Have you ever had someone in your family who was given some special award because of something wonderful they did? Your family was very proud of them, and you felt proud to be related to this relative. Their actions and behavior brought honor to the family name. Maybe it was you who was honored, or had gotten excellent grades all through school, and became school valedictorian at graduation. You were an honor to the family name, and made your parents proud. Perhaps the opposite happened. Maybe you or another relative really messed up, and brought shame to the family name. Either way, very early on we realize that our behavior, good or bad, brings honor or shame to the family. When we are out in public we represent the family, and they are judged by our behavior. The same is true to varying degrees with our school or university, the company we work for, and the clubs we belong to. It is also true with our church and the Lord Jesus Christ. In our Scripture passage from St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church, he reminds us that we, as believers, are representatives of Jesus in the world and community we live in. Let’s look into this Scripture passage.
Before we were saved, our lives were ruled by our old sin nature. It was so easy to slip into rotten, sinful behavior, and many times we didn’t even care. We lived to please ourselves. When we accepted the Lord Jesus as Savior, He gave us a new nature, His righteous nature. Because Jesus Christ died for us, we also are dead to our old lives (vs. 14-15). We should no longer live to please ourselves, but instead seek to please God.
As a believer, the Lord has given us a new nature, one that desires to please God. With the Holy Spirit now living in us, our desire to take part in the sinful activities we once did, our old nature, has been put to death. We are a new creature (vs. 17). Jesus takes us as we are and transforms us. Before we came to God we followed our own desires. When we repent and are saved, the desires of our old life fade away as we are slowly transformed. Believers are new on the inside. The Holy Spirit gives us a new life, and we are not the same anymore. We don’t just turn over a new leaf, like the unsaved do occasionally, we have a new life with a new Master.
After a person is saved, old value systems, priorities, beliefs, loves, and plans are gone. Evil and sin are still present, but the believer sees them in a new perspective, and they no longer control him. What we were before salvation has passed away. It can take time for all of this to happen, but as we yield our life to the Holy Spirit more and more, this new life becomes more evident in our day to day behavior.
Now, as born-again believers, we are children of God and we represent His family to the world (vs. 20). The world will judge our Father based on our behavior and our speech. Our deeds will reflect an image of God that others see. Christians bear the Name of Christ. We represent Him wherever we go. As Paul refers to us here in this Scripture passage, we are God’s ambassadors. Just as an ambassador is sent to represent the country he is from, God has sent us out into the world with His message of reconciliation (vs 19-20). God has entrusted us with the task of telling others His salvation message. If the love of Christ now in our hearts would compel us to help with someone’s earthly needs, how much more should it compel us to bring them the salvation message.
As Paul concludes in our passage, he reminds us of what Jesus did for us when He died upon the cross for our sins (vs. 21). When we were saved we exchanged our sins for Jesus’s righteousness. Our sins were poured onto Him, and His righteousness was poured onto us. Jesus was the substitute for our guilt. He bore our sin upon His shoulder. All born-again believers are in God’s sight as perfect as if we had never sinned. God clothes us in a robe of righteousness. We are just as accepted by God today as when we will stand before His throne.
In light of all that Jesus has done for us, we should be living a life that brings honor to our Heavenly Father. We should always aim to be a good representative for the Lord, and not a blot upon His Name.
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