ARE WE GOOD OR BAD AMBASSADORS?
2ND COR.5: 17Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18And all things are of God, who hath reconciled
[At peace with God] us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; **19To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20Now then** we are ambassadors for Christ,
It is said that there are possibly 100,000,000 people in our country who claim to be Christians, and if that is true it seem that we’d have more moral and spiritual influence on our nation than it appears that the Christians are making.
Let me say too, that a great number of the people who say they are Christians don’t really understand what the word means.
The people that pray to Mary, to dead saints count beads, eat Jesus wafers, confess their sins to a another man just behind some sort of enclosure who is nothing more than a sinner his self, calls some religious man “father” is the biggest so called Christian denomination on earth.
And we can add all the other so called Christian groups who claim to have sealing rooms; and some of their members have several wives such as the Mormons is another false church, not to mention the Jehovah’s false witnesses.
It’s no wonder that the unchurched people in our country are totally confused, and some of them get all up set if they are confronted with true Bible Doctrine.
Therefore, the said to be 100,000,000 people who say that they are Christians are really not Christians at all, and we that are, according to the Word of God, we that have been truly born again, are to expose false doctrine because its sending these religious but lost folks to hell.
2nd John 9-10 9Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
10If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
Eph.4: 4There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Jude 3Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
And Jesus said in John 10:--35 and the scripture cannot be broken;
And in John 7: 38He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Not as some people might say.
Jesus Christ prayed in John 17 that God would not remove the believer from the world but that the believer would have an impact on the world in which he lives. The world we live in is filled with people who are in need of what the church has to offer.
And that is the truth to do with the things of God.
We that are saved have been entrusted with helping the deceived religious world.
The way we can do that is to be good Ambassadors of Christ.
ROMANS 12:1-2
1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2And be not conformed [be like] to this world: but be ye transformed [not like] by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
So why isn’t the church having a greater impact on our culture? It may be that the seemingly failure is that a great majority of the so-called believers have violated the teachings of God’s Word and particularly the command of Romans 12:2, " be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed".
When we conform to this world, we muddy the waters of our lives and testimonies often with bad results.
~~~ What does it mean to be conformed to this world?
Conform – is an external fashioning or shaping of one thing like another, as we might appear to the people around us in such a way that they cant tell us from the rest of the worldly crowd.
We don’t want to become so well adjusted to our culture that we fit into it without even thinking.
We need to be careful not to copy the behavior and customs of this world.
As Christians, we have the responsibility not to pattern our lives after the world’s value system.
As you all know, we have a Mormon who is running for president, and by what we see on the news may be the Republican nominee.
All this shows the spiritual temperature of our nation.
We’ve had presidents in office before who was of the Harlot church, God is not pleased, wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a president and true Christians in our Government? Then I believe God could bless our Nation again, is our nation too far gone in the true faith of the true bible to return?
God said in ps.9:17The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
ps. 32:12Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD;
~~ What is the basis of the world’s value system?
There are three main values to do with the worldly system summarized in I John 2:16 "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."
Possessions are to do with the lust of the eyes – Materialism:
someone has said, "The essence of life today is not having—but it is having to have, you know, “the Jones have one so we’re going to have to have one.”
Don’t misunderstand, there’s nothing wrong with having nice things, but lets be careful that things don’t have us.
Most of us who love to Deer hunt have several guns, bows and so many other hunting accessories that is hard to remember exactly what we do have.
And the ladies, have so many pairs of shoes and pocket books and watches that they can’t close their closets. I just had to say that before the ladies say amen to do with their husbands.
Luke 12:15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness:[that is things that belong to some one else] for a man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things, which he possesses.
Jesus said in Mark 8: 36For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Brothers & sisters all these things will be left behind when we leave out of here.
Ps. 49:- 17For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away--
Spiritual values are often overshadowed or hidden by materialism.
~Illus.~ One day a department store manager closed his place of business and mistakenly left all the windows open and a big puff of wind blew all the price markers off the items for sale, and so the price markers were all mixed up as they lay on the floor.
The next day as the shoppers come into the store they were delighted to see socks for $149.95, suits for $1.19, shoes for 5 cents and a scarf for $599. ~~
This is how worldly Christians live every day. They put low value on spiritual things and high value on things with no spiritual value at all.
And then another bases for the worldly system that we find in 2nd John 16 is:
- The lust of the flesh – is to do with worldly Pleasure; the bible calls it, “Carnality”
II Timothy 3:1-5 "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, [ without self-control:] fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; [18]**Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away."
It seems that many folks, especially the young folks just cannot say no to drugs because their whole approach to life has been shaped by some of the things they see on television, the land where "no" does not exist.
~~Illus~~ A HUNGRY FOX, seeing some bread and meat left by shepherds in the hollow of an old oak tree, stuck his nose into the hole and slide into the hole and ate all he could whole.
When he finished, he was so full that he was not able to get out, and he began to groan and fret over what his fate might be.
Another Fox passing by heard his cries, and coming up to the hole, ask the trapped fox what he was complaining about. And on learning what had happened, he said to the stuffed and trapped fox, "you’ll have to remain there, until you become such as you were when you slide in, and then you will be able to back out easily."
Well too often, many Christians get caught up in the passions of their flesh that in the end they will have to pay for their sins.
But thank God for what we read in 1st John 1: 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us
But we’ll have to reap what we’ve sown, if we plant corn guess what will come up.
Gal. 6:7Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
So its best that no matter how alluring things may appear to us, we need to walk away and avoid the temptation.
Let me say that every body is tempted in one way or another, and there’s no sin in being tempted, it when we yield to the temptation.
1st cor.10:13There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer *you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
And just because we’re saved does not mean that we are immune to the attractions & temptations of the world.
Jesus told Peter in Luke 22:31And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you,** that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee,**--
And then another bases for the worldly system we see in 2nd John 16 is:
- The Pride of Life - Prestige, power and Position
the acceptance of values by the world’s methods of popularity and success, are clouding the influence of the Bible in the lives of many Christians.
John 12:42-43 "Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: [43] for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God."
It seems that some people are strange; they want the front of the bus, but the back of the church, and then the center of attention.
If we serve only for the approval of men, we will lose the approval of God.
What is the Effect of Conformity?
For one thing, Loss of knowledge of right and wrong.
Job 34:4 "Let us choose to us judgment: let us know among ourselves what is good." in other words "You should choose to follow what is right, but first you must define what is right "
When the waters are muddied, you can’t see clearly to discern what is in it. And it’s the same when we muddy the waters of our lives with the culture and philosophy of this world, because then we lose our ability to discern right from wrong.
light of consideration; to the point that we as believers might not consider what we really believe and know is right. It’s sort of like opening our eyes in the dark and yet not being able to see. And the same is true in being near the light if the eyes are closed "
