Driven: Compelled to Missions by Christ’s LoveSample

Ambassadors: Delivering God’s Message of Love

In October 1962 the world’s two nuclear superpowers were lurching toward the brink of war. President John F. Kennedy had charged Adlai Stevenson, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to carry a message that both men hoped would help keep the Cold War from turning into nuclear war.

Representing his president and his country, Stevenson laid before the U.N. Security Council clear evidence that Russian missiles were in Cuba threatening the United States. In just a few short days after Stevenson’s presentation, the two sides averted hostilities and the Cuban missile crisis came to a quiet end. The ambassador’s message from the president had helped secure peace.

Jesus drove home God’s love for those not yet in His Kingdom, including those who seemed far from the gospel. He instructed His followers to take His message of reconciliation beyond their own cultures, eventually beyond even the Roman Empire, to people groups who needed to hear. 

Paul understood that God wants us to live as Christ’s ambassadors, bringing His appeal to the nations. As Ed Stetzer and Philip Nation point out in Compelled: Living the Mission of God, powerful nations such as Rome “wouldn’t send out ambassadors to those [countries] that didn’t matter.” Rather, they received ambassadors from weaker countries that asked for Rome’s mercy. But the all-powerful God so loves the world that He sends us as ambassadors to appeal to people who need His message.

In chapter 15 of his letter to the Romans, Paul revealed his drive to reach the unreached. He said, “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known.” Nearing the end of his life, Paul still planned to travel to far-off Spain. In his quest to reach those farthest from the truth and to strengthen believers, Paul mentioned to the Romans praying, giving, sending, and going—all still needed to reveal God’s faithful love to people who don’t yet know the name of Jesus.

How is Christ’s love driving you to take His message beyond your borders?

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