An Ambassador of Christ is Constrained by the Love of Christ and Serves God in Spirit

An ambassador of Christ is constrained by the love of Christ and has the sole ambition of being pleasing to God, serving God in spirit and in the Body of Christ.

As believers in Christ, we are ambassadors of Christ, those who are determined to be well-pleasing to Christ in all things, being constrained by the love of Christ, and living not by our natural life but by the divine life in all things. Amen!

Paul was an ambassador of Christ, and he is a pattern to us all.

He used to be less than the least among the saints, for he used to persecute the church of God, but the Lord had mercy on him and saved him, and He made him a pattern to all those who believe. What a mercy!

If the Lord could do this in Paul and with Paul, He can also do this in us and with us!

Paul took Christ as his everything; Christ was his living, pattern, goal, and secret.

Christ was his life and his living, and to him to live was Christ. Even when he was in prison, he lived Christ.

He was not depressed or disappointed but rather, he took Christ as his everything, and what came out of him was the ministry of life.

He enjoyed the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ so that even that particular situation, the imprisonment, would turn out to salvation.

We may be down and out, and there may be so many things around us that would cause us to be disappointed and depressed.

We need to take Paul as our pattern in enjoying the Lord, taking Him as our life, our living, our pattern, and our secret.

There is a bountiful supply for us – the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

And there is the supply of the Body of Christ, the petitions in the Body.

May we be those like Paul who are infused with God day by day so that we may shine forth God in our living and in our speaking.

May we allow the Lord to shine in our hearts day by day, and may we be those who are like a mirror, beholding and reflecting the glory of the Lord in our daily experience.

Then, when we behold Him and reflect Him, we will be inwardly transformed and outwardly conformed to His image.

May we remain under the Lord’s shining day by day, beholding the Lord face to face, so that we may be infused with what He is and partake of all His riches. May the shining of His face become our salvation.

When we’re freshly saved by calling on the name of the Lord and beholding Him in prayer and in spirit, we will reflect Him, and we will bring others to be reconciled to God.

Hallelujah, like Paul we were given the ministry of reconciliation so that we may help others be reconciled to God from anything else that is not God!

May we be fully reconciled to God and brought into God, and may we cooperate with the Lord to help others be reconciled to God and be brought fully into God.

An Ambassador of Christ lives by God’s Life, is Constrained by Christ’s Love, and Pleases God

The apostle Paul is our pattern in his being an ambassador of Christ (Eph. 6:20; 2 Cor. 5:18-20).

What is an ambassador? It is one who is authorized by the highest authority of a country to represent them.

What is an ambassador of Christ? An ambassador of Christ is one who represents the highest authority, God Himself.

The highest authority in the whole universe is God, and God has given all authority in heaven and on earth to Christ (Matt. 28:18).

Christ has been appointed by God to be the King of kings and the Lord of lords (1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 17:14).

Today Jesus Christ, the God-man, is the Ruler over all things, the Lord of all, the highest authority in heaven and on earth.

He needs some ambassadors to represent Him. He needs some people on earth who are qualified to represent the highest authority in the universe.

As believers in Christ, we are ambassadors of Christ.

We have been entrusted by God to be His ambassadors on the earth.

We are not merely preachers or teachers but ambassadors of Christ, those who are authorized with the heavenly authority to represent Christ, the highest authority in the universe.

To be an ambassador of Christ is first to realize that we are nothing and can do nothing, and that the life we have by birth is mortal, so it needs to be put to death.

We cannot express God by our natural human life or the efforts of our flesh.

Whatever we have, whatever we are, and whatever is within us is mortal (2 Cor. 5:4); therefore, it needs to be put to death.

Our natural ability, our natural zeal, and everything that is natural need to be put to death, and we need to live by the divine life.

We believers in Christ have been regenerated by God with His life; He has put His life into us, and He is working His life into every part of our inner being little by little, day by day.

Because we have received the Lord Jesus and He lives in us, we possess His eternal divinity, and we need to live by the divine life to be an ambassador of Christ.

