Reconciliation

Reconciliation (according to the world)

Last week from the 27 May to the 3 June was Reconciliation week, do you know who we’re reconciling? With the indigenous people of this land and I had a look at the website on what we can do to reconcile ourselves with the indigenous people. At reconciliation Australia, it lists 20 actions for reconciliation and they are:

Move from Ally to Accomplice

Call Out Racism

It’s all our history

Know your local history

Create culturally safe places

Make reconciliation everyone’s business

Drive reconciliation in education

Aim higher in higher education

Support self-determination

Get your facts first-hand

Act to protect First Nations cultures

Support economic development

Understand politial representation

Challenge our leaders to take action on justice

Buy from First Nations businesses

Defend Land Rights and Native Title

Acknowledging Country

Care for Country

Speak up for languages

Get involved beyond NRW2021

(Fun Fact: Do you know what tribe occupied the Ryde area? Wallumedegal)

That’s a long list, on how non-indegenous Australians can be reconciled to the first nations people. The idea of reconciliation is to restore friendly relations with opposing parties. The process of making two opposite beliefs, ideas or situations agree according to the ‘Cambridge Dictionary’.

Australia is on a journey of reconciliation to ensure that indigenous Australians have a fair go and I hope we all can do our fair share to make things right, because what we don’t want is to create and cause separations, we want to build relationships. Not because we have to, but because we love Jesus.

Jesus came to this world to seek and save the lost, and that isn’t only about saving them by shoving the gospel into them but Jesus came to serve first and be a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28).

Rawandan Genocide

On the 7 April 1994, Rawanda and the rest of humanity saw the results of prolonged segregation. For 100 days the world saw the mass murder and genocide of what is said to be 1 million Rawandan lives.

The very sad and unfortunate thing that should have brought two groups of people together under God was that there were Seventh-day Adventists against Seventh-day Adventists; there were Christians against Christians.

Brother against brother and sister and against sister in Christ, my heart breaks to hear that an Adventist Pastor and his son hid Tutsi refugees in a church roof to later reveal to the Hutu militia their location, this pastor removed the roof of the church to expose the Tutsi refugees.

The very sad tragedy is that these people were seeking refugee in a church, only to be betrayed by a servant of God. All because of a made up idea of segregating people, separating people by their appareance and lifestyle.

This the world view, and yet, they all want us to get along and be happy when one group of people benefit and the other suffer.

The problem with the world

The problem with the idea of reconciliation is that when we try to make things right with each other, is that some people like to look at reconciliation as a way for payback. “I suffered, so you must suffer to!” and when that happens then we can restore our relationship. But, this is more of retribution than reconciliation.

We are told not to love the world (1 John 2:15-17) and these ideas of races and appearances, people of all colour, this isn’t what God intended! Paul says:

Galatians 3:26–29 NLT

26 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. 28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you.

Do you know what this means? Because that Rawandan Adventist Pastor should have known that it there is no longer Hutu or Tutsi, “...slave or free, male and female. For we are all one in Christ Jesus.”, there is neither Aborigional/Torres Strait Islander, Asian, American, African, Latinos, or European or whatever, for we are all on in Christ Jesus.

This is the problem of the world, without Christ everyone is seen differently and without Christ, people segregate other people into categories. What happens next people create prejudice and pride gets the better of them.

We are not to love this world, but we are to be of this world and the reason why we’re here is to reflect a better character and that is being one with Christ. Yes, many of us come from various cultural backgrounds and many of us can speak different languages, but what is beautiful is that we are all here because of Jesus. “For you are all one in Christ Jesus”.

So the question arises, “How do we reconcile with Jesus if we haven’t reconciled with our brothers and sisters?”

Reconciliation - what it means

Reconciliation, is an idea where restoration of relations are made, it is the idea where beliefs, views and ideas are compatible with one another.

However, when it comes to reconciliation with God and man, who does the reconcilation? It is Christ that does the reconciliation!

2 Corinthians 5:18–19 NLT

18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.

There are a few things that I find beautiful in these verses, that really touch me.

God’s gift for humanity

First off, we find God’s amazing grace, the gift from God as the verse says “who brought us back to Himself through Christ”. Which makes you think, in this whole idea of restoration of relations. God’s gift to humanity was His restoration work through Jesus. Which means that humanity was and is estranged with God but God had to do something to make things right (or restore what was estranged and lost).

Is this fair on God though? No it isn’t fair for Jesus and the Father because they have done nothing wrong, why do they need to reconcile with humanity, it should be humanity reconciling with God, yet is that even possible?

Here in shows how far the Father and the Son are willing to go for the salvation of His children. He knows that the wages of sin is death which we have committed (Romans 6:23),

but God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16).

Jesus became flesh, He became like one of us and dwelt among us (John 1:14)

He became the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)

and demonstrates His own love towards us, even though we were sinners. Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

He has become our great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. (Hebrews 4:14, 15)

There is no name under heaven that we given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12)

The is the gift that is given to humanity from God. God through Jesus is reconciling with humanity even though we broke relations with Him, we’re the ones that became estranged from the Father. He went so far to become us and through His sacrifice (both Jesus and the Father).

