You Are Sent…To Do What?

6 · Alcantar surveys four common Christian postures toward culture—conquering, separating, integrating, and ignoring—and acknowledges that each contains scriptural elements

That's why it's hard. Second, though, what flags does the church aim for? Okay, what's the solution in the midst of all this? That's why it's hard. But what are we actually aiming for? Well, I can't summarize every approach, but I just want to give you the lay of the land in terms of what people are saying, how the church is responding to this. Here's some flags the church is aiming for tends to aim for first is conquering, right. This is the approach of militant Christianity that believes our job is to conquer the culture. To take over, to take no prisoners. I actually saw a pastor, a leader, using that language, we're going to take no prisoners. And you're like, what does that mean? Is this pirates? We're christian pirates. It sounds actually kind of awesome. But the approach is we should meet the culture, match the culture and overcome the culture, overcome the world, overcome the city. In the fields of politics and in creativity and business, we're going to put our stamp on this place. Conquest. Second, separate. That's the other impulse. Separate. This is a Christianity that warns about all the world's dangers, critiques the culture, but does it from behind high walls of separation. The approach is we want to get as far away from the rot in our world, in our culture, in our city. We want to get as far away from the evil as possible. We want to protect ourselves and our kids. We're going to batten down the hatches and make sure nothing gets across. Pull up the drawbridge, man. That's what time it is. Separate. Third approach, integrate now. This is the Christianity that says, no, no, no, no. Stop conquering. Stop trying to separate. We need to integrate. We need to be right in the thick of things. We need to have churches that show the world around us that we're relevant. We need to show the world around us that we can meet the needs that they have. It can look like anything from churches that are instagram worthy with fashionable pasture wardrobes. We don't have any of those guys. To social justice warriors who are like, yeah, we should be leading marches and charges to everything in between. We're going to integrate. We're going to be known and loved in the culture. And last, fourth, maybe this is where you are. Ignore. Just ignore. This is Christianity that just says, put your head down, do your work, ignore everything. Follow Jesus as best you can. Wait for him to come back and pray it soon. Now, as I went through that, you probably found yourself agreeing with at least one of these approaches, and you should, because all of them have some scriptural truth to them. We should be separate from the world. Think of one, John two, do not love the world or the things in the world. We should work hard in the midst of being in exile in the pagan cities around us. See Jeremiah 29 seven. We should work to aggressively advance the cause of Christ and go and make disciples forcefully in all nations. And we should. First, thessalonians reminds us, mind our own business and work quiet and dignified lives. Right? Those are all things the Bible says. And so I think what we lack is a moment where it's like we're not sure where we're supposed to be aiming. It's like we've got too many flags on the field. Are we supposed to go over there? Am I supposed to aim here? Where am I going?

7 · Alcantar returns to the primary text and argues that Acts' seemingly weak ending—Paul under house arrest—is actually Luke's intentional paradigm for the church

So here's what I wanna offer. One flag that I think integrates all of these in scriptural synthesis. Third, why is ambassador what we're aiming for? I think the terminology of ambassador gives us what we are aiming for and pulls together the various threads of scripture. And I think we can see it in acts 28. Look again at acts 28, 30, and 31. Paul lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. Now notice what Paul is doing. And notice how Luke ends the letter of. I mean, the. The history of acts. Remember Luke, acts is a two part history of Jesus and his church. And this is the ending. Now, if I was writing the book of acts, this would not be my ending, right? You get in acts one, go to Judea, be witnesses in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth, and you're like, yeah, let's do it. And the church is advancing the whole time. And the book ends with a guy under house arrest having dinners. The end. And you're thinking, how is that the ending? Right? This is not a good ending, is it? Mission seems to be stifled and unfulfilled. Yet actually, I think this ending is beautiful and profound if we have eyes to see it. It is relentlessly realistic and relentlessly optimistic. And here's what I mean by that. It is relentlessly realistic because it's saying, look, church, this is what you can expect. This is what success looks like. And it is relentlessly optimistic because it says, look, this is glorious and amazing.

