The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

2 Corinthians 5:20-21, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

A man I knew years ago in Australia, founded and organized a Christian group called “Ambassadors for Christ.” It was dedicated to evangelism and the growth in Christ of those who embraced the Gospel. Believe it or not, I met one of their Ambassadors in India!

When I was a kid, the Southern Baptists had a boys’ organization called “Royal Ambassadors.” I’ve forgotten a lot of that now, but some passages of Scripture –passages we were then required to memorize—still bring to mind that organization and what it was designed to accomplish in our lives. What I fear was missing is what is missing in all of our lives today; namely, the begging, entreating of the lost, to be reconciled to God through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Ancient history tells us of parents who gave their children in human sacrifice to gods that did not exist! (Only today in church, a man seated in front of me, held a precious little baby. I reached up and put my finger in its little hand. It looked at me only briefly, but I cannot conceive of parents giving the life of their child in human sacrifice!) Yet, that is precisely what God our Father did with His Son, Jesus!!

Jesus had never known sin! Oh, He knew what sin was, and He knew it existed in mankind; but, until He went to the Cross, He had never known sin in so intimate way. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed fervently, “Father, if it be Thy will, let this cup pass from Me.” He was not afraid to die. He knew from where He had come; and He knew where He was returning after His resurrection from the dead. It was “becoming sin” that He abhorred! He had witnessed the awfulness of sin in the lives of others. He knew sin’s power! Yet, His prayer, “…not My will, but Thine be done,” indicated His willingness to become what was loathsome to His divine nature, in order that those whose lives were saturated with sin, might freely be made “the righteousness of God!” Oh, what LOVE!!!

It is that LOVE that compels us to witness to others! It is that LOVE that transforms the lives of the lost into what God the Father desires them to be. Jesus, at 33 years of age, became His Father’s human sacrifice on the cruelest of executions ever known to man! In that execution, Christ’s blood was intentionally shed because “without the shedding of blood (HIS Blood!) there is no remission –no forgiveness—of sin” (Heb. 9:22).

Think of the privilege we have! We are the Father’s Ambassadors to the World-at-Large! Ambassadors that witness to who Christ Jesus is and what He has done for us, enabling us to be forgiven of our inherited sin from the first man, Adam! Have you enabled your inheritance? You can be forgiven of all sin! Simply repent. Tell the LORD you are sorry for your sin and that you want Him to forgive you. He will. He lives for that very privilege. Are you then exercising your privilege as a believer? Are you sharing the witness of Christ with those who are lost like you were? Think of this: to fail to witness to the lost is tantamount to offering them as human sacrifices to an evil, pagan, lifeless god! If that doesn’t stir you spirit….may God help you!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”