Ambassadors for Christ
The life of a Christian is filled with pitfalls and dangers in a world of darkness. To navigate the spiritual battlefield, we must keep our eyes, our hearts and our thoughts illuminated by the light of the Word of God. In Matthew 24 Jesus spoke about the signs of his return. He said it would be like the days of Noah. For over 100 years Noah warned the people of the impending flood, yet only eight people were saved in the ark. God always warns his people about the coming judgement. In Matthew 13, Jesus quoting from Isaiah said, “people will be ever hearing but never understanding, they will be ever seeing but never perceiving.” They may come to hear a great sermon. They hear but do not practice my words. Hearing they do not hear, and seeing they do not see. Many will fall away through trial and tribulation but he who calls upon the name of the Lord and endures to the end will be saved.
Often we see only in retrospect God’s hand of blessing, grace, and mercy. Although spiritual hindsight is 20/20, we must also understand the long view of the long and winding road of life that he has prepared for us. In Acts, Jesus said, you shall receive power after the holy spirit has come upon you. In the western world, if you can’t see it in the physical realm, then it must not exist. However, according to the Word, there is a spiritual reality behind the physical reality. Jesus had trained his disciples for over two and a half years. Their calling was to preach and teach the gospel of the resurrection. Therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh but according to the spirit. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness from on high. Second Timothy 2:26 says those of the world are held captive by the devil against their wills. It’s easy to justify sin according to the flesh. However, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creature, old things are passed away and all things are become new. In 2 Corinthians 5, we have been committed the Word of reconciliation and have been given the ministry of reconciliation. We have been called to reconcile God’s people back to him. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. Therefore we pray ye in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he who knew no sin became the perfect sin sacrifice on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.
Why is Christianity growing around the world but there is no growth in the church in the United States? Why did God send fire as a sign from heaven in Fuji? Why was the crime rate in one city so low that after 8 months they had to close down the jails? God called his people to be new creatures in Christ, having torn down the veil to the holy of holies, so that his children could have direct access to the living God. He did not call us to build a building, rather he has made each of us a temple of the holy spirit, Gods dwelling place. According to 2 Chronicles 7:14, If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
God called us first to declare his excellency. Our calling is not to be loyal to the “church.” Rather our call is to be loyal to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. People need Jesus Christ before they need the church. We’re born again into the body of Christ, not into the local denomination. “Churchianity” can be a bloody battlefield. Only Jesus Christ is the perfect pastor. Although the assembly of God’s people is good thing, God has called his men first to be ministers in their own homes to their own families. Going to Church is like going to the grocery store. You stock up on a week’s worth of food, but you bring it home to share it with your family. Our relationship with our families is a personal moment by moment intimate fellowship. God’s exhortation is to feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not of necessity, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind.
In our culture, the question is, “has the church influenced the culture or has the culture influenced the church?” In order to win the world do you have to be like the world? According to Romans 12, we are not to be squeezed into the world’s mold… be not conformed to the world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of the mind.
Our job is to rebuild the family altar… to put God first in our homes where fellowship is central. We have been called to build our homes as an embassy for God’s kingdom in a world of darkness. The embassy is where the ambassador lives. The ambassador is the highest ranking government official sent from his home government to a foreign land to represent his homeland. The embassy is a piece of the ambassador’s homeland in a foreign realm. As ambassadors in our neighborhoods, God has called us to represent the kingdom of heaven. Our homes are embassies… outposts of heaven in the kingdom of darkness. The calling is not to change the worldly government but rather to change men’s hearts by bringing a peace treaty from the Prince of Peace. As ambassadors, our job is to love one another as Christ loved the church.
Revival is not “changing the world.” Revival starts with changing our hearts and our families. Revival is a one on one exponential explosion to the power of three. Jesus did not change the world by ministering to the thousands. He called 12 disciples to be “fishers of men.” Who are your three and who are your twelve? As fishers of men God called his disciples to be “nodes in the network of his fishing net.” The first step is to pray for your neighborhood. Then knock on your neighbors’ doors to see who’s hungry for prayer and fellowship. We’re looking for those who say, “you’re an answer to my prayer for God to send someone to tell me about Jesus Christ.” We have been called as his ambassadors to serve, not to be served. As ambassadors of our heavenly homeland, our mission is this, “ask not what my country can do for me, ask what I can do for my country.”
May God richly bless you.
Your brother in Christ,
Michael