2 Corinthians 5:20

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God

2^nd Corinthians 5:20

Throughout most of chapter five of 2^nd Corinthians, Paul has been laying out the implications of his revelation that the life of the believer is not his own but rather Christ’s. Through Christ, our old sinful selves have died and through Christ we have been remade into new creations (v15,17). In this revelation, Paul found his calling: namely to be a missionary church-planter committed to persuading (v11) others to know the Lord. To some extent, Paul is speaking in v20 about his specific calling. However, when we view this concept of being an ambassador for Christ alongside the calling given to all believers in Matthew 28:18-20 (the “great commission”) and Acts 1:8, we see that all believers have been entrusted with the Holy Spirit not merely for their own benefit but also to represent and expand the Kingdom of the Lord on earth.

Not Just for Pastors any more

Sadly, through poor teaching and apathetic believers, we have come to equate being on mission for Christ as the role of vocational pastors. We have confused spiritual authority with organizational preferences. I don’t say this in any way to malign vocational pastors, but I do say this to convict all of us (most importantly me) of our abdication of Christ’s calling. Through fear, lack of faith, and most notably apathy, we have outsourced our Christ-given responsibilities to over-worked, under-paid pastors upon whom too much of our own responsibilities are laid. Nowhere in Scripture does it suggest or even imply that ‘spiritual matters’ are to be the sole focus of one particular type of people. While spiritual authority is most certainly taught, it does not necessarily equate that this person be a paid employee of an organizational body. In fact, this trend (at this point it’s more than a trend) is far closer to the religious priesthood that Jesus spent so much of his life confounding. This priesthood (represented in Jesus’ day as the Pharisees and Sadducees) came out the traditions of the nation of Israel who relied upon the priesthood for sacrifices (and thus the forgiveness of sins). One must only take a glance at the words of the Prophets to see that this was not an ideal arrangement. One can also see that the Lord held Israel itself, not merely it’s political and religious leaders, responsible for lax moral behavior and idolatry. All of this should serve as a stern warning to us who find it much easier to invite our friends to church then pass them off to the pastor to have their questions answered. It should scare those of us who value the prayers of the paid clergy as more effective than our own. It should cause us to question ourselves when we have a ‘great idea for the church’ that we’d prefer someone else help administer. 

Jesus’s command in Matthew 28 and Paul’s admonition to be ambassadors for Christ are laid squarely on the head of ALL who believe. We can learn much about what is true of us and what is expected of us by thinking a bit more deeply on what it means to be an ambassador.

Ambassadors are entrusted by their country

The first way in which we can examine the role of an ambassador is in the relationship between them and the one who sends them (in the political context, a king, or president, or prime minister). An ambassador is selected and empowered to act for their nation. They have been given the responsibility and authority to represent and make decision for their nation with other nations.

We too have been called and sent out as ambassadors. “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

Through Christ we have been saved; adopted as children of God. Not only does our status in relationship to God change though, our purpose too has been altered. Where, prior to Christ, our purpose has been only to ourselves; our pleasure and our personal fulfillment, we have now all been given the mission of taking the message of Christ in the world and facilitating reconciliation. As we have seen in 2^nd Corinthians, this task is not optional of believers for we know that our lives are no longer our own but rather our Lord’s. It is far too easy to fall into the trap of living safe, comfortable lives that more closely mirror our unbelieving neighbors than they do the Lord.

Not only are we chosen and called, we are also empowered by the Holy Spirit. We are no longer simply human beings whose allegiance has been shifted. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we have been given access to supernatural resources designed to bring glory to the Creator. Too often we shy away from our roles as ambassadors out of fear or lack of confidence. This should not be as we have been given power to accomplish our task by the Lord of the Heavens (my own soul shakes in humiliation in this regard).

Ambassadors represent their country to outsiders

The second way in which thinking about the role of the ambassador can help us understand our calling in Christ is by thinking of the way in which an ambassador relates to the host country. In most situations, the ambassador lives in his assigned country. He is an alien, not a native, but sent out to reflect his homeland’s interests to others. This mirrors our situation in two regards.

First, we too live as aliens in a foreign land. We are eternal creatures, redeemed and destined for an eternity of praising the Lord in His presence. Yet, now, for a while, we live here in the transient, fallen world. Our home is in that far off country. Too often, we are tempted, through our short-sighted eyes, to forget that our home and our allegiance is elsewhere. When we do so, we lose focus. We forget the calling which we have been given. We begin to closely resemble those around whom we live, work, and play. Faulty thinking about which kingdom we belong to results in believers living lives unworthy of the calling to which they have been called. Here too, we all bear witness to our guilt.

Secondly, ambassadors represent their home country to their host country. In lieu of the direct authority, the ambassador is the voice of his nation. In His infinite wisdom and grace, the Lord has chosen to call us unworthy people to be his representatives on earth in this age. I cannot fathom why, since angels could and have proclaimed his glory in ways in which we pale to compare, except to say that perhaps it is our very fallen-ness that demonstrates His infinite grace, and that by demonstrating this overflowing grace He puts His glory on display for all creation. To put it another way, in using us to fulfill his commission, He demonstrates that He can use anything to accomplish His purposes (4:7-10).

In our relations to those whom we encounter on a daily basis, we are the ambassadors for God. To see us is to see the power and grace of God. We are living testaments to both His might and His mercy. We are the monument to His character. In and of ourselves we are nothing. Yet we have been given the role and the voice to bring the message of Christ to this world. When we become merely content to live lives of comfort and self-gratification, we ignore the purpose to which we were called. We do this to our own misfortune for one day we will, like the men in the parable of the talents, be made to answer before the throne of God.

We are not simply people who intellectually assent to a set of moral teachings. We are not simply regular people who happen to believe a certain set of creeds. We are missionaries called to go out into our families, and neighborhoods, and jobs, and into all of our interactions carrying with us the fire of the Holy Spirit and the Love of Christ. The methods and minutia will, of course, vary greatly depending upon the context. We may encounter many situations in which the only course of action is to entrust our neighbors in prayer to the Holy God. But perhaps, just perhaps, we may be the only one praying for them. We may be the only voice able to speak into the life of a coworker. The mystery of God’s timing and means far exceeds our meager comprehension but what remains is this: we all, unworthy as we are, have been called out and empowered by a Holy God to carry His message, His gospel to the world. This is our calling. This is our privilege. This is our duty to the one who saved us our sins and death, fulfills our every need, and empowers us to do His will. We should all be humbled yet eager.