The Urgency of Reconciliation: Moving Beyond Good Works

• The Gospel That Sends Us [01:55:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that the gospel not only forms believers but also commissions them as ambassadors to share the message of reconciliation.
• Reconciliation [02:02:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines the primary purpose of sharing the gospel as helping alienated people be reconciled to God, rather than just attending church or becoming religious.
• Motivation for Sharing Faith [02:06:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that the motivation for sharing the gospel should be the love of Christ compelling believers, rather than guilt or fear of being a 'bad Christian'.
• Transformation of Motivation [02:05:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that the gospel shifts a person's center from self to Christ, compelling believers to share their faith out of love rather than guilt or obligation.
• New Creation Identity [02:08:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > Explaining that being 'in Christ' makes one a new creation, changing how believers view themselves and others, moving beyond human standards of judgment.
• Binary Nature of Reconciliation [02:10:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > Clarifying that there are no degrees of reconciliation; a person is either reconciled to God through Christ or unreconciled, regardless of outward religious appearance or moral behavior.
• Ministry of Reconciliation [02:17:51 ▶️ 📄]
  > Defining the believer's role as entrusting the message of reconciliation, emphasizing that the gospel must be declared with words and centered on the cross, not just demonstrated through good behavior.
• The Ministry of Reconciliation [02:21:59 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor defines reconciliation not as overlooking sin, but as Christ bearing judgment, and asserts that this ministry cannot be separated from the message of the cross.
• Ambassadorship and Witness [02:24:51 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that all Christians are ambassadors who do not speak with their own authority but represent Christ, requiring them to deliver a specific message entrusted to them.
• Practical Evangelism [02:28:05 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor provides practical advice on sharing the gospel, emphasizing listening, asking questions, and starting conversations rather than preaching or forcing decisions.
• Substitutionary Atonement [02:32:14 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor clarifies the theological basis of reconciliation: Christ, who knew no sin, had our guilt counted against Him so that His righteousness might be credited to us.
• Evangelism and Courage [02:38:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor prays for courage to share the gospel and be ambassadors of Christ.
• Salvation and Reconciliation [02:39:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor issues an altar call, urging listeners to receive Christ and reconcile with God immediately rather than delaying.
• Church Community and Discipleship [02:44:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor directs attendees to the welcome center for connect groups and concludes with a scripture reading on being ambassadors for Christ.

• Sermon Illustration [01:56:34 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his parents' 72nd wedding anniversary and the advice his father gave him regarding marriage: a growing relationship with Christ, seven significant touches a day, and mutual respect.
• Sermon Illustration [02:12:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his father instructing him not to assume a person he was picking up for him was a Christian simply because they were nice or doing good deeds, but to explore their faith.
• Sermon Illustration [02:13:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the historical example of George Whitefield, an 18th-century minister who preached to a nation filled with nominal Christians, insisting that religious familiarity and outward respectability could not substitute for the new birth.
• Sermon Illustration [02:29:56 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his father, who assesses how much time he has with a person to determine when to bring up a God conversation, noting that his father asks nurses and doctors if they know Jesus even when he is in the hospital.

• Pastoral Charge [01:55:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > Read ahead in the book of Romans in preparation for the next sermon.
• Pastoral Charge [02:01:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > Allow oneself to be motivated to share the gospel with others.
• Pastoral Charge [02:12:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > Engage in conversation with acquaintances to explore their faith status rather than assuming their spiritual condition.
• Pastoral Charge [02:12:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > Faithfully proclaim the message of reconciliation rather than judging people's spiritual distance based on appearance.
• Pastoral Charge [02:16:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > Personally examine one's own heart to ensure true reconciliation with God before attempting to share the gospel with others.
• Pastoral Charge [02:24:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > Declare grace and the specific message of the gospel through words, supporting good conduct with verbal proclamation.
• Pastoral Charge [02:39:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > Come forward to the front chair to publicly receive Christ if the gospel resonated.
• Pastoral Charge [02:38:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > Make contact with a specific person in their life today to share the gospel.
• Pastoral Charge [02:39:27 ▶️ 📄]
  > Give one's life to Christ immediately
• Pastoral Charge [02:39:47 ▶️ 📄]
  > Walk to the front of the church to publicly receive Christ
• Pastoral Charge [02:40:01 ▶️ 📄]
  > Ensure reconciliation with God before continuing daily activities like lunch
• Pastoral Charge [02:40:15 ▶️ 📄]
  > Approach a staff member or volunteer for private counsel if uncomfortable approaching the pastor directly
• Pastoral Charge [02:44:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > Visit the welcome center to join a connect group

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:06:46] We are so glad that you are here. Let's just go ahead and declare it. This is the day that the Lord has made and we will rejoice and be glad in it.
[00:06:56] Have you ever thought about the fact the reason we come together to celebrate is the fact that we were once far off from God, we were alienated from God, and now we are brought close to God because of what Christ has done for us.
[00:07:16] God because of who Christ is, our King of kings and our Lord of lords. So we're so glad that you're here. I want to open our time in prayer before we sing together. So if you would stand with me here
[00:07:27] and in the youth center, let's stand together as one body proclaiming the goodness of Christ as we sing to him. You join me silently in prayer where you are as I pray out loud.
[00:07:37] Father, we thank you for the grace that you've given us, for an opportunity to be here, to sing praises to you to lift up our voices to you to just worship you because we were once
[00:07:49] alienated from you and now we're reconciled to you through christ so just allow us to celebrate that through the gentleness of your spirit meet us where we are and pull us close to you for us
[00:08:01] in jesus name we pray amen well good morning everyone so as we get started this morning

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:08:11] let's really really this morning focus on christ and give him our worship remember those walls that

[00:08:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:08:30] we called sin and shame they were like prisons that we couldn't escape but he came and he died and those walls are up remember those giants we called death and giants are dead now this is our

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:09:22] God, this is what he does. He saves us. He bore the cross, beat the grave, led us, and this is our God, Jesus.
[00:09:37] Great victory. Know that God has already won. We can trust in him. Father, we do thank you and trust you, Father.

[00:24:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:24:11] We love you so much. We pray that you continue to speak to us this morning through your word.
[00:24:16] And pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. You may be seated.

