Authentic Churches: Sharing Christ

How many just decide on their own with no input from anyone else to turn from our selfish human natures to a more God-like spiritual focus? 

None of us came to trust Christ on our own. Someone introduced us to Jesus. It may have been a parent, a friend, a school or Sunday school teacher, but someone shared the Gospel story with us, probably a number of times, before it awakened in us the desire to become more “godly” and less “human”. Through our words and actions we lead others to discover the same salvation in Christ that we have embraced. 

We look in Matthew 28:18-20 and in 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 and learn that we are to invite others into a relationship with Christ.

The focal verses of Matthew are frequently called the Great Commission referring to the mission that Jesus gave to his disciples. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul detailed the belief that believers are living eternal life with God. Because of this assurance we are to proclaim the gospel of salvation in Christ to all people in the hope that they too might escape eternal condemnation for their sins and enter into eternal life with God.

Matthew 28:18-20

18 Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 
19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 
20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

God the Father holds all authority over every created thing. The Greek term for authority can refer to delegated influence, jurisdiction, right and power. Through Jesus’ ministry, death, burial and resurrection God delegated to Jesus, through his station as God’s son, all of God’s authority as God the Father. Now God the Father and God the Son were united in Jesus and contained the power and authority of ALL of God. 

Following Jesus’ ascension, God the Holy Spirit descended upon those who would receive the Spirit and follow Christ. And what did God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit tell us? In our language: 

Go and teach everyone, everywhere, about the good news of being reunified with God in all forms. Immerse them in the character of God the Father, God the Son AND God the Holy Spirit. Teach them the concepts and interpretations that I have taught you. I will be with you until we all go to God together.

A disciple is “one who learns”. If we seek to continually learn throughout life we are indeed disciples. If we are “one who learns of Christ” we will continue to grow into a Christ-like character. What are we to continually learn? The character and teachings of God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit. The more we learn of and about God the closer we may draw to God in all forms.

Currently the world is composed of around 10,000 distinct religions. The breakdown of religions in the world may be grouped in the following ranking:

1. Christianity (31%)
2. Islam (24%)
3. No-religion (16%)
4. Hindu (15%)
5. Buddhism (7%)
6. Cultural religions or folk traditions (7%)

This means that in the world “the nations” are comprised of nearly 1/3 Christians, nearly 1/4 Islamists, under 20% those who don’t know God in any form, over 10% are immersed in the gods of Hinduism, and less than 10% in Buddhism, while less than 10% follow cultural religions or folk traditions. Some 84% of humanity believe that there is a God in some form while only about 16% have no belief in a power higher than humanity.  These are the people that we have been commissioned to teach to become students and immerse in the character and nature of God’s various natures and aspects.

Note that we are not about “creating converts”.  We are about proclaiming the gospel and inviting people to repent from their selfish ways and calling them to focus on ethical living that grows out of a relationship with God. we are to teach what Jesus taught. Jesus’ teachings emphasize a lifestyle in accord with God’s teachings rather than an intellectual pursuit of facts relating to God. It is about KNOWING God rather than know ABOUT God.  

Matthew’s Gospel began by identifying Jesus as Immanuel, God is with us. It concludes with Jesus reminding us of HIS eternal presence with them until the end of the age.  An age is the length of time that something has existed. God will be with us until the end of existence. And how long does a being that is eternal (without beginning or end) exist?

Some 84% of all of humanity recognizes God in some aspect. The no-God, no-religion crowd are the exception in that they have completely closed their mind to the awareness of God. All others have some level of understanding regarding a creator of the universe. We are commissioned to share with everyone OUR understanding and learn from others about THEIR understanding and in the process continue to learn about God.  

Because of such diversity in practices regarding God Paul gives us a new standard for relating to people. 

2 Corinthians 5:16-19

16 From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way. 
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! 
18 Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 
19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.

Paul’s new standard for relating to other people depended on their relationship with (or without) Christ. 

The worldly perspective depends on one’s outward appearance. Are you ethnically similar? Do you dress similarly? Do you think similarly? Are you a “proper” part of the herd? The worldly perspective continues today.  But God rejects this sort of favoritism. After all, didn’t God create things in the form they are? Why should humanity look upon one external aspect as superior to another external aspect? Instead, God’s perspective or point of view is how one relates to Christ. Since Christ IS God how one relates to Christ is the determining factor.  Does one accept, agree with and follow Christ? Is one ignorant of, unsure of, or wandering lost? Does one reject, oppose, or avoid Christ at all costs? These define God’s relationship perspective.

Prior to his conversion Paul regarded Jesus as Messiah from a “worldly perspective.” Paul’s worldy perspective of Christ did NOT fit his Jewish preconception and so Paul rejected Jesus as Christ and sought to bring hostility to the followers of Christ because of their “peculiar beliefs”. It wasn’t until after his conversion experience with Jesus that Paul began to see people from a spiritual perspective. Even the great “Paul” had to spend time growing in his new belief, it did not immediately come to him as one cohesive understanding. He studied in the nation to the east of Israel and Judah to learn and develop his beliefs more consistently with Christ’s. 