8 · Alcantar cites Holcomb to establish that Acts' ending is not closure but invitation—Paul hands the mission to the church

Justin Holcomb, commenting on this passage, says this. Luke ends his account on a note of triumph, showing Paul in the capital of the world as he preaches the gospel without hindrance to all who will hear it. In its early form, Jesus has fulfilled his promise. From acts one, the message of salvation has begun to reach the end of the earth. And because God has proven faithful to bring his gospel to Rome, we can trust that he will continue to spread it abroad. Now, this is then, brothers and sisters, what it looks like for the church to be the church. This is what it looks like for the church to conquer. This is what it looks like for the church to refuse to capitulate or be kind of subsumed into the world and to maintain its identity. This is what it looks like for the church to be in the heart of the city and the culture, and this is what it looks like for a Christian to just put their head down and do good work where the Lord has placed them. This is what Paul is doing. Justin Holcomb continues, acts is intentionally open ended, inviting our participation in God's mission. So notice it's not just saying, hey, this is what Paul did. Isn't that cool? That's good. Let's give him a golf clap. Golf club. What is up with golf club? But, you know, golf clap Paul. Hey, good job. That's not a bad shot. No, he's saying, listen, Paul walks off the field and hands you the clubs. That's the end of acts. Like, well, my part's done. Here you go. Like I what? Like, yep. I hope you've been practicing. Hope you've been keeping track. Hope you've been watching. Here you go. That's the end of acts, inviting our participation in God's mission as he overcomes opposition to bring his word of forgiveness to all people. The gospel of Jesus Christ goes from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, not without trouble, but without hindrance. God's purposes will have their way. The book of acts tells the story of Jesus building his church by his grace and gives us confidence that he will continue to build it until he returns. So Paul hands us the clubs, in a sense, with the confidence that the final score has already been written down. Right. That is. That's the feel of the book of acts.

9 · Alcantar introduces the controlling metaphor by showing that Paul not only functions as an ambassador but explicitly identifies himself as one in 2 Corinthians 5:20

Now, that term, though, how would you summarize the way Paul is relating to the city around him? Well, I would say he's functioning like an ambassador. And he's not just functioning like an ambassador. Paul explicitly says in two corinthians 520 that he sees himself as an ambassador. Second Corinthians 520, therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. God making his appeal through us. We implore you, on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to goddess.

10 · Alcantar defines ambassadorial identity using Ortland: an ambassador represents a higher authority with the expectation that responses to the message are responses to the ruler himself

Now, Dane Ortland again writes of this particular verse of this term, ambassador. To be an ambassador is to operate as a representative on behalf of a higher authority, bringing that ruler's message on that ruler's authority and justly expecting a response as if the ruler himself were present. This is what legates would have done on behalf of the emperor in Paul's day, and it is what national ambassadors do in today's world. And this is what bearers of the gospel do on Christ's behalf. So what Paul does, essentially, is he gets confined to this one house in Rome and he says, this will do nicely. Puts the flag of Christ up and opens an embassy.

11 · Extended personal illustration using a consular officer couple from the church who served in Ciudad Juarez

Now, our church got a front row seat to this a number of years ago when we had a couple where the husband of the couple had been for a number of years a consular officer with the us embassy. They'd served in a number of contexts throughout the world, and he was assigned to the embassy in Sudar Juarez. Now, it meant that we got a crash course in what it looked like to be a representative and to be attached to an embassy. To be a consular officer. We learned all kinds of interesting things. We got to see how they lived. One of the amazing things is I was an idiot, right? So I'm like, hey, well, why do you, if you're, you know, if you come into church here, why don't you just live in El Paso? Why do you have to live in Juarez? And he kind of just looked at me and he goes, well, that's my job. I was like, well, but you can like, go to work. And he just was looking at me, like, shaking his head, going, yeah, you don't get it. Like. And here's what I began to learn. Being a consular officer in a foreign context is not a part time job, it is a full time job. Okay? Meaning this, during the day, he's processing paperwork, he's doing all kinds of things on behalf of the us government. But here's what they emphasize to those who are consular officers. When you leave the embassy, you are still a representative of the United States, right? So if you go out there and cut somebody off with your consular officer car, they're gonna be like, man, America's the worst, right? Like, you represent those things. If you're out at a restaurant and you reflect poorly on your kingdom and country, that gets back, right? It wasn't just, okay, I clock in and clock out in a similar way. Christians don't clock in and clock out either. We're not as though like, great, I clock in at church and I clock out and then I'm back living the way I want. No, we represent Christ all the time. And the other thing that we learned is that to be a consular officer, to be attached to an embassy, was unique in all the vocations, because embassies function very uniquely in any organization and any other business or building you'd ever see. So embassies mean when an embassy is declared and the land for the embassy is given to a country, the embassy is notice, this is american soil in a foreign country. It's not as though Mexico is like, hey, you can use this and you can build a building on it. No, Mexico is like, that plot of land is America. So if you notice this, wherever in the world, like, if there's a movie where somebody's like, if I can make it to the embassy, and then they make it through the gates of the embassy, and they're saved, and you're like, why does that work? Because they made it to America. That is America. Same thing with other foreign governments. And so what I realized is, oh, it's not as though he's doing a job in Juarez representing America, but walking in and out of enormous office building, he's leaving and entering the territory of the United States all the time. And here's the last thing I learned. He loved the city of Ciudad Juarez. Like, if you're from Juarez, you should know that this family loved your town. They had favorite restaurants. They had favorite places to go. They had friends that they began to have in Juarez. They cared about Juarez. They cared about Mexico. They had a heart for those people. It wasn't always like, well, whatever, we're american. We don't care about that guy, my neighbor right there. We don't care about him. You know, is he american? I don't care about him. He was like, no. Mandez. Love this guy. Love that guy. Love this restaurant. You know, the embassy would sponsor cultural events which I didn't know would happen at times. And you got to see, okay, all of these things we see with the apostle Paul, they're all functioning in this family's life. They are distinctly american. In another place, they are representing their kingdom and country, but they are doing good to that place. Their doors are open to anyone who wants to come and talk to them. They are, in a sense, a tiny representation and glimmer of the entire country on foreign soil.

