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The passage I am going
to read maybe doesn’t get read that much but it is remarkable in some
ways because there are so many incredible statements in it. Part of what
Paul says in this passage is that he talks about what the purpose of our
lives is, he talks about the purpose of the church and then he names us
as ambassadors of God. He says that God has taken us, sinful creatures
that we are, and redeemed us and given us a purpose to live for him. And
then he says that He has taken us and made us His representatives.
Listen to what Paul says here, listen for those things from 2
Corinthians 5:11-21.
Since, then, we know
what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is
plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. We are not
trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an
opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take
pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. If we are out
of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it
is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that
one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that
those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died
for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a
worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do
so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled
us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting
men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of
reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God
were making his appeal though us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be
reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that
in him we might become the righteousness of God.
A young missionary had
just arrived in Seoul, Korea. It was the 1950’s. As he got to know the
place, he was surprised at the multitudes of young women who were
obviously prostitutes. A burden grew in his heart for these women. God
wanted him to do something about it. But he was a Presbyterian minister
and he didn’t really know what to do. But God seemed to say, “Go.” And
he did. He went to these very rough neighborhoods and he preached on
street corners and sometimes he would talk for hours individually with
these women, saying basically the same thing; “God will forgive you. God
loves you. Just leave this lifestyle. Repent.” There is nothing wrong
with that message but to his surprise, no one came. This went on for
several months and he grew very discouraged. He almost gave up,
especially as he saw the pimps laughing at him. But then something
changed…first, the missionary’s heart, and then the message. He began to
do a little investigation about how these girls got here. He found that
in Korea, some of the big families couldn’t support their kids and they
would pack them off to the city to find work. Some of these girls would
come in by train, naïve and not knowing what is going on, and some
people would meet them and promise them work. They would go. They would
take them to a place and rape them and place them in the service of
prostituting. Not only were they trapped, it was shameful for them to
think about going home. They couldn’t leave because they had no food and
they were afraid of the pimps. They were stuck. This missionary realized
something about these girls; he realized that not only were they
sinners, but they were sinned against, abused, hurt. He changed. He went
to his church and explained the situation and he got several families to
volunteer their homes. They would take these girls in if some would
come. So he went back with a different message. He said, “If you will
come out, I have a place for you, where you will have a roof, food, and
most of all, love.” And some did. No longer did the pimps laugh at him.
They beat him up and he bore the scars for the rest of his life. This
was a Missions professor of mine. He told us that story in deepest,
darkest Africa when we went there. We were sitting in the middle of
nowhere and he told us that story.
This problem, this
thing, has happened for thousands of years. It is going on in every
major city, probably in the world…Tijuana, everywhere. What can we do?
There are so many. We have chosen to minister in a place, Tijuana, for a
little while and with a certain group, with a certain man named Eduardo
who has placed himself under the authority, under the protection, of a
mission group called Christ for the City. They are a reputable place;
they watch over him. All money goes from them to him; he wanted to do
that for accountability. It’s a good place to put your money. He has a
vision to save as many kids as he can…for the first time, literally, an
orphanage for girls in Tijuana – fifty out of three thousand maybe –
some of these girls abandoned by their parents. It’s the same situation
but different ways they get there. We can’t save the world but maybe we
can save a little piece of it. I want to challenge you…I want to
challenge you to get your checkbooks out. A lot of us came back and said
we would do something about this. I’m going to pledge five hundred
dollars. It’s going to take about thirty thousand dollars to finish this
orphanage. That goes a long way in Tijuana. They’ve got a lot of work to
do and some furniture to buy. I want you to come to the brunch next
week. It’s free, well sort of. I’d like you to bring your checkbooks. If
you can’t come to the brunch, there is an offering plate that will come
by. Whatever you can do will be appreciated. I think we can do it. I
think we can get a good piece of that money. I’m challenging you to do
this. It’s a real need out there in the real world. We can do a little
bit and it will go a long way.
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