2Corinthians
5:20a
"Now
then we (as ordinary everyday believers) are
ambassadors for Christ,..."
What
is an ambassador? He is a representative of his home country, but he
is living in foreign territory, and everything that he does is being
viewed by the foreigners, the nationals of that country. And as we have seen in our news feeds our ambassadors are in hostile and unfriendly countries. Those who oppose our form of government or even their own government and often times themselves from within their boundaries. Everything that our leaders says is being analyzed
by the people in the country which he is serving. Now folks that is
exactly where we are. We are in foreign and hostile territory whether
we know it or not. Everyday that we live, we see it more and more, I
mean the opposition is rising against the Truth and true Christianity. We are in hostile foreign territory! Paul tells us as believers our homeland, and
citizenship is in heaven, and we are to be ambassadors on earth. Now this
is not new because we find in Hebrews that Noah and Abraham were in
the same boat, no pun intended. They were strangers outsiders if you
will because they chose to do as God instructed them, though not
perfect as men. And because they did God said they were what? Righteous!
Allow
me to ask something, would any president in his right mind send
somebody to Japan to be an ambassador from my background, for
example. Would he just send an ordinary salesmen or bricklayer over
there to represent this country? Why we wouldn’t know how to even
begin a conversation. So before we send an ambassador to a foreign
nation by an appointment, usually of the president, the congress
has to OK him or her, what do you expect that person to have in his
background? Everything that prepared him to be an ambassador. You
wouldn’t send anyone over there with no education or background,
but isn’t that exactly what we do with most Christians? We send
them out into the world of ravenous wolves with no background. They have no
knowledge of the Scripture, they have know knowledge of Christ as
revealed through those same Scriptures. And as soon as a scoffer, or a mocker
hits them with something, they absolutely melt, they cave in because they don’t know
what to say or how to respond or even where and how to find it.
They resort to their own strength and say all sorts of untruths, when the best thing is to back off and say absolutely nothing. Besides if one is speaking from his or her memory, because they've
memorized the book from cover to cover they are under the influence
of the Law because all they depend on is the letter. But when we are
trained and equipped by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, the ontological essence of Christ kicks in. Because we have passed through the
required gate we have become spiritual and the Spirit ministers Life. Yes,
Life from Life not death unto to the dead.
This
is why we have to teach the Word, this is why God has left
evangelists, pastors, and teachers. The believing community has to be
prepared to go out into the world and win the lost and unbelieving.
We are to have a heart for those people, of course we are. God has a
heart for all peoples, but you see too often we put the cart up in
front of the horse, and we wonder why it does not work. we have failed to train our youth while they are young, how to hear and trust the Holy Spirit when He speaks in them. Why? Because many of us do not know Him either. Now come
back to Ephesians, and look at verse 14, again. And remember what the
theme here is. These evangelists, pastors, and teachers have been
given to the local Body of Christ, a community, whether it is a local
Church, not necessarily in a building or a Bible study group or an individual. Not long ago I was visiting a friend in the hospital and a aid was talking to them when I arrived. The aid it seems was a student at a local Bible based university here in town and was in the process of making points or so he thought with me and my friend. Little did he know that we both were Spirit filled and led people and so he, the aid progressed in his discourse. We allowed him to speak of his accomplishments in his course of studies and the work of ministry that he wanted to fellow, all of which were being done in the flesh, in his own self-sufficiency and where therefore doomed to failure. He escorted me on my way out and he asked me where my church was located and what denomination was it affiliated with. I shocked him when I told him that the Lord never told me to build a building as His house but rather to build men, edify the body when ever and where ever He would send me. To be in the ready in season and our of season and that had been my practice since 1971, thou often on known to me. He then said that we are to build churches because that is what the Lord requires of us, to this I said NOT SO! The young man had no knowledge of God or Christ which became obvious to me. He only knew the letter and not very well at that.
In
about 1937 a great Bible teacher saw then already the apostasy that
was coming into so many of the more liberal denominations, and even at
that time he could see the day if the Lord tarried where the only
true Biblical study and teaching would be in small Bible studies. And
here as we close out this century, we are seeing it. We know there
are still some good Churches, we know there is still some good
pastors, but if you could hear what we hear, and see with our eyes,
you would be aghast at what is coming out of the pulpits of
America. Be it TV or on the radio and now on the internet. It is
absolutely unbelievable, and people are beginning to come up against it. They
always ask, what can we do, where can we go and hear the Word,
because we can’t find it. Well this is to be expected here in this
day and age as we near the end time. Hostility to God and opposition to the Truth will increase speedily as we draw closer to the end of days, just as it did when John the Baptist and Jesus were here.
We
may get to the place where the organized Church has to go through
something like the Church that was in China had to go through before
the communists took over. Watchman Nee was one of the great Bible
study teachers in China, and not that we agree with him 100% on
theology, but he had a tremendous ministry establishing small Bible
study groups in the great apartment complexes of China’s huge
cities. Well when the communists took over China, the first thing
they did was lock the door on the organized Church. The only thing
left for the believer then, and kept the Christian community alive,
were those little cells of home Bible study. So we never want anyone
to say, "You’re putting down the local Church!" No we
never put down the local Church if they are true to the Word. But oh
my goodness, when we hear some of the stuff coming into our ears, we
can see a lot of these Churches are not true to the Word. Now finally
let’s look at verse 14 in Ephesians 4.
Ephesians 4:14
"That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;"
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