I’d be willing to bet that most of us fell into this same predicament. When you’re young you want to be accepted and join in with the crowd. I think we can all relate to that fact. Maybe we all are still a little bit affected by this desire to join in with the crowd. I think we’d have to admit that at many times we continue to conform to the standards of those around us. I mean with the things we buy that go far beyond necessity, and the places we go where money is recklessly spent, and think of the time we spend trying to be entertained rather than being useful for someone in need of our time, I guess it is safe to say that we still are a little bit affected by this desire to join in with the crowd.

Now then, isn’t nice to know that the Apostle Paul was a victim of the same circumstances. Look, in verse 16 of our text, Paul admits that he joined in with the crowd when it came to understanding Christ. He says that he, “once regarded Christ from a worldly point of view.” He wanted to be accepted by his peers—the Pharisees. So, there was a time when Paul had judged Christ by human standards and had set out to eliminate the Christian faith from the world. But not now! Now his standards are different. Now the man whose name he had sought to obliterate is to him the most wonderful person in the world because, in a moment of rude awakening on the Road to Damascus, Jesus had revealed himself to Paul as the Lord of Life. And what is even more important is that Paul now enjoyed the friendship of God the Father which he had longed for all his life.

And Paul’s response to his new relationship with God on account of the death and resurrection of Jesus up in verse 20 where he says, “If anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation.” It’s a whole new way of living. It a whole new set of standards. It’s summed up by saying, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” This is important. It is important to hear that we are “Christ’s ambassadors” because it tells us that Christians need to be different from the crowd. Foreign ambassadors do not blend in with the crowd. Their life is spent among people who usually speak a different language, who have a different tradition, and who follow a different way of life. Paul is saying that the Christian is ALWAYS like that. Christians—young or old—live in the world; they take part in all the life and activities of the world; but they a citizens of heaven. To that extent they are different. Furthermore, when ambassadors speak, their voice is the voice of their country. There are times when Christians must speak out for Christ; their voice brings the message of Christ to the crowd—it IS “as though God were making his appeal through us.” Finally, the honor of a country is in its ambassador’s hands. People watch them and they listen to them; and, yes, they judge their countries by what they see them do and what they hear them say.

So then, how about you here today? Do you sense the awesome responsibility of being Christ’s ambassadors? Do you see that the honor of Christ and of the Church is in your hands as Christ’s ambassadors? It is an awesome responsibility because by every word and every action you can make people think more—or less—of his Church and of God the Father’s message of reconciliation. In the grocery store, people are watching and listening to each other as they go about their day. In the schools, kids are watching and listening to each other as they make their way through the halls. In places of business, associates and clients, employees and employers are watching and listening to each other as deals are made and contracts are sealed. In all of these and many more day-by-day activities, people, yes, many people are watching you and listening to what you say.