We should not live by what we are or what we can do but by the immortal life in our spirit, which is Christ Himself (John 14:6; Col. 3:4; Gal. 2:20)

Because we have His life within us, we need to live by His life, and our ambition is to please Him (v. 9).

An ambassador of a country can be recalled if he does not please the president or ruler of that country; his primary ambition is to please the king, the ruler, or the president of that country.

Our unique ambition is to be well-pleasing to the Lord.

There must be a day in our life when we make the decision, calling the heavens and the earth to be the witnesses, that we are absolutely for Christ, and that our ambition is to please Christ.

We love the Lord, we are constrained by His love, and we want to be well-pleasing to Him.

Like the apostle Paul, we need to be determined to gain the honour of being well-pleasing to Christ in all things (2 Cor. 5:9; Col. 1:10).

Our determination is to please the Lord by living Christ, growing Christ, expressing Christ, and propagating Christ in every respect.

Furthermore, an ambassador of Christ is one who is constrained by Christ’s love to live no longer to himself but to live to the Lord (2 Cor. 5:14-15).

We are those who are constrained by the love of Christ, for we see how much He loved us that He gave Himself up for us; therefore, we live no longer to ourselves but to Him who loved us.

What does it mean to live to the Lord?

To live to the Lord is not only to live for Him but even more, to be under the Lord’s direction and control so that we may fulfil His requirements, satisfy His desires, and complete what He intends.

May we ask the Lord to show us His love and to constrain us with His love.

May we allow the Lord’s dying love to be like the rushing of great waters toward us, impelling us to live to Him beyond our own control.

When we have a vision of the love of Christ toward us, this love will be as strong as a tide of water which overcomes us and carries us away.

We will be flooded by the love of Christ and constrained by His love; we will have no choice but to live to Him and be an ambassador of Christ.

We need to ask the Lord to draw us to Himself and constrain us with His love.

We should not look at our outward situation or inward condition, because we all are in a process and there are many crossroads ahead of us; we should simply ask the Lord to constrain us with His love so that we may live to Him.

An ambassador of Christ does not know others outwardly according to the flesh in the old creation but rather, he knows all men inwardly according to the spirit in the new creation (vv. 16-17; Gal. 6:15).

May we be such ones. May we no longer suffer in the church life because of being buddy-buddy with some saints and therefore creating groups of saints who hang out together with some but not with others.

May we learn to deny the flesh with its preferences and not live according to our natural choices.

May we seek to have companions in the church life, those who love the Lord together, pursue the Lord together and pray together.

When we know others according to the spirit, we will be an ambassador of Christ, representing the Lord in a proper way and expressing Him to others.

May we love one another not with “honey”, our natural preference, but in spirit, with the Lord as our love.

Lord Jesus, thank You for entrusting us to be an ambassador of Christ. Hallelujah, every believer in Christ is authorized by God to represent the highest authority in the universe! Amen, Lord, we want to express You and represent You in our daily living through all that we say and do. We do not want to express ourselves but rather, live by the divine life so that we may express God. We are determined to gain the honour of being well-pleasing to Christ in all things! Amen, Lord, whether at home or abroad, whether in the church life or in the world, our unique ambition is to please God and be well-pleasing to Him! Constrain us more with Your love, dear Lord Jesus! May Your love constrain us and flood us until we give in to You and live to You! We no longer want to live to ourselves but to the Lord! May we be under the Lord’s direction and control, seeking to please Him in all things and to complete what He intends. Amen, Lord, grant us to be proper ambassadors of Christ on earth today, expressing You and representing You with Your authority!

Serve God in our Spirit by Christ, not by our Soul, and Do Everything in the Body

The apostle Paul is our pattern by living and serving God in his regenerated spirit by the indwelling Christ, not by the power of his soul (Rom. 1:9; 7:6; 8:4,16; Gal. 3:3; 5:16, 22-25; 6:8; 2 Cor. 4:5; 1 Cor. 2:15; 2 Cor. 2:13).

In his epistles and in his living we see that, even though he was smart and knew so much in his mind, he did not live according to what he thought nor did he express himself; he lived Christ and served God in his spirit.

