Motivations of a Messenger

But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart.

So for some context, 2 Corinthians, as a whole, it has a particularly apologetic tone to it. False teachers had entered into the Corinthian church and they had been speaking against Paul to invalidate his ministry and promote their own. So Paul spills a lot of ink in this letter in defense of his apostolic authority and his ministry. We're not exactly sure who those opponents were, what the details were of their theology, but it does seem clear that these opponents proclaimed to be superior to Paul, both in their relationship to God and in their ministry. They were claiming to be these super spiritual, super apostles. And to support this, they were boasting about their outward appearances. They flaunted the external components of their ministry. So they came to Corinth with letters of recommendation to validate themselves. They pointed to their Jewish heritage, to their public speaking skills, their accomplishments, their experiences, and visions, and miracles, and this quote-unquote special knowledge as signs of God's approval and blessing on their ministry. Along with that, they were thriving. They were prospering. By their standards, Paul was unspiritual and his gospel was powerless. He was weak. He lacked influence and charisma and elegance. He was suffering. He faced hardship after hardship, after trial, after trial, after trial. If his ministry was so blessed by God, if his good news was so good, why was his life so hard and so pathetic? I mean, why this disconnect? Well, Paul's circumstances, they didn't seem to concern him. In fact, he points to those exact same factors to show the true authenticity and power of God's gospel at work through him. He argues that the power of God is clearly portrayed through his weakness and his suffering. Because ultimately Paul's suffering shows that Paul isn't the one at work in his ministry. It's God. Paul writes in chapter 4 verse 7 that

we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

And right before that in verse two, he says that they have renounced disgraceful underhanded ways. They refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of truth, they commend themselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. See, Paul has no interest in making his name great or having people look to him. He's not concerned with being attractional or gaining an audience in that way. He has resolved to speak the whole truth and nothing but the truth about Jesus Christ, no matter how he was received. And he calls on the Corinthians to remember the true power of the gospel that they had witnessed. He encourages them to boast about that power to these false apostles. Boasting is often considered to be a negative thing because it's related to pride, it's related to self-promotion. But here, Paul is encouraging the church to promote Christ and speak highly about his work. It's Christ's work that has changed their hearts. It's his work alone that changes the heart of an unbeliever. It's not our own appearance. It's not our own appeal, it's not our own allure, it's Christ. And while these opponents relied on their extensive resume to prove their spirituality, Paul and the Corinthian church could place their confidence in Christ alone. And the warning here for us is to beware of outward appearances as motivation or demotivation for evangelism. Beware of relying on your own strength, your own power, your own abilities as the basis for gospel work. If we look to our own appearances, it's either going to puff us up or it's going to deflate us in our evangelistic efforts. So one temptation we might face is evangelizing as a way of feeding our own pride or our own self-ambition. And we might not be as blatant as the false apostles here, But we still need to be aware of how we could use public ministry as a way to get the public to look at us instead of Jesus Christ. So a couple questions worth considering. If someone comes to church with you, or you get to share the gospel with someone, do you hope that your friends notice? Or your pastors notice? How badly do you want to tell others about what you just did? And why do you want them to know? And I'm not saying that we should keep our evangelism a secret. I mean, we have a time on Wednesdays where we solicit your requests, your prayer requests for your evangelism and your evangelistic efforts. But it is worth considering why you would be motivated to tell other people about your gospel work. And maybe it's not a matter of not sharing, but just a matter of tuning your heart, changing the reason why you would want to share those things. For others of us, pride might not be our problem. It might be the last thing that describes our evangelistic efforts. Instead, we need to be wary of deflation, despair. I get that there's a lot of fear that could come with evangelism. I personally have those fears myself. But if we're primarily concerned with looking awkward or weird or uncool, Well, then we're just focusing on our outward appearances in a different way. Not evangelizing for fear of rejection or failure is just a different side of the same coin. We're still motivated by how we look and how we're received by others. No, in contrast to outward appearances, Paul places the primary emphasis of gospel ministry on what's in the heart. His motivation doesn't come from how he appears to others, but about who Christ has made him to be. The gospel, it takes our eyes off of ourselves and it fixates them on God. We look at the work that God has done in us, to us, and consider how he might do that same work in the lives of others. That brings us to our second motivation for evangelism, and that's the gift of Christ's love. Our second motivation, the gift of Christ's love. Moving down to verses 13 to 15, we read,

for if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. If we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died. And he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

