Let's stand together as we read the text for today, which is 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10 through 21. And the preferable way is your own Bible, but this is the English standard version. So I thought I'd put it up there since it might be a little different than what you're used to. must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance, and not about what is in the heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. And if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this, that one has died for all and therefore all have died. 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. 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, the new has come. 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 reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the ministry 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. For our sake, he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Let's pray. Father, we pray now that you would help us to take these words, to make understanding of them, and to apply them to what you have for us in our lives. We pray in Christ's name, amen. Please be seated. Well, what kind of personality do you think Paul had? I think I would call him maybe a type A or maybe a really driven personality. He comes across that way to me as really that way. And I think there's an intensity in his life that caused him to excel as a Pharisee, excel as a persecutor of Christians, and then as a Christian himself, and as an apostle and a missionary. And he had a fervency and a passion that made him probably the preeminent figure in The New Testament church and his prolific writing provides much of the doctrinal clarity that we rely on today in the church. And I don't know about you, I envy that passion and intensity and I regularly pray that God would give me that kind of passion and that kind of singularity towards those things that he has called me to and to be and to do. Well, although we are not called to be apostles, we all have a similar calling to Paul had on his life. In fact, as we're going to look at today, we're all employed in this ministry of reconciliation, and we're all called to be ambassadors. And the same motivations that helped energize Paul in his calling gave him passion to continue his ministry in the face of persecution and hardship, They're the same ones that can be our passions and captivate our heart also. Well, what drives you? There are plenty of motivations, I think, available to propel us forward. Some are good and some not so good. Galatians 6, 9 says, let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. We are called to start well, we're called to continue, and we're called the Finish Well. Recently, a few weeks ago, I went to the memorial service for my youth pastor when I was in high school and college. And I may be biased, but I think he really was probably one of the most preeminent and successful youth pastors in the country and set the mark for most other men out there. This was back in the 70s and 80s particularly when I was involved. And one of his, well he was known for probably impacting, I don't know how many dozens of men sat under his ministry, but many, many dozens sat under his ministry, went out into vocational full-time ministry. And even in here, Melinda shaking her head. She sat under Bill's ministry. To some extent, Bill Hine sat under the ministry of a man who was discipled by him. And so one of the things, though, that he was known for, one of his constant themes that was brought out of his memorial service was, finish well. I can remember his bony, crooked finger that he had saying, finish well, men. And it's easy to start, oftentimes, but it's hard to finish well. And our passage today, I think, gives us some insights on how to live our lives well, how to run well, and how to finish well. And so in this verse here, let's take a look at this. To understand what Paul is talking about in chapter 5, we have to go back to chapter 4 to understand what Paul had been through as an apostle. So he says in 4, 7, and 8, he talks about the treasures that we have in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. And he's speaking of the new life transformation that's taking place in our lives, but it still resides in a body of flesh and bone that's vulnerable to weariness and sickness, physical pain, persecution, as Paul had been through as an apostle and a missionary. So he states that we have these treasures inside these bodies, and this treasure is this new life that God has given us, and so he calls us jars of clay. And he reminds the Corinthians that he is doing what he's doing for their sake and for the many more that can be reached of the grace of God. And so in 4, 16 through 18, he says, so we do not lose heart, though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day for this light and momentary affliction. That's what he called the horrible things he's going through is light momentary affliction. in comparison, is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to things that are unseen. And so he carries this whole idea of this treasure in jars of clay, and persecution, and the struggle that we go through into chapter 5, to talk about the body as a tent. And he said, all of us believers grown, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, and to have those perfect bodies to be clothed with immortality, that our mortal bodies might be swallowed up in life. And then he concludes, then in 5, 6 through 8, he says that to be at home in the body is to be away from the Lord. So to be here in our bodies is to be actually away from the Lord. And he'd rather be at home with the Lord and inclusion, he says. So whether we are at home or a way, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil." And we're going to take a moment, in just a moment, to go through that because it's a difficult passage that we have