Ambassadors for Christ
As a believer, we have been given the ministry of reconciliation. This is part of our new creation in Christ. We are all called to be ministers, with the original meaning of the Greek word meaning servant. Reconciliation is an accounting term. My wife reconciles bank accounts monthly for her business and mine. It is made equal, or even and balanced, with no debt owed. It is restored. So we are given the ministry of restoration. What is restored? Jesus said he came to save that which was lost. That which was lost was our walk with God that we had in the garden. When Jesus took our sins upon the cross and was resurrected, our relationship with God was restored. He walks with us again because we have been reconciled to Him.
The word of reconciliation has also been committed unto us. As a believer, we have the word of reconciliation and restoration committed to us to use and to help others. In the New Covenant, we see the word of salvation, the word of the cross, the word of faith, the word of life, and the word of reconciliation. All of these are given to us through Christ. We are delivered, have more abundant life, have more courage, and more hope, and we are restored. This word is committed unto us to share. The word of reconciliation is the entire gospel message that we have been given. Our bible is our word of reconciliation, since the entire text is about reconciliation with God and with others.
The first step to restoration of any relationship is confession. We must confess that we have missed the mark and have wronged someone somehow. After confession comes repentance. We must repent and renounce what we have done. The Greek word that we translate as repent means a change of heart or a change of mind. We must change our heart and realize that we must follow a different path. The English word that we use, repent, means to re- (do again) and -pent, (uppermost place) like a penthouse. We must go again to that upper most place where we walk with God. That is where we have been restored to.
After repentance come forgiveness. For restoration to happen, forgiveness must happen. It is a giving away of any debt that one may owe another. God has forgiven our sins, and we must forgive the sins of others who trespass against us. This is the only thing we have to do in the prayer the Lord taught us, the rest is done by God Himself.
The final part of the ministry of reconciliation is the restoration of the relationship that has been broken. God reconciled us to Himself through Christ. Our relationship to Him is restored. If we are walking around with anxiety, anger, bitterness, hatred, or any other sin burden, it is because we have not realized that our relationship to God has been restored. If you realize that you are restored to God, there will be no problem in your marriage, family, or relationship with others.
We are made ambassadors for Christ, and speak for Him, beseeching others to be reconciled to God. As an ambassador, we must be representatives for the Kingdom of God. We represent the King of Kings in our sphere of authority that He has given us wherever we are at. If we are ambassadors, then our churches and ministry buildings are embassies. Our workplaces and homes are embassy annexes. We take care of our embassies, protect them through prayer, equip its people through prophecy, evangelism, teaching, and pastoring. We then go out on our diplomatic mission to represent the Kingdom of God to the land we are assigned to.
We are made the righteousness of God. It doesn’t get any better than that. Because we have been reconciled to God, given the ministry of reconciliation, committed the word of reconciliation, and made ambassadors of Christ, He has decided to make us the righteousness of God.
We do this ministry of reconciliation by working together with Him. We are co-laborers together with Christ. We pray for one another together with Christ. We lift one another up together with Christ. We take care of the hungry, sick, broken-hearted, poor, homeless, orphans, widows, and prisoners with Christ. The Greek word that is translated as working together or co-laborer is the word that means synergy. We can do more together, and even more together with Christ. If one can set to flight one thousand and two can set to flight ten thousand, then with more than two with Christ, we can set to flight millions, if not billions with the whole church.