We come to Christ as beggars. Begging Jesus is what we observed in blind Bartimaeus, the blind beggar who sat on the side of the road, who pleaded for mercy from Jesus. (Mark 10:46-52.) What a picture of our miserable and needy state. We come to Jesus: blind, begging, and in need of a Savior’s mercy. Our heart’s cry should be, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Now that I’ve been a Christian for a while, I don’t outgrow my need for mercy and grace. In fact, by God’s grace, I find myself encountering the mercy of God as he reveals to me that I am still blinded to the depths of my sin and he shows me how my sin hurts others.
Jesus has mercy on those who see themselves as helpless sinners in need of healing. This is why the hymn Rock of Ages states: “Nothing in my hands I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling; Naked, come to Thee for dress, Helpless, look to Thee for grace: Foul, I to the fountain fly, Wash me, Savior, or I die.” The amazing thing is God shows mercy on those who cry out for it in faith!
So we come before God as a beggar. Unworthy when standing in our own merit. But worthy only in the merit of Christ, our risen Savior who sits on his thrown having purchased a redemption for his people.
But there is another sense in which God calls us to be beggars.
One of my favorite passages as a peacemaker is 2 Corinthians 5:11-21. It captures the motivational love of a peacemaker. It captures a love that controls us and fuels our gospel ministry. “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
We are to implore others on behalf of Christ. As ambassadors of Christ, spreading his gospel of peace, we are to be beggars. We beg sinners to embrace the gospel, the good news of salvation through faith in Christ.
The Apostle Paul uses the term ambassador. Ambassadors are representatives of their home country. It is in this sense that we are strangers and pilgrims in this land with our true King’s mission on our mind. As citizens of heaven residing as ambassadors on earth, we don’t view people “according to the flesh” (2 Corinthians 5:16). We see with new eyes and a new perspective.
What does it mean that we regard no one according to the flesh? My ESV Study Bible explains that we don’t view people “according to worldly standards and values that derive from living as though one’s present physical life is all that matters.”
In other words, we see people in light of eternity. Earlier in 2 Corinthians 5, Paul talks about our earthly tent or bodies, being temporal and how we are not “home” yet. We see with new eyes and recognize that there are only two possible destinations for each person, heaven or hell. Hell is a real place. So we are on a kingdom mission having the heart of our heavenly Father that none should perish.
Thus, knowing the fear of the Lord and having been entrusted with the message of reconciliation, “we implore you on behalf for Christ, be reconciled to God.” We strive to take every thought captive to obey Christ. “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.” – 2 Corinthians 10:4.
And Jesus is man’s only hope of salvation: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” This is the message we preach.
To have any hope of peace with one another, we must first call sinners to know peace with God. This is the amazing news of the gospel: Christians are seen from God’s perspective as righteous. God made a way for us to be reconciled to him. As new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), our trespasses are not counted against us (2 Corinthians 5:18).
We cannot be ambassadors on our own strength. The love of Christ controls us. We have died. We no longer live for ourselves but for the one who died for us and was raised, Jesus Christ. We represent our King well by practicing love, self-control, patience, and humility.
Ambassadors realize their limitations in making converts and effecting change.
We are just messengers. We can’t change people’s hearts. That’s the Holy Spirit’s work. We don’t save people. We just implore. When we beg others to come to Jesus, we proclaim a gospel message. God makes his appeal through us.
May we go forth as ambassadors, controlled by the love of Christ.
