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Am-bas-sa-dor: An Authorized messenger or representative Though skeptical of his teenage son's newfound determination to build bulging muscles, one father followed his teenager to the store's weight-lifting department, where they admired a set of weights.

"Please, Dad," pleaded the teen, "I promise I'll use 'em every day."
"I don't know, Michael. It's really a commitment on your part," the father said."Please, Dad?"
"They're not cheap either," the father said.
"I'll use 'em, Dad, I promise. You'll see."

Finally won over, the father paid for the equipment and headed for the door. After a few steps, he heard his son behind him say, "What! You mean I have to carry them to the car?" Citation: Pastor Tim's Clean Laugh List; submitted by Mark Moring, managing editor of Campus Life

Becoming like the Christ we desire to follow is often more exciting when we are just thinking about it than it is when we actually try to practice it. Jesus Christ died so that we would in His own words, “pick up our crosses and follow Him.” We are instructed to follow Christ as disciples all through the New Testament. There are many different metaphors and descriptions that are used to explain what it means to be a disciple or follower of Christ.

Some of them are:

      Fishers of men
      Salt and light
      Sheep among wolves
      Servants
      Fruit bearing vines
      Ambassador

Does anyone know what these three images that you are going to see on the screen all have in common?





They are all ambassadors. The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angles where Robert Kennedy was shot, the Ambassador car and Shirley Temple who spent part of her adult life as a United States Ambassador.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
            II Corinthians 5:17-21

“We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says:
      "In an acceptable time I have heard you,
      and in the day of salvation I have helped you."
Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
            II Corinthians 6:1-2

We are called ambassadors by Paul. I found out this week in researching the word ambassador that schools, college, organization, businesses and all kinds of not for profit’s are looking for ambassadors. Everyone one seems to want someone who will represent them well. When I graduated from Franklin University’s Graduate school, I was contacted and sent this notebook. I am officially a Graduate Outreach Agent. It is amazing the lengths they go to insure that I am truly representing the University and its mission.

Topics in this notebook include:

      10 Tips for successful public speaking.
      Tips for public speaking.
      Professional Attire for Women.
      Professional Attire for Men.
      12 Tips for effective Networking.
      Networking No-No’s.
      6 tips for a good handshake.
      Negotiating Tips.
      Introductions.
      Manners Mom never taught you.

They have gone out of their way to cover the basics of serving as an ambassador for Franklin.

The bottom line is that if we are truly Christ followers we are enlisted as ambassadors of the Message. The question becomes what kind of an ambassador are you? Who are you representing? What does it take to be an ambassador?

1. The Marks of an Ambassador.

You have to be qualified to be an ambassador. Ambassadors are not just appointed and then left to try and figure out how to function in a strange county. They are schooled and briefed and introduced to the customs of the place they are going to serve.

Once you understand what is required you become a different person in the way you think and approach your daily life. Being an ambassador for Christ is no different. There are two marks that Paul is quick to point out. Let’s look at the first one.

      a. All things are new. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

This classic verse is one of the more well known verses in the entire Bible. Let me quickly point out what this means:

You have to be “in Christ.” Paul always stressed that you have to be in Christ to be accepted by God.

You are a new creation. This is describing your position and your practice.

Your spiritual condition has changed. Old things that once dominated your life begin to pass away. You are becoming a reflection of the word of God and Jesus.

      b. All things are of God. “Now all things are of God...”

What can be added to this? A true ambassador takes on the marks of whoever or whatever he or she is representing. How does this translate into your life and mine? It means that we will allow God to live through us all day every day.

Every area of our lives will be touched and affected. This will have a huge bearing on our relationships, our work ethic, our behavior both when people are looking and when they are not, and our attitude toward people period.

Most every garage has a role of duct tape because it can be used to repair just about anything. Its purposes seem almost endless but a new study recently showed that duct tape doesn’t succeed well at the purpose for which it was created. Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California found that duct tape is not a good product for sealing duct work.

