Study in2 Corinthians

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Motivation For MissionChap 5v9-6v2

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IntroductionWhat drives us to do many of the things we do? We can be driven by fear; fear of failure makes many students get their heads into their books! We can be driven by love, this causes many husbands to jump out of bed first thing in the morning in order to make a cup of tea for their wives. We can be driven by a sense of privilege, which explains why many football players seem to play out of their skin when they are wearing a Scotland jersey. Motivation is everything and this is no less true in the work of God. In the passage before us Paul shares with us his motivation is sharing the gospel. We might view this as a spiritual checklist for our own spiritual motivation.

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The Judgement Seat Of GodThere is good reason to suppose that one of the complaints levelled against Paul's evangelistic style was that it wasn't sophisticated enough. He used no subtlety honed marketing techniques in communication. In 4v2 he spoke of setting forth the truth plainly while in 5v11 he speaks of 'persuading' men.

"Evangelising therefore is not simply a matter of teaching and instructing and imparting information to the mind ... Evangelising includes the endeavour to elicit a response to the truth taught. It is communication with a view to conversion. It is a matter not merely of informing but inviting. It is an attempt to gain or win or catch our fellows for Christ." JIM PACKER

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The Judgement Seat Of GodPaul gave himself to this task. He dealt with all his hearers objections and reservations. He was happy to use logic and argument, and all his God given powers of persuasion. Why? cf v10ff... This is the first motivation for evangelism that he mentions. Paul was aware of the fact that the whole human race, himself included, must appear before God's judgement seat.

We noted in the last study that as a result of the Christ’s resurrection, death was no longer a subject of concern for Paul. It simply meant moving into superior accommodation. For Paul the issue of final judgement was far more pressing. We will note four things about this judgement.

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The Judgement Seat Of GodFirst there is its individuality. Each one is to 'receive what's due to him'. We're not going to be assessed as societies, or churches, or families but as individuals. Often in life people cannot face some challenging experience by themselves and they persuade some friends to go with them, 'I'll go if you go' they say. It may be a roller coaster ride, a trip to the dentist, a holiday abroad but the appeal is the same, 'I'll go if you go'.

But the judgement day will leave men and women stripped of all human support – when they will stand under judgement they will do so by themselves.

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The Judgement Seat Of GodThe second thing Paul associates with this judgement is the visibility of it. We are going to 'appear'. The word used does not describe a private 'in camera' session at court but a public indictment.

The Greek word Paul uses also carries the idea of bringing secret things out into the open. All the sham, hypocrisy, ulterior motives and skeletons in the cupboard will be brought into view. Borrowing Jesus’ language, ‘For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad.’ Lk.12v3

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The Judgement Seat Of GodThe judgement seat of Christ is not meant to cloud our Christian assurance but to spur Christian commitment. 'Since then we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men'. How can we face Jesus with a clear conscience if we have neglected to share the gospel with others who must come under the judgement of God. Would we not all be less laid back in our approach to evangelism if we could gaze into the future and see those known to us facing the verdict of condemnation.

If (as is usual) it is the fear of being thought odd or ridiculous or of losing popularity in certain circles, that prevents us from evangelising we need to ask : ought these things to stop us from loving our neighbour?

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The Judgement Seat Of GodThe third thing associated with God's judgement is its impartiality for 'each one is to receive what is due to him for the things done while in the body whether good or bad'. Paul is not suggesting that salvation is by good works or denying the doctrine of justification by faith. Nor does the context allow us to conclude that Paul is referring to non Christians - he includes himself and his Christian readers in the expression 'we all’. Good works are a necessary part of Christian living and an expression of the new life within. It is not a case of God asking men and women on the last day whether or not they are believers, whether they are or not will be transparently obvious when the books are opened and our lives are revealed.

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The Judgement Seat Of GodIf it is a false shame, which is not shame but pride in disguise, that keeps our witness silent when we are with other people. We need to press upon our conscience this question, “Which matters more our reputation or their salvation?” We cannot be complacent about this gangrene of cowardice when we weigh up our lives in the presence of God. The verdict of the judge adds urgency to our task.

