The ministry of reconciliation

Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayer for attention to Paul's second epistle to the Corinthians, chapter five. Read for our texts from verse 17 through to the end. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. to it that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 17 to 21, the ministry of reconciliation.

Man's state by nature, we are at enmity to God. Even if we don't view and really know in our own heart what that enmity is, You only need to look at the world at large and those that have no time for God, hatred to God, those that even see the wonders of creation, but would never want to ascribe that unto God's handiwork, that do not want to know his word, do not want to be submissive to him, The Word of God is very clear that by nature man is alienated from God by wicked works. He has offended Almighty God. He has broken God's law. There is no friendship, union, possibility without intervention by God Himself of there ever being a bringing together man and God with any peace.

We could think of how we would view this even in natural relationships. We might have had a friend, a loved one, or even children. Those that we have been very friendly to, got on very well with, but something has come in between. Maybe like Paul and Mark, their contention so sharp between them, and that they had to separate. And so in relationships in this life, we know what it is, where something has come in between. And it is mud, any friendship, any communion, and how hard, how difficult it is to get that to be mended.

It has to be instigated from one side. It has to be made agreeable for the other side, not just one side trying to mend that piece, but the other side. And if there have been things that have caused that offence, they need to be taken out of the way. If there is a debt that is unsettled, it needs to be paid. If there is things that have been said that need to be apologised for, there needs to be some way of that being reconciled and brought back together again.

Those of you that know accounts, if you have an account balance sheet, it needs to be reconciled. You start off with a bank balance. Then you have money going in, and you have money going out, and you end up with a bank balance at the end. And it's to be reconciled.

If you have it supposing that you should have 100 pounds more in the bank than what actually you've got in the bank, then you've got to look at your figures. Why doesn't it match? Why do those incoming seem to be more than the outgoing, or the outgoing more than the ingoing? And you see, to balance those books, these concepts of reconciliation that we are used to in our own lives and where we know the need of. value that friendship, or if there is a lot at stake with that.

Imagine if there was a child that was alienated from the parents, and the parents were very wealthy, and the child knew that if they remained in a state of alienation, they were going to be cut out of the will. They wouldn't receive anything, any inheritance at all. then they'd have a great incentive to have that relationship mended. And if they realised it was without their power to do so, they would need to look for some other way. Well, we may understand what a monetary inheritance is, but when we're thinking of an eternal inheritance in heaven, when we're thinking of our eternal life, our state beyond the grave, and what shall be bound up with that, if we are not reconciled to God, then to be cast out from his presence, to have no part with him at all, that is so much worse than any loss of a temporal or earthly inheritance. And so if we are aware, we know, and are brought to understand the alienation of our heart from the Lord, then we'll want to know what's in our text. We want to know how it is that God and sinners can be reconciled.

I know from my own personal experience and as a child, the things I said to my parents, I had no idea of the enmity of my heart to God. They did not view that I was so hostile against God. That is part of being dead in trespasses and sins. You don't feel that you have offended God. You say, what have I done wrong? Why is God angry with me? Why do I need to be reconciled? I'm friendly, I go to chapel, I read my Bible, I say my prayers, and why do I need any intervention from God?

But if God shows us our hearts and shows us how we really have acted towards him and shows us our need of being reconciled, then we will need it, then we will value it and really this will be one mark of God's people. They will be brought to feel their distance and feel that separation between their soul and God and the need to be reconciled.

We have another illustration in the word of reconciliation, and that is between the Jews and the Gentiles. Paul speaks of this in his epistle to the Ephesians, how God in Christ Jesus has reconciled the two together. direct enmity in that with the Jews they had all of the ordinances, all of the types, all of the shadows, and the Gentiles were completely cut out of that. They were separated from the Commonwealth of Israel. But in the Lord Jesus Christ, Jew and Gentile are brought together This is one of the big parts in the New Testament, in Acts, where this was literally brought to pass.

A difficult concept for the Jews. Peter, when he went into Cornelius, was held to account. Why did he do it? Later on, Paul reproves Peter because he was sitting with the Gentiles before the Jews from Jerusalem came. But when they came, then he separated himself. He was frightened of the Jews. But the teaching of God was that that barrier had been taken down. It no longer applied. And it was in and through. the Lord Jesus Christ.

