The Time is Now
The Time is Now
2 Corinthians 6:1-13
INTRODUCTION:
Mark Wilkinson at coburgbanks.com made a list of weird job titles his company came across in resumes. I’ve just pulled a few of them:
Digital overlord - website manager
Retail jedi - shop assistant
Wizard of lightbulb moments - marketing director
Dream alchemist - head of creative department Pneumatic device and machine optimizer - factory worker
Accounting Ninja - Financial Manager
Of course, the best “title” you and I wear is “Christian,” as it identifies us as belonging to Christ. But, I want to focus this lesson on another title we wear: “Ambassador for Christ.” The United States has positions for about 216 ambassadors for countries around the world. Some ambassadors serve several island countries; some countries have more than one ambassador and we have ambassadors to various United Nations organizations. Nikki Haley was our most recent Ambassador to the United Nations; her position has not be filled yet.
But, Jesus Christ has thousands of ambassadors, tens of thousands of ambassadors serving Him. You and I are among that number. Let’s study 2 Corinthians 6...
WE ARE AMBASSADORS - 5:20-21:
Chapter 6 begins with the statement, “and working together with Him...” That phrase shows that Paul is continuing a previous thought. The most immediate “thought” is in 5:20-21 where Paul says, “Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ...” Again, the word “therefore” shows that Paul is drawing a conclusion to a prior thought. So, we have to go further back.
This study is not about chapter 5, but we do need to get some ideas in front of us. So, let’s back up to 5:1 where Paul says that we have a “building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” We will take off this earthly, physical body and, one day, put on a spiritual body. In vs. 4, Paul says that “what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.” God gave us the Holy Spirit as a pledge for the purpose of preparing us to dwell in the presence of God.
Therefore, vss. 6-8, we have courage in facing life because we know that we will be “at home with the Lord.”
Therefore, vs. 9, our ambition is to be pleasing to God. Why? Because we can only dwell in the presence of God if we please God. Vs. 10 - All must appear before the judgment seat of Christ in order to be rewarded, or punished, for what we did in our physical bodies, whether good or bad. Every. Single. Person. Will. Be. Judged. By. Christ. My neighbor and his wife and sons. My mechanic. The woman at the grocery store whom Rachel sees every week. The waitress who serves us at the restaurant. Every body.
Vs. 11 - Therefore, we try to persuade men to become Christians, not superficial Christians, not Christians “in appearance” (vs. 12), but sincere Christians, Christians “in heart.” Evangelism, then, is the context of the rest of this chapter. Vs. 14 - The love of Christ controls us: One (Christ) died for all. All who have died to sin have died to sin in Christ. Vs 15 - He died for all so that men and women will stop living for themselves, but instead live for Him who died and rose for them. That, family, is the biggest reason why people will be lost. They will not choose to live for Christ and stop living for themselves.
But we keep teaching. We keep evangelizing. We keep trying to influence for the good, for heaven. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things are passed away; behold new things have come” (vs. 17). Instead of looking at the outward appearance and seeing only men of sin and women of sin, we look at the spirit and the spiritual possibilities if someone were to accept Christ.
From verses 18-20, Paul uses the word “reconcile” five times. To “reconcile” means to “make friends of former enemies.” When we sin, we make ourselves enemies of God - that’s the nature of sin; it pushes us away from God. But notice the points Paul makes here about “reconciliation:”
Vs. 18 - God reconciled us through Jesus Christ.
Vs. 18 - God gave you and me the “ministry” of reconciliation. The word translated “ministry” here is literally “service,” a word related to “deacon.” God gave us the “deaconship” of reconciliation. What is that? It’s the service of sharing the message of Christ.
Vs. 19 - This reconciliation is defined as God “not counting our trespasses against us.” How do you like that? What ever you have done, God will not hold it against you. Isn’t that wonderful? To King David, God will say, “I’m not holding your adultery and your murder against you.” To the apostle Paul, God will say, “I’m not holding your killing of Christians against you.” What have you done that you don’t want God to hold against you? He’ll wipe it out through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Vs. 19 - God has committed to us the “word” of reconciliation. This “word” of reconciliation is, of course, the Gospel message. We have that word so we need to share that word.
Vs. 20 - Therefore, and here’s the whole point of our discussion of this section, we are ambassadors for Christ. What does that mean? It means that God is “making an appeal through us.” Back in 4:7 Paul had said that the Gospel “treasure” is in “earthen vessels.” The gospel is in our hearts, our hands, our minds. We must share that message. We are ambassadors. God is making His appeal through us.
That appeal is: Be reconciled to God! There is something we must do to be reconciled to God! There are commands we must obey if we are to be reconciled to God.
One more point before we get into chapter 6. How can we be reconciled to God regardless of the sins we have committed? Because God made Jesus, please notice, “to be sin on our behalf” (vs 21)! That is clear. That is blunt. David will not be punished eternally for his adultery because God punished Jesus as if He had committed adultery. That’s blunt and brutal, isn’t it? God will not punish the apostle Paul for the murders he committed because God punished Jesus as if He had committed murder.
Now, to be absolutely clear and plain, Paul also says very emphatically that Jesus “knew no sin.” Jesus did not commit a single sin. Not a single bad thought. Not a single bad word. Not a single bad action. Not. A. Single. One. But, God punished Jesus on the cross as if He had committed sin and that’s how we could “become the righteousness of God:” in Christ.