" We see here that Paul is motivated not just by the judgment of Christ, but also by the love of Christ. He knows the fear of the Lord, and he is controlled by the love of our Lord. Over the past couple years, my sons have developed quite the toy car collection. Daniel, my one-year-old, he's fascinated by wind-up cars right now. He loves pulling them back and just watching, seeing how far they go. Robbie, my three-year-old, recently turned three, for Christmas, he got his first remote control car. And when he first opened it, he started trying to move it back and forth, just like the rest of his toy cars. No idea that there was a remote, that there were batteries, how the whole thing worked. So when we put in the batteries and I showed him how it worked, he was blown away. I mean, pulled the remote out of my hands and just started sending the car forward and backward and forward and backward and forward and backward over and over and over again. I mean, it was amazing to his two-year-old mind that the car not only went where he wanted, but it wouldn't go somewhere unless Robbie commanded it. In verse 13, that's how Christ's love controls Paul. Paul's life was in Jesus' hands, and he did whatever he was commanded, however Christ commanded it. One of the accusations against Paul was that his It was against his lack of what they called his spiritual zeal. His opponents seemed to boast about how they could get whipped up into this ecstatic religious frenzy as a way of showing their superior spirituality. Similar to the wind-up car, the false apostles were boasting about how they could get wound up and moving for God. But again, appearances can be deceiving. Paul is telling us that Christ's love compels more than just his hyper-spiritual activity. It's also responsible for the constraint and the poise that Paul has displayed to the Corinthians. Like the remote control car, Christ made Paul go and stop and turn and do absolutely everything. So yes, Paul could be out of his mind, just like the false apostles. He could be stirred up in these ecstatic religious experiences and receive visions and perform miracles. But he says that was between him and God, not for Paul to use to boast to others. And Paul could also be in his right mind, composed, self-controlled, orderly, And this was for the benefit of the Corinthians, for the promotion of the gospel in their lives. Both states of mind, they were under Christ's control. Every situation Paul's in, every circumstance, every relationship, every word and action. Christ's love controls everything about the Christian's life. Why is that? Why does the love of Christ control Paul? Why should the love of Christ control us? Well, it's because those whose life is in Christ have been made alive for Christ. Verses 14 and 15, they summarize the very basis and purpose for our lives as Christians. The basis for our love in Christ is His death and resurrection. Apart from Christ, we were dead in our trespasses and sins. But in Christ, we died to sin and were made alive in him. And because Christ has died for everyone who believes, every believer has experienced this death of their sinful, rebellious, wrath-inducing, condemned self. Just as Christ was raised from the dead, we too have been raised up into a newness of life. We've been born again, regenerated by God so that our lives may no longer be controlled by sin and death, but controlled by the love of Christ. We see down in verse 17, in Christ we are a new creation. The old self has passed away. The new self has come. In Romans 5, Paul talks about this new life as a free gift that's been given by the grace of God. It's a free gift that we've been taken out of Adam's curse, brought underneath Christ's reign, justified by his righteousness, and given an abundance of grace that leads to eternal life. Just as Christ provides the basis for our eternal life, he also provides the purpose for our lives. Christ has raised us up to life in him so that we might no longer live for ourselves. Instead, we are called to live for him who died and was raised for our sake. We have been given a new heart so that we can joyfully and faithfully glorify our Savior and Lord. Significant way we do this, one way we do this is in our relationship with others. Our new life is not just upward focused, but it's also outward focused. You notice Paul's two audiences in verse 13. He's at work for both God and for others. You see, Christ has worked salvation for us so that he might work salvation for others through us. Our new life in Christ, it should drive us to see others be made alive in Christ as well. That brings us to our third motivation for evangelism in this passage. A third gift, that's our new regard for others. Our regard for others, we see this in verses 16 and 17.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold. The new has come.

