Coffee With The Lord

You’ve seen ‘em on television… hawking merchandise with an excited, high-pitched, feverishly paced voice.  I don’t know about you, but It always leaves me a little nervous, tired and skeptical about the product and the messenger … almost too good to be true.  And then the guy doing the ad is going to throw in another item, just like the other one, for good measure, if you call the 800 number on your screen right away.  Representatives are waiting…

I’m so glad the message of the gospel is not like that!!  I never want to present it like that!!  It’s not “too good to be true” … IT IS TRUE (and it cost our Heavenly Father His Son, and Jesus our Savior His life, and it’s available to anyone who will turn from their sin and receive God’s gift of eternal life through faith!?

What a deal!  A whole new world of possibilities to anyone who will receive it!  I’ve experienced it!  And I recommend it!  I feel like I’ve got a responsibility to share it!  Jesus provided it!  God stands behind it!  And it’s available right now to anyone who will accept it!!

Hey, I’m not hawking merchandise… God is offering eternal life, reconciliation to Himself, forgiveness of sin and righteousness to anyone who will receive it!…

Thought about all of that this morning as I read this guarantee in the Bible this morning…

“If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:  that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.  And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: BE RECONCILED TO GOD!!  God made him [Jesus Christ] Who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. ¹ As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain… I tell you, NOW is the time of God’s favor!  NOW is the day of salvation!”  (2 Corinthians 5:17–6:2 NIV)

Take it from me… This is a REALLY GOOD DEAL!

An “ambassador”… can you picture yourself as being one?

I can imagine what one might look like… distinguished carriage, well behaved, involved in activities that reflect well on the nation they represent.  Their behavior would represent, in the best possible light, the values and concerns of their king, president or sovereign

Here’s a definition of what an “ambassador” is…

“An accredited diplomat sent by a country as its official representative to a foreign country.” (The Oxford Dictionary)

Or… “An official representative of a king or government…As the imprisoned representative of Christ at Rome Apostle Paul calls himself an ‘ambassador in chains’ (Ephesians 6:20) and in 2 Corinthians 5:20 he includes, with himself, all Christians as ‘ambassadors for Christ’ commissioned by Him as their sovereign Lord for the ministry of reconciling the world to God.  The Bible contains no finer characterization of the exalted and spiritual nature of a Christian’s vocation than this…”ambassador for the King of kings and Savior of the world! (D. M. Pratt in ISBE Vol. 1)

In my Bible reading this morning I read this description of EVERY BELIEVER as an “ambassador for Christ” and their primary responsibility…

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  All this is from God, WHO THROUGH CHRIST RECONCILED US TO HIMSELF AND GAVE US THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION;  that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, AND ENTRUSTING TO US THE MESSAGE OF RECONCILIATION.  THEREFORE, WE ARE AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST, GOD MAKING HIS APPEAL THROUGH US. WE IMPLORE YOU ON BEHALF OF CHRIST, BE RECONCILED TO GOD!  For our sake He [God the Father] made Him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”  (From 2 Corinthians 5:17–21 ESV)

So I want to do my job well!  As an official representative of the Lord Jesus Christ, I want to carry myself with dignity and behavior that befits my high calling.  Nothing but a righteous lifestyle, speech that is honorable and Christ-honoring, and activities that express the values of the Kingdom of God and God’s love for the world will do!  I want my everyday activities as His ambassador to be all about “the ministry of reconciliation (the reconciliation of people everywhere to God through faith in Jesus Christ)! … So if you ask me what I’m engaged in – what work I do – my central mission in life… I’m going to say I am “AN AMBASSADOR FOR CHRIST!” 

O Lord, help me to fulfill my calling and mission in life well!!!

 I remember as a small child learning to float in the lake near our home.  My swimming instructor urged me to “just lay back in the water!”  She said, “LeRoy, don’t be afraid, it will hold you, you’re not going to drown, you won’t sink!  Just relax and do it!”  As a small child, I was so afraid!  This was a totally new thing!  I had never done anything like this before!  But she had – she said she had done it and it worked!

I know this is a simple illustration but it helps me understand my fear of death.  I need someone who has heard from God – someone who has experienced it (like Jesus) – to reassure me about what happens after I close my eyes in death.  Dying will be a totally new experience for all of us – it’s something we’ve just never done before!  The apostle Paul had heard directly from the risen Lord on this issue!!  Like my swimming instructor he encourages us…

^“For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands… For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit!  So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. (2 Corinthians 5:1-9 NLT)

 So, I guess I’m a little like I was as a child learning to float on my back in the lake when it comes to dying… I’ve just never faced anything like that before!  I’ve got to trust the reliable testimony and assurance that God’s word provides… And I will!!  When the day comes that I close my eyes in death, as a Christian I believe I will be with the Lord, and at the resurrection be given a completely new body and experience all that “eternal life” means in the fullest sense!  Listen, Jesus, my Lord and Savior has been this way before – He conquered death and rose again!!  “Because He lives, I will live also!” (See John 14:19)