Ambassadorship

Picture by Chris Reinecke at CreationSwap

Today in church I heard from a missionary from Kazakhstan.  In his message, he gave the church this admonition about us as Christians being ambassadors.  This, of course, is not a new concept.  Many of us have learned about our roles in representing Christ from early on in our walk with the Lord.  But today it took on a deeper meaning for me.

He spoke from the passage in 2 Corinthians 5 where Paul said, “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”  In saying this, Harold (the missionary) emphasized how we should no longer look at a brother or sister in Christ the same way.  We shouldn’t compare ourselves according to the flesh; that is to say that I’m better or worse than another.  The fact is is that we are all new creations covered by the blood of Christ.  Our goal should be restoration, purity, sanctification, and godly living.  Never should we look at a brother or sister to condemn because of sin but rather to restore them to bring them back into a right relationship with the Lord. 

This is the ministry of reconciliation.  But this ministry doesn’t just apply to those within the church body.  This applies to how we represent Christ to the world.  In fact, Paul says that is exactly what God did when He reconciled us to Himself through Jesus.  This passage in chapter 5 tells us that in reconciling the world to Himself that He no longer counted their trespasses against them.  So what God now expects us to do is be ambassadors for Christ so that He can make His appeal to the world through us.

2 Corinthians 5:18-21

18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

This brings me to my study in Romans.  The passage is rich in its instructions on how Christians ought to live in this world as ambassadors.  It teaches us about how our thinking should be aligned with our new purpose in representing Christ.  In fact, we can think of this as a sacrifice as Paul does:

Romans 12:1-2

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

But then the question arises…what are some examples of this idea of being renewed in our mind?  What does this look like?  Instead of quoting the paragraph, I think it would be helpful to list out the examples that Paul expounded on in Romans 12:3-21.

1. Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought.
2. Think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
3. Love must be sincere.
4. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
5. Be devoted to one another in love.
6. Honor one another above yourselves.
7. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
8. Be joyful in hope.
9. Be patient in affliction.
10. Be faithful in prayer.
11. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need.
12. Practice hospitality.
13. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
14. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
15. Live in harmony with one another.
16. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.
17. Do not be conceited.
18. Do not repay anyone evil for evil.
19. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.
20. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
21. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
22. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

This is a lengthy list of do’s and don’ts obviously, but can’t they all be summed up in The Greatest Commandment that Jesus referred to in Matthew 22, “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments”?

The thing that Christians misunderstand is the purpose behind these instructions.  Sometimes I think believers get this idea that we do this just so we can get along; sort of like Republicans and Democrats getting along together to write up legislation in Congress.  Maybe we shrug our shoulders and resolve ourselves to the idea that since we have to live in this world together that we might as well get along while we’re here.

There is a far greater reason why Christians should live according to the way Paul instructed.  As Harold pointed out this morning, as ambassadors we need to remember that this is not our home.  Let me repeat this…the world IS NOT our home.  Given this little piece of information, doesn’t it reason that we’re left here for a purpose?  It’s not for our comfort or to pass the time away.  And it’s not to grudgingly plow through each day trying to get along with people that we have very little in common with.  It’s because we’re ambassadors and God has left a job for us to do!

If we can wrap our minds around this ambassadorship, then maybe we can understand the reasons behind why Paul wanted us to be renewed in our minds and in our attitudes and behaviors.  Think of it this way – when you’re at your place of employment, your boss has certain expectations on how you work with colleagues and customers.  He expects you to represent the company and him well to others.  Can not God expect the same of us?  Is God not much more than an employer, but rather our Lord, our Master and King?

To serve Jesus, our Lord and Savior, there is an even far greater motivation.  With an employer, the motivation is to earn profits and to stay in business.  Ultimately, when you work according to the rules established by the employer everyone benefits.  But with God, the motivation is truly extraordinary.  It’s to draw a lost people to the One and Only Savior of the world; without which, no one would have hope.  Again, this goes back to the ministry of reconciliation.  God is making His appeal through us as ambassadors.

The question is unless we submit to the renewing of our minds by the transforming work of the Holy Spirit, how are we to represent Christ at all?  If we’re only concerned about our welfare, and getting what is ours and what is fair, by ensuring that people pay for the wrongs they’ve committed against us, or even going out of our way to make sure others understand that we’re right and they’re wrong, how is that going to distinguish us as Christians and ambassadors from the rest of the world?  What in the world would attract them to God by what we have to offer (which is Christ)?