Well, we need that reconciliation. We need, and this is what God himself has provided, instigating that reconciliation. He has been the one that has begun it and brought it to pass. In Hebrews 2, verse 17, we read, Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest, in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." So it is the Lord Jesus Christ that is to make up the debt, the debt that his people owed, the broken law. He has come to fulfill that law. He's come to satisfy the justice of God. to receive the punishment that was due unto them, to work out a righteousness for them, to give to them, so that they then can appear spotless in the presence of God. For without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. And the Lord Jesus Christ has done all of these things for his people. God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. This is the word of the gospel.

And so I want to look at these verses that are before us and want to begin with verse 17 and then go through to the end. Firstly, and I want four points. Firstly, the effect of reconciliation to God. We have that described in verse 17. And then we have the cause of reconciliation, that is Christ made sin, described in verse 21. And then we have the means of reconciliation, the Ministry of Reconciliation in verse 18. And then we have, in the fourth place, the Word of Reconciliation in verse 20.

But firstly, the Apostle begins with the effect. Remember, he is writing here to a church. He is writing to believers, he's writing to those that already have the evidence of conversion and of reconciliation unto God. But if we don't know that yet, we are to listen, hearken to what God does for his people, what God has done for his people, and the effect of God's work and what is said. to the people of God. And in doing that, we find that we know something either by experience, by teaching, by the Lord's work in our heart of these things, whether in full reconciliation or coming to that.

So firstly, we have in verse 17, therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. In the margin, we read, or let him be a new creature. In one sense, the apostle is exhorting these Corinthians in the earlier letters He had much to reprove and say of things that were wrong with them. And we would be reminded that though when the Lord works, He really changes the heart, He renews the will, yet there are many things that we need by instruction and by teaching to be aligned with God, with His way and with His will. But the apostle is very clear of the effect here of reconciliation. And that is the effect that we know, that is in our hearts, a change that has taken place, a change from being hostile or alienated from, and a change to be brought into friendship with.

And he describes it here as being a new creature. And then puts it in this way, all things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And makes it very clear in verse 18 that those all things are of God. It is God that has worked in us to will and to do of his own good pleasure. He has done what is described in Ezekiel 36, given a new heart, cleansed, renewed the mind, renewed the will, He has done those things in, He's wrought that work in us. This is the new birth, this is the gift of eternal life, the giving of another spirit, a different spirit, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit of God. This people have I formed for myself they shall show forth my praise.

One thing that is very evident from this verse that when God works in a sinner's heart there'll be a difference. With every one of God's people it will be shown in different ways but this overall describes it to be not what he once was, what the Lord has made them, that's what they are. And so in thoughts, in affections, in desires, in prayers, in communion with God, in how they view the people of God, how they view the Lord himself, ears that are opened, eyes that are opened, in one of our members now in glory when she came before the church.

She described when the Lord began with her, she said the Bible was a new book and the hymn book was a different book. It was the same Bible, the same hymn book, but how she viewed them was different. It was new to her. The same old Bible, but made a living word, a different word to her.

A simple testimony, but so real and so in accordance with this word here. I've still got the Bible I was given when I was 13. And it's still in good condition, which sadly tells something, doesn't it? It hasn't been used much. The Bible that I use regularly now, well, it's falling to pieces, and I've been through so many of them. But when I was first given that Bible, well, I liked the looks of it, but I never read it. I didn't value it at all. And it wasn't until some six or so years later that then I had that interest and desire to read it.

We often think of this when we give Bibles to the school children. And we think, well, some of them would struggle to read it now. But what if when they were leaving to go for university, and they're packing up their things and ready to leave home, and maybe very stressful time in their lives, and they picked up this Bible that they'd been given in year six. And then they thought, well, we'll just pack it just in case. And who knows that the Lord would bless that years later. When we gave out Bibles for the year 2000, there were those that were buying them for their grandchildren that were being born in that year. And they were going to give them to them. Well, those children would now, of course, be 26. And who knows that those Bibles are being used, have been used, And if they are, then the Lord will use it to change, to change hearts, to change lives, to make a difference, to be a people formed for the Lord.

