Growing up in our Wednesday night program at the First Baptist Church in Guymon, Oklahoma, I was an “RA” or “Royal Ambassador” from grades 1-6. The program was our children’s discipleship program and I can still quote our motto to this day. The motto goes like this:
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“As a Royal Ambassador I will do my best to become a well-informed, responsible follower of Christ, to have a Christ-like concern for all people, to learn how to carry the message of Christ around the world, to work with others in sharing Christ and to keep myself clean and healthy in mind and body.”
This vision comes directly from what the Apostle Paul teaches that every true believer has be entrusted with the “message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us” (2 Cor 5:20). When anyone is saved and reconciled to God, they are no longer citizens of this world, but children of the Kingdom of light (Col 1:13), and citizens of heaven (Phil 3:20). As a result, God makes us ambassadors. This is a great word which describes our new position in this world. An ambassador is “an accredited diplomat sent by a country as its official representative to a foreign country.” Since our new home is in heaven, we actually currently live in a foreign land that is not our home (Heb 11:16). God leaves us here to be His official representatives and spokesmen.
Our Hearts Must be Right
Living like an ambassador requires having our hearts in the right place. If we were all honest this is a major battle within us. We must change the way we think about this life we live here and now. We typically want to do what we want to do, go where we want to go, eat what we want to eat…..you get the idea. But as ambassadors we are no longer our own. The struggle is that we want to live as though we are the king of our own lives. We want to live as though this world is our own little kingdom. But as believers we are not the king of our own lives, but are sent here to honor the true King of Kings, who bought us with His own blood. We are called daily to “set our minds on things above” (Col 3:1). We must keep the right mindset or we will tragically live like this world is our home.
(http://aplaceforyou NULL.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/ambassadors-quote2 NULL.png)Giving up Trinkets for Real Treasure
As ambassadors we understand that we are going to give up much in this life. But having the right mindset will help us! We look around and see all of the nice things that this life offers, and we struggle. But we must remember that these things are nothing but trinkets compared to the treasure that is awaiting us in heaven. We have an imperishable inheritance that is being stored up for us (1 Peter 1:4). As ambassadors then, we must live life loosely on this earth. We must remember that the pleasures of this world are simply trinkets compared to what is waiting for us in heaven. We must strive not to “love this world or the things in the world” (1 Jn 2:15). It doesn’t mean that we don’t enjoy our time here and the blessings God has given us. But it does mean that we keep the right perspective and remember that we are just passing through, and that the King is going to come back and get us and take us to be with Him in a mansion that He has built for us (John 14:1-4).
Representing the King
Furthermore, being an ambassador means that we actually represent the one who sent us. The way we conduct our time in the foreign land reflects upon our home country and King. There are rumblings (https://www NULL.dailywire NULL.com/news/45035/calls-grow-remove-obamas-us-ambassador-ukraine-ryan-saavedra) that the current US ambassador to the Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, may be removed from her post for dishonoring the current administration with her words. The lives and words of ambassadors are important and reflect those who sent them. In the same way we are to live our lives in a way that honors our King Jesus. As the motto of RAs says, we must strive to “keep myself clean and healthy in mind and body” for the sake of bringing glory to our Lord (1 Cor 10:31).
But Most Importantly
But more than anything, as ambassadors we are called to speak on behalf of the one who sent us. Paul makes this clear when He says that God is actually “making his appeal through us” (2 Cor 5:20). It isn’t enough simply to live a good holy life for the King in the foreign land. We are also called to promote His agenda, advance His directives, speak loudly His message to the people around us. This means that we must know the message well. No good ambassador is ignorant of the agenda. And the agenda is clearly stated that we are left in order that we might “implore [everyone] on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
We have been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation, namely that God is reconciling the world through His Son Jesus Christ. Every human being is at enmity with God because of their sinful nature. But through the blood of Jesus alone, that broken relationship can be reconciled whereby God can now call sinners his friends (Jn 14:15, Rom 5:7-8). Christ died so that sinners could be made “new creations” and not have their “trespasses counted against them.” Why would we hoard or hide the message? We must speak it on a regular basis to all who come into our path.
Are You a Good Ambassador?
To live as the best ambassador for Christ we must quit compartmentalizing our lives. We must consider ourselves as incarnational, that is that we are “little Christs” walking on this earth. We must represent Him and speak on His behalf every chance we get. We never take a break or a vacation. Since we have been entrusted with the “good news” of reconciliation, we must continually be looking for opportunities to speak with those in this foreign land, never forgetting our mission. Every moment we live and move should be to represent the King not only in deed, but most importantly in word!
Are you a Royal Ambassador? Are you doing your best to be a well-informed, responsible follower of Christ? Do you have a Christ-like concern for all people? Are you learning how to carry the message of Christ wherever you go? Are you keeping yourself clean and healthy in mind and body?