“I planted, Apollos watered, and God gave the increase”

1 Corinthians 3:6

We often sing the words “I know not how the Spirit moves, Convincing men of sin, Revealing Jesus through the Word, Creating faith in Him.” We can look to the Bible to see how God creates saving faith through the Word through His ambassadors.

We see some things which are necessary for a sinner to be saved. The first need is man’s sinfulness which is in abundance (Romans 3:23). We are aware of the superabundance of God’s grace displayed in Christ and taught in the Bible (Titus 3:5-11). We also know that “Without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that would come to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). But how does that faith come? The Bible teaches us that there is the need of a messenger to connect the sinner to the soul-saving message.

This component of the salvation process cannot be overlooked. The great evangelist Paul understood that preaching was the greatest need of mankind and wrote, “For seeing that in the wisdom o fGod the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe.” (1 Corinthians 1:21).

This is why Christians are described as ambassadors of Christ. An ambassador is “a person who acts as a representative or promoter of a specified activity.” 2 Corinthians 5:20 says that “we are ambassadors on behalf of Christ” Paul said he was “an ambassador in chains” (Ephesians 6:20).

This privileged position is why we must take evangelism so seriously. Christians get to connect men to God! What a blessing! What a blessing we could be to those around us! Paul exemplified this lifestyle for us all. He wrote to Timothy “The things which thou hast heard in the presence of many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2).

Christians, it is time to take up our role of ambassador of Christ. “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:19-20).

D. L. DeBord