Ambassador for Christ

Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons,

a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg.

This fall, we're studying the book of Second

Corinthians. Second Corinthians is a heartfelt

and practical book calling us back to the life

of the cross. We, like the Corinthians, so often

pursue glory, admire eloquence, shun suffering,

hide hurt, and hoard our goods. And yet the gospel

of Jesus tells us that resurrection comes after

a cross. comfort comes after being crushed, that

the way up is the way down, that the way to glory

is through suffering, that his strength is made

perfect in our weakness. We'd love to meet you

and we hope you'll consider coming and joining

with us each Sunday morning at 10 a .m. in the

heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find us

online at SecondCityChurch .org and on Facebook,

Instagram, and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this

sermon. God bless. Let me pray again. Lord, thank

you. You say that out of the mouth of infants

and babes, you have ordained praise. We're thankful

this morning to get to hear your word from some

of our younger members of our church. And I thank

you for the attentiveness they had in their practicing

and the way that they helped that word to come

alive to us a little more fully in their lips.

Now, Lord, Would you do the same through me passage

in a second? May the words of my mouth and the

meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your

sight. Oh Lord our rock our redeemed. I think

this is just cutting in and out so hopefully

you can bear with me. We're in 2 Corinthians

chapter six, and in many ways this first section

is, and actually it will continue to a little

bit, but it will build off the idea of being

an ambassador of Christ, God making his appeal

through us. In fact, it's part of the great argument

of 2 Corinthians that power is made perfect and

weak. It's not just in Paul's life, but in the

life of the church, that the life of the church

is also called to be the way, the means through

which God makes his appeal. the ambassador reality

of the church. But first, I want to draw your

attention to Psalm 19. And I will say that this

was largely because when I began working on this,

we were going to be outside. We're not. But a

little bit of that, I want to draw your attention

to that. But first, I want to mention that I

was reading again, I have a little book. It's

short. In fact, it's even shorter than what it

looks like because there's a facsimile of the

text. in the second half of this book, but it's

Flannery O 'Connor's prayer journal from when

she was a student at the University of Iowa's

writing workshop. It's a lovely little prayer

journal. I would commend it to you. She's very

open and honest and such a lively and fresh way

with the Lord. And in that journal, among other

things, she writes, there is a whole around me

that I should be able to turn to your praise.

the sensible world, the physical world, the world

of the senses around her that she should be able

to turn to Lord's praise. The Psalm 19 begins

like this. I'm not going to read it all again

for you, but it begins like this. The heavens

declare the glory of God. The sky above proclaims

his handiwork. Day to day pours out. Night to

night reveals knowledge. we were going to be

out in creation right now. And I will say, it

is no wonder that so many people say that they

have had some of the most spiritual experiences

being drawn near to God out in his world, out

in nature. I mean, I would get to be, in fact,

I would hope you have had that experience, God

came close to you, present in a really like a

truly supernatural way, out in the wonder of

his world, maybe out hiking Hawk Rock or out

on the AT down in the Cumberland Valley and maybe

you've been out at the shore and just the expanse

of the ocean has spoken to you of the God, maybe

Yes, how small you are, but also you've had this

immense experience of I am valued. I am a real

true part of the wonder that is this world. In

a sense that actually gave you breath, gave you

your life. Christian theology has long called

this reality of the witness of creation, the

ambassadorship. of creation, general revelation,

God's revelation, revelation being the revealing

that God truly and really reveals himself in

nature. That that experience you had isn't something

to toss aside, but God actually truly does speak

in those real experiences out in the world. Out

among the rocks and trees and stars and seas,

out along the valley. Is this too distracting?

The clicking that I just. Project. You do that.

Yeah, I can pivot turn. Let's do that. Do I need

to start over? You all following me? No. Okay.

Let me take this up. Anyway, so this is a theme

in Christian theology and throughout scripture

that the creation itself is proclaiming God.

It's a revelation of God. We can say that creation

in fact is God's first ambassador. God spoke

the world into being and then the world speaks

back his praise. is the reality of what he has

done. I love our church building, I really do.

