Acts 9: You Are Christ's Ambassador Right Where God Has Placed You

Introduction

Raphaël G. begins with a small moment of embarrassment that everyone knows. One Swiss president speaks about joy in a flat monotone; another announces "I can English understand" in an international speech: "the guy is wearing the same jersey as me." You feel the same discomfort when a relative, a boss or a child in front of guests says something strange on your behalf.

"Whether you know it or not, you are an ambassador for a group bigger than yourself." The question is not whether you represent someone, but who you represent, and how. If you are a Christian, you represent your church, Christians in general, and above all Christ.

This message opens a biographical series on the apostle Paul, titled Apostolos, everyday ambassadors. Raphaël G. is convinced that representing Christ is not reserved for "those who hold the microphone" or "those you see on the posters." Paul was a giant of the faith, but he was an ordinary man, of the same nature as you. His life can teach you how to live your own mission.

Message Outline

1. Apostolos, a Political Word Made Christian

Apostolos is a Greek word that gave us the English word apostle. It means one who is sent, a messenger or an ambassador. According to the preacher, it appears about 80 times in the New Testament, most often from Paul's pen.
In the apostles' day, the word had nothing religious about it. It was a political and military term: Rome sent an apostolos to a conquered city, under the emperor's authority, to transform it "so that when the emperor came to the city, he would find the city like Rome."
Corinth, refounded in 44 BC as a Roman colony, originally had no Corinthian columns: it was Rome that imported that architecture, its culture and its language. The same goes for Philippi, in Macedonia.
The first Christians took up this word for those whom Christ sends into the world, not to change the architecture, but the atmosphere of the city, so that when Jesus comes, he will find Geneva "transformed into the image of heaven."
The Lord's Prayer then becomes an apostolic prayer: "Your Kingdom come. Your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth" (Matthew 6:10).

2. Far More Than Twelve Apostles

In Mark 3, Jesus appoints twelve men and gives them the name of apostles, so that they would be with him and so that he could send them out to preach.
In Luke 10, he appoints seventy others and sends them out two by two: "The harvest indeed is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out laborers into his harvest."
The New Testament also names Barnabas, James the brother of Jesus, and Paul's coworkers such as Titus, Silvanus, Timothy, Epaphroditus, Andronicus and Junia, a woman who is also called an apostle.
Paul introduces himself this way in Galatians 1:1: "an apostle (not from men, neither through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father". He was not an apostle in the same sense as the Twelve, but he knew he was sent: "for which I am an ambassador in chains" (Ephesians 6:20).

3. We Are Ambassadors for Christ

In 2 Corinthians 5:17-20, Paul turns to all believers: God reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. In the version the preacher read, verse 20 says: "We are therefore ambassadors for Christ."
What strikes the preacher is the verb: Paul does not say "you will become" or "you will learn to be." He says "we are." "It is a matter of identity. You already are one, whether you are aware of it or not." The only criterion is being reconciled with God.
Francis Chan sums it up this way: mission is not an evangelism program or an activity of the church, it is what defines us. Charles Spurgeon puts it more sharply: "Every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor."
Through conversion, you receive a passport as a citizen of God's kingdom, but you remain on earth. You do not live here as a tourist enjoying the scenery: you are here to represent a kingdom far greater than your own life.
Western Christianity often prefers a faith centered on "my salvation, my peace, my joy." Jon Tyson reminds us that our culture pushes us to live for our own fulfillment, but Jesus invites us to live for a mission bigger than ourselves.

4. Apprentice, Builder, Ambassador

The preacher recalls his church's vision: to lead the people of Geneva, residents and workers of Greater Geneva, to become apprentices of Christ, builders in the community and ambassadors in the city and the culture.
An apprentice of Christ is a person who has chosen to follow Jesus, to live with him day by day, to know him and to become like him.
A builder is an apprentice who shares life with other disciples and invests resources, energy and relationships so that others are built up.
An ambassador is a builder who reflects the heart and culture of the kingdom, committed to the good of those who do not yet know Jesus and bearing witness in deeds and words wherever God has placed them.
What would change in the way you work, with your neighbor, in your family, if you truly lived as an ambassador of reconciliation, from Monday to Saturday?

