Ambassadors representing the persecuted King

So this morning we're reading from Matthew chapter 5 verses 1 to 16.

Matthew 5:1–16

Matthew 5.

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying,

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Blessed are the pure in spirit, for they shall be called sons of the king of heaven.

For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

You are the salt of the earth.

But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?

It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.

You are the light of the world.

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket,

but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works

and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Morning, everyone.

Let's give the kids a second.

Okay, I'm going to show you some slides in a second, some pictures.

Now, I want you to do a couple of things for me.

The first thing is, I want you to try and guess who the people are in each slide.

So, Koo will bring them up in a second.

So, you're going to tell me who are the people in each slide,

and then I want you to try and guess the relationship between these people.

So, Koo just put up the first slide there.

We'll bring it up.

Who can tell me who are these people in this slide?

I can hear Jacinda Ardern, I think is what people are saying.

Yep.

Anyone for the other one?

Okay.

Mum.

Okay.

No.

All right.

That's Annette King.

We'll see how we go with the next one.

How about these two?

Who are these two?

Boris Johnson.

Yep.

That's the Prime Minister of the UK.

Anyone else for the other lady on the left there?

Ann Jenkins.

Yep.

Thanks, Liz Cameron.

It's not Ann Jenkins.

Okay.

No one.

Interesting.

Okay.

The next one.

How about these two?

Yes.

I can hear it.

It's Yixing Ping.

I probably said his name not very well.

Apologies for those who know how it should be pronounced.

Anyone else for the one on the left?

Grace Evangelical.

All right.

That is Chong Chong Yi.

Okay.

And we've got one more.

Anyone for these two?

Joe Biden.

Thank you.

Anyone for the guy on the left?

Okay.

Well, that's Graham Fletcher.

Sorry, that's not Graham Fletcher.

That's Michael Goldman.

I'm getting myself mixed up.

How could I forget who that is?

No, look.

Clearly, I never expected anyone to get the people on the left.

The people on the left are ambassadors to Australia for the respective person on the right.

So, in this case, Joe Biden is the world leader.

America, of course, is the country.

And Michael Goldman is his ambassador to Australia.

And now, if you think about ambassadors, what is the purpose of an ambassador?

What do they do?

Like, they go out, they talk to people in the country and they're in.

They represent the leader that they're for.

So, Joe Biden, for example, he'll say something.

You know, I want you to tell Australia this.

Michael Goldman will go out and he'll convey the message.

They try and convince people in the country that they're in about the message and the purpose

that they want to get across for their country.

They stick up for their country.

They represent their leader.

That's the whole purpose of what an ambassador does.

So, why am I talking about ambassadors?

I think you'll probably know it's not to try and get involved in world politics.

Today, we're talking about being ambassadors for God.

You see, we here at Grace, if you're a Christian, you are God's ambassador.

And just as every ambassador has a leader, as we saw on the slides there, so do we.

We have a leader.

And our leader is Jesus Christ.

You see, we follow him.

We represent him.

And it's not because we're in the same geographical area, clearly, like those guys on the screen.

We follow Jesus because of who he is and what he has done for us.

You see, Jesus is the king of the world.

We know that here at Grace.

It's something that we're very used to hearing.

He is the king of the world.

You see, without Jesus, we know there is no hope for this world.

We, if we are not followers of Jesus, we rebel against God.

We, before we became Christians, rebel against God.

We did not want to turn back to him.

Sin, it's what we know sin as.

We said we want nothing to do with you.

And we did not have any inclination of coming back.

Now, what's the consequence of that?

We all know is that we're cut off from God.

We're cut off from God who gives us life.

And the consequence of that is eternal death.

We are cut off from the creator of this world.

And so in Romans 6, verse 23, it says the wages of sin is death.

Romans 6:23

Basically, the payment and the consequence for rebelling against God is death.

And so Jesus comes in at that point in our relationship with God and restores the relationship.

Jesus gives his life.

He goes through that suffering and that pain that we hear about every week here when we come to church.

Crucified on a cross.

The ripping apart of that relationship between a perfect father and a perfect son.

He goes through all of that for the glory of God and the consequences that we can be saved.

Something that we know well if you're a Christian.

You would have heard this many times.

Romans 6, verse 23, the wages of sin is death.

Romans 6:23

But it doesn't stop there, does it?

