Three Motivations
There are three things –3 motivating forces
– of this ministry of reconciliation. However,
there are many, many things that Satan will use to motivate us to do and say
nothing! And if we do nothing, and if we say nothing, whose ambassador are we?
Whenever we think of evangelism or witnessing
or spreading the gospel, we tend to enforce it with the Great Commission – “Go
Ye into all the world” – but, I think our motivation for being ambassadors is
more than just a commission, it is a calling! The calling that Paul speaks of
in Ephesians 4:1- “I urge you to live a
life worthy of the calling you have received.” All these things are
motivated by three basic things; The Character of God; The Commands of Christ;
and the Condition of mankind.
First is the character of God. The Gospel
message, or what Paul calls the “message of reconciliation”, originated in the
heart of God. It is His work not man’s, and it grows out of His essential
character. The revelation we get of God from the Bible is not one of proving He
exists, what the Bible reveals to us is the character of God. The character of
God can really be summed up in two ways – both of which are found in the Book
of 1John. John declares these two things in his letter in 1st John
1:5 where he first says “God is light!” “This
is the message we have heard from him and declare to you; God is light, in him
there is no darkness at all.” In 1John 4:8 he says “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love!” And,
in 1John 4:16 he says it again “God is
love!” God’s love is eternal, it is unconditional, and it is all inclusive.
If man rejects God’s love, he opens himself
up to God’s wrath. We tend to think of these two things in two separate
compartments; His love it is assumed is reserved for those who love him; and
His wrath is reserved for those who don’t.
But, God’s love and God’s wrath cannot be separated, they are two
aspects of one character quality – God’s Holiness. His love goes out to the
sinner as well as the saint and for the same reason; both are creatures of his
hand, his creation, and objects of his love.
At the same time, his anger is kindled
against the saint as well as the sinner, also for the same reason; God’s
holiness cannot tolerate sin, no matter where it is found. When he punishes the
sinner he acts in love. When He chastises the saint, he acts in love. Both His love and His wrath are a part of the
Gospel message. Without the love of God, we would have no Gospel, and without
the wrath of God there would be no need for the Gospel.
But, God is also “light” it says. “Light”
in the scriptures is a symbolic term and stands for three things; physically it
stands for glory and splendor; intellectually it stands for truth and an
awakening to truth; And, morally it stands for holiness. It is in the light of God’s Word that we find
revealed His holiness and his love. It is then, the awesomeness of the revelation
of His Love and the light of His Word which motivates us to live up to our
calling as ambassadors.
Our second motivation is the commands of
Christ. These are recorded in all four Gospels and in the first chapter of
Acts. We have made the mistake, I believe, of putting all the emphasis on the
word “go” but a closer look at the teachings of Christ reveals that He uses
three words to express his desire for the disciples and for the church. The
three words are “Come”, “Follow”, and “Go.”
“Come unto me” is the call of Christ to all
who would seek salvation and rest and a right, reconciled, and new relationship
with God. But, it does not stop there. The story is told of a little boy who
fell out of bed one night, and when his mother asked him how it happened, he
replied; “I guess I stayed too close to where I got in!” Many Christians suffer
from spiritual boredom and ineffectiveness because they don’t get beyond where
they got in! They hear “come” and they are satisfied that their sins are
forgiven and they are on their way to heaven.
But Christ also says “follow.” “If any man would
come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” It is in
the “following” that we learn and are trained and transformed. It is in the
“following” that we receive the motivation to “Go.” Go Ye into all the world –
as ambassadors!
The third motivation then, is the Condition
of mankind. How we view the condition of mankind will determine our level of
motivation and our effectiveness in this ministry of reconciliation that we
have been given. We must see every person we come into contact with as being
separated from God, lost, blinded by Satan, and headed for eternity in the
“lake of fire!” We can do that because that is the truth of God’s Word. “All
have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” However, it is God’s will that
“not one should perish, but that all would come to everlasting life.” When the
vertical connection between man and God is broken, all of the horizontal
connections become totally unstable! There is only one way to change that - Get
the vertical right and the horizontal will become right as well. This is what
Paul meant when he said in our scripture – “So now we no longer regard anyone
from a worldly point of view” which assumes then that we begin to see everyone
from a spiritual perspective.
There are many things that can and will
motivate us to do and say nothing, but these three – the character of God
Almighty; the commands of Christ to “come, follow, and go” and the true
condition of mankind should motivate us to go beyond considering ourselves
“saved” to considering ourselves to be Ambassadors for Christ.
Next
week; a word from Romans 12:2 “Be Ye transformed”…
No comments:
Post a Comment