Paul wrote to Timothy, 'In the presence of God and of Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word, be prepared in season and out of season..’ 2Tim 4v1-2. i.e. whether the occasion is convenient or inconvenient for you or for your hearers - people do not have forever to repent.

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The Compelling Love Of ChristThe second incentive to motivate Paul in his evangelism was the compelling love of Christ. Paul's ministry was not driven on by other peoples’ expectations or by his desire to earn their approval but by the wonder of Christ's love. Verses 13-14 have been understood in two ways. First, the widely contrasted reactions which Paul’s preaching produced- some admired the sharpness of his intellect, while others, like Festus, were persuaded that he was mad. Then Paul would be saying that he doesn't care what people say- if that he was a deranged fanatic he would bear that stigma. If others admired his intellectual powers well that was OK too. It made no difference because the love of Christ has rendered him indifferent to flattery of criticism.

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The Compelling Love Of ChristOr, Paul may be referring to his rivals accusations in v13-14. They thought his preaching too prosaic and wanted evidence of power evangelism and mystical of out of body experiences. And so Paul could be saying, 'I have moments of spiritual ecstasy, when I am out of my mind. But they are not for public display. I want to preach rationally and intelligibly. My aim is for my hearers to understand the message and not be drawn to me. I want people to fall in love with the Saviour not with Paul. Hence, the love of Christ controls the style of my preaching.'

Whatever Paul's meaning the basic thrust of his argument remains the same. He is not perform for the sake of his reputation. Christ has given him a new focus for living with a new source of motivation - the wonder of Christ's love, is his driving force.

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The Compelling Love Of ChristThis is a challenging thought because much of our reluctance in evangelism can be traced to our own self-consciousness. 'Whatever will she think of me if I tell her I am a Christian?' 'What will he say behind my back if I try to invite him to church?' 'How would she react if I gave her a Christian book to read'. We can be overly concerned about our self-esteem, of losing our reputations among family, workmates, friends and neighbours. Whenever Paul was tempted to think of what others might think of him he turned to the cross of Christ and he reminded himself that he was no longer on earth to please himself but the one who had died for him. If we were able to think like that it would produce a liberating freedom in our personal witness.

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The Compelling Love Of ChristIn v15ff Paul develops the thought of Christ's constraining love. He is not saying as some scholars suggest, that he wasn't interested in the Jesus of history but only in the Christ of faith. Instead, he says that he once thought of Jesus in purely human terms. He saw him as a dangerous rabbi who preached sedition. He now realises he was wrong to think like that. His eyes have been opened to see the glory of the Lord Jesus.

Paul's hitherto blinkered vision with regard to Jesus has now caused him to reassess how he looked at others. He no longer saw men and women from the pessimistic perspective of this sinful world. He no longer lifted the hems of his robes and crossed the street when known sinners approached.

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The Compelling Love Of ChristHe began to see people as the transformed personalities they could become, if only their lives were transformed by Jesus. Becoming a Christian is entering a new realm, the old has disappeared, everything has become new. You feel as Noah must have felt when he walked out of the ark and saw a new world stretching before him. This says Paul is what the love of Christ does for me. It not only strips out of my heart that old egoistic concern for my reputation but it drives me out with a consuming desire to see other men and women discover a similar glorious new beginning in Christ. When we also see what Christ has done for us, the unconditional love with which he has loved us, we should be reaching out to others whom we see, not as pagans to be avoided, but the new creatures they could become in Christ.

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The Awesome Commission Of The KingWe are taken to the very heart of the gospel message in v18ff. First note that the gospel message is grounded in a great act of divine initiative. All this is from God.... The truest picture of Christianity is not a picture of the intrepid explorer using all his human powers and skills to achieve an objective, finding his way to God. It is not a voyage of discovery but one of rescue, not beginning with man in his lostness but with God in his mercy and grace.

The picture is one of God stepping down. Down into our world, down into our nature, down into our sin, that he might carry us back up to heaven with him. Men like to talk about finding God when they should be talking about God finding them. All is of grace, all is of God.

