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MOVING OUT
Elizabeth and I just bought a new house! We’re ecstatic and excited. We have longed for years to own a place; God has given us the desire of our heart.
Despite the joy and anticipation of new beginnings, most people know moving, for various reasons, is not easy; in fact, it can be a real pain. Familiar routines, like how we do hygiene, are disrupted. Grunt labor, which we all live for, is expended. Hard decisions – should I save this box of prutt I haven’t looked at in five years? – are mandatory. And major change rules our lives for days and months to come.
But moving is also an opportunity to reflect on life’s important questions . . . where do I get coffee now? Where’s the nearest Wal Mart? Will my friends still visit me? What do I really value? Do I truly get up in the morning to live my passion? Where is my God in all this?
For me, it has especially been a time to reflect upon how I can lead my family according to God’s kingdom values in a new place. Specifically, I am wrestling with questions like ‘how does God’s kingdom come?’ and ‘how can we live the rhythm of this kingdom in tangible ways?’
One aspect of living kingdom values, I believe, and a partial answer to the questions above, is found in the meanings and implications of three related words: ‘ambassador,’ ‘embassy,’ and ‘extraterritoriality.’ Yup, these are fancy words even Pastor Rod, the Village wordsmith, would grin at. These words contain exceptional concepts that are intriguingly practical for living and practicing godliness.
First, Paul teaches in 2 Corinthians that we are “Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us . . .” The meaning and implications of the word ‘ambassador’ are fascinating.
In the Old Testament, several Hebrew words convey a broad sense of the word’s meaning: mal'akh is ‘messenger’, luts is ‘interpreter’, tsir is ‘to go . . . as a messenger’, and presbeuo is ‘to act as an ambassador’, which literally means ‘to be older.’ Basically, in the biblical sense, an ambassador is an official representative of a king or government. Many examples of an ambassador’s activity are recounted in Scripture. For example, David sent ambassadors to Hanun, king of the Ammonites, to congratulate him upon his accession to the throne (2 Samuel 10:2).
In the New Testament, the word is used at least twice in a more figurative or symbolic sense. As Jesus’ man in prison, Paul referred to himself as an ‘ambassador in chains’ (Ephesians 6:20); and in 2 Corinthians, he says he along with all ministers of the gospel – that’s you and me! – are Jesus’ ambassadors. We are today, as Paul and others were in their day, royal agents speaking for Jesus and bringing both the word and the action of His kingdom to bear upon the daily rhythm of life and living.
So as I move my family into a new place, I do so with an ongoing earnest desire to experience a crisp, vibrant, and fresh reframing of both who I am in Christ – God’s loved on and forgiven kid – and what He asks me to do – demonstrate godliness and speak truth on his behalf. And how does this look? For me and my family it begins with meeting and connecting with our new neighbors, expressing God’s love through hospitality and friendship, and repenting of tainted motives that do more to serve me than the One I serve.
Next, and let’s face it, every ambassador needs a base of operation! To carry the concept of believer as ambassador into analogy, I like to think of the place we live – apartment, house, tent or tree – as our embassy. Generally speaking, an embassy is a physical building containing the offices of an ambassador and her/his staff; it is the place where the work of an ambassador begins, is nurtured, and is broadcast.
I like to think of me and Elizabeth, my wife, as the lead ambassadors of our home and our children, Max, Luke, and Abby, as our staff of diplomatic representatives. Our new home is our embassy, our kingdom base of operations. It is a place where we practice and express the values of Christ’s kingdom: love, forgiveness, confession, repentance, reconciliation, right belief, healing, gentleness, longsuffering, all the Spirit’s fruit! It is a place where we actually experience the real-time rhythm of Christ’s healing presence in us. I really believe that to the degree we can live according to these kingdom values at home is, at some level, the degree to which our work as ambassadors to the world will be effective and have impact in our neighborhood as we meet and connect with new neighbors.
Finally – and please write and thank the rock band Guns ‘N Roses for drawing this to our attention - it’s a jungle out there! Once you as ambassador get home and shut the door of your embassy behind you, you quickly feel the calm and solace of the kingdom characteristic called ‘extraterritoriality.’ This word is closely connected with the activity of ambassador and embassy. Defined simply, it is the privilege of “Exemption from local legal jurisdiction, such as that granted to foreign diplomats, the privilege of immunity from local law enforcement enjoyed by certain aliens. Although physically present upon the territory of a foreign nation, those aliens possessing extraterritoriality are considered by customary international law or treaty to be under the legal jurisdiction of their home country” (Yahoo Encyclopedia).
I like to think of it this way. While satan mistakenly believes he is the forever ruler of this world, it is only temporarily under his control, and the challenge of every follower of Jesus is to remain unspotted from, as Paul describes, the ‘ways of this world’ (Ephesians 2:2). The world – with its anti-Jesus values – our flesh – with its anti-Jesus old nature, and the devil – with his anti-Jesus everything – are extremely dangerous. We live in a toxic, deadly environment and every effort must be mobilized to avoid the dark spiritual pull to be influenced by, acquiesce to, and bow the knee under the subtle, viral infection of a cursed creation.
But you know that our world belongs to God. As the Psalmist declared, ‘The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.’ Jesus is reclaiming His creation, both dirt and creatures, and doing so through us. While we are physically present upon the soil and territory of a foreign kingdom – planet Earth in it’s ‘not yet totally reclaimed for Christ’ state – we live as strangers and aliens possessing extraterritoriality and are under the legal jurisdiction of our home kingdom, namely, Christ’s! We are God’s kids; his grace is the law. We are citizens of heaven and our lives are in sync with the rhythm of His Spirit and kingdom.
What that means in my mind is this: we must resist the natural impulse to live according to our old, fallen nature, and work ardently to reclaim creation and culture to its rightful King. What we face in the world, the attitudes, beliefs, perspectives, and values, run cross-grain to Christ’s values. We should never bunker down and neglect our responsibility to engage the world and bring God’s appeal for reconciliation with Him to everyone, our new neighbors, and your old ones.
In sum, I am our family’s lead ambassador; God’s Spirit empowers you and me so He can make His appeal through us and our families. Our new home is a kingdom embassy, a base of operations to nurture and express the rhythm of Jesus’ kingdom so that we can be prepared to influence our new neighborhood for Him. As ambassadors with a new embassy, we enjoy the privilege of extraterritoriality; we are in the world but not of it. We’re under the legal jurisdiction of our home kingdom; its primary law is grace!
So . . . how will you live as an ambassador where God has placed you? How will your embassy express the rhythm of Christ’s kingdom? How will you enjoy the dynamic of extraterritoriality in your setting?
For me, the shift into a new place is accompanied with a simultaneous shift in perspective. Today I am looking at myself, our new home, and our new privilege in new ways. |
