Ambassadors for Christ

Have you ever considered sharing the Gospel to be a kind of generosity?

Knowing Christ intimately is the greatest gift we could ever be given, and when we understand the weightiness of this gift, our response should be to share the Good News with others so that they, too, can partake in the splendor of having a relationship with their Creator.

Not only should we desire to share this truth with our neighbors because of what we have witnessed, but we are to live with missional urgency because of what we read from Matthew 28:18-20, "Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

It's not merely a suggestion, but a command that we engage our communities and infiltrate them with the light and hope of Jesus.

We see evidence of this type of missional urgency through the life of Paul, and through studying 2 Corinthians 5, we can apply these truths to our own lives to become better followers of Jesus.

Read 2 Corinthians 5.

Here are our takeaways from this text:

1. We are CONFIDENT in our future hope.

• The Holy Spirit guarantees our inheritance.
• As we will see, His hope for then was fuel for now. And so it should be for us.

2. We are COMMITTED to living for Christ.

• We know why we are here; we were made by God and for God. Think about that: you can be pleasing to God. What more could you desire than that?

3. We are CONSIDERATE of the lost around us.

• Vertically, we're losing our minds. Horizontally, I’m self-controlled for your sake. To God, we are ecstatic. To the lost, we are rational. Why? So that we may persuade others.
• There is more than what the natural eye sees. Even if someone is putting off that they are disinterested…our spiritual eyes tell us that  “God has set eternity in the human heart" (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
• Not only do we not regard people from a worldly point of view, but we need no longer to see our circumstances from a worldly point of view.
• There are no coincidences in the economy of God. His sovereign hand doesn’t make mistakes. His hands never come off the wheel. So that means…where you are, you are there on purpose. There are no accidents. There are only assignments. So much would change about our hearts for evangelism if we could have eyes to see that we are being sent on gospel mission, not by random happenstance.
• The challenge for us today is to evaluate our circles, spheres, and relationships.
• Reasons we don't evangelize:

1. We’re afraid that we don’t know how.
2. The enemy convinces us that we don’t know enough.
3. We’re afraid it might be awkward. Change our relationship. This is the one that kept me silent with my coach.

• For some, we aren’t actively participating in evangelism because there is no space where we are purposefully and consistently building relationships with those who don’t yet know Jesus. We have so insulated ourselves that we have lost touch with the fact that the overwhelming majority of the people in the carpool line with you, in your apartment complex, in your office, or your city are going to sleep tonight trapped in their sins without a way out.
• We are praying that God would awaken us and give us a sense of urgency to tell those in our Orbit about the good news of Jesus.

4. We are COMPELLED by the love of Christ

• If we genuinely want to share the gospel with those who need it—to those stuck in darkness with no hope—we must be compelled by the love of Christ.
• We should be motivated by Christ's love. If Christ did this for me, He can do it for you.

5. We are COMMISSIONED by Christ

• You have been chosen by Christ
• Ambassadors of Christ
• Ambassador: an official representative of one country to another country.
• Ambassadors are not:
• Elected based on the popular vote
• Self-appointed officials
• Ambassadors are chosen as trusted representatives.
• We have gone from being enemies of God to ambassadors for Christ. That is wild! And that should change the way we live our lives.