While traveling in foreign countries I have had occasion to visit the DR Congo Embassies or consulates. When I visited these places, DR Congo flags were flying on the limousines and I was excited to see, and to meet, government representatives from my homeland.
The Apostle Paul identified himself as an ambassador. He asked the Christians in Ephesus to pray for him saying: “that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds; that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” Ephesians 6:19–20
AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST
“We are ambassadors for Christ.” 2 Corinthians 5:20. Every Christian has the great privilege of being an ambassador for Christ. This is the term that Paul employs in 2 Corinthians 5:20 to describe our privilege and responsibility in this world. There are two important matters that we must address before we can go on to understand our appointment as “ambassadors”:
The first matter concerns our citizenship.
Our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). We are citizens of the heavenly country although we are living temporarily as citizens of an earthly country. A certain Matthew Henry said, “This world is our passage, not our portion.” Although temporarily citizens of earth, let us not forget that our permanent citizenship is out of this world! And why is our citizenship from heaven? Because we have been born into this same kingdom. “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” John 3:5–7. So then, we are born into the kingdom of God, we obtain our citizenship from heaven, and ultimately become ambassadors for Christ. But lest we think of this in earthly terms, let us go on to ponder what this means as far as spiritual realities. What is citizenship of heaven? It is our regenerated beings in subjection to the King Himself, who dwells within all subjects and all citizens. Being His ambassadors means that we have become the visual representation of the living Christ, who works powerfully in all of His ambassadors to manifest His light.
The second matter is our residence.
We are the citizens of one country, Heaven, but we reside upon the earth. Peter refers to believers as follows: “Dearly beloved, I beseech you [who live in this world] as strangers and [temporary residents].” 1 Peter 2:11. We are special representatives of the King of king’s, living in a foreign country—we are in the Foreign Service! With these two factors, of our citizenship and residence settled, we are now prepared to consider the challenges which face us as heaven’s ambassadors upon earth.
What Is A Christian Ambassador?
What is a governmental ambassador? “An ambassador is a minister of the highest rank, employed by one prince or state at the court of another, to manage the concerns of his own prince or state, and representing the dignity and power of his sovereign.” What is a Christian ambassador? A Christian ambassador is a messenger/representative of his Lord. He is sent to represent the King of kings. He is sent to do what the Sovereign would Himself do if He were visibly present. The ambassador is sent to make known the will of the One Who sent him. He is on divine business. The Christian ambassador does not go in his own name, or in the name of any church or in the name of any earthly power, but he goes in the name of Him who made Heaven and earth and who governs all things by the word of His power! An ambassador must never go beyond his commission. His power comes from his King—he has no power of his own.
Who Is A Christian Ambassador?
“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ.” 2 Corinthians 5:20. Paul uses the word “we” more than a dozen times in 2 Corinthians 5 to identify believers in Jesus Christ and the word “us” over one-half dozen times. Christians are addressed throughout the chapter, and; therefore, are the subjects to whom the truth of ambassadorship is applied. “We“—“we” who are God’s people; “We” who are “in Christ”; “we” who are “a new creation.” All in the family of God are representatives of the Father of the family.
Qualifications of Christ’s ambassadors
The sending of an ambassador or a representative from one country to another has been a common practice for centuries. In the New Testament, the word ambassador is used twice. The apostle Paul first used this image to help Christians understand their role on earth. “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors,” he wrote, “as though God were making His appeal through us” (2 Corinthians 5:20). And later, when shut up in prison he explained: “I am an ambassador in bonds.” Ephesians 6:20. The image of the Christian as an ambassador of Jesus Christ is just as lucid today.
One must acknowledge and act upon the appointment as Christ’s ambassador. Everywhere we go, we presently are ambassadors. Paul was an ambassador, even when he was in prison. He asked the Ephesian Christians to pray for him, “that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds; that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” Ephesians 6:19–20. There is never a time or place when Christ’s ambassadors cease to be an ambassador! True, many of Christ’s ambassadors are bad examples of His ambassadors and bring reproach upon His holy name, but once having become an ambassador through the new birth, one is an ambassador until death!