It keeps going if you know this verse well.

But the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.

And this is the Jesus that is talking to the disciples on the mount in this story.

This is the Jesus who the disciples follow.

He is our king and that's who we are called to represent.

We are Jesus' ambassadors to this world.

If you've got your Bible there, and hopefully you've already been following along a bit,

as Brie read, chapter 5, verses 13 to 16, we're going to kind of do it a little bit in reverse, this section.

But let's start at 13.

You are the salt of the earth.

But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?

It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.

You are the light of the world.

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand.

And it gives light to all in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others,

so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

You see, Israel was originally God's people.

God intended for Israel to be his light to the world.

He said to them, I'm choosing you, I'm saving you, and you are going to be the way that the world knows who I am.

It's what he said to them.

That was their purpose for being chosen.

But we know the story.

The Old Testament is all about this.

It's basically this cycle of God saves them.

They're really grateful initially.

Then they rebel and they reject him.

They want nothing to do with him.

And then they get into trouble and then they go, oh, no, we're in trouble.

Why have you deserted us?

And then God saves them again.

And then that cycle just keeps continuing.

But that's the purpose of what he called them to do.

But here Jesus says to his disciples, you are now my ambassadors to the world.

You are the way that the world will know who I am.

We are Jesus' ambassadors.

It's who we are.

It's our status.

That's what we are in Jesus.

We are his ambassadors.

You see that bit at the start of 13 and the same at the start of 14.

You are the salt of the earth.

You are the light of the world.

He's not saying if you choose to be and, you know, it's something you can do if you want.

You can follow me and if you want to be the salt of the world, then go for it.

He's saying you are these things.

It's who you are.

It's your status.

It's your very being as someone who follows Jesus.

And so the salt and the light metaphors, they are two metaphors, but essentially they say the same thing.

If you think about salt, I'm sure everyone here has salt in their home somewhere.

I'm hoping.

If you don't, then my wife will be very disappointed in you because salt is great.

I'll be disappointed in you.

Salt's amazing.

But what's it for?

Like, why do you put it in food?

Because you want to make stuff taste better generally.

Yes, you can preserve it, but we're not going to talk about that for a second.

It doesn't, you know, it's another use.

But basically put it in food to make it taste better.

Now, if the salt just stayed in a little rock and didn't do anything and didn't spread to the food around it, it would be pointless.

There'd be no point.

You'd basically be eating grit and so you'd take it out.

But salt spreads to the food around it.

It changes the food around it.

It makes it better.

In a similar way, and Don talked about this in his kids' talk, Jesus says, we are light.

And what does light do?

It impacts the area around it.

It gets rid of darkness.

It's so that, you know, we can see it changes the space around it.

If we put it, you know, under a basket, well, what's the point?

Like, the whole point of the light is that it changes the area around it.

If it's bright in the day, for example, we don't need to change the brightness so we turn off the light.

It's not needed.

That's the whole point.

And Jesus says here, you are the salt of the world.

You are the light of the world.

The whole point is that the way that you live will make the world know who I am.

We are people who represent God.

And for what reason?

In verse 16.

So that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Now, Koo, I'm hoping you can bring up the next slide for me.

If we think about Vicky from the UK again, Vicky Trudell.

Now, what does she do in her day-to-day job?

She's the ambassador for the UK to Australia.

What does she do?

Well, she doesn't stay in her embassy.

She goes out.

She goes into the country, Australia.

She meets with people.

She's trying to be like, yes, Britain's the best to get everyone on board with the cause.

She's really keen for people to hear what her country is saying.

She represents her leader, says what her leader wants her to say.

And we are the same.

We are ambassadors for God.

It's just that the message that Vicky is spreading is she's trying to be salt and light,

saying that Britain is great to Australia.

But we are God's ambassadors, representing Jesus and spreading his gospel.

Thanks, Koo.

If you're a Christian, do you live each day remembering who you are in Christ?

You are an ambassador for him.

You are salt and light for him.

Do you live a life reflective of those verses that we heard at the start,

the Beatitude verses, verses 2 to 10?

You know, with humility, relying on our king.

Because you are an ambassador at every point in your life.

It's not a Sunday morning thing.

It's not when you're at Bible study thing.

It's not when you're in a youth group thing.

At every point, in every time, in every situation, whether you are by yourself,

whether you're with other people, whether you're with family, friends, colleagues,

you are an ambassador for Jesus.