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The Awesome Commission Of The KingSecondly, the gospel message is one of acquittal v18 'God reconciled us to himself through Christ...not counting men's sins against them'. Paul brings into focus the problem which Christianity addresses. It is not simply that man is ignorant and in need of spiritual truth, though that is the case, or that he is sick and broken and in need of healing though that is also case, or that man's life is meaningless and in need of meaning, that also is truth. These are all symptoms of something more fundamental. Man is alienated from God because of his sin and it is man's moral failure which needs to be overcome before healing and meaning and spiritual growth ever begin. Man's greatest need is therefore that of reconciliation and that is precisely what God was doing on the cross.

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The Awesome Commission Of The KingThe third important characteristic of the gospel is that it proclaims a divine act of substitution, v21, ‘God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us’. Paul is describing the greatest exchange in history, the most amazing swap imaginable. On one side there is Christ who is sinless and on the other there is man who is sinful and as a result of God's activity on the cross Christ is made sin in order that man might become righteous. A substitution! Look at v15... Christ did not die simply to provide men with an example of self-sacrificial love. He died 'in the place of' or 'in the stead of' men and women.

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The Awesome Commission Of The KingThese tremendous truths which Paul compresses into a few verses would take more than a lifetime of sermons to unpack. But we have not yet touched upon the predominant thought of Paul which is that of the task which had been delegated to him cf v18, 19, 20.

It is quite amazing to think that a plan of salvation of this magnitude, devised and executed by God himself, should in the end be published not by God himself, not even by angels but by man.

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The Awesome Commission Of The KingIn the commercial world, if a firm spends billions of pounds developing a product, when they launch it they do not get one of the girls in the typing pool to produce an advert. They call in a specialist firm, they go for a big name, Sachi and Sachi or whatever, because they want a good return for their investment. Now think of what Paul is saying; this glorious plan of salvation was conceived of by God. It was executed by his Son. You could legitimately say that the lifeblood of this family was poured into the gospel! But look who they have called in to market it. Frail human flesh, like Paul, like you, like me. We have been put in charge of the publicity.

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The Awesome Commission Of The KingYou may know of the apocryphal story which describes Christ's return to heaven after the resurrection. The angels, amazed at what Christ had accomplished asked how the gospel message was to be taken into the whole world. Jesus replied, by his disciple band. 'But what if these frail creatures fail‘, asked the angels. Jesus replied, 'I have no other plan'. What an honour. We are Christ's ambassadors. People ask, “What right do we have to intrude into other people's lives with the gospel?” We witness for Christ not an interfering busybodies, but as personal representative of the King of Kings -their rightful sovereign. Christians are his representatives to an unbelieving world.

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The Awesome Commission Of The KingWe also need to become aware of the awful solemnity that is associated with this work, 'We implore you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God'v20. The agony of the evangelist is that he speaks to a world as yet unreconciled to God. In spite of all that God has done, in spite of the great condescending steps which God has taken with arms outstretched towards men, their backs are turned upon him still.

Can you sense the heartache of the apostle? A heartache we should all share as we appeal to men and women.

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The Awesome Commission Of The KingA friend recently attended an auction of electrical goods. Many of those present were reluctant to buy the items on show. The auctioneer became impatient and angry with his audience, so much so that he demanded that many of the items be put away and not offered again for sale. This threat did not quicken the response to his appeals and so he went on the huff! How unlike the ambassador of Christ who yearns and pleads with men. He does so as one who is persuaded of the reality of God's judgement seat, he does so because he has tasted the sweetness of Christ's love and he does so because he is overwhelmed by the privilege conferred upon him.

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ConclusionIf you knew that by tomorrow evening the clocks would stop, Christ would return, time as we know it would end and the whole of humanity would stand before God's judgement throne, what would you do? Would there be visits you would want to make and people you would want to speak to about Jesus? Would you put to one side your pride, fear, your reputation and your laziness. Evangelism is not a Christian hobby. It is an urgent rescue mission. Has God by his Spirit spurred you to engage in the ministry of reconciliation? A church that fails in the task of evangelism will die. Emil Brunner put it this way, 'the church exists by mission as fire does by burning.'