secret agents or ambassadors

2 Corinthians 5

¹⁴ For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; ¹⁵ and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

¹⁶ Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. ¹⁸ Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹ He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Paul is writing here to the church at Corinth. His message to them and to us continues to be about how our life is changed when we are in Christ. Paul speaks of both the blessings and the responsibilities that we have in this new life. He writes,  For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; ¹⁵ and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. They who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. We are they who live. In accepting the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, believing that He paid for our sins, and was raised again to the Father in heaven, we are to live on behalf of Christ.

Paul says we are ambassadors for Christ. We need to understand what that means, how it should impact and affect our daily living. Far too many Christians today are more like secret agents than ambassadors. Both an ambassador and a secret agent operate on behalf of one country while living in another one. The secret agent works at assimilating themselves into the culture of the land in which they are living, often making alliances and doing things that are contrary to their beliefs. Their purpose is to mask their identity so that they can work in this foreign country without anyone knowing their true allegiance. The key is that truly no one knows their true allegiance. As Christians our lives should not be as secret agents. Though we live in this world as aliens, with our true residence being in God's kingdom, we should not keep our identity secret. The world should know who we represent.

An ambassador, though he lives in a foreign land displays the flag of his country and makes clear his allegiance evrywhere he goes. That should be our life as followers of Christ. We should proudly display our allegiance to God everywhere we go. We should not act in a way that dishonors or disrespects others but neither should we compromise what we believe. An ambassador lives in the embassy. The building and grounds of the embassy are recognized, in that foreign country as sovereign territory of the represented country. Our homes should be like that. Regardless of the conditions and circumstances that exist in this country and in this culture our homes should be established as sovereign territory of God's kingdom. They should be places where we live according to the authority we have in Christ. Our homes should be a place of refuge for others who are seeking to come out of the culture of this world. Even in our workplaces or schools we should be recognized as representatives of Christ. Others should know where to go for help and the provision of God's kingdom. 

In Mark 8:38, Jesus says this about how we should live in the presence of this world:  ³⁸ If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” 

Jesus says in Matthew 28:18... “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  He also says in Matthew 16 ...on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades^[will not overcome it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Jesus has been given all authority, both in heaven and on earth. He has also given us the keys to the kingdom of heaven and the authority to establish and loose the kingdom of heaven here on earth.

As ambassadors of Christ, that is what our lives should be about, working for and walking in the authority of the kingdom of heaven  while we live here on earth. We no longer live for ourselves, but for Him. It's not a life of weak submission we are called to though. It's a life of power and authority representing the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the God of creation, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.