Dr Greg Bahnsen - Proverbs: Proverbs 13:17 (Faithful Representatives) (Part 51)

I think it'd be appropriate this Labor Day weekend if we were to stop and think for just a little while about the nature of being employed by someone else, by the nature of being workers in this world. And I want you to think, particularly this morning, of yourself as workers who represent the one for whom you work. This is a perspective which has been missing, I think, in our culture for a long time. To whatever degree it has come to expression, it's been very muted, very limited. And we fail often, I think, to understand that in God's eyes, those for whom we work, our masters, if you will, are being represented by the work that we do. Now, our reflections are going to focus upon our position as employees and as laborers in this world today. But our sermon is not going to be simply about that. Because if you understand the concept of representation in the Bible, you will understand as well that we represent much more than just our employer. Our work reflects upon our employer. The kind of work we do is a message from our employer through us. It tells us something of the kind of ambassadors we are for that employer. But we are also representatives of other groups of people and other individuals. We are representatives, for instance, of our families. Children represent their parents in the way they answer the telephone and the way they conduct their chores. The way they relate to other people. How they act out in the world is a reflection upon those whom they represent their parents. Isn't that true? We represent organizations that we belong to. You may be part of a charitable group or an adoption agency or an anti abortion coalition, and the way you represent that group, the way you speak, the way you conduct yourself, reflects on it as well. In this world, we are, in various relationships and in various ways, representatives of others. We cannot get away from that fact. And so this morning, please turn with me to Proverbs 13, verse 17, where we receive wisdom from the Lord about being representatives of others. Proverbs 13 at the 17th verse. Hear now God's word. A wicked messenger falls into evil. But a faithful ambassador is health. Thus far, the reading of God's word. We're going to be looking at a number of passages this morning that deal with how we represent others, that deal with being employed by other people and under their authority and set with a task or an errand to do by them. And the question is, how do we do that? In Proverbs 13:17, we read of a messenger. In the second line of that verse, we read of an ambassador. Both of these are symbolic of someone sent by another person, someone who's under the direction of another person, someone who, for that reason represents another person. And the proverb tells us very simply that a messenger proves his character by the discharge of the errand that has been entrusted to him, or by the neglect of discharging that errand. A messenger proves his own personal character by the way he represents the one who sent him. You see, the messenger is like an employee in our day and age. And some of you in our congregation are in positions to hire other people. Some of you hold, by God's providence and grace, fairly high positions in the company that you work for. You know what it is, therefore, to yearn to hire people, to yearn to hire workers who are reliable and who are industrious, who are intelligent, people who know how to learn the job, represent the job you've given them to do, carry out that errand, and show your particular business or company to the world in a way that is flattering to you, people who know what they're doing and can be counted on to do the job, rather than people who will cause you trouble or prove more costly than what you pay them. You know, we live in a nation that is full of businesses that are so large, so overgrown in terms of their bureaucratic trappings, that I think we shield from ourselves. The fact that a large, very large number of people who work for organizations cost that organization more in what they take away from it than what they are being paid. That is to say, their net worth to the organization is in the minus column. Because, you see, when phone calls come in and you answer the phone and you don't answer questions properly, or you get orders wrong, or because of your sullenness, you misrepresent the company and people don't want to deal with you. Business is lost, business is distorted, things have to be repaired. You can cause more damage to your company by your poor work than your worth. Proverbs was onto that many years ago. We read here that the unworthy subordinate, the wicked subordinate, falls into evil. Actually, that translation falls into evil is all right, and we can make application of it. But the Hebrew, I think, must be read in what is grammatically called the causative sense. That is, the unworthy subordinate doesn't just fall into evil, he causes people to fall into evil. And so it's translated in many places. Plunges men into trouble. The unworthy messenger, the ambassador who doesn't do his job right, plunges people into trouble. One might think here of Elisha's servant, Gehazi. Do we all remember the story from Sunday school of Gehazi do you remember the story of Elisha and Naaman? Naaman was the Syrian captain, an enemy of Israel who had leprosy. And the king of Syria sent Naaman down to the prophet of God in Israel, to Elisha, to see if the prophet of God could heal him. Of course, the prophet of