12 · Alcantar connects the illustration back to Acts 28, showing that Paul's house arrest is not defeat but the establishment of an embassy in the capital of the empire

That is what Paul is doing in acts chapter 28. He's saying right here, this place, these four walls, they are going to become an embassy of the kingdom of Christ in the very heart of the roman empire. Now do you see why acts chapter 28 is a good ending? Cause it ends not with defeat, but with our foremost apostle and leader establishing a presence, an embassy in the heart of the roman empire. Right? That is what's going on.

13 · Alcantar reinforces God's sovereign missional strategy: God chose human ambassadors, not skywriting, as the channel for the gospel

again. Ortland makes one more note here. He says, God is speaking his word of reconciliation to the world, and he does so not through a heavenly loudspeaker or microphone, but through another channel, us. Do you ever see this? This is God's strategy. This is what he has determined to do. God could have just used skywriting, right? He could just got a bunch of planes and like, hey, I'm going to start writing the Bible across the sky. That's not what he chose to do. Instead, his missional strategy in the world that he launches the church into is that we would be ambassadors and establish embassies in Judea and in Samaria and to the ends of the earth. That is what God is doing through the church. And so that is how we should see ourselves. And it begins to change everything. We are ambassadors. The church is our embassy. Our kingdom is the kingdom of Christ. Our ruler is king Jesus.

14 · Alcantar signals a structural shift to the final section: practical training for ambassadorial life

So then, fourth and last, and very briefly, what does it look like to be a good ambassador? I think we could also use some help. Now that you have a job, you probably need to get trained for that. A great thing about being a consular officer is they train you. You don't have to know anything about it. You're like, I don't even speak that language. It's all right, we'll teach you. You're like, really? Okay. Like, that was his life. Like, hey, we're sending you to Brazil. Awesome. I don't speak Portuguese. Not a problem. We got you, right? That's just. That's the way the consular office functions. In a similar way, when we become part of Christ's family, when we join, we're given the badge and then given the training. So here's the training. What does it look like to become a good ambassador for Christ? Well, I'm going to give you five very brief tensions that help guide us. Now, if you've ever built something, you know that you use a chalk line. Does anybody use a chalk line to build something? I know those are, like, old school because we use laser levelers now. They're just like. But it takes all the fun out of it. But the chalk line, right? Is that is that thing. And you'd snap it. So you set a straight line. And so you don't want the building's wall to do this. You want the building's wall to be straight. And so the tension is what keeps it straight. And so these are five tensions that keep us aimed in the right direction as ambassadors.

15 · First tension: ambassadors should expect both costly opposition and providential opportunities

The first is this. Our expectations as ambassadors will be that we face costly opposition and we'll have providential opportunities. You see both of these in Paul. Paul is not surprised that he's under house arrest. He's not surprised he's about to be on trial. He expects it right? He does not see it as a cause for panic. I think for too many of us as christians, anytime the world does something to oppose us, we go and, like, clutch our pearls. Can you believe it? They don't like us. And Paul's like, yeah, no, they didn't like Jesus either. Right. This is our expectation. We will face costly opposition, but that in that opposition, God will make a way for providential opportunities. Do you see what, do you see what Rome has done? They have arrested Paul because he's appealed to Caesar and have given him an all expenses paid trip to the heart of the roman empire and then created a whole social buzz around him so that everyone wants to come talk to him. And Paul goes, this is perfect, right? The costly opposition actually ends up being a providential opportunity. And similarly, we should expect that God will give us providential opportunities. We will not expect that the road in front of us will be easy, but we do expect that Christ will go before us making and creating providential opportunities and platforms for us to share the gospel.

