THE MASTER’S MARK
ASH WEDNESDAY, YEAR A
2 CORINTHIANS 5:20-6:10
MARCH 1, 2017
FARM HILL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, HARRISBURG, AR
INTRO. Branding your animals to establish ownership can traced at least as far back as the ancient Egyptians. The practice of branding slaves goes at least to the Romans. That mark on the hide of your animals would let people know what did and did not belong to them at any time they needed that information. In the American West, people would run their cattle all together, then the brands would be checked when the cattle were being driven to market to identify who owned what (Wikipedia). Down through the years, brands have been used for different purposes as well.
Many of us may have read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter in high school or college English classes. Hester Prynne, living in 1642 Puritan Boston, is pregnant from an affair with someone she will not identify, but who, we find out, is Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister at her church. Sadly, such things happened even back then. Hester is forced to stand on a scaffold for three hours wearing a scarlet “A” on her dress, then is thrown into jail. When she is released, she lives a more quiet life. When her lover dies from guilt, he is seen to have an “A” branded on his chest, the mark of his adultery. Many people carry the mark of their guilt in one way or another.
And of course we have heard how the Nazis would identify many of their Jewish and other prisoners with tattoos on their arms. A needle was used to mark the prisoners so that, in life or death, the guards would know who they were. But how do people know who Christians? How are we identified by those who do not follow Jesus? It’s like the story I read of a woman who found out about a family in her neighborhood that was in great need. The husband had died, the mother was barely holding things together. This woman got them some groceries and other things and dropped them off. The family was very surprised. As she turned to go, one of the boys said, “Are you God’s wife?” She answered, “Well, no, but I’m one of his daughters.” The boy replied, “OK, I knew you had to be related to him somehow.” But what about us? How do the people around us know who we are related to? How do we bear the Master’s mark?
I. WE ARE AMBASSADORS (5:20-21). Verse 20 says we ambassadors for Christ. What is an ambassador anyway? A person who speaks and acts and lives on behalf of someone else that is not present. The United States does not have diplomatic relations with three countries: Bhutan, Iran and North Korea. There are also six very small island nations in the Caribbean and a very small nation in Africa that we do not have a diplomatic presence in. Of the rest of the recognized 195 countries in the world, the United States has at least one embassy or consulate in each of them (travel.state.gov). All those ambassadors are there to represent the United States, its president and their government. When I took my trip to the Baltics, we visited two U.S. embassies, one in Lithuania and one in Estonia. We got to actually meet the ambassador to Lithuania. He came breezing in, all sharp-looking, wearing a suit that looked really nice and pricey. But one thing sort of surprised me about him. Before he entered the room, different embassy staff had been in and out. I expected the ambassador to come in with at least two or three staffers in tow, maybe a security guard or two. But it was just him. He opened the door, walked in, and closed the door behind himself. And there he was, the embodiment of the United States for all of Lithuania. Now, having been born and raised in America, I understood he was just another American diplomat. I don’t remember his name, but he probably had an education at more prestigious schools than I did. Was probably worth more money than I was. I am sure his salary as ambassador was way more than I make. But still, I knew he was just another American.
But that’s not how they would see him in Lithuania. They would see him as the American in the country, unless the Secretary of State or the President shows up. He is the one they would go to for all things American, from the president and prime minister of Lithuania all the way down to the simplest country bumpkin. And I think we often forget how others see us as Christians. We look at ourselves as members of a church, as part of the body of Christ, as followers of Jesus who number in the millions, or even billions, across the planet. And we are all those things. But when I speak - or don’t speak - the love of Christ to that lonely soul, I am the Christian, the ambassador for Christ. When I share - or don’t share - the cup of cold water or piece of bread with the hungry person, I am the Christian, the ambassador for Christ. And when I let - or don’t let - my words and actions point to Jesus, I am the Christian, the ambassador for Christ, the embodiment on earth of who Jesus is and what he has done. What a brand for me to bear! How good of a job am I doing at being Christ’s ambassador?
II. WE ARE CO-WORKERS (6:1-3). Verse 2 suggests that we work with him as he works his salvation in us. It would seem to me that we can be ambassadors only because we are co-workers. It is only when we have created that relationship of working together, of receiving from Christ and growing in him, that we would be in a position of being effective as one of his ambassadors. Paul says that those who are co-workers are those who have listened and have been saved.
Listening can be one of the most difficult things to do. We live in a world of constant and total noise. We have information and emotions and perceptions bombarding us from all angles, from all kinds of devices and inputs, but how difficult is it just to listen! When we were visiting my folks this past week, we were outside with them at one point at their house in the country. I said something to my stepmom about how quiet it was compared even with Osceola, and she responded that it was a different kind of sound, and she was right. I just had to listen for it! In 1969, Otis Skillings came out with a song that went, “Listen, ev’rybody listen, listen. Ev’rybody listen, listen. Ev’rybody listen, Come to Christ today. He will hear you pray.” As we work with Christ, as we allow him to work in us and through us, as we listen to him, we will become more and more useful as co-workers for Jesus.