When you and I look at Christ hanging on the cross, knowing that our sins put Him there, we should really hate what God hates: sin. And we should love what God loves: righteousness. God grant us “Calvary hearts!”
That, family, pure and simple, is the message we teach others...
WE WORK TOGETHER WITH HIM - 6:1-2:
Now that we have that background behind us, Paul elaborates on our service when he writes: “and working together with Him...” That is a present tense verb. We must still work together with God. He is making the appeal through us. Too often we try to do things our way, or we try to save souls without really asking God for His help in the effort. Here, Paul says he urges the Corinthians not to receive the grace of God in vain.
First, if it is possible to receive the grace of God in vain, then our friends who believe that once you are saved, you’re always saved, they are mistaken. How can you “receive the grace of God in vain” if you cannot be saved, and then lose that salvation? Is it possible to fall away from grace? Indeed it is. Here, Paul urges the Corinthian Christians not to fall away from grace. You see, it is one thing to be reconciled to God in Christ - that’s the first and necessary step. But, it is also necessary to die in Christ - that is, to remain faithful until death.
The first thing Paul does in his argument here in chapter 6 is to quote from Isaiah the prophet, 49:8: “At the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.”
Isaiah lived 700 years before Jesus but, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Isaiah looked forward to the time when God would offer salvation through His Servant, the Messiah. God would hear the pleas and cries of His people for salvation and He would bring a day in which that salvation would be extended to, not just Israel, but to all people.
Well, Paul says, “that day is now.” Notice vs. 2: “Behold now is ‘the acceptable time.’” Paul says, “Behold now is the ‘day of salvation.’”
Paul is telling the Corinthian Christians that they were living in the age of salvation. They were living at the time when salvation is finally and fully extended through Jesus Christ. For the Gentiles, they would not worship pagan gods and idols anymore. For the Jews, they would not offer animal sacrifices anymore. The time of Christ is the day of salvation and we are still living in that age and there will not be another. There will be no Savior after Jesus Christ. That’s why we can’t receive the grace of God in vain - if we turn our backs on Jesus Christ, there will be no other offer of salvation.
CHALLENGES AND TEMPTATIONS TO RECEIVE THE GRACE - 6:3-10:
We do not want to offend God in anything we do. We also do not want to offend man by turning him away from the Gospel through our attitude or unChristian actions. We do not want our “ministry of reconciliation” to be discredited (vs. 3). But in all our walk of life, we want to live as close to Jesus as possible, imitating Him as closely as possible, so that we commend ourselves (vs. 4) as servants of God.
Beginning in verse 4, Paul gives a long list of temptations that we might face each day that could cause us to turn our backs on Jesus Christ and so receive the grace of God in vain. While we were traveling during the FHU lectureships, Rachel and I were sharing with Jewell and Ana some friends of ours from school who were faithful Christians while we were in college but, the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and other things entered into their lives and choked the word and we have friends now who are no longer faithful to Christ, despite their Christian upbringing and having gone to a Christian university, even though they also married Christians. Now, those are all very good choices. But, there is no panacea for the temptation of sin except constantly bringing our hearts back under the influence of Jesus Christ and His word.
Look at these temptations Paul mentions (some of them are Christian graces that Paul had to tap into in order to stay faithful):
Endurance. Afflictions. Hardships. Distresses. Beatings. Imprisonments. Tumults. Labors. Sleeplessness. Hunger.
Purity.
Knowledge.
Patience.
Kindness.
The Holy Spirit.
Genuine love.
Word of truth.
Power of God.
Weapons of righteousness. Glory.
Dishonor.
Evil report.
Good report.
Regarded (by some) as deceivers but true. Unknown by important people.
Well known by those who really matter. Dying (physically).
Yet behold we live (spiritually).
Punished.
Yet not put to death (yet).
Sorrowful (in physical matters).
Always rejoicing (in spiritual matters).
Poor (materially).
Making many rich (spiritually).
Having nothing (materially).
Yet possessing all things (spiritually).
This list was things Paul had endured in order to bring the gospel to the Corinthians. They knew Paul loved them and wanted them to respond to Jesus Christ. Could they look at Paul’s lifestyle and turn away from the Jesus whom Paul preached?
ACCEPT THE MESSAGE OF CHRIST - 6:11-13:
The Corinthians knew all of this about the apostle Paul because they were recipients of the gospel of Christ through Paul. They knew what Paul had gone through to preach the gospel to them. Read Acts 18 and learn how the church of Christ was established in Corinth. Corinth was one of many places where Paul experienced riots because he was preaching the gospel.
Paul writes to them (vs. 11): “Our mouth has spoken freely, O Corinthians, our heart is opened wide.” Paul mentions the “heart” fourteen times in 2 Corinthians. Paul felt a deep affection for the Christians in Corinth. “Our heart is opened wide.”
Paul tells them that he was not restraining them from showing affection in Jesus Christ (vs. 12). They were limited only by themselves. So, in verse 13, Paul calls on the Corinthians to open their hearts to Paul, to the mission team with him, and to the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you do not love and appreciate the messenger, it is likely that you will not accept the message. What that means is that if we want our family and friends to listen to us in sharing the gospel with them, we need to live like Paul has described - the positive qualities - Paul has described in vss. 4-10. We need to earn the love and respect of our family and friends if we want them to change their allegiance from themselves to Jesus Christ. We are the spokesmen for God and many will either accept or reject Jesus Christ based on whether they accept or reject you and me.
Take home message: Don’t receive the grace of God in vain. Walk closely with Christ daily.