We are ambassadors for Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:11-21 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

¹¹ Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. ¹² We are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart. ¹³ For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. 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.

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. This is a vital principle for our Christian walk.  In Romans 8:5-6 Paul says:     For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,…        Jesus Himself says:   I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. ⁸ And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; ⁹ concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰ and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; ¹¹ and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

Jesus says that it is better for us that He has gone and the Holy Spirit has come. Try as we might we are unable to do the things that Jesus did, if we attempt to do them in our flesh. The idea of WWJD, what would Jesus do?, is vain striving if we do it in our strength and in the flesh rather than in the Spirit. Verse 17 is a familiar and often quoted verse.   “ Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”   We are not to try to be like Christ, we are to be in Christ. In Christ we become new. We do not strive to conform ourselves, our flesh, our old carnal nature to the likeness of Christ. Through the finished work of the cross we are made new. WWJD? What would He have us do? Walk, talk, work, serve, love, do all that we do by the Spirit not the flesh.   Jesus says:  Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. ¹³ Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (John 14:12-13)   Whatever we ask, whatever we do, in His name, in Christ, as a new creation submitted to and walking in the Spirit, He will do in and through us; our walk, our talk, our love and service, miracles, healings and deliverances, whatever, in Christ.

Paul says:  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. Are you an ambassador for Christ? Or are you a secret agent, hiding your faith from the world? An ambassador lives in a foreign land ruled by a foreign authority. He establishes a sovereign embassy, the place where he lives and works is recognized by the foreign government and people as sovereign territory of the one he represents. The embassy is not subject to the rule of the country, but is sovereign territory. Where are our embassies established? Where have we, as ambassadors for Christ, established sovereign territories, which are not subject to the rule of the world but rather are subject to the rule of Christ? Is our home an embassy for Christ in our neighborhood?  Do those around us know that they can come and seek refuge, guidance and provision in our homes? Do we ourselves actually live not according to the world, but rather according to the heavenly kingdom we are to represent?  Do we establish satellite embassies where we work, where we go to school, in the place we socialize? As ambassadors for Christ our lives are to be lived,  “ as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God “

Jesus taught the disciples to pray saying: "Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 'Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:9-10)   If that is our prayer, if we truly want to see the realities of heaven here on earth, if we want to see God’s will done in the situations and circumstances that surround us, we first must be in Christ. We need to walk and know all things according to the Spirit, not the flesh. We need then, as ambassadors of Christ to establish sovereign territories of the kingdom of heaven where we live and work and everywhere we interact with the people of the world.

WWJD? Let’s live in such a way that we will find out what He will do.  

 'Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven, in and through me.  Amen