2 Corinthians 5:18 / Reconciliation
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
There was a Bible Tract that I used to love to use called “Steps to Peace with God” it used this illustration to describe the reconciliation with God that was really good.
That is what we are talking about this morning. How God took the initiative, through the sacrifice of Christ, to get us from where we were to where He is.
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
When I was a kid we would play this game (universal because I have seen played by children continually since then) We would be on top of something (the sofa… a rock in the creek-bed or an old stump..anything) and you had to figure out how to get to another object without touching the ground because that was lava…and you would die.
Years later I would come across this Bible tract that oddly enough used similar imagery to show our separation form God. “Steps to Peace with God.”
Well the act of God making a way for us to leave where we were and get to Him we call RECONCILIATION.
Paul is talking about that reconciliation here.
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
But he says something at the beginning of that sentence that lets us know there is more to it.
All this..
All this..
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
There is a tendency to focus on the reconciliation as this isolated thing.
I’ve got my ticket and when Christ returns I’ll cash it in.
But no there is SO MUCH MORE to what happened
And Paul was describing it as he led up to this sentence.
If you are going to truly understand the extraordinary gift of reconciliation you have to understand everything Paul said about it.
Starting in verse 11 “The Ministry of Reconciliation”
14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;
“The love of Christ CONTROLS us…”
Control – synechei (synechō / sieze)
Not like music on a long run or a hard workout
that motivates you …
Paul is talking about something that grabs ahold of him, capture every thought and emotion.
What is it about Christ’s love that control us?
The REASON why His love controls us.
We have concluded this = we have reasoned this
What did they concluded:
14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;
“One died for all, therefore all have died.”
One (Jesus) died for all...
This is obviously talking those who are savd
Because we were already dead in our sins. (Rom 5:8)
This single sacrificial death changed everything.
What impact did it have on all believers?
15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
To the exclusion of those who put their trust in Christ.
You have a new way of life.
Wholesale change on your priorities.
The reason Christ’s love controls me is because His sacrificial death changed everything about me.
What is the impact of that change?
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.
We see people differently.
The change in us was so great that we realize that people are far more than what we see.
We were even able to judge Christ as a sinner because we failed to see is true identity.
Paul thought Jesus was a blasphemer.
To summarize this wholesale change Paul makes this statement.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
When you stood there on the far edge of that void and decided to take the only path you could to God (Christ Jesus)
You were made into a NEW CREATION.
You are dramatically and fundamentally changed.
When people say that are saved and didn’t really change much.
I am skeptical.
Great picture of this is in baptism
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
When we say we have been reconciled to God, understand what a profound statement that really is.
But where we have been given a gift we also have been given a ministry.
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
We all have been given gift according to the Holy Spirit
But our shared ministry is the ministry of Reconciliation.