Ambassadors of Love John 3:16 2 Corinthians 5:20

“If you were to ask the average Christian sitting in a worship service on Sunday morning to summarize the message of Christianity, you would most likely hear something along the lines of, “The message of Christianity is that God loves me.” Or someone might say, “The message of Christianity is that God loves me enough to send his Son, Jesus, to die for me.” – David Platt, Radical, page 70

John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

How God Views the World

God loves the entire population of earth. God loves the entire population of earth. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son...” John 3:16.

How God Views the World God loves the entire population of earth. God loves the entire population of earth. God does not love worldliness. God does not love worldliness. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2

How God Views the World God loves the entire population of earth. God loves the entire population of earth. God does not love worldliness. God does not love worldliness. “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.” John 1:10

Ephesians 3:17-19 “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

How God Views the World God loves the entire population of earth. God loves the entire population of earth. God does not love worldliness. God does not love worldliness. God’s love is The Great Why God’s love is The Great Why

How God Views the World God loves the entire population of earth. God loves the entire population of earth. God does not love worldliness. God does not love worldliness. God’s love is The Great Why God’s love is The Great Why – We share in that love – We share that love.

“God loves me. Me. Christianity’s object is me. Therefore, when I look for a church, I look for the music that best fits me and the programs that best cater to me and my family. When I make plans for my life and career, it is about what works best for me and my family. When I consider the house I will live in, the car I will drive, the clothes I will wear, the way I will live, I will choose according to what is best of me. This is the version of Christianity that largely prevails in our culture. But it is not biblical Christianity.” Therefore, when I look for a church, I look for the music that best fits me and the programs that best cater to me and my family. When I make plans for my life and career, it is about what works best for me and my family. When I consider the house I will live in, the car I will drive, the clothes I will wear, the way I will live, I will choose according to what is best of me. This is the version of Christianity that largely prevails in our culture. But it is not biblical Christianity.” (David Platt, Radical, page 70)

2 Corinthians 5:14-21 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 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. 16 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. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

2 Corinthians 5: All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 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. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Ambassadors of Love We are in but not of this world. We are in but not of this world. “I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” John 17:14-15.

Ambassadors of Love We are in but not of this world. We are in but not of this world. “Jesus commands us to go. He has created each of us to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, and I propose that anything less than radical devotion to this purpose is unbiblical Christianity.” “Jesus commands us to go. He has created each of us to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, and I propose that anything less than radical devotion to this purpose is unbiblical Christianity.” (David Platt, Radical, page 64.) (David Platt, Radical, page 64.)

Ambassadors of Love We are in but not of this world. We are in but not of this world. We all have a ministry of reconciliation. We all have a ministry of reconciliation.

“We have created the idea that if you have a heart for the world and you are passionate about global mission, then you move overseas... regardless of where we live–here or overseas–our hearts should be consumed with making the glory of God known in all nations.” (David Platt, Radical, page 77)

“Certainly there are great needs here. But must we insist on dividing the Great Commission into an either-or proposition? Who told us that we had to choose to have a heart for the United States or a heart for the world? Based on the purpose of God we’ve seen in Scripture, shouldn’t every Christian’s heart be ultimately consumed with how we can make God’s glory known in all the world?” David Platt, Radical, page 76. David Platt, Radical, page 76.

Ambassadors of Love We are in but not of this world. We are in but not of this world. We all have a ministry of reconciliation. We all have a ministry of reconciliation. You represent God’s love to someone. You represent God’s love to someone.

“But all of them have this in common: They believe they were created for more than a Christian spin on the American dream. They believe the purpose of their lives is deeper than having a nice job, raising a decent family, living a comfortable life, and tacking church attendance onto the end of it. They believe Jesus has called them to a much higher plane and given them a much greater dream. They believe God has shown them great grace in order that he might use them to accomplish the glorious, global, God-exalting purpose that has been primary since the beginning of time, and they don’t want to settle for anything less than radical abandonment to that purpose.” David Platt, Radical, page 82.

Where is God calling your heart? “So what might this look like in your life? As we explore what it means to be radically abandoned to Christ, I invite you simply to let your heart be gripped, maybe for the first time, by the biblical prospect that God has designed a radically global purpose for your life. I invite you to throw aside gospel-less reasoning that might prevent you from accomplishing that purpose. I invite you to consider with me what it would mean for all of us–pastors and church members... to spend all of our lives for the sake of all of God’s glory in all of the world.” David Platt, Radical, page 83.