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(upbeat music) This is day five, our last day of looking at 2 Corinthians
chapter five. We're going to look at verses 18 to 21 today. They are verses that
talk about, at the end of these verses, what Jesus has done for us.

It begins by talking about what we do because of what Jesus has done for us. Let
me read these verses, 18 to 21. All this is from God, who reconciled us to
himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, that God was
reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against
them, and he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal
through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. God made
him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God.

Now those last two verses, what a description of what Jesus has done for us.
What a powerful description. He made him who had no sin to be sin for us.

What happened on the cross? What happened when Jesus gave his life for you, shed
his blood for you on the cross? When Jesus died on the cross for you, he didn't
just substitute for you.

Go in and say, I'm going to just be a representative of the fact that this person
had sin. Jesus still perfect on the cross, but he said, I'm going to go represent
all these people who sinned. No, something much more significant happened.

The Bible says here, he became sin. He didn't just think about your sin on the
cross. He didn't just carry your sin to the cross.

He actually became your sin on the cross. That's why he could die for your sin
on the cross. Now this is a deeply wonderful spiritual transaction that
happened, but it's also deeply painful to us.

When you look at what happened on the cross and the torture that Jesus went
through, it was because of my sin, it was because of your sin. He became my sin
on the cross, and because of that, he could die for my sin. He took the
punishment for my sin because he became my sin.

Now that seems like it would be more wonderful than you could possibly imagine,
but that's only half the story. He became my sin on the cross, but then listen
to this, so that we might become the righteousness of God. He became sin so that
I could become righteousness.

Not just have the righteousness of God, not just enjoy the righteousness of God,
but become the righteousness of God. My very identity changed from sinner to
righteous because of what Jesus did. Jesus was righteous, but he became my sin
so that I who am sinful could become his righteousness.

That's what happened on the cross. Now most people, what they trip up on here is
the word righteousness. What does that word mean?

Righteousness means living in right relationship to God. Righteousness means
pure and holy before God. Righteousness means the person that Jesus is before
God as God in human flesh, and he gave you that.

Think about it once again with me. It's such a powerful thought. I who am
sinful, Jesus became my sin so that he who is righteous could allow me to become
his righteousness.

What an awesome transaction. What an awesome gift Jesus has given us. Now Paul
talks about it in these verses.

What does this mean for us? He says it's more than just you've become his
righteousness. Now something happens in your life because of that.

If you go back to verse 18, he says, "Now you're reconciled to God. "Your
relationship with God is made right "because of what Jesus has done. " Just as
right as Jesus and the Father's relationship was, is for all eternity, will be
for all eternity as part of the Trinity, just as right as their relationship is,
your relationship is just as right with God because you've become his
righteousness.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ. And then,
listen to this, he gave us something. He gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

In fact, as you walk through these verses, you see in verse 18, we have the
ministry of reconciliation. You see in verse 19, he's committed to us the
message of reconciliation. And then you see in verse 20, we are making appeal as
ambassadors so we're to be telling people to be reconciled to God as models, in
essence, of reconciliation.

God's done it in us, so let me share with you how he can do it in you. The
ministry of reconciliation, the message, the model of reconciliation, it's all
about reconnecting. I've reconnected with God because of what Jesus has done,
and now I share with other people the truth that they can reconnect with God
because of what Jesus has done.

Now, it's easier to talk about this, I think, in very ethereal, very broad
terms. I love the question somebody on our research team asked about this. They
said during the recent holidays, it was a bit tough hanging around with
relatives that caused family problems.

Was Paul preaching reconciliation amongst family members, too? I love that
question 'cause it's an honest question. There are some people, you look at 'em
and think, they can't even be reconciled to me.

How are they going to be reconciled to God? Because of what Jesus has done. And we
all struggle in our human relationships.

Some struggles are more obvious than others, and oftentimes that is in family,
and oftentimes we see that at holiday times when we're all crammed together in
the same room. But the truth of the matter is we all need this reconciliation.
We all need to be reconciled to God so that we can be reconciled to each other.

