Our Commission is Ambassadorship
The Provisions of God’s Grace
[Click slide 2] THE COMMISSION - AMBASSADORSHIP
We cannot be properly motivated to lead others to Christ until we understand God's love toward us. In Romans 5, Paul writes about this love. Though we were ungodly, though we were totally helpless, though we were hostile to and enemies of the Creator, yet “God demonstrates His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
This love of God for us is the only force that can motivate us to fulfill our commission.
2 Corinthians 5:14
14For the love of Christ controls us, ...... (NAS)
[Click ] “The love of Christ” is not love for Him that we produce. [Click ] It is God's undying, eternal, infinite love for us, [Click ] manifested to us through the Lord Jesus Christ [Click ] and produced inus when we walk in the sphere of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 5:5
5and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (NAS)
Galatians 5:22
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (NAS)
When Paul says that this love “controls” us, he uses the Greek word [Click ] sunecho. [Click ] Sun means “together,” [Click ] echo means “to have and to hold, to possess and to control.” The word can be translated “hold together,” “constrain,” “press on every side,” “urge,” “impel.” It carries the idea of someone possessing something and controlling it for his benefit. In this case it is God's love that possesses and holds us together, motivating us continually upward in spiritual growth for our good and His glory.
This driving force is available to every one of us, but not until we begin to understand it through the study of the Word will it be activated in our lives. As we study, we see Jesus Christ more clearly. We understand with progressively more depth and intimacy what it took for Jesus to lay aside the riches of eternity and step in the flesh into time.
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 8:9, ”that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” For us, the awesome God emptied Himself and came in the form of human flesh to live the life of a bondservant.
For over thirty-three years He humbled Himself, taking one step down after another after another until the final humiliation of death on a cross.
[Click ] Philippians 2:5-8
5Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
6who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, {and} being made in the likeness of men.
8And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (NAS)
He did it all to bring to us the love that provides eternal life.
[Click slide 3] This is the love that hold us together. [Click ] The more impressed we are with it, the more clearly we will see how empty are the things of time that we once so eagerly sought. We will find ourselves like the Apostle Peter in John 6, with only one real option. At a time when many of His disciples turned away from following Him, the Lord asked Peter if he, too, were going to leave. But where else could Peter go? He knew no one but Jesus and nothing but the plan of God would ever be able to satisfy the longings of his soul. The love of Christ had taken hold of Peter.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15
14For the love of Christ controls us [hold us together], having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died;
15and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. (NAS)
When Paul tells the Corinthians that “one died for all,” the “one” he is talking about is Adam. The entire human race was thrown into sin with the fall of Adam. When he fell, Adam died spiritually.
Genesis 2:17
17but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die." (NAS)
The children of Adam and Eve were born in the likeness of their parents. They - and their children - were all born spiritually dead, separated from God.
But because of His love, God sent His only begotten Son into this world of death and darkness.
John 3:16
16"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. (NAS)
Jesus Christ came to die for every member of the human race. He did so with a goal in mind: “that they who lived should no longer live for themselves.” The phrase “they who live” refers to all who by faith in Jesus Christ come out of spiritual death into life.
“Life” is zoe, the word used in John 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. (NAS) to describe the essence of life which is found only in the Lord Jesus Christ.
[Click ] Christ took our place on the cross so that we could take His place in the world. [Click ] He was imputed with our sins so that we could be imputed with His righteousness. [Click ] He died for us so that we could live for Him. If we are living for ourselves - following our own plans, seeking our own desires - then we are not fulfilling the purpose for which Christ came into this world. He died so that we who live should no longer live for ourselves, but for Him.
2 Corinthians 5:16-17
16Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (NKJ)
When we stop living only for ourselves and start living for Christ, we begin to look at other people differently. Before, we saw others only “according to the flesh,” from human perspective. We were interested in other people for what we could get out of them or for how they made us feel. But now we know that God wants us to look at others with His eyes. He wants us to see in every unbeliever what He sees - someone precious enough for Christ to die for and, therefore, someone who has the potential of becoming a new creation in Christ Jesus.
Paul is saying that if we are driven by the love of Christ and can no longer live simply for our own pleasures and purposes, then we are no longer able to look at other people superficially. We have to look at people as potential believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to see in them the infinite worth that God vested in them when He sacrificed His own Son. Therefore, our attitude to other members of the human race is completely transformed from human viewpoint, which sees only the surface, to divine viewpoint, which sees all the potential.