[00:24:20] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:24:20] Well, today is our final message on the gospel that forms us, and there's a good chance that you're thinking, wow, you spent all summer talking about the gospel that forms us.
[00:25:05] Isn't it possible that you just overcomplicated it?
[00:25:10] And yes, it is possible that we overcomplicated it, and if that's what you think, you're in luck because today we are going to oversimplify it.
[00:25:18] We're going to break it down to a level that I can understand.
[00:25:22] And if that's the case, I've always said that if I can understand it, anybody can.
[00:25:27] That's just kind of how I think, that's the way my brain works, and I'm looking forward.
[00:25:31] Today we're going to be talking about being ambassadors of grace, called to reconcile.
[00:25:36] Not that we do the reconciling, but we are given the message of reconciliation, and so I want to be able to talk a little bit about that.
[00:25:45] Before I do, though, I want to take just a moment of personal story for just a moment.
[00:25:52] if I can take a personal privilege for just a moment.
[00:25:55] Yesterday, my mom and dad celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary.
[00:26:04] Isn't that amazing?
[00:26:09] What an incredible testimony of love that they've demonstrated to their family of what it means to love one another.
[00:26:16] I, again, on the phone talking with him yesterday, asked him, you know, what's the secret?
[00:26:21] He said, a growing relationship with Christ.
[00:26:24] seven significant touches a day and mutual respect so there is the advice from a 91 year old who's been married for 72 years and that gives you a little story and a little picture of who I am
[00:26:42] and what's been demonstrated to me and so I just wanted to kind of share that and I'll tell you that because even at age 91 I was picking something up for him the other day from someone
[00:26:53] and he told me, he said, hey, when you go pick it up, if you get an opportunity to share the gospel with this person, I'm not sure where they are in their faith.
[00:27:05] And that's just who he's been and that's what he's demonstrated and he loves his family that way and I hope that we can all be like that today.
[00:27:12] And so this simplified message of the gospel, I guess, can kind of be in honor of my parents because this is the way they raised me to do the things and to understand the gospel the way we're
[00:27:24] going to understand it today so thank you mom and dad love you guys there's a good chance that they're watching online right now and if you are love you very much and to god be the glory
[00:27:34] i want to give you uh the kind of the big idea that we're coming out of second corinthians chapter five uh verses uh uh 14 through 21 today um there's uh you know people have been saying you
[00:27:48] know, over the summer, you've just been diving right into the messages. We haven't heard a dad joke in so long. And, you know, so I want you to know that I get my dad joke prowess from my dad,
[00:28:02] and he started out early on thinking things were funny, and I learned to laugh at certain things in life because of him. But I haven't told dad jokes in a long time, and people have just been
[00:28:10] giving them to me. Like, you know, hey, you haven't told a dad joke in a while. Are you running out of material. No, you're never running out of dad joke material, but you always welcome new dad joke
[00:28:20] material. But I even had some guys who aren't dads send me dad jokes. And I'm saying it's kind of inappropriate if you're not a dad to send me a dad joke because, well, that's a faux pas. Yeah,
[00:28:39] that's a good one, by the way. A faux pas. If anybody has to explain that to you, you're not dad joke material. That's just all this is. This is the big idea for the message today.
[00:28:52] The gospel reconciles us to God, forms us into a new people, and sends us to call others home through Christ. That is the big idea of what we're talking about today. And we're going to be talking
[00:29:05] about more than just sharing the gospel. Today we're talking about the gospel that sends us.
[00:29:11] We've been talking about the gospel that forms us, but we're talking today about the gospel that sends us out.
[00:29:18] The gospel forms the way we think.
[00:29:21] It forms the way we view sin.
[00:29:23] It forms the way we forgive.
[00:29:26] It forms the way we view one another.
[00:29:29] It forms the way we worship.
[00:29:31] And it forms the way we live in the world.
[00:29:35] And that's what the gospel does for us.
[00:29:37] But not only does it do these things, we're going to learn from 2 Corinthians that Paul shows us it does something else.
[00:29:45] The gospel not only reconciles us and forms us, the gospel sends us.
[00:29:53] It requires us to go.
[00:29:55] Most Christians know that we're supposed to share the gospel.
[00:30:00] We hear that phrase a lot.
[00:30:02] We need to share the gospel.
[00:30:03] When's the last time you shared the gospel?
[00:30:06] But sometimes that phrase can feel vague.
[00:30:11] What exactly are we trying to accomplish when we share the gospel?
[00:30:15] Are we simply trying to get someone to attend church?
[00:30:19] Are we trying to convince someone to be more religious?
[00:30:24] Are we trying to win an argument?
[00:30:26] Are we trying to make people live more morally?
[00:30:31] Are we trying to get someone to repeat a prayer?
[00:30:36] or what is the true purpose of sharing the gospel and paul today puts it in plain english for us well it was plain greek and we translated it to plain english but anyway he puts it in plain
[00:30:49] english for us today we implore you on behalf of christ be reconciled to god that's the point The purpose of sharing the gospel is that those who are alienated from God may be reconciled to him through Jesus Christ.
[00:31:12] That gives our sharing the gospel depth.
[00:31:17] It gives evangelism, as we call it, urgency.
[00:31:22] And it gives us sharing the gospel a more gracious posture.
[00:31:28] We're not trying to ram Jesus down anyone's throat.
[00:31:32] That's not the point. We're not trying to pressure people into a religion. We're not trying to approach people as though we are morally superior. We are one reconciled person helping an unreconciled person understand how to come home to God through Christ.
[00:31:55] It is an unreconciled people that we are reaching out to. And so this is kind of the threefold thought process with the gospel we're reconciled by the gospel we're formed by the gospel and we
[00:32:11] are sent with the gospel that simplifies it that puts it on a very elementary level for me and the passage that we're going to read moves in a clear direction we're compelled by christ's love
[00:32:24] we're made new in christ and then we are called to be the messengers of that reconciliation So I want to break it down.
[00:32:32] First, number one, compelled by Christ's love.
[00:32:36] Compelled by Christ's love.
[00:32:39] Let's look at what it says in 2 Corinthians 5, verses 14 and 15.
[00:32:44] For the love of Christ controls us.
[00:32:48] Because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died.
[00:32:54] 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 that when you read that and hear that the first time you read
[00:33:09] it maybe you think that sounds like a poetic boomerang what is going on there it's just kind of like circling around this thing let's break it down number one paul begins with for the love of
[00:33:20] Christ controls us. Other translations, if you're not using the ESV, says compels or constrains.
[00:33:27] The idea is that the love of Christ has taken hold of Paul's life and now directs its course.
[00:33:35] He's not primarily referring about his love of Christ, although he did love Christ. He's talking about the love that Christ had for him. It displayed most clearly on the cross. And then Paul continues, because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have
[00:33:57] died, what he's saying is, is the love of Christ is not merely an emotion. It's a sacrificial action. It's not just Jesus saying, hey, I love you. It is him actually showing and demonstrating him. The sinless Son of God stood in the place of guilty sinners. That's that and all died mean.
[00:34:23] It means that he died in our place. We deserved death because we were not reconciled to God.
[00:34:32] Our sin had separated us from a righteous holy God, and Christ died in our place. He died so that we might live. And Paul says that this love changes the direction of our lives. He words it
[00:34:49] this way, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised. That may be one of the clearest descriptions of what the gospel does
[00:35:02] in a person. Before Christ, we fundamentally live for ourselves. Even when we do good things, our own selfish desires remain at the center before christ our comfort our success our security our possessions our reputation our own plans but when the love of christ takes hold of us
[00:35:26] the center shifts we no longer belong to ourselves the one who died for us now becomes the one for whom we live christianity is not simply adding jesus to a life that we already have intended to live it is surrendering our lives to the one who died and rose again for us
[00:35:50] and that raises an important question for us what is controlling the direction of our lives is it fear is it comfort is it approval or is it the love of christ that controls our lives
[00:36:07] and that matters when we speak about evangelism the the deepest motivation for sharing christ should not be i'm a bad christian if i don't do it we get guilted a lot of times don't we when you hear the question when's the last time you shared the gospel there's that twinge of
[00:36:25] we kind of like feel that oh don't talk about that you're calling me out move on to the next topic please that's not what should be the feeling the deepest motivation is this christ loved me
[00:36:41] gave himself for me and brought me back to god how can i remain indifferent toward those who are still unreconciled. I was given the opportunity to come into a right relationship with my creator through Christ. Why would I hold that quiet with other people? The gospel that forms us
[00:37:10] forms our motivation. We are compelled by the love that Christ has for us. So compelled by Christ's love. Number two, created anew in Christ. Created anew in Christ. Verses 16 and 17.
[00:37:28] 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
[00:37:43] a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. Paul continues. From now on, therefore, he says, we regard no one according to the flesh. To regard someone according to the flesh is to evaluate that person on human standards. The world constantly teaches us to
[00:38:09] categorize people but paul says the gospel changes the way we see people he says even though we once regarded christ according to the flesh we regard him this way no longer there was a time when paul
[00:38:25] looked at jesus and saw a threat he saw a false teacher he saw someone whose followers needed to be stopped but when paul encountered the risen christ everything changed his view of jesus changed. His view of himself changed. His view of others changed. His understanding of his purpose
[00:38:48] in life changed. And then Paul gives one of the greatest declarations of the New Testament.
[00:38:54] Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. Paul does not say that Christianity simply makes someone somewhat better. He says that in Christ, we become new creations. That is not self-improvement.
[00:39:20] This is not religious renovation. This is the work of God bringing life where there was death.
[00:39:29] do we get that that without christ we were dead in our sins and through christ we come into a life and a position before a holy god being made right by what christ has done for us we receive a whole
[00:39:49] new identity a new standing before god a new purpose a new allegiance a new way of seeing ourselves on a new way of seeing others. And it needs to be said for just a moment, kind of a side
[00:40:03] note, if you would, for just a second. There are no degrees of reconciliation. Let me explain what I mean by that. We need to change the way we think about people who do not know Christ. We sometimes
[00:40:19] speak as though people are far from God while others are much closer. One person lives invisible rebellion. Another person lives a moral and responsible life. One person rejects Christianity openly. Another attends church, knows the language, and respects Christian values.
[00:40:42] humanly speaking they appear to stand at varying distances from God but when it comes to reconciliation with God there are no degrees a person is either reconciled to God through Christ or they're not it's that simple that's the simplification I'm trying to tell you
[00:41:05] you either have given your life to Christ and you're choosing to follow him receiving him into your life, or you have not. There are not varying degrees of holiness. When Christ replaced himself with us, when we gave our life to him, we became holy not because of anything we did that we boast
[00:41:27] on, but because Christ himself is holy. There are different degrees of understanding. There are different levels of openness. There are different levels of resistance, and there are different levels of familiarity with Scripture, but no one is partially reconciled. The moral
[00:41:47] person does not need less of the cross, and the openly broken person is not beyond the reach of the cross. That means we cannot judge someone's spiritual need by outward appearance. The person who appears religious may still be unreconciled. The person who appears hopeless may be closer to
[00:42:10] repentance than we realize. That's why when I'm on the phone, my dad says, I'm not quite sure where they are. Would you check in on that? Our responsibility is not to measure the distance.
[00:42:25] Our responsibility is to faithfully proclaim the message. George Whitefield understood this. If you know church history, you recognize that name immediately. George Whitefield was an ordained minister in the Church of England during the 18th century. So, he was a little older than us.
[00:42:50] He preached in a nation that was filled with churches, filled with baptized people, Christian customs, religious language, and outward respectability. Yet, Whitfield insisted that none of those things could substitute for the new birth. He proclaimed that a person could be
[00:43:12] close to the church and still be unreconciled to God. A person could know the prayers, receive communion, respect the Bible, attend worship, live a decent life, and still need to repent and trust personally in Jesus Christ. That message disturbed a lot of people. Over time,
[00:43:37] many church pulpits closed to George Whitefield. Whitefield was not formally removed from the Church of England, but he found himself increasingly unwelcomed in established pulpits because he would say to people, I don't care if you've been baptized. Have you ever given your
[00:43:56] life to Christ? Has the love of Christ compelled you to move? Are you reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. That's what matters. So he went into the fields. In fact, it is said that the early
[00:44:14] colonies of America, 80% of the people that lived there knew George Whitefield because he came and he shared the gospel. One of the first documented spiritual awakenings that happened on this continent was a direct result of George Whitefield saying, you need to be born again. You're not
[00:44:35] reconciled to God until you've given your life to Christ. People still needed to hear. Whitfield refused to let religious familiarity masquerade as reconciliation with God. We've spent this summer considering the gospel that forms us, but we've got to ask, has the gospel merely informed
[00:45:00] us or is it actually forming us? Are we different because of the gospel? Is it possible to know the language of grace without being humbled by the grace? I say yes. I also say that it's possible
[00:45:20] to sing about forgiveness while holding on to bitterness. It is possible to speak about the new life while continuing to live primarily for ourselves. It is possible to believe that people need Christ while never telling anyone how reconciliation is achieved. It is possible to
[00:45:43] be near the church while still being unreconciled to God. So before we ask whom we should tell, we must first ask have i personally been reconciled to god through christ not simply do i attend
[00:46:02] was i raised in the church have i been baptized do i believe christian truths but have i turned from sin trusted in jesus christ has the gospel brought me to god and if i've been reconciled is
[00:46:20] the gospel still forming me? Am I different today than I was six months ago because of the gospel in my life? Is the love of Christ loosening the grip of my self-centeredness? Is grace making me more forgiving? Is the gospel changing the way I view people? Is it producing compassion