You see, Paul is saying here, this is how it works. If I want to be reconciled to
another person, first get reconciled to Christ. First be reconciled to God.

Then you'll have the power to be reconciled to another person. So if you find
someone who's irreconcilable, they just can't make things work with human
relationships, don't work on that level. First pray that they come to know God,
that they come to know Jesus Christ.

Then they'll have the power to be reconciled to people. Now as Paul talks about
this, what it means to be reconciled to God, what God has put into our lives
because we're reconciled to him, he uses a picture that's very powerful. He
says, did you remember the picture?

He says we are ambassadors for Christ. Because him who was no sin, Jesus who had
no sin became sin for me because Jesus's righteousness has now been given to me,
that means I am now an ambassador for Christ. Now what does it mean to be an
ambassador?

If you just think about this in human terms, 'cause that's the picture that
Paul's using here. To be an ambassador means you live in a country that's not
your own. And that's the truth of us now as believers.

Our country, the Bible tells us in Philippians, is actually in heaven now.
That's where our citizenship is. But we're living on this world.

We're living on this planet. We're living in a country that's not our own. And
you realize that every day of your life, it helps you to live life in this
world.

There's some things that I don't like in this world. There's some things I don't
understand in this world. There's some things that don't feel like home in this
world.

Well of course, I'm living in a country that's not my own right now. I'm an
ambassador for Christ. Second thing it means is you represent your country to
the country you're now living in.

An ambassador doesn't just live in the country. They represent the country that
they're from. Whether it's the United States or China or India, wherever you're
from, you're representing that country.

And you and I have the opportunity to represent Jesus, to represent
reconciliation, to represent a relationship with God. You do that in the way
that you live. You do that in the things that you say.

Paul talks about a ministry, the way that I live. He talks about a message, the
things that I say. You do it also in the example that you give.

He talks about a model. We're an ambassador for Christ. A third truth about
ambassadors is, and we talked about this the first day of this week, you are on
a temporary assignment and you know one day you're going to go back home.

Ambassadors aren't ambassadors forever. They go for a certain amount of time.
They have their term and then they go back home.

That's where you're living right now. It's a temporary time. And one day you're
going to go back home to be with him in the citizenship of heaven where we're going to
live for all eternity.

Oh, there's one final thing about an ambassador. An ambassador always answers to
a higher authority. They're not the authority.

The president or the king or whoever is leading their country, that's their
higher authority. And whatever they say to do in that country, whatever message
they're told to give in that country, that's what they do. That's you and I.

We answer to the higher authority of God's will in our lives. You're an
ambassador for Christ. You live in a country that's not your own.

You represent your country to this country that you're living in. You're on
temporary assignment knowing one day you're going to return home. And you answer to
a higher authority while you're here.

Jesus, thank you that you made us your ambassadors. I don't think one of us
feels worthy of it. Paul certainly didn't.

He called himself the chief of sinners in other places. But it's not a matter of
how worthy we are. It's a matter of how worthy you are and what you've done in
us.

So Jesus, today, in the things we say and the ways we act, the ways we treat
people, help us to realize as we walk through life, whatever we're doing. We
have the ministry of reconciliation. We have the message of reconciliation.

We're ambassadors for Christ. Lord, instead of that scaring us, instead of us
thinking about what we might do wrong, how we might trip up, how we might
represent you wrong 'cause we all struggle, Lord, instead, let that inspire us
today. Inspire us to think about what we could say that's right.

How we could let you motivate us in a circumstance. How somebody might see you
in us. That seems almost impossible to us.

But Lord, all things are possible with you. And you've done the impossible by,
by Lord, becoming sin so that our sins were paid for. And so that you could give
us your righteousness.

We thank you, in Jesus' name, amen. Next week, join us. We're going to look at 2
Corinthians chapter six.

It's a chapter that's all about how to survive and how to keep serving, no
matter what, the circumstances of life.