Max Sherman, a physicist who conducted these experiments to monitor the effectiveness of different air-conditioning and heating sealants, said, “What we found was that duct tape almost always failed.” This failure rate has resulted in approximately 30 percent of the heat or cool air generated in an average home to be lost in the attic or wall space because of poorly sealed ducts. Although you can tape up a bicycle seat, seal off a leaky radiator hose, secure a broken window, or keep an alligator’s mouth shut with it, you can’t depend on duct tape to fulfill its primary purpose. Duct tape isn’t alone in accomplishing some great things while simultaneously failing at the purpose for which it was created.

Churches and their members can be guilty of doing this, parents are often in this boat, employees frequently get the “duct tape syndrome,” and human beings who fail to surrender their lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ are not fulfilling their created purpose either. To avoid this pitfall, we might do well to tear off some duct tape and put it on the binding of our Bible as a reminder of our central purpose in life (Psalm 34:3).

We are all ambassador for something. I guess the question we must deal with today is who are we representing.

2. The Message of an Ambassador.

When you are assigned the duty of ambassador you not only will have the marks of an ambassador but you will have a message to convey.

Ambassador’s do not convey their own message or agenda’s they represent the message of whoever has appointed them to be ambassador. We must ask ourselves then what is the message that we have been given.

      a. We are reconciled “who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ,”

Reconciliation provided is not the same as reconciliation accomplished. Although Jesus died for all mankind not everyone is saved because not everyone believes. Only sinful man needs reconciliation. Last week we established the fact that we are all born sinners and we are in need of a Savior.

You cannot represent Christ as an ambassador unless you have accepted His reconciliation and become a Christ follower. God’s goal has always been to reconcile us to Himself and to do it through Jesus Christ. (See the verse above.)

      b. We are reconcilers. “has given us the ministry of reconciliation”

It is God’s pleasure and choice to use the reconciled to inform the un-reconciled that the way back to God has been made available. Serving Christ is serious business and comes with incredible responsibility. You and I are responsible for telling the story to lost people. Maybe a better term is non-Christian people.

3. The Ministry of an Ambassador.

What an incredible opportunity. To be an ambassador for God. Some of you don’t find very much fulfillment in your everyday lives and jobs. You’re dissatisfied with life and the “cards” you have been dealt.

There is no substitute for the satisfaction of knowing that you are living for a higher calling. You may have the worst job in the city but you can do it knowing that there is a higher purpose and calling. You may have the worst neighbors in town but you can endure it because you know you represent the God who has the answers for needy people.

      a. We are to represent God. “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.”

We are to be the representatives of God at all times. We represent Him everyday of our lives. We represent Him in our relationships with other people, (at work, at home, at the store, at the gas station, at the restaurant...)

Paul says that as representatives of Christ it is as though God were pleading through us.

Truett Cathy has answered the question "What would Jesus do?" The founder of Chick-fil-A restaurants is a successful businessman, but for many, he is even better known--and respected--for letting his faith guide his business operation. Here are a few examples:Mr. Cathy's restaurants have been closed on Sundays since 1948. The 79-year-old CEO of the nearly 1,000 Chick-fil-A restaurants doesn't mind losing millions of dollars of business to honor the Lord's Day.

At his first restaurant in 1948 he hired Eddie J. White, a 12-year-old African American. This was an unpopular choice during a time of segregation. He also mentored an orphan, Woody Faulk, since he was 13. Today Woody is vice president of product development at Chick-fil-A.

Cathy developed a successful foster home system called WinShape Homes. There are now eleven homes in the U.S. and one in Brazil. His daughter Trudy and son-in-law John were Southern Baptist missionaries at the Brazil home for ten years. His Camp WinShape and the WinShape Foundation provide scholarships for kids and college students.

One of his favorite truisms is "It's easier to build boys and girls than to mend men and women." Chick-fil-A Kids Meals don't come with promotional toys from the latest popular movie. Instead he offers VeggieTales books, audiocassettes of Focus on the Family's "Adventures in Odyssey," and other character-building materials.

