By Not Known
When was the last time you heard the Christian gospel being preached simply and clearly? More often than not, the sophistication and complexity of life in a modern society has confounded our understanding of what it means to be Christ’s ambassadors and what our message really is.
An ambassador does not speak for himself, but for the one who sends him and whom he represents. To be Christ’s ambassadors means that we are his representatives and therefore to speak only the Word of God in his name. To whom are we to speak? How are we to speak?
Modernisation and globalisation have contributed fresh sets of challenges to our societies and homes. Beginning with the industrial era in the mid-nineteenth Century, machines have continued to replace human-at-work until today. The pragmatism of modern economy found its partnership with the most primitive human instinct – the survival of the fittest. The erosion of moral conscience, the fragmentation of family life, and the devaluation of human worth as justified costs in the name of economic progress and prosperity has made a mockery of God’s most precious creation – Human Beings.
A survey of popular books and seminars reveals so much of what people are struggling to have and hungry to read about today – How can I increase my self-worth? How can I remake my identity in a rapidly changing world? Christian people are not spared of such popular trends all in the name of excellence for Christ. We scramble for books about the Bible that promise to improve our leadership skills, our family lives, our relationships, our effectiveness in prayer or in doing this and that. “Best sellers” – so they are labelled, sold over thousands of copies and have changed thousands of lives. But, are these things what our Bible is at its heart? Is the Christian gospel glorious because of these (1 Tim 1:11)?
NO! The Christian gospel stands glorious on one and only one fact – “For he (God) has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col 1:13,14). Jesus alone died for our sins and rose for our hope – this is the glorious gospel of Christ – our Saviour and Lord. On this very gospel alone we are identified as children of God and is the sole qualification of our “share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light” (Col 1:12).
We are Christ’s ambassadors. Let us therefore share his glorious gospel the way he meant it to be through our lives and our lips. To God be all glory!