God had no trouble at all. In fact, Elisha. That was such a minor thing for Elisha. He didn't even answer the door. Here was Naaman, the greatest military leader of Syria, in that day, at his front door. And Elisha's in watching tv, and he sends Gehazi to the door and says, tell him to go down to the Jordan and wash seven times. Can you imagine how Naaman felt standing at the door? I mean, for crying out loud, Elisha, couldn't you come out and offer me some iced tea or something? Show me some respect? You tell me to go wash in the Jordan river, and, you know, Naaman says, you might think that the man of God might have come here and waved his hand over the place or done some kind of magic hocus pocus, you know, made a little stir over this. But instead he sends a messenger to me. Well, anyway, Elijah goes down and he washes in the. In the Jordan. And he didn't want to do that because the Jordan river, you know, is very dirty river. And the rivers of Syria were quite clean, quite refreshing, beautiful rivers. Naaman's thinking. I mean, he could ask me to go wash in a nice clean river from Syria, but down on the Jordan river, he has to be convinced. Well, look, if he had asked you some great thing, you would do it, right? So here's something easy. Go to the Jordan wash seven times. You can imagine this guy going down to the Jordan river, washing one time. Coming up, leprosy still all over him. Going down a second time, leprosy still all over him. A third and a fourth, a fifth and a sixth. And about the sixth time, he may have thought, you know, I think maybe I'm being a fool. Elijah not only didn't respect me, Elisha not only didn't come out and make a big deal over this, but now he's got me down here washing this muddy river, and I'm down six times, and I'm looking pretty stupid. He goes down the seventh time in faith and comes up clean, totally healed of his leprosy. Now he's really impressed, this man of God. He doesn't even have to lift a finger. He doesn't have to wave his hand over the place. He just says, Go do this. And I'm healed. And so what does Naaman want to do about that? Do you remember the end of the story? I'm afraid the part I told you right now is the more dramatic part of the story, the more memorable part of the story. But after this, the story continues. Naaman decides he wants to pay back Elisha. And he's got a lot of silver and a lot of gold and he's got animals and he's got clothing and he's got great properties and so forth. And he wants to give this to the man of God. He's really grateful. And I think that's something we should respect Naaman for. He should have been grateful. He owed to Elisha and actually to the one Elisha represented God, everything. And so he wants to give this great gift to Elisha and he sends back the offer to do that. And Elisha says, no, nothing. God heals people for free. Something that maybe some preachers need to learn this day, maybe some doctors need to learn that in our day too, that that's a ministry. And when people can't pay, they're there not to make money. They're there to have a healing ministry to people. That's something that needs to be heard today. Nevertheless, Naaman is not able to pay Elisha, and he starts back for Syria. Now the story begins. This is what I want you to hear. Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, starts thinking to himself, that really didn't make a lot of sense, Elisha. That really wasn't a very smart move. It would have been appropriate to take a gift of gratitude from this man. So Gehazi does not go to Elisha and plead with his employer, the one who is his master, and say, now think this through, Elisha, this could really help us. This could help the kingdom of God. Think of all the good things we could do with this money. Let's go after him and tell him, oh, we changed our mind. We'll take the. He doesn't go to Elisha and say that at all. Know what he does? He takes off down the road. After Naaman and Naaman's servants, Gehazi catches up. And as an unfaithful ambassador of his employer, as a false witness to the truth says, my master has decided it's okay. Give us all the goodies you had in mind. And of course, Gehazi intends for he himself to profit from this arrangement. What was Gehazi's place in this story? He was the messenger, he was the ambassador, he's the Guy who went from Elisha's front room to the front door and gave the message he was the servant of another. But he saw an opportunity to profit from that situation. He saw his position as a way to put himself ahead. And so he misrepresents Elisha, makes Elisha look like something of an Indian giver, pardon the expression. He makes Elisha look like a double minded man who's always flip flopping, can't decide what he really wants. But even worse, he makes the Lord God of Israel look like somebody who heals for a price. Gehazi, as an unfaithful messenger, runs after Naaman and receives all the goodies. And he comes back, you know, the end of the story. Oh, it's very fitting. Maybe I should make you look it up. It's in 2 Kings 5. Now you look it up this afternoon, I'll tell you the end of the story. He comes back, you know, Gehazi just kind of wanders into the front room and you know, he's on duty, he's ready to do whatever he wants. Elisha says, where you been, Gehazi? Can you imagine Gehazi thinking, you didn't even know I was gone, did you, Elisha, out running errands? Just taking care of household tasks, Doing all the things you want me to do, boss. Elisha says, gehazi, the leprosy that belonged to Naaman now yours. And like that