It's often that I might walk through this space

with somebody who's maybe at Logos and somebody

comes in, they go, wow, this is lovely. And we

have lots of reasons to give thanks for this

space, we do. Think of the rooms being used by

Logos or our English classes. Think of actually

the space directly below here right now. where

some of our children are learning the stories

of our Lord, and the liturgies of our faith,

the habits of life following God, and how it

really is this beautiful worship space with the

stained glass windows there. It's a lovely space

for them to gather together to worship the Lord.

This is a gift, and you actually may know this.

I was reading this week some about the American

chestnut. the American chestnut started to die

off in 1904. There was a parasitic fungus that

killed off the American chestnut. It took about

45 years or 50 -ish years, I think early 50s,

until they died off. But that fungus actually

started to infect the American chestnut in 1904,

which was the very year that this wood paneling

and the pews that you're sitting in and this

back here and that pulpit would have been cut

down and cured and fashioned into this space.

This is the American chestnut that you're surrounded

by right now. And how lovely it is. There are

many gifts that this building has, and the people

that have gone before us have given it to us.

And while this is all gift, it is a gift, in

some ways a greater gift, to be out in the wonder

of the world singing the praises of the Lord.

which we were intending to do this morning, right

down at Shea for a treat, because we are joining

our voices in a very real way, surrounded by

the chorus of the trees and the rocks and the

creek there, the grass under our feet. What I'm

saying is that creation itself bears witness

to God. Creation is an ambassador for God. Let

me press into this a little bit more. I read

an article in the British news publication, The

Times last week. It was about a book that is

being, it was actually, The English version of

the book is being published this week. It's written

by two Frenchmen. Its title is God, the Science,

the Evidence. It's sold 400 ,000 copies already

in French, and it's first printing in English

is 110 ,000 copies. They insist that their book

is not a religious book, but rather a scientific

critique of the materialist explanation of the

existence of the world. They say the theory that

all reality including our origins thoughts and

consciousness can be explained solely by physical

matter and physical process doesn't hold up to

science they're arguing so uh this article said

their book explores key scientific theories such

as the big bang the theory of relativity quantum

mechanics and the human genome each detail was

checked with a group of leading scientists to

ensure the argument could not be challenged on

the basis of scientific accuracy In fact, the

preface for the book was written by the renowned

physicist Robert Wilson, who won the Nobel Prize

for physics. But the whole thing is this creation

itself is pointing to the idea of a creator,

of God himself. It speaks of God. It's an ambassador

for God. They say we are all believers. Believers

in God believe with some evidence. And believers

in materialism, they believe in plenty of things.

That are a little bit weird. That's what the

author said What it's saying is that science

itself is commending the idea that creation is

an ambassador Creation declares the glory of

God. It's a general witness to the grace of God

So back to Flannery O 'Connor after writing there

is a whole sensible world around me that I should

be able to turn to your praise She then adds

but I cannot do it in some ways that she's a

part of creation that actually She's part of

the sensible creation that doesn't always do

what she's intended to do. She says, yet at some

insipid moment when I may possibly be thinking

of floor wax or pigeon eggs, the opening of a

beautiful prayer may come up from my subconscious

and lead me to write something exalted. She wrote

that at 21. Creation itself speaks to God. But

as much as the Bible speaks about this, and as

much as our own experience actually does this,

being out in the world, out in the beauty of

the natural world, as much as science itself

is actually increasingly pointing us to that,

Christian theology has also said that the witness

of God is not just in his general revelation,

but more specifically in his special revelation.

of scripture, that scripture is an ambassador.

So maybe you caught this, maybe especially if

you were following along in Psalm 19, but Psalm

19 begins the first half with this general revelation

and then it turns and it says, the law of the

Lord is perfect, perfect. Then it says, reviving

the soul. That it's actually the word of God

as the ambassador of God sent out that revives

our souls, that gives life. to what was once

dead. So turn to the special revelation of scripture.