16 · Second tension: ambassadors are not of the city but are in the heart of the city

Second, our position. How are we positioned relative to the city around us? Well, we are not in the city, but we are in the heart of the city. No, we're not the city. Rather, Paul is distinctly different. He is a pharisee who is not a pharisee, or at least not a normal one. He is a roman citizen who's not a roman citizen, or at least not a normal one. He is this new distinct thing, which is why I think everybody wanted to come see him. Like, what is up with this guy? Super trained Pharisee, super, probably wealthy family, has roman citizenship, and yet he's all about this guy, Jesus, who died. What is that? He is not of the people that he is in the midst of, and yet he is right there in the heart of the city. He didn't withdraw as a monk and set up a tiny monastery. He rather is like, yep, I'm in the city. Providentially, I'm going to see this as an opportunity.

17 · Third tension: ambassadors practice generous hospitality and unapologetic boldness

Third, his posture, our posture as ambassadors, is generous hospitality and unapologetic boldness. Notice that Paul welcomed all who would come to him. Right? The door of the Christian should be open to all. Our tables should, like Paul's, be filled with sinners and questioners and hostile folks that are just coming to see what we think so they can make fun of us. Paul is like, perfect. Come on in. Right. Generous, costly hospitality and unapologetic boldness. Paul is not timid or accommodating to the world. He's not tiptoeing around things when people come to hear him. His hospitality did not mean that he lacked boldness. Rather, he. If you could say it this way, he never missed an opportunity to grab the microphone and talk about Jesus. There's this great section earlier in acts where he's in front of a ruler and Paul is on trial. But by the. And they asked Paul, hey, give a defense. And by the end of Paul's defense, he's trying to convert his judge. And the judge goes, in such a short time, are you trying to convert me? And Paul's like, yep, right? All of a sudden, the table flips. They think Paul's on trial. Paul's like, nope, you're on trial of the court of heaven, and I'm trying to help you out here. And here's good news. And they're like, what? Who is this guy? Generous hospitality, unapologetic boldness.

18 · Fourth and fifth tensions combined: ambassadors both herald the kingdom and instruct about Christ, and their message is the kingdom of Christ and Christ himself

Fourth, what is he doing? He's heralding the kingdom and he's instructing about Christ. Heralding and instructing. These two words are distinct for a reason. He's proclaiming, your translation may say, meaning that he just. He shows up like a herald and announces, this is the way it is. This is truth. And I think, rightly, christians should not be ashamed of saying, this is the truth. I think of Billy Graham preaching for years where he would always. You remember that famous phrase he would always say in his southern accent, the Bible says, right. And I always thought, like, why does he do that? Constantly? He's talking to people who may not even believe in the Bible. And he's like, I don't care. That's what it says. That's the truth, and I'm going to say it right. That's what Paul is doing. He's heralding. But then he's also instructing. He's teaching. He's like a teacher who knows when he shows up the first day of class, we're not ready for the end of term exam. Okay? Like, nobody's showing up and going like, great. Welcome to Calculus. Here's the final exam. No, he's like, okay, where are you? How much have you learned? I'm going to help you week after week, and we're going to make our way over here. That is what Paul is doing. Every single person that comes to see him, he goes, great. What do you know? What's your worldview? Where are you starting? Let me help you get from where you are over to Christ in his kingdom. That's what Paul's doing last. His message is the kingdom of Christ and Christ himself. Beautiful, glorious, right? The kingdom of Christ is what he proclaims. He says, look, this is what the kingdom looks like. And the kingdom of Christ has come already in the hearts of those who have come to Christ. So, like, the first embassy really is the heart of every Christian that becomes an outpost of the kingdom of Christ. But then he says, listen, this is what the kingdom of Christ looks like. This is what christian marriage looks like in the kingdom, and christian parenting looks like in the kingdom, and christian work looks like in the kingdom, and christian conflict resolution looks like in the kingdom. Right? That's actually what we're doing with what we shared earlier a few moments ago. Right? Becky is helping us see, this is what marriage looks like in the kingdom of Christ. Not perfectly, but a glimpse of it. This is what John is saying. John is saying, this is what raising kids and discipling them looks like in the kingdom of Christ as best we can to give a glimpse of that heavenly kingdom. That is what Paul is saying. This is what it looks like. He's given a whole worldview, and he's tying it to the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is the thing, as he says in one corinthians 15 of first importance. Jesus is the doorway into the christian life. He is the pathway of the christian life. Following him is the ultimate aim of every ambassador of Jesus. And so Paul is not shy about it. He says it again and again and again in every letter, in every place, in essentially every chapter of his writing in the New Testament. This is what matters. Jesus Christ, he died for us. He was crucified for us. He rose for us. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. That is what he proclaims over and over and over. Cause he knows that every single person that walks through his door walks through the door of the embassy. What do they need? They may start in different places, but what they need most is the person of Christ and to be welcomed into his kingdom, that's what he gives everybody. He doesn't change the message based on who walks in. He helps them understand. But he says, you need a king and a kingdom. Here they are. It's beautiful. It's glorious.

