Our text this morning, I’m going to actually be in several texts.

But you have been studying what it means to be an ambassador. And we have said that over the course of many weeks now that an Ambassador is a representative of another kingdom who resides on foreign soil. That’s us, isn’t it? That we’re in this world, but we’re not of this world. That we belong to a different kingdom. And Jesus himself said, this world, this kingdom isn’t of me.

If it were my servants would fight for me. We’re not called to fight. We’re called to seek and to save. We’re called to serve and to give. And he sends us to go.

So the task that is before me this morning is to complete the process of what it means to be an ambassador who is committed to Jesus.

Committed to Jesus mission. We’ve said that he is to be.

Conformed into the image of Jesus.

We’re conformed in mind and in soul.

And of course in our emotions. But we’re also conformed to him in mission.

What is a mission? Anyone? What’s a mission?

It’s an important task. It’s something that we’re sent to do. It’s something that it’s an assignment that we’re given. And it has a definite purpose and it has a definite plan about it.

It’s something that must be done.

And so ambassadors are given a role. They’re given a mission. And so today I want to just look on the other side of this. In Romans, chapter 8, verse 28, very.

Familiar to passage of Scripture.

It goes like this. And if you’ve ever heard this, as I begin to read it, I just want you to throw your hand up and wave it like you’re a lunatic.

Okay?

I’m giving you permission to be critical.

Okay?

If you’ve ever heard this. Romans 8:28. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. There’s two of you. For those who are called according to his purpose. Have you ever heard that? Wave your arms. Okay, well, you’ll never be able to say, I’m going to. So I’m going to do it the second time. And if you’ve never. If you’ve ever heard this before, wave your arms above your head like a crazy person. And that ought to be all of us, because I just read it, so you just heard it. So this is all of us. For we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose. There we go. We’re in this, aren’t we? But verse 29 follows verse 28. Funny how that works.

And verse 29 of Romans 8 says, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined. For what purpose? To be conformed to the image of His Son in order that he might.

Be the firstborn among many brethren.

Why is it that any of us are saved? So that he might conform us into the image of His Son. God saves us through Christ so as to conform us to Christ’s image so that God might in turn use us for kingdom purposes.

We’re ambassadors.

We’re his representatives. We are to be conformed into his image. And so in order for us to be conformed into his image, our text today, or our task is to look what it. See what it looks like to be conformed to his mission. Jesus had a mission, didn’t he? He came here for a purpose. I might say that the incarnation of Jesus Christ was the prototypical missionary endeavor. That Jesus Christ coming to earth in the form of a man. The Son of God coming as the Son of man. He is the prototypical missionary.

How many of you know what a missionary is?

Yeah, what’s a missionary? Anyone?

What?

What’s a missionary? Someone who is sent to tell the gospel somewhere else, Right? So as we’re telling the gospel and sharing the gospel in our lives, we’re evangelizing. But when we’re sent to go elsewhere, we are missionaries. And Jesus Christ was on a mission and he left somewhere. Where did he leave?

Say it loud, say it proud.

He left heaven and he came somewhere else. Where did he come?

Earth.

Was he sent? God sent him and he came. Therefore he is on a mission. He is a missionary to the lost and dying world. And so Jesus to be conformed in his mission, then it means that we are to join him in a missionary endeavor. Now, not all of us are called to go to foreign lands, but we are called to go into our circles of influence. We are called to make a difference and an impact into a lost and dying world. We’ve already established that all of us belong to a different kingdom, that were representatives of a different authority, a different king. And therefore we are living in a foreign land. So it can be said then, very vaguely, I should add, that all of us then are missionaries because we are evangelizing.

Even if it’s our next door neighbor, even if it’s our friend, we are evangelizing somebody who belongs to a different kingdom. So we are being sent to them. This is a mission of Jesus Christ. And as he came into this world, it was a missionary journey for the purpose of securing salvation through his atoning death. So what do you suppose Jesus said was his purpose for coming? And we’re just going to use primarily Jesus own words to describe his mission? We can say by looking at the New Testament that Jesus was sent. John 3:17. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him, the Father sent the son. Luke, chapter 4, verse 43.

Jesus in his earthly ministry, early in his earthly ministry, told the crowds that were constraining him, he was going to leave them. And the crowds constrained him. They wanted him to remain with them. And he says, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well, for I was sent for this purpose. So he was sent into the world, not to condemn the world. The world’s already condemned. But he was sent so that he might save the world. And he says in his earthly middle ministry, he is sent for the purpose of preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. So if you and I are going to be conformed into his image, we then what must we do? Preach the gospel. Take the gospel into the world because it’s their only hope of salvation.

