1/29/18 Ferris and Priscilla 18,20
One reason is because the people I record very often like to go back and review their own video. We often cover a lot of new ideas in a short dialogue, and they often go back to check it out and even share it with friends.
But I also post them for other Christians to see. This has to do with what Paul meant when he called himself an “ambassador” for Christ in 2 Corinthians 5. He wrote that God “…has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors…”.
As believers we are called to be ambassadors as we share the “message of reconciliation” between God and man. But for years, my understanding of what it meant to be an “ambassador” of Christ was simply that we are to study God’s word so diligently that we accurately represent God’s character and message to the world, without relating it to whatever context we find our listeners in. I thought I only needed to learn how to teach and share the Gospel biblically and accurately.
But an ambassador must do so much more than relay a message. Imagine a representative from a foreign country who won’t listen to us or relate to us, but just insists that we simply listen to his message in his own language and on his own terms, with no understanding of or attempt to learn our values or culture.
He wouldn’t be very relevant, and he wouldn’t last very long.
No, an ambassador must do so much more than teach the values and message of the king or nation he represents. He must also study and be able to relate it to the values and messages of the kingdom he is sent to. He must learn how to best represent his kingdom in a relevant way without fundamentally changing its message for his listeners. And when he reports back to his own kingdom he must accurately convey what he has seen and heard to help others do the same and to help build understanding between the two kingdoms.
Why? Because “reconciliation” is defined as “the restoration of friendly relations” or “the action of making one view or belief compatible with another.” Reconciliation can’t happen without understanding on both sides of the fence.
This didn’t make much sense to me when I viewed myself solely as a messenger of God. Surely God understands completely the people he sends me to. The only party needing better understanding, I thought, is the world, which fails to understand God.
But we don’t just represent God. We also represent His Kingdom, and we are called to work together in fellowship and community, each part living out its own God-given skills and talents in this ministry of reconciliation. And frankly, the people of the Kingdom don’t often understand the people of the world, just as the people of the world don’t often understand God’s kingdom and its values.
The job of being an ambassador, reconciling people to God, means we must study and understand both the things and people of God and the things and people of the world, at least as far as one can be in the world without getting caught up in it. God has committed to us the message of reconciliation, and we must be diligent and wise in learning how to relate that message to a world so caught up and enamored with itself.
As I learn about how to do that with all the different people groups and philosophies and reactions to the Gospel I encounter on the streets and in the marketplace, I must also learn how to relate what I am learning back to my kingdom, the church, which unfortunately all too often is also caught up and enamored with itself and/or distracted by the world, rather than focusing on its mission to the world.
Paul didn’t have video cameras or social media at his disposal to communicate with and to teach and encourage other believers, but he had letters and Roman roads. I’m obviously not Paul, and I have much to learn from the same fellow believers I seek to share my experiences with.
Fortunately, the social media of our day offers quick two-way communication, so I can learn from the comments of other believers even as I share what I am learning. For example, in the conversation posted here that I had with a young couple, Ferris and Natalie, I wonder if I was being too preachy toward the end, or did I read their non-verbal communication wrong and end the conversation prematurely?
I feel many of us church people don’t understand how open people of the world are to talking about spiritual things if we are willing to listen and learn from our own mistakes. There are a surprising number of people who agree to my request to record the conversation, and most of those who decline are still willing to continue the conversation off camera anyway, so no harm done.
If anyone watches any of my videos, your encouragement and constructive feedback is appreciated, painful as it may be, because I want to continue to develop to be the ambassador of the Gospel that God intends me to be and to help others do the same!
To see my conversation with Ferris and Natalie, go to https://youtu.be/fSloliW-Dyw on my YouTube channel.
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