At the start of the Ukraine war
there was a lot of talk about the Russian Embassy in Dublin. You see, it had a staff of thirty-two. The significance of that is that this was
bigger than the staff in the Russian Embassy in London, even though Ireland has
a small Russian population and Britain has a huge one. So, why was there so many people working at
the Russian Embassy? There were so many
people in the Russian Embassy because it is a centre of the training and use of
Russian spies. Ireland is seen as a soft
country, which is in the European Union and with the European headquarters of
many multinationals. An ideal place to
train and operate political and industrial spies! (Apparently the American Embassy and British
Embassy also use their Dublin base for spy use and training.)
So, the Russian Embassy isn’t here
to simply serve the people of its country and represent its country to the
people of Ireland. There was lots of
talk of expelling the ambassador and some of his staff.
As ambassadors of Christ, we
serve a very different role. Our job is
to represent Jesus to the world, and we want to bless people by offering them
peace with God. In fact, in our modern
political language I wonder if peace envoy is a better description of our role
than ambassador. As we look at our role
of ambassadors we are going to think about our motivation and our message.
Motivation
In his little commentary of 2
Corinthians, Jonathan Lamb speaks of an interview he conducted with a young man
who was applying to be a missionary with IFES.
The young man was asked, ‘why do you want to serve with IFES in Europe?’ The guy responded that he was hoping for a job
that would give him financial security and enable him to see Europe. He was motivated simply by self-interest and
so he was not given the job.
The apostle Paul outlines the
motives for an ambassador of Christ.
a. Fear. Not
the servile fear of being afraid, because the apostle John such that love
drives out all such fear of God. But the
reverence and awe of God that makes us want to live for his pleasure. The motto verse for an ambassador of Christ
might be verse 9—aim to please the Lord.
Then in verse 10 we read of judgement and reward—even though we deserve
nothing from our heavenly Father, he delights to reward his children for the
things that he has enabled us to do, and he does not want us to miss out on
eternal reward. The mention of judgement
in verse ten also reminds us that those who refuse to trust in Jesus will face
God’s judgement for their guilt and surely if the love of Jesus is in us we
will want to see them rescued from this judgement.
b. Example. Paul talks about the fact that he is seeking
to set an example for other believers: ‘we are giving you the opportunity to
take pride in us’ (12b). Paul speaks of
the power of example in his letter to the Philippians—Now I want you to know,
brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to
advance the gospel. As a result, it has
become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am
in chains for Christ. And because of my
chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and
dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear (Philippians 1:12-14). Don’t we know that dynamic! We hear about persecuted Christians in other
countries and we feel challenged (after all we have the same calling as them),
and we hear of their courage and faithfulness and we are strengthened. In our verses here, we hear that Paul’s
opponents boasted about their experiences and abilities, but Paul places his emphasise
on heart motivation. Heart motivation
can drive us even when people think that we are ‘out of our mind’ (13). That heart motivation must be love for God
and love for people.
c. Love. ‘Christ’s love compels us’ (14). Philips translates this verse, ‘the very spring
of our actions is the love of Christ.’
The New English Bible translates this, ‘The love of God leaves us with
no choice’. We have experienced the love
of Jesus, we want to serve him in love.
We want to reach out in love to people.
Love causes us to seek to ‘persuade others’ (11) as ‘God makes his
appeal through us’ (20).
d. Conviction. One of the things that we need to do is see
the world as God sees it. Paul says that
‘we regard no-one from a worldly point of view though we once regarded Christ
like that’ (16). Paul once viewed Jesus
as an insignificant Galilean who had died a shameful death on a Roman
cross. Now the risen Jesus rules his
life! We have to see people as Christ
sees them. Their status and
accomplishments mean nothing. These
things matter nothing in light of eternity.
C. S. Lewis points out that there are no mortal people. Our greatest concern for people is that they
receive the life of Christ and are living in the light of eternity.
Message
The story is told of a British
Foreign Secretary who created some trouble in Peru. He was known for having drinking too
much. At one function he approached
someone in a long flowing purple outfit and tried to waltz with them. The person replied accusing him of being drunk. ‘Why do you say I am drunk?’ ‘Because this is not a waltz, this is the
Peruvian national anthem, and I am the archbishop of Lima!’
Diplomatic incidents can happen
when ambassadors behave badly, and they can also happen when the ambassador is
unclear of their message. We need to be
clear about what we are communicating to the world. The Bible Speaks Today commentary on this passage
explains that ‘this passage is the most comprehensive statement about the death
of Christ made by the apostle Paul.’
Paul had told the Corinthians
that his message could be summed up as ‘we preach Christ crucified’. Now in verses fourteen and fifteen he speaks
of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
What was the point of this death and resurrection? What did the cross achieve? Verse seventeen explains that it brought
reconciliation and new creation. It
brings ‘life’ (14) and enable people to no longer live for themselves (15). We are now called to a ministry of reconciliation—offering
people peace with God (18). We speak of
a God who no longer counts our sins against us, if we are united to His Son
(19). Can’t we see that this is a great
calling and a great message? God wants
to transform those around us. He wants
to give them purpose and meaning. He
wants them to have peace and forgiveness.
He wants them to be free and joyful.
He has entrusted us with the amazing privilege of sharing this good
news.
I think that verse twenty-one is
one of the most important verses in the whole of the Bible in terms of
explaining the cross. It is a verse that
would well be worth putting to memory. It
speaks of substitution. ‘God made him
who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness
of God’ (21).
Vaughan Roberts explains this
verse in this way. It is as if on the
last day, when Jesus returns, a great book is opened and a huge list of
failures and wickedness is read out. You
begin to recognise what is being described.
This is a day-by-day record of your life. Then when the book is finally finished, God
asks, ‘whose name is on that book?’ The
angel replies, ‘Jesus Christ’. Jesus
took on himself all our sin. Then
another book is opened, and you read a day-by-day account of the most beautiful
and compassionate life that has every been lived. You begin to recognise that what is being
described is the life of Christ. When
the book is finally finished God asks, ‘whose name is on the cover of that
book?’ The angel replies with your
name. ‘God made him who had no sin, to
be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.’
Conclusion
One last thought about being an ambassador. When ambassadors are at work they are not at
home. The Irish ambassador is never stationed
to Dublin. He is stationed in a foreign
land. That is true for us. There was an old song that said, ‘this world
is not my home, I am only passing through.’
We are here for a time. We are here
for a purpose. We are here with a great
job to do. We are to be compelled by
love and be confident in the greatest message of all!
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