Ambassadors of Relationship

This morning I am reading from Paul's second letter to the Corinthians 5:18-21 NIV:

[18] "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: [19] that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. [20] 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. [21] God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

I was thinking about this simple message that we are called to proclaim, that God wants people in relationship with Him. He wants us to be reconciled to Him, in other words restored to relationship and favor. He has made the way possible in Christ Jesus, and now calls us as ambassadors, those that are called and sent to represent this message to all we meet. That is it, that is the simple message of the Gospel - God loves you and wants a relationship with You and has removed any barrier that might exist between you and Him.

As ambassadors we are His official representative s. Here is the definition of ambassador to help us understand the significance of this role:

1 : an official envoy; especially : a diplomatic agent of the highest rank accredited to a foreign government or sovereign as the resident representative of his or her own government or sovereign or appointed for a special and often temporary diplomatic assignment
2 a : an authorized representative or messenger

We are God's official representative's whose message is reconciliation. Our message is not the rules or judgments, but rather reconciliation and the forgiveness of sins. We are called to invite the people we meet to be reconciled to God our Father.

It is interesting in the Greek the word is Presbeuo, and its first definition is someone who is older by birth, which is exactly the case for all of us. We have received our new birth in Christ, and now invite others into the same family, as an elder sibling. Paul uses the analogy of adoption in Romans 8:15,23, Ephesians 1:5, and Galatians 4:5 and in so doing is relating to this concept of being joined to a family. We are called to be ministers of reconciliation and adoption, inviting people to join this family, to enter into relationship with God the Father, who loves them. We speak with authority based on our experience as someone who has already experienced this reconciliation. Our official authorization is that - that we are already His adopted sons and daughters.

So let us be conscious of those around us who may not know the invitation exists from our Father. Let us be His ambassadors of the same message we received and believed, that He loves us and wants a relationship with us, and has made a way for us in Christ Jesus. He wants to adopt us all!