We believers in Christ are ambassadors of Christ, and we need to live Christ and serve Him in our mingled spirit.

What does it mean for us to serve God in our spirit?

First of all, we need to realize that God only accepts the service to Him that is done in spirit, for He lives in our spirit, and when we exercise our spirit, we are one with Him.

Christ lives in our spirit, and only Christ in us can serve God; our natural service with our natural zeal is not acceptable to God.

May God be our witness that we serve God in our spirit. May we serve God in spirit by continually exercising our spirit.

This is how we can serve the Lord: by exercising our spirit.

Whenever we’re out of our spirit, we’re disqualified from serving God.

May we exercise ourselves unto godliness so that we may conduct ourselves properly in the house of God.

May we exercise our spirit day by day, in our daily living, and especially in our service to the Lord.

We believers in Christ should not serve God in our soul by the power and ability of the soul, no matter how intelligent, knowledgeable, and capable we are.

Rather, we need to live and serve God in our regenerated spirit by the indwelling Christ, the life-giving Spirit.

May we be spiritual men who sow unto the Spirit to bear the fruit of the Spirit.

If we serve the Lord not in our spirit, we sow unto the flesh, and we will reap corruption.

But if we serve God in spirit, we will sow unto the Spirit, and we will reap eternal life.

May our spirit be strong. May we exercise our spirit and fan our spirit into flame all the time.

It may not be that comfortable for us to exercise our spirit, for by disposition we’re inclined not to exercise our spirit; but we need to force ourselves to exercise our spirit.

Maybe by disposition, we’re a little quiet and we may not be so strong in ourselves, but we need to realize that God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but of power and of love and of sober-mindedness.

We have a spirit of power, strengthening us to live Christ and serve God in our spirit.

May we follow Paul’s pattern and serve God in our spirit.

Furthermore, we need to be Body-conscious, that is, be conscious of the Body and do all things in the Body and for the Body.

We need to be Body-centered, not doing anything apart from the Body but depending on the Body and being in fellowship with the members of the Body (Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:12-27; Eph. 4:1-6, 15-16; Col. 2:19; Acts 28:13-15).

Everything that the apostle did was in the Body, through the Body, and for the Body.

He did all things not for the advancement of his ministry but for the Body of Christ to be built up and the local churches to be established and edified.

He did not want to prove how much he knew and what great revelations God gave him; rather, he did everything in the Body and for the Body, depending on the Body.

May we be those who serve God in our spirit and do everything in the Body, through the Body, and for the Body!

Lord Jesus, we want to serve God in our spirit by exercising our spirit in all things. Amen, Lord, we fan our spirit into flame, for God gave us a spirit of power and of love and of sober mindedness! Praise the Lord for our spirit! We exercise our spirit to contact You, receive You, enjoy You, and serve You. May all our service to God be in our spirit. Save us from trying to serve God in the soul and by our natural man with our natural zeal. Oh Lord, may we serve God in our spirit in the gospel of His Son! And may we live in the Body, for the Body, and through the Body! May we be those who are Body-conscious and Body-centered in our living and our service! We present our body as a living sacrifice to live in the church life and practice the Body life, for this is our reasonable service to God. We love You, Lord Jesus, and we want to serve You in spirit and in the Body!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1967, vol. 2, “An Autobiography of a Person in the Spirit,” ch. 6, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Living and Serving According to God’s Economy Concerning the Church (2023 fall ITERO), week 7, entitled, The Pattern of Paul.
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  – Living for Jesus who died in my place, / Bearing on Calv’ry my sin and disgrace; / Such love constrains me to answer His call, / Follow His leading and give Him my all. / Living for Jesus wherever I am, / Doing each duty in His holy name; / Willing to suffer affliction and loss, / Deeming each trial a part of my cross. (Hymns #456 stanzas 2-3)
  – Now as the new, regenerated man, / We do two things, according to God’s plan: / Bear fruit to God and serve in spirit new / So God becomes the fruit of all we do, / And all we are. (Hymns #1140 stanza 4)