[00:46:44] for those who remain without Christ? The gospel that reconciles us is the gospel that continues to form us which brings us to number three commissioned with the ministry of reconciliation let's look at this second corinthians 5 verses 18 through 19 all of this is from god who through
[00:47:09] 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. Paul says, all this is from God, who through Christ reconciled
[00:47:33] us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Notice where reconciliation begins. All this is from God. Reconciliation is God's idea. Salvation did not begin with humanity searching for God. It began with God seeking sinners. We were the ones who rebelled.
[00:47:57] We were the ones that wandered off. We were the ones who broke fellowship with God, and yet God took the initiative. Paul says that God, through Christ, reconciled us to himself. To reconcile means to restore a relationship that has been broken, and that identifies the deepest human
[00:48:19] problem our greatest problem is not simply that life is difficult not that we lack purpose not that our relationships are damaged not that we experience guilt or anxiety or sorrow or fear our deepest problem is that sin has alienated us from a holy god we were made for god we
[00:48:46] were made to know him we were made to worship him we were made to live under his gracious rule but sin separated us from him. Reconciliation means that through Christ, the sinner is brought back to God against whom we sin. Peter describes the purpose of Christ's death this way. These
[00:49:07] are the words he says, Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. That may be one of the clearest statements of the gospel.
[00:49:24] Christ died to bring us to God.
[00:49:29] That's it.
[00:49:30] Christ died to bring us to God.
[00:49:35] The gospel is not only about escaping hell.
[00:49:39] It is not only about receiving forgiveness as an isolated benefit.
[00:49:43] It is not merely about gaining a place in heaven.
[00:49:47] The greatest gift of the gospel is God himself.
[00:49:52] Forgiveness removes the barrier Justification gives us a righteous standing Adoption welcomes us into the family But reconciliation brings us back into peace and fellowship with God The ministry has a purpose Paul says God has given us the ministry of reconciliation
[00:50:17] That ministry has a definite purpose To call people who are separated from God to be reconciled to him through Jesus Christ.
[00:50:28] This is a challenging word, and I know it hits on different levels with different people, but does it not simplify who we are as believers when we have other relationships in our lives?
[00:50:42] We have been given the message of reconciliation for that other person to know what it is and how to come back to a right relationship with God.
[00:50:55] Through Christ, guilty sinners can be restored to a holy God. That gives the ministry of reconciliation its teeth. We are not merely helping people improve their lives. We are announcing that their broken relationship with God
[00:51:14] can be restored. Every single person who does not know that needs to know it. Your broken relationship with God can be restored. We're not merely giving religious advice. We are calling people to repentance and truth. We're not merely inviting them to add Jesus to their lives. We are calling
[00:51:38] them to lay down their rebellion and come to God through Christ. God did not reconcile us by overlooking sin. He did not pretend that rebellion was insignificant. He did not lower his standard of holiness. Justice had to be upheld. Guilt had to be answered. Sin had to be judged. That is why
[00:51:59] reconciliation comes through Christ at the cross. Jesus stood in the place of sinners. He bore the judgment we deserved. He removed the barrier of guilt. The cross shows us both the seriousness of our alienation and the greatness of God's grace. Therefore, the ministry of reconciliation
[00:52:20] can never be separated from the message of the cross.
[00:52:25] We don't just say, God loves you.
[00:52:28] We explain how his love was demonstrated.
[00:52:32] We don't just say, God wants a relationship with you.
[00:52:35] We explain why that relationship is broken and how Christ restores it.
[00:52:40] That's what I call the complete gospel.
[00:52:43] God created the world perfect.
[00:52:44] Sin broke the relationship.
[00:52:46] You can look around the world and know that the world is struggling.
[00:52:49] It is not a peaceful place to live.
[00:52:55] There's problems.
[00:52:56] There's struggles.
[00:52:57] It's not the way God created the world.
[00:53:00] Sin broke it.
[00:53:01] We need Christ to come back into peace with God.
[00:53:04] We do that through his sacrifice.
[00:53:07] We come to God through the crucified and risen Christ.
[00:53:13] Paul says that God has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation.
[00:53:18] That means the gospel is not only something we demonstrate.
[00:53:22] It is something we declare.
[00:53:24] Yes, our lives matter.
[00:53:26] Our compassion matters.
[00:53:28] Our integrity matters.
[00:53:30] Our willingness to forgive matters.
[00:53:32] Our conduct should support the message we proclaim.
[00:53:35] But no one can understand the full gospel simply by watching us live.
[00:53:43] The gospel is a message.
[00:53:45] And a message requires words.
[00:53:48] we demonstrate grace we must also declare grace we live change lives but we must also explain who changed us we serve people but we must also point them to the savior which brings us to number
[00:54:11] four sent as ambassadors for christ look at verses 20 through 21 therefore we are ambassadors because he's given 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.
[00:54:31] For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Paul now reaches the top of his argument, and this is where I've been coming all summer
[00:54:45] along. Right here. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.
[00:54:54] An ambassador lives in one kingdom while officially representing another. He does not speak on his own authority. He does not create his own message. He represents the one who sent him.
[00:55:09] An ambassador must remember who sent me, whose name do I represent, and what message have I been entrusted with to give.
[00:55:20] We are ambassadors for Christ.
[00:55:23] That is not a title for just pastors or missionaries or evangelists that travel and preach in tents.
[00:55:31] Every Christian represents Christ.
[00:55:40] And then Paul says something astonishing, God making his appeal through us.
[00:55:46] God has chosen to make his appeal through reconciled people.
[00:55:51] Christ is the reconciler, we're not.
[00:55:55] Christ is the mediator, we are not.
[00:55:58] Christ saves, we do not.
[00:56:03] But God has chosen to use our lives, our relationships, our words, our prayers, and our witness as a part of the means through which people hear the gospel.
[00:56:18] God is the one appealing. Christ is the grounds of the appeal. The gospel is the content of the appeal, and the reconciled believer becomes the human voice through whom the appeal is delivered.
[00:56:32] You have been entrusted with the answer. That means there is someone in your life who may not know how to come back to God.
[00:56:48] They may not understand what has broken the relationship with God.
[00:56:55] They may not understand why good works cannot repair it.
[00:57:00] They may not understand what Jesus accomplished at the cross.
[00:57:05] They may not understand how repentance and faith bring peace with God.
[00:57:10] And God has entrusted you with that message.
[00:57:14] you do not own the answer you did not invent the answer and you are not the answer but you know the answer and the answer is christ here it is simplified evangelism is one reconciled person
[00:57:36] helping an unreconciled person understand how to come home to god through christ maybe you can take a picture of that drop it drop it in chat gbt and say make this even more simple say this in three words if you want to whatever you want to ask it and everything but
[00:57:54] that's pretty simple the reason i want to share with you is the love of christ purchased me i was unreconciled to god i didn't have peace with god christ purchased me back when i realized that
[00:58:09] and i surrendered my life to him i was then reconciled to god i want you to experience the same. I want you to know that and to feel it, and that changes our posture. We're not
[00:58:23] salespeople pushing a product. We are ambassadors carrying a message of peace. We listen. We ask questions. We seek to understand. We help people recognize what sin has broken. We explain what Christ has accomplished, and we invite them to repent and believe. A gospel conversation might
[00:58:46] begin with a question. Where do you believe you stand with God? Have you ever thought about what it means to be reconciled to Him? Would you mind if I shared what has given me hope? You don't have
[00:59:03] to preach a sermon. You don't have to know every theological answer. You don't have to force a decision. You simply need to be willing to speak faithfully. The results belong to God. I heard one pastor say, I'm not a failure if I don't lead someone to Christ. I'm only a failure if I never
[00:59:23] share, because the change comes from God. The results belong to Him. The witness belongs to us, but the change belongs to God. God may use your ordinary faithful witness to bring someone back to Himself. Someone near you may be living unreconciled to God, and God may have placed
[00:59:46] you close enough to them so that you can show them the way home. You may be the person through whom God makes his appeal. Paul says, we implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
[01:00:03] Notice the urgency. He pleads, he urges, he implores. The gospel is good news, but it's also urgent news. There is a danger that Christians can spend a great deal of time talking about lost people, but never speaking to lost people. We can criticize the culture. We can lament the moral
[01:00:26] decline. We can discuss what is wrong with society. We can complain about the next generation, but ambassadors do not merely analyze the country in which they have been assigned to. They deliver the message of the king. Our goal is not only to work and prove we are right. Our goal is to see
[01:00:45] people reconciled to God. Second Corinthians 521 again, for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. This verse explains how
[01:01:01] reconciliation is possible anyway. Christ knew no sin. Jesus lived in perfect obedience. He never rebelled. He never deceived. He never acted selfishly, never entertained an impure thought, never failed to love the Father. Yet at the cross, the sinless one stood in the place of sinners.
[01:01:24] And when Paul says God made him to be sin, he doesn't mean that Jesus became sinful. He means our guilt was counted against him. He bore our judgment. He stood in our place. And through faith,
[01:01:39] his righteousness is counted as ours. Our sin was placed upon Christ, his righteousness credited to us. Our guilt given to him, his standing given to us, he received what we deserve so that we could receive what only he deserved. This is the foundation of reconciliation. We are reconciled
[01:02:04] because Christ's righteousness becomes ours by grace through faith. This is the message entrusted to the ambassador. The gospel does not merely rescue us from judgment. It brings us to God.
[01:02:21] The gospel does not simply inform us. It forms us. And the gospel does not merely comfort us.
[01:02:28] It sends us. So we've got to ask three questions. Am I reconciled? Have I personally trusted Christ?
[01:02:39] not simply attend church or speak the christian language or respect the bible the question is have i turned from sin and trusted the crucified and risen christ have i been brought to god through him am i being formed is the love of christ controlling my life and am i willing to
[01:03:01] be sent who has god placed within my reach who in my life needs to hear that reconciliation with god is possible who needs to know what christ has done what is keeping me silent now in preparation for
[01:03:23] this message just to be completely transparent with you i thought oh this is gonna be one of those things that that we're just kind of challenging people and people are going to walk out kind of like well i haven't shared with anybody a long time and there's gonna be that twinge of
[01:03:36] guilt and there was something that was just gnawing at me about it and so i just spent a little time of just stepping back from the message and and and thinking about the great commission
[01:03:47] go therefore make disciples thinking about what christ has called me to and just trying to kind of reconcile in my own mind what was going on and i suddenly it hit me and this is this is what i
[01:03:59] came up with i am not interrupting someone's life with religion i am offering them the most important truth I know. They can have peace with God through Christ. We need to get out of this
[01:04:16] whole mindset that, well, you know, if I start talking to them about Jesus, they're going to be really mad at me and will maybe come in a different posture, pray through it. Of course they are, because there's power in the name. And a lost individual who's not walking with Christ
[01:04:34] doesn't fully understand because the world has done a number on the name of jesus but it'll never return void it'll never return hollow if i have the greatest news in the world of how to
[01:04:51] have peace with god why would i not figure out ways to motivate that conversation to move in that direction here's one thing that i here's one thing that i believe we do self-included in this
[01:05:04] I think we do incorrectly. We wait too long to have the conversation. We wait way too long to have the conversation. Now, I learned this one from my dad. It might be the first sentence out
[01:05:22] of his mouth when he meets you. That might be a little soon sometimes, but I learned that from him because here's what I found out, that if I don't make it up toward the front of the relationship,
[01:05:33] it becomes really awkward to bring it up later.
[01:05:38] So don't linger.
[01:05:40] Let's put it out there quick.
[01:05:43] I am not interrupting someone's life with religion.
[01:05:47] I am concerned for that individual who may not be reconciled to God, and I want to share with them what I know to be the hope and the peace to be able to come back into a right relationship with God.
[01:05:59] That's not being pushy.
[01:06:01] That's not being rude.
[01:06:03] that's actually being loving toward that person.
[01:06:08] And how they respond to that can somewhat be on the way that I approach them.
[01:06:13] Of course, I acknowledge that.
[01:06:14] But for the most part, it's on them.
[01:06:18] If I want to tell you good news and you look at me and call me a name, what am I supposed to do with that?
[01:06:27] Jesus said if you go into a town and you try to share the good news of who I am and they won't receive it, walk out of the town and shake the dust off your shoes
[01:06:37] and keep moving. Don't let it bother you. The results are God's deal, not ours. So let the love of Christ compel us. Let the gospel continue to form us and let us see people differently
[01:06:52] and let us faithfully carry the appeal of Christ. Be reconciled to God. That's what we hold.
[01:07:03] and there are people this week because of this message today who have a divine appointment with God and they don't know it's coming but you're going to be the messenger that brings them the good news.
[01:07:16] Let's pray.
[01:07:20] Father, we thank you for the good news.
[01:07:25] We didn't know that we needed you until someone let us know that the brokenness we're feeling in our hearts is a broken relationship with you and sharing our faith with other people because there's power in it feels intense,
[01:07:47] but the most loving thing we can do to the people that you've brought into our lives is to share the good news of the gospel.
[01:07:57] And then, Father, we fear that we're going to do it wrong or that we're going to fail or that we're going to not be able to answer a question the other person asks or we're going to appear a certain way.
[01:08:08] And all you've asked us to do is be ambassadors of the good news, messengers of reconciliation.
[01:08:18] so bring peace in our hearts put that face in our mind that we're going to have an opportunity to talk to this week because the hope of this city the hope of this state the hope of this country
[01:08:41] and the hope of this world is not a philosophy it's it's the truth and the hope of you jesus to help us to win back our culture by being messengers of the good news for us in jesus name we pray amen

