Be Reconciled!

I. INTRODUCTION

A. It seems Christians these days like a good book series

or plan of action from Christian authors.

1. I remember when everyone was experiencing God.

2. Then there was a period when people were afraid they

might get left behind, and grew terrified of the end

times.

3. Finally, people today are being purpose driven.

4. I want us not to be just purpose driven, but purpose

livin’--to be reconciled!

B. The mission of the Church is to tell the world about Christ

(Matt 28:18-20), but more over, our purpose is to live a

sanctified life that pleases and worships God.

C. READ 2 COR 5:10-21

II. SHOWING THE INVISIBLE THROUGH THE VISIBLE (5:10-15)

A. Define Reconcile

1. Manifest or Reconcile: to restore to friendship or

harmony. To bring one thing into correspondence

with another.

2. Like the restoration movement seeks to bring people

back to the bible alone, God wants us to be

reconciled to Him in order to bring us back to our

original intent and life.

B. Why does God seek to reconcile with us after what we’ve

done to him?

1. When we leave His side after sinning, we may turn

our back on God, but God never abandons the

thought of us coming back.

2. Did I say that He pulls us back, as unwilling

servants? No. We aren’t puppets pulled by wires,

nor are we forced into subjection to a salvation we

do not want.

3. We have to come into subjection to His will, thus

conform to Him, and then we will be RECONCILED

BACK to Him.

C. We don’t do the Reconciling ourselves, but God does

through Christ.

1. Wait! How come we can choose to come back, but

we aren’t the ones doing the work.

2. Because we are not the offended party. Only the

offended party (God) may choose to accept man back

into righteousness.

3. This is where the power of Grace lies. Grace and

reconciliation are seen through Christ and his

willingness to die for our sin.

4. Colossians 1:19-20a reads, “For it was the Father’s

good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,

and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself,

having made peace through the blood of His cross.”

D. Let’s look again at 2 Corinthians 5:14-15.

For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that

one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so

that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for

Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

This fulfillment of our obligation to God, to which we didn’t even deserve, allows us a unique opportunity to be as we once were—innocent and blemish free. But we must be willing to be built into the Body of Christ.

This is the work of reconciliation that God performs in us when we accept His plan of salvation in our life. And in it, we allow Him to work within us to aid in getting the word out about reconciliation to others. Remember what Paul said at the very beginning of the verses we read. So let’s look at:

III. THE WORK OF RECONCILIATION WE PERFORM (5:16-21)

A. Remember the definition of reconciled

B. One body that functions on behalf of the one head.

C. As mentioned before, a hand or foot doesn’t act on its own

for its own gain, rather it serves a specific purpose to

benefit the entire body. Sound familiar? That’s how we

should function.

1. Verses 16-17 read: Therefore from now on we

recognize no one according to the flesh; even

though we have known Christ according to the flesh,

yet now we know Him in this way no longer.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new

creature; the old things passed away; behold, new

things have come.

2. I like what the TNIV reads, "the old has gone, and

the new is here!" There is an explanation mark at

the end, telling us that That means that when we

once thought independent of God, we now are equipped

as part of Him.

D. He equips us through his reconciliation of us! (v.18-19)

E. Much like the apostles were sent, as their title means, they

exhorted the people to do likewise, and to teach and live

the reconciled life!

F. God is petitioning us through His Word and through His Son

to be reconciled! Thus, we should function as the Lord

would want His Body to function.

IV. GETTING THE WORD OUT!

A. Today, There is still a need for outreach!

1. People didn’t stop being lost after Christ.

2. God didn’t stop loving people, even though they were

sinners, after Christ.

3. Otherwise, we’d be in a world of hurt!