The author of this article and his family serve among an Arabic-speaking people in the Muslim world. His writing stems from reflection upon life and ministry in that context.
I’m privileged to know this sweet elderly couple near to where I stay, who have a lovely garden on their property. By “garden” I certainly do not mean lawn but slightly untamed grounds with fruit-trees, chickens, and even a little vineyard. I remember the first time the older man guided me through his garden, and many of the subsequent visits I’ve had there. Something about it struck me. And it still strikes me. Apart from the evident beauty, my friend was thrilled to see God’s fingerprints all over the garden; and his tending to that garden being something beautiful as well as important to our Lord. I found our conversations about God in the midst of it all utterly transformative.
Why was this exchange so significant?
I’ve missed how the beauty of Christ can draw people to God.
You see I live in a context where I’m surrounded by a community that is, almost exclusively, not Christian—it’s Muslim, in my case. In a context such like this, I felt convinced that the only worthwhile use of my time and effort would be sharing the gospel. Surely the good news must be preached left, right, and centre—at every opportunity? Thinking this way, I’m now convinced, I’ve missed a trick. Apart from granting myself too much agency in people’s journey towards Christ and salvation, I believe I’ve missed how the beauty of Christ can draw people to God. Let me explain what I mean.
God’s Magnetic Beauty
2 Peter 1:3 says, “for his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence.” Read it again, slowly. The scripture says that God calls us by glories and excellence. The magnificence of God’s being is magnetic. It draws people to God.
But what does that have to do with our witness? Well let’s change the question. Instead of simply asking if you’ve shared the gospel, ask yourself if you’ve put the glory and excellence of Christ on display. For one of the ways that God beckons people to himself is by his excellencies, glory and beauty. Surely then it’s our role to put that on display. Such a shift in thinking opens up the way for a more holistic form of gospel witness.
This shift opens up the way for a more holistic form of gospel witness.
Pondering 2 Peter 1:3, my mind went to Paul’s famous ministry of reconciliation passage (2 Corinthians 5:17-20). It states, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
Here we see that God grants believers a ministry of reconciliation. Yet this role is inseparable from being a new creation in Christ. Through that God makes us ambassadors. In other words, remade in his grace God makes his gospel appeal through us. But surely as both new creations and ambassadors we shouldn’t merely proclaim the gospel. Surely we should also accurately represent and reflect our master. We can tie this back to 2 Peter 1:3. For as God calls people to himself through his beauty and excellence, as his ambassadors we ought to put that on display.
God’s Beautiful Ambassadors
If it’s true. If our calling in gospel witness is that of ambassadors, Christlike character has to be preeminent. It’s indispensable. We must live in deep communion, profound fellowship and costly surrender to Christ; so much so that his glory, excellence and beauty is evident to others. We must therefore invest our time, thoughts and devotion towards the end of becoming like Christ, if we’re to be faithful ambassadors. This is paramount to our role as witnesses.
I’m persuaded that if we were intentional in pursuing being ambassadors of God’s gospel as well as glory in our personal lives, marriages, workplaces, churches, and gardens, our witness would be more authentic and complete.
We must invest our time and devotion towards the end of becoming more like Christ.
Let’s finish where we started, with my elderly friends and their garden. The reason their lives served as witness was that they didn’t neglect their calling to cultivate a place and attitude that displays God’s beauty and excellence. Their space is a witness. By inviting me in they were serving as ambassadors. For I couldn’t have missed the beauty of God in both those people and the place they’d cultivated. I was struck by the beauty of God in them, in their desire for the beauty of God to be seen. They are truly ambassadors of a God of glory and goodness, beauty and excellence.
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