Scripture reading: Acts 7:54–60

What a Privilege!

We are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.

We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (II Corinthians 5:20)

 

A shoe company sent two salesmen into a primitive area to sell shoes. After surveying the territory, the first salesman wrote: “Dear sir: I have terrible news. No one in this country wears shoes! This is an impossible situation. You must have been crazy to send me to a place like this. I quit.”

The second salesman, however, saw the situation very differently. He wrote: “Dear sir: I have wonderful news. No one in this country wears shoes! This is a great place to work. Thank you for choosing me for this assignment. Please send 10,000 pairs of shoes immediately.”

Let me ask you this morning, what is your attitude about being sent as an ambassador for Christ into a world where you are surrounded by secularists, atheists, pluralists, hedonists, agnostics, humanists, spiritualists, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and pagans? Are you angry at God for giving you such an impossible assignment? Do you want to throw up your hands in despair and quit?

There is no hiding the fact that the assignment we have been given is challenging. Jesus never minimized the difficulty that would be faced by those who took his Gospel into the world.

 

,. I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. (Luke 10:3)

,. A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. (John 15:20)

,. They will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them . . . and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. (Matthew 10:17–22)

 

But if we see only the difficulties and hardships and think only of the cost involved, we radically misunderstand what we have been sent into the world to do. To be an ambassador of Jesus Christ is pure privilege! The magnitude of the task indicates the greatness of the mission! Rather than complaining, why not look to God and say, “This is a great place to work. Thank you for choosing me for this assignment!”

 

,. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake. (Philippians 1:29)

,. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. (Philippians 3:10)

,. Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus . . . who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross . . . Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (Hebrews 12:1–3)

 

Today remember that your altitude will be determined by your attitude!

 

 

 

 

Where the battle rages, there loyalty of the soldier is proved;

and to be steady on all the battle-field besides is mere flight and

disgrace to him if he flinches at that one point. —Martin Luther

 

 

 

point to ponder • Light shines best in very dark places.

 

prayer focus • Your attitude when you are surrounded by those ambivalent about God.