I know it has been a long time since I have written a post. I guess I did better when I had a deadline each week. Oh well. I want to continue the discussion we have been having about the Church. There are many models of the Church that come from the New Testament and other writers throughout Church history. Some of these include the Church as a hospital for the sick, a lifeboat, a lighthouse, a candle, salt, not to mention things such as the body and bride of Christ. But, the image that I want to focus on is the idea of the Church as an embassy. I think this image provides one of the fullest pictures of what the Church is and does. It also complements the message Jesus so often presented-- that the Kingdom of God has come near.
The main place this image comes from is 2 Corinthians
5:17-21 which reads,
17 “Therefore, if anyone is
in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to
himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in
Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the
message of reconciliation. 20 We are
therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through
us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that
in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Paul is saying that we are
ministers, or ambassadors, of Christ’s kingdom.
Ambassadors are based out of embassies.
Let us look at some of the things embassies do and represent and then
compare that to the role of the Church.
