Ambassadorship: Missions According to God’s Strategy

The Need

• “If everything is mission, then nothing is mission.” – Stephen Neill (Scottish Missionary)
• Many of the concepts and words related to the mission of God have been contaminated over the last 2,000 years by people claiming to do the work of God.
  
  • Mission – What is it?
  • Missionary – Who are they?
  • Mission Trip – Where do they go?
  • Church – Where is it?
  • Disciple – How are they formed?
• While the need is urgent, the mission of God cannot be completed on our own efforts.
• Recommissioning ourselves to the task we’ve been given requires humility, obedience, sacrifice, perseverance, and intentionality. 

The Word - 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (ESV)

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• Audience – Who is Paul addressing?
• Address – What is Paul confronting in his letter?
• Authority – How does Paul ground his credibility?
• Action – What is Paul imploring the audience to do?
• Application – Are there practical ways to apply this text to our lives?

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Core Elements of Biblical Ambassadorship:

• Authority & Responsibility – Ambassadors speak and act not on their own authority but on behalf of the one who has sent them (Matthew 28:18-20).
• Heralds of a Message – Proclaiming reconciliation between wretched sinners to a Holy God is the primary role of followers of Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:18-19).
• Sojourners on a Mission – The present is only temporary. A greater place has been established where citizenship is unlike any other (Phillipians 3:20).
• Living as a Witness – In all they do, an effective ambassador represents the one who sent them both in word and action (Colossians 3:17).
• Bold & Drive – No matter the roughness of the road, the message must go forth, and the messenger must persevere in their current circumstances (Ephesians 6:20).

The Task

• Proclaiming a message of hope to lost people remains at the heart of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
• Reclaiming our role as Ambassadors for the King is key for advancing the mission of God both near and far.
• Recommissioning our lives, homes, families, careers, relationships, and hobbies and leveraging them for the sake of the gospel will never leave us dissatisfied.

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