He is restoring/reconciling us through Jesus, God is making peace with us even though we’re at fault. How amazing and beautiful is the everlasting gospel?

Task to complete

A second thing that I would like to look at is, well in the NLT, there is a task that has been given us. in the NKJV it says that God “has given us the ministery of reconciliation” and the NLT says that God has given us “this task of reconciling people to Him”.

How are you fulfilling the task of reconciling people to Him? What does that mean exactly? (Keeping in mind what I talked about from the previous point as it is related)

Should we tell people to make peace with God and reconcile their broken relationship with Him? I mean, it seems like our task is to tell others to be reconciled to God.

However, I feel that by telling people to be reconciled to God is is like someone gives me a gift, it’s a wonderful gift and I can see that a lot of sacrifice has been put towards this gift. Let’s say this gift is a new house and it has given to me from the sweat, blood and tears from someone I know. Do you think I can be at peace with this person? I can accept their gift, but there is that feeling of unease where I feel obliged to do something back with the same amount of sacrifice.

I don’t know what it is like for other cultures, but in the culture that I was brought up in, when it comes to family dinners at the restaurant. There is a cultural game that is played (and sometimes it can turn physical) where they fight over the check and who is paying for it. There is the stealth approach where you pretend to go to the toilet but instead make you way to the counter and pay. There is the send your children for the check where they will go and get the check and give it to their parents. There are various ways to play this game. But, the idea in the end is to make peace with their neighbour.

So, if I tell someone to reconcile or make peace with God, who is attempting to restore or make peace with God? What does that say about Christ’s sacrifice?

Instead, I would rather prefer to tell people that God has made peace with the world, that is what it means to reconcile a people to Him. It’s to acknowledge that Jesus gave His life as a ransom for you and me and by accepting His sacrifice for my sins I am justified by God and through Jesus, God has reconciled Himself and made peace with me.

The task that we should complete, is the task in telling people that God is reconciling with humanity through His Son Jesus and not humanity reconciling with God because if we take this approach, the believer is in a never ending cycle to reconcile themselves to God. Whereas, God is the one that has reconciled to humanity through Jesus.

Yet the task is there my brothers and sisters, how will you complete this task in reconciling people to Him this week, or next week?

Reconciliation with God - but what about men?

Remember the meaning to reconciliation is an idea where restoration of relations are made, it is the idea where beliefs, views and ideas are compatible with one another.

When the Holy Spirit is shaping and molding us and restoring that broken relationship, we need to consider our beliefs, views and ideas and whether they are compatible with God?

Have a look into your beliefs, your views, and ideas, look to the various individuals that you’ve met during the week or on the road, or even groups of people that irk you, or even a race/ethnic group?

To the world view, isn’t compatible with the belief, views and ideas of God. Humanity has strifed to unify but ultimately we know that is not possible with ever differing religion, culture, race and history.

But with God, does He not see all of humanity as one? Did Jesus die only for the Jews? Or the Greeks? This is the God’s view, this is God’s love for humanity, and His love for humanity goes through you!

So, I ask you, how will you fulfill the task in reconiling people to Him? What can you do with these beliefs, ideas and views that are contrary towards God?

Taking the steps to reconcilition with others

Biblical Counseling Keys on Reconciliation Title Page

The North American Indians had a unique way of celebrating restored relationships. To signify reconciliation after personal conflict or even all-out war, they sat in a circle and passed from one to another a stone bowl of burning tobacco, which they smoked through a long, hollow stem elaborately decorated with feathers. To smoke this “peace pipe” was to take part in a ceremony that established peace and friendship between enemies.

Now, I am not asking you to smoke a peace pipe and hopefully you don’t have enemies, but the principle of spending time and communication are the first steps in reconciliation. I am reminded of a US Marine who served in Iraq had a deep prejuidice towards Islamic people after what he experienced on his tour. When he returned to the US he also saw Islamic people and developing PTSD.

He would shake and be nervous around them as well as sweating a lot. Eventually he decided to overcome his condition and instead of avoiding or moving to another state he decided to meet with the Islamic community. Eventually his prejuidice disappeared as he developed a relationship with them. He reconciled himself and develop a bond with them.

Now, this could be us or maybe this is us! We are the conduit of God’s love for humanity, it doesn’t mean we shove Christianity in people’s faces (remember we’re not telling people to reconcile with God). But rather, we reveal to others that God has made peace and is reconciling with us and wants people to accept His gift of grace.

Conclusion

Reconciliation, it shouldn’t be just a week, for the Rawandans it will be part of their history, and what are they doing to reconcile the atrocities that took place? Well, no system is perfect, but the path that they are taking is based on their historical culture that promotes unity and reconciliation. The country is healing slowly as they remove the prejudice that plagues their people.

For the indigenous Australians, it too will be a long process of healing and reconciliation.

But for God and humanity, God has already done the work, all we need to do is accept what He has done for us and when we do accept, that includes how we reconcile with our brothers and sisters whatever background they are from, whatever language they speak, especially whatever they look like. For they are all one in Christ Jesus.

We can’t change where we come from, but we can change who we are and who we believe in and only in Jesus can that change happen.