Ambassadors for Christ - 1 of 2

The Global Missions Conference at Briarwood is always one of my favorite weeks of the year. I enjoy the whole week beginning with the incoming parade of flags from all of the different countries on the first Sunday until they parade them out on the following Sunday. It’s really a special time for our church as we truly get to hear from and get a taste of the “front lines” of global missions.

The week always seems to have a duel effect on me. One one hand, it inspires me to want to be a greater part of what they are doing across the globe. On the other hand, it makes me feel very small in terms of what I am doing for God’s kingdom compared with them.

These people are truly “all in.” They have made huge sacrifices in their lives and, in some cases, are putting their life and the lives of their family at risk. They have elected to bypass the opportunity to amass riches in the business world and pursue many of the luxuries that we get to enjoy. By comparison, we spend a great deal of time and energy pursuing and enjoying these earthly pleasures. That doesn’t make us bad people but it should cause us to ask ourselves some important questions like:

What is my role in all of this?

I think that we must go to scripture to help us look for answers on these big life questions. Let’s look at the direction that the Apostle Paul gives us:

2 Corinthians 5:20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Ephesians 8-10  Through followers of Jesus like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God is becoming known and talked about even among the angels!

In these letters Paul refers to all believers as “ambassadors for Christ” and part of an “extraordinary plan of God.” That means that as “ambassadors” we all have a role and, since God has an “extraordinary plan,” we have an opportunity to be a part of His plan.

Thinking about it like an SEC football game, there is a wide variety of levels of participation - you’ve got the players & coaches who have sacrificed greatly and are in full participation; you’ve got the support staff of trainers, field crew, stadium workers etc… all actively playing their roles; you’ve got the fans in the stadium cheering their team on; you’ve got the tailgaters that enjoy the fruits of gameday but never even enter the stadium (this is me now on college gameday, ha) and, lastly, you’ve got the people hanging out downtown that are oblivious to the game with no real interest in it at all.

If you had to pick from one of these to describe your present role as an Ambassador for Christ in the extraordinary plan of God, which would it be? Are we on the field or even in the stadium? Maybe are we just enjoying the tailgate while others labor and sacrifice. That would, at least, be better than being downtown and oblivious to the fact that a game is even being played, wouldn’t it?

Next week we will look at what our roles could look like in this “extraordinary plan of God.” The mission field is not just what I going on globally but is also right here in front of us in our everyday lives. We don’t want to miss it.

Stay hungry,

Big E