Who Do You Represent?

We have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus and we have been given new life in Him - He has enlisted us into His service as His ambassadors; we are called to represent Him. In 1st Timothy 1, Paul writes:

12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry,
13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
14 And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

Because we have a Savior, we are not to live as if we do not have one, as if we do not know Him. That means, as Paul writes in Romans 1, we are not to be ashamed of the gospel - as His representatives, we are directed and empowered to live for Him.  We are appointed to a walk of personal holiness, reflecting the presence and principles of the living Lord.  Because of His grace, our sins are forgiven, and we have the ability to call attention to Him.

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When we are called to represent a person or organization, we should attempt to do it in the very best way possible - that is especially important in the Church. Ephesians 2 reminds us:
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone,
21 in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

It's been a tumultuous month for the U.S. Women's National Team in soccer.  The team had sub-par performances in the opening round of the Women's World Cup worldwide championship tournament, barely made it to the final round of 16, and was held scoreless in regulation in a defeat at the hands of the Swedish team.

Now comes the news that the coach, Vlatko Andonovski, has resigned from his position. One of the players, Carli Lloyd, has condemned the performance on the world stage, and pundits are trying to figure out what went wrong.

Maybe evangelist Franklin Graham is on to something. He tweeted out these words:

The US Women’s National Soccer Team lost to Sweden yesterday at the 2023 Women's World Cup. I used to pull for our women’s soccer team, but recently they have shown disrespect for the US & have used their platform to promote the LGBTQ agenda. When they lost, I wasn’t sad. I wish I didn’t feel that way, but when players think it is more about them than the nation they represent, I can’t support that...

Fox Sports soccer analyst Alexi Lalas related similar sentiments, tweeting:

Don’t kill the messenger. This #USWNT is polarizing. Politics, causes, stances, & behavior have made this team unlikeable to a portion of America. This team has built its brand and has derived its power from being the best/winning.

Over at The Stream, write Joseph D'Hippolito narrowed the focus down to one influential player on the team:

Megan Rapinoe will be remembered for turning the national women’s soccer team into a personal political plaything, for contaminating team morale and for alienating large segments of the team’s fan base — in many cases, permanently.

Rapinoe in 2016 joined in the National Anthem protests by kneeling, and according to the article:

Rapinoe’s influence is pervasive even when she’s not in the starting lineup, as was the case during the Women’s World Cup this year. As a result, the Americans provided an odd pre-game sight: Most players stood silently but some sang with their hands over their hearts.

That inconsistency reflects deteriorating morale. Carli Lloyd, one of Rapinoe’s former teammates who won two Women’s World Cups and two Olympic gold medals, described the situation last year without mentioning Rapinoe.

“The culture has changed,” said Lloyd, whose 134 goals ranks fourth all-time internationally. “It was really tough and challenging to be playing these last several years. I wanted to win and I wanted to help the team, but the culture within the team was the worst I’ve ever seen. To be quite honest, I hated it.”

Former women's team goalie Hope Solo is quoted as saying: “I’ve seen Megan Rapinoe almost bully players into kneeling because she really wants to stand up for something in her particular way,” adding, “But it’s our right as Americans to do it whatever way we’re comfortable with, and I think that’s really hard being on the main stage right now with so many political issues for athletes.”

It was disconcerting, apparently, to see athletes who are appointed to represent America show, as Graham put it, "disrespect" to our nation.  We can certainly disagree about various issues, but it seems if you are the representing an entire nation, that you should be able to present a united front.

Of course, Rapinoe is a lesbian, married to WNBA star Sue Bird.  The Stream article notes that...

...as part of her LGBTQ advocacy, the Lesbian midfielder promotes opening women’s teams to transgender athletes. In saying she was “100 percent supportive of trans inclusion,” Rapinoe offered her best imitation of Marie Antionette’s comments to disgruntled peasants:

I would also encourage everyone out there who is afraid someone’s going to have an unfair advantage over their kid to really take a step back and think what are we actually talking about here. We’re talking about people’s lives. I’m sorry, your kid’s high school volleyball team just isn’t that important. It’s not more important than any one kid’s life.

So, the female athletes have to put up with being in private spaces with biological males - what sort of effect would that have on them?  How about working to compete in a sport and to fall short because the rules were unfair?  Please - the furtherance of this harmful agenda is damaging to children: those that have bought into the trans lie and those who have to absorb the fallout.  It is not some sort of righteous cause - it is just the opposite. 

So, while pundits will try to figure out what went wrong with this years women's World Cup soccer team, these circumstances show what will happen when a unit is divided.  And, I would contend that if you are going to represent a country on the athletic field, you should represent that country in the best way you can and not engage in divisive expressions.  

I think there are applications in church culture, as well. If a church is divided by personal agendas, then the effectiveness of that body in fulfilling God's mission is diminished.  We have to make sure that our one, uniting agenda is to glorify God according to Scripture. We are called to further that agenda, and we have seen instances where you have those who bring the "gay-affirming" agenda into local churches, which weakens their adherence to the gospel. 

And, we as believers should recognize that we are representatives of Jesus Christ - we have been sent to this planet to represent a heavenly country - we are citizens of heaven.  As such, we are to act in accordance with who Jesus is and what He teaches.  We are to, as it's been said, make Him famous.  We are to show the love of Christ, and by so doing, maintain a witness through which people will be drawn to Him.