1) As ambassadors we represent Christ
There is no such thing as an independent or freelance ambassador. Ambassadors by definition represent those who have sent them. The same is true for the Christian. Whether we are aware of it or not, as Christians we represent Christ. Many non-Christians will never open a Bible but will look at how you and I live. What are they concluding as they watch what I do? Does my life reflect something of Christ’s humility and selflessness, His gentleness and righteousness? Living conscious of the fact that we represent Christ at home, at work, at school, at church and in our neighbourhood, must affect the way we view ourselves—there is no room for inferiority or superiority complexes. We are very valuable because Christ chose us to represent Him. Yet He chose us because of His grace, not because we were or are so fantastic. We must always remember the following two points as ambassadors :
Suffering—some of the inconveniences we experience come our way because we represent Christ. God may allow some suffering to make us better representatives of “the Man of Sorrows.”
Sin—our sin not only affects our communion with the Lord, it may also affect how other people will think of Jesus.
2) As ambassadors we have a purpose
One must be a citizen of heaven to represent Christ upon the earth. Ambassadors are not sent abroad for the fun of it! Neither are they sent away to get rid of them! Similarly, we Christians are not left on earth just to kill time “until He comes,” neither are we put here that we may live to please ourselves. Paul prayed for the Colossian Christians in order that they may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10). What drives the Christian is the desire to please God rather than himself. In everything he does, a good ambassador seeks to further the interest of those he represents. Is your way of life furthering God’s purposes on earth?
3) As ambassadors we are always foreigners
The nature of an ambassador’s job forces him to live away from home; therefore, as long as he is an ambassador he will be a foreigner. In his first letter, Peter refers to Christians a number of times as “strangers.” He urges Christians to “live your lives as strangers in reverent fear.” “Dear friends,” he adds, “I urge you as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires” (1 Peter 1:1, 17; 2:11).
As ambassadors of Jesus Christ we operate under different rules from those of the world we live in. Our standards differ. The value we place on things differs. The great danger is for us to adopt the values of the world around us and thus cease to live as foreigners. Paul’s words are both clear and strong: Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2). Does the use of my time, my energy and my money agree with the divine call to live as a foreigner in this world?
4) As ambassadors we are accountable to Christ
I find that there are many people I would like to please: my dear wife, my family and friends, fellow Christians, etc. Yet amid these legitimate desires I must not forget that as an ambassador of Jesus Christ I am finally accountable to Him alone. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before Him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:13).
In this same way, as sons of God our speech should mark us as different spiritually, and cause those around us to see us as the embodiment of the kingdom which we represent: ”Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” Colossians 4:6. “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.”1 Peter 3:15
5) As ambassadors of the Kingdom we have
to be Loyal To the Kingdom
In 1 Corinthians 4:1–2, the word “account” means that when others look at us, it should be evident that we are “ministers of Christ”. No one should have to ask if we are a Christian for we are to be “found faithful”. Being “found faithful” means no one should have to look for proof, for it is everywhere. We should openly pray in a restaurant, we should openly read our Bible at work on our break, we should openly talk of Christ to our relatives, our neighbours, our friends. Could you imagine an ambassador from the DR Congo, living in another country, and no one knowing who he is? He flies a big Congo flag, drives a marked car, wears a D.R.C. lapel pin to let everyone know who he represents. Let us all be “found” as Christians. This is a great question you may ask yourself. Christians need to preach the Gospel, even if the world thinks it is foolish. First, because that is how people will believe; and second, because our loyalty is to heaven, not to the world.