to slow down and look at to move on. So, at this point, he turns the corner and he tells us, here's what keeps me going. Paul mentions a variety of things that have kept him moving forward, that kept him motivated, kept him ministering in spite of the difficulties he faced, and in fact gave him a real passion to finish well. So I want to identify in this passage, there's several motivations that I think come out that kept Paul going and that we can apply to our lives as far as finishing strong and finishing the calling that God has placed on us for our families, for our jobs, our personal relationships as we live out this walk with the Lord and our sanctification. So the first motivation that Paul lays out explicitly in verse 11 there, he says, therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. Isn't that an interesting motivation? Knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. And to understand that fear, we have to look back. What is he talking about? We have to look back at where the fear comes from and how he arrives at that. And so he says in verse 10, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. So Paul is saying that the task he has to persuade others to be an apostle, to be an evangelist, is some way based on a healthy and holy fear of giving in an account before the judgment seat of Christ. And he says that this fear and this looking forward to the judgment seat of Christ motivates him to be persuasive. That's where fear should lead us. to be persuasive and to persuade others, but it's important that we understand the judgment and fear that he's talking about there. So, we will take a moment to look at the four simple and obvious obfuscations about this judgment, because we tend to want to not deal with this judgment here. And then let's tackle the problem of why Christians will be judged if, in fact, Christ has already been judged on our behalf. Why are we being judged if we've already been judged in Christ? Well, first of all, these are four pretty clear observations here, but first of all, number one, all Christians will stand before Christ as judge. Verse 10, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Not just unbelievers, but we, he says, and not just some of us, but all of us. Number two, he says, our judge will be Christ. Isn't that interesting? Christ, not apart from the Father. but Christ will be our judge. And number three, our judgment will be after we die. That's implied in the text, but Hebrews 9.27 says, makes it explicit, it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judgment. So before we enter the final state of glory with our resurrection bodies on the new earth, we will stand before Christ as judge. And then fourthly, when we stand before Christ as judge, It says we will be judged according to our deeds in this life. 10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good nor evil. And this is not an isolated teaching in the New Testament. Jesus said in Matthew 16.27, The Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels and will then recompense every person according to his deeds. And in the very last chapter of the Bible, Jesus said, Behold, I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to render to every person according to what he has done. So we can't get away from this verse. In other words, the way you live is not unimportant. So why is it important? Why, and I want you to track with this, this is kind of going to be a little bit of a theological lesson on this because we have to delve into this and deal with this passage. Why are the deeds done in the body, the deeds that we do in this body, why are they the evidence in this courtroom that is being displayed in this passage? The question is, is the aim of this judgment to declare who is lost and who is saved according to the works done in the body? Or is the aim of the judgment in the courtroom to declare the measure of your reward in the age to come according to the works done in the body? And I think the answer in the New Testament is that it's both. Both things are taking place in here. Our deeds will reveal who enters the age to come, and our deeds will reveal the measure of our reward in the age to come. The biggest problem for many Christians is saying this sounds like to many a contradiction of salvation by grace through faith. Well, the explanation is that our deeds will be both the public evidence brought forth in Christ's courtroom to demonstrate that our faith is real. In other words, our faith is demonstrated by works, and that's what will happen in the courtroom. It will demonstrate that our faith is real. And our deeds will be the public evidence brought forth to demonstrate the varying measures of our obedience of faith. In other words, salvation is by faith and rewards are by faith, but the evidence of invisible faith in the judgment hall of Christ will be a transformed life. That's the evidence. And our deeds are not the basis of our salvation. Of course they are not. They are the evidence of our salvation. They are not the foundation. They are the demonstration of that. So, whether we are at home, let's see. Guys, I'm not, oh, wrong computer. There we go. So whether we are at home, or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil." So in verse 9, he says, whether we're at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. And in verse 10, for we must all appear before the judgment seat. So one of the driving motivations and passions of Paul's life was to please the Lord. And ultimately, part of that motivation comes from his direct awareness that someday he would appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Oftentimes, I don't think we see that as a motivation, and yet it was for Paul. We assume we're saved, and rightly so by faith, but there is a judgment where our works will be examined. And as with Paul, that should be a driving force as we seek to please him as Paul said it was for him. So as we consider struggling with sin and the battle of the flesh that goes on in our hearts and minds, and as we consider how we order our daily life, how we use our time, what we take in, what we absorb, what we feed upon, what compromises we make. There should be an appropriate motivation to please Christ out of righteous and fearful understanding of a coming judgment. And that knowledge and can should move us, as it did Paul, to persuade others that someday they're going to face a judgment. