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Ambassadors for Christ
by The Rev. Canon Heidi E. Kinner
[ Ed. note: Yes, we know RAs are Baptist! ]
Year C, Lent 4, 2 Cor 5:16-21
March 14, 2010
unedited
This morning I want to pick up on the Dean's sermon of February 28th, when he preached on Philippians 3:20 “our citizenship is in heaven.” He called the sermon, “Resident Aliens,” and it particularly resonated with me because I grew up as a “resident alien.”
For almost half of my life I lived in England. I went to English schools, lived in a little English village, and attended the local Church of England church. I was very much a part of the life of that community, but I was also always different. For example, I spelled color without a “u,” had a funny accent, and at a time when the unemployment rate in England was high and many of my classmates' had no hopes for a better future, I knew that I would go to university and have a career.
All of this made me stand out, and I took my fair share of teasing as anti-nuclear and anti-American sentiment was running high. It was sometimes tempting to strike back at the children who would shout, “Go home Yank!” but I seldom did, because I knew that in some small way, I was an ambassador for my country. I was proud to be an American and I wanted people to see the best of what it means to be an American, and not resort to school-yard fisticuffs. So I held my head high, proudly spelled “color” the American way, and learned about and shared many of the great things that America has done and stands for.
The moment when this really bore fruit, took place as I walked home from school one afternoon. One of the boys who always made a point to be rude to me when he had his friends with him, caught up to me. That afternoon he was alone. I said a cautious, “hello,” and was left speechless when instead of being rude he asked, “Are the streets in America really paved with gold?” It was sad, sweet, and funny all at the same time. It was the moment that I realized that he was often mean because I had something that he didn't think he ever would, citizenship in a country that he secretly admired and openly envied. So, I set him straight on a few things: the streets are certainly not paved with gold, but there is much that is good about the nation and its people. He told me that one day he wanted to emigrate to the U.S.
I share my story of being a “resident alien” and something of a self-appointed child ambassador, because I think it stands as a small human example of a great truth that Paul is conveying in the Philippians reading two weeks ago and again in this morning's reading from 2nd Corinthians. Both readings tell us about the most significant immigration act in all history and about the consequences of the transfer of our citizenship from this world into the Kingdom of Heaven when we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.
It was the most significant immigration act in all of history, because citizenship in the Kingdom of God could not simply be ordered by a heavenly congress, or stolen by nighttime border crossings, nor could it be bought with silver placed in the hands of well-placed angelic officials.
You see, the immigration requirements for heaven are perfect holiness and purity and there are no exceptions; and the border separating this world and the Kingdom of Heaven is not simply some barbed-wire wall, but it is a chasm as wide and as deep as all the sin and evil in the world. So it seems that no one could ever possibly become a citizen of heaven. And that is quite true from the human perspective, but God had other plans.
Amazingly, God wanted His Kingdom to be full of immigrants, full of adopted sons and daughters, but the immigration requirements could not be changed, so somehow before we could enter, we had to be made pure and holy and the chasm of sin had to be bridged. So, God the Father sent His only Son to solve the problem, to make us holy and to bridge the border.
And Jesus accomplished His task and opened the way to Heaven. He didn't do it at a U.N. meeting or through treaties with earthly powers. No, he opened the way on the Cross. There on Calvary, Jesus bore our sins and the judgment that was rightfully and declared us to be right with God. He made us holy by clothing us in robes washed white in his blood. And he bridged the chasm of sin for us, being Himself the way to the Father, a safe and sure path across the depths of death. Christ reconciled us to God on the Cross, and marked us as His own forever. So our spiritual passports now identify us as citizens of Heaven.
But until Christ comes again in glory to take us home finally and for all eternity, we live as resident aliens in this world.
We take our place in the community around us, but we always stand out. We stand out in small ways. For example, our language is a little different: we use words like sin, grace, and redemption, and we understand them all through the lens of the Cross and the Resurrection. We also stand out in big ways. For example, in a society where the world whispers that we must earn love and acceptance or be rejected by everyone forever, we know that we are accepted by God Himself because Jesus loved us enough to die for us. We stand out because in the midst of a seemingly hopeless world where evil reigns and where all that we love fades and dies, we do not live in despair. Rather we have hope, for we know that death is not the final answer and that evil does not triumph, but that at the last, those in Christ shall have life eternal in that place where there is no sin or sadness and where goodness, light, and perfect peace are the reality of each moment.
Because we stand out we have a choice to make, much like the choice I had to make as a child. We can stand tall in our citizenship and take our place with Paul and the Apostles as ambassadors for Christ, or we can try to hide.
I know that it is not an easy choice. Blending in is so much safer, but standing up is the life-giving decision. It gives life to us because we are claiming who we are and whose we are in Jesus, and so we are freed to live as whole people, not with divided minds. And trust me on this, you never stand so tall as when you are standing up for what you know to be good and right and true, even in the face of taunts and adversity.
It also gives life and hope to others. Many people may mock, but often they are mocking because they envy the hope that we have, they want the reconciliation with God that is ours in Christ, and deep down they wish that their citizenship were in heaven too.
And you never know when the seeds that the Holy Spirit has helped you plant will bear fruit. Perhaps one day as you walk down the street, someone who has long scorned you for sharing the gospel will catch up to you and say, “Are the streets of heaven really paved with gold?” And wonderfully you can turn to them with joy and say with full confidence, “Yes. They are paved with gold as clear as glass, and all you need to walk those streets is Jesus.”
So my friends, do not be afraid to be ambassadors for Christ even when the world mocks. Stand tall and proclaim the Kingdom of God. Claim your citizenship in Heaven proudly. For it is the greatest and only eternal kingdom and it is more wonderful than words can express, and you know, the streets really are paved with gold.
And for that we say, “Thanks be to God.
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