Ideally, we would consider the words that Jesus spoke regarding the two greatest commandments.  Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.  Do you love God?  I hope you do.  Do you love yourself?  That you can be sure of.  Now try to love your neighbor the same way.  Look over the list above again under Romans 12:3-21.  Think and meditate about the ways you can be this kind of ambassador to your neighbors.  Then pray that God would give you by His Spirit the power to live the life of an ambassador.  And then pray that God would draw a people to Himself through you to be reconciled to God.

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

Love for Others

Image: Damian Brandon / FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

I have been struggling lately with one of my many character flaws.  I seem to place certain criteria in how I view and/or relate to people.  I expect people to earn my respect.  I sometimes shake my head and think people get what they deserve when they do stupid things.  If someone hurts me or is rude to me, I often want to return the same.

I know this way of thinking is flawed for many reasons.  God’s Word tells us, for example, that we are to love others.  In John 13:34, Jesus tells us, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”  That’s an amazingly high standard.  That doesn’t give any wiggle room to get my way and treat people the way I feel they deserve to be treated.

The question then is how does that look?  It doesn’t seem too manly, maybe even crazy and far-fetched, to go around saying, “I love you.”  But God’s love isn’t just some feel-good love.  It’s a matter of action and goes way beyond words.  1 Corinthians 13 gives us a good idea of what this looks like.

1 Corinthians 13

The Way of Love

 1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

 8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

 13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Even with this definition, I sometimes find myself asking questions like, “How patient do I have to be?” Or, “Is it okay to be a little rude back?  Because they were certainly rude to me!”  I think I miss the point.  To be sure, God’s standards are far greater than mine.

But look at this from a different perspective.  Jesus also said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Then there’s a verse in Ephesians that talks about a man loving his wife.  The verse that follows gives clarity to this idea of loving others as yourself.  The verse says, “For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.”

Doesn’t this put the standard of love on a pretty high level?  I think about how often, and how easily, I am able to forgive myself when I do something stupid.  I give myself a pass if I treat someone rude because I’ve had a bad day.  If I forget something, which my wife can say with utmost confidence that I’ve been known to do, I can shrug my shoulders and say I’ll try better next time.  I also make sure that eat.  I can’t remember a time in my life when I’ve been truly hungry.  And if I’m feeling bad, I have no qualms about letting others know about it and seeking sympathy.  As my pastor at church has said on occasion, “I sure do love myself!”  So, if put all this energy into treating others the same way I treat myself, I think I would be well on my way in loving others the way God intended.

Then there’s a higher level of love that Paul shows in Romans that I can’t quite understand.  Even though Paul doesn’t explicitly say that his reason for writing this particular passage was out of love, I think you would find a hard time arguing against it.  Let me show you what I mean:

Romans 9:1-5

Paul’s Anguish Over Israel

 1 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

The way I read this, Paul had a tremendous amount of love for those of his own people.  He basically is saying that if it were possible, he would be willing to renounce his own salvation to see all of Israel saved.  This, of course, is not possible or part of God’s redemptive plan.  But think about what Paul is saying here.  Would you love and care for those of your own nation so much that you’d be willing to trade your salvation for theirs?  That’s something I cannot wrap my mind around.

The fact that Israel was under a curse must have been heartbreaking for Paul.  I’m sure for many believers, we all have family members we pray for and anguish over day after day hoping that God would break their hearts and bring them to a place of repentance.  It’s another thing, of course, to be willing to trade places with that loved one and be willing to be cast off from God’s presence for all eternity just so they may be saved.

It’s this kind of love that challenges me.  As I think about family, friends and people I know, I truly pray that they know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  I need to let go of my pride and all the obstacles that are keeping me from loving people the way Paul does here.  I’m challenged by the fact of how selfish and absorbed I am in self.  It’s going to be a process, but I truly want to be that person that can love others like myself.  And that includes caring enough for people locally and globally so that they can have a personal relationship with Jesus too.

How about you?  Does this idea of love make sense to you?  Do you place criteria on people in the way I’ve been guilty of?  If so, are you willing to see people the way God does, to love others unconditionally, to love them as yourself?

I’d be interested in hearing if anyone is on the same path I’m on.  Maybe together in this journey called life we can get to that place where God’s love is what consumes us and allows us to love others the way we should.  As the Apostle John said, “We love because he (God) first loved us.”