he turned white. With leprosy, a wicked messenger falls into evil, but a faithful ambassador is health, his healing. The unworthy, wicked subordinate causes trouble, just like Gehazi, Elisha's servant. Now, we don't have dramatic stories like that necessarily that take place in our lives, but the principle of that story is applicable to us. The middleman, the envoy, the representative of others who distorts the errand that has been given to him or falsifies the message that he has been entrusted with. You know, whether it's a commercial transaction or a political treaty, from the most minor to the most significant arrangement socially in life, the person who is unfaithful to what he's been charged to do can bring disastrous consequences. You can imagine, I think, especially on the grand scale, what this is all about. What if the people who have been sent to Geneva to engage in arms negotiations for our country are unfaithful to those who are in positions of authority in this country, who have sent them to Geneva and make secret deals under the table that no one else knows about and sells our country down the river. Disastrous consequences for an unfaithful ambassador. Well, again, the principle is easy in the dramatic, but the wise person sees that principle come to work also in the mundane, those little things of life where you represent others, where you represent the person who hired you, or represent your parents or your church or the organization of which you remember a poor and an unreliable worker is not only disastrous, but is an irritant, probably. Proverbs 10:26 We've looked at in the past, but it bears repeating this morning. As vinegar to the teeth and as smoke to the eyes, so are the sluggard to them that send him. Do you have someone who is working for you? Let me bring this right down to where we live. Perhaps you're a parent and you have children that you're trying to bring up with a sense of responsibility who want to contribute to the family and all the things the family has to do. And so you give chores to your children. Why are all the parents smiling now? You kind of, I've telegraphed already what's coming, haven't I? You're teaching your young ones to help out around the house, to mow the lawn, whatever it may be. And you say, now we're relying on you. This is your job. You must do this. And how do you feel when the young one comes in and says, dad, Mom, I'm all done, got all my chores done for the day, for the week, whatever it may be. You say, well, that's great. And so you send them off to the movies or to the beach or whatever they want to do, and then hour or two later, you happen to wander into their room or out to the front yard or wherever it may be, and you say, this is the kind of job they did like smoke to the eyes, it's irritating, it's aggravating. But you see, it's not just children who do things that they're grown up children who go to work and are like smoke to the eyes and vinegar to the teeth of their employers, too, because they just don't get the job done right. They don't represent the company in the way the company wishes to be represented. They don't carry out their errands. They don't get the message correct. The faithful representative of others, Proverbs tells us. By contrast, the faithful representative, the trustworthy employee, brings health or healing to those who hire him. And so this morning it's important that you stop, especially during this Labor Day weekend, and examine the effect that you have upon the people you represent, especially those who hire you, the effect you have upon your masters what kind of tasks do you do for them? How faithful are you in carrying it out and representing what they want you to represent? Do you bring healing help to those whom you represent, or do you bring destructive damage to them? Maybe it's especially appropriate on Labor Day weekend to think about that, because the roots of Labor Day, as you know, go back, first of all to the international socialist movement, which is a sad commentary that we still honor it. But nevertheless, more than anything else, Labor Day weekend bespeaks the power in earlier days of the century of the union movement in this country, which is, sad to say, rooted in international socialist movement. Nevertheless, the union movement in this country. What have the effect of unions been? Now, I don't want to be misrepresented here. I believe in collective bargaining. I think laborers have the right to get together and to go together and say to their employer, we want better working conditions, we want higher pay, whatever. If that's all unions represented, I wouldn't have any complaint with them. What I do complain about is legal coercion and enforcement that backs up unions in the name of the law. The state says this union has the right to a monopoly of labor in that area. And not only that, they apparently will get away with it when they decide to enforce their monopoly on the labor in that area by inflicting physical violence upon those who wish to complain with them at lower salaries or worse working conditions and to inflict upon their employers and those who own their companies untold financial damage by refusing to do the job given to them well. So we have difficulty with unionism as it's being practiced in our day. But let's forget all of that. Let's forget the legal side of this question about unions and just examine the consequences side of the of unionism. What has been the effect of the union movement in this country? Is the work better in the auto industry in this