It's a problem of priorities, really. Where are our priorities? Where do we place our emphasis? We know where the world has placed it's priorities. The world values money and power above all else. Sadly, many of our Churches have misplaced the priorities that God has given us for acceptable behavior, blending into the society around us. Churches have forgotten, in many instances, where our priorities should be.
The words kingdom of God are found 90 times in the Scriptures, and most of these times found in the preaching ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus tells us that there are two orders on the planet earth, two governing authorities. One, the world, has it's own agenda, it's own political platform. The other, the kingdom of God, is composed of ambassadors (Christians, we who believe) who are supposed to be representing Christ crucified to a lost and dying world.
2 Corinthians 5:19-21 "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
Each believer is the Church age is an ambassador
for Christ. An ambassador
is an appointed official who represents his or her government to a foreign
power. When we came to Christ, accepted Him as Savior, we left the
world behind for the Kingdom of God. We are supposed to be spreading
the good news of the Kingdom, letting as many as possible know that Jesus
is indeed coming again soon, and snatch as many from the flame of
Hellfire as God gives us strength. If we are to be effective as ambassadors
for Christ there are certain that need to be true in our
lives. Let's look at some of them.
1 John 1:5-7 "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."
When an ambassador goes to a foreign country to represent his nation, he needs to look like an ambassador should look. The ambassador must not go into the foreign courts looking unkempt. Neither should he represent his King while living his life by another ruling power.
In the early Church believers were known as Christians because they walked in the light, lived their lives as if they were Christians. Because they walked as Christians in a world dominated by idolatry many were hunted down, imprisoned as traitors to the state, and executed in gruesome ways. When many were offered their freedom if they only renounce their Lord for Caesar, were told they could live if they would only deny Jesus, they refused, accepting death rather than life in another set of clothing. Some were stoned to death by unbelieving Jews, such as the deacon Stephen (Acts 6.9). Stephen refused to renounce his Lord, but preached the message of salvation up until the end. He was not a chameleon in the devil's world, but stood out as a Kingdom Ambassador. Just before his death Stephen looked heavenward and saw "Jesus standing on the right hand of God the Father (Acts 7.55-56)", told his tormentors what he saw, and was then brutally murdered. One standing at the side, a witness to this horrible injustice, was Saul of Tarsus, who would one day become Paul the Apostle. Stephen, as a faithful ambassador, obeyed his Lord unto death, and in so doing helped lead one of the greatest Apostles that ever lived to the Kingdom of God.
If you were tried today in a court of Law as a Christian,
would you be found guilty? Would there be enough evidence in your life
to convict you of loving Jesus Christ, of being an ambassador for the Kingdom?
My friends, we must be willing to walk in the Gospel wherein we were called.
When we fail to be obedient to God, when we cloak ourselves in worldliness
for safety's sake, we not only harm ourselves, but we fail to be a witness
to those around us. You may be working with another Saul of Tarsus who
just needs to see the light in your life to be saved. You may be friends
with a great preacher, a Billy Graham or a Charles Stanley, who only needs
to see Christ in you to come forward and make a difference for Christ.
So clothe yourselves as ambassadors for Christ.
The good ambassador always seeks to act as a conduit for the will and desires of his country. As ambassadors for Christ we need to be willing to speak up for our Lord, to make sure that those in our vicinity fully understand the free Gospel of God.
Just before Jesus ascended into Heaven He gathered His small Church around Him and gave them their "marching orders". Jesus did not say "Go and build elaborate buildings with massive religious structures". Jesus did not say, "Go and build me a corporation on the earth, complete with power structures, a Chairman of the Board, and fancy dressed executives". Instead, in that Great Commission, Jesus said:
Matthew 28:18-20 "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."
He said, "Go ye therefore". Get up from your seat, leave this Church tonight, and tell someone about this precious gift of Life. GO. You don't have to leave your city or your country to be an effective Kingdom ambassador, but you do need to be willing to leave the confines of your comfort zone. You need to be willing to speak up for Christ, to tell others that you may or may not know about His saving Grace. We are all called to be witnesses, we are all called to be ambassadors.
In 1988 God called me to preach and teach His Word but, because I was afraid to speak in front of people, I refused to do it. Eventually I started teaching in small Sunday School classes, frightened but doing it, but it was not until March 1996 that I went forward and was licenced to the ministry. You see, even today, there is that fear of failure that comes on me when I stand in front of the Saints. That quivering, making me want to just sit down. But I overcame this reluctance in my life by relying on His Spirit, on His Power. Believers, we must GO and tell others. The time is so short until our Lord returns.
He said, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations". The Bible tells us that God is no "God is no respecter of persons":
Acts 10:30-35 "And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God. Send therefore to Joppa, and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter; he is lodged in the house of one Simon a tanner by the sea side: who, when he cometh, shall speak unto thee. Immediately therefore I sent to thee; and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God. Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him."
The Kingdom Ambassador must be careful not to be racist in his presentation of the Gospel. That children's song, "Red and yellow, black, and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world" amply illustrates what our attitude toward witnessing should be.