In Christ, we not only receive a new heart, but we also receive new sight, a new vision. That veil that had blinded our hearts and our minds has been lifted. The darkness that surrounded us has been illuminated by the light of the gospel. We receive a new perspective on the world. We see things from a different point of view. See, apart from Christ, the only way to view the world is according to the flesh. It's this worldly perspective. It's an unspiritual perspective. As we've heard in Ecclesiastes, this is the vantage point under the sun. It disregards the person and the work of Jesus Christ because, as we discussed earlier, it doesn't know the true person and work of Jesus Christ. This is how the false apostles were regarding Paul. They were using the world's currency to make value judgments on Paul's ministry. Achievements, success, attraction, appeal. When we regard something according to the flesh, we only regard its outward appearance and make rash judgments based on our own ungodly perspectives. But in Christ, that's not how we regard others. In Christ, We regard others spiritually. We regard them through the filters of sin and salvation. We regard them in view of the gospel. And to drive this point home, Paul calls us to consider how our view of Christ has been changed in light of the gospel. And so think with me, think about Paul's life for a second. Before Jesus, Paul persecuted Christians for their faith. And according to his flesh, Paul saw Jesus as a blasphemer, as a false teacher, an insurgent who deserved to be crucified. But after the Damascus Road, we read in Acts 9 that Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit, and something like scales fell from his eyes as he regained his sight. He was baptized. He understood Jesus to be the Christ and the Son of God, and he placed his faith in him for salvation. just like Lindsay did a little while ago. And with his new view of Christ, he received a new view of everyone around him. Disciples were no longer Paul's enemies, but his brothers and sisters. His Jewish kin became his spiritual adversaries. His Gentile foe, well, they became his neighbors. Worthy to be loved and ministered to with the gospel. Now think with me about how much your view of Christ has changed. How did you regard Christ before you were saved? What drew him to you? What drew you to him? How has he become greater and more lovely to you over the years? As your view of Christ and the cross increases, it should clarify your view of others as well. You see, Christ is such a glorious Savior because we are such wretched sinners. I mean, humans, we have fallen in so many different ways. But Christ's work, Christ's work is sufficient to atone for every single one of those sins. Christ came into the world to bring all types of sinners back into a right relationship with God. Notice there's only two types of people in this passage. There's old selves and there's new creations. Those who are apart from Christ and those who have been brought near to Christ. No hierarchies, no demographics, no intersectionality, just those who need Jesus. and those who have Jesus. See, a spiritual regard for others, it sees everyone in view of these two categories. And when we look at other Christians with spiritual sight, we should view them with joyful love, recognizing that like us, they too are new creations and that the old self has passed away. And when we see unbelievers, The Bible says we should view them with a different kind of love, a hopeful love. Yes, they may not be new creations, but by God's grace, they could be. And the way that God would make that happen, if he so chooses, it would be through us. It'd be through those he has reconciled to himself and given the ministry of reconciliation. That brings us to our fourth and final motivation for evangelism from this passage. It's the motivation, the gift of the entrusted ministry of reconciliation. The final few verses of this passage, verses 18 to 21, read along with me.