country than it is in the Orient? Is it? Why is it people want to buy foreign cars at lower prices, better made? Is it because they're anti American? I mean, that's the sort of. You get that kind of pious nonsense as a way of covering up the fact that you have representatives, workers for other people who have become unfaithful to their task. I know far too many people who are members of unions who will testify to this are illustrative of it themselves, that the thing in a large company where there's not a great deal of visibility to this, the thing is to do as little work as possible and get as great a benefit from it as you can. This is not a biblical concept of labor. It's not a biblical concept of representing other people. You are not bringing healing to your company when you act this way. You are not bringing something of worth to your employer. And so you plunge people into destruction. And by the way, that that's probably more literally true and the financial realm than we sometimes recognize. You can see that, however, in large companies, automakers that are threatened to go under financially because they've simply gone too far out in meeting union demands and they're not getting back for what they're paying anything of like worth. Well, we beat up on the unions this morning, I guess. But you see, this is also true of people who aren't part of unions. You can be an unfaithful representative even in a very small company where there's only five or six of you there. Granted, you may have to work a little harder. You may have to be a little more creative to hide the fact that you're not worth what you're being paid. But it happens, happens all the time. Proverbs says that you're a fool for acting this way. You're unfaithful, you're ungodly, and you may get away with it for a while with your employer, but you will not get away with it with God because He sees it all and he knows your worth and he knows your value and he knows what kind of worker you are. Turn to Proverbs 25:13 for a similar message. Although this is put on the upside, the more positive way of putting it. Proverbs 25:13 says, as the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that sent him, for he refreshes the soul of his masters. This is especially beautiful figure of speech if you remember the setting. The time of harvest is a very hot time in Palestine. Very dry. In fact, it is so much so that one of the proverbs tells us, speaking of the incongruities of life, they are likened to rain in harvest. Harvest is the dry season. Harvest is especially hot. And we're not talking just about Southern California hot, we're talking about Palestine. It really gets scorching during the time of harvest. It would never snow during the time of harvest in Palestine. But the writer of this proverb understood how refreshing the cold of snow would be if you could have it. Then to have something to drink which was as cold as snow would have been as refreshing as something they could have imagined in that day. Kind of like a cold beer or an iced tea after a few hard hours of work in the yard during the August heat in Southern California. The same kind of image is used in verse 25. As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. I really sympathize with this because I have to drink a lot of water. I think many of you know that my physical condition requires taking medicine that makes me dehydrated. And so I drink a lot of water and I can't take tepid water. Forget this stuff from the it's got to be cold, refreshing water. You're going to drink that much, you're going to make it count. And especially if you're out working and you're sweaty and gritty and you feel like your tongue is parched, you want something cold to drink, so you understand the image. As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him, for he refreshes the soul of his masters. That's the kind of refreshment that a faithful messenger, a faithful employee, brings to his masters. Do those who hire you think of you that way? No. When they think of so and so as one of my employees, they say, boy, that's just like a cold drink on a hot day. Boy, it's soothing. It's refreshing to know he or she works for me. I can trust this person. I can give them a job. They'll get it done intelligently, successfully, faithfully. They'll do what I ask them to do. Obviously, that's the kind of employee masters want to find. Reliability, someone who can be entrusted with the task and carry it out. But by contrast, verse 19 of the same chapter says, confidence in an unfaithful man in a time of trouble is like a broken tooth and a foot out of joint. Proverbs is fantastic when it comes to these pictures, these figures of speech and these comparisons. How many of you have ever had a broken tooth? And you've tried to eat. It's painful, it's aggravating, it's virtually impossible. Try chewing a steak if you've got a broken tooth. You may be able to chew on the other side of the mouth. But my point is, where that tooth is broken, the mouth's not going to do its job. Try walking with a foot that's out of joint. We have people in our congregation who can testify to the pain of having an ailment where you're supposed to be walking. It's not easy, and if you don't get it medically taken care of it's going to be great trouble for you for a long time. When you place confidence in an unreliable person, God's word says, when you place confidence in an unreliable person, that person will prove in a time of crisis to you, to be useless. More than useless. Painful. As painful as a broken