The Bible has lots of different ways of describing our role as
Christians, showing us how we ought to be in our lives on this earth. We are
told to be like farmers, like soldiers, like fishermen, to name just a few! We
have lots of different job titles! God uses ordinary jobs that we see in our
everyday lives in order to help us to understand the things that he wants to
explain to us. The job title that I particularly want to focus on is from 2 Corinthians 5 v 20, where Paul says
‘Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God
were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to
God.’
Ambassadors for Christ! That sounds such important position! We
often hear of ambassadors on the news, and they are generally in fancy suits
making speeches or something like that, which is not quite what I am talking
about! An ambassador is someone who lives in a foreign country while working as
the representative of their own country to the country where they are based.
So, for example, the British government will have an ambassador to Switzerland,
and their job is to be the British representative in Switzerland.
So how on earth does God expect us to be ambassadors? Which foreign
country are we to live in? Which country do we represent? The Bible makes it
very clear that when we become Christians, this world in which we live is not
really our true home. We belong to heaven! That is where we are going, and
where we will live forever and ever and ever! We do not really belong to this
world any more, but we are still living here; living here as ambassadors of God
and of heaven.
So how does this affect me? How do I practically live as the
ambassador of Christ? Well here are a couple of ways:
1. An
ambassador must represent their country in the way that they live. If they
behave badly, then people think badly of the place that they represent! We too
as ambassadors of Christ must realise that people watch the way that we behave,
and they not only judge us, but also they judge what we represent. If we live
in a way that others think is not good, then they can begin to doubt how good our faith is, and how
true what we believe really is. On the other hand, if we really demonstrate in
our lives that we are different, then it will make people sit up and think ‘I
wonder if there is something more to this Christianity thing that they talk
about?’.
2. An
ambassador is responsible to bring messages from their home country to the
foreign country where they live. We too have a message to bring from heaven
(from God) to the place where we live. Paul said in the verse we read earlier -
‘be reconciled to God’, in other words, ‘come back to God’! We have a message
of hope to give to the world in which we live, that God has provided a way
whereby sinners like us can get forgiveness because of the death of the Lord
Jesus for us.
So often we can live our lives representing ourselves, but
actually we have a massive privilege, a hugely important job - to be
ambassadors for the Lord Jesus on this earth. It is such a big responsibility
that on our own we would be hopeless ambassadors! We need the Lord’s help. But
if we keep reading our Bibles and praying everyday, there will more and more be
a change in our lives, people will see that we are different and we will really
start to show to the world around more and more of the place and the Person
that we represent. How amazing would that be!
So to summarise, I want you to remember, you are an ambassador,
of heaven and of God. No other ambassadors have such an important place to
represent! I would really encourage you stop and think about this, let it sink
down into your mind, get on your knees and ask the Lord for His help, then get
up and start representing!
God bless you all.
Al
