God’s Ambassadors

God’s Ambassadors

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15

In this passage, Paul talks about the love of Christ controlling us. Many people in our society today want that love to justify a lack of control. Instead of training us how to live and what to do, they instead want it to absolve us from any need for repentance or obligation to God’s command. Paul explains that God’s love is the opposite. It compels us to live a certain way. A failure to let love control us leads to a failure to accept the offering given in love.

What then does this love expect of us? First of all, it expects us to die to ourselves. We no longer put our selfish needs first. Instead, we live for “him who for our sake died and was raised”. Jesus then sets the expectations for our lives. He expects us to live in a ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-19). We are now obligated to be the messengers of reconciliation. Paul goes so far as to say that we are the ambassadors for Christ’s message. God makes His appeal to others through us.

What then should this say about our lives and the way we should act? First of all, it means that we need to adopt the holiness of God. If God’s message is to come through us, we need to be like Him in our character and nature. The world should be able to see God in us. If we look exactly like the world, they will not be able to hear God’s message.

We also need to be about the work of ambassadors. It is our job to teach those in the world God’s message. He designed the word to come through us (Romans 10:14-17). If we are unwilling to teach others, then how can they come to know God? Furthermore, we need to minister to those who our fellow Christians. They need encouragement and edification. They need reminders of God’s grace as well as His expectations for their lives. God wants us to spend our lives ministering as his messenger to those inside and outside of His church. As we partake of the Lord’s Supper, we are reminded not only of His death but also his expectation of us as participants of His love.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15