Regifting Reconciliation
Surrender ALL • Sermon • Submitted
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· 2 viewsMore then Just heaven, more then our earthly pain, It's about living by faith and not by what we see. Jesus came to reconcile us back to God. What does reconciliation look like? How does God see me and how do I see others?
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I like to plan my trip. When I can see where I’m going on a map and I can see the big picture.
GPS is very convenient but it’s not always reliable. Sometimes the Garmin or Tom Tom uses old maps that weren’t updated, sometimes the business inform google where they are located…
Construction on a freeway can force you to go the opposite direction… GPS get’s confused.
Having a big picture perspective gives me confidence when the GPS get’s razz-led I’m not going to get razz-led.
Life can be a lot like our GPS…
Life can be unpredictable, sometimes buggy, full of detours, options for faster routes.
When we see the big picture as we look to God’s Word we travel to our destination with amazing peace and wonderful confidences because our faith is in Jesus. We don’t stress over the detours, look for shortcuts, or worry about setbacks.
As we know God’s Word… when we study, pray and meditate on scripture… As we apply HIS Word to our life and put our faith and confidence in Christ.
Remember, Jesus found us when we were lost, and Jesus made a way to bring us back… to reconcile our broken relationship with our creator and reconciliation is still God’s heart.
The truth is, all of us are lost… hopeless… helpless… and purposeless without Jesus.
We all need Jesus and this morning, and it all begins with faith… faith in God’s love and grace.
GRACE: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.
GRACE: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.
We are saved by Grace… we are made new by grace… we are forgiven by grace… we have become ambassadors for Christ by grace… we have unlimited access to Jesus by grace… we are made righteous in HIM, by God’s grace.
God’s grace, HIS unmerited favor will change everything. Jesus came to do more then just save us from hell but know reconcile us back to God.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
PRAY
This is our now our new pattern for living… our new perspective on life. If we are in Christ, regardless of our background, our race, our talents, our struggles, our family, our sin, we are now reconciled back to God.
This morning we are going to dig in to God’s gift of reconciliation really means.
The vertical and the horizontal benefit of reconciliation:
God’s gift of reconciliation transforms us because it reestablishes our relationship with God… that’s the vertical benefit.
The horizontal benefit is that God want’s to do the same work in us through our relationships today and every day.
How we see God and how God sees us will impact how we see others.
Jesus came to recreate us into something brand new. vs. 17
Jesus is the ministry and the message of reconciliation. vs. 18-19
We are God’s official representatives of HIS grace. vs. 20-21
Jesus came to recreate us into something brand new (vs. 17).
Jesus came to recreate us into something brand new (vs. 17).
Sometimes we don’t always feel like we are new. Sometimes we deal with emotional stuff… depression, temptations, urges, confusion, loneliness… we feel like we are reliving our old self.
There are some days where we feel brand new, we are excited, anticipating great days ahead, full of joy, relaxed and at peace, we sense God is at work.
Even though our emotions and circumstances will constantly change, God’s Word is always rock solid secure.
The enemy will constantly remind us of our past… always accusing us… entrapping us… keeping us away from God’s love.
God’s word says the opposite…
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
The Holy Spirit has given us new life… we are not the same anymore. As believers, we are not reformed, rehabilitated, or reeducated—we are recreated (a new creation), living in vital union with Christ.
6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
When we receive the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, we are not merely turning over a new leaf; we are beginning a new life under a new Master.
We are now incorporated into an entirely new order. This new creation that Christ has begun constructing through HIS work on the cross… Jesus started a whole new creation.
Too often this verse has been individualized so that the main point is blurred. Many preach, “If anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation.” That is true, but it’s so much more then that… As believers we are changed within, but a whole new order of creative energy began with Christ.
Jesus established new covenant, a new perspective, a new body, a new church… All of creation is being renewed.
The old, worn-out ways are now being replaced with new. This is not a superficial change that looses its luster after the next novelty. This is an entirely new order of all creation under Christ’s authority. It requires a new way of looking at all people and all of creation.
The distinction between Jew and Gentile is abolished…
Everything old has passed away. The old order of sin and death has gone; the selfish, sinful human nature has been killed. Old ways of thinking, old distinctions, have been abolished for those who are in Christ.
Jesus is the ministry and the message of reconciliation (Vs. 18-19).
Jesus is the ministry and the message of reconciliation (Vs. 18-19).
Only God can initiate the work of reconciliation. Only God can allow people to approach him. Only God can satisfy HIS own righteous demands. Only God can save.
God is the Author and Finisher of salvation.
2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
God brought his people to himself. HE reconciled us by blotting out our sins and making us righteous.
