Effective ambassadors

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. –2 Corinthians 5:19b-20

An ambassador is an official representative of one country sent to maintain relationship and goodwill with another country through dialogue and diplomacy. Ambassadors are not sent to fight. They reason, they find commonalities, then they work from those to influence and promote the interests of the country they are from, presumably for the common good. This is the spiritual assignment Paul describes.

How realistic is it for Christians to expect non-Christians to behave in a moral and unselfish manner? Why would I expect someone who has never known God to keep rules which I, having known God most of my life, have often failed to keep? We both have a judge. We both need a Savior. If I know that Savior, I may get to make an introduction, but only if I'm willing to do so in humility. What provides my best opportunity to be an effective ambassador?

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? –Romans 10:14 (NIV)

Jesus treated people, even notable sinners, with dignity and respect, frequently generating questions and criticism. Think of his interactions at the dinner with Matthew, at the home of Simon, and at the well with the Samaritan woman. He never compromised the word or the will of His Father – He recognized sin and called it what it was. But he never shunned or condemned. His approach allowed for open conversation and relationship.

We should never abandon what the Bible teaches us about hot-button issues. That said, arguing my case from a Biblical perspective to someone who does not understand the Bible to be true or authoritative may prove difficult. We’re speaking different languages. If one of those issues is the bridge we have to cross before going on, I must pray for wisdom, craft my response in terms that make sense to them, and approach the conversation with the love of Christ.

A more effective approach might be to lay groundwork ahead of time, starting on common ground to introduce and establish the validity of Scriptural principles. If they are seeking truth, we’ll get around to what matters. Let the Spirit convict them of their need for Christ, and see if questions about thornier issues don’t start to answer themselves. I can play a role in that process, but the conversation will be over quickly if I rush in, guns blazing. That isn’t what ambassadors do. For the unrepentant, there will be a day of reckoning, but that day belongs to the LORD.

I recently came across a book that helped frame some of these ideas for me, Brant Hansen’s Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better. The book contains dozens of great quotes. Here’s one I liked:

“Yes, the world is broken. But don’t be offended by it. Instead, thank God that He’s intervened in it, and He’s going to restore it to everything it was meant to be. His kingdom is breaking through, bit by bit. Recognize it, and wonder at it.”

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, 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. –2 Corinthians 5:16-18 (NIV)