Reconciliation

Recap:

We are going through a series on identity. Identity is how we identify ourselves as. Basically, it’s how we view ourselves, or how we think others view us.

Last week I talked about facts vs identity.

I play football vs I am a football player. I like to make others laugh vs I am funny.

There are ways to identity if you crossed the line between facts to identity. Do you get extreme emotions when someone challenges or threats that “fact”.

Last week we talked about being New Creations in Christ.

Tee Up:

Before we continue with our passage, I want to actually take it back. All the way to Genesis.

Genesis 3:1–5 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.””

Identity Outside How God Designed It:

Look at what the serpent does in verse five. He tempts them by having them want to find their identity in something other than what God had made them.

In Genesis 1, we see our original identity.

Genesis 1:26–27 “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

We are created in the image of God, after His likeness. We reflect who God is.

But we were not created to be God. Satan twists things. They were already created in the image of God. But he tempts them to want to be on the same level as God.

So this identity battle isn’t something new. It started at the very beginning.

And that is what Satan wants us to do now. He wants us to do two things.

First, question our identity.

Satan loves to question the things God says. Keep that in mind as we read today’s passage.

Two, find our identity is something else.

We talked a lot about this last week. I asked, where is your identity? When you view yourself, what do you see? When you think about how other’s view you, what do you think?

Is your identity in what God says, or in something else?

Identity Being Reconciled:

Let’s jump into our passage.

2 Corinthians 5:18–19 “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 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.”

We are reconciled.

What is reconciliation?

We are restored to God. We are made right with God.

The debt we owed, Jesus paid for it on the cross.

What does it mean to be reconciled to God?

That means we do not have to fear God’s judgement. That means that the debt we have occured from sin, Jesus paid for it. See verse 19, “Not counting their trespasses against them.”

That means that we are restored. We are now children of God. That relationship that was broken between us and God because of our sin is now restored. We now can have a relationship with God.

In vs 18, it says “Who through Christ reconciled us TO HIMSELF…”

Adam and Eve walked with God in the garden. But because of their sin, their relationship with God was broken, and they were kicked out of the garden. But now, everyone who has put their faith in Jesus has the holy spirit inside of them. If you are a born again Christian, you walk around every day with God again.

As the reconciled, God has entrusted this message to us.

In Christ, we need to tell others this good news. I’m going to end there, because that leads into what we are going to talk about next week.

Ending Question:

But I want to end with this question. That second part of how we think about our identity. How others view us. Most of us have specific people, or groups that we think of when we think “How do people view me?”

But I want to change the question a little bit.

Ending Question…

When you think of your identity, WHO views you?

Is it other people. Or is it God?

Do you believe when He said that you were bought with a price.

That you are a child of God?

That you are redeemed?

That “who through Christ reconciled us to himself”?

Or, do you view yourself through the lens of others?

How others view you?

Or, do you view yourself still under God’s judgement? Which is an incorrect view.

If you have not put your trust in God…

Do you believe that God can reconcile you to himself?

Do you believe that you can be made right with him?

Group Questions:

What are some common ways people today are tempted to question their identity or define themselves by something other than what God says? What do you think it really means to be restored to God—not just in theory, but in your everyday life? Be honest: when you think about your identity, whose opinion affects you more—God’s or other people’s? How do you think God views you?