The Greatest Job in the World

December 30, 1990 PM

Lesson: 2 Corinthians 5:11 - 21

Text 5:20 "We are, therefore, Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us."

I love my work. There are times I don't earn my salary. Then there are times when you couldn't find enough money to pay me to do what I have to do. But as a minister, I believe that I am an ambassador for Jesus Christ.

But wait a minute. This passage is not written to pastors alone, or even primarily to pastors. Verse 17 says if ANY person is in Christ he/she is a new creation, and so called to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ. YOU are just as much in this ambassador business as I am. Maybe even more so! The call of God to preaching or evangelism is a wonderful thing, and I do not trivialize it in the least. It has fallen to me to be a full-time resource person, and a worship leader in the church at times. But WE are ALL God's men and women. We are all called to represent God. God Himself has called us.

You may wonder about that. You may not feel personally "called." [Sometimes I don't feel called, either!] I know how that is, believe me! [Speaking for God can be a heavy responsibility!] But this passage says it clearly- God wants YOU to know that whatever else you may do for a living, you are called to be His representative! But I'm also pretty sure that He wanted me to tell you, too, that you don't have to face this high assignment all by yourself.

CHRISTMAS was when the greatest job in all the world began! God sent His only begotten Son into the world to say "I love you!" And now as His children through Christ and IN Christ, we are to pick up Christ's work, carry on that mission, saying to the world what God tells us to say. We are Ambassadors for God! We are called to the greatest job in the world!

I. WHAT THE GREATEST JOB IN THE WORLD IS NOT

This passage says that we are ambassadors of heaven; and that it is the love of Jesus Christ that makes us go. But I want to back up, and begin describing what this task, of being an ambassador, is NOT. I want to look back at several verses that connect with the thought of our task; actually, they are negative statements that Paul uses, usually with the phrase "We are NOT ..." as an opener:

WE ARE NOT PEDDLERS (2:17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.")
Now there is nothing wrong with being a peddler. I remember when I was about Junior High age stopping in the basement of an old 'Five and Dime' and watching a real pro peddler at work. He had a set spiel, and some sort of vegetable peeler. Fascinating! Only the fact that I was broke kept me from buying one for my mother. But what a peddlar sells is not a matter of life and death. He sells gadgets, usually. He may make it seem very urgent— like you can't live without his gadget. But he knows that what he is selling is basically so that he can make a living.
[I was a peddler once! I "sold" magazines door to door when I first graduated from high school in the "recession" of 1948-49. I usually began my "pitch" by saying, "You don't want to buy a magazine, do you?"]
But we are ambassadors, not peddlers!
WE ARE NOT ACTORS (3:13, 18 We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. (But) we with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, . . . being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.) Moses put on the veil because the people complained of the brightness of his face. Maybe it makes people uncomfortable if we begin to get too close to the Lord. [I don't think it is possible to get too close to the Lord!]
But here Paul said that Moses put the veil on— or maybe KEPT it on— so that the people couldn't see the glory fading away! I'm not sure of what all that means— and I don't want to take too much time on this emphasis— but ambassadors have more important business to do than trying to pretend they are something they are not to the people to whom they are carrying God's message.
I'm not telling you not to put your best foot forward. I am telling you that you and I need to be real people, honest growing Christians (as verse 18 says.) And people to whom we represent Jesus, for whom our Lord died, deserve to know where we are and where we are headed! Let's be real, let's be genuine as we seek to represent Jesus! Our most powerful evidence may be when we admit that we are struggling, but that we are keeping the faith!
WE ARE NOT 'PROOF TEXT-ERS' (4:2 ... we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God.) (OR "Text-Twisters") Ambassadors do not have the privilege of editing— either watering down or of beefing up— the word that comes down from The Throne. When God declares WAR, we can't sue for peace on our own. And when God says, "I will forgive ALL who come to me" we can't select out those we think are worth saving! God's Word is alive! Texts are funny things!
We get a good idea! We get THREE POINTS TOGETHER. If they all start with the same letter, that is better yet! And THEN WE GO LOOKING FOR A GOOD TEXT! But then something funny happens! That text— if we give it a chance— begins to exert a life and message of its own. And maybe it begins to ruin that beautiful three point masterpiece! Ever have that happen to you? [I have!]
Ambassadors get the message! And then ambassadors carry the message— they translate it into the local language— they apply it to the local culture— they manifest it in truth in their own lives— they become the message— but they don't make the word fit the circumstance, they make the circumstances face the word!
WE ARE NOT EGOTISTS (4:5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.) This is not to say that you shouldn't be a "character." You look like a bunch of characters to me! It doesn't mean that we shouldn't have strong "EGOs" whatever that means. And it doesn't mean that an effective ambassador doesn't let his own personality be expressed in every facet of his representation of the King.
But there is only ONE STAR in every aspect of service for the Lord! There should only be one Star in every worship service! The Bright and Morning Star! And it is impossible for us to lift up Jesus and try to make people think about how smart we are, or how pious we are, or how ANYTHING WE ARE! Probably there is a little 'show-boat' in every one of us. It is more fun to talk than it is to sit and listen— usually.
But we know, and GOD knows, whom we are trying to exalt! Yes. this is the greatest job in the world!

