Text: 2 Co. 5:9-20

1. Widget Co. went bankrupt. They had immaculate buildings, textbook organizational structure, impeccable business practices. No lawsuit bankrupted them. No competitor forced them out of business. Labor costs didn’t drive them out of the market. They failed because they focused on the wrong things. They forgot that their purpose was to sell widgets. Everything else was to be subservient to that. They had developed great programs for their employees, in house daycare, maternal and paternal leave, vacations, paid holidays, health care coverage. They had all of the programs. But they didn’t sell widgets.
2. Fishless Fisherman: buys equipment, reads Field & Stream, knows the techniques of fly fishing, slat water fishing, surf fishing. Wax eloquent on history of fishing, the need for fishing, but he never goes fishing. That is 90% of all churches, pastors, and Christians. We talk a good game, but we never go fishing. We’re waiting for the fish to come to us. But by nature, a fish won’t jump out of the water to come onto the land. A sinner, by nature, won’t come, you’ve got to go fishing for him. Why Jesus said, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men."

1. Accepted By Him (v. 9)
1. "accepted" = "well pleasing"
2. Greatest, highest motive
3. Pleases the Lord because"
1. The purpose for which He came
1. Luke 19:10 "For the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."
2. 1 Ti. 1:15 "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief."
2. Produces joy in heaven when sinners are converted
2. Judgment Seat of Christ (v. 10)
1. "Bema" seat which is the time of reward for Christians
2. Illus.

Inscribed on the largest bell in London, suspended 400 feet in the air at St. Paul’s are the Latin words "Vae mihi, sin non evangelizavero" which means "Woe is me if I shall not evangelize."

3. 1 Co. 9:16 "Woe is me if I preach not the gospel"
3. Terror of the Lord (v. 11)
1. Reality of hell
1. Verses
1. 2 Thess. 1:7-9

"And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;"

2. Rev. 20:11-15

"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

3. Matt. 10:28; 18:8-9; 25:41

"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

"Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire."

"Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:"

4. Is. 66:15-16

"For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many."

2. Literal place, literal fire
2. Reality of Judgment
4. Love of Christ (v. 14)
1. Q? His love for us or our love for Him?
1. While both are legitimate motives, the context argues for Christ’s love for us ought to motivate us
2. Cp. v. 15, "we live unto him"
2. Ro. 1:14 "I am debtor…"
1. To the world
2. To Christ
3. Illus.

Bees, by nature, when they find a food source (life-giving), got to the hive and share this information with all of the other bees. We, too, since we have found the nectar of heaven, should share this sweet, good news with everyone else.

4. Illus.

I had a deed to a piece of property on the banks of the lake of fire. The neighborhood was one of the best, with some of my more prominent neighbors being Hitler, Stalin, Dahmer, and all of the other off scouring of men. The air was a lovely sulfur smog. Eternal power failure as blackness invades every moment. This was my inheritance until I was saved at which time I was given a new deed to a mansion with golden streets, a clear pure river, eternal light coming from the throne of God. As a result, I should be motivated to serve the Christ.

5. New Creation (v. 17)
6. Ministry of Reconciliation (v. 18)
1. Why we are not taken to heaven immediately
1. Left to be witnesses
2. We are not left to learn more (though that is something we must do). 1 Co. 13:12 says that in heaven we will learn all we need to know. Down here, we are to share what we do know, with those who don’t know.
2. Illus.
7. Ambassadors (v. 20)
1. Webster’s Def.

An official envoy; esp: a diplomatic agent of the highest rank accredited to a foreign or sovereign or government as the resident representative of his own or appointed for a special and often temporary diplomatic assignment; 2a: an authorized representative or messenger

2. Duties of an ambassador
1. Speaks on country’s behalf, not his own
2. He is a foreigner in a strange land
3. He must have the deportment that coincides with his country and his position

1. Jonathon Edwards: "Resolved: That every man should live to the glory of God. Resolved second: That whether others do this or not, I will."
2. Spurgeon: "Did you never win a soul for Jesus? You shall have a crown in Heaven, but no jewels in it. You will go to Heaven childless; and you know how it was in the old times, how the women dreaded lest they should be childless. Let it be so with Christian people; let them dread being spiritually childless. We must hear the cries of those whom God has given to be born unto Himself by our means. We must hear them, or else cry out in anguish, "Give me converts or I die."