As I read the scripture of this morning, I was reminded of an experience some years ago when I was privileged to be among those celebrating the graduation from officer’s candidate school at Maxwell Air Base in Montgomery. The Secretary of the Air Force said to this sharp, attractive group of graduates, “You will go forth all around the world in your career and you will represent the best of us to the citizens of the world. You will represent the Best of us! Do not disappoint nor embarrass us, Make us proud as we are today!”
His words were written indelible in my mind and they come to me often as I think of Christian people in this community and our soldiers throughout the world. They represent us, and usually represent the best of us. Sure there are times there are those who do not demonstrate “Behavior Becoming and Officer and A gentleman.” Sure there are those who misbehave. Sure there are those who in the crisis of the moment do not represent the best of us, but they are the exception not the rule. And when they misbehave, as did those who have recently practiced the same tactics of terror on Iraq prisoners as the former dictator whom our soldiers have died to remove from power, they are an embarrassment to us all. They place suspicion in the minds of those who do not know us as Americans. The ill conceived behavior of a few will take years to change attitudes in the minds of many.
Here in the scripture of today, Jesus is sending out into the villages as an advance team, his disciples; he knew that they would represent him and knowing them as he surely did, that had to make him uneasy. Yet, he trusted this mission to them and they went out, to Represent The Christ!
As I considered this, there came to my mind the admonition of my father when as a young teenager I would go out on a Friday night with friends and my father would call out “Henry, You remember who you are.” What this meant was that we were not to embarrass our family. We were to behave as though we were all there. Honesty, integrity, and responsibility was expected of members of our family. We were church people, and that meant something in our community then as it means something today. We would represent the Methodist Christians in our community and our behavior would reflect on all who were in our church. We were not to be involved in lying, cheating, stealing, or destroying other people’s property; but would be compassionate, caring, concerned with others. “Remember who you are! “He said.”
Someone asked me recently, “What was expected of someone when they joined the church?” And I said: “that you will support the church with your prayers, presence, gifts and service. And that you will represent Jesus Christ in a commendable way. And that you will not embarrass us. We don’t want to read about you on the local section of the newspaper where they list the DUI’s, nor those arrested. It saddens us when we read your name in the obituaries, but it breaks our heart when you are in the arrest section.” “Remember who you are,” my Dad would say. So also the Heavenly Father says…
You are to represent the best of us! Never be less than you are!
The Bible proclaims the People of God as God’s chosen people. Chosen to be as a light to all the nations. Chosen to be the light of the world. Chosen to be Ambassadors of Christ. Chosen to be Representatives of God’s Way and Purpose.
This is the great privilege of each of us who are citizens of the United States of America. Don’t embarrass us.
In the year 1776, there were young soldiers who gave their lives in the fight for freedom in the early beginnings of this nation, but they were but the first of a long line of splendor who represented the best of us over the past 228 years of our nation’s history.
Only a few weeks ago, the word came of the death of Pat Tillman, who was an Army Ranger who died in the war in Afghanistan. Tillman was 27 years of age but was an exceptional young man. He played professional football for the Arizona Cardinals, but had chosen to leave a 3.6 million dollar contract to enlist in the Army because of a sense of duty to our nation. In an age of noise and materialism, Pat Tillman was a contemplative, not- materialistic individual who represented the best of us. Pat Tillman has a brother named Kevin, who also gave up a lucrative baseball contract with the Cleveland Indians, and today is serving in the Army in Southeastern Afghanistan. The Tillman boys, one now in heaven and one now in Afghanistan represent the best of us.
It is a great privilege to be a citizen of The United States and to serve the country, and sometimes it takes personal sacrifice for a greater common good. The best of us will choose the way of sacrifice, and I encourage you to stand up and to be counted among those who are the best of us. Being a citizen of the United States, and being a member of the Kingdom of God, carries with it wonderful privileges and awesome responsibilities.
So also is it a great privilege to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God and to be members of the church, and to give our support to God’s purposes through sacrificial service. We are a people whose lives have been bought by the price of Christ’s life. The Apostle says: “You were bought with a price.” Stand tall in order to reflect the value of Christ’s sacrifice for your salvation. Be the best of us!
Theodore Roosevelt, who had served in the Spanish American War at the turn of the twentieth century, at the age of 42, became the youngest President ever of the United States and would serve until l909. His sons were to serve the county in the First World War and a war correspondent once said to the President in his old age “Your sons are serving so well in the Armed Services in Europe. I know you must be proud.” To which Roosevelt, said “Well, they had better serve well, they are Roosevelts' you know.”
You had better serve well, for after all, you are citizens of the United States of America. You are citizens of the Kingdom of God. Your freedoms and your eternal life were bought by a price. You had better serve well, you know! You are supposed to represent the best of us! That’s the design of your very being.