6) It requires A Visual Representation
Conversing, Jesus said, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.” John 14:9–11
This ambassadorship consists of one who is sent to show a true representation of the one sending him. In the same way Jesus came as a visual manifestation and perfect representation of the Father and related this truth as we read in the passage above ; so, we are becoming, corporately, the visual manifestation of Christ in the earth, as our Lord brings us from one degree of glory to another. This is a high and holy calling, to be part of this wonderful revealing that is going to take place. As ambassabors, remember that “ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.” 1 Peter 2:9–10
“If we do represent Christ, we shall make His service appear attractive, as it really is. Christians who gather up gloom and sadness to their souls, and murmur and complain, are giving to others a false representation of God and the Christian life. They give the impression that God is not pleased to have His children happy, and in this they bear false witness against our heavenly Father.” –Steps to Christ, p. 116
Spiritual And Earthly Affairs
Another mark of an ambassador is that his focus is on representing the one sending him, rather than meddling in the affairs of the place he is sent to. “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” 2 Timothy 2:4. Can you imagine if an ambassador came to the Democratic Republic of Congo from another country, and demanded the right to vote, and lobby, and defend their rights, and change laws, and generally expend their energy in such a manner? Would Congoleses not be right in saying that such an ambassador is more concerned with meddling in our business than minding their own? In the same way, we are seated in the heavenlies with Christ, and are sent into the world to manifest that spiritual kingdom, not to obsess about who rules over these earthly kingdoms which are temporal, and must pass away to the everlasting rule of God.
Can you imagine the Lord Jesus Christ, who has ascended far above all things and has been given the rule of all things by the Father, casting a vote for a carnal man in an earthly election? Can you imagine this Lord of all, attended by countless legions of glorious angels and men, defending His earthly boundaries with carnal weapons such as guns and knives? Of course not! So then, should we, as His very body, be found doing these things? The world is looking to us for a demonstration of this spiritual kingdom, which is built not by human hands—should we then live in the same way that every other man lives? On the contrary, my dear readers and brethren, the light of all this, the concept of ambassadorship is very useful for reminding us of our place as bearers of the light of Christ and ministers of His grace. We are not called to curse the darkness, but to let the light shine forth. We have become children of light and life, and when we have been perfectly conformed to that light within, we shall become perfect ambassadors and embodiments of that light. Then
the world shall see a true corporate witness of Jesus Christ, and the prophecy shall be fulfilled as we read “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” Isaiah 60:1–3
Why Is An Ambassador Needed?
Throughout the history of the human race mankind has been at variance with God. There has been a conflict, a battle going on. This rebellious attitude and activity by humankind against God began in the Garden of Eden where a revolt against God took place by our ancient parents. “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled.” Colossians 1:12. “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” Romans 5 :10. “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God : for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Romans 8:7. “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship with the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” James 4 :4. If there is a war between two countries, and the leaders of one country want to bring the conflict to an end, an emissary, an ambassador is sent to deliver the terms for the cessation of warfare and the grounds for peace. In the loving heart of God, He desires man, the crown of His creation, to be reconciled to Him, that there be peace between the rebellious sinner and Himself. Proof of that is seen in the condescension of God in sending His one and only Son to be the reconciling agent, the Ultimate Ambassador, from the Throne Room in Heaven to His enemies upon the earth. Romans 5:8–10 explains God’s initiative as follows: “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
Jesus came and, as the Ambassador/Mediator made a way for His enemies to come back to God. Through His sacrificial atonement (at-one-ment) Jesus Christ brought man and God together again. Sinners have been reconciled to God, and He has demonstrated His love to the lost world.
WHAT DOES A CHRISTIAN AMBASSADOR DO?
God’s ambassadors are scattered all over the earth and their main purpose is to show and tell forth the Good News that God is the friend of sinners and, if sinners will repent of their rebellion and resistance and accept God’s terms of peace, they can become God’s friends. An ambassador of Heaven seeks to persuade sinners to be reconciled to God. The Christian ambassador has a distinct ministry called “the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18). He announces, proclaims, and communicates the peace terms that God has dictated. We are the messengers of Christ Jesus bearing the Good News. He sends ambassadors and He commands those ambassadors to plead with men, to pray for them, to beseech them that they would be reconciled to God. We are to proclaim, but we are to do far more—we are to beseech. We are to beseech men as though God did beseech them. Now, how does God beseech them? Read several of the Lord’s pleadings in Isaiah—how imploring they are! He says: “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me” Isaiah 1:2. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:18
Another of God’s pleadings—“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Isaiah 55:1
Our only responsibility is to deliver the message just as God gave it. We cannot, and must not, minimize the message, change the message, or add to the message. We are not to negotiate any new terms, or change those which God has dictated. We are simply to declare, explain and encourage people to abide by the terms on which God is willing to be reconciled to man.