[01:09:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:09:04] Would y'all stand as we sing?
[01:09:30] The gospel, oh, I stand the gospel.
[01:10:14] The justice gospel, I stand the gospel, I stand the gospel.

[01:11:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:11:14] And that is the gospel that forms us.
[01:11:16] Amen.
[01:11:17] Next week we begin to go through the book of Romans.
[01:11:22] And very excited about that.
[01:11:24] You may want to start reading through that.
[01:11:26] I know you're going to have lots of questions.
[01:11:27] And I encourage you that if you've not been a part of a Connect group, That's our small groups that meet down the hallway, opposite hour of being in here.
[01:11:36] If you've not been a part of Connect Group, now's a good time to jump in because the Connect Groups will also be discussing the same verses that are spoken about in here.
[01:11:45] You're going to have questions and need a place to vet those questions and to bring them out.
[01:11:50] So it would be a great time to jump in on those.
[01:11:52] Well, as we always do, we want to end our time in reading Scripture together because it's the word we stand on that is powerful.
[01:12:00] And so we want to read this together.
[01:12:01] This is 2 Corinthians 5, verse 20.
[01:12:05] You guys read out loud with me as I read out loud as well.
[01:12:08] And the Word of God says, Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ.
[01:12:13] Since God is making His appeal through us, we plead on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.
[01:12:22] Go with him.
[01:12:23] Good morning. How are you doing?
[01:36:45] It is so good to be together today as we come together to celebrate.
[01:36:50] Have you ever thought about what Christ has done for us in a way that brings us back to God?
[01:36:56] Today we're going to be talking about our peace with God and why that's important for us and how we should go and share that with other people.
[01:37:04] So excited to be able to sing songs of worship with this amazing worship team here as we join together to praise our King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
[01:37:13] So if you would here and in the Youth Center, please stand at this time.
[01:37:17] let me lead us in prayer as we go into a time of singing praises to our King. Let's pray together.
[01:37:23] Father, we thank you for your grace and your mercy that greets us here today. The fellowship that has already been enjoyed because we've come before you now. We pray, Lord, that you would just hear our hearts, our voices, our thoughts, help us to be still and to know you as we sing, as we
[01:37:40] worship the goodness of you and Christ, what you've done for us to bring us back into right relationship with our Creator. So hear our voices. Be glorified. We're singing Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