It is who you are.

So when you think about the things that you watch on TV,

do you think about and make those decisions based on who you are as an ambassador for Jesus?

In what you let your kids watch, in the jokes that you laugh at,

in the way that you engage with your non-Christian friends.

Is this how you think about that relationship?

That at all times, to those people, you are an ambassador for Jesus.

You know, responding to bad situations, the way you might get frustrated when things go wrong,

things that annoy you, how you react, how you spend your money,

how you prioritize things in your life.

Do you make decisions that reflect your status?

We are ambassadors for Jesus.

Now, for me, I think I have a generally good relationship with my non-Christian friends and colleagues.

I don't hide the fact that I'm a Christian.

Like, all of them know that I'm a Christian.

I don't, you know, they say, what are you doing on the weekend?

It's not like I go, Sunday morning, I'm going to a cafe and like pretend like I don't go to church or something.

They all know.

So I'm not hiding the fact that I'm an ambassador.

But I think about some of the areas in my life.

And I think for me, a big one is probably my school friends.

They're not Christian.

None of them are Christian, actually.

And I think about the relationships I have with them.

And I think that although they know I'm a Christian, I reflect on the way that I relate to them.

And I have to conclude that in many respects, I don't think I live a life that reflects my status.

I don't live a life that says I am an ambassador for Jesus and this is who I represent and this is what he stands for.

See, Jesus here says to me and to you, we are the salt of the earth.

We are the light of the world.

Put your light on a stand so that it can impact others.

That is your whole, that is what you do as an ambassador for me.

See, we are, you are, I am, Jesus' kingdom ambassadors.

But there are consequences for being an ambassador, aren't there?

Matthew chapter 5, verses 10 to 12.

Matthew 5:10–12

Start at verse 10.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake.

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

See, Jesus here says that if you live your status of being an ambassador for him,

if you live a life that reflects Jesus, if you tell people about Jesus,

well, at some point, people are going to hate you for it.

You see, the kingdom of heaven and earth don't mix fundamentally.

What we believe in and what we care about do not match.

And Dave mentioned it last week.

Who values meekness?

I mean, seriously, who, like, I don't go to work going,

today, I'm going to be the meekest person I can be.

I'm just going to be out there, you know, people are going to say stuff,

and I'm just going to be real meek.

No one.

No one does that in our world.

Who values being poor in spirit?

What kind of self-help person on YouTube says,

you need to be more poor in spirit?

Fantastic.

Think of yourself lesser.

Think of Jesus more.

No non-Christian self-help person talks that way.

Be hungry and thirsty.

Who says, oh, you know, hate water.

Two and a half days, I'm going to push it just so I can feel that experience

of not having water in me.

No one says that.

You see, the kingdom life, and I guess what those,

the crux of those verses is saying is that we are to be dependent on Jesus.

Of course, it's not really about water and being hungry or thirsty,

but it's about being dependent on Jesus, relying on him for strength,

relying on him for being our comfort.

See, the Australian dream is not to be dependent on someone else, is it?

The Australian dream is that I would be, you know,

my self-made man or self-made woman.

I'm out there.

We respect people, in fact, I think, who do this themselves,

who are able to go from nothing to everything,

and they've done it all their way.

That's who we respect.

That's the leaders that we look up to.

But if we are ambassadors for Jesus, representing this way of life,

living a life that is reflective of Jesus,

then we can expect pushback for it.

You can expect persecution for living the life that Jesus calls us to.

Because the world does not accept Jesus.

Now, Dave mentioned here between verses 10 and 11,

if you were here last week, you might remember this,

he said that up until verse 10,

it's kind of saying a lot of those and these.

So, you know, the blessed, those who are, et cetera.

And then in verse 11, it swaps to you.

He uses the word you.

And Dave said that this is kind of reflective of the fact that

he starts addressing the disciples directly.

And although I think a lot of this stuff that he's talking about here

applies to us,

I think there are points at which it is helpful to remember that distinction

in the passage.

Because what Jesus says in these verses,

I think actually does mean something different to the disciples

than what it means to us here in Australia.

Now, I shouldn't say that it means something different.

The meaning is actually the same,

but I think the consequences are different.

Sorry, there's a better way of saying it.

