God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting our sins against us. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:19).

The message of reconciliation—that great good news that through the cross, God has reconciled us to God—is hard to say and harder to hear in our current context.  The general idea of reconciliation is highly regarded. That it required a death, even that most shameful of deaths, death on a cross … not so much.

The ministry of reconciliation, the work of bringing fractured relationships mired in hatred, suspicion, mistrust into better health, is hard work.  “Blessed are the makers of peace,” Jesus said, “for they will be called the children of God.” But they might get crucified along the way.

Paul employs an interesting image, that of being an ambassador of Christ’s.  An ambassador represents a government.  An ambassador is not a policy-maker, but a policy-spokesperson (“this is the position of my government on this matter”).  

And ambassadors and other Foreign Service officers (FSOs) do not spend all their time inside their embassy!  They are out and about, meeting people, making connections, building relationships, offering the resources of their government to serve the good of the country to which they have been posted.  

In some sense, an ambassador and the embassy staff is the presence of his government and his country’s way of life in a foreign land.

Paul is an ambassador of King Jesus, the king who has reconciled the whole world to God through his self-giving sacrifice upon the cross.  He’s trying to help the disciples in Corinth learn how to be, how to behave, like an embassy of the kingdom of God.

Imagine: Chatham Church as an embassy, an outpost, of the Kingdom of God in Chatham County.  Not the only one, but an embassy nonetheless, a place where the Kingdom of God is actively present.  How does all that we do as a church represent our King, his kingdom, and the ways of that kingdom?

Embassy staff are not free-wheelers; they have been posted, to Corinth, to Chatham County, to represent their government, not themselves.  Their government’s policies, not their personal preferences. Their king’s ways, and their king’s means, not their own ways and means. We FSOs of Christ’s kingdom “should no longer live for ourselves, but for him who died for us and was raised again (verse 15).

To do that, they have to know their king, deeply, intimately.  They have to embrace their king’s ways, their king’s heart, their king’s willingness to pay the heavy price of true reconciliation.

“Be reconciled to God,” Paul appeals to the Corinthians.

That you might be entrusted with both the message and the ministry of reconciliation.

Greeting, fellow kingdom FSOs!  This week, our king is sending us out to represent him to the citizens of this place.  He is sending us to schools, offices, workplaces, neighborhoods, restaurants, health clubs, offices of local government and business.  When you are there, you are Him! What do you need from the Home Office to do your job faithfully this week? I have confirmed with our King that all of his resources are available to you!  Which do you need?