Thursday, January 21, 2010

Your Mission is a Ministry

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

I am going to assume that you said, “Yes” to all eight questions on the Quick Quiz. That would mean you have a Biblical worldview. If this is not true, then please email me your specific questions or concerns and we will respond to them one by one, during the weeks to come. Today we will review the remainder of the promises in the above verse.

But, before you continue on, pray that the Love of Christ will control you in everything you say, do and think. Meditate on the New qualities that he has promised will replace the Old, and transform your life in ways that will draw others to Christ through you.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ
Define Reconcile: to reestablish a close relationship between; to settle or resolve; to bring oneself to accept: he finally reconciled himself to the change in management; to make compatible or consistent: reconcile my way of thinking with yours.

And gave us the ministry of reconciliation: Here is Christ’s purpose for you and I. And you received this ministry when you became a Christian. It is already in effect. How are you doing? Your mission has already started whether you recognize that fact or not. Your family, friends, co-workers and anyone else you might come into contact with … God wants to speak to them through you. There may be only one person God wants to reach through you in your entire life and that person could be the next Billy Graham, or it could be hundreds of people. I have only been writing this blog for a few weeks and there are already over fifty people reading each post. Believe me, it is that one person who has never prayed to receive Christ who I am speaking to more than you will ever know. Also those of you who are Christians, but who are still drifting aimlessly, this blog is for you. Be reconciled to Christ! And you who are Spiritual, hopefully God will give you a new idea ... a way to reach out to someone new. But, the ones who are in my heart and who I write to everyday, might not read these words for ten to twenty years from now or more. They are my grandchildren. More than anything else I want them to be able to look at this when they are adults and better understand who I am and what I believed and how much I love them. I was led to Christ by Zig Ziglar because he lives what he believes, and he was bold enough to tell me what I needed to hear. That is what a minister of reconciliation does. They never stop living the love of Christ, and encouraging those in their circle of influence to “be reconciled to God”. I was drawn to Christ through Zig, because the love of Christ was controlling him.

Does that mean that you or I are perfect? Does it mean that all of a sudden we are trained counselors with all of the answers to everyone’s problems? In our dreams! But we do have the perfect model, and Jesus and his word have the answers and solutions for all of life’s weaknesses and problems, and we can help others grow in Christ. Jesus wants us to be submissive to the leading of the Holy Spirit and allow the love of Christ to control us. On a personal level, I can think of a number of people close to me whom I have offended and who I have serious conflict with. Nothing can be more devastating than this to Christians. It becomes a barrier between the believer and Christ's love. I have tried to reach out to them, without success. All I can say to them, as they read this is: I love you, and please forgive me. You know who you are. Please forgive me, in the same way Jesus has forgiven you. And I can pray God will speak to their hearts as he has to mine. Does it really matter who is right or wrong? Is a person controlled by the love of Christ unable to forgive? NO! The only option Christians following Christ have … is to forgive. Any other response is to not allow the Love of Christ to control them. “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times, when he sins against me? If we cannot master forgiveness in our heart, how can the love of Christ control us? How can we perform our duties as a minister of reconciliation?

Christ’s ambassadors … Now, think about this, God sees you as his ambassador. He has left you here with a specific mission. From God’s perspective you are a citizen of his eternal kingdom and he has kept you here to represent Jesus and his message of peace, love, and forgiveness. How are you doing with your mission? On a personal level, I got off track there for a while, but I re-focused on my purpose and my mission and guess what, Jesus was right there waiting for me with never-ending grace, peace, and love.

Define ambassador: A diplomatic official of the highest rank appointed and accredited as representative in residence by one government or sovereign to another, usually for a specific length of time. A diplomatic official heading his or her country's permanent mission to certain international organizations, such as the United Nations; An authorized messenger or representative.

In closing: You are an Ambassador for Christ with a ministry of reconciliation and God is pleading through you to all you come into contact with: I implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

Recap: How will this be accomplished?
1. The impression you leave on others as the love of Christ guides you through your day.
2. Witnessing the Good News of Jesus Christ. Do you know how to share what you believe?
3. Discipling others into living their mission on a daily basis.

Are you ready?

God has a plan for you today and all the tomorrows of your life.