You see, as Jesus is talking to his disciples,

he knows that for them in their immediate future is persecution,

is suffering.

Just read the book of Acts.

You can see it.

It's plain as day.

And I think that they, by and large,

went through persecution that we probably,

I don't think in our day-to-day lives,

will experience, I think, for most of us.

Probably most of us, not even for a day,

will we have that level of persecution.

You see, to the disciples, Jesus says,

blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you

and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

And it does mean something different to the apostles

than what it means to us here in Australia.

Look, if I was giving this talk in another country,

some countries around the world,

it would be a like-for-like comparison.

In some ways, we're fortunate in Australia not to have that.

But if we just talk about the death of the 12 apostles for a second.

Now, a lot of this comes from,

there are some that come from the Bible.

There's one or two that come from the Bible.

A lot of it comes from Christian tradition

and early Christian writers.

So take it as a flavour of what the apostles went through,

not as a historical narrative.

But this is largely how people kind of generally think

that a lot of the apostles died.

Now, my wife said at this point,

if you have young kids in here,

it might be a good time to just, I don't know,

run them out or something.

It's not going to be gruesome or anything.

But this is how the apostles died.

So I think let's start with James,

who we do know because he's in Acts 12.

It's recorded how he died.

He died because he was killed with a sword

for being an ambassador for Jesus.

Peter, the apostle Peter,

for being an ambassador for Jesus

is supposed to have been crucified upside down.

He didn't think it was good enough

to be crucified in the way Jesus was.

So he asked to be crucified upside down.

Andrew, for being an ambassador for Jesus,

was supposedly crucified on an X-shaped cross.

So two points in the ground instead of one.

The most common way Bartholomew is thought to have died

was being flayed,

which is basically I whip you

until all the skin comes off your back.

And then they beheaded him

for being an ambassador for Jesus.

Thomas, for being an ambassador for Jesus,

was stabbed with spears.

Other apostles are stoned.

We know that Stephen is stoned,

although he's not strictly an apostle.

Now, others are beheaded,

boiled in oil, beaten.

All of this persecution

that the apostles went through,

all for living as who they were,

their status as an ambassador for Jesus.

See, by being salt to the world around them,

by being light,

they brought many to Jesus' cause,

but they outraged a huge amount more.

They were joyous in persecution.

They were joyous representing their king

because it's who they were,

but it didn't come without consequence.

See, the reward is great for them in heaven.

They lived the life that they were called to.

They lived as ambassadors for Jesus.

And look, as I've said,

even though clearly what they went through

is probably something we'll never experience,

in some ways, the principle is the same.

If we are ambassadors for Jesus,

if we live the way that we know Jesus has called us to,

and I think if you're a Christian here,

you probably have a general idea,

then there will be many who do not like it.

They will see your life

and they will not like the way that you live.

Just like when the apostles did it

and just like when the prophets did it,

as it says in verse 12.

You see, persecution is what it means

to be an ambassador for Jesus.

It comes with the territory.

To help illustrate this,

Koo's going to bring up another slide for us.

We're going to move away from using Vicky as an illustration.

So let's go to the next one.

And we're going to use these two.

Now, I'm not trying to get political,

so I've used both.

That'll come back up in a second.

But these are the ambassadors to Australia and China

for their respective countries.

So the one on the left is China's ambassador to Australia.

The one on the right is Australia's to China.

Now, I think it's fair to say,

and not getting political,

but I think we can all agree here

that the relationship between our two countries

at the moment,

is not in a very good space.

I don't think anyone here would argue with me on that one.

Now, being an ambassador for China in Australia

or Australia and China

at the moment is not going to be winning you many friends

in the place that you're in.

You know, for example,

I don't think that there's many people in these countries

who are going to be inviting their ambassador

to have state dinners.

No, Australia's definitely not doing that for the Chinese ambassador.

China's not doing that for Australia.

I don't think,

I don't even think that the leaders of China

are talking to Australian leaders at all at the moment.

You know, by being who they are,

by being an ambassador,

they, you know,

you can imagine that all the words that they say,

whether in the embassy or outside or in a,

you know, a group of people,

they're all being monitored.

Australia does it as well, I guarantee.

We listen in on the conversations through radio devices

and tech that I don't understand.

But the problem is when you're talking about groups

who just fundamentally disagree on so much stuff,

this is the consequence.