Before, his perception was that of Jesus as a man who claimed to be something that Paul did not believe him to be. Afterwards Paul was confronted with Jesus as a man who WAS what he claimed to be, the incarnation of God in human form come to teach and show humanity how to be reconciled with God. Paul is a great demonstration that knowing ABOUT Christ does not result in salvation. Paul KNEW what the Messiah of God was. Paul KNEW what the messiah of God was to do. Paul did NOT know the Messiah, nor the manner in which he would carry out his mission. Salvation comes from knowing and trusting the Messiah and his mission intimately through a total commitment. Intimacy only comes through trust.

Once we have accepted and develop that intimacy the believer is transformed into a new creation, the new birth. It results in a life that it changed to enable a believer to live in obedience to God, and in Godly relationship to fellow believers and non-believers. Paul says “the old has passed away”. We could describe this as “the old perspectives have been blown away like the wind.” Once you have accepted a concept as Truth it is more difficult to “unlearn it” than it is to dive deeper into it to learn more. At the moment of conversion (from humanly to Godly) you have accepted the Truth of God, even though you may not fully comprehend it. Even Paul didn’t at first. 

But as your old thoughts are “blown away” and you seek to grow in spiritual maturity over the remainder of your physical life you are participating in the process of sanctification. As such you are a “new creation.” Like an infant, now we learn new perspectives of the cosmos around us.

Paul tells us that now we see that everything is from God. All things are from God. God is the source of all things. Now that we can begin to comprehend that, we may come to realize that even those things that WE think may not be from God actually are. Even Satan was from God, and then he rebelled against God because instead of God AND Creation, Satan wanted to be God OF Creation. 

God WANTS Creation to operate as it was designed. God WANTS humanity, his original caretakers of Earth, to operate as designed, walking in fellowship with God. 

God always takes the initiative in salvation. God directs “the message of salvation” into our lives, it is our part to respond. In some a suitable response may take a lifetime to result. In others such a response may be immediate. The point is, even in the “non-religion” group of humanity who say there is no God, you never know when they may be convinced and converted. Paul was an actual “accomplice to murder” and became a vigilante against Christ. He became convinced when he encountered Jesus.  He repented, learned and became a great apostle advocate for Christ.

Without a reconciliation with God every living thing without God, every person, is destined for Hell. So let’s look at a brief word study on hell. The word hell literally means concealed place from ancient word roots referring to cover, conceal, save.  What has humanity long done for dead bodies?  They have covered them with dirt or stone, concealed them in a cave or overhanging shelter, or embalmed or otherwise mummified them in order to save the body or to prevent it from being desecrated. 

Desecration means to be treated with sacrilege, literally the opposite of the meaning of the word consecrate (made hallowed by religious ceremony or sanction).  

Because humanity has earned the “wages of sin.”  We get to die and our bodies covered, concealed or saved in order to keep them hallowed in our memories.  When we become God’s friend we (our character, nature, spirit) is no longer destined for covering, concealing, or saving from desecration for our SPIRIT will join with God’s Spirit. Thus we are saved from Hell and destined for eternity with God. We become a part of God’s family and destined for heaven. This action is more than merely renewal; it is a new birth. More than just “oh goody, my body will live forever” it is more of “My core nature will be associated and commingled with God’s core nature.”

God has made the reconciliation of humanity with God possible through Christ; however, such reconciliation requires the response from the individual of repentance and faith in Christ. The believers’ responsibility is to tell others what Christ has done for them. Because of God’s love for his creations, God the Father, sent God the Son (Jesus Christ) to repair our relationship with God, and provides God the Holy Spirit as our lifetime guide and counselor in helping us to grow and develop as God’s new creations.

As we develop and learn more about the mission and teachings of God’s Messiah we assume an even greater role, Paul tells us:

2 Corinthians 5:20-21

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” 
21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

An ambassador is one who represents another as the resident representative of their own sovereign. Their main functions are 

• to represent and protect the interests of their sovereign’s subjects, facilitate agreement contracts that describe the business relationship between the ambassador’s citizens and those of the host nation. 

• To develop legal agreements, and binding laws between the ambassador’s sovereign and the host nation. 

• To promote information, and friendly relations between the ambassador’s sovereign and the hosts. 

God is the sovereign that WE represent to humanity. 

Paul tells us that having been reconciled to God, given the ministry of reconciliation, and called to share the message of reconciliation, we now represent God to the world of sinful humanity. If you have been saved, you are now God’s agent on this planet. As the word angel literally means messenger, you are now one of God’s angels. It is not will you become an angel, when you are saved and are committed to growing closer to God through discipleship and maturation, you ARE an angel of God. 