We also see in the Gospels that Jesus, according to his own words, he was very willing to do this. In John, chapter 6, verse 38, he says, I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Now in Matthew we have. And in Luke and Mark, we have the account of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. And he was praying till great drops of blood burst from his brow. And he said, father, I know that you can do all things, but if you are willing, remove this cup from me. There’s any other way. Remove this cup from me. Speaking of his death, the atoning work upon the cross. Remove this from me. But nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. Jesus Christ was willing.

In John, chapter 4, verse 34, Jesus says, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. So if you and I are going to be conformed into the image of Christ in his mission, then we must be willing.

We must be willing.

We also have that Jesus left. He left his comfort. He left his. His eternal home in heaven to come here. He left. John 6:38, I have come down from heaven. We have also, in Philippians chapter two, a very prominent passage of scripture. You probably have heard this too, but it says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. But he emptied himself by the taking.

The form of a servant.

Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient even to.

The point of death on the cross.

Jesus humbled himself, he left heaven and he came here. We also have here that Jesus was humbled. In this, Jesus registers and models humility for us. The Bible says again in Philippians chapter two, that he humbled himself and became obedient. So Jesus was humble and he was obedient. And what’s more is if we’re going to be conformed in the image of Jesus and be conformed in his mission, we too must be prepared to leave our own comfort zones, to leave and step away from those things that make us comfortable. Are you all listening over there or are we writing? We’ve got to be willing to leave our comfort zones in order to represent.

Christ to this lost and dying world.

We have to be humble in our approach.

We have to be obedient to the call God. He says, go. And we must do that.

What’s more is Jesus identified with the plight of his people. Jesus came to identify. If you’ll notice, in Philippians 2, it says that he emptied himself. He took on the form of a servant. What does that mean? Does that mean that Jesus quit being God for 33 and a half years of his earthly existence? Does that mean that he laid aside his divinity? No, it doesn’t mean that at all. It means that he laid aside his divine rights, that he willingly became like you and I, and constrained by a human form, he who was. Who was worthy of all of heaven’s adoration, instead came down here and had to be potty trained, had to learn how to tie his shoes, had to learn how to walk, had to be exposed to the elements, became hungry, thirsty, had to bleed.

He humbled himself not by what he put off, he humbled himself by what he put on.

Now, in case you don’t understand this, when’s the last time you considered the waitress at the restaurant who brought your meal? When was the last time you thought about that waitress? Him or her? You know, oftentimes they’re the subject of much scorn and ridicule. The coffee’s cold, or my meal isn’t prepared the way I want to. And we give them very little regard because after all, they’re just a servant. But I would add, impress upon you today that before that lady left the house to come and to put on that apron with a name tag on it to bring your food for you to complain about it and to work, and let us leave them a dollar or two on the table.

Before she left her house, she was in the adoring gaze of her husband, and she is the apple of his eye, and she is the most important person in his life. She has a couple of little kids. The sun rises and sets in her mother.

And she’s not just a servant to them.

And she’s not just somebody that’s worth.

A couple of bucks from the bottom of her pocket.

She is their wound. But yet when she puts on the.

Apron, she is simply your servant. That’s what Jesus Christ. That’s what it means by he humbled himself by taking upon him the form of flesh, he became humble in his humanity. We too must be humble.

We too must identify with those people who are lost and dying. We must care enough to get involved in their lives.

We must meet Jesus in his mission.

In John, chapter 1, verse 14, it says the Word became flesh and dwelt not above us, but among us.

How many of you even know anyone that you would identify as a non Christian.

We can do better in that, can’t we? We need to meet some of these people. We need to introduce ourselves. We need to meet Jesus in his mission by identifying with the lost and dying world. Because Jesus himself said in his mission that his mission is a. Is a mission of sacrifice and of service. In Mark 10, verse 45, Jesus. Jesus says even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom. Serve and give. That’s what Jesus came to do. If we’re going to join him in his mission, then we too must lives of sacrificial service for the sake of the lost.

But Jesus was also compassionate in Mark, in his mission.

In Matthew, chapter nine, Jesus went through.

All the cities and villages, teaching in.

Their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, healing every disease, every affliction. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them.

Why?

Because they were harassed and helpless like.

Sheep without a shepherd.

