A true story: Jerry, an Unbeliever, was a family man who loved his children. The annual Bonfire Night had arrived in November and his children had expressed their desire to attend a firework display. Jerry recalled that a local church had arranged one. Thinking it a good idea to take the children there, the excited family approached the church. On arrival, Jerry enquired of the door-keeper if his family might join in their event that evening. The door-keeper gave the family his disappointing reply, “Sorry mate, church members only!” In one moment the thoughtless reply changed the children’s excitement to sadness. The offended Jerry wittily retorted to the doorman, “Huh! I guess it’s “No room in the Inn” once more then!”
It is easy to judge the door-keeper in this account as a poor ambassador for Jesus Christ, but what kind of ambassador am I? 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 “……God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation……Now then, we are AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST”.
According to the above scripture we are Christ’s ambassadors and ministers of His reconciliation. “Christ in me” is the only Jesus” that some may ever see. We are His representatives in a sin-sick world, riven with disaster. We are “in” the world but not “of” it. We represent the abundant life of the Indwelling Christ to extend the kingdom of God. I am not here to judge others nor to be stained by the world’s mess. Jesus was comfortable around sinners, never condoning sin but always about His Father’s business, extending the kingdom of God.
Consider this: If a foreign diplomat resides in the embassy of his country in the United Kingdom, he is not under the U.K. laws, but the laws of his country. He has diplomatic immunity to U.K. law in his ambassador status. So it is in the kingdom of God for us. As citizens of the kingdom of God, we are under a different authority to the world. We have immunity under God that we do not conform to the world’s sin-sick standards and culture. As a child of God, I am a son and because of that deep assurance of His fatherhood, I can walk confidently amongst the world, immune to its stains, assured of who I am in Christ demonstrating the love and light of God. Jesus loved the sinners but was never tainted by their sin. He came to set them free from their sin and welcome them to the kingdom of God.
Jesus said, “….I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly,” John 10:10. Abundance speaks of lavishness, plentiful, fullness. I may have only experienced a measure of my inheritance in Christ, but I know there is much more and it is available as I walk in humility with my Saviour. There is a bridge between the promises of God and their fulfillment. Christ is the bridge between man and God, but patience is also the bridge. Some of God’s promises are realised quickly, but others can take longer as the process of patience develops growth, enlargement and maturity embedded in Christ….in me!…for His glory. On our journey we come across all manner of things that are an important part of our development as we journey on to the fulfillment of the promise. In the trial of our faith, if we stay teachable in humility, patience produces treasure in a Believer’s life. James 1:3-4 “…the trying of your faith works patience. Let patience have her perfect work, that you be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”
Hebrews 10:36 “You have need of patience, that, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.”
Let us embrace God’s work of patience in our life joyously and be His loyal ambassadors to the world around us.