Woody Faulk gives a good summary of Cathy's character: "A lot of people look on Truett as Santa Claus, but he's not. He'll meet you halfway so that you can learn a lesson from the process. He's the personification of James 1:22: 'Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.' I sincerely owe my life to that man." Citation: Tom Neven, "A Doer of the Word," Focus on the Family magazine (September 2000); submitted by Jerry De Luca; Montreal West, Quebec, Canada

      b. We are to work with God. “We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.”

What an incredible opportunity. You and I have been chosen by God to work with Him in bringing others to reconciliation in their lives. We are to take our ordinary lives and allow God to use us.

The author of Romans 12 putting very plainly in versed one and two: “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you. Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him.”

You want to know how to become an ambassador for Christ. It has very little to do with what you do in here. This is a good place to come to get your spiritual batteries recharged for the week but what matters is how you live out there. Outside of these walls. What a sacred place this is. What a safe place to be. God is looking for people who will go and live with total abandon for Him.

Pat Tillman, a former pro-football player who left the gridiron to become an Army Ranger, died during a combat operation in Afghanistan.The 27-year-old decided to stop playing for the Arizona Cardinals and join the Armed Forces after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. He passed up a $3.6 million contract with the NFL team to be a Ranger..

Tillman was shot and killed Thursday during a Special Operations mission southeast of Khost in southeastern Afghanistan along the border with Pakistan, military officials told Fox News.

Serving with the 75th Ranger Regiment, Tillman was killed during a search and destroy mission where intelligence indicated a large presence of Al Qaeda fighters. Two other soldiers were wounded when in an exchange of small-arms fire.

Stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., Tillman was deployed overseas in 2003. His brother, Kevin, is also an Army Ranger serving in Afghanistan and also was a professional athlete — he played baseball for the Cleveland Indians' organization.

He was married shortly before he joined the Army. His wife, Marie Tillman, supported his decision. Tillman's former teammates and the Arizona Cardinals organization expressed dismay over his death as they praised him for his dedication.

"We are all weaker today following this loss," said Michael Bidwell, Cardinals' vice president. "he was a guy committed not just to his family ... but to his country, to freedom."

The Arizona State University graduate spent four seasons with the Cardinals, from 1998 to 2002, before joining the Army. While at ASU, he had a 3.84 grade point average and graduated in 3-and-a-half years with a degree in marketing.

The 5-foot-11, 200-pound Tillman was distinguished by an appetite for rugged play and intelligence. As an undersized linebacker at ASU, he was the Pac-10's Defensive Player of the Year in 1997 Tillman's best season was in 2000 when he started all 16 games and had 224 tackles.

"Pat was the kind of guy who would rather have played football in a parking lot than in a stadium with 100,000 people watching," Tim Layden, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, told Fox News.

Layden said that Tillman was exceptionally loyal. Before making the decision to join the Army, he turned down a more lucrative contract with the St. Louis Rams because he wanted to continue playing for the team that gave him his NFL start — the Cardinals.

"He just viewed life through a different prism than a lot of other people do," Layden said. Pat Tillman granted no interviews to the press after he left the NFL. He just served.

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His agent, Frank Bauer, called the decision consistent with his client's contemplative, non-materialistic nature.

"This is very consistent with how he conducts his life," Bauer said in a 2002 interview. "Patty is the type of guy who is very smart and very loyal. I remember when the Rams made their offer, he said, 'No, I want to stay with the Cardinals. If I have to play for the minimum, I don't care.' He axed the offer sheet and played another year. But he's always had a blueprint for what he wants to do."

"There is in Pat Tillman's example, in his unexpected choice of duty to his country over the riches and other comforts of celebrity, and in his humility, such an inspiration to all of us to reclaim the essential public-spiritedness of Americans that many of us, in low moments, had worried was no longer our common distinguishing trait," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said in a statement.

The bottom line is he served as an example of what it means to believe in something so much that you adjust your lifestyle to accommodate your beliefs instead of adjusting your beliefs to accommodate your lifestyle. Christ is looking for ambassadors today. He is looking for a people who will respond to His call and His word. There is a contract in your worship folder this morning. You need to decide what to do with it. We don’t want you to turn it in but if you decide to sign it keep it in a place where you are reminded that you are His ambassador.

2004/04/25