“Living a Missional
Life”
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Ambassadors represent the values, culture and story of a place, in another place or to another place.
For instance, an Ambassador might be a diplomat sent by a country as it’s official representative to a foreign country.
And everything that Ambassador does and says must intentionally represent a leader who isn’t physically present.
Their actions, their character and words embody the king who isn’t there.
But Ambassadors don’t just represent countries they can represent companies as well.
Think of Apple products.
Apple has a culture and values and those values reign supreme.
Those who work for Apple are Ambassadors of Steve Jobs and all that Apple represents.
And consumers of Apple products are Apple’s brand Ambassadors.
Every time you see a person using an I-Phone or a Macintosh Computer you see an Apple Ambassador.
Some people even have the “Apple” logo on stickers that they put on the bumper of their cars.
It’s kind of a status symbol, I guess, but it is also there to tell the world that Apple is the product to buy.
Apple reigns supreme in the world of computers and all that they produce.
And many buy-into this.
It works well for Apple.
In our Scripture Lesson for this morning, Paul tells us that, as Christians we are “Ambassadors of the Kingdom of God, as though God were making His appeal through us.”
We are to represent the values, culture and story, the love of God to the outside world.
Our actions, our character and our words are to represent our King Who is Jesus Christ.
Right now, more than at any other time in modern history, Christ needs Ambassadors who will go out into the world with His message…not only on our lips but through our actions.
Church attendance is at an all-time low.
We were already in decline, but the Covid pandemic has hastened this process enormously.
People have gotten out of the habit of coming to church and what we have left is the remnant—the truly faithful.
And perhaps that is a good thing.
Perhaps we can now do some things for Christ that we never did before.
Perhaps we can peal-away the fat, and get down to the meat of what it means to follow and represent Jesus Christ to a lost and broken world.
I remember in seminary, over 20 years ago that my professors would tell us that we were living in the Post-Christian Era.
That was a bit hard to see for some of us, especially here in the Bible-belt.
But it has now become more apparent than ever.
People are ditching the Church in record numbers.
Young people have left and they are not returning.
The message we are sending doesn’t appear relevant to them…
…and in many cases people interpret it as down-right evil.
I was having a conversation a couple weeks ago with Don Washburn, the Director of Camp Lookout, one of our United Methodist Camps.
And he was telling me about the kids who applied this year to be camp counselors.
He said that they all come from churches, but it’s his belief—from observation—that few of them are actively involved in those churches.
He said he had one resume from a young lady who comes from a church but identifies herself as a Wiccan Satan Worshiper.
Don decided to interview her anyway.
He asked her what a Wiccan Satan worshiper is.
She replied that they stand for doing good and for social justice…
…in other words, through her eyes, they stand for everything the church does not stand for.
When Christians are seen as representing evil and Satan as representing good—we have a serious public relations problems on our hands.
We aren’t getting Christ’s message across.
We aren’t representing our King.
A couple weeks ago, some of our Preschool teachers printed up signs saying Red Bank United Methodist Church Loves You and We Love You.
And then we stood out on Dayton Boulevard for a few hours holding those signs for the passerbys to see.
The response was overwhelmingly positive.
Cars honked in approval.
People waved.
Some folks rolled down their windows and yelled out: “We love you too.”
Lindsey Walker, our Preschool Director took a picture of us doing this and I posted it on Facebook.
That post was shared 50 times and reached 11,057 people.
By the next morning the Red Bank United Methodist Church Facebook page had an unheard of 27 new likes.
A young woman named Jazman Cate-Johnson wrote: “I wish I would have known you were doing this.
I’d definitely have made the drive just to honk. Thank you.”
Another wrote: “This is the best.”
A person named Tracy Fletcher commented: “This is how you bring people back to the church.”
Every comment was positive.
A young teenage girl came up to us and asked if she could hold a sign as well.
As she was leaving she said, “I can’t believe I was just holding a Church sign telling people ‘We love you.’”
When I asked her “Why?” she said, “Because I’m an atheist, but I do believe in love.”
To that I said, “Well, God is Love.”
I think we forget that sometimes.
Everyone wants to know they are loved.
It is a basic human need.
Studies show that even babies who are not shown love fail to thrive.
It’s part of who we are.
You know, only 22 percent of young people ages 16-24 have any affiliation with a house of worship.
And the nuclear family is nearly a thing of the past.
So many children are basically raising themselves.
People are isolated and alone.
And the world can be a cruel place.
When I was growing up, I had parents and sisters who I knew loved me no-matter what.
They loved me unconditionally.
And I had a church family that loved me.
And no matter how often I was bullied and teased by the world…
…no matter how many times my peers in school or whatever told me I was a misfit or whatever…
…at least I had the Church and my family who didn’t think I was.
But now, nearly 80% of American children don’t have either of these things.
No wonder the suicide rate is so out of control.
No wonder people are so lost and messed up.
People don’t have anyone who they know loves them—no matter what—no matter who they are, what they look like, how much they mess up or don’t fit into societies’ mold.
Paul says that Jesus Christ died for our sins while we were still sinners.
We are justified by Jesus’ blood—His sacrifice.
And when we accept God’s love we become children of God.
We become reconciled to God, God’s friends.
And the basis of all this is that Jesus took upon Himself everything that separates us from God—our sin.
And so, Paul writes in verse 16 of our Scripture passage for this morning: “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.”
“From a worldly point of view” is literally “according to the flesh.”
This means that we are to view people in their spiritual reality, not their fleshly reality.
And because Paul viewed Christ this way, he was willing to share the Gospel with anyone.
Paul didn’t care what skin color, ethnic background—whatever—people had; he was willing and eager to preach to anyone.
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female.”
If Paul didn’t care about people’s physical characteristics, how can we?
To be reconciled to God changes the way we view others.
In Christ we no longer have the right to classify others in tidy terms like “enemy.”
And this is in sharp contrast to the “worldly point of view.”
As Christ’s followers we are to no longer view people based on status, lifestyle or even accomplishments.
All people are to be viewed as God’s creation which Christ came to redeem.
They are neither targets for us to defeat nor are they objects for us to scorn.
All people are to be seen as designated participants in the transformative work of Christ.
Our great challenge is to become a gateway in their lives for reconciliation with God.
And we can only be this and do this if we are reconciled with God ourselves—which is an ongoing daily process.
We can only do this by sharing with others the Love of Christ—the greatest commandment.
Paul writes: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation…
…We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us…”
And this is a great challenge.
