Topic: Do I have a role to fulfill?
Take a moment and read 2 Corinthians 5:16-21. If you have ever wondered about what your role is a Christian, this is your purpose. All believers are called to be an ambassador of Christ.
Ambassadors represent the values, culture, and story of a place in another place. For instance, an ambassador might be a diplomat sent by a country as its official representative to a foreign country. And everything that ambassador does and says must intentionally represent a leader who isn’t physically present. Their actions, their character and words embody the king who isn’t there.
Paul tells us that, as Christians we are “ambassadors of the Kingdom of God, as though God were making His appeal through us.”
We are to represent the values, culture, story and the love of God to the outside world. Our actions, our character and our words are to represent our King who is Jesus Christ.
Right now, more than at any other time in modern history, Christ needs ambassadors who will go out into the world with His message…not only on our lips but through our actions.
Paul writes in verse 16, “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.”
“From a worldly point of view” is literally “according to the flesh.” This means that we are to view people in their spiritual reality, not their fleshly reality. Paul didn’t care what skin color, ethnic background people had. He was willing and eager to share the message of God’s reconciliation. To be reconciled to God changes the way we view others. As Christ’s followers we are to no longer view people based on status, lifestyle or even accomplishments.
All people are to be seen as in need of the reconciling work of Christ. Our great challenge is to become a gateway in their lives for reconciliation with God. We can only do this by sharing with others the love of Christ.
Paul writes: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation…We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us…”
As a believer, you are never without purpose!
See you Sunday,
Dr. Scott Kallem