- The Church is appointed to
be Ambassadors for Christ
It
is the responsibility of the church to fulfill the Lord's commission which
states; “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go
therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all
things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end
of the age." Amen (Matthew 28:18-20).
God
has appointed the church as ministers of the New Covenant, and has been
admonished saying; “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of
anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also
made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of
the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians
3:5-6).
The
church has been committed with the word of reconciliation, and has been
instructed saying; “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself
through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is,
that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their
trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now
then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we
implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew
no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”
(2Corinthians 5:18-21).
At
the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior we are to give thanks to the
Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into
the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:12-14).
At
this juncture our citizenship is no longer that of this world; “For our
citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed
to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to
subdue all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:20-21).
Therefore,
as ambassadors for Christ the church have been given the full authority to
represent Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God on earth and should be living and
practicing the principles of Gods kingdom as their lifestyle and not that of
this world which violates the principles of God, for we are to obey God rather
than man.
Our
responsibility therefore is to; submit ourselves to every ordinance of man for
the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme or to governors, as to those
who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those
who do good: For this is the will of God, that by doing good we may put to
silence the ignorance of foolish men ---as free, yet not using liberty as a
cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the
brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king” (1Peter 2:13-17).
The
church is not a replica of the Jewish religion, neither is it a replica of the
Gentile pagan religion. The church is the Way that has been consecrated in the
flesh of Jesus Christ to grant us bold access to the Father. The objective of
this Way is to, open the eyes of men [Jews as well as Gentiles] and turn them
from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may
receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith
in Jesus Christ.
Therefore,
as ambassadors of the kingdom of light we should have no affiliation with the
political system of this world since the whole world is under the sway of the
wicked one and Satan the dragon has
given them his power, his throne, and great authority (1John 5:19; Revelation
13:2).
Our
responsibility therefore is like that of all ambassadors which is to maintain
diplomatic relations with the receiving state which in our case is the world and
imploring them on Christ's behalf to be reconciled to God.
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To be continued
With brotherly love
Lucius Joseph
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