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. Paul's saying, in effect, because of this coming judgment that all women and men and children will face, he found this to be compelling. And it's what gave him a great motivation for his calling as an apostle and missionary. And it should also be our motivation. How do you see those around you? Do you picture them as having to face a final judgment? Does that motivate you? Is that compelling? So that's the first observation about Paul's passion for ministry. The second thing that motivated Paul and passed into his life and needs to motivate us also is found in 14 and 15 where he says, for the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this, that one has died for all and therefore all have died. 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. So the point is this, Christ's love controls us, he says. And here's what that means. He died for us in our place. In essence, we died in Christ that those who live, that's us. The purpose for this is that we no longer have to live for self. We can and are called now to live for Christ. That's the new purpose we're called to. We have this obligation out of love to no longer live for ourselves, but for Him. And that drove Paul's whole perspective on what his life was for. That's what it was. And it should drive our outlook and motivation. It should drive the trajectory of our lives. Christ died for us that we might live for him, that every moment of our day might be driven by motivation not to live for self, but to live for Christ. How many of you remember WWJD wristbands and prayer for night? You remember? Not that many years ago, right? What would Jesus do? WWJD. And we probably, probably even from this pulpit, we probably made fun of those things or something. I'm guessing. I don't know. Did we, Bill? Maybe, so I don't know what we did. But it was kind of trite, and it was kind of one of those things that was trendy, wasn't it? But you know what? That's actually not too far off from the kinds of questions that are appropriate as we go through the day. What would Jesus do? Because that's what we're doing. We're saying, what is it that I need to be doing because Christ owns me? What would Jesus do in this situation? That should drive me. He died for me that I might live for him. What might that look like today? How might I be engaged in his calling in my life right now? How would it impact what I'm doing at each moment of each day? How I'm speaking to this person? How I'm working on this project? How I'm driving? How I'm treating this child? How I'm representing this product? I don't know if Todd Gibbs thinks about that as he's chasing at 100 miles an hour. Am I driving the way that the Lord would be pleased with? Does that come into your mind, Todd? It does. I thought so. I thought he would say that. But in all of our lives, are we asking the question, how could I be doing this for the sake of Christ and my obligation to him? How might I represent Christ? And so that was Paul's driving desire that the love of Christ and his obligation to Christ would drive him towards being a servant. And so, we not only struggle with our flesh, but we struggle with the surrounding culture that encourages our flesh in so many ways to be contrary to that. We constantly look at our wants and we consider them needs, and we're constantly being marketed and encouraged to look at our own needs. and our wants and our desires and place them above all other things. And yet we're called to live in such a different way to live for Christ in every moment. It's such a contrast to what God calls us to live for in our everyday life. I'm going to use a pretty stupid illustration that I was just thinking of this morning. My 21-year-old son, Justin, has all of a sudden become an expert at pickups. He can tell you why I don't know what it is this week, but why Dodges are bad and why Fords are good. Do you have any of you out there that are pretty adamant on these things? I guess it's quite a raging battle. And he told me a while ago, Dad, you need to get a pickup. You need to get a pickup. And I thought, I need a pickup like I need a hole in my head. I mean, I've got a Nissan pickup that I drive on the weekends to take stuff to the dump and so forth. It's got 350,000 miles on it, and it drives great. And it runs well, and the air conditioning works. And so I don't think I need that. And yet, I was back at a training seminar at my franchisor's home office in Coeur d'Alene. And there's a lot of guys that own businesses that were there. And a lot of them make a lot of money. And the discussion was about who has what pickup among a group I was talking to. I began to mull this over and think, maybe I do need a 2018 Ford F-150 with 2.7 twin turbo 10-speed transmission. Did you know that? That's what they have now in those trucks. Makes you want to upgrade there, huh, Bill? OK. So isn't it funny how we can be influenced various ways of all these motivations that around us that come from, and there's nothing wrong with that. If that's what you've got in your plan, go ahead and buy one and let me drive it and see what I'm missing, okay? But no, seriously, I came home and I asked my wife, I said, you think I should get a pickup? And she said, yeah, I think you'd like that. And that's all I need, knew I didn't need it at that point. She said, okay, and I said, I'm