But as ambassadors,

they're tasked with saying unpopular things

to the country that they're in.

We don't like a lot of the stuff that Chung says to us.

And I'm sure that they don't like a lot of the stuff

that our ambassador says to them.

It's really, you know,

it's not a good relationship at the moment.

I'm sure that they're heavily monitored wherever they go.

I guarantee that there's no way

that they can just walk down the street

and, you know, have no kind of attention.

I'm sure that does not happen.

And now I think, you know,

it's hard to think that either of these two

would be killed for being ambassadors.

You know, the outrage would be ridiculous.

But the fact is that they are ambassadors.

And for that,

they receive some level of persecution.

They receive pushback for being who they are.

If we are Christians,

it's the same thing.

You see, being an ambassador for God

brings persecution with it.

Now, at this point,

I want to take you through some reflecting

I've been doing on my life,

brought on by this passage,

which I think is a common experience

for people who prepare talks.

But there's one question that comes up for me

more than any other

when I was going through this.

And that is when it seems here,

like Jesus is saying,

that persecution and pushback

and people disliking his message

comes with the territory of being an ambassador.

When that seems to be the given

of the way that things work in this world.

And why do I find myself experiencing

so little of it?

Why is it that I don't experience this

in my everyday life?

Now, I think some of it can be answered

by the fact that I live in Australia.

We're a safe country.

I think that's the reason

no one's, you know,

busting down the door to try and kill me.

Strong rule of law,

strong police presence.

We're a Christian nation,

at least from Christian heritage,

I should say.

We have freedom of religion.

I think that can explain

some of the, you know,

death and torture end of the spectrum.

But I don't think it can explain

the lack of lower grade persecution

in my life.

And I think like people

not wanting to invite me to stuff

because I'm always trying to bring up

Jesus in a conversation.

I just don't want to hear

that type of thing.

You know, people giving me weird looks

in the street because I'm trying

to engage them with the gospel

in Cole's shopping centre

out the front of Glendale.

You have friends and family

being annoyed at the way

that I live my life.

You're wasting your life.

Like, why do you care about this stuff?

You're just wasting your life.

You're giving all your money

to other things.

It's stupid.

Colleagues not thinking about me

for a promotion

because I'm always trying

to bring up Jesus in a conversation.

Like, I'm just an annoying person

to be around.

You know, I don't want to receive

a negative comment

on my Facebook page

because I've posted

some Christian gospel message.

I don't want to have to get

into some argument

with someone about the fact

that they think I'm wrong.

You know, people making jokes

about my faith,

like, you're a Christian.

Good luck with that.

You know, mocking me,

thinking I'm a loser.

You know, even if I don't say it,

I can see it on their face.

Now, I'm not trying to compare

the levels of persecution

between us and the apostles.

Clearly, this is on a spectrum

where you've got death

on one end and, I don't know,

hurt feelings or something

on the other end

of the spectrum.

But I think that the thing

is still the same.

If you put your light

on a stand,

if you are salt

to this earth,

if you are light

to the world,

then you will receive pushback.

In fact, I think I've come

to the conclusion

that I don't think

you can be

a true ambassador for God

and not receive

some level of persecution

at some point

in your life.

I look at our world

and I just don't think

it's possible.

Now, when we're representing

him well

to our non-Christian friends,

to our family,

to society,

we should expect

to receive

some level

of pushback.

And so I think

I've concluded,

at least for me,

that a lack of persecution

in my life

over an extended period

of time

is probably due

to one of two things.

One,

that I am hiding

in my embassy

too scared

of what the consequences

might be

if I really make it known

that I am an ambassador

for Jesus.

or,

number two,

probably in some ways

a little bit more insidious,

I've started to like

the way of life

of the people

I'm representing too.

And the fact

that I don't receive

persecution

is because my life

does not look

any different.

And I think

I can see

some of this

in our church.

And I say

this as someone

who I think

I would say

I'm a core member

of this church.

I've been here

for about eight years.

But it's a very

comfortable place

to be,

isn't it,

as Gracie Evangelical,

to be an insular church.

We all

are here,

generally,

by and large,

ambassadors for Jesus.

You all believe

the same thing

that I believe.

You know,

I'm not going to receive

persecution

for getting up here

and saying that

I think Jesus

is the way

we should live our life.

In fact,

probably the exact opposite.

