If there was ever a contest for the least-promising band of followers of Christ to evangelize the world, His first 12 disciples would win hands-down.

They ran at the first sign of danger, denied Him, deserted Him and doubted Him.

Yet the risen Savior entrusted to them the gargantuan task of proclaiming the gospel in, “His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

They would go on to turn the then-known world upside down in the process — all without the internet, social media or the news media.

So, never sell short your potential to change the world around you, regardless of how unqualified you may feel.

In 2 Corinthians 5:19-21, the Apostle Paul challenged all believers, not just the “professional” few, with this:

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

An ambassador is an official envoy who represents his own sovereign country to a foreign country to which he has been appointed by his government. An ambassador is handpicked to be stationed in an embassy building that belongs to his country but is placed on sovereign soil within the host country.

Such appointments are considered great personal honors. 

Likewise, ordinary Christians are stationed all over the world as representatives of the Kingdom of God.

Their “embassies” are their homes and workplaces. They are stationed by God as examples of the finest of Christ’s Kingdom citizens as resident-visitors temporarily on assignment in the foreign land of this world.

Christian, whether you realize it or not, you are a witness for Christ to the world around you — a great responsibility and privilege.

But you are not left on your own. God wants to equip you, as He did His followers 2,000 years ago.

So, how does God equip His fledgling ambassadors to do this formidable work? Nothing happens apart from the Holy Spirit.

As written in Luke 24:45-49, just before His ascension to Heaven, Jesus, “opened their (His followers) minds to understand the Scriptures …”

Then He explained, “So it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

Finally, He challenged His followers: “You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

And sure enough, as explained in Acts 2:1-4:

“When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a noise like a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And tongues that looked like fire appeared to them, distributing themselves, and a tongue rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with different tongues, as the Spirit was giving them the ability to speak out.” 

According to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, “There will be over 2.6 billion Christians worldwide by the middle of 2023 and around 3.3 billion by 2050 …”

Wow! … all that from a handful of downtrodden “servants and slaves from a tiny sliver of a country under the tyrannical boot of a brutal dictatorship,” as I wrote in a previous commentary.

That very same ambassadorial assignment has been passed down to you and me today.

I know it seems farfetched, and I wouldn’t dare say it if it wasn’t there in black and white on the pages of scripture in Romans 8:28-30: “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son …”

If you are a born-again believer, that’s you! The word “image” in the Greek is “Eikon,” which, according to W.E. Vines in his Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words:

“… denotes the two ideas of representation and manifestation … of believers, in their glorified state, not merely as resembling Christ, but representing Him; here, the perfection is the work of divine grace; believers are yet to represent, not something like Him, but what He is in Himself, both in His spiritual body and in His moral character … ”

How About You?

Believer, you don’t have to represent Christ — you get to represent Him. What an unspeakable privilege.

Are you up for it?