Church Sermon - July 13, 2003

BE RECONCILED TO GOD

Rev. Bernt P. Tweit

Old Testament Lesson; Job 38:1-11
Gospel Lesson; Mark 4:35-41
Sermon Text; 2 Corinthians 5:14-21

The story is told of a man who was brought into court, on trial and found guilty. The judge happened to be a close, personal, boyhood friend of the accused, although they had not seen each other for many years. Remaining impartial, the judge sentenced the man and levied a penalty appropriate to his case. It was a fine so large that the accused could not pay it. A jail sentence, therefore, seemed to be the only alternative. The judge then did a very unusual, interesting thing. Leaving the bench, he approached the convicted man, shook his hand, and announced, "I’m paying the fine, for you."

This morning as we look at the words of our text, we see a very similar action from God, as with the judge in the illustration. We, who are guilty, because of our sin, have been pardoned, because He has paid the fine for us!

As we consider our message this morning from the text, I want us to look at the word reconciliation. And, we should then do, as our text says, and be reconciled to God.

I want to break our text down into three parts, considering the message, ‘Be reconciled to God’, and see it in these three parts:

God has reconciled the world to Himself, in Christ.

God asks you to believe this.

God wants you to be His ambassador.

In our text this morning, it says that God reconciled the world to Himself. Over the years this section of scripture has become one of my favorites. It ranks up there with the verses surrounding John 3:16. This section of scripture contains all that we need to know for our salvation.

In verse eighteen it says, "God…reconciled us to himself in Christ." The English word reconciliation comes from the Greek word, katallasso. It is a combination of the preposition, kata, ‘according to’ and the verb, allasso, ‘to change’. You bring those two together and reconciliation means to settle or resolve. It means to take two parties who were opposing one another, and bring them together in perfect harmony. It means a state of hostility has been brought to an end. It means to be brought into a state of harmony. It means to bring two opposing parties back into fellowship.

I first learned what the word reconciliation meant, from my mother, when I was still in grade school. Once a month, a letter would come in the mail from the bank. That specific letter was the statement from the bank. When that arrived, I observed her gather all the bills from the previous month, grab her checkbook, get the bank statement, and then she would sit down at the kitchen table. And, for the next little while she would say, "Don’t bother me. I am reconciling the checkbook."

So, what was she doing? She was making sure that what the bank statement and her register said were in perfect harmony (and knowing my mother, it was down to the very last penny). She was reconciling the checkbook. She wanted the checkbook to be in harmony with what the bank statement said. In a very similar way, God has reconciled the world to Himself, in Christ.

One of the realities that we face, when it comes to reconciliation, is the fact that all of us here need it. We’ve all experienced situations where reconciliation was needed. For instance, maybe you had to share a bedroom with a sibling, when you were growing up, or maybe you do so, now. Sometimes there were differences that would arise. There probably were times when you were at odds with each other. There were things that need to be settled. You were in need of resolving some issues and being reconciled to each other.

In our relationship with God, we are the ones who need to be reconciled to Him. It is because we are sinners that we are out of balance with God. Our sin alienates us from God. And so, we must all understand that we need to be reconciled to God. We stand in need of that, because we are all guilty of sin. The Bible says that God hates sin, and so that sin alienates us from Him.

When you have a problem or disagreement with someone, how do you normally respond? What do you do, to try and make right a relationship gone badly? Do you use the Hatfield and McCoy method and hold a grudge? (Remember they were the two families that were across the river from each other, in West Virginia and Kentucky. I heard that it was just recently, in the last few years, that the grudge they had for over one hundred years, was finally reconciled.) Our sinful nature likes to do that. Our sinful nature loves to hold that grudge against someone else, and do that "one up man-ship", instead of being reconciled with one another. And that alienates us from God.

Here is what God’s Word tells us about our relationship with Him.

"Once you were alienated from God

and were enemies in your minds

because of your evil behavior.

But now He has reconciled

by Christ’s physical body through death

to present

holy in His sight

without blemish and free from accusation."

Colossians 1:21

Our text for today says that very same thing when it says,

"God

was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ,

not counting men’s sins against them."

II Corinthians 5:19

We understand that we are the ones who need to be reconciled. Our problem is sin, resulting in a broken fellowship with God. And, what is the solution that God has given to us? God sent a mediator, for us. God sent His Son to the cross, for us. And, the interesting part is that Jesus started that process of reconciliation, even before we realized that we needed to be reconciled to God! He was the bridge that brought us to God! He did this for the entire world! Jesus doesn’t want to leave any of us in our sins. The process of reconciliation started with God, even before we realized we needed to be reconciled to Him.

