In Great Britain, France, Mexico and other
countries, the United States maintain ambassadors. Such a representative of the
United States is called “minister plenipotentiary and ambassador
extraordinary.” As a servant of this country he is a servant full of power or
authority, and, being the personal spokesman for more than 120 million people,
with the President, the cabinet, the congress, the army and the navy behind
him, he is truly a representative extraordinary.
Of course, the man selected for such an
important ministry should be fully qualified for the position. In order that he
may honorably and uncompromisingly protect the interests of his nation and
people at the foreign court he must be exceedingly careful about receiving
personal favours, concessions and gifts from official representatives of that
foreign nation.
In the important act of establishing treaties
and agreements between his own government and the foreign nation that has
received him as United States representative, this ambassador is forwarded a
government document from Washington, bearing the seal of the United States of
America. signed by the President and the Secretary of State. In dignity,
accompanied by his official attendants, the ambassador presents the document to
the foreign court for the signature of the Ruler and the Minister of Foreign
Affairs. Thus treaties of possession, commerce and peace are made.
It is deplorable when such a representative
is chosen, not because he is qualified for the post but to pay a political debt.
Surely it is a great privilege and a great
honor to be an ambassador representing the United States.
It is not an easy task to persuade people
that it is a greater honor and a greater privilege to be an ambassador for
Christ, and the Kingdom of God. Note the statement of the Apostle Paul,
recorded in II Corinthians 5:20. “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as
though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye
reconciled to God.”
This same apostle, in Philippians 3:20, says:
“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ.” The word “conversation” here could be translated
“citizenship” or even “politics.” There is a sense, then, in which the
citizenship and politics of every representative of Christ is in heaven. But
while here on earth, as ambassadors for Jesus Christ, those who belong to
Christ have the very difficult task of trying to be pleasant among sinners,
while at the same time being governed by Galatians 1:10; “for do I now persuade
men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not
be the servant of Christ.”
In His wonderful prayer, recorded in John 17,
the Lord Jesus said concerning His disciples: “They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world.” John 17:16. The qualification for an ambassador is
set forth in Colossians 1:12 to 15: “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath
made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who
hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the
kingdom of His dear Son; In Whom we have redemption through His blood, even the
forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of
every creature.” In Colossians 1:12 the expression “hath made us meet” could be
translated “hath qualified us.” In other words, before we can acceptably
represent Christ we must qualify. We must be delivered; we must be redeemed. In
Colossians 1:20 we are told how this is accomplished. It is through the blood
of His cross. Here we note that by the blood of the cross of Christ the
believer is reconciled and is at peace with God. We quote Colossians 1:20 to
22: “And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile
all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things it. earth, or
things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled. In the body of His flesh
through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His
sight.”
Here
we note that alienated enemies are made wholly unblameable and unreprovable
because of what Christ did through death.
Peace and reconciliation by the blood of His
cross. What a wonderful message God’s ministers have to proclaim to lost
sinners. And what glorious good news the sinner may receive and be saved for
time and eternity.
We go back now to II Corinthians 5:17 to 21:
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed
away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, Who hath
reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of
reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto
Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us
the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though
God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to
God. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him.”
Here we note that the ambassador for Christ
is a new creature. According to Ephesians 2:10 he is God’s workmanship, created
anew in Christ Jesus. Man by nature belongs to the old creation. He is
identified with Adam, the sinner. The most important transformation that can
come to any man is to get out of Adam and in Christ; that is to be identified
with “The Last Adam” Who is now the glorified Man in heaven. All who are in
Adam are in sin, in the flesh, and under condemnation. If any man be in Christ
there is a new creation. The new creature is no longer dead in sin. He is dead
to sin. The believer’s old man has been crucified with Christ. He is in the
Spirit. He is made accepted in Christ, the Beloved. He is complete in Christ.
He is waiting to appear with Christ in glory. His citizenship is in heaven. He
is in the world, but not of the world. And now he has a new responsibility. For
unto him is committed the word of reconciliation. To him is given the ministry
of reconciliation.
In these closing verses of the fifth chapter
of II Corinthians we observe that it is not the sinner seeking God; but God,
through ambassadors of Christ, seeking the sinner, and beseeching the sinner,
in Christ’s stead, to be reconciled to God.
There is no more definite statement of the
gospel, no clearer announcement of saving truth than we find in II Corinthians
5:21: “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him.”
When
the Lord Jesus Christ cried “finished”, and yielded up the Ghost on the cross,
He was crowned with a crown of thorns, the emblem of the curse. He was made
sin, although He knew no sin. The God of all grace ordained and permitted the
cruel death of the sinless Christ, yea, offered up His well-beloved Son, so
that poor unrighteous men might, by His infinite grace, through faith, be made
the righteousness of God in Christ. Man’s only place of security and Divine
blessing is in Christ.
This ministry of reconciliation is
distinctively a Pauline ministry. More than a dozen times that great apostle
emphasized the fact that he was the apostle, the preacher, and the teacher of
the Gentiles; that unto Him the risen Christ committed the “dispensation of the
grace of God for Gentiles”; the “unsearchable riches of Christ for Gentiles”;
“the mystery among the Gentiles”; and the “dispensation of the mystery.” Romans
11:13; Ephesians 3:1 to 3; Ephesians 3:8 and 9; Colossians 1:24 to 27.