And what we find in the special revelation of

scripture is actually part of how this chapter,

chapter six begins. So verse one and two of chapter

six in second Corinthians says, working together

with him then, isn't that wild? Working together

with him, working together with Christ. We appeal

to you not to receive the grace of God in vain

for he says in a favorable time I've listened

to you and in the day of salvation I've helped

you and that's quoting from the passage that

Ruth read for us from Isaiah 49 verse 8 and if

Isaiah 49:8

you I hope you were able to listen as Ruth read

that for us, because then it goes on to talk

about what the Lord has done. I mean, it's talking

about the restoration of Israel, but it's actually

harkening back to the whole story of what God

has done in his special revelation, revealing

of the works of God in Scripture. So the Lord

says to the prisoner, it says, come out to those

who are in darkness, appear. We see in just those

few verses what we see throughout the text of

God's special revelation in Scripture. What do

we learn about early on with Adam and Eve? They're

hiding. God says, where are you? It's as though

it's there, right there in Isaiah 49. Come out.

Come out. What do we find at the beginning of

the book of Exodus? But God calling out those

who are in slavery, prisoners, come out, appear,

come to me. Think about even as they go along,

I mean, if we could keep looking at Isaiah 49,

talks about how he provides for them. Well, what

does he do when they're out in the wilderness?

He feeds them, he gives manna from heaven, water

and the rock, the pillar of fire and the cloud,

all of that, God bringing them and he brings

them to the promised land. God calls them out,

out of their fear of man, out of their own strength.

out of their need and to himself. This is the

great theme of scripture. God calling us out

and bringing us near to himself, providing for

us. I've met with many of you and I've had this

kind of conversation, but I had one of these

conversations this week with somebody in our

church who said that part of coming to God was

knowing that he couldn't deal with it. He was

going to be in darkness. who's going to continue

habit, signs of sin, and this other kind of life.

In the hope of Christ and the revelation of God

in scripture. So, even this verse, even that

little verse there from Isaiah 49, recalls for

us the wonder of God's revelation of himself

in the scriptures. And what I'm saying is that

creation itself is an ambassador for God, that's

true. But the scriptures themselves are a more

definitive ambassador for God. Look at how I'm

saving you. Look at how I'm bringing you to myself.

Here's an interesting thing, is if we looked

actually at the passage right before Isaiah 49

Isaiah 49:8

verse 8, earlier in that passage, what we have

here actually is a foretelling of the coming

of Jesus. Because what we don't just have is

God revealing himself in creation and in special

revelation of scripture, but what we ultimately

have is that God reveals himself by the Lord

Jesus himself. We can say that the greatest ambassador

for God is God, God coming among us. So in verses

six and seven of Isaiah 49, it says, To one deeply

despised, abhorred by the nations, the servant

of rulers, kings shall see and arise, princes

and they shall prostrate themselves, because

of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of

Israel, who has chosen you." It speaks of the

great servant -king, God revealing himself as

overall, and yet the great servant. What is that

but actually the Lord Jesus himself? God makes

his appeal to us through Christ. be reconciled

to God. He who knew no sin became sin that we

might become the righteousness of God. The one

who's over all becomes lowly, despised, rejected,

scorned, spat upon, crown of thorns placed upon

him, that he might be the ambassador bringing

many sons to glory, calling them out from their

sin. And in all this he remains faithful, full

of the Spirit of God, full of grace and truth.

Christ is the great ambassador. Creation is an

ambassador, Scripture is, but Christ is the great

sent one by God. God so loves the world that

he gave his only son, that whoever believes in

him would have eternal life. Here's an interesting

thing though, and this is actually what a lot

of this passage here in 2nd Corinthians is about

Creation isn't the only ambassador and scripture

isn't and actually Jesus isn't the only ambassador

even though he's the pinnacle ambassador Verse

one if you have your Bible open again there working

together with him then we appeal to you Or verses

three and four says, we put no obstacle in anyone's

way so that no fault may be found with our ministry.

But as servants of God, we commend ourselves

in every way. And how can Paul say that? I don't

know, does it sound boastful to say we can commend

ourselves in every way? Well, he commends himself

out of this place of being God's ambassador,

the ambassador for Christ. And how can he say

that, but that he is reflecting Christ in His

ministry to them, specifically through His righteous

endurance and suffering, first His suffering.