[01:37:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:37:55] Good morning, church. As we start this morning, we're here to worship the King of Kings, the ruler of the world. So as we sing this morning, lift your voices to Him in worship and gratitude.

[01:38:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:38:18] Remember those walls that we called sin and shame. They were like prisons that we couldn't escape.
[01:38:28] Walls are rubble now.
[01:38:48] They were like mountains now.
[01:38:58] Giants are dead now.

[01:39:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[01:39:08] He loved.
[01:39:10] This is our God.
[01:39:12] This is what He does.
[01:39:14] He saves us.
[01:39:16] He bore the cross, beat the grave.
[01:39:23] Our God, He's our God.

[01:39:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[01:39:26] We just sing.
[01:53:54] Pray, Father, we just thank you so much.
[01:53:57] We can sing a song like this.
[01:54:00] Songs that speak to your truth and who you are.
[01:54:03] And Father, that the victory is yours.
[01:54:06] And Father, thank you for bringing us in your family and calling us your children.
[01:54:11] I pray that you continue to speak to us this morning through your word.
[01:54:14] And we pray this in the mighty name of Jesus.

[01:54:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:54:55] Well, it may be as hard for you to believe it as it is for me to believe that this is the end of the gospel that forms us series, which means it's coming to an end of summer.
[01:55:05] And we've got to start thinking fall things along those lines.
[01:55:09] Next week, we start the book of Romans.
[01:55:10] I would encourage you to read ahead.
[01:55:13] If you've thought to yourself, you know, you're going through the gospel that forms us And you've spread it out over so many weeks You've just kind of really overcomplicated the whole entire thing And there could be an argument made there
[01:55:26] But if that's your thought process, then you're in a good place today Because we're going to make today's message incredibly simple Today's message is going to be about the gospel that sends us We're ambassadors of grace, and we're called to reconcile.
[01:55:44] We don't do the reconciling.
[01:55:46] Christ does the reconciling, but we're called to be messengers of that reconciliation.
[01:55:51] We're called to be the ones that go.
[01:55:53] And that's what we're going to talk a little bit today as we kind of, quote, unquote, land the plane, so to speak, for the Gospel That Forms Us series.
[01:56:02] It's been amazing to kind of walk through this and to hear some of the conversations in the hallways around the gospel, why it's important, why we need it, what it's about, all the little nuances about the gospel.
[01:56:14] But today is, what do we do with it?
[01:56:17] The gospel not only forms us, but it also sends us.
[01:56:19] But before we dive into 2 Corinthians here in just a moment, I want to take a moment of personal privilege and just kind of tell you about something in my own life that's pretty unique, and I understand it's unique, and that's why I'm mentioning it.
[01:56:34] Yesterday, my parents celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary.
[01:56:45] Yeah, absolutely amazing.
[01:56:49] I learned a lot from my parents about how to be a married couple, how to be parents themselves.
[01:56:54] Just learned, and them just doing life.
[01:56:56] They didn't realize at the time when they were just doing life, trying to make ends meet, and just kind of walking with God what they were teaching me and forming in my walk.
[01:57:06] I talked to my dad on the phone yesterday, and I said, Well, Dad, you've told me before, but remind me what the secret to a long, happy, healthy marriage is.
[01:57:14] And he said, A growing relationship with Christ, seven significant touches a day, and mutual respect.
[01:57:21] That's his book.
[01:57:22] If he was going to write a book, that would be his book that he needs to write on that.
[01:57:27] But just very encouraging.
[01:57:28] I tell you that to say that he also taught me some other things that I'm going to bring throughout the message today.
[01:57:35] about the gospel that forms us and the gospel that sends us.
[01:57:41] But if you ever wanted to know anything about me, I get my dad joke prowess from my dad.
[01:57:47] He started out with the dad joke thing.
[01:57:49] And I know that I haven't told a lot of dad jokes throughout the summer.
[01:57:52] I've just been jumping right in.
[01:57:53] Some people were telling me, man, you just dive right into the message.
[01:57:56] You don't tell any jokes anymore.
[01:57:58] So much so that I've had people sending me, hey, did you run out of material?
[01:58:03] You know, what's the deal?
[01:58:04] I mean, emails of like, here's a list, pick one out of this, and let's kind of start the message out.
[01:58:10] I really feel like that there could be a group of people that would just like, they would, if they had their wish, I would tell three or four dad jokes, and they'd just get up and walk out at that point.
[01:58:19] They'd be like, okay, that's what we came for, see ya.
[01:58:22] I even had people that weren't dads sending me dad jokes, and you know it's kind of like not proper for someone who's not a dad to send a dad joke, because that's just a faux pas.
[01:58:40] Ask the person next to you if you're going, huh?
[01:58:45] Oh, but I do have some things that I want to bring out in the message today about my dad, what he taught me over the years of what it means to just walk through life with Christ.
[01:58:55] When things are great, you walk with Christ.
[01:58:57] When things are bad, you walk with Christ.
[01:58:59] And so happy anniversary, Mom and Dad.
[01:59:01] There's a good chance they're listening to the message today.
[01:59:04] And so I just want to say happy anniversary.
[01:59:06] And what a blessing you are to our entire family and to those who know you.
[01:59:11] So thank you for that.
[01:59:12] I want to give you the big idea of what the gospel message today is about.
[01:59:18] This is it.
[01:59:19] The gospel reconciles us to God, forms us into new people, and sends us to call others home through Christ.
[01:59:28] That's kind of the whole big idea of the message.
[01:59:31] We're going to talk more about just sharing the gospel.
[01:59:35] We've been talking about the gospel that forms us, but we need to understand that the gospel is more than just a message of the Christian life.
[01:59:43] It is the truth that continues to shape us as people.
[01:59:48] That's why you'll hear me say from time to time, we should be different next week than we are today.
[01:59:53] The gospel should be forming us in some way this week.
[01:59:56] We should have interactions within the kingdom that causes us to be more like Christ this week.
[02:00:03] The gospel basically forms how we think, and this is how we walk through it.
[02:00:07] it forms the way we view sin it forms the way we forgive it forms the way we relate to one another it forms the way we worship and it forms the way we live in the world we should look and appear as
[02:00:22] different than what the world is because of the good news of the gospel but second corinthians is going to show us that the gospel does something else too the gospel not only reconciles us and
[02:00:36] forms us into be a new people, the gospel also sends us. We're to go. We're to go with the message. Most Christians know that we're supposed to share the gospel. That's the phrase, isn't it?
[02:00:51] You need to share the gospel. We know that as believers. In fact, many times when you hear a pastor or anybody challenge you, when's the last time you've shared the gospel with someone, there's that twinge of a little bit of can we move on to the next topic don't really want to talk
[02:01:08] about that i mean and then we start listing out the reasons we haven't but i want to set us free today i want to make it easier for us to think about it today because i don't want anybody
[02:01:17] leaving here today with a twinge of guilt because you haven't shared the gospel recently i want you to actually be motivated to share the gospel i want you to hear what paul says about it and i
[02:01:27] want us to land the plane on, we didn't just learn about the gospel, we're actually going with the gospel. So you have to ask the question, when you're sharing the gospel with someone, what exactly
[02:01:39] are you trying to accomplish? Are we simply trying to get someone to attend church? Are we trying to convince someone to become religious? Are we trying to win an argument or to make that person more
[02:01:55] morally correct? Are we trying to get someone to repeat a prayer? What is the true purpose of sharing the gospel with someone else? And Paul gives us a very clear answer. He says this, we're going to see it in a moment, we implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
[02:02:19] That's the purpose. There are people who do not know how to be reconciled to God. The purpose of sharing the gospel is that those who are alienated from God may be reconciled to Him through Jesus Christ. That's why we share the gospel. That gives the sharing the gospel depth,
[02:02:44] it gives it a sense of urgency, and it also gives us a more gracious posture when we're sharing the gospel. We're not supposed to be a people that rams Jesus down somebody's throat. That's not
[02:02:57] what this is about. We're not trying to pressure people into a religion. We're not approaching people as though we are morally superior. We are one reconciled person helping an unreconciled person understand how to come home to God through Christ. That's what it's about.
[02:03:20] Kind of the flow might be this. We are reconciled by the gospel. We are then formed by the gospel, and then we are sent with the gospel.
[02:03:32] That's who we are as a people of believers in Christ.
[02:03:36] And so the message and the passage that we're going to come out of today in 2 Corinthians has a clear direction, compelled by Christ's love, created in newness in Christ, and then commissioned with the message of reconciliation.
[02:03:50] Number one, compelled by Christ's love.
[02:03:55] Compelled by Christ's love.
[02:03:56] Let's look at this, verse 14.
[02:03:58] For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died.
[02:04:07] 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.
[02:04:17] Paul begins with, for the love of Christ controls us.
[02:04:22] Other translations might say compelled or constrained, But the idea is that the love of Christ has taken hold of Paul's life and now directs its course.
[02:04:35] Paul is not primarily referring to the love he has for Christ.
[02:04:39] He's talking mainly about the love that Christ has for him.
[02:04:44] And it was displayed in the cross.
[02:04:47] And then Paul continues, Because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died.
[02:04:55] The love of Christ is not merely an emotion.
[02:04:59] It is a sacrificial action.
[02:05:04] Jesus did not only tell us that He loved us.
[02:05:09] He gave Himself for us.
[02:05:13] The sinless Son of God stood in the place of guilty sinners.
[02:05:17] He bore the judgment our sin deserved.
[02:05:20] He died so that we might live.
[02:05:22] Paul says that this love changes the direction of our lives.
[02:05:30] He says that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.
[02:05:40] That may be one of the clearest descriptions of what the gospel does in a person.
[02:05:45] Before Christ, we live fundamentally for ourselves.
[02:05:50] even when we do good things those good things are still centered around self our comfort our success our security our preferences our reputation our plans but when the love of christ takes a hold of us the center of our lives shifts we no longer belong to ourselves
[02:06:16] the one who died for us now becomes the one for whom we live christianity is not simply adding jesus to a life we already intended to live it is surrendering our lives to the one who died and
[02:06:32] rose again for us and that raises an incredible question for us today what is controlling the direction of my life? Is it fear, comfort, approval, or is it the love of Christ? That matters when we talk about sharing the gospel with other people. The deepest motivation for
[02:06:58] sharing Christ is not, I'm a bad Christian if I don't share my faith. I've been to those kind of seminars before. You're a loser if you never share your faith kind of feeling that you come
