Saturday, February 24, 2018

Ambassadorship for Jesus

All scripture references, unless otherwise noted, are from the King James Version of the Holy Bible. The Hebrew and Greek meaning of the words mentioned are from Strong's Hebrew-Greek Dictionary.
In 2nd Corinthians 5:18-21 the apostle Paul said, "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 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." What a beautiful passage of scripture. The word "wit," means know. To wit or know that the Spirit of the Almighty God, "...was in Christ," for the expressed purpose of reconciling us to Himself is almost incomprehensible. What a wonder! There seems little doubt in my mind that the apostles and early church considered the Lord Jesus as God in the flesh. This is witnessed by 1st Timothy 3:16 where Paul said that there was no controversy about this fact. "... God was manifest in the flesh...) 

Jesus said in days of His earthly ministry in 
John 14:12"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father." Greater works than Jesus Christ? What could be greater than Jesus healing the sick or raising the dead? I was privileged to teach the adult class in Missoula recently and I asked what greater works could be done than that which the Lord Jesus did? I told them that the greater works were that sinful ungodly men and women were allowed of God to teach and preach the gospel of Christ! Even to heal the sick and raise the dead. Yes the Lord Jesus did many marvelous works but it was left up to sinful men to spread the message of salvation to the lost. So are we then ambassadors for Christ?

An ambassador, by definition, is one who represents his or her government to others. The Merriam-Webster dictionary says the definition of an ambassador is, "...an official envoy; especially : 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"
 

Are we then to be a representative of our Sovereign, the Lord of lords and King of kings? If so, just saying "in Jesus name," is not enough. Rather we ought to act in Christ's stead, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, etc. One of the proofs of Jesus' Messiahship was the works that He did! When we are ambassadors of Jesus Christ's Kingdom on earth, we will represent our Sovereign Lord in all things He has sent us to do. Do we truly act as the ambassadors of the Lord Jesus? Apostle Paul did when he said in the above text, "
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." The greatest thing to a true Christian is to be given "... the ministry of reconciliation..." To tell the sinner "...in Christ's stead," that Jesus Christ came to save them from condemnation. Not all will hear our message but we are to tell it anyway. I want to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ. Do you?


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