“1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: 3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. 4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. 5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. 12 For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance {externalistic projection of virtuous living for self glory and the praise of men that was empty of any real relationship with God or glorifying God by bringing souls to Christ}, and not in heart {pretentious, plastic, no real spiritual depth}. 13 For whether we be beside ourselves {out of his mind}, it is to God: or whether we be sober {having a sound mind}, it is for your cause. 14 For the love of Christ constraineth us {unites us or holds us together}; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. 16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. 17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (II Corinthians 5:1-21).

     The Apostle Paul understood the warfare of the Christian life better than any Christian we can imagine. Paul was zealous in his Ambassadorship for Christ. We might say, Paul lived, breathed, and exhaled Christ every living minute of his life. Paul’s philosophy of life is summed up in two verses of Scripture. 

“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

     Paul was being accused by some in the church at Corinth of pursuing ministry in order to gather a following of disciples for his own selfish purposes. A common tactic of those who cannot defeat someone’s theological arguments is to attack that person’s motives and personal character. Paul addresses these individuals in II Corinthians5:12-15.

“12 For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance {externalistic projection of virtuous living for self glory and the praise of men that was empty of any real relationship with God or glorifying God by bringing souls to Christ}, and not in heart {pretentious, plastic, no real spiritual depth}. 13 For whether we be beside ourselves {out of his mind}, it is to God: or whether we be sober {having a sound mind}, it is for your cause. 14 For the love of Christ constraineth us {unites us or holds us together}; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

     However, unlike those he is addressing in II Corinthians chapter five, Paul lived this philosophy of life in a way that no one could ever accuse him of pretense or selfishness. Paul was not an Ambassador for Christ in position. Paul was an Ambassador for Christ in practice. His whole purpose in life was to make Christ known to the extent that his own life and personal ambitions were consumed with preaching the gospel and making disciples. Paul lived a life of selflessness and personal sacrifice under extreme persecution from those outside of professing Christianity and constant personal attack against his character from false teachers within professing Christianity.

     The important truth of II Corinthians chapter five is that what Paul puts forth in the example of his own life is the model for all “born again” believers. Paul’s Ambassadorship model is the model of normal Christianity. Anything less than this Ambassadorship model is abnormal and subnormal Christianity to which every Christian will be morally accountable for at the Judgment Seat of Christ. For those Christians living their lives in any degree of subnormal Christianity, they should be looking to the Judgment Seat of Christ in “terror” (II Cor. 5:9-11).

“9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.”

To know of the reality of Hell and God’s eternal judgment upon lost souls and not tell people we know and care about is a manifestation of one of two things:

1. Unbelief
2. Carnal, selfish, disobedience

     To know the Gospel, be saved by God’s wondrous grace, to understand the extreme sacrifice of Christ that saves our wretched souls, and to understand the responsibilities of the reality of our God given Ambassadorship and be unfaithful to that Ambassadorship of the ministry of reconciliation manifest one of two things:

1. Unbelief
2. Carnal, selfish, disobedience

     We all will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. Although God has been propitiated for every sin we have, or ever will commit, our “works” (our faithfulness in ministry) will be judged.

“11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. 14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss {of rewards}: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire” (I Corinthians 3:11-15).

     There can be no tragedy of any professing Christian greater than the tragedy of a wasted life. This person bears no evidence of toil in the Father’s harvest fields. He has no calluses upon his hands from bearing others burdens or upon his knees for the many hours spent with God in prayer for souls. He has no scars of warfare with the forces of evil because he never really engaged them in battle. The demons do not know his name and he seldom has walked with God on the battlefield of evangelism. He left no mark of his existence upon the lives of those God put under his influence. There is only a dirty little smudge mark on creation where God had to drag his miserable, selfish soul through life one day at a time. There will be no souls at the Judgment Seat praising God for his selfless life and witness that brought them to saving faith in Christ. At the Judgment Seat of Christ, Jesus will try this man’s life “works” and leave him standing in shame with a pile of ashes of dead works and a wasted life.

     The grave responsibility of the challenge of II Corinthians chapter five regarding how we live our days on in this world is summed up in very simple terminology that even the simplest of God’s children can understand.

“14 For the love of Christ constraineth us {unites us or holds us together}; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again” (II Corinthians 5:14-15).

     Herein is defined God’s purpose for every Christian’s existence; “that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them.” This is the single criterion by which everything we do in our Christian lives will be measured and judged. We may have accepted Christ for purely selfish reasons because we needed to be saved from Hell and God’s eternal wrath. However, once we accept God’s wonderful gift, we need to understand that with the gift of salvation comes the responsibility of Ambassadorship and the ministry of reconciliation.

     “Henceforth” (II Cor. 5:16) from the day we understand the grace of God in the gift of salvation, we should no longer see other people through distinctions of the “flesh.” Now that we understand that all people have a common denominator of sin, corruption, and condemnation, we absolutely must view them from God’s divine perspective of grace. If we have that perspective, we must seek to rescue you them with the gospel. Like Paul, we will be driven by this divinely given perspective of this world. That purpose will be what drives us and consumes us. That purpose will be the purpose for every day of our lives.

     From the perspective of now, after salvation, being made part of the “new regeneration” (“new creature,” vs. 17), the Christian ought to be living in the world as a stranger to this world and an Ambassador from the Kingdom of God existing in this fleshly world only for the purpose of proclaiming the wonders of our New King Jesus and His love for sinners, inviting them all to become part of His Kingdom through the New Birth. To be a “born again” “new creature” and to continue to live with worldly and fleshly concerns is a denial of our new life in Christ, our new position as Ambassadors, and a manifestation of complete ignorance of our purpose as “born again” children of God.

“13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. 16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. 17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. 18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) 20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Philippians 3:13-21).

     If we are ever going escape the death grip of the clutches of Satan upon our lives, we must escape our love for this world and quit living as if the Kingdom of God is not our present existence “in Christ.” Advancing the Kingdom of God is advancing the King of the Kingdom by winning converts to be His voluntary subjects and to serve Him to His glory. Ambassadors of reconciliation; responsibility equals accountability and culpability. We may ignore this reality of our new position in Christ, but we will not escape the culpability of this position. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is an Ambassadorship of responsibility to faithful, habitual, and consistent declaration of its Truths.