tooth or a foot out of joint. What Apt illustrations Eating is impossible with a broken tooth. Walking is impossible with a foot out of joint. These are basic functions of life. How can we get by without feet that walk and teeth that eat? And how can we get by when we rely on other people, either those that we employ or people in our family or our friends, whatever it is. How can we get by when we put confidence in unfaithful people? In a time of crisis, what will happen? They're going to let you down, and painfully so. It would be easy to indulge in personal illustrations here. I'm not going to do that this morning, but I will call on you to provide your own I don't think many of us can get very far in life without knowing the pain that this proverb is talking about. Somebody that we really thought we could rely on, a friend that would never let us down. Somebody who in a time of crisis, would be faithful. They'd go through the same torture and torment that we're going through. They'd stand by us no matter what. They'd back us up. We could call on them no matter what. And you find out, lo and behold, for one reason or another, with one rationalization or another, they just weren't there when you needed them. Like a broken tooth. And so Proverbs chapter 25 contrasts the refreshing cold drink in the time of harvest of the faithful representative to the person who's like a foot out of joint and a broken tooth, who in a time of trouble lets you down. Turn to Proverbs 26:6. He that sends a message by the hand of a fool cuts off his own feet and drinks in damage. Employers need to think about this. Who do you hire? You know, discrimination in hiring is kind of an ugly, almost an obscene phrase in our day and age. But the Bible says you better use discrimination in your hiring. Not racial discrimination, to be sure, but you better be very discriminate in who you choose to work for. You utilize only wise messengers, only reliable workers, or else you are destined for failure. Because if you hire a fool to represent you as your messenger, or to use the New English Bible's translation, if you send him on an errand, you will not be provided with an extra Pair of legs as you might have supposed to. I mean, why do you hire people? Because you can't do everything yourself. You just can't run here, there and do everything. And so you hire two more legs. To put it metaphorically, you hire somebody else to carry out this task and that task, but you hire a fool to carry out that task, you won't have an extra pair of legs. The Bible says you'll cut off your own feet. That's an amazing metaphor, isn't it? Not only will you not get the task carried out, you're going to disable yourself from doing it. You'll cut off your own feet if you hire a fool. Well, that says something to employers, but doesn't it say something to us as employees as well? What kind of people would the word of God encourage us to be if we don't want to cut off the feet of our employers? A job's not going to get accomplished if you give it to a fool. And who is the fool according to the book of Proverbs? Well, he's the unreliable messenger, to be sure. He's the person who doesn't get the job done intelligently and successfully and as it's been laid out for him. But we know something more about fools than just that. We've been studying about fools for over a year in this congregation. I mean, to be foolish encompasses a number of things. If you don't tithe to the Lord, the Bible says you're a fool. If you gossip about your neighbor, the Bible says you're a fool. The Bible says if you don't know how to respond to disappointment, you're a fool. The Bible says you don't have a happy home life because you're always inflaming trouble there, you're a fool. If you don't use your mouth properly, you're a fool. If you don't have your affection set on the right things, you're a fool. If you are hasty in your judgments, you are a fool. You see, this proverb condenses, it seems to me an awful lot when it says to those who are hiring, and I think indirectly to those who are being hired, you better look at the character of the person you're hiring. It makes no difference that the person comes to you with transcripts from USC and all sorts of commendations from individuals that were close enough to like you as an individual. If in your family life and in your personal dealings, in your economic transactions and the way you speak and all the mundane affairs of life, if you show yourself a fool. Don't expect to be hired. And those who are doing the hiring shouldn't hire you. They're cutting off their own feet to deal with people like you. So be discriminate. Proverbs 26:10 as an archer that wounds people at random, so is he that hires the fool and hires them that pass by. You know, an employer who would hire just any passerby? Not very smart. And those who hire fools are as stupid as those who hire just any passerby. And what's the effect when you hire a fool or just any indiscriminate passerby? It's like the archer who just shoots at random. Well, you don't know what you're getting. You don't know where that arrow is going to land and who's going to be damaged by it. So be very careful. The Bible calls on us then. If we study the Book of Proverbs, the Bible calls on us to be faithful representatives, intelligent, trustworthy employees of others. When we are put under someone else's command, when we're given a job to do, the Bible calls on us to do it well, to do it wisely, to be refreshing to our employees, to bring health to our employers, to bring health