Endless Possibilities – 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

¹⁶ From now on, then, we do not know anyone in a purely human way. Even if we have known Christ in a purely human way, yet now we no longer know Him like that. ¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come. ¹⁸ Now everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ 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. ²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ; certain that God is appealing through us, we plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” ²¹ 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.

When we receive Christ he makes us a new creation, a new creature, a new person.  The old is passed, the new comes.  We are changed from the inside out.  It is this immediate change that begins the other lifelong changes.  We are made new in Christ and spend the rest of our lives on earth becoming what Christ has already created us to be.

It is important to understand that you do not become a new creation and then get “in Christ.”  When you ask Christ into your life, in whatever state of life you are in, he makes you a new creature.  You are changed in an instant before the Lord Almighty, by the Lord Almighty.  He makes you a new person.  It means that you are literally created new.  Before God, you are not the same person who did not understand spiritual things, but you are a new creation who is able to learn spiritually and able to become what God had originally intended for you.

It is this immediate change that makes the other changes possible.  We can see people as Christ does because we have been made new persons.  And because of this change we get a new purpose in life, a new direction.

The work of God in our lives now becomes our message to the world.  A Christian, with the Spirit of God indwelling them, is given the ministry of reconciliation.  That ministry is comprised of actions and witness.

Let me ask you.  How much peace have you brought to others because of the way you have acted?  How much because of your attitude?  Do others regard you as a peacemaker or a troublemaker?  In general, do you encourage others to unity or division?

Even more so, if you were the only ambassador to your home, would the message of the one who sent you be heard?  What if you were the only ambassador to you school?  Your work?  How persistent of an ambassador for Christ have you been?  Is it possible to be an ambassador without saying anything?