Love like Valentine

by AKARAKINGDOMS at http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=1669

With Valentine’s Day coming upon us, I thought it would be interesting to list a few facts (or assumptions):

• The day has origins that link to Christian and Roman tradition.
• The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different “saints” named Valentine or Valentinus.
• One legend suggests Valentine performed marriages for young lovers in secret in response to a Roman emperor named Claudius II who outlawed marriage for young men in order to serve as potential soldiers.
• Another legend points to Valentine being a martyr for helping Christians escape harsh Roman prisons where they were beaten and tortured.
• Valentine may have sent the first “valentine” himself to a young girl during his confinement in prison. Before his death, he allegedly wrote a letter, which he signed “From your Valentine.”
• Some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial.
• Others claim that the Christian church celebrate Valentine’s day as a feast day in an effort to “christianize” a pagan Roman festival.
• Even after the Romans integrated “Valentine” into their festival, it began to be seen as unchristian and outlawed the pagan holiday.
• The French and British picked up on the Valentine theme in conjunction with the beginning of birds’ mating season.
• Eventually, Valentine’s Day was popularized during the 17th century and was common for all friends and lovers in all social classes.
• Ready-made cards replaced handwritten notes to discourage direct expression of feelings as societal norms.
• According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year.

When reviewing all these “facts,” it becomes apparent that culture has a way of distorting Christian celebrations. If Valentine was truly a Christian martyred for his service to others, Valentine should be celebrated as a man of faith, a man who sacrificed and gave of himself, his time and energy, and even his life as a selfless act.

This distortion of Christian traditions is not new though, is it? What about “Easter,” which is supposed to be a day to remember the sacrifice of Jesus on that terrible, wonderful cross. Now the focus is more on the Easter bunny, candy, colored eggs, and the great Easter egg hunt. Or how about Christmas, the day that has been chosen to celebrate Immanuel, “God with us,” in the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ? Now, Christmas is more about Black Friday, the economy, opening gifts, and a celebration of good will and kindness to friend, family, and neighbors.

Think about what the culture is doing. Slowly and meticulously, society is taking God and Jesus out of even being mentioned, let alone included, in regards to why we recognize, meditate, and remember these days of celebration and what they are supposed to mean to mankind.

Valentine’s Day should be a day to remember the “love” that Valentine showed for others by giving his life in the service of helping those in prison. The love that Valentine showed is more exemplified by the agape kind of love shown in the Bible. What is agape love? Agape love “is a non-partial, sacrificial love.” It is not feelings-based, but rather the kind of love that gives and sacrifices, focused more on Christ’s non-partial kind of love, without expecting anything in return.

But what kind of love does our culture portray Valentine’s Day in modern times? It is true that there are many good things associated with the kind of love expressed today, such as giving flowers and candy, writing and sending cards showing love and affection, and taking one’s spouse on a date while expressing “eros” kind of love. Eros means sexual or romantic love. If eros is expressed under the conditions set forth in God’s Word, as in marriage between a man and a woman, then it is appropriately applied. Read the book of Song of Solomon. If this kind of love was being expressed in marriages today, there would be little concern for the state of marriage in our culture.

However, in many ways our culture has perverted love for which it was originally intended. If you watch television or pay attention to how Hollywood portrays love in the movies, you get the sense of an erotic, immoral, and self-centered kind of love. Porneia actually describes this type of love (or rather sex). (Porneia is actually “fornication,” and is an illicit kind of sex described in the Bible.) Adultery almost seems commonplace in our culture, pornography is the norm, and same-sex relationships are promoted. Christians even struggle with sex, such as engaging in pre-marital sex for example, because they have a difficult time separating themselves from the world. Is this what God intended? Are these the kind of lifestyles that Christians should engage in?

The Bible makes several things clear in regards to sex:

• 1 Corinthians 6:18 “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.”
• Ephesians 5:3 “But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.”
• Acts 15:28-29 “For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell."
• 1 Corinthians 5:1 “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife.”
• Matthew 5:28 “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
• 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
• Leviticus 18:22 “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”
• Leviticus 20:13 “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.”
• Deuteronomy 23:17 “None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, and none of the sons of Israel shall be a cult prostitute.”
• 1 Corinthians 6:19 “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”
• Matthew 19:4-5 “He answered, "Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?”
• Genesis 1:27-28 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."”

Valentine’s Day has its purpose and its significance. But should it be for the self-gratification of the flesh? Or should the Christian use this opportunity to reflect what God’s idea of love really is?

1 Corinthians 13
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 

Let’s hope that Christians can strive to live according to God’s standards and abstain from sexual immorality. On this Valentine’s Day, in honor of Valentine himself, let all Christians separate themselves from the world and live a selfless, sacrificial kind of life and love the way that Valentine, and ultimately, our Savior Jesus Christ has loved.

• John 17:26 “And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
• John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
• Ephesians 5:2 “And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” 
• 1 John 3:16 “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”