to our masters. Not to cut off their feet or to be vinegar to their teeth or smoke to their eyes. Well, you know, now that we're talking about being representatives of others, perhaps we ought to be a little more personal about this. Labor Day weekend has led me to talk about what kind of an employee you are. But, you know, whether it's Labor Day weekend or whether we're talking about employment or not, in all of the affairs of life, the Bible says we are representing representatives of the Lord. Look at Colossians 3, 22, 24 Colossians 3. At the 22nd verse, the apostle Paul tells us we need to understand that our employment has a much broader context than just whether it's IBM or Mazda or anybody else that happens to be paying our salary. Colossians 3:22 Servants, obey in all things them that are your masters according to the flesh. Not with eye service as men pleasers, but with singleness of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatsoever you do, work heartily as unto the Lord and not unto men, knowing that from the Lord you shall receive the recompense of the inheritance you serve the Lord Christ and all of your labor. Remember that it's not just the master humanly, according to the flesh that is set over you that you're working for. You're working for Jesus he's your employer, and from him you will receive the inheritance. The suggestion is, if you don't work well for your master, you may be fired. If you don't work faithfully for the Lord Jesus Christ, that inheritance that you expect may not be yours. You work for the Savior. He's the Lord. He's your ultimate boss. And what you do at work nine to five every day, put it that way, is a reflection of how you serve Jesus. Wouldn't you love to be able to say, now, you may not do this because it might seem vain, but wouldn't you like to be in the position to be able to say when you go in for your yearly review before your boss, boss, I've done a good job for you, but more importantly, I've done this because I love Jesus. And the reason why I'm valuable to you is because I'm working for Jesus. Well, that would put him in a position of responsibility, wouldn't it, knowing that he represents the Lord to you. But when I work for you, Mr. Boss, I want you to know I'm working for my Lord Jesus Christ. But, you know, I think all of us would be a little fearful of saying that because all of us have things we're embarrassed about in our performance. All of us know that we are not faithful representatives. All of us know that we let in. We're lazy, we're inconsistent, we sometimes take the easy way. We don't look for the highest quality of work we can give. We are not always those that are faithful representatives of the Lord, much less faithful representatives of our employers. But we need to expand the message even further than that. If you look at 2 Corinthians 5:20, 2 Corinthians 5:20, the apostle Paul says that in terms of our entire life and lifestyle, we are ambassadors, therefore, on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us. We beseech you, on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. Look at that opening expression. We are ambassadors for Christ. When God calls you into his kingdom in this world, he makes you an ambassador. He makes you a representative of the kingdom of God. He makes you a minister of the Gospel to the world. We are ambassadors for Christ. And what must ambassadors do? The Book of Proverbs says, they must be faithful to their master. They must be reliable, they must work hard. They must prove true to the message that was given them. In 2 Thessalonians 2, 3, Paul reflects on that when he says, let no man beguile you in any living. I don't believe that's the verse I want. I think I wrote the wrong one down. Let's try first Thessalonians 2, 3. For our exhortation is not of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile. But even as we have been approved of God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak not as pleasing men, but God, who proves our hearts. 1 Corinthians 4:2. Paul, again reflecting the wisdom of the book of Proverbs, says, moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. God has made us his ambassadors in this world. We are ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what does he require of us? That we be found faithful, that we are proven true to God. When people look at us and they listen to us, do they see the kingdom of God coming to expression? Do they hear the word of the Lord purely declared, illustrated and lived out? Is God pleased with us as his stewards and servants that he sent us to do a job into this world and we're doing it well? We know. The fact of the matter is, sadly, that the church of Jesus Christ in our day is full of unfaithful ambassadors. In Acts 20:27, Paul could say of his own ministry, I have shunned not to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Paul said when it was going to be embarrassing to you. I didn't hold back when it was going to be painful to you. I didn't hold back when it was going to be awkward for you to believe certain things. I didn't hold back when it was going to reflect poorly on me or help me lose my audience. I didn't hold back because, you see, I am an ambassador. I am a representative of the Lord God Almighty. And when he sends me with a message, I can't tamper with it. I can't cut it short to make it more pleasing to men. I've got to deliver the whole counsel of God. That's what ambassadors have to do. And yet we in our day and age have churches all about us in our own