Forgive my tardiness for this post to this site. This is a former written work and again recently I'm seeing the same word tossed around and the same motivation behind it... so I felt like dusting it off for a minute and letting it fly again.
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[Original Posting September 28,2009]
So I this has been weighing me down for some time because more and more I see this word, "reconciliation" being thrown around and I get the feeling we're letting the world define it and give us our mission rather than letting Jesus declare it and send us with it.
Here goes...
Dear you,
Your passion for reconciliation is good, but you have missed the point. Our Lord did not come to reconcile the world to itself. He did not come to bring peace between the gentiles and Jews, create political stability for Palestine and Israel, harmony between sexual orientations, union to Republicans and Democrats, familiarity for races, neutrality to genders, equality for the rich and poor, or agreement between any other differing ideals! Our Lord Jesus Christ did NOT die on a cross so the world would have peace with itself as if all sin were now abolished (by Him, not through Him) and the enemy no longer has rights to create havoc. The ministry of reconciliation that Jesus came to demonstrate is NOT the reconciliation of the world to itself. Indeed it is entirely the opposite.
• Rom 5:10-11: For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
• Rom 11:15: For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?
• 2 Cor 5:18: All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation…
• 2 Cor 5:19: that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
• 2 Cor 5:20: Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
• Col 1:20-22: …and through Him God was pleased to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His Cross. And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, as as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before Him…
The concept and nature of this word does connote the idea of some restoration taking place or the exchange of some substance for something else and I think that the Theological implications are greater still. First, I think that the implication made is that a prerequisite for reconciliation is a fall. In order for something to be reconciled, a prior, somehow greater connection between the two things must have been lost. The implications are this, that we were at one time in right relation with God, but through our own choices, we broke the connection between us, offending God, and losing the original greatness of our bond. In order to regain that relationship, reconcile it, that is, payment, or an exchange of some kind must be made. Knowing that the result of sin (that is, the offense of God) is death, the only possible payment for sin (wages, that is) is death itself; therefore, restitution to God is made only in death. However, considering that all humanity has chosen this offense, and that it is impossible for that which is impure to purify itself, it is therefore impossible from humanity’s standpoint to reconcile itself to God. But if the pure were to die, fulfilling the just price of the offense, reconciliation might be had through the pure. That is what happened, the Pure, God himself, chose to reconcile us to Himself by paying the price Himself. The debt was not cancelled as if it never happened- it was paid in full by the indebted! The exchange of His life for each of ours is what defines the reconciliation of humanity back to right relationship with God. In this light reconciliation is in fact, payment, replacement, exchange, and substitution- all combined to identify the act of restoration carried out for debtors to God by God to God (not a redundancy, read it carefully).
The goal of Christ is the reconciliation of the world TO HIMSELF, all things come FROM THIS POINT FIRST, for it only THROUGH HIM that all things are made new. It is not the agreement of holiness and sin, it is the removal of sin to reveal what is holy! It is IN HIM that there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, etc.- why are we attempting to reconcile that which cannot be reconciled without the work of Christ taking place first? There can be no reconcilation of the Church and the world outside of Jesus, and even then it is no longer the world, but an expansion and addition to the Church! To have friendship with the world is to be the enemy of God- have we forgotten this? Neither the Jew and Greek nor the Church and the world will be or can be reconciled without FIRST being made new in Jesus, for it is at that point that national origins, political preferences, personal rights and ideals SUBMIT THEMSELVES TO HIS WILL and are thus CONFORMED to the likeness of the SAME IMAGE- Jesus Christ. It is when we seek conforming to the same standard that unity is created, but for the saved, the Church, our standard is Jesus Christ Alone, Who is our Head and Author, can we then submit to the standard of the world which we have been alienated from and estranged to?
I cannot help but let this go from here. As more and more throw this word around as if somehow it is our mission to reconcile others to others I will continue to cringe, for the reconciliation of Christ can only be done as we bring others to HIM and NOT to each other. Reconciliation is not about tolerance and false unity, the bringing together of light and darkness as if that were possible anyway. Rather, it is about being recreated in the same image as the ONLY Reconciler, Jesus Christ, Who has paid our debt by His death on a cursed piece of wood. It is about the rebirth of our life, the renewal of our relationships, the restoration of our purpose, and the reduction of what is not of Him. Let us press on in the ministry of reconciliation as it is intended, not by what the world would rather it be.
In Him,
Me
