A Missional Vocation: Living as New Creation
2 Corinthians 5:20 is sublime in its simplicity and profound in its presentation of vocation of each who has experienced the reality of New Creation in Jesus Christ.
Let’s bring in the text to give us some Scriptural context for reflection:
NIV 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
Rooted In Creation
Jesus, the Messiah, became human in order to restore men and women to their true humanity. Jesus’ mission was to make it possible for us to become fully human again. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection accomplished God’s desire. “In Christ”, there is New Creation. Bible scholars debate the precise nuance of this phrase. Some argue that 5:17 portrays each individual believer as a new creation. Others argue that “in Christ” persons enter the realm of New Creation. In either case, the essential truth of profound newness in Christ is clear enough.
Personal transformation is the result of encountering God. We begin to live anew and live the life that God created us to live. The future opens up to us. New possibilities are present.
The key, however, is to understand that personal transformation is not the end but the means to an end. As E. Stanley Jones, the world-changing 20th missionary to India, wrote:
Christianity that doesn’t begin with the individual doesn’t begin; Christianity that ends with the individual ends.
Entrance into New Life means the beginning of a new way of living. God sends us from our mountain top experiences back into the valley. The Gospel does not stop with us. It keeps going. In fact, it moves forward through us. Alex McManus often says, “The Gospel comes to us on the way to someone else.â€
Ambassadors Go
We who have tasted reconciled relationship with our creator are mobilized to become reconcilers. Verse twenty goes farther by describing followers of Jesus Christ as “ambassadors for Christ.”
What is an ambassadors primary function? To represent the interests of a nation or ruler. We become Jesus’ goodwill ambassadors to the world. This is a critical insight. The end of salvation is not merely personal religious experience or even personal transformation; it is mission. Mission is the reason for the existence of the community of faith.
For an ambassador to be effective, he or she must actually go and serve in a foreign country. This is a crucial word for us today. As we seek to recapture the mission center of the Bible, we must locate ourselves in the world. In an ironic twist, many followers of Christ need to become more worldly. By this I do not mean less Christlike, but more Christlike. Jesus did not spend his time hanging around with nice religious folks. He intentionally led his followers into the world to reach those most desperate for what only God can do.
We have been sent. Have we left the home country to represent Jesus in the field. This is what ambassadors do. An ambassador who does not engage the world is like a kamikazee pilot who lived to write his memoirs.
Speak on Behalf of Another
Paul modifies our vocation as ambassadors by provocatively adding “as though God were making his appeal through us.†Wow! Did you catch this?
God has given us the responsibility of introducing others to God. This is not merely a command or mandate; it is essential to our living as followers of Jesus. Mission is not something that a select few individuals do; mission is what we all do.
When we function as Christ’s ambassadors, we truly represent God for the world as though God himself were speaking through us.
Reflections:
1) Have I experience reconciliation with God? Am I living as new creation?
2) Am I committed to living a missional lifestyle?
3) Whom do I represent through my words and actions? Is it Jesus or someone/something else?
4) Who are some people whom I may be able to influence for God? Why not begin praying for them now?
© 2007 Brian D. Russell
Great post
I appreciate the reflections