19 · Alcantar applies ambassadorial identity to specific life contexts: parenting, work, coaching, marriage

So then what does it look like for us to live as christians? What does it look like to have a flag that we're aiming at? It looks like remembering that we are ambassadors for Christ, and the church is our embassy, and we want to do all we can to be faithful representatives of who the Lord is. Now, what that does, friends, is that changes everything in your life. It's a simple concept, but it changes everything because you may find yourself in parenting in the midst of parenting small kids, and you're like, ah, what are we doing? And which, if somebody asked you what's your goal? You'd say, to survive. That's my goal right now, Bob. Survival. Okay. The question then becomes, you're an ambassador in a foreign land. What does it look like to raise your kids faithfully, to know their king and know their country? Right? That's your real task. It's not just sleep training, it's that that's your task. Or maybe you're struggling in your job and you're like, man, I don't know what to do. And I feel like I have no sense of direction and I'm wondering if I should change careers. Like, well, maybe you should, but think about that. As an ambassador, what gives you the best chance of representing King Jesus and his kingdom in the time you have, right? How do you coach your kid's soccer team as an ambassador? How do you live as an employee or a husband or a wife? As an ambassador? It changes everything that we do. And the commission of Christ should weigh heavily on us.

20 · Alcantar returns to the consular officer illustration, focusing on the commission plaque

Last story. One of the things I loved about our couple, who was, who were consular officers, and I'm not using their name partially for their safety, was they invited us over for dinner a couple times to their home in Seattle, Juarez, which is just great. It was great to see all their mementos. He went into the husband's office, he had all these mementos from all these places in the world. But he had one memento in particular. It wasn't really memento. It was one plaque in particular that intrigued me. And it was the only plaque that had, over the top of it written, the president of the United States. And then had the presidential seal. And so I was like, yeah, I don't care about the Brazil thing. What is that? Do you have a letter from the president? And he's like, oh, yeah, yeah, come look at it. So I go and I see it, and I didn't realize this, but every consular officer has a commission from the president basically saying, we authorize this person as a representative, give them all the rights and privileges of a representative of the United States. We confer all of this on them. It has like, all this fancy language, and then it's signed by the president and the secretary of state and then has a presidential seal on it. And it was just like, next to his home office desk. And I thought, man, I think I would work real differently if I had, like, the president and secretary of state peaking over my shoulder, right? And I'm emailing like, ah, whatever, I'm just gonna throw this in there. And then you look over at the plaque, like, maybe I'll. Maybe I'll revise this one time. You know, like, you know, it begins to weigh on everything you do. You sit down to work, man. What does it look like to be commissioned again, the president? Doesn't matter. It's the country. It's the weight of the nation, the kingdom, the homeland that weighs upon you as you work. That weighed on him. And so he would close his laptop and walk out onto the streets, remembering, feeling the weight of that commission to represent a country and a kingdom to people who may never see it. That's what he felt.

21 · Alcantar closes by drawing the parallel: Christians have a commission from the King

And, brothers and sisters, that's what we should feel. It should simultaneously be the most encouraging and the most sobering reality we live under. Encouraging, because we're not just living life. We're not just trying to survive. We have a commission from the king to represent the kingdom of Christ, in part that we will all live in one day, that is establishing outposts and embassies in every corner of the earth. And the Lord has invited us to be part of that. I mean, that's glorious work. That changes the way you think about everything, doesn't it? But it's also profoundly sobering. Cause it means, well, if you're a student, represent the king well. If you're a married couple, represent the king well. If you're a neighbor, represent the king well. And so may we live, as it were, with the commission of Christ staring down on us, that we'd both be encouraged and sobered and have a clear flag that we're aiming for, that we are ambassadors of Christ, him making his appeal through us.