You're probably

going to be

encouraging

and supportive

of me living life

this way.

You see,

it's safe

to stay

in our embassy.

It's safe

to live that way.

And I must wonder

how much

do we as a church

really want

to engage

with our community?

How much

do we want

to be a light

on the stand

to Glendale

and Cardiff

and Edgeworth

and Argentine,

Ellemore Vale?

You know,

we have a building

in the area.

I think we're happy

for people

to come to us.

I think we love

having visitors.

We're welcoming

visitors.

We have a website.

You know,

we keep it updated.

We make sure

that people

can find us

on the website.

We have a logo

out the front.

We have a Facebook page.

But how often

do we meet

the community

where they are at?

Because a good

ambassador for Jesus

doesn't stay

in the church

confined

to other ambassadors.

See,

there are consequences

for being

God's kingdom ambassador.

And are we

willing to accept

those consequences?

are we willing

to have people

misrepresent grace?

That church,

they just spread hate.

They hate homosexuals.

They're just telling

everyone how they,

you know,

they live in life

the wrong way.

Are we willing

for that type

of persecution?

Are we willing

to potentially

have negative media

attention because

we have a group

of people

out the front

of Coles

in Glendale

telling people

the gospel?

Imagine for a second

that we own

the BCF building

next door.

Suspend your

imagination for a second.

Sorry,

suspend reality

for a second.

Use your imagination.

Would we be willing

on the side

of that building

to create

a giant billboard?

Jesus equals life.

All else

equals death.

Now,

you believe

that message,

don't you?

That's something

that we all

believe here.

But imagine

the reaction

we would get

if we put that

on the side

of the building.

Are we willing

to accept

the consequence

that,

you know,

the council

will be on to us,

that we could have

people picketing

in the car park?

Are we willing

to stand out

in a way

that will draw

people to Jesus,

even if it means

that many others

will hate us

for it?

Now,

I'm not saying

that persecution

is the goal here.

Persecution

for persecution's sake

is pointless.

We shouldn't be

trying to do

these things

so that we,

you know,

suffer.

It's not,

that's not the point.

We're not sadists

or anything.

I think that

if we are

representing Jesus,

if we are being

ambassadors,

if we are being

salt and light

in this world,

then persecution

comes with

the territory.

as verse 11

says,

you are blessed

when others

revile you

and persecute

you and utter

all kinds of evil

against you

falsely on my

account.

Are we okay

with being

treated differently?

With being

known as people

who go to

that church?

Because

Jesus'

gospel

ruffles

feathers.

There is

no way

the gospel

in this world

can go together

without there

being some

type of pushback.

See,

we are known

as a nice

church of grace.

God

and sometimes

I wonder

if we are

too concerned

with keeping

it that way

at the

expense of

being a

light in

our area.

See,

we need to

remember

who we

represent.

We represent

Jesus who

valued our

lives so

much

that he

went through

a level of

suffering that

we will

never

understand.

Without

Jesus,

every single

person that

you know,

without

Jesus,

friends,

colleagues,

people that

you do

sport with,

people you

see in your

community,

have a

mums group

with,

go to

school with,

all of

them have

an eternal

death if

they do

not know

Jesus.

remember

who we

represent.

Jesus

Christ is

the one

who we

are

ambassadors

for.

And the

other point

that I

mentioned

before

talking about

that was,

and I

guess I'm

coming back

to,

is that

perhaps

the reason

is that

we actually

don't stand

out.

We like

the way

of life

of the

people that

we're

representing

to.

You see,

in our

society,

relying on

Jesus is

100%

optional.

I think

by and

large,

you know,

we're

rarely in

want.

I don't

think there's

maybe

occasionally

and for

some people

more than

others.

But,

you know,

we've got

great government

support.

Generally,

we've got

great services.

We,

at least

here,

we have a

lot of

people that

we can

rely on

if we

get into

trouble.

But we

don't have

to look

different if

we don't

want to.

In fact,

it's easier

to not look

different.

I think

that's

very clear.

Why be

meek when

I can

be

respected?

Why be

merciful when

I can get

what's mine

and I can

make things

better for

myself?

Why be

poor in

spirit when

I can be

self-reliant

and self-confident?

See,

I don't

need Jesus

to be

successful

in this

world.

In fact,

it's probably

the opposite.

If I

don't have

Jesus in

this world,

I'll be

more successful.

