Message topic: Am I who I ought to be?
Scripture text: 2nd Corinthians 5: 17-21
How often, or, do you ever find that you are talking to yourself? In so doing, have you ever asked yourself if you are the person you ought to be?
Can you remember the time and place you were when you said yes to Jesus, I give myself to you and will be who and what you want be to be forever?
When Jesus bought us with his blood, He made us His ambassadors: now we ask ourselves, who is an ambassador, and what are the responsibilities of an ambassador?
Let me tell you who and what are the responsibilities of an ambassador as it appears in the new world dictionary : an ambassador is the highest ranking diplomatic representative by one country or government to represent it in another: when we say yes to the call of Jesus, He made us His ambassadors and send us to represent him in a world of unbelievers who are lost in their sins and unbelief in Christ as Lord and savior.
Today all who believes in Jesus and strive to follow his guidelines, are called Christians, so, how can a Christians be ambassadors for Christ?
In his passage on reconciliation in 2nd. Corinthians 5: Paul says that Christians are ambassadors for Christ in (2nd. Corinthians 5: 20) an ambassador is an official envoy who represents a foreign sovereign, providing a link between his host country and the country he represents: Christ made us Christians, ambassadors to represent the kingdom of God into a world that has been drifting farther and father away from God and his love for mankind.
Now the question to us as ambassadors of Christ is, are we who we ought to be? An ambassador must walk a very fine line. He lives in one country, but he is responsible to another. He must represent the message of a leader who is not directly present. He must also embody the character of his home country, following laws and customs that are not necessarily known or even welcome in the host nation. He must do this all while respecting the laws and customs of that host country.
We Christians are ambassadors of Christ, and just as Paul was not born in the country to which he was representing Christ Jesus, we are in this world, but not of this world, our ways of living are that of Christ who we represent by displaying all His attributes.
Christ Jesus came into the world to redeem mankind who had lost the attributes of God through disobedience, but God’s loved for mankind whom He made in his own image is so great, that He sent His only son into a sin cursed world to draw all mankind whosoever will follow His instructions, will be brought back into the fellowship that existed when the man Adam and his wife lived in Eden, the Garden which God Himself prepared for man.
The redemption plan of Jesus required that He would display all the loving attributes of God to mankind, and in the end, He would forgive all their sins, so they could return to God and the fellowship which they had in the beginning. Then He conclude, I, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto my- self. When we accepted the ambassadorship of Jesus, He will put His spirit within us and cause us to walk in His statutes, and judgements and do them, and you shall dwell in God’s presence.
When Jesus made us His Ambassadors, He did not send us into a sinful world to represent Him without equipping us for the task, so He put his spirit within us to teach us to act and display all of His attributes as He truly are. He is the light of the world, so we should so live that they could see his light reflecting through us.
How can a Christian be an ambassador for Christ? An ambassador must walk a very fine line. He lives in one country, but he is responsible to another. He must represent the message of his leader who is not directly present. He must also embody the character of his home country, following laws and customs that are not necessarily known or even welcome in the host nation. He must do this all while respecting the laws and customs of that host country.
When Paul surrendered his will to God, he was made an ambassador of God and commissioned to go into all the world with the gospel of the saving grace through Christ Jesus: and this was his intent to do to the Corinthians.
They could then follow in his footsteps and become ambassadors for Christ in their own lives: it starts with a change in citizenship. If we are to represent Jesus to the world, we must first belong to the kingdom of God instead of the kingdom of self. We must live by the standard of our new King, even though we are not with him at the moment.
When the apostles (ambassadors) for Christ were arrested and put in prison for speaking in the name of Jesus, they were strictly charged not to speak anything in the name of Jesus; they refused to comply and were brought again to the magistrate who say to them, did we not strictly charge you not to speak anything about Jesus: then they replied: we ought to obey God rather than man.
Today we can see changes in people all around the world: this does not exclude people who attend churches, a large percentage of people who attend churches regularly. Will leave a serves satisfied because they hear what they want to hear that they are a good person because they attend church regularly; what about learning truth and better understanding of God.