Monday, February 18, 2008

Royal Ambassadors

When I was in Junior High I was involved in a church youth group called Royal Ambassadors. It is a group that teached boys about missions and how to live out a christian life. I was saved through this program. We had a pledge we had to memorize. Here is a paper I wrote breaking down that pledge.


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 the message of Christ is carried around the world; To work with others in sharing Christ, and To keep myself clean and healthy in mind and body.

The Scholastic Dictionary of American English defines ambassador as, 1“a representative of the highest rank sent by one government or ruler to another, any representative with a special mission.” We as Christians are ambassador's, we are representing Christ in a lost world. 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 says in the Living Bible, 2“We are Christ's ambassadors. God is using us to speak to you: we beg you, as through Christ himself were here pleading with you, receive the love He offers you-be reconciled to God. For God took the sinless Christ and poured into Him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God's goodness into us.” Jesus gave us a special mission to carry out the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always even to the end of the age.”

Christians are to be well informed followers of Christ. In First Peter 3:15 it says, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord, always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” If we as Christians are going to be informed followers of Christ we need to know how a person gets saved. It is as simple as ABC, Admit-Believe-Confess. A, admit you are a sinner and that you can't save yourself, you can't get to heaven by living a moral life or performing good deeds. Only through Jesus' death on the cross are you able to get to Heaven. B, believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God. In other words you are believing what John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” It goes further to say in vs. 17, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.” C, confess your sins. Just say to God that you are a sinner and in need of forgiveness and ask Jesus to come into your heart. First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins He is faithfull and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” After we have done these things we should be baptized and become involved in a local church.

A Christian needs to have a Christ-like concern for all people. Having a Christ-like concern means caring about others. Caring about the lost world, the unsaved as well as your brothers and sisters in Christ. It is one thing to say that you will pray for someone and it is another to actually do it. We as christians need to take the time to help people where they need help. Our three priorities should be God, others and then ourselves. Christians need to roll-up their sleeves and be like Jesus, be a foot washer. (John 13:1-17)

We need to learn how the message of Christ is carried around the world. Supporting missions is very important. We not only need to support them financially but in prayer and moral support. An example would be being apart of a short term mission team on the mission field. My church goes to Mexico every two years for a week and builds homes for the homeless. One book I recently read was Elisabeth Elliot's book “Through the Gates of Splendor”. In it she shares how her husband and four other men wanted to bring the gospel to a remote trip in the Amazon rain forest. After making contact with them they were murdered by the tribe. Later a few of the widows wanted to continue trying to contact the tribe with God's saving grace. They were successful and the tribe came to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Along with learning how the gospel is carried around the world we need to work with others in sharing Christ. This is done in the local church. It may involve working in the church nursery or preschool, serving as a greeter or an usher, or even teaching a bible study class. Acts 2:42-47 says, “They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Notice the last sentence, “The Lord added.......who were being saved.”

Another example of the early church working together in sharing Christ is found in Acts 4:32-35, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.”

In Acts 6:1-7 there was a small problem and through working together the church leaders appointed seven men to take care of it and as a result we read in Acts 6:7,”So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.”

Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we need to keep our mind and bodies clean both physically and spiritually. Romans 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will able to test and approve what God's will is-His good, pleasing and perfect will.” One way of making our body a living sacrifice is to do what 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

In order to keep our minds and bodies clean and healthy we need an accountability partner. Someone we can be honest with. It is very important that you trust this person. If you trust then you can share with and pray with and even confess our sins to. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and pufify us from all unrighteousness.” Sometimes that is the toughest thing to do, but at least you now have someone who will keep who accountable in the areas you struggle with.

As Christians we are God's ambassadors to a lost world. Our attitude and actions should be that of Colossians 3:17 and 3:23, “And whatever you do, whether in word or in deed, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him, Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”

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