[02:07:10] out of there and I'm thinking, well, you know, I haven't shared my faith in the last little bit or whatever and everything. And so, yeah, right. I'm a loser. That's not our motivation. This is what
[02:07:21] Paul is saying. Christ loved me. He gave himself for me and brought me back to God. How can I remain indifferent toward those who are still unreconciled? That's what Paul is saying.
[02:07:39] I was unreconciled to God. Christ purchased me. How can I not share that information with those who are still unreconciled with God? The gospel that forms us forms our motivation. We are compelled by love, and that love is the love of Christ that He has for us. Number two, created anew in Christ.
[02:08:03] Look at 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
[02:08:22] the new has come paul continues with from now on therefore we regard no one according to the flesh to regard to regard someone according to the flesh is to say that you're judging them on human
[02:08:38] standards. The world constantly teaches us to categorize people. But Paul says that the gospel changes the way we see people. He says, even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. There was a time when Paul looked at Jesus and saw a threat.
[02:09:03] He saw a false teacher. He saw someone whose followers needed to be stopped. But when Paul encountered the risen Christ, everything changed. His view of Jesus changed, his view of himself changed, his view of others changed, and his understanding of his purpose changed. Then Paul
[02:09:25] gives one of the greatest declarations in the New Testament. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, and behold, the new has come. Paul does not say that
[02:09:41] Christianity simply makes people somewhat better. He says that Christ and in him we become new creations. That's not self-improvement. That's not religious renovation. This is the work of God bringing life where there was death. We receive a new identity, a new standing before God, a new
[02:10:07] purpose, a new allegiance, a new way of seeing ourselves, and a new way of seeing others.
[02:10:14] And I just kind of want to do a side note for just a moment for clarification, because I've had these kind of conversations before, and I want to make sure we understand something.
[02:10:22] There is no degree, or degrees rather, of reconciliation.
[02:10:31] Let me explain.
[02:10:34] We sometimes speak as though some people are very far from God while others are much closer.
[02:10:41] One person lives in visible rebellion while another person lives a moral and respectable life.
[02:10:48] One person rejects Christianity openly, and another attends church, knows the language, and respects Christian values.
[02:10:57] Humanly speaking, they appear to stand at different distances from God.
[02:11:05] But when it comes to reconciliation with God, there are no degrees.
[02:11:10] A person is either reconciled to God through Christ or remains unreconciled.
[02:11:17] There are differences of understanding.
[02:11:20] There are different levels of openness.
[02:11:22] There are different forms of resistance.
[02:11:25] There are different levels of familiarity with Scripture.
[02:11:29] But no one is partially reconciled.
[02:11:35] The moral person does not need less of the cross, and the openly broken person is not beyond the reach of the cross.
[02:11:44] That means we cannot judge someone's spiritual need by outward appearance.
[02:11:51] The person who appears religious may still be unreconciled.
[02:11:55] The person who appears hopeless may be closer to repentance than we realize.
[02:12:03] This is one thing that I've learned from my dad.
[02:12:05] You never assume, because of the way someone acts or talks, that they have been reconciled to God through Christ.
[02:12:14] I was picking something up for my dad the other day, and he knows vaguely the person that I was picking it up from, And so he knew and heard that I was going to go pick it up for him, take him to his house.
[02:12:24] And he called me, and he said, hey, heard you're going to go pick up that piece of equipment for me.
[02:12:29] I greatly appreciate that.
[02:12:31] Something I want to kind of put on your radar.
[02:12:33] I'm not sure of this person's faith, so maybe linger there and let the conversation come up, and maybe you can explore where they are in their faith.
[02:12:42] He wasn't assuming because they were being nice that they knew Christ.
[02:12:46] He wasn't assuming just because they were doing something really good that they knew Christ. Our responsibility is not to measure the distance. Our responsibility is to faithfully proclaim the message. George Whitefield understood this, and if you are a
[02:13:07] church history person, you know that name, but if you're not, you don't. That's okay.
[02:13:11] George Whitefield was an ordained minister in the Church of England during the 18th century.
[02:13:17] That might be one reason you don't know him, unless you're a history guy or a gal.
[02:13:23] He preached in a nation, listen to this, he preached in a nation that was filled with churches.
[02:13:28] It was filled with baptized people, Christian customs, religious language, and outward respectability.
[02:13:36] Yet Whitfield insisted that none of those things could substitute for the new birth.
[02:13:42] he proclaimed that a person could be close to the church and still be unreconciled to God a person could know the prayers receive communion respect the bible attend worship live a decent life and still need to repent and trust personally in Jesus Christ and that message that he brought
[02:14:07] out disturbed many people. Over time, many churches in his area closed the pulpit to him.
[02:14:16] He was not formally removed from the Church of England, but he found himself increasingly unwelcome in established pulpits, which eventually drove him to the New England states, the colonies. It is written and said that early on, before we became a nation, that 80% of the
[02:14:37] people that lived in the colonies knew the name George Whitefield because he was sharing the gospel. He is accredited to one of the first spiritual awakenings in recording to our nation.
[02:14:53] He understood that the ministry of reconciliation was not confined to the church building. He refused to let religious familiarity masquerade as reconciliation with God. We've spent this summer considering the gospel that forms us, but we've got to ask this question. Has the gospel merely
[02:15:17] informed us, or is it actually forming us? Has the gospel merely informed us, or is it actually forming us? It is possible to know the language of grace without being humbled by grace. It is possible to sing about forgiveness
[02:15:41] while holding bitterness in our hearts.
[02:15:46] It is possible to speak about the new life while continually living primarily for ourselves.
[02:15:57] It is possible to believe that people need Christ while never telling anyone how reconciliation is achieved.
[02:16:04] It is possible to be near the church while still unreconciled to God.
[02:16:13] So before we talk about whom we should tell, we must first ask, have I personally been reconciled to God through Christ?
[02:16:27] Not simply do I attend Peninsula, was I raised in the church, have I been baptized, do I know the Christian truths, but have I turned from sin and trusted Jesus Christ?
[02:16:38] Has the gospel brought me to God?
[02:16:43] And if I've been reconciled, is the gospel still forming me?
[02:16:49] Am I different today than I was six months ago?
[02:16:52] Because the gospel has been working in my life.
[02:16:55] Is the love of Christ loosening its grip on my self-centeredness?
[02:17:02] Is grace making me more forgiving?
[02:17:06] Is the gospel changing the way I view people?
[02:17:09] is it producing compassion for those who remain without Christ? That gospel that reconciles us is the gospel that continues to form us, to grow us, to challenge us, and to give us a place of
[02:17:28] purpose and standing. Which brings us to number three as we continue in this passage. Commissioned with the ministry of reconciliation. Verse 18, 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
[02:17:51] reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Paul says all of this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself. Notice where the reconciliation begins. The reconciliation is from God. It was
[02:18:14] his idea. Salvation did not begin because humanity started searching for God. It began with God seeking sinners. We were the ones who rebelled. We are the ones who wandered. We are the ones who broke fellowship with God, and yet God took the initiative. And Paul says that God, through
[02:18:36] Christ reconciled us to himself. To reconcile, by the way, means to restore a relationship that has been broken. And that identifies the deepest human problem. There's a lot of people that have a lot of problems. There's a lot of people that like to share their problems too, isn't there?
[02:18:59] You're like, you engage in conversation and pretty soon you're, I'm just being completely honest with you, you're like, wow, why did I start this conversation? It's like, whew, it's tough.
[02:19:11] The greatest problem with people is not lack of purpose.
[02:19:15] It's not our relationships are damaged.
[02:19:17] It's not simply that we experience guilt or anxiety or sorrow or fear or failure.
[02:19:25] Our deepest problem is that sin has alienated us from a holy God.
[02:19:32] That's the problem with the world.
[02:19:36] We were made for God.
[02:19:38] We were made to know God.
[02:19:39] We were made to worship God.
[02:19:41] and we were made to live under his gracious rule, but sin separated us from him. Reconciliation means that through Christ, the sinner is brought back to the God against whom that person has sinned.
[02:19:57] Peter describes the purpose of Christ's death this way, Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. That may be one of the clear statements of the gospel. Christ died to bring us to God. That's simple, but it's clear
[02:20:24] the gospel is not only about escaping hell. It is not only about receiving forgiveness as an isolated benefit. It's not merely about gaining a place in heaven. The greatest gift of the gospel is God himself. Forgiveness removes the barrier. Justification gives us a righteous standing.
[02:20:57] Adoption welcomes us into the family, but reconciliation brings us back into peace and fellowship with God. Ministry has purpose. Paul says God has given us the ministry of reconciliation, to call people who are separated from God to be reconciled to Him through Jesus
[02:21:20] Christ. Through Christ, guilty sinners can be restored to a relationship with a holy God.
[02:21:30] That's what gives the ministry of reconciliation its teeth. That's where we land. We're not just helping people improve their lives. We're announcing that their broken relationship with God can be restored. We're not just simply giving religious advice or calling people to kind of
[02:21:54] better themselves before God. We're calling them to a place of repentance and faith in Christ.
[02:21:59] We're not simply inviting them to add Jesus to their lives. We're calling them to lay down the rebellion and come to God through Christ. God did not reconcile us by overlooking sin. He did not
[02:22:11] pretend that rebellion was insignificant. He did not lower his standard of holiness.
[02:22:17] Justice had to be upheld. Guilt had to be answered, and sin had to be judged. That is why reconciliation comes through Christ at the cross. Jesus stood in place of the sinners. He bore the
[02:22:33] judgment we deserved. He removed the barrier of guilt, and the cross shows us both the seriousness of our alienation and the greatness of God's grace. Therefore, the ministry of reconciliation can never be separated from the message of the cross. We don't say simply, well, God loves you.
[02:22:56] We explain how His love was demonstrated. We don't just say, God wants a relationship with you. We explain why that relationship is broken and how Christ restores it. We don't just say, come to God. We say, come to God through the crucified and risen Christ.
[02:23:18] Paul says that God has entrusted that message to us as believers. The message of reconciliation is the way he calls it. That means the gospel is not only something we demonstrate, it is something we declare. Our lives matter, our compassion matters, our integrity matters, the way we
[02:23:42] forgive others matters. Our conduct matters, but we should support the message we proclaim with words. No one can understand the full gospel simply by watching the way you live. The gospel is a message, and a message requires words. We do demonstrate grace. We do demonstrate
