“Ambassadors of Christ”
Luke 10:1-12, 16-20
7/8/2007
You’re all familiar with that phrase,
“Don’t shoot the messenger,” right? Well,
sometimes that’s exactly what we feel like doing. A nurse
calls and tells us that the doctor wants to see us right away about
some test or blood work we’ve had done, but she can’t tell
us anymore than that, or a postal carrier dumps a big bunch of junk
mail and bills into our mailbox, or a substitute teacher dumps a
truckload of homework on us just before the weekend, and as a result we
get angry at these people for doing what they do and saying what they
say. And yet, these people don’t represent themselves but
someone else. They are only messengers sent by somebody else to
deliver to us what they were given to deliver. They’re like
ambassadors, people represent and speak for those who sent them.
From the Gospel text for today, we see that Jesus
chooses ambassadors to represent Him. As the time grew closer for
Him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus began to prepare His disciples for
the work of being His ambassadors - the work of proclaiming repentance
and the forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name to all nations.
He sends them out with instructions: Go! Don't take purse,
bag, or sandals; Don't greet anyone on the way. Bring the peace
of the Lord to the house in which you will stay. Stay in that
house eating and drinking what is given you; Don't go from house to
house. Eat what is given you in a town that welcomes you.
Heal the sick and preach the message that the kingdom of God is near
you. "He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you
rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects Him who sent me."
The apostles were Christ’s ambassadors, sent
out to prepare the people to receive Jesus, sent out with His authority
to deliver to people His words and His gifts - the gifts of peace, of
healing, of forgiveness of sins. These words and gifts would
either be received or rejected. If they were received, the peace
of the Lord would rest on those who received them; if they were
rejected, the peace of the Lord would return to the apostles. The
Lord's words and gifts are still being given out today through the men
the Lord calls into the office of the Holy Ministry. Pastors are
Christ’s ambassadors today, sent to deliver to you His words and
His gifts. These men are sent by the Lord; they come in the name
of the Lord and preach what He has given them to preach and to deliver
the gifts they have been given to deliver. When they do this
faithfully and according to the instructions of their Lord, whoever
listens to them listens to Jesus, and whoever rejects them rejects
Jesus and the Father who sent Him.
The Father sent Jesus to give His life as a ransom
for your sins. Jesus did what was given Him to do when He shed
His blood on the cross of Calvary. His work was finished on the
cross. The Father set His stamp of approval on Christ's work when
He raised Him from the dead on the third day. The resurrected
Christ then told His disciples that this is what was written in the
Scriptures, that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the
third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins would be
preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. In
order that the work of Jesus might not be lost in history, the office
of the Holy Ministry was instituted by God, that through the message of
the Gospel, people might be brought into His kingdom. And
that’s the office that pastors hold as Christ’s ambassadors.
But pastors aren’t the only ambassadors of
Christ. You who belong to Christ are His ambassadors also in this
world. Because Jesus, the Light of the world, dwells in you, you
are also the light of the world, bringing the Gospel about Jesus Christ
crucified to those who still dwell in darkness. God uses pastors
to deliver His Word and His gifts to His people in a public way; God
uses you where you are in your various vocations to deliver His Word
and His gifts to your neighbors, co-workers, family members, and
friends.
God's will is that all be saved and come to a
knowledge of Jesus, crucified and risen from the dead for our
salvation. Jesus is the Savior of all. He paid for all our
sins and the sins of the whole world through His death on the
cross. With the shedding of His blood the world has been
reconciled to God. The message He puts into the mouths of His
ambassadors is the message of reconciliation, as St. Paul says, "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. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us,
so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."
The Lord sends His ambassadors into His harvest
field - the world. They bring Jesus and His gifts with them into
this field, in order to gather in the Lord's harvest - all those who
receive the message and gifts which the Lord’s ambassadors
bring. The harvest is already plentiful, says the Lord.
Again, the whole world has been redeemed by Christ. The workers
do nothing to produce the harvest. They are only sent to gather
in what the Lord has produced. The Lord is the one who causes the
growth in His kingdom. All the praise belongs to Him alone,
because He is really the One who’s doing the work. He only
uses ambassadors as His instruments. Why He decides to use sinful
people rather than do it by Himself or send His angels to do it, we
don't know. All we know is that this is the way the Lord does it,
and His way is best.
