Strangers On Assignment
Notes
Transcript
Doxology:
This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart, that I might not sin against God. Amen!
Scripture Reference: 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Good morning, Church! It’s so good to be gathered together as the family of God, Amen!
And visitors, we’re so glad you’re here! Thank you for joining us here at Allons Baptist Church. We’d love to get to know you better so be sure to fill out one of the cards in the back of the pew there and drop it in the plate later, or stop by our welcome center on your way out.
Context
Context
Well, here we are. Week four. The last Sunday in our series called "Strangers." And listen, if you've been with us for these past few weeks, I want you to think back with me for just a second before we dive into God's Word today.
We started this series with a simple but life-changing idea, straight out of Philippians 3:20 — "For our citizenship is in heaven." We are not, ultimately, citizens of this world. We're not Americans first. We're not Tennesseans first, or whatever state or town you call home first. We are citizens of another Kingdom, and we just happen to be living here, right now, for a while. We said that made us strangers here — sojourners, pilgrims, exiles, whatever word you want to use. This world is not our home.
Then week two, we talked about what it looks like to live as strangers here. We can either take on the mindset of being in a fortress, where we hide behind big walls and separate ourselves completely from the world, or we can take on the mindset of being a lighthouse, where we stand firm right in the midst of the storm and shine brightly so that others can see. God has called us to be lighthouses.
Week three, we talked about what being a lighthouse looks like practically. Jesus said that we are to be salt and light. We are to preserve what is good and reveal what it is good. We are to be influencers in this world what time we are here and show people the light of God by living righteously before them. We are to set the example.
But today, we are going to go one step farther. We are to live out the Word of God before others so that they may see our good works and glorify the Father in heaven, but we are also to speak the Word of God to them as well.
You see, when you're a citizen of one country living in another country, sometimes you're just a stranger — a foreigner, a visitor, somebody just passing through. But sometimes you're something more than that. Sometimes you're sent. Sometimes your government looks at you and says, "You represent us now. You speak for us. You carry our message." And there's a word for that kind of citizen. It's the word "ambassador."
And that, church, is exactly the word the Apostle Paul reaches for to describe what we are. Not just strangers. Not just citizens living somewhere else. We are ambassadors. Official representatives of another Kingdom, sent into this one, carrying a message that isn't our own.
I would venture to say that this is the missing piece for a lot of us. We've heard "you're a citizen of heaven" and we nod and say amen. We've heard "live differently" and "shine brightly" and we nod along with that too. But we forget the purpose behind it. We forget that we weren't just left here to survive this world until we go home. We were sent here. On assignment. With a message. And today I want us to close this series by looking at exactly what that means.
Let's take a look at 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verses 17 through 20. This is our main text this morning, and I believe it is going to bring this entire series home for us.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Let’s Pray!!!
Content
Content
Now there’s a lot to unpack in these 5 verses, but to start with, I want us to zero in on verse 20, because that’s the phrase that gives us our theme: “we are ambassadors for Christ.”
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
Now here's the question we must answer: what exactly is an ambassador? Because I think if we don't nail down this word, we're going to miss the whole point of the passage.
The Greek word Paul uses here is "presbeuo." It's a verb, and it literally means to act as a senior representative — to be an elder statesman sent on behalf of a ruler or a government. In the Greco-Roman world, an ambassador was not just any traveler. An ambassador was someone commissioned by a king or an emperor to go into another territory — often a territory that was hostile, or at war, or in need of a treaty — and speak on that king's behalf.
Listen to what that means. An ambassador doesn't go and share his own personal opinions. An ambassador doesn't get to freelance. An ambassador doesn't show up in a foreign land and say, "well, here's what I think about the situation." No! An ambassador carries a message that isn't his own. He represents someone else. He speaks for someone else. His authority is entirely borrowed — it belongs to the one who sent him.
Think about it in our own day. When the United States sends an ambassador to another country, that ambassador doesn't go over there and start making up his own foreign policy. He doesn't negotiate treaties based on his personal feelings that morning. No — he has been briefed. He has been given a message, a position, a set of instructions from Washington, and his entire job, his entire function, is to represent his home government faithfully in a foreign land.
And Paul says — this is who we are. "We are ambassadors for Christ." Not ambassadors for ourselves. Not ambassadors for our own opinions about God, or our own preferences about how church should be done, or our own comfortable version of Christianity. We are ambassadors for Christ. Sent by Him. Speaking for Him. Representing His Kingdom in a land that is not our home.
Can we say amen to that?!
Now notice something else in verse 20 — "as though God were pleading through us." That word "pleading" there — some translations say "beseeching" — it's the same root idea. God is making His appeal to the world through us. Isn't that something? God doesn't need to shout from the sky. He doesn't need lightning bolts and thunder to get His message out. He has chosen — and I want you to sit with that word, chosen — to make His appeal to a lost and dying world through people like you and me.