And so the apostle puts first here what is the effect of reconciliation to God. It is what we know of the effect wrought in us. And we must then look at what is the cause? Why is it that we have been changed? Why is it that our friendship to God now has changed so that instead of enmity there's friendship, there's peace on our side?

And we might be thinking, well, but what about God's side? What I have done to him, what about my sins? What about the other side? Now, if we are on earth, we might be able to talk to the other side, and you're very easy to get an idea. I'm friendly to them, but are they friendly to me? But how does it work with God? How do we know from his side?

One way, of course, is in John's epistles, We love him because he first loved us. And so when we have the fruits of it, we can tell that flows from God's love to us. But here in our text, it tells us, it gives us the cause, the reason. Verse 21, for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He goes right back to Calvary, right back to what the Lord has done. For every one of his dear people, while they were at enmity to him, before ever they sought him, He suffered, He bled, He died, He put away their sin, He took away those things that were causing offence to God. He satisfied the law, He balanced the books, the books that first said this sinner is in debt, this sinner owes this amount, and it can't be made up by the sinner. God makes that balance up.

And so there is no debt. It is settled, and this is why. This is the Apostle saying, this is why there is a new creature. This is why this change has been brought. Because Christ has died. Because he has been made sin for us. Because he has made a way to provide for us. And it's important that we link the effect to the cause. Natural man cannot convert himself. A natural man cannot reconcile himself to God. God must begin it. This is the gospel that he does begin it, he has begun it.

And the first thing a poor sinner knows is that God begins to work in his heart, he feels the distance, he feels the need of reconciliation, he begins to seek that, and in so doing is evidence that the Lord has begun and that he is reconciled. I want to look then at the means, the means of reconciliation.

Paul has said in verse 18 that all things are of God. It is God that has worked All those things that are new, that are different, that are renewed in that soul, this is God's handiwork. He looks upon it, he said, that's my work. That softened heart, that humbled soul, that praying soul, that one under conviction, that one with a concern, these are the works of my own hands. This is what I have done. He will regard the works of his own hands.

And so Paul then goes on, all things are of God who hath reconciled. Not who will do, who hath reconciled. It's something that has been done for those that have these fruits and these effects. The word is, he hath reconciled us. In one sense, the apostle is speaking of himself as a minister. as one that is handled and tasted. And of course, the Apostle Paul, what a reconciling.

Before the Damascus Road, he was only men and women to prison who called on the name of the Lord. He was the enemy of the church and the people of God. And afterwards, he is the friend of God and the friend of the people of God, reconciled to God. What a difference he can truly say regarding himself. he hath reconciled me to himself by Jesus Christ. But then he says, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. What a picture of the ministry. The ministry of the gospel, but the ministry of reconciliation. I wonder how many of us have viewed the ministry in that way.

But when we come under the sound of the preached word and to hear the gospel, you think this is what God uses to bring those far off and bring them nigh, bring those that are enemies to be a friend. goodwill gesture of the Lord. If the Lord did not desire to save a people, to save his people throughout all the world, that is what is spoken of here, throughout all the world, not just Jews but Gentile only, he would never send forth any ministry When Jonah was sent to Nineveh, why he was so reluctant?

Because he knew that God was a merciful God. If he sent a minister, he meant to save them. He meant to give them repentance. If he gave them 40 days, if he gave them time, he meant to save them. In Sodom and Gomorrah, there was no warning. Those that were God's people were plucked down. They weren't given a week. They weren't given a day to repent. The Lord's judgment just came.

But where the Lord gives time, where he gives the ministry, these days of grace, they all cry out in God's willingness to save a people and a testimony to what he has done. And that there is those not just to be saved, but there are those to be ministered to. If there is a ministry of reconciliation, There are those to minister to, and there are those that are far off from God, that through that ministry are going to be brought nigh, and they're going to be brought unto God. This is the message the Apostle is setting forth to the Corinthians and to us, and it's a way that we should look upon the ministry. Here is the Lord. speaking to us, teaching us of those things that are designed to take down our enmity to him and to reveal to us the love of God in sending his beloved son and in his sufferings and in his death. And so the Lord has been pleased to use the ministry to save them that believe.