[02:24:09] patience but we must also declare grace and from where we get our patience we live change lives but we must explain who changed our lives we serve people but we've got to point them to the
[02:24:29] savior which brings us to number four sent as ambassadors for christ verses 20 and 21 therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. That's a huge statement. We should probably camp on that for a few weeks, but I'll just let you know it's a huge statement.
[02:24:51] 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. Paul now reaches to the top
[02:25:06] of his argument, and probably, potentially, where I have been heading all summer is right here.
[02:25:13] Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. An ambassador lives in one kingdom while officially representing another kingdom. He does not speak with his own authority. He does not create his own message. He represents the one who sent him. An ambassador
[02:25:37] must remember three questions. Who sent me? Whose name do I represent? And what message have I been entrusted to deliver? Paul says, we are ambassadors for Christ. This is not a title for just pastors
[02:25:55] or missionaries or traveling evangelists. This is everyone. Every Christian represents Christ.
[02:26:05] And then Paul says something that's quite astonishing.
[02:26:08] God making his appeal through us.
[02:26:12] God has chosen to make his appeal through reconciled people.
[02:26:18] Christ is the reconciler.
[02:26:19] We are not.
[02:26:20] Christ is the mediator.
[02:26:22] We are not.
[02:26:24] Christ saves.
[02:26:25] We do not.
[02:26:26] But God has chosen to use our lives, our relationships, our words, our prayers, and our witness as a part of the means through which people hear the gospel.
[02:26:44] God is the one that's doing the appealing.
[02:26:48] Christ is the ground of the appeal.
[02:26:51] The gospel is the content of the appeal.
[02:26:54] and the reconciled believer becomes the human voice through whom the appeal is delivered.
[02:27:02] We have been entrusted with this because now we have the answer.
[02:27:07] That means there is someone, I'm going to start to send this over so you catch it.
[02:27:13] That means there is someone in your life who may not know how to come back to God.
[02:27:22] They may not understand what has broken the relationship with God.
[02:27:26] They may not understand why good works cannot repair it.
[02:27:33] They may not understand what Jesus accomplished at the cross.
[02:27:37] They may not understand how repentance and faith bring peace with God.
[02:27:44] And God has entrusted you and me with that message.
[02:27:48] I don't own the answer.
[02:27:51] I did not invent the answer.
[02:27:54] I'm not the answer, but I know the answer.
[02:28:00] The answer is Christ.
[02:28:03] Here's a way to look at it.
[02:28:05] Evangelism, which is sharing the gospel, evangelism is one reconciled person helping an unreconciled person understand how to come home to God through Christ.
[02:28:17] That changes my posture.
[02:28:22] This is what helps me speak to people about it.
[02:28:25] I'm not a salesperson pushing a product.
[02:28:28] I'm an ambassador carrying the message of peace I've learned to listen I've learned to ask questions I've learned to seek understanding I've learned to help people recognize what sin has broken I've learned to explain what Christ has accomplished
[02:28:48] and then I've learned to invite them to repent and believe a gospel conversation might begin with a simple question like this where do you believe you stand with God and why and let them talk. Have you ever thought about what it means to be reconciled to him? Would you
[02:29:14] mind if I shared what has given me hope about being reconciled with God? You don't have to preach a sermon. You don't have to know every theological question, an answer for it. You don't have to force a decision. You simply need to be willing to speak faithfully. The results belong
[02:29:32] to God, and the witness belongs to us. I heard a pastor say one time, you're not a failure if you don't lead someone to Christ. You're only a failure if you never share the message.
[02:29:48] All we've got to do is share the message and start the conversation. One thing that I've learned from my dad, too, and this is something that I think that we all do wrong, and I know that
[02:29:56] I do it wrongly, too, is I think when it comes to knowing someone we need to share the faith with, we wait too long. I mean, it has to be coming out pretty early in the conversation to avoid
[02:30:12] the awkwardness. Now, there's a sweet spot. I mean, if they come up and say, hi, my name is so-and-so, and you say, I say, hi, I'm Daniel. Do you know Jesus? I mean, that immediately is going to come. There's a window there. But I learned that technique from
[02:30:25] my dad. My dad assesses how much time he has with the person. If he's got a minute with them, you can believe within the first quarter of that minute, he's going to bring up a God conversation.
[02:30:40] If he has 10 minutes with him, within the first five minutes, that conversation is going to come up. Last few weeks, he's been in the hospital, in and out, and every nurse that came in to work
[02:30:52] with him, and the doctor included, was asked, do you know Jesus? And early on too, not like, hey, fix me, and then I got a conversation to have, is you might not be able to fix me,
[02:31:03] but I still have a conversation I need to have. He understands the message of reconciliation and how to move that forward. Don't linger on it because it's urgent. Look, Paul says, we implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. It's an urgency. He pleads. He's urging.
[02:31:21] He's using the word implore. The gospel is good news, but it's also urgent news. There is a danger that Christians spend a lot of time talking about lost people, but never to lost people.
[02:31:37] We can criticize the culture, lament moral decline, discuss what is wrong with society, complain about the next generation, but ambassadors do not merely analyze the country in which they have been sent. They actually deliver the message the king said, deliver. Our goal is not only to
[02:31:58] work and prove that we're right. Our goal is to see people reconciled to God. And their problem is, is they don't know, one, that they maybe need it, but two, how to get there. And we hold that
[02:32:14] information. Look at verse 21 again. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. This verse explains how reconciliation is even
[02:32:28] possible. Christ knew no sin. Jesus lived in perfect obedience. He never rebelled. He never deceived. He never acted selfishly. He never entertained an impure thought, never failed to love the Father. And yet at the cross, the sinless one stood in the place of sinners.
[02:32:50] When Paul says God made him to be sin, he doesn't mean that Jesus became sinful.
[02:32:56] He means our guilt was counted against Him.
[02:33:01] He bore our judgment and He stood in our place.
[02:33:04] And through faith, His righteousness is counted as ours.
[02:33:10] Our sin was placed upon Christ.
[02:33:13] His righteousness was credited to us.
[02:33:17] Our guilt given to Him, His standing given to us.
[02:33:21] He received what we deserved so that we could receive what only He deserved.
[02:33:28] That is the foundation of reconciliation.
[02:33:31] We are reconciled because Christ's righteousness becomes ours by grace through faith.
[02:33:40] This is the message that is entrusted to us as ambassadors.
[02:33:48] The gospel doesn't just rescue us from judgment.
[02:33:52] It brings us to God.
[02:33:54] The gospel doesn't simply inform us, it forms us.
[02:34:02] And the gospel doesn't simply comfort us, it sends us.
[02:34:09] So we've got to ask these questions.
[02:34:13] Am I reconciled?
[02:34:17] Have I personally trusted Christ?
[02:34:21] Not do I attend church or speak the Christian language or I respect the Bible.
[02:34:27] it is, have I turned from sin and trusted the crucified and risen Christ? Have I been brought to God through Him? Am I being formed? Is the love of Christ controlling my life? Am I willing
[02:34:42] to be sent? Who has God placed within my reach? Who in my life needs to hear that reconciliation with God is possible. Who needs to know what Christ has done? What is keeping me silent?
[02:35:02] Believe me, I've been in that camp. I've been in many times where I've walked away from an interaction with someone thinking to myself, I should have shared the gospel.
[02:35:15] Many times. And so I grapple when I'm talking about a message like this and saying that we're ambassadors. We're messengers of reconciliation. We've got to be taking it to a lost and hurting world. I grapple with that. This is what sets me free. This is what I began to understand was
[02:35:35] the freedom switch for me to be able to talk more openly about my faith. And this is it.
[02:35:43] I am not interrupting someone's life with religion. I am offering them the most important truth I know.
[02:35:52] they can have peace with God through Christ. It should be at the forefront of my mind always.
[02:36:04] So let the love of Christ compel us. Let the gospel continue to form us and let us see people differently and let us faithfully carry the appeal of Christ to a lost world around us.
[02:36:24] to let them know, be reconciled to God.
[02:36:32] That's the purpose.
[02:36:35] Let's pray.
[02:36:44] Father, the good news of the gospel, me being purchased, me realizing my need for salvation through Christ sets me free.
[02:36:59] But not only does it break the bondage of living under sin and guilt and shame, it sets me free to be able to come into communion with you.
[02:37:09] It brings me back to you.
[02:37:13] And there are people who don't realize completely that sin has damaged the relationship with you.
[02:37:21] You're a holy God.
[02:37:24] I have no right to step into your presence with the exception of being purchased by Christ.
[02:37:36] Father, for those who have heard this message, who realize now that they've simply just been living a religion, simply been checking boxes, but they've never fully given their life to you through Christ.
[02:37:50] Father, I pray that you would allow these words to be the appeal, that reconciliation with you is possible through your son, Jesus.
[02:38:07] Father, for those who have given their life to you and have been challenged by the word today because someone's face or someone's name popped into mind when we thought about who she would be sharing with,
[02:38:24] give us the courage just to make that contact today.
[02:38:30] Because the most important thing we can do out of love and compassion for other people is to give them the message of who you are, God.
[02:38:41] So take away the fear, bind up the confusion, give us your courage, your strength, and let us walk in faith to be ambassadors of the good news of Christ.
[02:38:56] In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
[02:39:00] If you today have heard the gospel and something resonated with you, like you've been living a religion, you've been living a denomination you've been living in a way that didn't describe what i just explained to you was the gospel then i want to encourage you to think about the fact that the god
[02:39:27] through his spirit is drawing your heart it's not something you put off to another day if god is drawing you today to give your life to christ make it today there are people sitting around you that would probably help you with that, but I'm also going to be right here at this front
[02:39:47] chair. And if today you need to receive Christ, just get out from where you're standing and walk down and say to me, I need Christ. It'll be a public statement for you to come, kind of like
[02:40:01] an altar call, so to speak, or for you to say, I'm not going to let the day go on. I'm not going to go to lunch without making sure that I'm reconciled with God. There'll be others here. Pastor Nate's
[02:40:15] there's other men and ladies that would be here if you're not comfortable coming to me just say can i talk to someone about receiving christ and then i will pull somebody out to be able to speak to you doesn't have to be just to me it's not about talking to the pastor it's about
[02:40:31] talking to god and receiving christ but don't let today go on if you know today you're not reconciled with god your life will not bring purpose and meaning until you make that right so let today be the day
[02:40:48] that you respond to God Pastor Jeff, let's stand

