“What is the mission of an ambassador?”

At the church where I serve, we are coming to the conclusion of a short sermon series entitled Ambassador. During this series we are asking and answering the questions “what is the position of an ambassador?” and “What is the mission of an ambassador?”

Last week, we launched into this series by answering the first question that we looked at in this series, which is “What is the position of an ambassador?” We then looked at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible, called the book of 2 Corinthians, where we discovered the timeless answer in that followers of Jesus are ambassadors of Jesus who are to represent Jesus as we speak and act on His behalf.

We talked about the reality that, as followers of Jesus, we have been rescued from something and we have been rescued for something. We have been rescued from a position of hostility against God to a position of being and ambassador for God. And because of that reality, as followers of Jesus, the selfless love of Jesus should compel and motivate us to live our lives as an ambassador of Jesus that places Jesus as large and in charge of our lives and that shares that claims of Christ and the message of the gospel with those around us who are far from Jesus.

As followers of Jesus, the selfless love of Jesus should compel and motivate us to  embrace the position we have been given by Jesus to be an ambassador for Jesus that proclaims that God’s transformational activity through Jesus provides all humanity the opportunity to exchange hostility toward God for a friendly relationship with God. And as followers of Jesus, we are to recognize that we have been positioned to speak and act on Jesus behalf so that all humanity would have an opportunity to exchange hostility with God for forgiveness and the relationship with God that they were created for.

This week I would like for us to answer the second question that we are going to ask during this series, which is “What is the mission of an ambassador?” To answer that question, we are going to look at a section of an account of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew.

Now the gospel of Matthew is one of four different accounts of Jesus life that is recorded for us in the Bible. The gospel of Matthew was written to Jewish people to explain and to show that Jesus was the Messiah that God had promised would come to rescue and restore the Jewish nation as His chosen people. And it is in a section of the gospel of Matthew that we see Matthew record an event that occurred in history that provides us the timeless answer to the question “What is the mission of an ambassador?”  So let’s discover this answer together, beginning in Matthew 28:16-17:

But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.

Matthew brings us into this event from history by providing for us the context in which this event from history takes place. After being raised from the dead, Jesus provided instructions for the disciples to travel to Galilee to meet up with Him there. The disciples, following Jesus instructions, traveled to Galilee, where they met up with Jesus. Matthew tells us that when they saw Jesus, they worshipped Him, but some were doubtful.  

Now a natural question that arises here is “what are they doubtful about”? Were they doubtful that it was really Jesus? I don’t believe so, because Matthew tells us that they all worshipped Him. They would not have worshipped Jesus if they were uncertain as to whether or not it was actually Jesus that they were seeing. So, why are they doubtful?

To understand why they were doubtful, we need to look back at the final conversation that Jesus had with the disciples before He was arrested. In that conversation, which is recorded for us in another account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of  John, Jesus explained that He was leaving to go back to God the Father, and that they were not going to be able to come with Him. And while Jesus also stated that they would not see Him during the time that He was arrested, crucified and buried; and while Jesus had promised that they would see Him again after He was raised from the dead, the disciples knew that Jesus was going to be leaving to go back to Heaven.

Now imagine yourself as one of the disciples. You have left everything to follow Jesus; you have followed Jesus for 3 ½ years, during which time you have become very close to Jesus. You watched Jesus get arrested. You heard about Jesus crucifixion and death. And now you have seen Jesus resurrected from the dead. And yet you know that Jesus had every intention of going back to God the Father in Heaven. How would you be feeling? Would there be doubt? Would you have doubts?

Sure you would have doubts. You left everything to follow Jesus because you believed that He was the Messiah, who you thought was going to usher in the Kingdom of Heaven. And now He is leaving to go back to Heaven and leaving you behind.  

You see, I believe that the disciples doubt flowed from two fundamental questions. The first question was “What now? What are we supposed to do now?” And the second question was this “How are you going to be present with us? If you are in Heaven, and we are here on earth, how is your presence going to be present in our lives?” The disciples doubted how God’s presence could be present with them as they moved forward on earth while Jesus was in Heaven.

And it is in this context that we enter into this event from history. And in this event from history Jesus makes a statement that is one of the most famous statements that is recorded for us in the entire Bible. And it is in this statement that Jesus provides the answer to the question “What is the mission of an ambassador?” So let’s look at this famous statement together, beginning in Matthew 28:18:

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

In the midst of this scene of the worship of Jesus as “God in a bod” and the doubt that the disciples were feeling as to what they were to do with their future and with whether or not Jesus presence would be present, Matthew tells us that Jesus took the initiative. Jesus did not wait for the disciples.

Instead, Jesus approached the disciples and explained that “all authority has been to Me in heaven and on earth”. In other words, Jesus declared to His disciples, and to His followers throughout history, that He is large and in charge of everything. God the Father has formally given Jesus the right to exercise command and control over all of creation.

Jesus wanted His disciples to understand that He was Lord and Leader and was the one whom God had granted the power to exercise control over the universe and to guide God’s kingdom mission. And because of the universal authority that Jesus possess; because Jesus is large and in charge of all of creation; Jesus has the right to give His followers Divine direction when it comes to the question “What is the mission of an ambassador?” And as Jesus continued to take the initiative with the disciples, He proceeded to give His disciples and followers of Jesus throughout history a divine directive that answered that very question.

Tomorrow, we will look at that directive together…