What you see there, if we read it all through,

all those verses, is this long list of what happens

to Paul and how he interacts with it, starting

in verse four, in affliction, hardship, calamities,

beatings, imprisonments, riots, labor, sleepless

nights. hunger, impurity, knowledge, patience,

kindness, all that. What we find first is this

list of afflictions, hardship, and calamities.

And Paul's saying that he has this general kind

of suffering that he has experienced. These things

are outside of his control and outside of necessarily

who he is, but he's done this for their sake.

And then he moves actually, so that's the first

little triplet there. The next one is actually

sort of specific to Paul's suffering. beatings,

imprisonments, riots. That's not necessarily

something you've experienced, but Paul's saying

he's experienced it, and he's experienced it

for their sake. As an ambassador of Christ, he's

experienced this suffering. And then the third

one, he says, labor, sleepless nights, hunger.

In some ways, he's saying, I voluntarily do this.

These in some ways are voluntary things, things

that he's given up for their sake, to be an ambassador

for Christ. So part of my point though here is

that Paul is saying he is suffering that the

sake of Christ might go forth into the world.

As an ambassador, he is suffering. But he's not

suffering generally, right? This isn't just the

fact that he's suffering, but he's suffering

righteously. So verses 6 through 7, it says this,

By purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the

Holy Spirit, genuine love, by truthful speech

and the power of God, with the weapons of righteousness

for the right hand and for the left. which is

to say that in his suffering, he can still say

that he lives in purity, in patience and kindness

and genuine love and truthful speech, which if

you put these together, in some ways what you

could say is that he's living the fruit of the

Spirit and putting on the armor of God. He's

grabbing these ideas that he speaks of elsewhere

and says, this has actually been true of my ministry

among you, of being an ambassador for God through

Christ. Even in his suffering, what he's saying

is it's not general suffering, it's suffering

lived in light of the reality of being led by

the Holy Spirit, equipped by the power of God.

But this suffering, even this righteous suffering,

is also marked by endurance. And so then you

look at verses eight through 10. It seems as

though we almost have these paradoxes at play

here. Through honor and dishonor, through slander

and praise, we're treated as imposters and yet

are true, as unknown and yet well -known, as

dying and behold we live, as punished and yet

not killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing,

as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing

and yet possessing everything. And what these

paradoxes, it seems like, what he's mostly putting

before us or doing is, they're putting forth

this idea of endurance. Of endurance. in honor

and in dishonor. He's faithful, continuing slander

and praise. He's treated as an imposter, yet

he's true. He's continuing on for their sake

that they might know God. They might know the

Lord Jesus. Righteous suffering through endurance.

I read this week that Christian history will

convince you That the more faithful a Christian

is, the more difficulties accumulate in his life

and the more burdens he chooses to lay upon himself

for Christ's sake. Find me anywhere in the Christian

past a great man or a great woman who went to

heaven in an easy way. We do not find this man

or woman in the Bible. We do not find them in

church history. This is not just the call generally.

But this is the call specifically for Paul and

specifically for the life of the church. Faithful,

righteous, suffering, endurance. Paul is an ambassador

for Christ. That's partly what I want you to

hear this morning. Because he's reflecting Christ.

He's mirroring Jesus. Jesus comes as the great

ambassador from God, not just a general revelation

of creation, not just a special revelation of

the scriptures, but the particular revelation

of God incarnate among us. Here's God. What we

find is his righteous suffering through endurance.

He's enduring suffering. He's righteously enduring.

suffering for our sake. And Paul comes as this

ambassador for Christ, and he mimics this reality,

mimics the reality of Jesus. Now, children here,

some of you are still with us. Ah, we actually

have the older, olderish children here. So maybe

some of your siblings are downstairs. My guess

is that maybe some of the ones that are downstairs

I like to copy you. It's not uncommon. Yeah,

right. I get a little nod there. It's not uncommon

in our house to hear things like so -and -so

is just following me around doing exactly what

I'm doing. Mom, they are just saying the exact

same words I just said. And I will acknowledge

that's kind of annoying sometimes. Okay. That's

kind of annoying. But, but as annoying as that

is actually oftentimes that's a great act of

love. Right? It's a great act of love. Mimicry

is an act of love. Copycatting is saying, well,

that's how I want to be. And that's what Paul

is placing before them. I'm mimicking. I'm imitating

the one whom I love for your sake. That's what

Paul's doing. His story, you could say, is Christ's

story. Because what does he desire but to be

an ambassador, to be a reflection, to be a mirror?

