Ambassadors of Christ

Last week we discussed dual citizenship from the perspective of our spiritual allegiance.  Every country in the natural world has ambassadors which are sent to foreign lands to represent the interests of the home country.  So it is with our spiritual kingdoms and our role with them.  Similarly kingdoms or countries have citizens with various roles in which it needs them to function.  One of my husband's favorite questions to ask believers is this, "What is your profession?"  It is interesting to hear the multitude of responses until he will then interject, "No, that is your occupation.  The means through which you support yourself in this earthly realm.  Your profession is that of Ambassador to this world sent by Jesus Christ, our King of kings."

John 18:36 Then Jesus answered, "I am not an earthly king. If I were, my followers would have fought when I was arrested by the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world."  Ambassadors do not invite battle with those of the foreign country in which they are residing.  They are called to promote knowledge about their home country and to promote understanding and peace.  However in doing so, they do not become citizens of that country; they do not assume the behavior of those citizens.  In fact they are afforded respect for living within their normal cultural parameters even though they are residing in a foreign country.  John 15:19 The world would love you if you belonged to it, but you don't. I chose you to come out of the world, and so it hates you.  As ambassadors we often encounter ridicule, rejection and hatred.  Yet that should not deter us from representing our King.  We have a duty and an allegiance to the One who gave us life when death was ready to claim us.  We see the example in today's world through the news everyday of attacks on embassies and Americans throughout the world.  What was once considered a glamorous and exciting assignment in representing the US has now become one filled with danger and risks.  How similar to our assignment to be bold in proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ.

James 4:4 You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.  We walk a dangerous line if we choose as ambassadors to put more emphasis on making friends and enjoying this world than on our allegiance to God.  We cannot be the ambassadors that He is calling us to be if we are trying to enjoy the benefits of both kingdoms.  The world will proffer many material blessings to you but none of them will carry you into eternal relationship with the Lord of lords and the King of kings.  Remaining separate while at the same time functioning as an Ambassador requires discipline and focus in our daily lives. It was very different before you knew Christ and had surrendered your life to Him.   Ephesians 2:12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from God's people, Israel, and you did not know the promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. Once you accepted Christ however, there was an immediate change in your citizenship and a change in your profession.

2 Corinthians 5:20 We are Christ's ambassadors, and God is using us to speak to you. We urge you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, "Be reconciled to God!" Christ used Paul and the other disciples to represent Him on this earth.  To speak His voice and proclaim His message of the good news.  Emphatically, Paul pleads with those who will listen, "Be reconciled!"  They knew they had been appointed by God to be His messengers and to achieve the mission of winning souls to the Lord.  So it is with us now.  We have been appointed and that appointment is the most important aspect of our lives today.  It is more important than the next promotion at our place of work.  It is more important than how nice the house is in which we get to live with our families.  It is more important than what society thinks about us, what our friends think about us, what our families think about us.  This citizenship and this position as ambassadors will indeed cost us the very things that we have held dear in the past.  1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Mark 10:29-30 And Jesus replied, "I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, will receive now in return, a hundred times over, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property -- with persecutions. And in the world to come they will have eternal life.

The assignment is clear as is the cost and the reward.  Do we succumb to the wiles of this world and the enticements to forsake Christ and satisfy our earthly needs and wants?  Or do we stand steadfast with the Lord and proclaim the power of the Good News?  As ambassadors we have been given extraordinary power through Holy Spirit to transform the world around us.  We have only to accept our assignment and walk it out with boldness and enthusiasm.  This is not a call that will leave us cowering in the corner somewhere.  If we are cowering then we have been receiving faulty transmissions.  Much like undercover spies, the kingdom of darkness utilizes deception to trick us into walking in the wrong direction.  Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is to dismantle the lies of the enemy and uncover him as the deceiver that he is - defeated and deceived.  We are to proclaim the truth and employ the power given to us through Christ's death and resurrection to free the captives and bring them home to the Kingdom of Light - the Kingdom of God - eternally.  As always, the choice is yours...  will you accept the assignment as Ambassadors of Christ to this fallen world?