The world

needs

to be reconciled to God.

There’s a line that’s been drawn through the ages. On that line, stands the old rugged cross. On that line, a battle has been waged. On one side of that line is the devil and all of his evil angels. On the other side of that line are the angels of Heaven. Do you know who stands in the balance? It is Christ. It is our Savior, Jesus. On this line, a battle was fought. On this line the ground shook. On this line the sun went dark, because it couldn’t bear to watch. There in the balance, in the darkness, Jesus cried out,

The battle was done.

Jesus cried out,

The battle is won!

Jesus cried out,

God has reconciled the world to Himself!

It is sad, to think this morning that even though God has reconciled the world to Himself, there are people who don’t believe that. There are people who won’t benefit from that. But not only has God reconciled the whole world to Himself, but today I can stand up here and say that God has personally reconciled each and every one of us to Himself, through Christ.

There is an old legend that is told about a swan and a crane. The legend begins as the crane was wading around in a muddy pool, seeking snails. A beautiful swan flew down and began swimming about in the waters nearby. For a few moments, the crane viewed the swan, in stupid wonder. Then, simply inquired, "Where do you come from?"

"I come from Heaven!" the swan replied.

The crane asked, "Heaven? What is Heaven? And, where is it?"

The swan responded, "Heaven! Have you never heard of Heaven?" And then, the beautiful swan began to explain in great detail all about Heaven. She described the grandeur of Heaven. She told of the streets of gold, the gates and walls that are made of precious stones, water that is pure and clean, and of the river of life.

No interest was aroused, on the part of the crane. Finally, the crane stopped the swan and asked, "Are there any snails there?"

"Snails!" Repeated the swan, "No! Of course there are not!"

"Then," said the crane, as it continued its search along the slimy banks of the pool, "you can have your Heaven. I want snails!"

It is sad, it is unfortunate to think that Heaven has been given to the whole world, everyone in the whole world has been reconciled with God, through Christ, and yet not everyone believes it or wants it. Some people are more interested in the snails, the pleasures of this life, than in Heaven.

Now that God has reconciled the whole world to Himself, and now that God has reconciled you personally to Himself, through Christ, what does God want from us? He wants us to simply be His ambassadors. He wants us to be His people that tell that message of salvation to others.

There is a question inside our Adult Instruction Class Manual that asks a true or false question. A good pastor will bring many people to faith, true or false? Now usually the class is a little squeamish, answering this question, because they think that they might offend or hurt the pastors’ feelings. But then, everyone agrees the answer is false. The answer is false, because it is not the good pastor who brings people to faith. When people come to faith it is God, the Holy Spirit who gets the credit.

God wants pastors and all believers to be His ambassadors. He wants us to show with what we say, what we do and how we live, that we have been reconciled to Him.

God has made us His ambassadors to share this message of reconciliation with others. The ministry of reconciliation is living out being reconciled. This should affect your life. It should encourage you even more to be reconciled to those you have a breach with. So, with our lives, we demonstrate it. With the words we speak, we demonstrate it. It’s important to note, that before people want to hear the message we have, they might need to see it in the way we live. Think about this. Before people believe what we say, they need to see it in our life.

How is reconciliation

a part of your life,

since you were reconciled to God?

We must remember that we are God’s mouthpieces. He has chosen us to be His instrument for getting the message of reconciliation out to a lost world. How good a job are we doing? How good a job are you doing to let God speak through you? This is an important message! Why?

"For we must

all

appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ,

that each one may receive

what is due him

for the things done while in the body,

whether good or bad."

II Corinthians 5:10

It is important, because we are helping people get ready to meet God, one day.

It is the very last verse of our text this morning, that is my favorite, because it shows the great exchange, the relationship that we now have with God!

God made Him

who had no sin (that is Jesus)

to be sin for us,

so that in Him

we might become the righteousness of God.

Our dirt, our filth, our sin has been placed on Christ. His white robe of righteousness has been given to us, instead.

At the beginning of the sermon, the man who was brought into court for trial, was found guilty. The judge sentenced the man and levied a penalty appropriate to his case. It was a fine so large, so hefty, that the accused could not pay it. A jail sentence, therefore, seemed to be the only alternative. The judge then did a very unusual thing. Leaving the bench, he approached the convicted man, shook his hand, and announced, "I’m paying the fine for you."

We are that man who was found guilty. God sentenced us to everlasting death in Hell, because of our sin. But God left the bench and sent His Son to the cross. And at the cross, Jesus said He was paying the fine for you, when He said, "It is finished." You have been reconciled to God! Because of your faith in Jesus, your sins have been forgiven! And so, may we go forth and be God’s ambassadors!

Amen.

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