denomination. And do we have to say so, our own congregation, where the whole counsel of God is not heard? Well, we tailor it slightly here, in major chunks there. We tailor it to some suit our audience, to please men and tickle their ears. Yet we're representing God, the Creator and Redeemer of mankind. And he gives a message to us and we decide, well, you know God. Let's proofread here. You know, there's a nicer way to put this. Don't tell people their Righteousness is as menstruous cloth. That's offensive. Tone it down. Don't preach a message about sin, sin and damnation. That's not acceptable in yuppie Orange County. Preach upbeat things, say to people they need to have self esteem, tell people things are going to be okay, or give them the comfort that they're going to be raptured any minute. They don't have to worry about world conditions and the way they live their lives. God, we just need to kind of alter the message a bit. We can't do that if we are representatives of the Lord God Almighty. If we are ambassadors of Jesus Christ, the whole counsel of God must be given in 1 Corinthians 2:17. 2 Corinthians 2:17. I'm having a real morning of it. 2nd Corinthians 2:17. Paul says, for we are not as the many corrupting the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God. In the sight of God speak we in Christ. Paul says, there are so many who are willing to corrupt it, to tone it down, to alter it and distort it. But in sincerity, we must represent the truth because we preach for God. We are his ambassadors. And I want you, my friends, to take note of the destructive effect on the lives and the destinies of men when God's ambassadors don't tell the truth, when they don't fake, faithfully represent the message. From time to time from this pulpit, you hear us condemning churches like that, I want you to know why. It's not because we're so proud of our own performance and we have to be honest with ourselves. We know so much and fall so short of what we know that we're not doing so hot ourselves. That isn't why we speak about other churches in that way. We speak this way because, to be very honest with you, the lives and the destinies of men are at stake. A faithless messenger plunges men into destruction. When you tickle the ears of your hearers and you make them feel good in the pew and assure them everything's okay, when it's not okay, when you preach peace, peace. And there is no peace with God, then what have you done to people, you fool? You've cut off their feet, that's what you've done. You've become inheritance to them. Although in this case they may think they're being soothed. You have become faithless to God and faithless through the charge as well. Ministers who do not preach the whole counsel of God will not only answer for Their faithlessness. They will answer for the destructive effect they have in the lives of men. That's why it is such an awesome responsibility to have laid upon you the ordained office of preaching. That's why no one should ever enter that office. To thinking, well, boy, won't this be fun. I get to be a leader. No, it isn't. Don't many of you be teachers. James 3:1 says, for yours is the heavier condemnation. Think long and hard about that. But the indictment is not restricted to ordained ministers today. If you think we have plenty to shoot at in Orange county who are not being faithful, what about those? What about people in our own congregation who know better than some of those ministers? What kind of representative are you for the Lord? What kind of ambassador for Jesus Christ are you? Would anyone ever look at your life and say, boy, I see the kingdom of God in small expression right there. Boy, there's the good news. That's refreshing. There's God's word. If you're like me, we're probably saying, hey, I'm the negative illustration. And know you've seen the ads, you know, before the certain weight loss program, after the certain weight loss program. Well, if it came to our Christian lives, how many of us would be willing to be on the after side of the ad? We're all saying, hey, I'm representative of what things are supposed to be changed. But you see, we're supposed to be a changed people. We've been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son. We have been regenerated from a life of spirit spiritual deadness to being resurrected with Christ. We are a new people. Behold, if any man is in Christ Jesus, old things are passed away. Everything has become new. Are we faithful ambassadors of that kingdom? Are we faithful ambassadors of the Lord who has sent us? Do we do everything heartily from the heart as unto Jesus Christ? Is that evident in our lives? The answer is obvious. It's a rhetorical question. Huh? We don't. So where do we find a faithful representative? I want you to turn to the Gospel of John for just a few moments before we close this morning. And I want to point you to the one who is the faithful representative. In John 4:34, Jesus says unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to accomplish his work. Jesus said, I've been entrusted with the task and my nourishment in life. My very purpose for existence is found in doing his will, the will of the one who sent to me Jesus knew the book of Proverbs. He knew it inside and out. He wrote the book of Proverbs. It's all about him and his character. Jesus could say, as the servant of the Lord, my will is to do his will. John 6:38. For I am come down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. When Jesus came to earth, he did not start thinking, now what do I think