for him. He’s had a couple of hospital stays. He’s had a rough go, but he’s doing all right. And I love showing pictures of Bo! I’m a proud uncle! — But my mom… man! — she’s on another level! She loves to show off her, not only Bo, but all of her grandkids! And if you’re a grandma, you understand that, right? You just love your grandkids! — And it is when you have a new one, it’s so precious! She just loves sharing this news with people!

As an ambassador for Christ, we have something much more precious than a new grandchild! We have the precious news that God, himself, became a baby, Jesus, the God Man! He came to this earth, he lived a perfect life, and then he died a sacrificial death that you and I deserve so that we can be reconciled to God. If you’re a believer, if you’ve been reconciled to God, when was the last time that you shared that Good News with someone else?

I’ve been so impacted by this passage of scripture, and there’s really no way to unpack everything that I have learned. There’s so many Gospel truths that I’d love to share, and I really had a hard time kind of condensing all of my thoughts down to just a few simple points. Then as I was studying, I came across some notes that I had taken years ago from my friend, Pastor Jason, as he preached on this very passage. So here’s four gospel truths and their real life implications from this passage, and I hope they’re an encouragement and a challenge to you as they have been to me.

Number one: The gospel starts with God, so I can’t take the credit. We see that in verse 18. It says,

2 Corinthians 5:18, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;”

The Gospel is God’s idea. It’s God’s idea to make us into new creations. Isaiah 53:6 says,

Isaiah 53:6, “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.“

If you’ve ever volunteered for VBS, you’re probably singing “baba-baba-du-baba,” right? The Gospel is God’s idea, so I can’t take the credit. We can’t take the blame or the credit. It’s our job to share. It’s God’s job to save. When you share the Gospel, you’re doing what God has asked you to do, and really the rest is up to God.

Number two: The gospel comes through Christ, so I can’t lose my salvation. Verse 18 again says,

2 Corinthians 5:18, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;”

See, the only one, the only way that we can be reconciled is because of Jesus Christ. Our salvation doesn’t depend on us or what we can do. It depends on Christ and what He has done. John 10:27 says, and 28 says this:

John 10:27-28

27 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

That’s Jesus speaking. And according to God’s Word, if we are one of His sheep, If we belong to Jesus, we have been given eternal life, and we can’t be snatched out of his hand. So Christian, as you rest your head on your pillow tonight, trust in that. The Gospel comes through Christ, so I can’t lose my salvation.

Number three: the Gospel exists for the world, so I can’t ignore it. Verse 20 says,

2 Corinthians 5:20, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

You can almost hear Paul’s tears coming through as he’s speaking to the Corinthian Church and writing this letter! “We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” And that’s what some of you need to do this morning. This Gospel message is meant for the world and some of you have not yet accepted Christ as is your personal Savior. Be reconciled to God today, John 3:16, a very familiar verse to many of us, says that this Gospel is meant for everyone.

[John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”]

Listen, I love you, but there’s no way that I would allow one of my daughters to die for you! — And yet that’s exactly what God did! He sent Jesus, his only Son, to come and die for you. He died the death that we deserve. We deserve to be eternally separated from God, and yet Christ died for us so that we can live forever with Him. Romans 5:8 says,

Romans 5:8, “… but God (but God…) shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

The Gospel message exists for the world, so I can’t ignore it.

Number four: The Gospel goes from us, so I can’t keep it to myself. God gave us this ministry of reconciliation. You see it over and over. He’s calling us, God through Paul, is calling us to be ambassadors for Christ. Notice these verses don’t give us an option to come to know Christ and then keep our mouths shut. He says, ‘If you have been reconciled to God, congratulations! You are an ambassador for God! — His mouthpiece to those around you.’ So, are you representing Him well?

For the first two years of my bible college experience, I’m embarrassed to admit that I was trying to run from God. I was training to be in ministry, to be a professional ambassador, you might say. But I was representing him very poorly. I resisted the authorities that God had placed in my life. I didn’t care about the lost around me. I didn’t care about the classes. The bible just became another academic book to me. I was a very poor ambassador for God… But God! But God allowed some circumstances into my life to wake me up and to show me the foolishness that I had been engaging in. By God’s grace, since then, I have sought to be a better ambassador for Christ, not because I’m called to be a pastor, not because my parents are missionaries, but because I have been entrusted with a ministry of reconciliation just like you have if you know Christ as your personal Savior.

So as I wrap up our time together this morning, I want to speak to two groups of people that are here. And I really want you to ask yourself, which group of people am I in? The first group of people are those who have never truly recognized that God wants to reconcile you. You have never been humble enough to admit I am a sinner in need of a Savior. You have never recognized God’s work through Christ on the cross. I want to implore you on behalf of Christ as Paul did, be reconciled to God today. The second group of people are those of us who have been reconciled to God. You are an ambassador for Christ! Are you a good one? If you’ve not been representing Christ well, this would be a good time to recommit your to that January 1st, make a commitment to be a better ambassador for God in 2025. Remember, Christians represent God by sharing his message of reconciliation.

Let’s pray.

God, thank you for your word. Thank you for this message of reconciliation that you have entrusted to me. Thank you for loving me enough to save me, even though I don’t deserve it. God I pray if there is anyone in here or watching online that has not yet accepted you as their personal Savior, they’ve not trusted in Jesus Christ for their reconciliation, I pray, God, that today would be the day of their salvation. God, I pray for the believers in here who do know you as their personal Savior. I pray that during this year, during 2025, we would be recommitted to being ambassadors for Christ, to sharing this Great News that we have been entrusted with to those around us. I pray all these things in your Son’s name, Jesus Christ. Amen.