Sermon Central
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Be An Ambassador! Series
Contributed by Chad Garrison on Mar 29, 2010 (message contributor)
Summary: God calls each of us to the Adventure of Life He has set before us. Everyone has his or her own path, but we all have the same call. Today we examine the call to be ambassadors of Christ.
Choose Your Own Adventure
“Be an Ambassador!”
Today we conclude our series with the Adventure “Be an Ambassador!” This calling is exactly how it sounds; we are all ambassadors. An ambassador is simply one who represents someone or something else.
Whether we mean to or not, we will all “represent” something:
- by the way we talk
- how we dress
- the actions we take
- where we invest our time and efforts
As believers, we are supposed to represent Christ! I want to show you a cause and effect passage of scripture:
2 Corinthians 5:19-20 (NIV)
God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
Cause: Christ reconciled us to God
20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
Effect: We are now representatives or ambassadors for Christ so that others may come to know God’s love for them as well.
If you have acknowledged Jesus and your Lord and Savior, the title of “Ambassador” is unavoidable. You now represent Jesus Christ, for better or worse.
I say this because I think many Christians flat out forget this. We get so caught up in campaigning against sin, cultural deviance or for moral high ground that we have completely forgotten the grace, mercy and love Jesus originally gave us.
The Ambassadors of Christ are no longer seen as representatives of these things, but rather as hateful, judgmental jerks, or overbearing hypocrites. That is not the Christ I want to represent.
The question we want to answer is: What is required of an Ambassador of Christ?
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 (NLT)
And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul. 13 And you must always obey the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good.
Let’s Highlight the requirements of a TRUE Ambassador of Christ:
1. Fear the Lord your God
“…He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him…”
A. Fear equals Revere
Fear: yare’ – (yah-ray) to stand in awe of, be awed or to fear, reverence, honor, respect
The LORD: Y?hovah (yeh·h?·vä) - “the existing One” the proper name of the one true God
your God: ‘elohiym (el·?·heem) (plural) rulers, judges, divine ones or gods
Sum: Stand in awe of the One true God over all other gods!
In this light, living in “Fear” of God is not trying to dodge lightening bolts by keeping your nose clean.
It is living a life that stands in awe of how mighty and powerful our God is. It means God is bigger to us than any other thing in our lives!
B. Reverence Obeys the Commands of God
Deuteronomy 10:13 (NLT)
“And you must always obey the Lord’s commands and decrees…”
Think about this verse in light of an awe of the “One True God”. Obeying God’s commands are now the natural next step.
Ill: If I set a boundary within the church walls with one rule: “You can’t wear the color red.” I am the leader, so I set that rule. Your response to this “command” is going to stem from your perception of me: respect, indifference or complete disregard.
Our response to God’s commands are no different. The way we see God is the way we see His commands.
If we see God’s commands as relative (different for every person or situation) than we don’t see God as the “One True God”. God is not supreme—He is simply a consultant…
God wants us to stop seeing his commands as the rulebook. God wants us to follow his commands because we revere him so highly that we will surrender our very way of living for Him.
2. Seek Daily Communion with God
“…and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul…”
com·mun·ion n
1. a feeling of emotional or spiritual closeness
2. an association or relationship
God does not want us to Revere him as this big something off in the distance orchestrating life around us. He wants to have a daily, close relationship with Him.
Celebrity Worship: we love and respect them; we can know everything there is to know about them, but they are still far off and most of us will never have a relationship with them. If we try to force a relationship, it’s called stalking!
God doesn’t want stalkers, God wants communion with us.
James 4:8 (NASB)