[02:40:54] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[02:40:54] There is one gospel on which I stand Eternity It is my story, my Father's plan The Son has rescued me The gospel, the word Highest joy in my deepest need now and forever he is my life i stand in the gospel of jesus christ there is one gospel to
[02:41:54] which i claim else i count as loss for there where justice and mercy across i'm posting what i can No more I carry the weight of sin, for he has brought me from death to life.
[02:42:26] I stand in the gospel of Jesus Christ, boasting what I am.
[02:42:36] No more I carry the weight of sin, for he has brought me from death to life.
[02:42:46] I stand in the gospel of Jesus Christ, I stand in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[02:43:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[02:43:11] go. That was me. And that's the gospel that forms us. How many of you are going to miss that song?
[02:43:17] Nobody. Okay, that's good. That's good. Hey, retire that one. Okay, that's okay. That's the gospel that forms us. Hey, next week, we start the Book of Romans. If you've never been a part of the connect groups here that meets during one of the hours opposite of when you're worshiping
[02:43:35] in here, this would be a great jumping on point because the teachers of the connect groups have been equipped with the resources and tools to discuss the exact same things being preached in here so you see the passage in here it's preached but it gives you an opportunity to be able to
[02:43:51] discuss it to kind of pick it apart and look at the scripture because we believe that the the word of god is powerful and we want to be able to use that and so you will have questions about the book
[02:44:02] of romans and there'll be a great place to kind of vet those questions and kind of get them out there it's a great place to jump on with a connect group if you're not a part of one if you would
[02:44:12] like to be a part of one you're not sure where to go you can just stop at the welcome center they have a list of them all say hey i'm interested in the connect groups what have you got and they'll
[02:44:21] work you through that and be able to help you with those things well as we always do we end with a text from god's word because we believe in the power of it you guys read out loud with me
[02:44:31] as I read out loud as well. This is 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 20, and the Word of God says, Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you
[02:44:47] on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. And we are all sent.