1 Timothy 3:14-16
Introduction
Embassies exist to help travelers from the country they represent, and they provide a significant number of services. United States embassies help Americans with all kinds of things from replacing a passport to alerting people about dangerous situations to finding a missing loved one. Embassy officials smooth out the path so that American citizens can avoid unnecessary obstacles and difficulties. The embassy’s mission is to serve.
The church is like an embassy. It is the entity throughout history that represents God and has a mission to serve God’s kingdom agenda. The church is also vitally important because it holds the truth and is the repository of truth where God’s value system is stored. Christians come together as a church and as the family of God to learn God’s truth, so we can live it out and proclaim it to the world. Without the church, the world has no representative for truth—no one to speak on the side of truth. It’s no wonder we see so much evil, destruction and distorted thinking in the world when the church does not speak up. How can the world recognize what is right and what is true unless the church reveals God’s truth?
Because the church is an embassy, we as Christians are the ambassadors. Ambassadors are diplomatic agents who serve as the official representatives of their home country to another country. For Christians, our home country is with God in the new heaven and new earth, so we are currently God’s ambassadors on earth. We represent God and His truth revealed to us in His Word. Representing truth cannot be done in silence or by staying in our holy huddles. We must speak the truth in love, interacting with the world around us, not afraid of holding people accountable to the truth by addressing the lies that hold them hostage. Our goal is to see lives transformed by the truth. We should be the first ones to celebrate when that transformation occurs!
Getting Started
- Was there ever a time when you had to represent a group of people or an individual? What did you do or say to stand up for them?
- Have you ever traveled to another country? Did you feel like you fit in or did you feel like you stood out as being different?
Let’s Get Personal
- What misconceptions do people often have about church? What misconceptions have you had about church that you need to reconcile with the truth?
- How do you represent truth well? How could you be a better representative of truth?
- If you are supposed to be an ambassador for God, how should your time with the Lord look different? How can you be internalizing God’s truth throughout the week and not just at church?
Take the Next Step
- What scares you about being an ambassador for truth, particularly in today’s cultural climate? How can you be praying this week for God to help you (or others) confront that fear?
- In light of this message, how will your service to the church change? In what areas of your local church would you like to begin serving? Discuss with your group ideas for how you can serve.
- How can your group hold one another accountable to root out lies that distract you from the truth? If you don’t have an accountability partner, begin the process of finding one this week.
- Want to dig deeper? Take time to look at the following passages: Matthew 16:18-19; 18:15-20; Colossians 1:18; 1:24; Ephesians 1:22-23; 2:11-22; 3:10; 5:27; 1 Timothy 3:14-16.
Renew Your Mind
“but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”
1 Timothy 3:15
