Ambassadors of Christ - Jeremiah's Vow

The focus for today’s devotion is “sent.”

I find today’s focus a little ironic considering the fact that mass population quarantines are being recommended or enforced. And yet, in the world we live in, we can still find ways to live as people on mission.

What I find most interesting about this moment in history for the church, is that it is redefining (not in the sense of a new meaning, but in that of returning to the original sense) what it means to be sent. Being sent is not about location. It is about mindset.

Because of our new birth, we have been made Ambassadors for Christ. We have been given a mission to which we must all submit. Our jobs are not an impediment to being sent, it is the place we have been sent to. Our recreation is not a distraction to being sent, it is an opportunity to demonstrate the normalcy of our “sent-ness.” Our families are not hindrances to being sent, they are the first recipients of who we have become in Christ.

What the pandemic has done, what it is doing is reacquainting us with who we, those who claim membership in Christ’s body, were always bent to be and what we were always meant to be doing. This is quite remarkable.

I don’t know why we must live thru these days. I don’t know what life in this world will look like after it’s all over. But, I am growing in my sense of this, we will not be able to look at ourselves the same. We will have changed. My hope is that it will be for the better. I pray that we will take advantage of the time we are being given.

The urgency of the situation requires an equally urgent response. The world needs to know that God has spoken and when we who have responded to his call respond, we will respond like Jesus who was sent into the world. We will say, “I am ready. Send me.”

We Have Life! (5:9-11)
Paul shares with us another benefit of being in relationship with Christ. We are declared righteous by the blood of Jesus. This is an amazing truth. Not only is God’s wrath no longer sitting on us, but we been given access to God our Father because of Jesus righteousness [2 Corinthians 5:21]. The reality that Christ’s death and life has given sinners new life through the spilled blood of Jesus is not an insignificant reality for the believer. Paul makes clear that the full benefits of salvation are a multi-layered reality.

Salvation is not something that just happens. Paul wants the Roman reader to have a clear understanding of what salvation is. Salvation is God’s great gift and this will only be understood by making sure that the Romans (and we, the contemporary reader) have a clear and accurate understanding of the completeness of the salvation that we have been given.

Paul identifies two facets of the salvation diamond for us to examine. Paul says that we are reconciled and saved. Paul separates the two so that we can see that they are not the same thing and so that we can know how they fit together. By reconciled Paul means that our offensiveness to God has been removed. Some may take offense to the thought that God had a problem with us while we were sinners. But we must accept this truth. We are no longer a stench in the nostrils of God.

By “saved” Paul moves us across the gap into the presence of God. It is not enough to be reconciled, to be made un-offensive. We have to recognize that without the grace of God we would not even be able to enter the kingdom of God. Paul appears to point to the fact that salvation is the transference of our citizenship papers from this world into the kingdom of God. Several passages will be helpful here.

¹⁴I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁵I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁷Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. [John17:14-19, ESV, emphasis added]
¹¹Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. ¹²Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. [1 Peter 2:11-12, ESV, emphasis added]
²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ… [Philippians 3:20, ESV, emphasis added]

This idea of being citizens of God’s Kingdom was language and imagery that the Romans understood, as did Paul. The rights and privileges of being Roman citizens were significant. Paul was trying to help them understand that the benefits of being participants in the heavenly kingdom were not to be dismissed. Or to be taken lightly. The citizens of God’s kingdom must carry a significant responsibility, as we are the ambassadors of Christ to this world [2 Corinthians 5:20].

Paul’s understanding of our salvation is thorough and complete. We no longer have to fear death or hell. Heaven is a real and sure hope for all that believe. Finally, our citizenship is transferred into the kingdom of God. Throughout this section Paul has been setting the stage that God’s character, word, and promises are trustworthy. And it is based upon these truths that we must proceed in our growing relationship with the God.

Tag: Ambassadors of Christ

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