Job Number One.

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, "Come back to God!" – 2 Corinthians 5:20 NLT

Paul was a man on a mission. Ever since his call by Jesus Christ on the Damascus road, he had been like a man possessed. He had received a commission from the very lips of Jesus Himself and he took it quite seriously. "I am Jesus, the on you are persecuting. Now get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. You are to tell the world what you have seen and what I will show you in the future. And I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God's people, who re set apart by faith in me" (Acts 26:15-18 NLT).

One of the problems Paul faced on a recurring basis was that the people to whom he was called to minister did not always received him or his message well. There were those who doubted his call and so, as a result, they refused to listen to what he had to say. Evidently, Paul was not the flamboyant or charismatic type. He wasn't impressive in his speech or appearance. But he was sincere in heart and motivated by his love for Christ. He firmly believed the message he had been given by Christ, because he had been personally and radically changed by it himself. So when he wrote that Christ had "died for everyone so that those who receive this new life will no longer live for themselves" (2 Corinthians 5:15 NLT), he meant it and believed it. Paul wasn't just preaching and teaching, he was sharing the life-saving message of new life through Jesus Christ. Paul was on a mission to reconcile the world to God, to restore a lost and dying generation to a right relationship with their Creator. And there was only one way for that to happen: Through belief in Jesus Christ as their Savior and sin substitute. Paul was calling people back to God, and there was only one path that could lead them there: Jesus Christ.

When you think about it, there is no more worthy cause in life than to lead people back to God by pointing them to Christ. What other endeavor could compare in value or worth? There is no doubt that we must help meet the humanitarian needs of those around us. To feed the hungry, minister to the sick, bring release to the captives and care for widows and orphans are non-negotiable expressions of love for those whom God has made. We are instructed by God to do these things out of love for Him and in order to show our love for others. But if we do all these things, but fail to reconcile those to whom we minister to God, what good had we really done? To relieve someone's physical or emotional suffering, but fail to introduce them to Christ, the answer to their spiritual suffering, would be cruel and, ultimately, unhelpful. Paul understood well the idea "that God has given us this task of reconciling people to him" (2 Corinthians 5:18b NLT). He knew that people needed to be fed, clothed, cared for and loved on. That's why he was constantly reminding those to whom he wrote about the collection of funds for the saints who were suffering in Judea because of their faith. But Paul's real mission was to help free people from the oppression of sin and the penalty of death by pointing them to Christ, the only hope for their condition. When all was said and done, Paul's mission in life was to help everyone he met be made right with God through Jesus Christ. No amount of human effort can restore or repair the sin-damaged relationship between God and man. Only God can reconcile what sin has destroyed. Only Christ can lead lost men and women back to God. And we have the job of sharing this message of reconciliation and restoration to everyone we meet. To those who are starving from lack of food as well as to those who are satiated and stuffed on the things of this world. Like Paul, we have been commissioned to share the message of reconciliation to the haves and the have-nots, the famished and the full, the helpless and the self-sufficient, the powerless and the powerful. For ALL have sinned and fallen short of God's righteous standard. ALL are condemned and face eternal separation from God as a result of their sin. But they can be made right with God through Jesus Christ – if only we will do our job and tell them the Good News.

Father, I sometimes lose sight of my real responsibility on this earth. I tend to forget that I have been saved, not to live for myself, but to love others. I have one job and one job only: To share the Good News of Jesus Christ with anyone and everyone I meet. I have the message of the hope of the world and I need to share it. I am Your ambassador and I have a responsibility to help others understand how they can be made right with You. Give me a passion to do my job well. Help me take my job seriously and to do it eagerly. Amen.

Dead or Alive – Please God.

2 Corinthians 5:1-10

So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. – 2 Corinthians 5:9 NLT

What's your goal in life? To be successful? Make a million dollars? Reach retirement? Graduate from college? Get married? Own a big home? Drive a fancy car? Have kids? See the world? Change the world?

As believers, we're to have a different perspective about life on this planet and what we expect to get out of it. We are eternal creatures living in a temporary environment that is nowhere near what God intended it to be when He created it. This place can be beautiful, even breathtaking at times, but it is fallen and marred by the effects of sin. Human beings have the capacity for good, but are more prone to sin and selfishness, perpetrating all kinds of evil on one another. And yet, we find ourselves, like everyone else, living as if life on this planet is all there is. We fear death and so we try to cram as much living as we can in the days we have. We try to prolong life and extend our time here on earth, hoping to buy ourselves a bit more time to enjoy what we've got or get our hands on what we've missed out on.

But Paul had a different perspective. He longed to be with God, because he knew that what God had in store for him in eternity was far better than anything he could ever experience here on earth. Paul didn't have a death wish. He wasn't in a hurry to die, but he knew that his life here was temporary and a poor substitute for what was to come. And that eternal perspective led Paul to have a different goal in life. As long as he lived on this earth, he was going to seek to please God. His temporary, earthly life was an opportunity to contribute to the advancement of God’s mission and glory in the world. Rather than live for himself, Paul chose to live for God. Rather than trying to build his own kingdom on earth, Paul chose to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Because Paul knew that all that he accomplished on this earth was going to one day be judged by Christ at the Bema Seat. He understood that his life as a believer was going to be held to a different set of standards. The Bema or Judgment Seat of Christ is a real event that will take place after Christ returns for his bride, the Church. Every believer will stand before Christ and will have his works judged by Christ – all those things he or she has done in their life since becoming a believer. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." (2 Corinthians 5:10 NASB). The judgment spoken of here has nothing to do with salvation. This will not be a judgment to determine who gets into heaven, because as believers, we will all spend eternity with Christ. But He will judge our works. He will determine the relative value of what we have done since becoming believers. The criteria for judgment will be the worth or worthlessness of our works. This is not about punishment, but rewards. There will be rewards for those things we did in this life that helped extend God's Kingdom and accomplish His will on earth. Those things that we have done that were selfish, self-centered, and ended up building our own little kingdom will not be rewarded. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul had told them about this coming day of judgment. "Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames" (1 Corinthians 3:12-15 NLT).

The realization of rewards should motivate us to live differently in this life. It should cause us to recognize that all those things we invest so much time and energy in that are for our own pleasure or personal satisfaction, will be worth nothing when we stand before the Lord. They will be wood, hay and stubble. That is why Paul lived to please God. He wanted his entire life to be comprised of gold, silver and jewels – those things that would be judged by Christ as worthwhile and worthy or reward. But it all begins with an eternal perspective. We have to understand that this life is temporary and only a fleeting moment when compared to the eternity we will spend with Christ. Even these bodies are temporary, growing older with every passing moment, which is why God is going to provide us with new bodies, heavenly bodies, designed to last an eternity. None of us know how long we have to live. But as believers, we should know that as long as we do live, we should make it our goal to please God in all that we do. We should live in such a way that our lives are "a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable" (Romans 12:1 NLT).

Father, I focus way too much on this life. I worry far too much about getting out of this life all that I can – and mostly just for me. But I am to set my sights on eternity. I am to focus on Your Kingdom, not mine. I am to live here, but with my attention focused THERE. Show me how to live to please You. I want to make it my goal to please You in all that I do in the time that I have left here. Amen.