II. WHAT THE GREATEST JOB IS

IT IS A JOB WE DIDN'T CHOOSE FOR OURSELVES!
We were selected! Why in the world God ever chose you and me, I'll never know.
[Someone asked Billy Graham why God chose him to be a spokesman before millions when there are hundreds of preachers who can preach as well as Billy can. (I doubt that!) Billy Graham's reply was, "When I get to heaven that's the first thing I'm going to ask the Lord!" He is genuinely humble. But he is NOT falsely modest! He is God's called man. And so are YOU!]
It is NOT AN OPTION whether or not we shall be Ambassadors. Every Christian is already representing Jesus Christ. The question is, shall we do it well, or not? We have already been "drafted!"
IT IS A JOB WE DON'T HAVE TO DO IN OUR OWN STRENGTH
1. Paul says (text, verse 20) "(It is) as though God were entreating THROUGH us ..." I know we don't always sense that undergirding, even when we are prayed up. But count on it, it is always there! When you would do good, GOD IS PRESENT WITH YOU! (to counter-point Romans 7:21, which says 'When I would do GOOD evil is present ...').
2. This thought "connects" with Romans 8:28-32. I would like to close with some thoughts about THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD that go along with this idea of every Christian being AN AMBASSADOR:
  1. [GOD IS ACTIVE IN ALL OUR LIVES] We are all familiar with 8:28 "God works in all things..."
  2. [GOD HAS PROMISED ALL WE NEED TO ACCOMPLISH HIS BEST WILL] We also love 8:32 "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"
  3. [But what's an ambassador to do? How do we practically apply this provision and power?]
IT IS A JOB GOD WILL DO THROUGH EACH ONE OF US!
1. GETTING INTO THE FLOW OF GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY (I Corinthians 3:9 hints at it:) We are laborers together WITH God! All too often we have an "either/or" approach to God's sovereignty. We are either "all works" or "all faith." In our English language we have just the two moods:
  Active: "I will do it!" Or,
  Passive: "I will have it done to/for me!"
  But in the Greek language— and in everyday "Ambassador Language" there is a middle voice:
  Middle: "I will enter into what is being done!" We need to get into the flow of God's Sovereign working! God is in the world, reconciling it to Himself! He has called us to be His people!
2. God is still Sovereign! He is still calling! If we will get quiet and listen, He will guide us the next step! He isn't impressed with our strength. But He isn't worried about our weakness, either! What He really wants is men and women who love Him, and who are willing to explore the task to which He has called them.

Conclusion:

ARE YOU WILLING TO ASK GOD TO ACTIVATE YOUR HIGH CALLING AS AN AMBASSADOR? WILL YOU MAKE YOURSELF AVAILABLE TO HIM THIS VERY DAY?

Pray with me!

Thank God for calling us! Thank God that He doesn't leave us alone! Thank God that He is Sovereign! Thank God that we may enter into the flow of His great WILL! Amen! [Hear the challenging words— sing them from your heart as a prayer- of a relatively young Hymn:]

#679 STL The Servant Song