God’s ambassadors are not sent to do the work of reconciling, of making peace between man and God, but to deliver the message from God to the estranged sinner that the work has already been done. All we have to do is to communicate that which God Himself has written in His Word. We have to speak out God’s message as the spokesmen of God! “He bids us—each according to his opportunity, experience, knowledge, ability and grace—to go abroad among the sons of men and exercise ‘the ministry of reconciliation,’ to labor to bring men into harmony with God, that they may be willing to accept what God has done toward the making of an everlasting peace.” –Charles H. Spurgeon. Uppermost in the minds of God’s ambassadors is that we are here to bring others to know the love of God for them; we are here as witnesses who have already experienced reconciliation ourselves; we are here as heralds to proclaim the Good News of salvation; as lights to be a blessing in a dark world; as sowers to scatter the Good Seed of God’s peace proclamation; we are here on business for our King!
WHAT IS IN THE FUTURE FOR AN AMBASSADOR?
An ambassador is a steward. A steward is one to whom an assignment has been given to be administered for the one who gave it and for which the steward must give an account.
There is a coming day when all of God’s ambassadors will be called to give an account of their stewardship—how they represented Him as His ambassadors. Paul warns us of that coming day: “We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God” Romans 14:10–12
The ambassador will have to give an account of how he conducted his Master’s business. 1 Corinthians 3:13–15 makes it clear that we will be rewarded for faithful service as an ambassador and if we have not rendered faithful service we will lose any reward we may have received. This is what Paul wrote: “Every man’s work shall be made manifest : for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall test every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereopon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.”
The children of God are not always aware of an inescapable appointment; that we have to appear before the Judge of the universe. Even though Paul reminds us of that coming court appearance, many live as though it will never happen. However, the Word of God is plain and personal as 2 Corinthians 5:10–11 states: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.”
Ambassadors of earthly governments are called to come before the head of their government from time to time, to report on their conduct of the government’s business in the country to which they have been sent. There is coming a time when we too, as ambassadors of the King of Kings, will be called to report. In view of our coming court appearance, will we be rebuffed or rewarded? The Book of Proverbs reminds us that “A wicked messenger falleth into mischief: but a faithful ambassador is health.” Proverbs 13:17. Let us be faithful ambassadors of Jesus Christ!
“The children of God are called to be representatives of Christ, showing forth the goodness and mercy of the Lord. As Jesus has revealed to us the true character of the Father, so we are to reveal Christ to a world that does not know His tender, pitying love. ‘As Thou hast sent Me into the world,’ said Jesus, ‘even so have I also sent them into the world.’ ‘I in them, and Thou in Me; . . . that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me.’ John 17:18, 23. The apostle Paul says to the disciples of Jesus, ‘Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ,’ ‘known and read of all men.’ 2 Corinthians 3:3, 2. In every one of His children, Jesus sends a letter to the world. If you are Christ’s follower, He sends in you a letter to the family, the village, the street, where you live. Jesus, dwelling in you, desires to speak to the hearts of those who are not acquainted with Him. Perhaps they do not read the Bible, or do not hear the voice that speaks to them in its pages; they do not see the love of God through His works. But if you are a true representative of Jesus, it may be that through you they will be led to understand something of His goodness and be won to love and serve Him.
“Christians are set as light bearers on the way to heaven. They are to reflect to the world the light shining upon them from Christ. Their life and character should be such that through them others will get a right conception of Christ and of His service.” –Steps to Christ, p. 115–116
Let us remember that an ambassodor represents someone else in person, in speech, etc. Are you “in Christ”? Are you fulfilling your responsibilities of ambassadorship? What do you need to get in/out of your life to properly act “in Christ’s stead”?
Victor Shumbusho,
D R Congo