So yes — we are strangers here, like we said the last three weeks. But we are not idle strangers. We are not just passing through with our arms crossed, waiting on the bus to heaven to come pick us up. We are working strangers. We are sent strangers. We are ambassadors, on assignment, carrying a message that isn't ours, on behalf of a King who has commissioned us.
You may be the closest thing to an embassy of Heaven that somebody encounters this week.
Now here's where it gets even more interesting. Look back at verse 17: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation."
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Why does Paul start there? Why does he begin with new creation before he ever gets to ambassador?
Because — and this is so important — you cannot be sent as an ambassador for a Kingdom you don't yet belong to. Before God ever commissions you to represent heaven, He first has to make you a citizen of heaven. Before God gave us the ministry of reconciliation, He gave us the experience of reconciliation. We aren’t advertising something we’ve merely heard about; we are telling people about something Christ has done for us. The order matters here. New creation comes first… then reconciliation… then being commissioned as an ambassador for Christ.
So this morning, before we go one step further, I have to ask — has that first step happened for you? Are you a new creation? Has old things passed away and all things become new for you personally? Because listen — you cannot represent a Kingdom you have never entered. You cannot speak for a King you have never surrendered to. Ambassadorship isn't the starting point of the Christian life. It's the result of it.
And notice the message that Paul preached:
It wasn’t, “Become more religious.”
It wasn’t, “Start acting like us.”
It wasn’t, “Clean yourself up.”
It wasn’t even, “Come to our church.”
Look at verse 20. His message was clear, “We implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
And then Paul gives us what I would argue is one of the most underused, underutilized verse in all of Scripture:
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
This is the Gospel in a nutshell. Christ took what belonged to us (sin), so that we could receive what belonged to Him (righteousness). Everything necessary to accomplish our salvation was finished by Christ. There is nothing you can add to His work. But the Gospel demands a response: repent of your sin, place your faith in Jesus Christ, and surrender to Him as Lord.
But for those of us who have said yes to Jesus — for those of us who have been made new, who have been reconciled — verse 20 is our marching orders.
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
"Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ." Present tense. Right now. Not "we will be" one day in heaven. Not "we were" back when the apostles were alive. We ARE. Right now, today, in this room, in your workplace tomorrow, in your neighborhood, at your kid's ballgame — you are an ambassador for Christ.
So if we're ambassadors, the next question we've got to answer is — ambassadors for what message? What exactly are we carrying into this foreign land? Well, Paul tells us back in verses 18 & 19.
18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
There's that word again — reconciliation. Three times in two verses. Paul is not being subtle. This is the message. This is the whole assignment. We are ambassadors of reconciliation.
Now what does that word mean? To reconcile means to restore a broken relationship. It means to bring back together two parties who were once at odds — who were once separated, estranged, at war with one another — and to make peace between them again.
Now notice two things here:
In verse 18, Paul says that God, “has given us the ministry of reconciliation.”
In verse 19, Paul says that God, “has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”
God has given us a ministry and a message of reconciliation. Our ministry is what we do. Our message is what we say.
And here's the good news, church — Everything necessary for reconciliation has been accomplished by Christ. We don't negotiate peace with God, and we don't create the terms of peace. God has established the way of reconciliation through the finished work of Jesus Christ. Our assignment is to announce that good news and plead with sinners: ‘Be reconciled to God.’
Now I want to pull in something from earlier in this series to help us here — remember Philippians 3:20? "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ."
I want you to notice the connection. It was that very citizenship — the fact that we belong to another Kingdom now — that qualifies us, that positions us, to carry this message of reconciliation into this world. Think about it this way: an ambassador can only carry a message of peace from a Kingdom he actually belongs to. You cannot represent a nation you're not a citizen of! Before Paul ever tells us "we are ambassadors," he has to establish — you are citizens of heaven. That citizenship is the foundation. The ambassadorship is what you do with it.
You were once estranged from God. Separated. At war with Him, whether you knew it or not, because of sin. And God, in His mercy, through Christ, made peace. He reconciled you to Himself. And now — now — He hands you the same message and says, "Go tell somebody else what I did for you."
I would venture to say that this is where a lot of Christians get stuck. We love being reconciled. We love the "new creation" part. We love the citizenship, the security, the assurance that heaven is our home. But we get quiet when it comes to the "ministry" part. Verse 18 says God "has given us the ministry of reconciliation." A ministry — that's not a suggestion. That's not a hobby for the especially spiritual among us. That is an assignment given to every single person who has been reconciled to God. If you've received the message, you've also received the ministry.
We have different personalities, different opportunities, and different methods, but we all have the same ministry and the same message.
Now, let’s go back to verse 17 for a moment:
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
The Greek word there for "new" is "kainos" — and it doesn't just mean new like a new copy of an old thing. It means new in kind. New in quality. Something that has never existed before in that form. When Paul says you are a "new creation," he's not saying you got a tune-up. He's not saying God patched up the old you. He's saying the old you passed away, and something genuinely new — something that has never existed before — has come into being.
