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Let me start with a little quiz
and see whether you can recognize these famous people. Mystery prize… Who is this?Answer: Phua Chu Kang. Mr Bean. Homer Simpson. Alfred E. Neumann. Now here’s a question for you: “Suppose that your Christian fellowship is invited to ameeting with the King (Yang Dipertuan Agong) to discuss some very important matters.Who would you send as a representative? Why? Would you send any of these guys torepresent CDPC at that meeting? Why or why not?”Because these f’lers are weird… They could be rude (PCK picks his nose in front of theking), annoying and inconsiderate (remember the time Mr Bean created havoc in achurch?), so blur (“Doh!”), offensive or proud (“Best in Singapore, JB and some say evenin Batam”?). We basically don’t want our representatives to be fumbling clowns. Becauseif they represent us, it would reflect badly on us and people think we look like that.But like it or not, we are already representatives of Christ in our family, in our classroom,among our friends… Whether we know it or not, we are ambassadors for Christ. Werepresent the King and His Kingdom in a fallen world to share good news and do goodworks. People will hear what we say and look at our behavior and think, “Oh, he’s afollower of Jesus. So His Master must be like that also lah”. We will either attract peopleto see God or distract people from seeing God. And that’s a very high calling… Whocould live up to that?But the amazing thing is God in His mercy invites fumbling, blur and offensive sinnerslike us to join in His redemptive mission for the world. We don’t have to be perfect. ButGod doesn’t want us to stay that way either. He wants to transform us to continuegrowing to be ambassadors for Christ who are humble, honest, thoughtful and winsome.So with that in mind, let’s turn to the passage of Scripture for today in 1 Peter 3:13-16
“Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened." But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyonewho asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentlenessand respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against  your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”
Tradition has it that the apostle Peter was writing from Rome to a church that is goingthrough persecution. So he told them, “Don’t repay evil with evil. When you are insulted,respond with blessing”. In a hostile environment, Christians are to seek to live inharmony with everyone else. Peter goes on to say, “If you are eager to do good to others,who is going to harm you? But… But even if you suffer for doing what is right, even if you are persecuted for no good reason, you are still blessed.”1
 
So don’t be afraid of opposition. Don’t be scared and keep quiet about the gospel. But inyour hearts, set apart Christ as Lord. Do not be frightened into silence because Jesus isKing. He is the Lord. Get ready to speak up when people ask. The truth that Jesus is thesovereign Lord of all gives us a deep, solid hope even in the face of intense opposition…It gives us hope to press on in doing good... Because ultimately Jesus is Lord andtherefore, Caesar is not. We don’t owe Caesar our ultimate allegiance. The cure againstthe fear of man is the confidence that Christ is on His throne. He is Lord of all or He isnot Lord at all.Again, the mind-boggling thing is: You and I are called to be ambassadors of this Kingand His Kingdom. The only question is: What kind of ambassadors are we? So I wouldlike to draw out three key characteristics of what an effective ambassador looks like fromthis passage of Scripture.1) An ambassador has a firm conviction in the Lordship of JesusIn those days, the Roman Empire was actually quite a tolerant place to live in. There were plenty of religions around so the government doesn’t really care what or who youworship. But to make sure everybody understands that Caesar is the king and everybodymust remain loyal to him, you are required to go the Roman Imperial Temple maybe oncea year to burn incense at his altar and swear your allegiance to him, saying “Caesar isLord! Caesar is Lord! (
kyrios
)”. And Caesar was given divine titles like ‘Lord’, ‘Savior’or ‘Son of god’. That’s all you need to do once in a while. Then you can go on practicingwhatever religion you like. You can worship anyone you like as long as you worshipCaesar as Lord. Sounds simple, right?But to the early Christians, offering worship to anyone but God alone is idolatry. It isgiving to a creature what truly belongs to the Creator. Only Jesus deserves our ultimateloyalty and our highest worship. In their hearts they set apart Christ as Lord.
 Kyrios Iesous Christos.
Jesus Christ is Lord. For this reason, they were persecuted and somewere killed.In Malaysia, we also live in a multicultural, multi-religious, pluralistic society. It’s notthat different today. For many Malaysians, you can believe anything you want as long asyou don’t believe that it’s true. “It’s okay if you say this religion is true for you, but it’snot true for me. We are very tolerant and inclusive people but we won’t tolerate andinclude your belief that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life and nobody comes toGod but by Him. Because that’s so intolerant and exclusive. You can believe in Jesus butonly if you don’t set Him apart as the one and only Lord.”This very common and popular belief is nicely captured in a story about six blind menand the elephant. Have you heard of this ancient story from India? Once upon a time, six blind men encountered an elephant for the first time. One guy put out his hand andtouched the side of the elephant. "How smooth! An elephant is like a wall." The secondguy touched the trunk of the elephant. "How round! An elephant is like a snake." Thethird guy touched the tusk of the elephant. "How sharp! An elephant is like a spear." The2
 
fourth guy touched the leg of the elephant. "How tall! An elephant is like a tree." Thefifth blind man reached out and touched the ear of the elephant. "How wide! An elephantis like a fan." And the last guy touched the tail of the elephant. "How thin! An elephantis like a rope."So the blind men began to argue amongst themselves. Each one thought that his ownunderstanding of the elephant was correct. It was so loud that the Rajah or the king heardthe commotion and came to them. "Stop fighting. The elephant is a big animal," hesaid. "Each of you touched only one small part. Let me tell you the whole truth. Actually,you are all experiencing only part of the same elephant."I like this story a lot. At first it sounds very humble and open minded because it says allreligions are partly correct, they are all in touch with God. But what’s the problem withthis story? If we look closer, our friend who tells this story is basically saying allreligions are like the blind men touching different parts of God. The Buddhist is blind.The Muslim is blind. The Hindu is blind. The Christian is also blind. All of them are blind men. All of them didn’t get the whole truth. You see, our friend is actually makinga very exclusive statement that no one else got it all correct except himself. If everyoneelse is blind, then who is he in the story? He is not one of the blind men. He’s not theelephant. He is actually claiming to be the all-knowing Rajah who sees the whole truthand reveals it to the blind men. Everyone else is blind except him! But how can you possibly know that when all of us are blind (including the storyteller)? If I am blind andyou are blind, then how can you know what the elephant is really like? So this popular view commits suicide on its own logic.And the funny thing is, this story also contains an important truth. Because the only Onewho can see everything and know the complete truth is the King. It’s God Himself. Noone else can do that. We are all limited and sinful creatures who can only see part of reality. There is nothing we can boast about because we are blind like everyone elsegroping around in the dark. We won’t know what the truth is like unless… unless theKing has spoken. Unless the King who knows everything reveals Himself to us, revealsthe truth and corrects our mistakes. And guess what, that is exactly what the gospel is allabout. God has already revealed Himself in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christso we can know the truth. “I once was blind but now I see…” because God has revealedHimself personally in Christ. Therefore, in your hearts, set apart Christ as Lord.Jesus is not just one of many ways or one of many gods. He is the way, the truth and thelife.2) The ambassador for Christ has an informed mind, always ready to give a thoughtfulanswer to everyone who asks questions about our faith.The apostle Peter wrote:
“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”
This command to be ready with ananswer or 
apologia
to seekers or skeptics who ask questions is for the whole church. It isnot reserved for an elite group of scholars. All of us are called to be equipped to give our 3
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