Now, there are two responses which the Lord’s
ambassadors will encounter as they bring the Lord's words and His gifts
to people: Either they will be accepted or they will be
rejected. They don't have to worry, however, about which response
they will encounter. They are simply to proclaim what the Lord
has given them to proclaim regardless. Rejection will not hurt
them. The peace they give will simply return to them. Yet
the gifts of the Lord which were meant to be beneficial will become
means of judgment upon the people who reject them. The message
remains the same: The kingdom of God is near. But near now
is the judgment of God as it was with the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah,
which were consumed by fire and brimstone from heaven.
But when the words and gifts of the Lord which His
ambassadors bring are received, they bring His peace and His
kingdom. Here in this house, where we are gathered around
God’s Word and Sacraments, His words and gifts are being given
out to you through the preaching of His Gospel, through Holy Baptism,
through Holy Absolution, and through His Holy Supper. That is
what I, your pastor, have been sent to do - to deliver to you
God’s Word and His gifts. Here you are simply on the
receiving end of the words and gifts of the Lord. When you
receive these gifts by faith, they work peace with God and the
forgiveness of your sins in you. Having received these gifts,
then you may deliver these gifts to those around you, telling others
the Gospel about Jesus, bringing them to Church, where they might be
baptized and brought into table fellowship with us, receiving the body
and blood of Christ in His Holy Supper for the forgiveness of
sins. Here in the Gospel text today we see that when the words
and gifts of the Lord have their way with those who listen to
Christ’s ambassadors, they share together in the peace of the
Lord and in table fellowship with Him and His people.
In addition to this, when the words and gifts of the
Lord have their way in our lives, then the kingdom of the devil is
overthrown. When these 72 ambassadors returned from their
mission, they reported to the Lord how even the demons were subject to
them in Christ's name. And the Lord replied, "I saw Satan fall
like lightning from heaven..." In the hymn 'A Mighty Fortress is
our God,' the third verse reads: "Though devils all the world
should fill, all eager to devour us, we tremble not, we fear no
ill. They shall not overpower us. This world's prince may
still scowl fierce as he will. He can harm us none. He's
judged; the deed is done. One little word can fell him."
That little word is the Gospel.
The Word of the Gospel doesn't seem to be a very
strong word. It's a word cloaked in weakness, because it preaches
the forgiveness of sins through the cross of Christ. But it was
through the weakness of the cross that Christ defeated the devil.
He didn't defeat the devil in a show of glory, but His glory was hidden
under His sufferings. Jesus looked weak when He walked this
earth. He suffered persecution and shame and finally an agonizing
death. His ambassadors, too, are promised that they will suffer
persecution and rejection, just as their Lord. You and I must
suffer the scorn and hatred of the world for preaching Christ and Him
crucified, which is foolishness to people. We are fools for
Christ's sake. And yet it's through the foolishness of this
message that people are brought into the kingdom of God, where God
rules us by His mercy and we live under His grace in Jesus
Christ. The Gospel is God's power for the salvation of everyone
who believes in Jesus as their Savior. Sin, death, hell, the
devil cannot stand where this Word takes hold in people's lives.
And so we are taught to pray, "Thy kingdom
come." How is this done? the Catechism asks. "When our
Father in heaven gives us His Holy Spirit so that by His grace we
believe His holy Word and lead a godly life, here in time and hereafter
in eternity." When you believe God's Word and live godly lives by
the power of God's Holy Spirit, you show that you are citizens of
God’s kingdom. But you make the world your enemy, and you
will suffer for your faith and for doing what is good. But when
that happens, consider yourselves blessed, as Jesus says, because the
Spirit of God rests upon you. He will cause you to stand firm in
the face of rejection. And so the Apostle Peter writes, "Always
be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the
reason for the hope that you have."
"If God is for us, who can be against us?" writes
the Apostle Paul. The Lord goes with you; He goes with His Word
and His gifts. It is He who is at work through these means
bringing you to faith in Jesus, strengthening you in that faith and
working in you perseverance. He sends you out into His field as
His ambassadors. He sends pastors out to give His Word and His
gifts to people. He sends you out with that Word and those gifts
into whatever vocation He has given you to be instruments for expanding
His kingdom. There you may deliver the message of the forgiveness
of sins and peace with God in Jesus Christ as His ambassadors.
The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Let us pray
that the Lord of the harvest would send workers/ambassadors into His
field, the field which He purchased with His own blood. Amen.