Do we have what it takes?

 

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

 

 I would first like to express my thanks and gratitude to everyone for the warm welcome my wife and I have received from you here at Zumbro.  You have all welcomed us so enthusiastically.  I think that I have had more free meals in the past month than in all of the eighteen years that I lived with my folks.  I truly look forward to partnering with you in the ministry of this church. 

 

In today’s Bulletin you will see that the preaching text is 2^nd Corinthians 5:20, which proclaims, “so we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us…”

 

We are ambassadors for Christ.  Wow, what an honor!  What a tribute to our rock solid faith and our competent abilities.  As you all must know, the position of Ambassador is a very prestigious and important position, sort of like the position of Intern Pastor.   

 

 In order to find out just what sort of high-quality person it takes to be appointed  as an Ambassador I looked up the resume of the current US Ambassador to Ethiopia, Aurelia E. Brazeal, and I don’t mind telling you, she is quite an accomplished woman! She has received a B.A. from Spelman College and, in 2000, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate. She received an M.I.A. from Columbia University and did post-graduate work at the John F. Kennedy School at Harvard. She has received the Superior Honor Award, and many other Presidential Awards.  Now that is the type of person who is Ambassador material. 

             

According to our 2^nd Corinthians verse, just like the President of the United States, Jesus needs competent and able ambassadors who will go to all corners of the earth and proclaim in word and deed the promises that God makes through Him.

 

In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus calls His first ambassadors.  He shouts to Peter, Andrew, James and John “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of people.” 

 

So, if it takes a B.A., a PhD, and Presidential Awards to be an Ambassador of the United States then what kind of superhuman credentials did Peter, Andrew, James and John possess that made them worthy to be Christ’s first Ambassadors?  What sort of person does it take to earn the honorable responsibility of proclaiming God’s promises of love and forgiveness on earth?  What type of person would Jesus find so useful and valuable that He would utter an irresistible call that causes that person to immediately drop everything and follow Him? 

 

Being the diligent Intern Pastor I scoured the Gospels and examined the Apostles’ lives in order to assemble a list of credentials such a person must have to be Christ’s ambassador.  What I found was rather surprising. 

 

1)      Once in a while, the Apostles doubted Christ’s ability to save

2)      One of them acutualy denied Christ; not once, not twice, but three times!

3)      The apostles misunderstand at least 50% of Jesus’ teachings to which Jesus asked them, “Are you so dull?”

4)      All of the Apostles save one ran from Christ in his greatest hour of need. 

5)      Many had disreputable jobs, such as being a tax collector or a prostitute.

6)      Finally, the Apostles were absolutely frightened of what people will do or say to if they shared Christ’s story with those who have not heard it. 

 

 

Now wait just a minute.  These are not high-quality credentials.  Where are the apostles’ BA’s in holiness, where are their PhD’s in theology?  Why do I have to start out studying books at Seminary and they get to start out fishing?  How can the apostles serve as Ambassadors of a Holy Kingdom when they are so apparently unholy?   

 

Well, just as a President does not send out ambassadors who know nothing about the people they serve, Christ does not send out ambassadors who know nothing of what it means to be human.  Therefore, if you, like the Apostles, have ever doubted God, denied Him, misunderstood Him, ran from Him, or have been frightened to witness for Him, then you understand what it means to be human, and so you understand the people God asks you to serve.

 

But understanding humanity’s need for God is only the first set of credentials required for being Christ’s ambassador to the world.  Just understanding the need for God does not give you the remedy for that need.  There is still another critical component that you need in order to be effective ambassadors.  Do you know what that component is? (pause)  You need to be armed with God’s promises. 

 

You need to know that although you or I may deny God, God promises not to deny us.  You need to know that although you may run from God, God promises he will run even faster after you.  You need to know that although you may doubt God, God promises that he will never doubt you.  Only when we have trusted that God has met our needs and our brokenness can we tell the people of the world that He has done the same for them.  

 

 

It is with these promises of unconditional love and faithfulness that Christ equipped the Apostles for His ministry, and it is with these promises that he now He equips us.  He gives us His promise that we are His, and then He asks us to tell that promise to everybody else.   And this is a beautiful gift.

 

In this way we work freely for Christ!  We give because we have been given to.  We love because we have been loved.  We empower others not because we are powerful, but because we have been empowered.  We do not give from our own stores of promises and gifts, we give from the gifts and promises that God has first given to us. 

 

Clearly, this call to be Christ’s ambassador is not a call to be Christ’s superman or superwoman.  It is not a call to be perfect.  Instead, it is a call in which Christ tells us, “I know who you are.  I know your abilities and your deficiciencies.  I know your strengths and your weaknesses.  I know you are mine, I have called you by name, and I know that you are perfectly equipped for the job that I have prepared for you.”   

 

As it was for the Apostles, it is for us:   There is nothing within us or without us that can keep us from being useful to Christ and His ministry.  Christ knows us, and he will use that which He knows. 

 

So today when we come to the table in order to receive God’s gifts, and then go out from this church in order to give those gifts to others, let us remember that we are able to serve only because God has first served us.    

 

 

Let us Pray:  Father, you came to earth as one of us, and so you know us and you know what we need.  We thank you for loving us so that we may love others.  We thank you for giving to us so that we may give to others.  We thank you for serving us so that we may serve the world.  In Jesus’ name we pray,  Amen.