God calls all of Jesus’s followers to be Christ’s ambassadors of the gospel. It is not the ambassador who primarily makes the appeal; it is God Himself who makes His appeal through His ambassador. The Greek word for appeal could be translated “exhortation” or “imploration.” God’s appeal refers to His call that all people repent of their sins and put their faith in His chosen Savior Jesus Christ. It also indicates His desire for all people to be saved.   

Think about just about anything that YOU have created, a piece of art, or music, or any other creative endeavor.  Did you create for the purpose of “Gee, I hope someday that this is destroyed, lost, and forgotten?”  Of course not.  Do you think that the creator of the universe created ALL of this stuff for the purpose that it would one day be destroyed, lost and forgotten?  OF COURSE NOT.  Great masterpieces may be lost through time, but the DESIRE is that the created material is NOT forgotten, is NOT destroyed and is NOT lost.  As one of “God’s works of art, God does not want YOU to be lost.  He wants his masterpiece of YOU to live for eternity.  Christ has shown us how to do it.

Paul says he literally pleads with people to be reconciled with God.  Plead refers to Paul’s repeatedly encouraging and perhaps even begging others to live in a right relationship with God.  The word plead is from Latin and is associated with the word please. It is a strong request for action, not a manipulation to action. The action desired was to be reconciled with God through Christ. Paul did not plead on his own; he acted as Christ’s representative. Believers represent Christ in all they say and do. WE are agents of God.

Paul explained how Christ’s death brought reconciliation between God and human beings by the exchange of Christ’s righteousness for our sin.  Think about THAT for a moment.  Can you imagine God telling humanity: 

Look humans you have chosen a harmful, selfish nature as your lifestyle.  The wages of such a lifestyle is death and destruction, and your choice is destructive to you AND to my other creations.  I’ll make a deal with you.  I’ll give you Christ’s righteousness if you will give ME all of your harmful, selfish, lifestyle choices.  And since the wages of sin is death, you won’t have to die.  You will forever live with me as one of my family members. 

A pretty good deal for those who use their minds. Oh, and this applies to anyone who is prone to following God. 

• It was the wholly moral Messiah of the wholly moral God who voluntarily faced death onour behalf that we would have the opportunity to choose to live reconciled with God. 

• It was the wholly moral God who accepted the sacrifice of Jesus and provided any who chose to, to accept such salvation. 

This is the the only sacrifice that could be exchanged in place of humanity’s sin. Any other sacrifice, bull, sheep, bird, any creation of humanity, or any other action of a human who is without God, can not possibly approach the morality of God. Only God could bring humanity back to God. 

Those who reject Christ’s payment tend to do so on the presumption of rationalizations LIKE human sacrifice is wrong; a loving God wouldn’t require death; and tend to focus upon ONLY the physical aspect of Jesus’ death…Oh he was a lamb to kill to appease the great God of death and destruction?!  NO THANKS.  

But this chooses a destructive perspective that prevents one from seeing the overwhelming constructive LOVE of this story:  

• Christ’s LOVE in being willing to be tortured and killed because HE LOVED God so much that he trusted God.  

• God’s LOVE for humanity that he accepted Jesus’ offering and allowed his resurrection after three days.  

• Jesus’s love for humanity in that he came BACK to humanity to point THEM towards to road to reconciliation with God, the creator of ALL.

Humanity needs to be taught this constructive LOVE.  As Christ’s ambassadors we need to share and teach it. Prior to Jesus the Messiah, humanity had no hope but to continue striving but not succeeding in reconciling with God. It is the similar hopelessness that salvation through works contributes to humanity…endless toil without successful achievement. But through repentance (seeking to stop our destructive and hopeless path) and living by faith in Christ, believers become the righteousness of God as at the moment of salvation God permanently exchanges our sins for Christ’s perfect righteousness. But it is that intimate knowing and trusting, or the willingness to seek that level of intimate knowing and trusting, that is required. Merely checking off one of humanity’s laundry list of ideals will not be sufficient to remove you from the hopelessness of endless toil and into the restful accomplishment of God’s salvation. 

Seek to be and ambassador for the Kingdom of God and seek to share and teach Jesus’ teachings.

Here’s a closing example of a good ambassador:

Ambassador Joseph C. Grew was the U.S. ambassador to Japan from 1932 to 1941.  He failed to prevent war between Japan and America. At the start of the war in 1941 he was imprisoned by the Japanese until an exchange of diplomats was made in 1942.  On return to Washington, DC, he became the second official in the State Department as Under Secretary and sometimes served as acting Secretary of State. He successfully promoted a soft peace with Japan that would allow Emperor Hirohito to maintain his status, which facilitated the Emperor's decision to surrender in 1945.

While Grew wasn’t responsible for the decisions that U.S. and Japanese leadersmade.He fulfilled his responsibility by telling the truth and pleading for peace. As ambassadors for Christ, that’s our responsibility as well. Some will receive the message, but some won’t. Our task is to obey Jesus’s command to share it.

The handout at Ambassadors for Christ will be of use to you.