5. Saul of Tarsus, a Crime Scene

The first time the Bible introduces Saul, it is at the foot of a stoning. The witnesses to Stephen's murder lay their garments "at the feet of a young man named Saul" (Acts 7:58). Saul approves of the killing, then ravages the church, entering houses to throw men and women into prison (Acts 8:1-3).
"I wouldn't be friends with that guy": for the preacher, Saul is at that point a religious extremist, ready to have people killed for not thinking like him.
Saul is his Jewish name, Paul his Roman name: he did not change names, he always carried both. A Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews, he was born in Tarsus in Cilicia, a city strongly marked by Greek culture, and he is a Roman citizen by birth. "An international man. Paul the Genevan," the preacher smiles.
Trained under Gamaliel, one of the most respected theologians of his time, he was born in roughly the same years as Jesus. He was probably in Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion. Anger rose in him until he was breathing "threats and slaughter" (Acts 9:1).
He asks the high priest for letters to arrest the disciples in Damascus. In a way, he gets himself sent out as an apostolos. He believes he is doing God's will. His story is a reminder that we can feel we are doing what God wants and drift completely away from his will.
On the road, a light from heaven surrounds him: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" "Who are you, Lord?" "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting" (Acts 9:3-5). Augustine calls this conversion "the violent capture of a rebellious will."
First lesson: no one is too far from God's grace. If you are praying for a loved one, a friend or a coworker you think will never come to God, "let me tell you that is false."
Second lesson: behind the nice shirts and the good perfumes of Sunday morning, there are sinners who needed grace. If you feel far from God, "welcome to the club." And if you have walked with Jesus for twenty or thirty years, remember where you came from (1 Timothy 1:13-14).

6. Saul Is Sent

Blinded, Saul stays three days without sight, without eating or drinking. The Lord then speaks to Ananias, a disciple in Damascus, and sends him to Straight Street, to Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:9-12).
Ananias objects: he knows all the harm this man has done. The preacher understands him: "Lord, I am ready to do what you ask. Just maybe not him." It was like asking a Jew who had been running from the SS to go and pray for Hitler.
The Lord answers: "Go your way, for he is my chosen vessel to bear my name before the nations and kings, and the children of Israel" (Acts 9:15). Ananias obeys.
He lays his hands on him and says: "Brother Saul, the Lord, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me" (Acts 9:17). Saul, who thought he was sent by the highest Jewish authority, meets an envoy of the highest authority in the universe.
John Stott notes that these were probably the first words Saul heard from a Christian after his conversion: a brotherly welcome, "brother." For Raphaël G., this is what you are called to do for people who do not look like you, who have other ideas, another lifestyle, and even for those you are afraid of. "The church exists for people who are so different from you and me."
Barely converted, Saul preaches Jesus in the synagogues of Damascus (Acts 9:20), then speaks boldly in Jerusalem. There is no in-between stage: what you have received, even if it is little, you can already pass on.
Under threat, he is sent by the brothers to Tarsus (Acts 9:30). Before the nations and kings, he is sent home: his city, his family, his childhood friends, his trade as a tentmaker.
The preacher tells his own story. After earning his theology degree in Montreal, where he served in the youth ministry of the Nouvelle Vie church, he was ready to leave for missions in French-speaking Europe with his wife and their daughter, about ten suitcases and a second child on the way. Through various circumstances, the Lord told them: "You will be my witnesses among your own people." He went back to the architecture firm where he used to work, to an apartment in the neighborhood where he grew up, and to the community where he was converted.

7. Jesus, the Ultimate Ambassador

This message is not "go ahead, be sent and do your best." The ultimate ambassador, the ultimate apostolos, is Jesus Christ.
He came as God's ambassador to us and reconciled us with the Father. He is now our ambassador before God.
"Because he was sent, we can be sent." It is in his footsteps that you can represent him, in his way, to the people right next to you.
The preacher ends by inviting the church to open their hands: "Lord, I am ready. If you want to send me, I want to go, but I will not go alone. I need your Spirit in me," so that the witness is not just words, but a life.

Key Takeaways

Apostolos means one who is sent, an ambassador: a representative who transforms the city so that its king, when he comes, finds it like his kingdom.
Being an ambassador of Christ is not reserved for an elite. If you are reconciled with God, you already are one (2 Corinthians 5:20).
No one is too far from God's grace: Saul the persecutor became Paul the apostle.
Like Ananias, you are called to say "brother" to people very different from you.
Before going far, God often sends you first to your own home, your family, your neighborhood and your workplace. You can go because Jesus was sent first.

Personal Application

Whom do you represent today through your words, your attitudes and your reactions, at work, in your building or online?
Is your faith mostly centered on what God can do for you, or on his mission through you?
For which person have you stopped praying because you think they are too far from God?
Who is your "Saul," the person you would find hardest to approach and call "brother"?
What would change this week if you saw yourself as someone sent by Christ right where you already live?

Verses Quoted

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the Greek word apostolos mean?

Apostolos gave us the English word apostle and means one who is sent, a messenger or an ambassador. In Jesus' day, it was a political and military term: Rome sent an apostolos to a conquered city to transform it, so that the emperor, when he came, would find it like Rome. The first Christians took up this word for those whom Christ sends into the world.

Who is called to be an ambassador of Christ?

For Raphaël G., it is not an elite within the church. In 2 Corinthians 5:20, in the version the preacher read, Paul writes "we are therefore ambassadors for Christ." He does not say we must become one: it is an identity. The only criterion is having been reconciled with God through Jesus Christ.

Why was Saul first sent to Tarsus?

Ananias had learned that Saul would carry the name of Jesus before the nations and kings. Yet in Acts 9:30, the brothers first send him to Tarsus, his own city, to his family and childhood friends. The preacher sees in this a call for every Christian: to be sent first to the place where God has put you.