2 Corinthians 5:18-6:2 (HCSB)
Everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, certain that God is appealing through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Working together with Him, we also appeal to you, “Don’t receive God’s grace in vain.” For He says:
I heard you in an acceptable time,
and I helped you in the day of salvation.
Look, now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation.
Paul clearly understood that he had not been saved so that he could be blessed in this life and then enjoy God’s presence forever in heaven. He had been saved for a divine purpose: to act as an ambassador at large for the kingdom of heaven, and to seek to enlarge it by encouraging people everywhere to defect from the kingdom of the world to God’s kingdom.
God made salvation possible through the sacrifice of Jesus. But Paul clearly understood that God has chosen to do the work of bringing salvation to the lost individuals of the world through His people, those who have already been transformed. It is a great tragedy today that so many people in the Church have not taken up the task God has given them, the same task He gave Paul, of acting as ambassadors to bring the good news to those around them, those nearby and in other parts of the world. They wonder why God doesn’t do something to save more people but refuse to do the work that He has already given them.
But Paul was not a slacker. He worked diligently in the task he had been given. He not only presented the gospel clearly, but he was also a living illustration of the transformative power of faith in Jesus. And he implored people to follow his example, and to receive Jesus for themselves.
Paul realized that, despite his testimony, despite his example, despite his explanations and pleading, there would always be those who would not take advantage of the offer of salvation. The gift of grace is freely offered, but it can be just as freely refused by those who won’t leave their lives of sin behind and surrendered to the lordship of Jesus.
Paul urged the Corinthians to not treat God’s grace lightly, or to delay their acceptance of this gift. Each person is only guaranteed the present moment. In the next, their soul could be demanded of them, and they will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, ready or not. So, Paul urges those urges them to decide now: “now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation,” because tomorrow may never come.
Father, it is a tragedy that so few Christians today have any urgency about those who are still lost. We have delegated responsibility for those in foreign countries to the missionaries we send out, and for those nearby, in our own neighborhoods and communities, to pastors we hire. And we just live our lives as if it is not a real tragedy that our unsaved family members, friends, and coworkers are rushing headlong into the eternal fires of hell! Forgive us, Lord, for our cold, hard hearts. Set a fire within us, the same fire that burned so intensely in Paul, to melt our hearts and to move us out of our comfort zones and into the work you have called us to, as your kingdom ambassadors to a lost and dying world. Amen.
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