August 11, 2013
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Baptist Church of Boston, Massachusetts.
I have not lived in Boston since 1974. Before, I had as many as four Massachusetts addresses. My zip codes always started off with 021 something, something. But for the past 39 years, I have lived in California and Pennsylvania and learned new zip codes. I now have 94965. But being a native Bostonian, you might be able to take the boy out of Boston, but you can’t take Boston out of the boy!
While I have watched the Phillies of the National League played in Philadelphia, I have driven an hour away to Baltimore to see the Red Sox play the Orioles. While I have watched the San Francisco Giants, I have driven to Oakland to watch the Red Sox play the A’s. One of the things I did on Friday was to take a tour of Fenway Park with my nephew! Believe it or not, I have tickets to watch the Red Sox play the Giants in San Francisco on August 21st! As they say, once a Boston fan, always a Boston fan. What amazes me as well as all those who know me in San Francisco is why I am still a die-hard Red Sox fan! Maybe I can say that I live away from home.
We’ve all been away from home on a temporary basis. Many New Englanders are snowbird in Florida. We fly off to the Caribbean for a nice vacation and a few weeks of island life. In college, we may do a semester of study abroad in London, or in high school take part in a short-term mission trip to Haiti that has been ravaged by hurricanes and poverty over the years. But in every case, our travel is temporary, and home—the place we’re from, where our people are, where our bed and belongings sit and where our real life is lived—is always in sight and just a few short days or weeks away. For most, being away from home is a temporary thing.
But then there are the expatriates. Expatriates, or expats, are those people for whom being away from home is much more permanent. Whether it’s a long-term relocation related to work or a sense of adventure that pushes one to pack up, there are, according to the UN, more than 200 million expats. There are 200 million people whose citizenship is in one country but their time, money and life are spent in a far away and very different one. To put that in perspective, if we considered all of the expatriates in the world their own country it would become the fifth largest nation ahead of Brazil and behind Indonesia. That’s a lot of people living and working away from home.
Being in Boston this weekend reminds me that I am an expatriate working and living in San Francisco but my real home or at least my heart is still in Boston.
Citizens of the Kingdom
The Scriptures tell us that those of us who have been brought to life in Christ are expatriates. When God turned on the lights of faith in God’s Word, our hearts and hopes are now with Christ. Our citizenship shifted. We became members or citizens of the kingdom of God. We became members of a kingdom whose reign and rule can be experienced here—through the forgiveness of sins and the love of God’s people and more—but it is not physically and fully here. At least, not yet.
There will come a day when our new homeland is firmly and physically established. Yet until that day, like a renewable energy engineer from Boston who now resides in India, we live and work in a world that is far from where our heart, our hopes or our heritage are ultimately tied. It is great to live in the San Francisco Bay Area, but it is not my final home.
Hebrews 11 recalls the stories of Abraham and Sarah, of Moses, and of the children of Israel who, knowing that their true citizenship was in God’s kingdom, were led to live lives of faith-filled adventure. In the process the writer invites us to consider how our lives should be filled with similar expat experiences of faithfully following God.
The question for us today is: Do we see ourselves as Christian expatriates? When I was growing up in Boston, I was taught that Boston is the “hub of the nation” which means that it’s where everything else flows out. Boston is the center of life and culture so why would anyone want to leave Boston to go somewhere else? And with that kind of culturally instilled mentality, I soon believed that I never needed to live any place else except Boston. It’s like those posters that you can find in a tourist shop of your favorite city in the fore ground and everything else is depicted insignificantly in the background. In Boston, we see the world from just our vantage point.
And as you have called me your native son, my question for First Baptist Boston is: Do you see yourselves as Christian expatriates or do you believe that for the past 348 years, you have located your true spiritual homeland in this fair city? Truthfully, I’m afraid to tell you that as expatriates, Boston is not your final home.
Adventurously Obedient
If our fellow expatriates like Moses, Abraham and Sarah teach us anything, it’s that while we’re in this foreign land we should seek to be adventurously obedient. Many expats talk about the responsibility that they felt when living abroad to “make the most” of the opportunity. There’s a commitment to the calling of learning, experiencing and being shaped as much as possible by the new world outside your door. It’s like if you become an expat in Egypt, you’d be foolish not to crawl through the corridors in the pyramids, no matter how scary it seems.
If you set up a home in China but never made your way to the Guilin limestone mountains or to the garden landscape of Hangzhou, China’s “paradise on earth,” then you’ve missed out.
As members of God’s kingdom, we have similar responsibilities, a similar call to adventurous obedience and commitment that is not simply to enjoy the local culture. It’s about asking the question, “Why has God put me in this place at this time? What does it mean for one to follow God obediently into the wilds of this world so that the rule of God might be proclaimed, that God’s love might be made known, and that God’s character might be made manifest in me?
Wrestling with such questions drove Abraham to leave Ur behind, Moses to become a leader, and Rahab to be a rescuer. The pursuit of adventurous obedience to live in a foreign land allowed expats to bring blessings to this temporary place and experience more of God in this foreign land.
From this same pulpit and sanctuary in January 1975, you ordained me into full-time Christian Ministry. Dr. Eddie O’Neal, my homiletic professor at Andover Newton preached the sermon when he called me a “coolie for Christ!” He saw me as a servant of Christ who would become an expat pastor departing from the comforts, the familiarity, and the Red Sox of Boston to serve in California. And I humbly pray that I hope I have become a blessing to the people at First Chinese Baptist in San Francisco and that they have experienced God more deeply while I have been in this foreign land of the Pacific Coast.
