AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST

 

II COR. 5:14-21 

 

          I would like to talk to you today on the topic of AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST.  An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomatic representative appointed by one country or government to represent it to another.  When we think in terms of modern day ambassadors they serve several roles.  The ambassador is in the foreign country as a gesture of friendship and cooperation.  He or she may be there to protect the economic interest of his home country.  He or she is there to provide support and assistance to visiting countrymen.  The ambassador is a voice for his home country in the absence of its top leader.

          Paul here in II Cor. 5:14-21 is attempting to explain to these new believers the responsibility and the new role they have accepted when answering the call to be followers of Christ. 

Verses 14-15—the love of Christ hold on to us, because we understand that His love led Him to die for all of us, which then reminds us that we were all dead.  But since He died so that we might live, we who are now alive and no longer dead in our sins, should live not for ourselves but rather for Him.

Verses 18-17--- Since we now understand this, stop thinking of man in fleshly terms only and consider the spirit of man.  Every human who has committed their life to Christ is a new creature.  This is not because he or she physically looks different, or even behaves different.  It is because the spirit in him has been given new life and the connection between God and that man has been re-established.

Verses 18-19---This new creation that we have become is all God’s doing and through the death of Christ, he has reconciled us to Himself.  He has balanced our accounts and found the blood of Jesus to be more than enough to cancel all debts.  Having reconciled us, He gives us the responsibility of telling others how to be reconciliation with God is available.

Verses 20-21---Now by being reconciled to God, Paul says that we hold a new position, as ambassadors for Christ; spokesmen for Christ.  Why?  Because God allowed him to be sin for us and imputed the righteousness of  Christ to us.  So then we are ambassadors.

          As the United States ambassadors represent the U.S. in foreign countries, so we as Christians represent out leader---Christ.  How do we do that?

1.     We must live as one professing (Eph. 4:17-24) (Explain each verse).  As Christians we must live a life style that is pleasing to God and causes others to be drawn to God.  (Matt. 5:13-16) In these verses Jesus calls us salt.  We add God’s flavor to the ways of this world and we preserve His right to intervene in the affairs of man.  Jesus calls us the light of the world.  To a world flooded with sin and darkness, we offer the light God to dispel darkness and the truth of God’s love as a remedy for sin. Jesus calls us a city that cannot be hid.  We are a beacon standing out so that others can see the way to Christ.  The Jesus commands us to live this description so that others will glorify God.  As Christians we are to bear the standard of God so that the world can see Christ in us and be drawn to God.

2.     We are the voice for Christ.  (Matt. 28:18-20)  As Christians we have the responsibility to teach those who do not know Christ, all that the Spirit of God teaches us.  Later, as recorded in Act 1:8, Jesus told His Disciples that they would be witnesses for Him all over the world. We have to let the whole world know the truth.  We have to explain to them that the world is in a war and where they fit in this war.

3.     As ambassadors we have to protect God’s interest in this world.  (John 3:16)  Now God is not interested in accrueing buildings and land and companies.  God’s love is for people.  We must share God’s love with those who don’t know Him.  We have to pray for the unsaved masses and for the condition of our world.  God’s interest is people and we must be intimately involved in the lives of others, allowing God to reflect His love for them through us.

4.     The Ambassador must sometimes be a negotiator.  He must step in and rescue those who are being help hostage.  (James 5:19-20)  All the peoples of the world are our countrymen and millions of them are being held captive by sin.  We as ambassadors for Christ can either step in and negotiate or demand their release or we can let them die in captivity.

 

The Ambassadors role is not an easy one.  In fact the ambassador oftentimes finds himself under attack.  We have had many U. S. Embassy’s to be blown up, with Ambassador’s barely escaping.  Likewise in Christ, the ambassador role is not always appreciated.  (Romans 8:14-18) We are warned in many places in the Bible that we will suffer for the sake of Christ. 1 Peter 2:19-21

    For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.  For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.  For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:   (I Peter 4:12-16)