A ministry of reconciliation right through time. Sinners that word enmity to God have been brought to be friends with him. Sinners far off have been brought nigh. Sinners that have said, I'll never be a church member, I'll never sit at the Lord's table with the Lord's people and at the Lord's table. Those that are hostile to God have been brought to be friends with Him.

And this is the ministry, this is what is done under the preaching of the Word. And so then we have, in our fourth point, the word of reconciliation. So in verse 19, at the end, he says to it, God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. And what is that word? Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God. An exhortation.

And of course, we would remember in the first place, Paul is writing to a church, to those that have those fruits in verse 17. But it is a reminder that in the new birth we are given a new will, a new ears, a desire to walk in the Lord's ways. And through the ministry then is taught what is acceptable, what is pleasing in the sight of God, what are those ways that bring about peace between our soul and God. We know certainly when we sin, willingly, presumptuously, and God brings his chastening hand, his frown upon us, and then there's felt to be that alienation, the communion is broken, the friendship is broken, and the soul feels that, it wants to be brought nigh again. And so then comes the word, the exhortations, the way back, and a people made ready to hear and willing to obey and willing to walk in that way pleasing to God.

And so the apostle exhorts these Christians these Corinthians, those that at the beginning of his first epistle, one was saying, I'm of Paul, another saying, I'm of Apostle, I'm of Christ, and I'm of Peter, and all the conflicts that they were having, even amongst themselves. And they were not dealing with sin in their own members. And then they were abusing the Lord's table. And then they weren't walking in a right way regarding the headship. All the time he is setting before them the ordinances and the right way of walking that is pleasing in the sight of God.

But at the very root of all of this is what the Lord has done for his people. And this same word really is spoken to all that hear The Gospel is to be preached, authoritatively declared, what the Lord Jesus Christ has done at Calvary. And we are not to think, well, if we are God's people, then he will just work in our hearts, and we do not have to heed the word at all. Remember, one of the real evidences of God's work in a sinner is that their ears are open and their desire, like the apostle, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?

They won't have a fatalistic spirit. They won't have a spirit and saying, well, there's nothing I can do, which is true, and so I'm not even going to try or desire or ask for that help at all. I sometimes think of the illustration of the man that had the withered hand, and the Lord said to him, stretch forth thine hand. He may well rightly have said, I can't. It's withered. Why do you expect? Why do you even tell me to do it? I'm not even going to try. But as he tried, then the Lord healed him. He stretched out his hand.

You think of those in Holland with their electric bikes. those bikes, the power does not come on until you pedal. You can be at the bottom of a hill, not in Holland, but if they brought their bikes over here, and they say, well, we can't go up that hill. It's too steep. It's too hard. But as soon as they started pedaling, then comes in the electric, and it has power to bring them up the hill. And it needs that first turning. We might think, well, I can't do it. in the venturing, then there is that helm.

We think of how the Lord's people in time past, especially children of Israel, have ventured against huge odds, ventured in ways that you'd think, how could they ever think that they would be saved in that way? But they were trusting on the Lord, looking to the Lord, relying upon the Lord. And that is how we are to venture and to come to the Lord. We are told, it is God that worketh in you to will and to do of his own good pleasure. And it is a good thing where we desire to do right, desire to walk in the Lord's ways. and we're looking for that grace and power and help from the Lord.

Well, we have the effect of reconciliation, we have the cause of Christ's sufferings and his death, and his righteousness that he imputes to his people, and the means of reconciliation, the ministry of reconciliation. And then we have the word of reconciliation. Some of us, we can point to parts of the scripture words that the Lord has used that has softened our hearts, broken our opposition, humbled us down before his footstool, and brought us from an enemy unto a friend. He sent his word and he healed them. Often one still word has taken away all our enmity and rebellion and has laid us low at his feet, confessing our sin and in repentance. And we have proved that that word has not come from man. Man might have spoken it, but the Lord has applied it with power.

And this is the word then that is preached unto you. Well, may the Lord bless us with this blessing of being reconciled unto God and being brought from an enemy to a friend. Be like Abraham was said, to be the friend of God, or like Enoch, who walked with God. May we be like them. Amen.

The ministry of reconciliation

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The ministry of reconciliation

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About Rowland Wheatley

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