All this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 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. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

In these verses we learn that God's plan to make a people for himself, to bring the world to himself, in God's providence is not a one-man show. Yes, he is reconciling the world to himself and he receives all the glory and salvation, but he has not made us spectators in the drama. He's given us a role to play. God is making his appeal through us. We are the entrusted ambassadors of God's eternal kingdom. An ambassador is a country's official representative in a foreign land. They're not just on vacation, they're not just living abroad, they've got an important job to do. Ambassadors represent the interests of their homeland and they speak for and serve the powers that they represent. They exist to serve their rulers abroad. Well Christian, that's us. We are foreigners to this worldly realm. We are pilgrims in a strange land. And we belong to the kingdom of heaven, and we are called to protect and promote Christ's interests in this place and time. Just as God originally created us to bear his image, we have to express his goodness and his power to all of creation, we have been recreated in Christ to image and express the goodness and powerful Savior to this world. We represent, we speak for the one true King. That doesn't mean that we have to get involved in politics or write Jesus on the ballot at the next election. No, it means we are to faithfully and boldly proclaim the message of Christ that he has entrusted to us. Be reconciled to God. And the reason why we can boldly proclaim that message is because Christ has made reconciliation possible through his atoning work on the cross. It's because the great judge of the world, as we talked about earlier, is also the great justifier of sinners. Jesus, who was without sin, was counted as sinful and took on the punishment that sinners deserved. He was executed on the cross to pay the penalty that sinners deserved. so that our trespasses would not be counted against us, but against him instead. And while he took on the punishment for sin, he gave his righteousness to us. His actual righteousness was credited to us so that we could be counted as righteous and made right with God. So if you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, that's the message of Christianity. That's the gospel. That's the good news that has been offered to you. And that's the good news that you need to receive by faith. It's what Christ offers to everyone who would bow down to him as Lord and Savior. So if that's something you wanna learn more about, feel free to talk to me, talk to one of our pastors, talk to the person that you came with. Ask them what it would mean for you to be counted righteous before God. And Christian, this responsibility that we have to promote the gospel, it's not an obligation that we have as Christians. You see, Jesus, he's not pulling some sort of great bait and switch on us, as if he's offered the gospel as a free gift and then didn't tell us about the hidden fees and costs that come with it. No, this job itself is a gift. It's the result of our own redemption, our own reconciliation, our own regeneration. You see, our role as ambassadors is the accumulation of everything that we have received in the gospel. We who are far off from God have been brought near and brought into his kingdom. We have been made alive in Christ so that we could live for Christ. We have been equipped with the knowledge of the fear of the Lord and the great gospel of salvation. We are controlled by Christ's love. We regard others according to the Spirit, and we have been given the ministry of reconciliation so that God may reconcile the world to himself and not count sinners' trespasses against them. Christian, as we conclude, be encouraged, be motivated. Christ has used all his authority on heaven and on earth to commission you to go and make disciples. He will build his church. The gates of hell will not prevail against it. He will redeem sinners, he will reconcile them to God, and he will give them new life. And in his sovereign providence, he will use us, his ambassadors, to accomplish this mission. And that's our motivation for evangelism. Let's pray. Jesus, you are a good and gracious king. The heavens declare your glory. The skies proclaim your work. Your law is perfect. Your testimony is true. Your precepts are right and your command is pure. Jesus, it is good and right that we are to fear and to marvel and to bow down at your great name. And Father God, just as we have considered why we should promote the gospel of Jesus Christ, we pray that the Holy Spirit fills us so that we may do so boldly and faithfully. Remind us of the great salvation that we have received in Jesus Christ. Father, impress upon us the magnitude of our redemption and our reconciliation and our regeneration. Kill the old man in us. Create in us new and clean hearts with new desires and new passions and new purposes. Excite us to worship you, to obey you, to live for you. And Father God, we pray that sinners are saved. We pray that unbelievers come to trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord, that even now you would enlighten the eyes of unbelievers to see their need for repentance and faith. You have declared the harvest to be plentiful. And we pray that you raise us up as laborers for the harvest field. Pray that we may be faithful ambassadors of your kingdom. Be with us as we go into the world. May your name be hallowed, may your kingdom come, and may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.