God bless you ... my friend! Bob

WE HAVE A MISSION!

17 comments:

  1. Bob, very good. I am sure this will encourage a lot of readers, as it did me.
    - Bill Hinckley

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  2. Very good article.

    Great focus on forgiving others. Forgiving others is vitally important. Matt. 6:15 says, "But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

    Good emphasis on witnessing as well. Matt. 28:19-20, the Great Commission, says, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." Part of our main purpose here on this earth is to evangelize and be a witness to others, telling the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost, so that they might escape the eternal damnation of Hell. We should have a burden for the lost, and a compassion for souls, and a desire for souls to be saved. People are dying and going to Hell every day. In Heaven, we will no longer have this privilege available to us, of partnering with God to advance His kingdom and be a part of the prophesied good news which allows hearts of stone to be turned into hearts of flesh, by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, and the redeeming, reconciling, atoning and justifying blood of the sacrificial Lamb of God.

    I also really like your emphasis on, and explanation of, being an ambassador for Christ. This is very important for Christians to remember.

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  3. Thank you friends for you encouragement and comments. after the hours spent writing, it helps me to know I am on the right track

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  4. Jeff ... your comments are the most I could hope for here! Biblical and insightful. After only three weeks, this is critical to help build a blog that helps others grow in their knowledge of Christ. I only hope you will sign up to Follow and continue to share your insights. thanks, Bob

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  5. I am now Following your blog, Bob.

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  6. Bob,

    I have posted a link to your blog site in my Favorites on the sidebar of my blog site, per our mutual agreement to do a link exchange on each other's sites, in order to help each other get more visitors (hits) to our sites.

    I have also posted a link to your blog site on my Facebook page, to help you get more visitors to your blog site, and to advertise your article/site.

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  7. Dad,
    This was great for me to read in the midst of a day where I feel like I am not doing anything meaningful or eternal. Your words reminded me that as I serve my sick, cranky kids today and show them the love of Jesus, I am discipling them and building them up for their future as ambassadors of Christ. Becasue sometimes being an ambassador of Christ means holding the bowl for your little guy while he throws up, cleaning him up and telling him you love him... or endlessly bouncing your cranky, teething baby until she falls asleep. I needed to remember that today so that my purpose is not just to get through the day, but to serve my kids as Jesus would. Thanks for the reminder. Love you...

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  8. Casey ... Bennett and Mallory are so fortunate that God gave them you for a mom. What greater honor could anyone have than to spend their day discipling, building up, and ministering to those two wonders. I am so proud to be your dad ...

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  9. Bob--

    Wonderful post. I loved it. Very interesting. Amazing verses as backup. Hopefully I can write my "deep" posts like this someday. :)

    While on the subject of deep posts...kind of funny how God speaks to me about them. He gives me the inspiration. After finishing a "deep" post, I click the "Publish" button and think, "Honestly, I have no more topics to write about in a deep way." And then three weeks later, God gives me inspiration. Really nice. :)

    Now back to the subject of your post...I have never thought about the fact that I AM God's ambassador (one of his many, thankfully. ;). I also realized I really needed to step it up in this area...despite being only twelve, I have many friends that could really use just a gentle, gentle witness...thanks for the "slap in the face," in a manner of speaking. ;)

    Blessings in Christ,
    Bekah

    PS hope you don't mind if I follow. I love those blogs that have those posts that seem God-given...some days I just really need to read these awesome God-blogs to lift me up...so glad I found another one! (Truth is, I've been looking for a God-blog for a while...glad I found one. :)

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  10. Timely encouragement for today's world. It is my prayer that we all find a way to share what we believe.
    In Him,
    Gayle

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  11. Very encouraging! thanks for posting this :)

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  12. Thank you very much for stopping by. You were correct -- I've thoroughly enjoyed visiting yours and loved the Quick Quiz. I will be adding your link to my side bar and stopping by often!

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  13. Thanks much Bob! Let's be ambassadors for Christ

    http://theagora.blogspot.com

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  14. I don't really understand us human beings, how can we not forgive if our Creator is forgiving? There is too much pride in us, but do we really have "pride"? we are just His creations yet we do seem to have a lot of it, more than our Creator's pride. But in reality we do not have the right.

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