Our church in San Francisco just appointed a Long-Range Planning Committee tasked with the goal of how might we become more connected and involved with the community surrounding us in Chinatown in 5 years. While we know that our church has been around for 133 years, nothing like the 348 years of FBC, Boston, we see ourselves as foreign expats and want to make the best of our situation believing that our true home is with God—“the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (11:10).
Are we open to such adventures? Are we willing to believe that God has awakened us to the fact that because our permanent homes are somewhere else, that we can go “all out” for him in this temporary one? Or are we like sitting in our apartment in Paris watching reruns of reality TV when there’s a rich opportunity outside? Are we just sitting in our comfortable pews in this iconic church building doing the same thing year after year while the whole world is inviting you to come out and have a great time?
In Hebrews 12:1, we read, “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” It’s as if he’s saying, “Look, we’ve seen what life is supposed to look like in this foreign land so let’s radically and adventurously pursue obedience to our mission, knowing that even if we fail and are frustrated here on this earth, our real home and family still awaits. So what do we have to lose? Let us give all that we are and have to be faithful in God’s name!
Homeland Security
As God calls us to become adventurously obedient, God also reminds us that we truly have homeland security in heaven. Wise Christian expats know that the majority of his or her existence will not be spent in this foreign land but in heaven where there’s homeland security. In the end, we will spend more time there than here.
While we should make the most of our time in this foreign land, we must also make sure we’re investing in the eternal homeland. Jesus said in Matthew 6, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroys and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (6:19-21).
This church assisted my father after World War II to sponsor my mother to come to America in 1947. I always say that if it weren’t for you and the American Baptists, I literally wouldn’t be standing here today. My childhood home was 166 Quincy Street in Roxbury. I lived in Allston. I lived in Wenham for college and Newton Centre for seminary. I lived Pennsylvania for over 20 years and I have had four California addresses. Everywhere I have lived, I have acquired and accumulated material things. And while some of this stuff is quite nice, they mean nothing. My big screen TV means nothing because a new model has already replaced it. The fine and expensive furniture will eventually break. In the 9 different places that I have lived, these are all temporary homes. I need to invest in my permanent home.
As a follower of Jesus, we have the benefit of knowing how this whole story ends. We know that one day Jesus will come back and the way this world works will come to an end and an eternity will be established where blessing abounds and all needs are met. We know that what we pile up here won’t matter there, which means it’s pointless to fearfully hoard our time, our treasures and our love. Therefore a wise person would strategically invest in the things to come: God’s realm, God’s values and God’s heart. Jesus says that when we manage things according to his plan we are stockpiling for eternity and anchoring our hearts in what God has in store for us.
The truth is, even though many of us believe in our eternal homeland, we live lives and manage our stuff as if this is all there is. We believe in God but spend our money and manage our blessings like non-believers—fearfully thinking that we need to enjoy it now, bless ourselves now, pile up all the toys and seek the best for ourselves now. Even though we are guaranteed a real home with God, we struggle to believe there actually is one.
Is that you? Is that me? I have all the basic necessities to survive in my temporary home in San Francisco. You have all the basic necessities to survive in your temporary home in Boston. God gives us these blessings while we’re sojourners here. But our job while in this foreign land is to serve God, and manage God’s investments! We are to do the work of the realm of God. And if we do, God will provide for our needs while living in this foreign land.
Sharing Our Passports
With homeland security so heightened, I travel with my US passport. As Christian expats, we should not be afraid or ashamed to show our Christian passports. We are called to share with others just where our true citizenship is. That’s not to say that we should be the spiritual equivalent of the “ugly American tourist” who’s unwilling to learn new customs and appreciate new things when we visit a new place. But we must humbly yet confidently believe that our true home has something to offer to everyone in this home away from home. And we must live in such a way that those who notice we are “strangers and exiles” might inquire about the hope and the joy that flow from our living in this temporary homeland. And who knows? They too might transfer their citizenship from this home to the eternal home. They just might join us in this Christian expatriate community.
While we might think that living in Boston or in San Francisco is our permanent home, it’s really a temporary address. I might be in my ninth address right now, but most likely, I will have more temporary addresses on this earth. What I do know is that eventually I’ll have a permanent address with God in my final home.
I have faith which gives me the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. My faith is not merely a system of beliefs. But rather faith is the matter of in whom and what we place our deepest trust. Faith emerges from the awareness of how God is always faithful to us. Faith moves us forward with hope and conviction that this earthly home is not our final home. It is faith in the trustworthiness of God that is known from past and present experiences, the ground of faith which assures us we can move forward into the future with hope and conviction that led Abraham and Sarah to have the confidence to traverse from the old to the new, the familiar to the unfamiliar, the settled to the nomadic, the barren to the fertile, the earthly to the heavenly.
As members of God’s home, made citizens through the work of Christ, we are all expats as well. Like Abraham and Sarah, we, too, are writing stories through our wanderings, our relocations, our travels. May ours, like theirs, be filled with adventure and obedience, an investment in eternity and a humble and sharing love about this Good News to others about our eternal home. Just like Abraham and Sarah were blessed beyond anyone’s imagination because of their faithfulness, we too would have “descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”
Let us pray.
Holy God, like Abraham and Sarah, we have heard your call. We respond with fledging faith, offering what we have as we step into the unknown future with you. Continue to bless and strengthen the faithful witness of this historic and life-changing church so that it would remain a station of hope, love, justice, and peace until we come home to you in our eternal home. Lead us to become adventurously obedient to Christ’s call to befriend all who come into our community and to invite them to know the Lord. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
Benediction
You have been called and now you are sent—
Sent into a future that is sure because it is God’s future,
Even though you do not know where you are going.
Go with courage and faith.
There is nothing to fear, for God walks with you, ahead of you, behind you, above and below you.
You belong to God and God is your God.
Amen.