What Does It Mean To Be An Ambassador For Christ?

By Preston Rhodes. Resonate Missoula

Over the last two weeks our church has held multiple discussions about politics that you can find here and here. One viewer, after watching both resources, had a question that was not answered. That question was, “What does it mean to be an Ambassador for Christ?” In this short blog, I aim to answer that question. 

A few summers ago, while I was living in East Asia, I went to play basketball with my friend Leo. If you were on an East Asian basketball court between 2015 and 2019, you’ll know that almost every player, Leo included, wore a Stephen Curry basketball jersey. 

Leo was a big-time joker and often pulled pranks on me, so, needless to say, I wanted to get back at him. Between games, Leo was talking to some guys I didn’t know. Quietly, I snuck up behind him and sprayed my water bottle on the back of his head. To my dismay, the person who turned around was not Leo. 

At that moment, I found myself facing five unfamiliar college students. I couldn’t speak the local language, they couldn’t speak English, and they were mad. I needed an ambassador. Luckily, just in time, Leo showed up. I explained what happened, he explained it to the guys, and I became friends with Chris, whom I had just sprayed with water. 

Merriam-Webster defines an ambassador as “an accredited diplomat sent by a country as its official representative to a foreign country; an authorized representative.” On the basketball court in East Asia, Leo became my authorized representative, representing my interests to a foreign group. 

Interestingly, God speaks of us all as ambassadors. In 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, Paul writes, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

From this text, I want to describe three aspects of our ambassadorship: the ambassador's message, goal, and authority. I hope these three aspects will help us see what it means to be an ambassador for Christ. For the sake of clarity in the three points, the verse will be referenced out of order. 

The Ambassador’s Message

Verse 19 states, “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” 

Because of sin, we were separated from the kindness and grace of God and were trapped under His wrath. However, God loved us so much that He sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to pay our debt on the cross and to conquer death in His resurrection. The Bible teaches that if we place our faith in Him as our only hope and righteousness, He will bring us back into right relationship with God. That story, the historical reality of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, is the gospel. 

If you are a Christian, you are an ambassador for Christ. That means that you no longer belong to this world or this nation, but instead you represent the Kingdom of God - a Kingdom that lasts forever. As ambassadors for Christ, we have been entrusted with the message of reconciliation: the gospel. This means that we are not tasked with telling everyone about our political stances or ideological philosophies; we are tasked with sharing the gospel with the world. 

In the 2019 hit film 1917, General Erinmore tasks two young Lance Corporals with delivering an urgent message to Colonel Mackenzie on the other side of enemy lines. If these two Lance Corporals, during their journey to Colonel Mackenzie, decided to add in some of their own commentary and opinion on the situation, what do you think would happen to them? 

In the same way, we do not have the authority to change or add to the message God has given us to share. We are to proclaim the good news of Jesus to the people around us, free from the cages of our American political system. 

The Ambassador’s Goal

Verse 18 states, “...who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;” 

God did not just reconcile us to Himself, but He also gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Reconciliation is the restoration of right relationship; it means restoring a broken relationship back into its unbroken state. Once God has saved you, He gives you the job of offering salvation through Christ to the rest of the world. If you are an ambassador for Christ, then your goal is reconciliation. Everything you do should be aimed at reconciling people back to God. 

This means that our primary goal is not a strong economy or racial harmony or the abolition of abortion or the elimination of poverty, but our primary goal is reconciling people back to God. All those other great and beautiful goals are secondary. For the Christian, the reconciliation that comes through the gospel must be the centerpiece of all that we do. 

The Ambassador’s Authority

Verse 20 states “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” 

When we act as ambassadors for Christ by working to reconcile the world back to Him, we are doing it by God’s authority. When I share the gospel, it is not just Preston appealing to my friend, it is God Himself making His appeal through me. We can share the gospel with confidence and courage because God is actually the one making His appeal. 

When John Sullivan, US Ambassador to Russia, sits down at a meeting with Russian diplomats, he is not there simply as John Sullivan from Boston, husband to Grace and father to three children. He is there as an official representative of the President and people of the United States of America. John Sullivan has authority not because of who he is, but because of who he represents. In the same way, we fight for reconciliation under the authority of God. 

I hope that these three broad aspects can help us see what it means to be an official representative of Christ the foreign land in which we live. 

“This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through.” - Albert Brumley