Ambassador of God's Kingdom

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
(II Corinthians 5:20)

When people see an ambassador, they see a representative of a nation. When people see a mature Christian, they are seeing an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't appoint ourselves to be his ambassadors. We are his ambassadors simply because we are his disciples. There was a time in our life when we lived for ourselves and though we may have worn the colors or logo of a team, a school, a nation, or even a company that we represented in some way, the truth was that we were really only representing them as far as it was to our advantage. But when Christ takes the reins of our life, our focus shifts from ourselves to him and his kingdom. As we grow in our knowledge and love of Christ, we discover that all that we say and do is to be done for the glory of God. At first that may seem challenging and hard to understand. Yet in time we come to see it as a joy to serve Christ and his interests and not ourselves. We grow into this part of our maturity as we die to ourselves and our interests, and live for Christ. The closer we are to Christ, the more we rejoice in serving him. We are not afraid of the fact that we represent him, but see the grace and privilege it is to be his representative in this world. In living for him, we realize that all that we say and do reflects Christ in our life. Some people may only encounter Christ through us and our desire is to represent him well. Though we don't have an office or a gold plate on a door announcing our title or position, nevertheless we are his ambassador. We may not be speaking of him in the halls to a king, prime minister, or president, but we are speaking of him in the community in which we live and serve. In speaking of him and his kingdom, we speak of a hope and promises related to the things of God and to things eternal. We bring good news to people who are hurt and broken. To people who are in bondage and living in fear. We proclaim the message of salvation as simply as we can and call people to be reconciled to God. Our mission is to make disciples for we are an ambassador of Christ.

Growth towards Christian maturity

Representing Myself

Until we come to know Christ and offer our lives to serve him, we are living for ourselves. We pursue our own interests. We care only about our own concerns. Though we may see ourselves representing a school, a team, a company, or our nation, we don't take that very seriously. If the truth be told, we really represent ourselves. We are not really concerned about our school, team, company, or nation to the extent that we give up what we view as our rights for the sake of others. We don't give much thought to our words or our actions and how they might reflect badly upon that which we claim to represent. Whatever awareness we may have of the man called Jesus, we affirm that we don't belong to him nor represent him. We are looking out for number one, who just happens to be ourselves.

Learning of God's Kingdom

Seeking Citizenship in God's Kingdom

A New Representative

It is only through a life transforming encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ that we can become his disciples. We don't choose him, but he chooses us and calls us to follow him. As his followers, our initial relationship to him is self-centered in nature. We are focused more on what he can do for us and what we get out of the relationship, than we are on Jesus himself. But as we grow and mature, our focus begins to change. The more we listen to him and do what he says, the more we grasp that he has called us to something much greater than ourselves. Gradually for some and perhaps quickly for others, our mindset shifts from focusing on the world to focusing on God and His kingdom. We learn that dying to ourselves is not a bad thing, but a very good thing. For a while we still view things through the perspective of ourselves and how the Christian life benefits us. But little by little our faith in and love of God draws us into the eternal life of the kingdom of God in which we live fully under the Lord's reign. Though we may not yet recognize it ourselves, Christ has chosen us as a representative of his kingdom.

Campaigning for Christ

Our growth in Christ and the transforming work that continues taking place as we are submitting to him in more and more areas of our life, eventually leads to our seeking to please him instead of ourselves. Our love for him is increasing such that we are seeking to do what he says simply for his sake and not what we may gain from our obedience. Sometimes our selfish streak tries to draw us away from focusing on Christ and looking at ourselves, but its power is dwindling. We are excited to talk about Christ. It may even be said of us that we appear to be campaigning for Christ or on a crusade to make Christ known to our friends and family, perhaps even to strangers that we meet. It is quite possible that our serving his interests takes us places we would never have chosen for ourselves. Some of us may begin serving in a ministry area that captures our heart in a way we never imagined. Perhaps we get involved in some type of outreach in our community. Maybe we leave the comforts of our community for a short time to serve others in another part of our country or even somewhere else in the world. A few may change jobs or companies to better serve Christ's interests, perhaps even our career changes. Others may move to a different part of town, the country, or the world to be more available in making Christ know. Whatever the changes that take place in us, and perhaps without us really thinking about it, we are making choices in our life that align with our being representatives of Christ and not ourselves. Though we may not realize it, we are learning to walk and talk as ambassadors appointed by Christ to serve the interests of his kingdom.

Appointed as an Ambassador

Eventually, things click for us in our heart and mind. We care more about Christ than we do about our own life. All that we say think and do is motivated by our desire to glorify God and to see people come to faith in Christ. We are actively engaged in bringing people into contact with the kingdom of God. We may be serving in a local church settings, we may be in a leadership role, we may have some involvement in a community organization, or it may be a natural part of our daily life at school or on our job, but we realize that we represent Christ. Our desire is to honor God in all we do. We don't live in fear that we might mess up or sin. Rather, we live with a joy and a love that is impossible to describe to people who don't know Christ. Whatever we do we do it for the glory of God because we realize that we are ambassadors of Christ. Directly and indirectly, we invite people to know Christ and to live of him who died and was raised from the dead. We have been appointed to the mission of proclaiming the kingdom of God and making disciples of all who will hear, believe, and call on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. Those who keep their eye on us as we live our life, see something different in us that they find hard to explain. When we have the opportunity, we point to our king who is the source of our life.