According to Galatians 2:8, God was mighty in
Peter in the apostleship of the circumcision. Peter received from Christ the
keys of the kingdom of heaven and the so-called “great commission.” In his
ministry, recorded in the early chapters of Acts, Peter preached unto Israel
repentance and restitution; the gospel of the kingdom; the promises and
blessings of the covenants which God made concerning Israel; but never once did
he preach reconciliation to Gentiles. He did not refer to Adam. Never once did
Peter preach to Israel, in those chapters, concerning the “old man” and the
“new man”; concerning the “old creation” and the “new creation”. Peter did not
preach concerning the believer’s identification with Christ in death, burial
and resurrection; blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. Peter
had no authority from Christ to even refer to uncircumcised Abram from whence
came Paul’s gospel of the uncircumcision. It was unto Paul that the risen Lord
committed the gospel of the uncircumcision, (Galatians 2:7; Galatians 3:8) the
ministry of reconciliation and the mystery concerning the Body of Christ.
Invariably when we have the ministry of reconciliation we find linked with it
the ministry of the new creation and the truth of the believer’s identification;
out of Adam, into Christ. The word “atonement” in Romans 5:11 is a
mistranslation. It should read “reconciliation”. Then follows the story of Adam
and Christ, the old creation and the new creation, and the new creature’s
identification with Christ. Romans 5:12 to Romans 6:12.
Our mission today is to beseech sinners to
believe the word of reconciliation; to believe that the document has been
signed and sealed; that the Lord Jesus Christ provided this reconciliation and
made peace by the blood of His cross. Truly with such a ministry we should know
that we are ambassadors extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary. How
willing and eager sinners should be to accept this glorious gospel message, be
at peace with God, reconciled to God, and be redeemed for time and eternity.
If you are troubled to know under which one
of the Lord’s commissions you are to labour, remember these words of Paul, “the
gospel of the uncircumcison was committed unto me (Paul) as the gospel of the
circumcision was unto Peter.” Galatians 2:7. And again Paul’s words in II
Timothy 2:2. “And the things that thou hast heard of me (Paul) among many
witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach
others also.” Again in Ephesians 3:1 and 2, “I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus
Christ for you Gentiles”. . . “the dispensation of the grace of God which is
given me to you ward”. Again, “the gospel which was preached of me is not after
man . . . taught it by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Galatians 1:12.
“That
I (Paul) should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles—I strived to
preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another
man’s foundation.” Romans 15:16 and 20.
Note what Paul says concerning himself, in I
Corinthians 3:10: “According to the grace of God which is given unto me (Paul),
as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation.”
When the risen Christ gave the so-called
great commission, in Matthew 28:19 and 20, to Peter and his associates, he
never hinted at the gospel of uncircumcision, the dispensation of the grace of
God for Gentiles, or the ministry of reconciliation which some years later He
committed, by revelation, to Paul who then declared, “I am the apostle of the
Gentiles; I magnify mine office.” Romans 11:13.
The pity is that the Lord’s ambassadors today
minimize Paul’s office instead of magnify it.
Well, fellow-Christians, our commission and
message today is the word of reconciliation. That reconciliation message was
not the commission of Matthew 28:19 and 20, because Israel had not yet been
cast away and God’s word instructs us in Romans 11:15, “the casting away of
them (Israel) be the reconciling of the world.” After Christ had been raised
from the dead. Peter declared that He was raised from the dead to be a Prince
and a Saviour to give repentance unto Israel. Acts 5:30 and 31. Christ raised
from the dead to give repentance is quite different from the reconciling of the
world because of Israel was cast away.
Now here is sufficient Divine authority for
our ministry for the Lord, “hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation”
II Corinthians 5:19, “Hath given us the ministry of reconciliation.” II
Corinthians 5:18.
In the context note our identification with
Christ—II Corinthians 5:15—And also note why we labour as ambassadors of
reconciliation: “the love of Christ constraineth us”; “Knowing the fear of the
Lord, we persuade men.” II Corinthians 5:14 and II Corinthians 5:11.
Let us not be guilty of the spiritual crime
of perverting the glorious Divine message of grace. In the message of
reconciliation sinners are not to beg God to be reconciled to them and save
them. Carefully note II Corinthians 5:20: “Now then we are ambassadors for
Christ, as thought God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ’s stead, be
ye reconciled to God.”
God
beseeches the sinner. We pray the sinner. This is not the sinner seeking God
and salvation. This is God beseeching the sinner to accept the perfect work of
redemption accomplished by Christ. When He was made sin on the cross, God was
reconciled. The reconciliation becomes mutual the moment the sinner believes
God and receives Christ. We have a blessed ministry, a great responsibility,
and a glorious privilege as ambassadors of reconciliation.
How God Saves Men
Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4
Believing Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
Read Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4
(A 10 Minute Video)
Posted By Cecil and Connie Spivey
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