Sermon from February 6, 2011
"Reconciliation"
Romans 5:8-10 & 2 Corinthians 5:17-20

Someone once said, “If God doesn’t judge America, He owes an apology to Sodom and Gomorrah.” That’s clever, but I am slow to say that. Any statement that puts the wisdom of God in question is on shaky ground. More than that, I don’t think we ought to be in a hurry for God to judge America the way He judged Sodom and Gomorrah. If He did that, it would be awful. Even more than that, we need to remember that God doesn’t want anyone to perish. He wants to be reconciled with the human family, not to destroy it.

Why do we think of the wrath of God as nothing more than an act of destruction? We learned better last month at Communion. The wrath of God is more like the long-term consequences of a bad diet than of the short-term consequences of being struck by lightning. God does not make us pay for our bad behavior right away. It is the story of the Prodigal Son written across the entire human family. Instead of destroying us or trying to coerce us when we refuse Him, God lets us have our freedom and learn the hard way. The violence in Tucson is one of the outcomes of such “freedom” from God. I could go on. And all the time He is waiting for us to come to our senses and come home.

All of which raises a pressing question. What does it mean that humanity is the object of God’s wrath? After all, we’re still here, and the world is better than ever. Sure, it’s three steps forward and two steps back, but on the whole the human race has better health, greater wealth, no world war in 65 years, and greater equality and freedom for people the world over. If this is the wrath of God, we can live with it.

There is a more Christian way to look at this. Do we see these blessings as God’s patience and kindness calling us back to God, or do these blessings mean that things aren’t really so bad between God and Man, or do we dismiss the idea that God has anything to do with what’s going on in the world.

From Enemies to Friends
Answers to these questions take us smack-dab into our next great Christian word. We have devoted Communion meditations in 2011 to twelve great Christian words. We began with the wrath of God. Today we consider reconciliation in Romans 5:10. We were God’s enemies. That’s the cloud that hangs over humanity. We refused God and are now at odds with our Maker. That’s why the wrath of God is directed against Man.

Now read the rest of verse ten: For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! There’s our second great Christian word: reconciled. It means to settle a quarrel, to become friends again.

But how do we know God wants to be friends with humanity? Verse eight: God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He didn’t wait for us to sort out our anti-God habits. It made no sense to wait. If He didn’t do something, nothing could be done for us. So He acted. He loved us so much that while we were His enemies He gave His Son to die for us.

Offer of Reconciliation
So, if God wanted to restore friendship with Man and took the initiative to do it, what do we do? The answer takes us to another central biblical passage. We begin at 2 Corinthians 5:17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! Verse 18 explains in what sense the old has gone and the new has come. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ. The old estrangement is gone. A friendship with God is now possible for the human family.

But friendship with God is not automatic. The news has to get around, and people have to accept the offer. That’s why Paul says at the end of verse 18 that God gave us the ministry of reconciliation. He gave that ministry to Paul of course, and to the other apostles. Ultimately, it became the mission of the Church. The Church worldwide is bigger than we can imagine, and it does many things; but God gave to the Church as its primary task the ministry of reconciliation.

Verse 19 is the heart of this ministry. God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. You don’t know my sins, and I don’t know yours; but God does, and for now He doesn’t hold them against us. He offers reconciliation, a chance to start an eternal friendship with Him. Jesus Christ is the Mediator of His offer, and the Church is the medium through which the offer is extended to the entire human family.

What Paul said about himself in verse 20 applies to the whole Church today: We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

I too am an ambassador of Christ, and so, I now implore you in this congregation on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. I know that most of you here have been reconciled to God by the death of His Son.

You saw our estrangement from God and owned up to your responsibility for it. You believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. You confess that Jesus is Lord. You have identified yourself with the reconciled people of God, the Church.

If you have not done this, then with all my heart I implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. You can do that at any time during this service. Ask Christ to forgive your sins, to allow you to be part of His reconciled people. At the end of the service some of our deacons and staff and their spouses will be here in the front of the sanctuary to pray with you.

The Pastoral Center of Gravity
The Lord’s Supper reminds the Church that God intends to be merciful to Man. God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners – when we still pushed God away – Christ died for us – Romans 5:8. The bread and cup remind us of His love for sinners in the hands of the living God.

The Lord’s Supper reminds the Church that Christ died for us to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father – Galatians 1:4. The bread and cup remind us that God has rescued us from the present evil age, not by removing us from the world and His judgment on the world, but by our being reconciled with Him and circulating that message to the entire human family.

The Lord’s Supper reminds the Church that she is the sign of a new world to come. When He instituted this Supper Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.” The Kingdom is coming. The darkness is already passing. Rejoice and hope!