good. I don't need that. So I'll be driving my Nissan for a while. But I think that we have to at least identify sometimes where's our motivations, where's our thinking, because we're so influenced around us. I mean, you look at this. Justice Kennedy just announced his retirement, right? from the Supreme Court. And one side is focused exclusively on finding a judge, justice, who will support their various lifestyles and desires, abortion on demand, marriage for homosexuals, government welfare and intrusion, rather than finding a justice who has the job of interpreting and applying the Constitution. We have this focus of meeting my needs, meeting my needs, meeting my needs, and that's all we hear. And it's easy to fall into that, I think, ourselves. So first of all, let me tell you where we've been. Paul's motivation, first of all, is knowing fear, we persuade others, he says. And secondly, the love of Christ for us, dying on our behalf, compels us to live for Christ and to serve others and to have that focus as our motivation. That's the second point. The third thing Paul cites as a foundation for his passion is found in 1617. He says, from now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, as if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. So Paul states that his perspective and our perspective has thoroughly changed. From now on, therefore, he says, as Bill says, what is the therefore, therefore? And the conclusion is, because of these things, we are a new creation. Our perspectives, our judgment of Christ in everyone and everything else must change. And I believe in that context, Paul's referring to the passion he has for the lost particularly, and engaging the lost for salvation. How do we see people around us? Are they neighbors, co-workers, relatives, customers, clients, vendors to interface with and get along with and engage in and profit from? Or are they possibly lost souls who are in need of a savior and a shepherd? In other words, do we see them from Christ's perspective as opposed to seeing them, as Paul said, according to the flesh? Do we have new eyes? Do we have a new way to see them? How do we get drawn into seeing and knowing according to flesh as opposed to having a biblical worldview? We are inundated, aren't we, with worldly worldview, whether it comes from media and various sorts, whether it comes from Fox or CNN or NBC or NPR or maybe worldly filters that we somehow absorb. The analysis is all around us and sometimes we filter politics and agendas just to be able to deal with all the stuff out there. But we must counter these things with biblical thinking, particularly as it pertains to the way that we see people. Do we see them from God's perspective? How did Christ see them? How does he see them now? Who did Christ have compassion on? Who did Jesus have harsh words for? Who did Paul oppose? It's easy to get our politics and nationalism mixed up with biblical thinking. I was thinking through that, of how it works its out in our lives, and I think it's easy to, let me give you some examples. It's easy to mix opposition to illegal immigration with an attitude against individual immigrants themselves who need Jesus. It's easy to confuse our opposition to the homosexual agenda and groups with opposition to individual sinners who are in need of redemption. It's easy to mix our opposition to groups who want to take the right to bear arms with dislike of those people who need Jesus and learning to love them, and yet don't agree with us on very substantial issues. It's kind of like the forest for the trees. We have a hard time seeing people for the labels that we assign them. We end up judging and knowing people according to the flesh. and failing to see them as Christ sees them. And Paul says to us, we must no longer see people according to the flesh, but see them as Christ sees them. Okay, so, so far, Paul's appealed to several motivations that drive his passion for the gospel and his perseverance, and we need to apply these to ourselves in spite of hardship and opposition. So, first of all, we said Paul's motivation is knowing fear, knowing there's a reckoning and judgment, we persuade others, Secondly, the love of Christ for us, Him dying on behalf compels us to live for Christ. And thirdly, we now see all things from Christ perspective. We're new people with new eyes and a new heart, and we can begin to see people as Christ is. So lastly, Paul brings into final focus what drives his life and passion, and by extension, what should be our passion and calling. 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 reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us, can you imagine, the message of reconciliation? Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal to us. Now, there's no place else I think that you will find that we are given that ministry in that same concise way and called ambassadors, but it's throughout scripture, this idea. And so his final appeal is that we've been reconciled to Christ and we've been given this ministry of reconciliation ourselves. Think about how shocking that is. It's remarkable that the gospel message has been entrusted to believers. Now the Jews had been accustomed to seeing themselves as God's representative of the nation to the world. But it was not in that way when they were personally taking on the responsibility to go to the world to evangelize and represent God. But this is a personalized representation that God calls us to. It's a personal focused commission to be ministers of reconciliation. It's dramatically different. And to add to this, Peale, he adds this logical conclusion. He says, we are ambassadors. God making his appeal Through us, we've been recruited to working for the Ministry of Reconciliation. We're an ambassador for the king, and it's not optional. I guess the bad part is, good or bad, we're all ambassadors, whether we're good ones or not. Now