Volume 43   Number 9                                                                                     May 2001

Jesus thought of His disciples as brothers in a great task. He called them his friends (John 15:15). Jesus placed Himself among His disciples as a fellow servant of God. Jesus issued His commission to His disciples as if they are soldiers (Matthew 28:18-20).

In a passage from 2 Corinthians 5:20, Paul gives a beautiful picture of a compassionate and gracious God and a graphic and forceful portrayal of the service we are to render: “Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.” An ambassador is an envoy or minister of state of high rank sent on a mission by one sovereign or state to another. An ambassador is a spokesman or representative of one state with authority to speak to the authorities of another state.

As ambassadors for Christ, we have been authorized and clothed with divine authority and power to speak His reconciling message of love to the unsaved world. We are the representatives of the King of Kings. We are to stand in the courts of human conscience authoritatively representing the authority of our King.

Ambassadors serve their sovereign. Ours is a position of high and holy responsibility. Our position is one of great dignity and prestige. The privileges and responsibilities of the office should be assumed with the greatest of humility and gratitude.

What is the mission of the ambassadors for Christ? An ambassador is a representative. We must guard against the peril of misrepresenting the Christ. We must be diligent to represent Christ properly and adequately by being genuinely Christian.

An ambassador is a messenger. God wants to speak through us to a lost, wayward and guilty world. We are messengers of the pleading Christ. We are messengers of the beseeching God. Our Lord intends that each of us should be communicators of the message of redemption to both the eyes and ears of those who live in our world. How effective is an ambassador whose lips are silent because of an ungrateful heart or an indifferent spirit?

What is the message of the ambassadors of Christ? 2 Corinthians 5:21 indicates the message is that “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Our message is a revelation of what God has done in Christ so as to save people from sin. God has provided a Savior who knew no sin. Jesus “was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). God has placed our sins on the sinless savior. “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). The sinless one, therefore, had to suffer for the sinful. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18). It is now possible for the sinful to be saved from sin and to be treated as righteous. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate God had passed over the sins that were previously committed” (Romans 4:23-25).

What is the manner of our service as ambassadors for Christ? “We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain” (2 Corinthians 6:1). With the greatest of reverence we would speak to the helpless of the almighty God. He is in need of human helpers if He would achieve His purpose of saving people from their sins. Angels could have been used for this purpose, but for some unknown reason they were bypassed. God has chosen to work through individuals. This is our challenging opportunity and at the same time our fearful responsibility. The Holy Spirit of God abides in the church to bless the preaching and teaching of the word of God. God is still in the business of saving the unsaved.

In 2 Corinthians 6:2, we are told that “now is the day of salvation.” This was spoken by those appointed as ambassadors of Jesus Christ. Ours is a divinely appointed responsibility. Ours is a divinely given opportunity. Our task commences in the moment of our salvation through baptism and continues until our death or the return of the Lord. The need of our world for the message of God’s love is indescribably great. God will use and bless each of us as we resolve to become communicators of His love and ambassadors for Jesus Christ.