Do you look at a lost and dying world and do you pluck your tongue and you say, I’m so glad I’m not like those people. I’m so glad I’m not like the people that have to go to public school. I’m so glad I’m not like those people with the rainbow flags draped around them, marching through the streets and screaming at the skies. I’m so glad I’m not like them. Or do you have compassion for them? Do you think that they need the gospel and perhaps I’m the one that’ll.

Give it to them? Jesus was compassionate. They’re sheep without a shepherd.

As we must be. In Hebrews, we’re told that we have this great high priest pass through the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God. We don’t have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with us with our weaknesses. But we have one who in every respect has been tempted as we are him without sin. Do we have that kind of compassion? Are we willing to identify and be compassionate for the sake of the lost? He also communicated. Jesus mission was communicated first of all as being the literal word. The divine Word in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He is the expression of God to humanity. He is the Divine Word. But yet that Word must be communicated. And Jesus came and he took on the roads of flesh.

And he endeavored to preach this gospel. In Luke, chapter four, he said to them, I must preach the good news of the kingdom. Of God I must, for I was sent for this purpose. That is him communicating. And Luke 5:32, he says, I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. How do you call? Well, you gotta preach. Jesus said, I come to preach. In Mark, chapter two, Jesus heard them and said, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. I have come to communicate the good news to sinners.

In John 18, verse 37, Jesus standing.

Before Pilate queried him and asked him. He said, so you. You call yourself a king? And Jesus says, you say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born. And for this purpose I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. Jesus communicates the word. And if you and I are going to be conformed into his image and to his mission, we too must communicate that old gospel story. I love to tell the story to those who know it best. Seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest. Tell it to your friends, even the ones that sit by you at Agape Christian Academy. Never be ashamed to tell the gospel. But what about those people who have never heard it before? Tell it to them.

Especially tell it to them. We need to gossip the Gospel.

We need to communicate,

Be conformed into.

His image and join him in his mission.

Finally, Jesus came to save, didn’t he? You and I can’t save anyone.

But Jesus can save anyone.

He can save. From the uttermost to the guttermost. All who call upon the name of.

The Lord will be saved. Amen.

Luke 19, verse 10. Jesus said, the Son of Man attained to seek and to save the lost. We’re going to join him in his mission. We need to seek and save, to seek to save the lost.

John 12, verse 46.

Jesus says, I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to the to judge the world, but to save the world. The world is already under judgment. He has come to shine gospel light, the good news of the kingdom of God.

He’s come to reveal himself. He’s come to save.

If we’re going to meet him, conform into his image and into his mission. We must seek out the lost with this gospel message.

Now, friends, Jesus was sent, he was willing. He left heaven.

He humbled himself by coming to earth. He identified with sinners. He sacrificed and served the lost. He was compassionate toward the lost. He communicated the good news to the lost, and he sought to save the lost.

And if Christ’s mission was to humbly obey the will of the Father, to identify with the plight of lost sinners,

To have compassion on them, to serve them, to sacrifice on their behalf, and to make his salvation known to them,

Then ought not his ambassadors be performing the same?

If you’re going to represent Jesus Christ.

As His ambassadors, ought not you be doing the same thing that Jesus did? John 13, verse 16. Jesus says, the servant is not greater than the Master, nor is the messenger greater than the One who sent him. Let me ask you something. How are you doing on being conformed in the image of Christ and joining him in his mission? Some room to grow. God can help you with your last for boldness, for guidance, for opportunity, for a willing heart. And I would say, let’s pray for those things now. Let’s bow our heads. Father, what a safety we serve.

So willing to leave the splendors of.

Heaven and to come to join us in our plight, to remain unstained by.

Sin.

And to lay down his life to pay the price for our guilt.

Father, where would we be if someone.

Didn’t tell us about the Gospel?

Where would we be if there were.

Not people willing to communicate and to be conformed into Christ’s image by joining him in his mission? We would be lost and on our way to hell. But instead, you have placed someone in our path who told us the good news. Let us reciprocate that generosity. Every one of us emboldened us in the faith not to point some beasts people to church, not to point some.

People to this way of thinking or that way of thinking, but to point.

Them to Jesus Christ, the only hope for sinners. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. The Acts of the Apostles were told that there is no other name under heaven given amongst men, whereby we must be saved. What are we ashamed of? Why are we intimidated? Why are we not more bold? Why do we not meet Jesus and his mission? I pray, Father, that you would provide us with all that we need so that we might truly be ambassadors of Christ. It’s in his name that we pray.

Amen.