think about what an ambassador is or used to be. before the days of media and 24-hour news and constant updates and communication ability, an ambassador would be sent to another country to represent a king, usually, or a monarch, and become the primary way of communication between countries. And that ambassador would be perhaps the only representation of that sovereign and that country. And they were truly representative of the king in all manner of speaking. So what does it mean to be an ambassador for the king? In fact, Paul Tripp gives a few insights on this too. He says it means reflecting his message, his methods, his character, wherever he's placed us. It's a very different way of looking at life. It's a very different basis for making decisions. It's a very different way about thinking who you are and what you're supposed to be doing. So it is a radical way of living. It's quite different from the worldview that is preached all around us. The common cultural worldview has you at the center, and it says that life is all about your pursuit of happiness. But the Bible presents a polar opposite worldview that needs to form our identity and the lifestyle of every believer. Scripture asserts that we were bought with a price, the life or death of Jesus, so we don't belong to ourselves anymore. And I would say this, God has a purpose for you, and that you would live as one of his representatives, that you would live representatively. And what are you representing? You are called to represent your Savior King. And what does that practically look like? Representing the King means you represent his message, his methods, and his character. So representing the king's message means that you look at every situation and relationship in life through the lens of the truth of scripture, the center of which is the gospel, and you're determined to help others look at life that way too. That's one of your responsibilities. And representing his methods means that you seek to be a tool, to be the kind of change agent that he intends to make and people and the world around you. And representing his character simply means asking yourself again and again, what part of the person, work and character of the Lord Jesus Christ does this person need to see in this situation they're in, through me? And so I think there's no better word than Paul has said here, this idea of ambassador. It's a bigger purpose than my happiness. It reminds us that there is a king and that that's not us. It moves us to remember once again that our lives don't belong to ourselves. And it puts practical legs on what it means to represent the Savior King in practical ways every life, every day. God's grace has rescued you, but has included you in a much bigger and more beautiful purpose for your life than you would have ever chosen on your own. You are the physical representations of his grace. And this is the ministry that you have every day. This is your mission, to make grace, the grace of the invisible king, visible. So finally, here's the bad news. You and I have no ability to represent God well. Sorry to say, we don't do a good job at it. But the good news is this, is that his ambassadorial call drives us to receive that grace. We need to represent his grace in the lives of others. And so here's the, Here's the message of reconciliation that Paul lays out here. This is the core message that we communicate. It's the gospel in a little nutshell that Paul puts at the end of this section. He says, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them. He made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of the gospel. So that's the core message. That's the gospel. And so, in conclusion, maybe you struggle with wrong motivations and passions, or lack of passion, lack of motivation. Maybe seeing yourself and having a ministry of reconciliation as an ambassador for Christ is pretty far from your wheelhouse. And perhaps you see other passions having preeminence in your life. Success, money, approval, acceptance by others. Maybe lofty motivations, having obedient and brilliant children. a peaceful life, security, maybe a really good things. Young people, maybe your passion is to find the right guy or girl someday and to build a home and a family and a fulfilling career. Great passions, but not large enough by themselves. What will be the passion that will allow you to fulfill your calling to make disciples, to become ambassadors, to be employed in the ministry of reconciliation and to finish well? So finally, to review those, Here's Paul's motivations and passions, four points. Knowing fear that there is a reckoning, there's a reward for believers, that should drive us and move us to share the gospel. Secondly, the love of Christ for us, dying on our behalf compels us to live for Christ and see people as Christ sees them and reach out and live for Christ. Thirdly, we now see things all from Christ's perspective. We see those in our lives with new eyes and a new heart that compels us to reach out. And finally, it will be to see ourselves as ambassadors of the King who have been entrusted with the ministry and message of reconciliation. Let's pray together. Father, we do ask that you would do a work in our lives that is not something we can pull off ourselves. And Lord, we come and we say, these passions, they don't reside in me. I am not motivated in that way. And so we look to you for the ability to even take on this ministry of reconciliation, to take on this role of ambassador, because it is not something that we have the ability to live out on our own, to create passion from day to day. But God, help us to see in your word how you worked in Paul's life in his understanding of these truths, and that you would take our hearts and make them a heart for you, to have a passion for you, and to have a heart for ministering reconciliation and persuading others. We pray this in Christ's name, amen.