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
As believers, we are no longer enemies of God. Through Christ’s work on the cross, God has made those who put their faith in HIS work are now a part of HIS family. Jesus died in our place so that we might enjoy fellowship with God.
As believers, we have been reconciled to God. Now we have the privilege of encouraging others to accept God’s free gift, to become reconciled as well.
This is the ministry of reconciliation.
10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
Paul experienced reconciliation through Christ and so his mission was to preach that message.
Today, the church owes it to the world to keep on spreading the message of reconciliation.
19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
Not counting their sins against them…
Greek word for “counting” spoke of calculating someone’s debt. God was no longer calculating people’s debt to him; instead, he gave us the precious gift of salvation.
The Greek word for “sins” (paraptomata) literally means “fall beside,” in other words, a “failing.” Paul used it to express anything that deviated from God’s ways. But God, through Christ’s death on the cross, was bringing back all people—Jews and Greeks alike—who had fallen.
We are now God’s official REPRESENTATIVES of reconciliation.
We are now God’s official REPRESENTATIVES of reconciliation.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
Ambassadors are official representatives of one country to another. In the first century, an ambassador was an elderly man of high rank who would travel to another country with messages from the monarch of his country. These messages might be a congratulations at appropriate occasions, or it could be an official censure.
Paul described himself and his co laborers as Christ’s ambassadors, representatives of Christ to the world.
Paul was a spokesmen for God. We are also God’s spokesman and the message is the same, God’s appeal to the world through us.
Paul obtained his authority to preach from God himself. God had given him this authority not because he was an especially gifted as a speaker or had the right credentials. God simply choose Paul to deliver God’s appeal through HIM.
We are Christ’s ambassadors today.
What was Paul’s message that he had to deliver on Christ’s behalf? It was to be reconciled to God.
Paul phrased this command in the passive tense. He wasn’t commanding people to reconcile themselves; they were incapable of doing that. Instead, Paul was announcing that they could be reconciled to God and that they should accept God’s free gift of reconciliation. Paul did not announce this message halfheartedly. He implored—even urged and pleaded—everyone who would listen to him to accept God’s free gift of salvation. It was extremely urgent, for it would change their eternal destiny.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jesus knew no sin… Jesus was completely innocent, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us. There are three views on what Paul meant by this:
Jesus was made a sinner when he died on the cross.
In reference to the Jewish sacrificial system. God made Jesus, although perfect and unblemished, into a sin offering for all humanity.
Christ bore the consequences of… or the punishment for our sins.
Jesus, who was completely innocent and perfect, identify himself with sin so HE could take sin away.
In life, rarely will anyone claim perfection. Sin is a part of life… people simply expect to encounter dishonesty, self-centeredness, and greed in other people. People are expected to be imperfect.
That is why so many people in Jesus’ day expressed surprise at Jesus’ life. They could not find anything wrong with him… Pilate… the centurion… His own disciples did not find any evil in HIS actions. Even Peter’s own testimony
22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
and John’s testimony…
5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
Paul used the word “to know”… Jesus who knew no sin, in other words Jesus never knew what it meant to sin: He always followed God’s ways.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that IN HIM we might become the righteousness of God.
Since Jesus, who was perfect and innocent, took on the penalty of sin—death itself… Jesus can now give those who believe in him HIS righteousness. HIS perfect righteousness can cover our corrupt and imperfect lives.
When people put their trust in Jesus, they make an exchange… their sin for HIS righteousness.
Believers’ sin was placed on Jesus at HIS crucifixion. HIS righteousness is given to believers. This is what it means for Christ becoming the atonement for all sin.
This act of love that Jesus made for us changed everything. Without this act of love and grace, Christianity would be a “hope so” religion… wishful thinking.
Isaiah 64:6 (NLT)
6 We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.
On our own righteousness, we will cave under the weight of God’s holiness but For OUR sake God made HIM to be sin who knew no sin, so that IN HIM we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus took our penalty… HE paid our debt.
God’s love and grace… HIS ability and willingness to reconcile us back to God is unreal. We will never get a deal like this.
TAKE AWAY...
So, as new creatures… as those who have been given the ministry and the message of reconciliation through Jesus… as representatives of God’s ministry of reconciliation to our world… Now, IN HIM, we are now made righteous.
It’s not about trying harder… It’s about surrendering everything to God and receiving HIS love and grace every day.
Paul wrapped up this plea for his audience to receive God’s gift.
2 Corinthians 6:1–2 (ESV)
1 Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
This is that day… now is the day of salvation… don’t wait for tomorrow. Surrender your life to Jesus today.
TAKE AWAY:
We are new creations, don’t try to resurrect the old.
As God’s people given the ministry and message of reconciliation through Jesus, who do we need to forgive and reconcile with?
How do we represent God’s ministry of reconciliation to our world and the people around us?
