I am a proud Southern Seminary Alum. Going on two years ago I walked across the stage of a chapel I'd sat in dozens of times and received a degree, by nothing short of God's grace! It took 3 and a half years to accomplish all that was required to get my Mdiv, so during that time I grew to love Southern in a unique way, kind of like family. I still look back on those days with joy. I was and still like to think of myself as a Southern Seminary Ambassador. We got to wear the coolest shirts (ha!), talked to hundreds of former alums (joy!), visit college campuses (fun!), and things like this. In a real way we were the face of Southern Seminary to the outside world. I don't know about you, but when I represent someone other than just myself, there's an added sense of honor, care, and thought that goes into it. It's not just your name on the line. It's your name and you fill in the blank.
When we belong to Jesus the same is true in an even greater sense. 2 Corinthians 5 says it like this:
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
If we are in Christ Jesus we are ambassadors. It's not just our name on the line. It's our name and Jesus'. There should rightly be an added sense of honor, care, and thought about this in our everyday lives. We want to use our position to glorify Jesus as much as possible, even reconciling a lost world to Him by the power of the Gospel of His Kingdom. God wants to make an appeal through us! So, I suppose what I'm asking you today is how good of ambassador are you? Are you just going through the motions and paying lip service to the King, or are you, by grace, pouring out your life and everything in it for Jesus? Being an ambassador in His kingdom goes beyond any other calling you could possess in all of life. Do it well!
