2 Corinthians 5:11-21
[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. [12] 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. [13] For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. [14] For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; [15] 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. [16] 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. [17] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. [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, 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.
Have you ever had a friend discover the wonders of a new diet, a new cleaning product, or new restaurant? Their Facebook feed suddenly morphs into an extended advertisement. It doesn’t take much for us to become evangelists for things. When we experience something truly remarkable, we can’t help but share it. The Apostle Paul says that Christians are like that: “Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others” (2 Cor 5:11). Those who have known the love of Christ are compelled by that very love to bring the gospel to others (5:14). This is a ministry of reconciliation (5:18).
The word reconciliation may drudge up images of an impassive counselor listening to a couple on the brink of divorce giving it one last go. (Or for some in finances, it may trigger panicked attempts to make sure the numbers all add up!) But the image that should come to mind is that of a God who begs. Now, that may sound rather impious initially, but listen to the language that Paul uses: “we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God…Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain” (5:20; 6:1). Ambassadors. Appeal. Implore. This is God sending his redeemed out, pleading with a lost world to enter in. And while Paul does say that all of this is from God (5:18), we should not miss the urgency of this text.
God begs, not as someone who is weak and in need. Rather, he begs as a sovereign and majestic creator who loves.* Believer, are you pleading with your friends and neighbors to be reconciled to this God? Do you feel the urgency of eternity on your doorstep? If you are in Christ, then you have been given this ministry of reconciliation.
The result of this ministry of reconciliation is that God would make new creations in Christ (5:17). Paul recognizes that the problem the world is facing is not a matter of cleaning up one’s act. It is a matter of death and resurrection. He says that “for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (5:21). It was for our sake that Christ came to die, so that in him we may be declared righteous. Do you see what love the Father has shown? At Calvary, God’s love and God’s justice are both poured out. This is love. And this is certainly a love worth sharing.
*This is from a 2009 sermon preached by Dr. Russell Moore at Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY
