Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
West Lafayette, Ohio
May 18, 1986
Reconciliation
2 Corinthians 5:11 - 6:2, NIV
Every day at four o'clock the Coshocton Tribune newspaper is delivered to my door. The first thing I do is read the international news on the front page. I believe it is important for Christians to keep up with the events that are happening around the world. We need to have a global perspective.
In the Coshocton Tribune this takes maybe three minutes because the world news fits in one column. Maybe four inches long, and it ends halfway through a sentence. Then I turn to page two which is the reason most people buy the Tribune - the police reports, so I can find out which of you have been caught. The obituaries, so I can find out which of you has died and no one told me. Finally, the court news, with the divorces, dissolutions and lawsuits. Only the barest details are given but it is not hard to imagine the pain and anger hidden behind each notice. Going to court is not something you do lightly but sometimes there is a strange twist. You find that a couple has gotten back together, or a lawsuit is dropped. In legal terms this is known as reconciliation. Two parties who are at odds decide to make up their differences and get back together.
This same concept is in the Bible. As a matter of fact, reconciliation is at the heart of the gospel. At its highest level, reconciliation is between God and people. God wants us to be reconciled to him. But before this can happen, we must understand our position. You can only be reconciled if you are at odds with someone. If there is no tension between you, reconciliation is meaningless. So when Paul pleads in verse 20, "Be reconciled to God," he is assuming we are separated or estranged from God.
This is an alien concept for many people. We are brought up to believe God is always there for us and he's on our side. Only really bad people are separated from God, like that couple who took hostages in a grade school. We're not like that. It's true - we're not like that - but we are still separated from God, even the purest and most loving among us. Spiritual reconciliation is not just for horrible sinners. It is for everyone.
Instead of being on God's side, most people are practicing what verse 15 calls "living for themselves." This is the same reason many people give when they want to dissolve a relationship. They say they are tired of always having to do what the other person wants. Their own needs have to be fulfilled, so they are going off to live by themselves and for themselves, without having to worry about their partner.
You can believe in God and still live for yourself. Living for God means doing what God commands. Good intentions are not enough. Our actions must be directed towards God. Anyone who has read their Bible knows that living for God is quite an undertaking, because he expects perfection. As a matter of fact, he demands it. Since God is utterly holy, he cannot tolerate sin in his presence. No one has ever truly lived for God except his son, Jesus Christ. For the rest of us, there is a gulf separating us from God.
The concept of reconciliation involves bridging over that gulf. It is an elimination of hostility. Reconciliation is not like two lovers who overcome a disagreement. It is two people who can't stand the sight of each other and yet they become fast friends.
All of us are aware of how bad things can become between people. Among my relatives there is a situation where there has been no communication between two people for thirty-five years. They won't even see each other. Maybe your own family has experienced this. It may be because of money. All it takes is a large inheritance and an unclear will to rip up a family. Sometimes the breakdown is because of a cruel word or a sin that won't be forgiven. Whatever causes the hostility, there is no true reconciliation until both sides put aside their anger and come back together.
The same is true spiritually. There is hostility between God and us because of our sin. We are enemies of God even if we are not conscious of it. The only way we can be brought back to God is to do away with our sin. This is exactly what Jesus did when he died on the cross. The middle of verse 14 to 15 says;
"...we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again."
Jesus did not die as an inspiring example - he died in our place. He eliminated our sin so we could be reconciled to God. Verse 21 shows how:
"God made him who had no sin [Jesus] to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God
The only way God can consider us righteous, or acceptable, is by looking at what Jesus has done on our behalf.
Anytime there is reconciliation, one person has to make the first move and that can be humiliating. Everyone wants to have the last word in a fight but not the first word in a reconciliation. God not only paid the price to cover our differences he also makes the first step.
The Bible never says we can reconcile ourselves to God. God always does the reconciling. Reconciliation is similar to forgiveness but it goes further. Forgiveness means your slate is wiped clean. Your sins are washed away. Reconciliation is a clean slate and a new relationship. God becomes our friend and Paul says God begins making us into new creations so that we will become more like our Maker. We will still look the same and we may feel the same but spiritually God begins a transformation in us.
If you have been reconciled to God, you are obligated to pass it on. We should practice it in our dealings with others. Paul says in verse 18 that God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. This is a great privilege and many Christians don't realize how important it is. Our world is crying out for reconciliation and it isn't even sure it is possible.
Simon Wiesenthal is the greatest Nazi hunter of all time. Lately he has been in the news a lot. When President Reagan announced he would visit a German military cemetery in a village called Bitburg, Wiesenthal raised a storm of protest. Because of Wiesenthal, an eighty-year-old man in Cleveland was accused of being a Nazi death camp guard. The man was deported to Israel where he may be executed. It was Wiesenthal who uncovered the Nazi past of the former United Nations leader, Kurt Waldheim. Wiesenthal tracks down Nazis because he lost eighty-nine relatives in Hitler's concentration camps.
He is often asked when he will give up. After all, he is hunting down men in their 70's and 80's for crimes committed half a century ago. Is there no forgiveness? Wiesenthal answered by writing a book called THE SUNFLOWER. The book begins with a true experience he had while he himself was a concentration camp prisoner. One day he was yanked out of a work detail and taken up a back stairway to a dark hospital room. A nurse led him into the room then left him alone with a figure wrapped in white lying on a bed. The figure was a badly wounded German soldier whose entire face was covered with bandages. With a trembling voice the German made a confession to Wiesenthal. He told how he had been brought up in a Nazi family, the fighting he had experienced on the Russian front and the brutal measures his SS unit had taken against Jews. He then proceeded to tell of a terrible atrocity. All the Jews in a town were herded into a wooden building that was then set on fire. Burning bodies fell from the second floor and the SS soldiers, including him, shot them as they fell.
Several times Wiesenthal tried to leave the room but each time the ghost-like figure would reach out and beg him to stay. Finally, after two hours the soldier told Wiesenthal why he had been summoned. The soldier had asked a nurse if any Jews still existed; if so, he wanted one brought to his room so he could clear his conscience. He then said to Wiesenthal, "I know that what I am asking is almost too much for you but without your answer I cannot die in peace." He asked for forgiveness because of all the Jews he had killed. He asked for forgiveness from a man who might soon die at the hands of this soldier's comrades. Wiesenthal sat in silence for some time. He stared at the man's bandaged face. At last he stood up and left the room without saying a word. He left the soldier in torment, unforgiven.
Half of Wiesenthal's book tells this true story. The other half contains responses by thirty-two experts - rabbis, Christian theologians and secular philosophers. The vast majority concluded Wiesenthal was right to leave the soldier unforgiven. Only six thought he had done the wrong thing. Many of the others questioned the whole idea of forgiveness. They thought it was wrong to let criminals off the hook. Some said only those who are actually hurt can forgive. They couldn't see what right Wiesenthal could have to grant forgiveness on behalf of others.
It is difficult to condemn a man who lost eighty-nine loved ones. Nevertheless, the Bible says we have the privilege of granting forgiveness on behalf of others. Forgiveness and reconciliation defy human reason. The righteousness of God is an unreasonable gift, something we'll never deserve. As ambassadors of Christ we can proclaim forgiveness to others and we can bring people back together. Where does reconciliation need to touch your life, or the lives of those you love?
________
Typed on July 13, 2005, by Sharon Lesko of Ledgewood Baptist Church, New Jersey
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
Created with the Freeware Edition of HelpNDoc: Create HTML Help, DOC, PDF and print manuals from 1 single source