Our perception of other people is able to change because of the profound change that has taken place in us. Paul says that “in Christ” we are a totally new creation. At the moment of our salvation, the Holy Spirit placed us in Christ and we became new. In the twinkling of an eye, He gave us new position, new life, new power, new purpose, new destiny. The old things passed away and new things have come.
[Click slide 4] Five Works of the Holy Spirit
2 Corinthians 5:16-17
16Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (NKJ)
Second Corinthians 5:17 does not say that if any man is in Christ he ought to become a new creation and old things ought to pass away. It does not say that if any man is in Christ, he feels like a new creation, or he acts like a new creation.
It does not say that the old things will eventually pass away and new things will eventually come, it says, “if any man is in Christ, he IS a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” These are statements of absolute, accomplished fact; they refer to positional reality. When we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit instantaneously performs five irrevocable works in us:
1.[Click ] Baptism: new position
[Click ] By the baptism of the Holy Spirit we are placed in Christ, becoming a part of His body forever.
1 Corinthians 12:13
13For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. (NAS)
[Click ] This gives us a new position spiritually. [Click ] Before we believed, we were dead in Adam; [Click ] now we are alive in Christ.” [Click ] We have been identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection,
Romans 6:3-4
3Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
4Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (NAS)
[Click ] and raised with Him and have been seated with Him in heaven.
Ephesians 2:6-7
6and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly {places}, in Christ Jesus,
7in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (NAS)
[Click ] Colossians 3:1-4
1If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.
3For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. (NAS)
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2.[Click slide 7] Regeneration: new life
[Click ] Regeneration is the work by which God the Holy Spirit brings our dead human spirit to life, making us spiritually alive.
Titus 3:5
5He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, (NAS)
Ephesians 2:4-6
4But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly {places}, in Christ Jesus, (NAS)
[Click ] We are born again, this time as children of God.
1 Peter 1:23
23for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, {that is,} through the living and abiding word of God. (NAS)
John 3:3-7
3Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
4Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?"
5Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6"That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7"Do not marvel that I said to you, `You must be born again.' (NAS)
John 1:12
12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, {even} to those who believe in His name, (NAS)
John 1:18
18No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained {Him.} (NAS)
[Click ] Whereas before we were physically alive but spiritually dead, [Click ] now we are spiritually alive in Christ and positionally dead to the flesh.
John 5:21
21"For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. (NAS)
Romans 6:6
6knowing this, that our old self was crucified with {Him,} that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; (NAS)
[Click ] Eternal life has been imputed to us; [Click ] we have been transferred from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of light.
1 John 5:12
12He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. (NAS)
Colossians 1:13
13For He delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, (NAS)
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3.[Click slide 9] Indwelling: new power
[Click ] At the moment of salvation, we are permanently indwelt by God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:9-11
9However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
10And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
11But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you. (NAS)
[Click ] The indwelling of the Holy Spirit supplies us with the ability to access the new man in us. Yielding to the Holy Spirit makes possible the filling with the character of Christ.
Ephesians 5:18
18And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled in the sphere of the Spirit, (NAS)
[Click ] Before salvation our only source of motivation and power was the old sin nature. But now not only is the power of the old sin nature broken, but we are able to draw on the omnipotence of God.
John 7:37-39
37Now on the last day, the great {day} of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
38"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, `From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.'"
39But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet {given,} because Jesus was not yet glorified. (NAS)
John 14:17-20
17{that is} the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, {but} you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
18"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
19"After a little while the world will behold Me no more; but you {will} behold Me; because I live, you shall live also.
20"In that day you shall know that I am in My Father and you in Me and I in you. (NAS)
John 17:26
26and I have made Thy name known to them and will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou didst love Me may be in them and I in them." (NAS)
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4.[Click slide 11] Gifting: new purpose
[Click ] At salvation the Holy Spirit gives each of us a unique spiritual gift,
1 Corinthians 12:7-11
7But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
8For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit;
9to another faith by the same Spirit and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
10and to another the effecting of miracles and to another prophecy and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another {various} kinds of tongues and to another the interpretation of tongues.
11But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. (NAS)
and a unique work to accomplish. [Click ] The purpose of our spiritual gift is to manifest the power of the Spirit of God within us by edifying the body of Christ in some way. [Click ] The work chosen by God for us is something that no one else could ever accomplish and that will remain undone for eternity if we do not do it. [Click ] Only in the exercise of our gift in the work God has chosen can we fulfill the plan of God for our life and achieve the eternal greatness for which we were designed.
5.[Click slide 12] Sealing: new destiny
[Click ] Sealing is the work by which the Holy Spirit assures our eternal destiny.