The Ambassador: Changing Babylon by Winning Hearts |
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The evangelical task primarily is the preaching of the Gospel, in the interest of individual regeneration by the supernatural grace of God, in such a way that divine redemption can be recognized as the best solution of our problems, individual and social. ~ Carl F. H. Henry I am deeply convinced that the greatest need of our time is spiritual awakening and revival. ~ Luis Palau Five passengers departed Honolulu for a three-hour sightseeing tour on a Wheeler Express Cruiser. While at sea the cruise encountered a sudden storm, and but for the two-man crew fearlessly navigating the rough water, the ship would have been lost. It ran aground on an uncharted island. The seven passengers were stranded. According to the ship's manifest, in addition to the captain and the first mate, the missing included Thurston Howell III and his wife Eunice, the actress Ginger Grant, professor Roy Hinkley, and Mary Ann Summers. If you've ever seen Gilligan's Island, then you probably know this isn't a true story. It's the setup for the show, a weekly sitcom that ran on CBS from 1964 to 1967 before going into syndication. Undoubtedly, the person most important to the group's survival was the professor, who solved the problem du jour by building homemade contraptions from the boat's spare parts and the natural resources on the island. His most impressive inventions included a Geiger counter to determine whether a meteor was radioactive and a telegraph to try to reach a spacecraft orbiting overhead. After watching enough episodes, you'll ask the obvious question: If the professor can build anything and fix anything, then why doesn't he fix the hole in the boat, allowing them to return home? |
How Ambassadors Change the World: Changing and Winning Hearts We're tempted to do the same thing. We work on urgent secondary problems while ignoring less urgent primary problems. - Ambassadors change the world by focusing on the central problem with the human condition: People have a hole in their hearts. They don't know and love Jesus.
While ambassadors value changing laws and shaping culture, they refuse to build Geiger counters and neglect the hole in the hull. If you're drawn to the way of the ambassador, it's likely because you see that while a law can ban pornography, only the gospel can change people so they don't lust for illicit sexual material. While a law can ban racial discrimination, only the gospel can change hearts such that we love people who are different from us. While a law can declare abortion illegal, only the gospel can persuade people to give their children the gift of life. While a rehab clinic can offer addiction treatments, only the gospel deals with the problems at the root of addiction. Ambassadors believe that if we share the gospel, more people will become Christians as a result, and many of the world's problems will be resolved. So they set to work changing the world by winning hearts to Jesus. |
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First, you belong, then you believe, and finally, you behave differently. |
First, you belong, then you believe, and finally, you behave differently. |
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Jesus changed the world by forgiving sin, reconciling people to the Father, and transforming humans from the inside out. The primacy of forgiveness takes center stage in Jesus's interaction with the paralytic. The Gospels tell us that Jesus forgave the paralytic's sins even though that wasn't what the man or his friends wanted most. Only after the teachers of the law challenged Jesus's right to forgive sins did He heal the man of his paralysis. It begs the question: Why didn't Jesus immediately do what the paralytic wanted? Because Jesus knew that his paralysis was a problem, but his sin was the problem. Jesus didn't heal every sick person He encountered. But He did forgive every person willing to turn to Him. Again, it's not that physical needs are unimportant or that Jesus doesn't care about them. He does. They just aren't the most important problem we have. To paraphrase Jesus, what good is it for a person to have a healthy body, live in a crime-free neighborhood, and have access to clean water but forfeit their soul? This is why proclaiming the gospel was the central task of Jesus's three-year ministry and the ministry of His disciples after His ascension. - Ambassadors embrace Jesus's call to make disciples of all nations.
They change the world by evangelizing. I don't mean giant crusades and altar calls (though both have been used effectively in the past). I primarily mean relational evangelism. Ambassadors build trusting relationships with those far from God, invite them into their homes, and share the gospel. An ambassador emphasizes relationships and hospitality because they understand how people actually change. Conventional thinking is that if you want someone to fight for a cause, then you need to convince them intellectually of the cause's rightness. In this model, reason precedes action. Thus, if you want to change the world, you must aim for the mind. Write articles. Participate in debates. Distribute materials. Make arguments. People will join the movement only after they share your beliefs. But the truth is much more complicated. Ziad Munson argues in The Making of Pro-life Activists that change works in almost the opposite direction. Belonging precedes believing. Our beliefs are shaped more by the people we spend time with than by abstract arguments. Munson's research of pro-life activists found that people's "beliefs about abortion are often undeveloped, incoherent, and inconsistent until individuals become actively engaged with the movement."1 In other words, someone doesn't become a pro-life activist by reading a persuasive pamphlet. Instead, it usually starts with a personal connection. A friend asks you to attend a pro-life march or invites you to volunteer with them at a pro-life pregnancy center. First, you belong, then you believe, and finally, you behave differently. This pattern permeates most movements, which explains why the early church put such a strong emphasis on hospitality and relationships. Jesus's ministry was a movable feast. All were invited to His table, but especially the hurting. At that table they not only heard the good news, they also tasted it. Ambassadors understand that people change through relationships. Friendship precedes transformation. Often a person belongs to a Christian community and then comes to faith, experiences regeneration, and (sometimes much later) begins to care about social issues and work for a better world. Thus, ambassadors don't change the world by protesting. They change the world by cultivating relationships in Babylon. They seek those far from God, praying that God will heal the hole in their hearts, and then draw them into His vision of the good life through friendship. |
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Ziad W. Munson, The Making of Pro-life Activists: How Social Movement Mobilization Works (University of Chicago Press, 2009), 20.
Excerpted with permission from Joyful Outsiders by Patrick Miller & Keith Simon, copyright Patrick Keith Miller and Keith Simon. * |
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If we're going to be ambassadors for Christ, we need to put relationship first. In order for people who need Jesus to listen to the gospel, first they need to belong. Who in your sphere needs Jesus? Be their friend and ask the Lord to bless your ambassadorship! ~ Devotionals Daily |
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Find peace and clarity as you learn how to change our culture without becoming like it |
Joyful Outsiders: Six Ways to Live Like Jesus in a Disorienting Culture |
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+ Extra 20% off $50 with code BIBLE |
+ Extra 20% off $50 with code BIBLE |
This practical guide helps you find peace and clarity in a confusing culture. Through it, you will learn healthy, biblical ways to both cultivate and resist the world around you. You will learn how to change the culture without becoming like it. In Joyful Outsiders, pastors Patrick Miller and Keith Simon will train you how to be a joyful outsider by laying out six ways to navigate a confusing culture at home, at work, and beyond. They draw on the examples of biblical characters to introduce six types of joyful outsiders: the artist, the protestor, the builder, the advisor, the ambassador, and the trainer. In Joyful Outsiders, you will: - Discover joy by embracing your identity as an outsider
- Find which of the six ways God is calling you to follow
- Experience freedom from fear of the world and anger toward it
- Learn how to both resist and cultivate the world around you
You might be an outsider in today's world, but that doesn't mean Jesus can't use you to change it. God wants to guide you into your calling, train you for action, and equip you to become a confident, Christlike culture changer. |
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You probably feel more like an outsider in our culture today than you did ten years ago. If that's the case, you're not alone. The question is, what kind of outsider will you become? Will you become a combative outsider and rage against your enemies? Will you become a conformist outsider and mirror the world around you? Will you become a conflict-averse outsider and avoid confrontation at all costs? Jesus has so much for you. He's called you to be a joyful outsider like him. He was crucified as an outcast outside the city. Now he welcomes you to join him; to die to yourself and discover that sacrificial love has the power to change the world. |
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