In Christ We Are Reconciled
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Title-
In Christ We Are Reconciled
Passage-
2 Corinthians 5:14-21
Attention-
CH Spurgeon is one of the most quotable preaches of all time
I want to share with you a less notable quote from him
There can be no peace between you and Christ while there is peace between you and sin.
In the Civil War was much destruction.
Of land
Property
Probably must of all of relationships.
People became enemies because of geographic location
Because of political views
Because of which side their families fought on
An interesting account is of the wives of two soldiers
After Jefferson Davis of the Confederacy died. And Ulysses Grant of the Union died. Their widows, Varina Davis and Julia Grant, settled near each other.
The got to know one another
They chose to remove the enmity between them
They moved on from the past and they became closest of friends.
But that didn’t happen until the dealt with the reality that once separated them
Introduction-
The truth of reconciliation is in the Bible
Therefore there needs to be an offense in order for there to be reconciliation
Our sin is the offense that separates us from God
But it is Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross of Calvary that makes it possible for that offense to be removed.
The beginning of this chapter is dealing with several truths
-The brevity of this life (1-4)
-That the circumstances of this life point us to God (5-8)
-That because God works through the circumstances of this life He uses them to draw us to Himself (9-13)
-And because we are drawn to Him is is our place to serve Him and others (9-11)
None of this is to glorify ourselves but to glorify God (12-13)
Main truth-
Paul then moves on in verses 14-21 to discuss reconciliation and its impact on our lives and the lives of those around us
I think simply put, this section shares with us that God is glorified as His creation is reconciled to Himself
God is greatly glorified as mankind is reconciled to Him
Transition #1-
Before we understand how this passage applies to us lets take a look at exactly what Paul is saying here aboutreconciliation
What is being taught? (Explain the passage and draw out the 1st century truth)
So lets just work through this passage this morning and see what God has declared to us about reconciliation.
But before we do lets remember that everything in Scripture and all of our activities and everything about creation is all about glorifying God.
The realities in this passage are no different
We discuss these truths but in reality these truths and these activities exist for the purpose of glorifying God
So as we come to this passage we come to the understanding that God has been glorifying Himself through His revelation and His works by way of reconciling us to Himself.
So when God works to glorify Himself He works through the crown of His creation
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Ephesians
That word workmanship can also mean “Masterpiece”
So as his masterpiece I bring him glory as I am reconciled to him
Verse 14-18 we see that it is the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and his resurrection that makes that reconciliation possible.
Read verse 14…It is the love of Jesus, verse 15…his death, verse 17…the newness of life we experience because of the newness of life expressed in His resurrection.
And as his creation masterpiece, when we come to the understanding of our sin and place our faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of those sins we glorify Him.
Verse 18…God did the work of reconciliation on our behalf.
Lets see if we can picture this.
Erickson picture
But it doesn’t end there...
God’s glory doesn't stop after an individual get saved from their sins
That is just the beginning.
And Paul continues on…verses 19-21 he is sharing the truth that along with our being reconciled, we are to be reconcilers of others to God.
That is our mission in life
That is the one task left to the church
Paul starts our at the end of verse 18 by saying “and hath given to us this ministry of reconciliation”
What ministry of reconciliation
The same ministry that brought the gospel to you…and to me...
This is the ministry God has given to us.
The word Paul uses here for ministry is actually the word we use for “deacon”
This is to be how we serve others…by sharing the gospel and allowing them the opportunity to be rconciled
Verse 19…in the same way that God was working to be able to reconcile people to him and not find them guilty of their trespasses and sins we are to bring these words to others.
When Paul tells us we have been given the word of reconciliation he is using a specific word for what he is conveying
He uses the word logos instead of rhema
rhema refers to specific individual words whereas logos refers to all the combined words that make up a message
It includes sentences, paragraphs, chapters and volumes
logos communicated the body of truth that the individual rhema make up
So I would conclude here that God has given us the gospel of Jesus Christ for the purpose of bringing others to Him so they can be reconciled
Transition #2-
So now that we understand what Paul is teaching, what truths do we draw from this passage?
How do we understand this in our context? (Bridge 1st century truth to today)
First, when we look at this passage and attempt to understand it in light of our current context what do we learn.
What are the principles that Paul shared with the Corinthian believers that we can work to apply to our lives today?
1- Even in a world with wars, rumors of wars, divisions, and even yes, the coronavirus…God is still good and God is still to receive the glory
2- God is glorified be each soul that comes to saving knowledge in Jesus Christ
Verse 17…God is in the process of making new those who were lost in their trespasses and sins
He is drawing back to Himself those who were once far off ()
3- He was glorified when I was saved and He was glorified when you were saved
4- He is glorified by missions globally…
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.
5- God is glorified by missions locally
In reality #4 could have been global evangelism and this could have been local evangelism...
Too often we see missionaries as a group seperate from us
And in a sence they are…they have different vocational responsabilitues
But in reality we are all missionaries…some just do it vocationally
Some engage in evangelism in another country whereas we engage in evangelism locally
The mission is still the same
The message is still the same
6- To sum it all up…God is glorified through the Gospel globally
Transition #3-
Having understood what Paul is teaching and drawing biblical truths from what Paul taught, now how do those truths impact us in our daily lives?
How do we live this out in our context? (Application of the biblical truth to us personally)
We then come to how we put these truths into practice...
In light of what the Holy Spirit communicated through the Apostle Paul how do we respond personally?
IF you are here and have placed your faith in Jesus Christ these truths ought do drive you to:
-A heart for global missions...
-A heart to give to global missions
-A heart to pray for global missions
-A heart to engage in global missions
-Short term missions
-Vocational missions
IF you are here and have placed your faith in Jesus Christ these truths ought do drive you to:
-A heart for local missions
-A heart to pray for local missions
-A heart to engage in local missions
-Going
-Speaking
Conclusion
Verse 21
Do those around you know these truths?
Do they know who Jesus is?
Son of God
Do they know why he came?
Our sin…his sacrifice
Do we share the Gospel
When we do, is it an accurate presentation of the Gospel
Is it clear
Do they know what they are either accepting or rejecting?
Review-
Go...
Engage others with the gospel
Pray for others to accept the gospel
Speak the truths of the gospel
If you are here and have not placed your faith in Jesus...
Call to action-
Come…let us share with you how to be saved as we sing
Closing song-
450 A Child Of The King