Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
Your ambassadorial commission from God is the outward expression of your private life with the Lord, which we have discussed under the believer’s priesthood. This expression of your private life with God is one way God shows his love for the world. You show this virtue love in how you treat the lost and how you treat the saved. The believer who has a good handle on the grace of God knows the importance of treating others with respect and dignity while at the same time rightly representing the policies and doctrines of the Lord. Showing this love should never have to be forced nor should it be coerced; it should come naturally as the believer is abiding in the word of God. This is why witnessing should be natural. This is why we must not accuse others of “not caring” if we do not see their witnessing, for we do not know what God is leading them to do, and we must not assume they do not tell people about the Lord. Please remember there is already an “accuser of the saints”, we do not need any more accusers, especially those of the household of God.
To assume others are not spiritual because they do not do as much as we do, or they do not do the same as we do is presuming upon the grace of God in that person’s life.
Rom.14:4 “Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be held up; for God is able to make him stand.”
This is why many church programs seem so awkward to some. And why you might ask? Well it’s because your service to fellow saints and lost sinners is supposed to be Holy Spirit driven, not results driven; not marketing scheme driven, not competition driven.
The believer who understands the concept of Holy Spirit leadership is the believer who understands the righteousness of God. This well informed grace oriented Christian is not indifferent toward the needy, nor is he cynical in his approach to life, but neither is he a guilt ridden sentimentalist who feels he must feel everyone’s pain. We will leave this up to the liberals who think they are the saviors of the world.
As an ambassador for the Lord we have the command to love one another as God has loved us. Showing this love provides for us our way of expressing the love of God to others. Love is the motivator of the grace of God. And just as love must be filtered through righteousness and justice, so must our love to others be framed within the context of the epignosis knowledge of God’s word and his justice. There must be integrity demonstrated in our love, and service toward others.
The law of liberty
Here is where we are tested in practicing God’s grace to others.
Liberty means freedom, and Christian liberty means our freedom in Jesus Christ.
Gal.5:1 “Standfast, therefore, in the liberty with which Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” Paul questioned the Galatians in 3:1-3, read. Paul told the Galatians they were set free from the law and its strict codes because Christ fulfilled the law of Moses, and you are in Christ. And yet the Galatia believers were starting to obey the law again as a system of trying to appease God; they were attempting to enforce the law of Moses on others as a form of spirituality.
This is the exact opposite of our freedom in Christ. So how does the Christian interpret the Bible in reference to his or her Christian freedom?
This doctrine is misunderstood by folks on both sides of the isle in Christianity. Some are afraid of their liberty and others abuse this liberty. We will look this week at those who are afraid of their liberty. We will look at those who abuse their liberty next week.
Those who fear their freedom in Christ; who are afraid of this new found liberty say, “If I do not have a strict set of codes to obey in every avenue of life I will fail the grace of God and miss out on his blessings.”
The problem for this group of believers is that the Bible does not say much if anything on some subjects, so these folks either dig up obscure passages of scripture that do not apply to New Testament believers or they make up codes of conduct for themselves and others to follow. They feel guilty; they stay tied up in emotional and psychological knots all the time if they do not comply with these adopted codes. And unfortunately they judge everyone else who does not comply. When there is an absence of a relaxed mental attitude of virtue love toward others, there is always the presence of mental attitude sins. They may assume others are not as spiritual because others do not comply with their codes of conduct. They may feel others are not as spiritual and mature in the faith because others are not offended by what offends them. They feel they love God more and they have been put on earth to bring others up to speed on what’s right. We all have to resist this type of thinking and we can only do this as we personally grow deeper in the things of God. This type of behavior comes too easy for most of us including this pastor.
I recently went to a local restaurant where upon getting to my table I said thanks over my food and began to eat. I noticed a rough looking family came into the restaurant soon after I sat down. They got their meal and had a seat. They didn’t look like the praying type, but to my surprise they all bowed their heads and held hands and said their thanks. They laughed and ate and had a good time. Have you ever been pleasantly rebuked by the Lord like this? When we make assumptions we do so based on sketchy information. We are often too quick to read a book by its cover and in doing so the Lord is limited with what he can do with us to minister to others. We may think we have all the facts; like for some reason, we are responsible for making an assessment of another person’s life. We add 2+2 and we get 4. So we say we have all the facts and we know that person’s life. When in truth many times all we see is the 2+2 of another person’s life, when in reality there is another 2 and it is hidden from us and the true answer is 6.
The reason so many believers have a problem accepting another Christian’s liberty in Christ is that they are so insecure in their own relationship with God. Resident Bible doctrine saturating the believer’s soul remedies this judgmental, guilt ridden insecurity. This is one reason this preacher hounds so much on his congregation in getting the word of God all the time; in growing up in Christ all the time. A judgmental, guilt ridden believer is the most miserable person in the world.
James 1:22-25 read... Our proficiency as ambassadors for the Lord is predicated upon each one of us taking an honest look at our own lives, not the lives of others. If we are going to be a good witness for Jesus Christ we must stay in the word of God so we can see others through God’s eyes. We also must leave the judging up to God.
We can bend without breaking, but only if we have the understanding that our relationship with God is not jeopardized because of the lives of others. We must not let the sin nature rise up in us and take over our ambassadorial responsibilities. We have been called to reconcile men to God, not judge them.