It took the early Church a long time after Christ's ascension
to understand that we are Ambassadors to all nations. After Jesus
ascended Peter, as unofficial head of the Church focused all of the Churches
witnessing efforts toward the Jews. You see, the nation Israel (and
Peter was a Jew) had been taught from the youngest age that the Gentiles
(those who were not Jews) were outside of the promises of God because of
their race. God led a Gentile named Cornelius to Peter so Peter could witness
his salvation in Christ. Racism has no place in the Church of Jesus Christ.
Racism has no place in our witness before the world. All have sinned and
fallen short of the glory of God, and all who believe shall be saved. Our
witness, as Ambassadors, must be "without respect of Person."
The good Kingdom Ambassador transmits the message he has been given without adding to it or taking away from it. In the early Church a group of false ministers came in among the Saints and started teaching a twisted Gospel, a Gospel totally apart from that which Jesus gave to the Church. These people, the Gnostics, taught that, since we were saved from our sins, now we are free to sin without fear of punishment from God. In other words, as saved people we are free to abuse the freedom wherein we were called.
This is a lie, and totally contrary to the calling of the Ambassador. Yet the lie continues. There are denominations within the realm of Christianity that license practicing homosexuals to the ministry for convenience sake. There are Churches that teach that Jesus really didn't die on the Cross, but He merely swooned, and the resurrection was a hoax. There are Churches that, even today, teach that it is fine to pursue sin in hedonism because, after all, Jesus paid for that sin anyway.
God wanted to make sure that we, as Ambassadors, relayed
the proper message to the world around us. He put that message down in
writing in Our Holy Bibles to make sure that we stayed within the proper
context of the Kingdom Message. Be a good Ambassador: study your Bible,
and present only the message that you find in it. Don't add to it, or take
away from it. The world needs the pure message of the Word, the world needs
to know there is salvation alone through Jesus Christ. As the Church we
must be in the world spreading the Good News. We must not let the world
come into us.
The good Ambassador, on receiving orders from his King, studies those orders so he can relay them in the best possible light to the foreign nation he is stationed in. As good ambassadors we need to spend time ever day studying God's Word, preparing our hearts and minds so we will be able to witness to the lost around us.
Almost as important, we need to examine our own lives on a daily basis. Frequently take a step back, look in the mirror of your mind, and see if you are truly representing Christ in the best light you can. Too often unbelievers stay unbelievers because we fail to shine forth Christ in our own lives.
Several years ago a Baptist news service related this
story: One night in Communist Russia a group of Christians had gathered
together in secrecy to worship the Lord Jesus. The room was darkened, the
drapes pulled over the windows, for to be caught worshipping Christ in
Russia was an "act of treason". Just before the service began there was
a loud pounding at the door and, suddenly, the door burst inward. Two Russian
soldiers, complete with rifles, stormed into the Church. "How dare you
worship this Christ in Russia! We will give you all a chance. Those who
want to leave can go now, after renouncing Christ. Those who stay behind
will suffer the consequences.". It was quiet in the Church, but after about
a minute people started getting up and leaving. After about three minutes
over half of "the Flock" had gone, and the other half stayed, though frightened,
knowing their fate was in God's hands. The Soldiers quietly closed the
Church doors, put down their rifles, and said, "We, too, are Christians.
We just wanted to get rid of the hypocrites before we admitted this to
you, our Brothers".
Someone told me this as a fact, but I pray they were mistaken. I was told that the average Christian only prays five minutes a day, and the average minister only fifteen minutes (unless it's on Sunday). Like I said, I pray that this was a mistake.
The Kingdom Ambassador must keep in contact with his King. As Paul said, we need to be Praying without ceasing. By this he didn't mean that we had to ignore everyone else, even those speaking to us, and just talk to God constantly. But he did mean that we need to keep the lines of communication open at all times. We need to make prayer a priority in our lives, keeping close ties to the Will of the Father.
Avoid the sins that hinder a life of Prayer:
Remember, we do not represent ourselves in this world, we represent Jesus Christ.
Quench not the Spirit: Rely on the Spirit of God to direct your path this week. Be mindful of His calling. He is the Power given to us whereby we might live our lives as good Ambassadors for Christ. To alienate Him is to alienate yourself from God.
Despise not prophesyings: Pay attention to God's Word, for it is our written instruction Book. If you are not living your life by the Book, you're living it in the world. God expects better of His Ambassadors.
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good: Sometime this week you may encounter the devil in one of his many guises. If what someone offers to you looks good, does it measure up to what the Word of God says is good? Prove all things. If it doesn't stand up under the microscope of God's Word, reject it as from the World, from the Devil.
Abstain from all appearance of evil. It may not be sinful but, if it looks sinful, don't you think it's time you put it away? Remember, an Ambassador represents his King to a foreign power. You are representing Christ to a lost and dying world. If it looks sinful and, in so doing it, alienates others from Christ, perhaps it's time you put it away. The Apostle Paul said:
1 Corinthians 9:22 "To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some."
God grant that we might all be better Ambassadors for
Him in this coming week, and in the weeks that follow.