And Paul says a co-worker is someone who has been saved. John Wesley was the fifteenth child of his preacher father, Samuel. At the age of 5, fire struck the home. The parents hustled the children out and started counting. They discovered that John was missing! One of the neighbors saw John at a second-story window in the house, surrounded by flame. Several of the men who were there stood on each other’s shoulders until the top one was able to pull young John to safety, minutes before the entire house exploded in flame. For the rest of his life, John called himself “a brand plucked from the burning,” referring back to Zechariah 3:2, which says, “Is not this man a brand plucked from the fire?” (NRSV) (rlhymersjr.com/Online_Sermons/ 2006/022606PM_ Plucked Out.html). From that point on, Wesley felt God’s hand was on him, but it was only when he was converted, that he knew he was saved from his sins, that he was so greatly used by God is the great revival that swept England and across the ocean to us here in America. What a co-worker he was! What about me?
III. WE ARE SERVANTS (6:4-10). Being a servant is such a controversial things these days, even though I believe we can only be co-workers with Christ if we are first his servants, and only his ambassadors if we are first his co-workers. It all comes back to service. What kind of servant am I willing to be? Or am I willing to be a servant at all? Are you?
Paul tells us here in 2 Corinthians that we must serve Jesus in every area of life - through perseverance in hard times (4-5); by living in righteousness at all times (6-8a); and by practicing steadfastness in troubling times (8b-10). Since when is life not hard? Since when is life not troubling? Even when it is not hard or troubling, we must live as righteous servants of Christ. How much do I desire that closeness with Jesus, how much do I want to be branded with the Master’s mark, what lengths am I willing to go to be all I can be for Christ? Lent is a time of asking and answering those questions.
What if serving Christ means more of him and less of me? “In 1878, when William Booth’s Salvation Army was beginning to make its mark, men and women from all over the world began to enlist. One man, who had once dreamed of becoming a bishop, crossed the Atlantic from America to England to enlist. Samuel Brengle (who went on to write several books encouraging Christians to live the holy life) left a fine pastorate to join Booth’s Army. But at first General Booth accepted his services reluctantly and grudgingly. Booth said to Brengle, ‘You’ve been your own boss too long.’ And in order to instill humility in Brengle, he set him to work cleaning the boots of other trainees. Discouraged, Brengle said to himself, ‘Have I followed my own fancy across the Atlantic in order to black boots?’ And then, as in a vision, he saw Jesus bending over the feet of rough, unlettered fishermen. ‘Lord,’ he whispered, ‘you washed their feet; I will black their shoes.’” (K Hughes, Liberating Ministry From The Success Syndrome, Tyndale, 1988, p. 45; posted on sermonillustrations.com).
Is that what my service or your service might look like? I don’t know, but if I am to bear the Master’s mark, then I will be his servant and the servant of anyone else that he chooses.
1. we are ambassadors - 2. we are co-workers - 3. we are servants
CON. The list I have given you this morning is a tough one. It will take all that you have, and then some. Many have tried it and failed and walked away. Jesus does not promise us an easy road, he only promises to be with us every step of the way. He does not promise us a life with no struggles, he only promises to help us get through every struggle. But can we truly say something is worth it, something is of great value, if it does not cost us something to get it and even more to keep it? If it is easy, if it does not cost, if it does not demand something of us, can we say it means anything? I think not.
And that is what the next several weeks of Lent will teach us. Salvation cost Jesus everything, and it will cost us everything. Bearing the mark of the Master is only possible because of the great work that God has done, and it is only maintained by our great work and exertion. When we are men and women, boys and girls who labor for Jesus in the shadow of the Cross and through the power of the Spirit, our lives will mean something for Christ and they will have an impact on our family and friends, neighbors and co-workers.
“Horton Hatches the Egg” is a children’s classic by Dr. Seuss where Horton the Elephant sits on an egg for Mayzie, the egg’s mother. Horton faces several challenges in completing his task, but he encourages himself by saying, “I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant’s faithful, one hundred percent!” Could not that be the description of a Christian, of someone who bears the Master’s mark? “I meant what I said and I said what I meant. A Christian is faithful one hundred percent!” God help me and God help you to continue on this journey of faith, to live like we mean it, to show the Lord and ourselves and any we meet that we are faithful one hundred percent as we pick up our Cross and bear the Master’s mark. I will go on that journey. Will you go with me?
