Ambassador!

So then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as God is pleading through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:20

Did you realize that you changed your citizenship when you became a follower of Christ? The moment you believed in your heart and confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, your citizenship changed to the Kingdom of heaven; you are no longer a citizen of this world (Phil. 3:20).

Something else happened when you became a Christian. Your life is no longer your own. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Or do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body .” ( 1 Cor.6:19-20) You were slaves to sin, and now you are free from the bondage of sin and death (Romans 6:17-18). We are called to live lives not for ourselves but for Christ. We became His ambassadors.

Webster defines an ambassador as “a diplomatic agent  of the highest rank accredited to a foreign government or sovereign as the resident representative of his or her own government or sovereign or appointed for a special and often temporary diplomatic assignment.” God has called you as a citizen of heaven to be His ambassador here on earth. Our lives are fleeting and nothing but a vapor ( James 4:14, Ecclesiastes 1:2). In the view of  eternity, this is nothing but a short temporary                assignment. But, what a privilege we have been given    to share the message of our King.

What is this message that we are told to share? It is the  Gospel of Jesus Christ. That message of our King is that men and women are born in sin and that there is nothing they  can do themselves to be reconciled to God. But God, in His great mercy, sent His Son to pay for their sins. He did that by being the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb who took away the sins of the world. Jesus suffered, died, and was buried. On the third day, He rose from the dead to defeat death and to bring all His elect eternal life with Him in heaven. God commands you to share that message with a lost and dying world. What say you, Christian? What kind of ambassador are you?

Your shepherd,

Pastor Mark