Kingdom Ambassadors

By Michael McAvoy

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:20 NASB95)

I saw a T-shirt that said, “Heaven is my home. I’m just here recruiting.” While funny and true, it’s not how most Christians live. With the identity of children and citizens in the family and kingdom of God, our paradigm of existence and our relationship and engagement with this world are changed. We no longer live as mere mortals worrying about and chasing after the cares, pleasures, and treasures of this life.

This world is not our home. We are not here to represent ourselves and build our own earthly kingdom. Now, “our citizenship is in heaven,” (Philippians 3:20) and we “are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.” (Ephesians 2:19)

This is our new identity, and it makes us foreigners and strangers in this world. We now live as ambassadors representing and engaging in kingdom business. While this is how the Scriptures describe us, again, it isn’t how most Christians — even ministry leaders — live their lives.

_

“As citizens of God’s kingdom, we are not part of a democracy, and we are not living life on our own terms, in this world or the next.”

_

Divided Loyalties

We find most American Christians have divided loyalties that lead us to live out half-truths and experience far less of the kingdom life described in Scripture and seen in the lives of the many devoted followers throughout history to the present. As Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both…” (Matthew 6:24).

We know Jesus ended saying “God and money,” but the principle holds true about anything. We cannot serve both God and fill in your competing idol (money, possessions, pleasure, comfort, image, fame, power, success, career, status, ego, independence, rights, preservation, nationalism, politics, family, friends, etc.). As citizens of God’s kingdom, we are not part of a democracy, and we are not living life on our own terms, in this world or the next. Now we are foreigners and live as ambassadors for the kingdom of God wherever we live, work, and play.

I’m not an expert on foreign relations, but these things seem obvious. An ambassador is an officially authorized representative or messenger to a foreign/different culture or country. They are foreigners who are in that specific place on official business to represent another kingdom and its interests. They may enjoy some of the amenities, but they can never forget why they are there. Typically, they have certain diplomatic privileges and rights and delegated authority to act in the interests and work of their kingdom. An ambassador is a temporary assignment.

_

“Jesus made it clear that the words He proclaimed and the works He performed were from the Father to accomplish His plan.”

_

We see these truths taught throughout the New Testament and modeled by Jesus. Jesus modeled what an ambassador of the kingdom of God looks like and, when He left this world, made it clear that He was sending us in the same way. He declared, “For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38). “I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true” (John 7:28). “I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me” (John 8:28). “For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken” (John 12:49). “The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work” (John 14:10). “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (John 5:19). “For the works that the Father has given me to finish — the very works that I am doing — testify that the Father has sent me” (John 5:36).

Jesus made it clear that the words He proclaimed and the works He performed were from the Father to accomplish His plan. Then, the resurrected Christ says to His followers, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21).

On Mission

We are a sent people, a people on mission. We represent the kingdom of God as His ambassadors wherever we go, whatever we do.

God doesn’t send us to a neighborhood, job, gas station, restaurant, or grocery store just to have a home, make friends, make money, get gas or groceries, or eat out. He can send us anywhere to make money, have lodging, make friends, get groceries or gas, and so on. He intentionally guides us to these places and spaces to represent Him and His kingdom.

When we go as His ambassador, we go in His authority to engage in kingdom work (bringing people to salvation, deliverance, healing, and more). We each have one life to be a messenger/witness to our generation before we and they go on to our eternal dwelling.

Are we living on purpose and on mission? Are we about the Father’s business? Are we making the most of every opportunity (Ephesians 5:15–16, Colossians 4:5)?

Are we living as ambassadors? Are we walking in the responsibilities and authority of being an ambassador of the kingdom of Christ? What are the barriers to us living out this call to be ambassadors?

+