The Trampled Triumphant (An Ash Wednesday Sermon)

THE TRAMPLED TRIUMPHANT

Text: II Corinthians 5:20b – 6:10

2 Corinthians 5:20-21  So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.  (21)  For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 6:1-10  As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain.  (2)  For he says, "At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you." See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!  (3)  We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry,  (4)  but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions,hardships,calamities,  (5)  beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;  (6)  by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love,  (7)  truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left;  (8)  in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true;  (9)  as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed;  (10)  as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

“Every member of the family was puzzled over the mystery of a fern that would not grow. Sulking, seemingly, the plant refused to put out new stems. There seemed to be no injury from transplanting, it had been taken up carefully, and sheltered until it should have been well rooted. Everything in the way of plant food had been provided, but there it stood, no larger than when it had been brought into the house, an awkward, ugly, thing, in a mockingly large flower pot.

Then arrived a guest who was a horticulturalist. He forced wire down into the earth about the fern’s roots, and diagnosed the trouble at once. The plant had been set in stiff clay, and this had become packed hard. Reset in loose soil, the fern grew luxuriously. Even the flower of God’s planting cannot find root in a heart choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. (Practical Illustrations. Chattanooga: Ministries Worldwide, 2001, p. 100). What does this illustration have to do with this text? It’s about reconciliation.

AMABSSADORS OF RECONCILIATION

How well do we well handle obstacles to reconciliation?

Are we as believers not all called to be ambassadors of reconciliation as God’s peacemakers?

1) Current world conflicts: We cannot watch the news with the current events going on---the seeing conflict between Ukraine versus Russia or Israel versus Hammas and the Palestinian opposition.

2) Ambassadors: Every once in a while we hear about ambassadors who represent their countries on the meeting floor of the United Nations to discuss the pros and cons of world issues like those in all these countries. They are political ambassadors. We who are Christians are foreigners in a foreign land in that we are citizens of the kingdom of God who live on earth. We represent our Lord and His interests because we live in the world but we are not of the world. We are Christ's ambassadors.

3) Designated ambassadors: Listen to the latest news and you will hear people criticize Trump for using his expert negotiating skills to bring peace between Ukraine and Russia. How many of his critics complain and yet lack the position, the skills and the solutions he offers? Did God place him as the president of the United States for such a time as this? If God makes nations and their leaders to rise and fall and he does, then why should it seem strange that God has his designated ambassadors for certain times, places and people? Isn’t that what God chose Moses to be the designated ambassador to set His people free from Pharoah? Isn’t that why God chose David to face Goliath? Isn’t that why God chose Paul to be his missionary to the Gentiles?

Perhaps God has specifically chosen you and placed you where you are in your position with your negotiating skills and the potential rapport you might have between enemies.

As Christ's ambassadors, we are called to reconcile those who are estranged from God and each other.

"It's a story that is repeated on every elementary school playground, nearly every day in our country. Two fourth-graders get into it during recess; something about "he did this, so I did that" and it kind of goes south from there. When they get back to class, Billy trips Joey. After lunch, Joey breaks Billy's pencil on purpose. When nobody is looking, Billy writes on Joey's desk, and later, Joey steals Billy's folder. After school, Billy and his friends face Joey and his friends, and they call each other names. Somebody gets hurt. Somebody else gets hurt worse. And then there is no telling when or if these conflicts will ever end.