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Today's Little Lift
by Jim Bullington
In matters concerning God, it is not unusual to encounter extremely complex and mysterious concepts connected to others that are simple and easily grasped. Today’s message will look a passage that connects these kinds of concepts, but one which offers great insight into God’s workings as well as man’s responsibilities to his Creator.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5.17-21).
It is important to notice that the apostle Paul was the person writing this passage. It would be a mistake to assume that we have the same authority and office as he did. Therefore, in interpreting this passage, we will be careful to note the various roles that are assigned in it and the persons/powers to whom these roles were assigned. The key word in this text is, of course, reconciliation. Our focus will be on that word with a particular objective of identifying our part in this great blessing.
First, God is the One doing the reconciling. Secondly, He was reconciling man to Himself rather than reconciling Himself to mankind. We are the ones who went astray, not God! Like the middle aged woman who voiced a complaint that she and her husband didn’t sit as close together as they used to while driving, it was easy to see that she was the one who had moved! God has not moved! Mankind must move back to a place close to Him rather than expecting God to move to our level.
Thirdly, the reconciliation that God was doing was in and through Jesus Christ. Had there been a better way, I am sure that He would have chosen another rather than to sacrifice His only Son on a cruel cross. This is part of the complex and somewhat mysterious that we don’t understand, but we are able to grasp the simple results. The Cross renders man free from the guilt and penalty of sin.
Paul stated that he was an ambassador for Christ. Perhaps there’s a sense in which every believer is an ambassador, but that is not what Paul is claiming here. Note that God specifically granted to Paul and to others the “ministry of reconciliation.” He also committed to them the “word of reconciliation.” In this role, Paul spoke for (on behalf of) God. This statement declares the fact that Paul and other New Testament apostles and prophets had the specific responsibility of delivering an error free message of reconciliation to the world; this is called inspiration in 2 Timothy 3.16-17. While executing his role as an apostle and prophet, his words were guarded from error just as were the words of others like Peter and John. This cannot be said of any man today; the confirmed message has been delivered and the only message that is guaranteed to be completely free is a message directly from the pages of the Bible.
The final point, and the one that means everything to the believer is this: God and Christ did their part so that we “…might become the righteousness of God in Him.” This is something that we can not do for ourselves; we owe this insurmountable debt to our God and Saviour. The guilt of sin is removed in reconciliation. I don’t understand it, but I am awed by its reality!
Questions:
1. Why do men need to be reconciled to God?
2. Who determines the terms of reconciliation? Why must it be that way?
3. In what special way was Paul an ambassador of Christ? As an ambassador, upon whose authority did Paul speak?
4. Must one understand reconciliation to avail oneself of its blessings? Why did you answer as you did?
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