You think

about school

amongst your

friends,

you know,

your workplace.

Maybe it's a

social club that

you're involved

in.

If you want

to become

popular,

just do what

they do.

It's not

rocket science.

That's how

people get

popular.

Make the

same jokes.

Care about

the same

frivolous

things that

they care

about.

Make them

the centre

of your

life.

See,

being an

ambassador is

not an

easy thing.

It requires

us to run

counter-cultural.

It requires

us at some

points,

I think,

to perhaps

not give

up,

to give

up things

that we

might otherwise

wish we

could have.

Living the

life of

someone who

doesn't

follow Jesus

can be

very attractive.

You know,

for example,

I get half

of my Sunday

back.

I don't have

to be here

with you

guys.

I can be

doing whatever

I want to

be doing.

I can be

out there,

I can be

going to

the shops,

I can be

playing extra

soccer on

a Sunday.

You know,

fantastic.

I don't have

to pay Dave

Bott's wage.

I don't want

to give my

money to Dave

Bott.

What am I

doing?

I could be

giving it to

my new car

or something

like that.

Supporting

charity,

like, you

know, maybe

I'll do a

little bit

of it because

I still, you

know, get a

bit of a

kick, but I

don't have

to do that.

I can, you

know, keep

it for

myself, spend

on something,

maybe give

it to family,

I guess, which

is not in

and of itself

a bad

thing.

I don't

have to worry

what I say.

I don't have

the pressure

of living this

good Christian

life.

Very

attractive,

isn't it?

I'm going to

be selfish

with my

time.

I don't

have to

feel guilty

about the

fact I'm

being selfish

with my

time.

It's what I

want to do,

living my

best life.

Sometimes we

wish we could

throw off those

responsibilities,

I think.

But we have

to remember

who we

represent.

We represent

Jesus.

I think that

type of thinking

happens when we

lose sight of who

we represent.

We forget what

he has done

for us.

We forget

that we

represent a

king who

at all times

in every

circumstance

wants what's

best for us.

We forget

that we

represent the

king of the

universe.

It's an

illusion that it

will be a

better life.

death.

Remember the

destiny, if you

do not have

Jesus, is

death.

And there

are some

here, I

think, who

probably do

suffer persecution

for being an

ambassador for

Jesus.

Some people

probably, I

imagine, up

until this

point have

been thinking,

this doesn't

really connect

with me.

for some

of you, the

struggle of

running

countercultural

is real.

And I

think Luke

offers a

great and

satisfying

comfort here.

When we're

tempted to

give up, when

we're sick of

being made to

feel like an

idiot, when

we're sick of

losing friendships,

family relationships,

or maybe the

relationships don't

even get off the

ground because of

the way that we

live our life.

I think Luke

offers us

comfort here in

saying, remember

who it is that

you represent.

Remember who

you are an

ambassador for.

You are an

ambassador for

Jesus, who

died on the

cross, who

was persecuted

for you, who

had his perfect

relationship with

his father torn

apart for God's

glory and as a

consequence saving

us from certain

death.

We represent a

king who walked

the walk.

He went

before us.

See, the

people we saw

at the start on

those slides,

those ambassadors,

they represent

people who will

in 30 years

probably not even

be on the face

of the planet.

They're failing,

they say stupid

things, they make

wrong decisions,

they change their

mind all the time.

they're ambassadors

for someone who

really, you know,

they'll be gone.

But as

Christians, we

are ambassadors

for the eternal

king, a king

who will never,

ever make the

wrong decision,

who always wants

what's best for

us.

We are his

ambassadors.

Remember who you

represent?

I'm going to

pray.

Dear God,

thank you so

much that you

sent your son

Jesus to this

world, that he

died and rose

again for us to

take our

consequence, to

take our

punishment.

God, I just

pray that we

would recognize

recognize that

we are salt

and we are

light, that

is who we

are, regardless

of how well we

might live it

day to day, that

is the status

that you have

called us to.

God, I pray

that in our

everyday life, we

would remember

that you, Jesus,

are who we

represent.

You are the

one that we

make our lives

known to those

around us for.

I pray that we

wouldn't take this

as a moralistic

challenge.

I pray that we

would remember

that ultimately

all of this is

for your glory.

All of this is

for your name.

And we are

people who are

here to represent

you.

Amen.