I am not sure there is a better set of verses that illustrate the need to speak about Jesus than 2 Corinthians 5:20-21. In these verses, Paul uses ambassadorship to illustrate our extraordinary responsibility of representing the kingdom of God to the citizens of this world. He writes:
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
As ambassadors we are God’s heralds of His good news message. This message must be delivered accurately, without changing or watering down its content. As ambassadors, our very being revolves around this message regardless of the discomfort it may cause or the effort it might take to share. The Gospel and its message of reconciliation has changed our citizenship and our purpose. As citizens of God’s kingdom, we now represent Him in this world and are tasked with the joy of sharing an invitation to repent and believe. The good news message says that despite our sinful rebellion God sent Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us so we might be made right. He took the punishment that every person rightfully deserved by dying on the cross and established His victory over sin and death by rising from the dead. By repenting (turning from our sin) and believing (trusting in Jesus’ finished work on the cross) we are restored to a right relationship with our Creator. He becomes our Father and King!
So, how are you doing with this representative responsibility? Anything but a faithful, consistent, compassionate appeal on behalf of our King should be considered worrisome. Why? It calls into question the genuineness of our salvation. The words of Jesus in Matthew 10:32-33 should be sobering to us all:
So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
The profession of our faith must coincide with the practice of our faith. So, let us never be “ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom 1:16)!
Acts 1:8 (ESV) – “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”