The Lord Jesus himself, his life as witness to

Christ, who righteously endured suffering for

us, that we might be brought near to God. Paul

is saying, this is my desire in my life for you.

But interestingly, so interestingly, this passage

isn't just about, you know, this passage is not

too much actually about creation itself being

a revelation, but this passage isn't just about

scripture being a revelation or about Jesus being

the full revelation or even about Paul being

the great revelation, the ambassador. but it's

also actually about the church being an ambassador

for Christ. It's about the Corinthians, but it's

also about us. So look with me down at verses

11 and 13. It's kind of interesting. This happens

quite a bit when you look at different commentaries

about the scriptures, and different commentaries,

they break down the passages differently. Oh,

it seems like in 2 Corinthians a lot. I look

at one and he's like, well, the section is this

verse to this verse. You look at another, it's

this verse to this verse. And these few verses,

They're kind of in one or the other, but this

is what it reads. We've spoken freely to you

Corinthians. Our heart is wide open. You're not

restricted by us, but you are restricted in your

own affections. In return I speak to you as children.

Wideen your hearts also. No doubt this is a statement

about Paul's love for the church. But I would

suggest to you that in this context, it's also

not a statement about his love, but a call. Call

to them. A call to their own ambassadorship.

So if you look back at verse three, you'd read,

we put no obstacle in anyone's way so that no

fault may be found with our ministry. And that

word there, the fault may be found, actually

it's just fault, the maybe found is filled in

by the translator. But that word fault is often

translated by ridicule or mockery. Something

that you look down on, you disdain. And so part

of what Paul is doing, he's speaking to this

reality that they might disdain Paul's ministry

because it's been marked by these kinds of things,

this kind of suffering, this kind of righteous

suffering. And again, the temptation was to find

that this kind of ministry that was full of affliction

and beatings and sleepless nights and all the

rest. Was not a ministry worth commending, a

life worth living? And Paul says the answer to

this is widen your hearts. The object of your

affection is too small. Why that seems ridiculous

is because the things of this world have grabbed

onto your heart. And you think that you can't

give them up because that's where your heart

is holding fast to. And he said, if that's the

case, your heart needs to be enlarged. It needs

to be made bigger to understand that God has

something on offer for you much more than what

this life here has on offer. If you look at the

life of Paul and you say, ah, I don't... I don't

think there's much there. He says then you're

actually missing the whole good news of the gospel.

Because it's a reflection of Jesus, but he's

also saying your loves are too small. Your affections

are too small and there is something on offer

for you that is much, much greater. Because if

you die with Christ, you will also be raised

with Christ. They need wider hearts. Let me end

by getting back to Flannery O 'Connor's prayer

journal. There's a lot of lovely prayers in that

short journal, and again, I would commend it

to you. But she offers a prayer in that, actually,

I mean, it's in the midst of a longer prayer,

but she offers this prayer that I hope is sort

of the lifeblood of our church together. Just

the beating heart of who we are. And I think

that's what Paul is doing in this church in Corinth.

He's saying, this is what I desire for you to

be, for the DNA, the life of the church. She

says this, don't let me ever think, dear God,

that I was anything. but the instrument for your

story." Hear her in that? She's saying, in all

that I am, in all that I do, let me be an ambassador

for who you are. Let me read it again. Don't

let me ever think, dear God, that I was anything

but the instrument for your story. Let me pray

that over us. Lord, dear God, don't let Second

City Church ever think ever Act or live like

we are anything but the instrument for your story.

In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Please consider

subscribing to this podcast and joining us in

person each Sunday at 10 a .m. You can find us

online at SecondCityChurch .org and on Instagram,

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God bless.