That's your identity now, church. Not "sinner trying to do better." Not "mostly good person with a few bad habits." New creation. And that identity — that new creation identity — is exactly what qualifies you and equips you to be an ambassador.
But here's something I want us to be honest about this morning. Being an ambassador is not always comfortable. In fact, it can be downright scary. Because remember what we said earlier — an ambassador is sent into territory that isn't his home. Sometimes that territory is friendly. But sometimes that territory is hostile.
Let's take a look at Ephesians 6:19-20. This is Paul, near the end of his famous passage on the armor of God, and he asks the church for prayer. Listen to what he says:
19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,
20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Now stop right there. Did you catch that phrase? "For which I am an ambassador in chains." Paul writes this from prison. He is literally in chains as he calls himself an ambassador for Christ. Do you hear the irony in Paul’s voice? An ambassador represents the authority of the one who sent him, and yet this ambassador is in chains. Rome may have immobilized the messenger, but they could not immobilize the message itself.
What does that tell us? It tells us that our commission as ambassadors does not depend on our comfort, our safety, or our reception. Paul didn't stop being an ambassador for Christ when Rome threw him in chains. If anything, he doubled down. He asked the church to pray — not that his chains would come off — but that he would have boldness to keep speaking the message anyway!
"That I may open my mouth boldly." "That I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak." Twice in two verses he asks for boldness. Not comfort. Not ease. Not an easier assignment. Boldness.
Now here's the question we must answer: what is our excuse? Paul is in literal chains and asking for more boldness to keep speaking. What is it that keeps us silent? Is it fear of what a coworker will think? Fear of an awkward conversation at Thanksgiving dinner? Fear that a neighbor will roll their eyes at us?
Listen — I'm not trying to guilt anybody this morning. I'm trying to remind us of who God says we are. New creation. Reconciled. Sent. Commissioned. Ambassadors — not by our own choosing, not by our own qualifications, but because God, in His mercy, chose to make His appeal to the world through people exactly like us.
And notice — Paul calls the gospel "the mystery of the gospel." That word "mystery" in the New Testament doesn't mean something spooky or confusing. It means something that was once hidden, and has now been revealed. For generations, God's full plan of reconciliation — Jew and Gentile, all nations, all people, brought together in Christ — was hidden. Now it's out in the open. And we are the ones entrusted to make it known.
So yes — our identity as a new creation is a gift. It's grace. It's something God did for us, not something we earned. But that identity comes with a job description attached to it. You didn't just get adopted into the family — you got drafted into the family business. And the family business is that of reconciliation.
Commitment
Commitment
So let's bring this home, church, because this is the last Sunday of our series, and I don't want us to leave here today without knowing exactly what to do with everything we've talked about over these four weeks.
I want you to notice how the whole series has actually just been walking us through one continuous truth, from four different angles. It was those first weeks that established who we are — citizens of heaven, strangers here. And it is this final week that reveals why that identity matters — not so we can hide behind our citizenship, not so we can retreat from the world and just wait it out, but so we can be sent back into it, on purpose, as official representatives of another Kingdom.
Now here's the call to action this morning, and I want to make it as practical as I can:
First — if you have never actually become a new creation, if verse 17 has never happened for you personally, that has to be step one. You cannot represent a Kingdom you've never entered. Today could be the day that changes. Today could be the day old things pass away and all things become new for you. If that's you this morning, I want to talk with you before you leave.
Second — for those of us who are already new creations, already reconciled, already citizens of heaven — I want you to walk out of here this week and consciously remember: I am on assignment. Not "I hope to survive this week." Not "I hope nothing bad happens to me this week." I am an ambassador for Christ, sent into my workplace, my school, my family, my neighborhood, this week, carrying a message that isn't my own.
Third — ask God for boldness. Remember Paul, in chains, still asking for boldness to speak. Most of us aren't in literal chains. Most of us just have some awkward-conversation-shaped fear holding us back. So pray Paul's prayer this week — "Lord, give me utterance. Let me open my mouth boldly. Let me speak, as I ought to speak."
And fourth — let your conduct back up your words. Let your marriage, your workplace ethics, your patience in traffic, your kindness to people who are hard to be kind to, let all of it become evidence for the Kingdom you represent. Because remember — people are watching the ambassador to form their opinion of the King.
I want to close with this. Every single ambassador, at some point, gets to go home. Their assignment ends, and they're recalled back to the nation that sent them. That's true for us too. This world is not our home — we said that week one. One day, our assignment here ends, and we go home to the Kingdom we've always belonged to.
But until that day — until Christ calls us home, or comes back for us — we have a job to do here. We are ambassadors for Christ. As though God Himself were pleading through us, we implore you — whoever you are, wherever you are this morning — be reconciled to God.
So let's live like it. Let's speak like it. Let's shine like it. Let's represent the Kingdom we belong to, faithfully, boldly, and with love, until the day we finally go home.
