Ambassadors for Christ

am·bas·sa·dor [am-bas-uh-der, -dawr]
–noun

1. a diplomatic official of the highest rank, sent by one sovereign or state to another as its resident representative (ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary).
2. a diplomatic official of the highest rank sent by a government to represent it on a temporary mission, as for negotiating a treaty.
3. a diplomatic official serving as permanent head of a country's mission to the United Nations or some other international organization.
4. an authorized messenger or representative.

As we watch the Secretary of State flying around the world, representing the interests of the United States, and others providing support to disaster zones like Haiti... or negotiating peace in volatile areas such as the Middle East... or with froward leaders like the President of Iran... we see an embodiment of the dictionary definition of the word Ambassador.

Now, here is a thought: have we ever considered the fact that Christians, as members of Christ’s body, are also ambassadors?  That is what the Apostle Paul said to the church at Corinth:

So we are Christ’s ambassadors, God making His appeal as it were through us. We [as Christ’s personal representatives] beg you for His sake to lay hold of the divine favor [now offered you] and be reconciled to God.

2^nd Corinthians 5:20 [AMP]

God has called those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of our lives to be His ambassadors in this world. We are to be instruments of His will in a world that has become so twisted and torn by the wicked schemes of the devil.  We are to minister healing to those who are hurt.  We are to show love to those who feel hated.  We are to offer hope to those who are without hope.

We are Christ’s personal representatives -- representatives of His anointing to a dying world.

Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One.  The title Christian means one who is Christ-like.  Someone who is a “little anointed one.”  Given the understanding that Jesus is the Anointed One, those who are in Christ are in His anointing.

Jesus is King of Kings (1^st Timothy 6:15, Revelation 17:14, Revelation 19:16).  As such, He has made us kings and priests.

And You have made them a kingdom (royal race) and priests to our God, and they shall reign [as kings] over the earth!

Revelation 5:10 [AMP]

Easton’s Bible Dictionary says that anointing a king was equivalent to crowning him (1^st Samuel 16:13; 2^nd Samuel 2:4). Psalm 103:4 tells us that we are crowned with His loving-kindness and tender mercies. We are kings and priests.  We need to be both -- a king has authority and a priest has access. 

Authority

Behold! I have given you authority and power to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and [physical and mental strength and ability] over all the power that the enemy [possesses]; and nothing shall in any way harm you.

Luke 10:19 [AMP]

When a man or woman is given a uniform and a firearm, they have the authority of the government to enforce its laws. That man or woman can use the power of their imparted authority to arrest or stop a criminal and incarcerate that person.

Their authority is symbolized by the uniform... the badge... the gun belt.

The power to enforce that authority is in the gun...

Luke 10:19 tells us that we have His power and authority to arrest the devil and incarcerate him.

That authority is not symbolized by a badge or a uniform.  Our authority is realized by the spiritual armor, available to all who have accepted Christ, that the Apostle Paul enumerated:

Put on God’s whole armor [the armor of a heavy-armed soldier which God supplies], that you may be able successfully to stand up against [all] the strategies and the deceits of the devil. For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere. Therefore put on God’s complete armor, that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day [of danger], and, having done all [the crisis demands], to stand [firmly in your place]. Stand therefore [hold your ground], having tightened the belt of truth around your loins and having put on the breastplate of integrity and of moral rectitude and right standing with God, And having shod your feet in preparation [to face the enemy with the firm-footed stability, the promptness, and the readiness produced by the good news] of the Gospel of peace. Lift up over all the [covering] shield of saving faith, upon which you can quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked [one]. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword that the Spirit wields, which is the Word of God.

Ephesians 6:11-17 [AMP]

When we were given our spiritual armor, we received the power and authority to trample over all of the wicked works of the enemy.  We have the ability to quench the flaming missiles launched toward us by the enemy.  We have the offensive weapon empowered by God’ holy word.

But then, we have to ask this question... are we truly operating in our capacity as an ambassador?

Access

Before Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross, a priest had to go into the temple to offer sacrifices before God.  The priest was the only one with access to enter into the presence of God.  The average citizen could never do so and live.  But now that we are in the dispensation of grace... now that we are covered by the blood of Jesus... we can boldly go where no one could ever go before!

Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God's unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it].

Hebrews 4:16 [AMP]

We have free and unfettered access into the very presence of God.  But is that just so that we can present our wants and needs before Him?  While we can do so... that privilege carries so much more!  We can now take the needs of other people before God!  And, also important, we can take the word of God into the lives of those who do not know Him.  As God’s representatives, that is our prime directive.

By the way, that was the second Star Trek reference.  Did you catch the other one?

If we are to be God’s ambassadors to this world, let’s make sure we are living before the world in an honorable manner.  That doesn’t mean to be all stuffy and smug and self-righteous.  That doesn’t mean to twist your mouth around and speak like you are in a Vincent Price movie.  Au contrare, you need to represent Him by following His commandments!

I give you a new commandment: that you should love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too should love one another. By this shall all [men] know that you are My disciples, if you love one another [if you keep on showing love among yourselves].

John 13:34-35 [AMP]

Walking in love will do more to show people the mercy of God than, well...than anything.

Just do it.

When I was a teenager, my friend Harry Bristow used to play this song by The Hawaiians on his radio show. I learned later that the song was the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

What a great prayer. What a great lifestyle. What a great resolution as the new year and new decade continues to unfurl before us. What a great way to be an ambassador of the Kingdom of God.

It is also a great way to avoid feeding the atheists.

Our book, “Please Don’t Feed the Atheists” is required reading for all ambassadors.

Even a Child Can Be an Ambassador

Our friend Judypie heard of a man giving his testimony at a Salvation Army meeting.  There was a heckler in the crowd shouting, “Would you shut up? You’re just dreaming!”

The heckler felt a tug at his coattail and a little girl said, “That’s my daddy up there. He used to be a drunkard and beat up my mommy. We didn’t have enough food to eat. But then he got saved, and my daddy’s life is changed. See that woman over there? See how happy she is? That’s my mommy. Mister, if my daddy’s dreaming, don’t wake him up!”

What a Savior Jesus is.  He can take a poor lost sinner and wash him, save him, and make him new. Hallelujah!

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ...

Isaiah 1:18a

Prayer of Entreaty for the Lost

If you are an ambassador for Christ, you will be aware and mindful of the need for the lost to come to personal knowledge salvation through Jesus Christ. We will close with this prayer from JesusLover Judy, a prayer every ambassador might say:

Father, thank You for the Gospel of Christ because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. We pray for those who are yet blind and do not know You. Open their ears to hear the preaching of Your Word. Open the blinded minds of them, which believe not, that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. In the name of Jesus we bind them — spirit, soul and body — to the mercy and goodness of God that leads us to repentance. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

Romans 1:16 [NIV]

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

2 Corinthians 4:4 [KJV]