Articles
Ambassadors for Christ
Reading: Luke 10:1-24
An ambassador is an official representative who speaks and acts on behalf of another person, a nation, or an organization. Jesus appointed 72 of his disciples to proclaim the gospel and heal the sick in his name. As they went two by two into the towns where Jesus was headed, these disciples would be representing Jesus in their words and actions to the people in each town.
While Christians today do not exercise the same miraculous power these 72 were given, we are nonetheless ambassadors for Christ. We wear his name, and our words and actions should give those we encounter a faithful impression of the Lord’s character, calling, and kingdom (vv. 9-11). Even with our best efforts, results will vary—some will gladly receive the message and bless the messenger, while others will refuse to obey the gospel and may even reject the ones who share it. This reality may entangle our fears, worries, hesitations, and doubts with the call to walk as Jesus’s ambassadors. Jesus’s reassuring words give us the perspective we need: “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (v. 16).
These 72 laborers rejoiced at the success they experienced in the Lord’s harvest (v. 17). We too may be blessed to see some of the fruit of our spiritual labors in the kingdom of Jesus. But the truth is, success isn’t measured by remarkable accomplishments or raw numbers of converts (though those things are encouraging). True success for the ambassador of Christ is faithfully doing the work God gives us, regardless of the response. We do it not to earn a place in heaven, but because the grace of God has already promised such to those who walk with Him (v. 20).