would be the way to respond to this situation? Jesus said, no, everything that I hear from the Father, that's which I speak. He was such a faithful representative that he says, I don't freewheel any of this. I'm not a maverick in any of this. I'm not renegotiating the terms of the covenant in any of this. I've come as the mediator of God's covenant. And, and I'm here to do his will and his will only, not my own will. Look at John 15:10, if you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I didn't come to do my will, I came to do his. And I have abided in his commandments. And one more. John 17:4. As Jesus prays in the garden of Gethsemane, I glorified thee on earth, having accomplished the work which you have given me to do. Jesus came as the representative of God to men. He came as the God man in our very midst. And his testimony, as you can see in this, and if we had time, many more passages, his testimony was that perfectly, exhaustively and consistently he. He did only the Father's will because he was under orders, he was submissive. He was here to do the task of someone who had commissioned him. He was the faithful representative. Biblical message about representation doesn't end there, though. There's kind of an ironic twist at the end. Because the Bible says, having come to this world to faithfully represent God to man, men, Jesus turned around and faithfully represented men to God. And so In John the 11th chapter, we read these ironic words from the priests of that day, John 11:50. Nor do you take account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation not perish. Now this he said, not of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation. Didn't even understand what he was saying. He thought he was saving the nation politically from Rome. Expedient that one man should die, and the whole nation not have to go under the wrath of Rome. But he prophesied, not realizing this. His own words corresponded to the theological truth that because Jesus would die for the nation, one would die in the place of others as their representative. In 2 Corinthians 5, 21, Paul says, he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Jesus turned around, having faithfully represented the Father to us, and went back to the very throne room, the Father representing us to him and taking upon himself the sin that was ours, that the righteousness that belonged to him as a faithful representative would be imputed to us first. Peter 2. 21 the apostle Peter certainly understood this. Remember who wrote these words, the one who told Jesus, I'll never betray you. I'll never be a faithless ambassador. I'll die before I'll let anybody separate me from you. Jesus. And within 12 hours, a small slave girl asking a simple question was enough to scare Peter away from the Savior. Peter knew what he was talking about then in first Peter 2:21, when he says, for hereunto were you called because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. He suffered for you. He didn't suffer for himself. Who could indict Jesus of sin? He didn't suffer for any wrongdoing of his own. He suffered for my wrongdoing and your wrongdoing. He suffered for us. He was the representative who came down who said, all you faithless representatives, all you poor ambassadors of the Kingdom of God, I'll take your sins upon myself, and I'm going to go back to the Father and I'm going to go into his very presence, and I'm going to say, punish me that they might be accepted once again in your sight. Christ is the faithful representative, not only of the Father, but of sinners as well. Let's keep that in mind as we remember the wisdom that should be ours this Labor Day weekend. We haven't always lived up to what we should be as employees. We confess that far worse, we have not lived up to what we should be as those who work for the Lord God Almighty. Even worse than that, in our lifestyle, in our message to the world, we have not been good ambassadors for Christ. Our only hope then, and of course, it is our greatest joy as well to know the comfort that God sent an ambassador, a mediator, one who for him and for us, could make the exchange of righteousness and unrighteousness. Let's Pray. Father, we ask you to hear us today not because of the good work we can offer you as testimony to ourselves, not because we've done such a wonderful job in representing you in the world. But we ask you to hear our prayers because you provided a representative. You provided a mediator. You provided a go between who was spotless and sin free. Our Lord Jesus Christ. We do ask you to hear us in his name and accept us for his righteousness. Accept us because he did your will perfectly. Accept us because he did not sin. Accept us because we are trusting in Him. Then we are united to him in faith by the power of your Holy Spirit. We do ask that you might impute to us his righteousness today, even as you lay our sins upon him and reconcile us to you. Because there has been this go between a faithful representative, our Savior Jesus Christ. We do ask you that you would make us like him, that you would not only forgive us of our sins this day, but strengthen us with the Spirit of Christ, that we would represent you more purely and consistently in this world, that we would be more trustworthy as those who bear your name. Indeed, Father, we ask you to forgive us because we so often have borne your name as Christians. We've borne it in vain. We do pray that with the forgiveness of our sins and with the strengthening of your spirit, we might this day be.