God and Man Reconciled

II Corinthians 5:18-21

INTRODUCTION: A childhood accident caused poet Elizabeth Barrett to lead a life of semi-invalidism before she married Robert Browning in 1846.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning's

How do I love thee ? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,--I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life !--and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

There’s more to the story. In her youth, Elizabeth had been watched over by her tyrannical father. When she and Robert were married, their wedding was held in secret because of her father’s disapproval. After the wedding the Brownings sailed for Italy, where they lived for the rest of their lives. But even though her parents had disowned her, Elizabeth never gave up on the relationship. Almost weekly she wrote them letters. Not once did they reply.

After 10 years, she received a large box in the mail. Inside, Elizabeth found all of her letters; not one had been opened! Today those letters are among the most beautiful in classical English literature. Had her parents only read a few of them, their relationship with Elizabeth might have been restored.

Daily Walk, May 30, 1992

THESIS: We must not miss the extravagant lengths God has reached to become our heavenly father.

TEXT

• The purpose of II Corinthians To affirm Paul’s ministry, defend his authority as an apostle, and refute the false teachers in Corinth
• In the chapter before us, Paul deals with his motives for his ministry – One very important motive is the “Ministry of Reconciliation.”
• VERSE 18 – Salvation is entirely God centered - Romans 11:36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
• Vine's definition of "reconcile" (Grk., katallasso)...

a. "It properly denotes to change, exchange (esp. of money)"

 b. "Hence, of persons, to change from enmity to friendship,
 to reconcile"
· Vine: "With regard to the relationship between God and man, the use of this and connected words show that primarily reconciliation is what GOD emphasis mine, MAC)accomplishes..."
· Enmity between God and man (because of man's sin, cf. Isaiah 59:1-2 Behold, the Lord's hand is not so short That it cannot save; Neither is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear. 
· Who Started It? Man - Who makes peace? God…. GOD has taken the initiative to reconcile man back to Himself
· When people need to be reconciled to one another, it normally involves a situation where fault lies on both sides to some degree
· Verse 18 - Gave us the ministry of reconciliation – Verse 20 - Amassadors
· Paul did not usurp authority to himself. His ministry at Corinth was representative. His appeal to them is as though God did beseech you by us 
· An ambassador is a minister of state, representing his own ruler in a foreign land. Paul always speaks of the Christian ministry as an exalted and dignified calling. Here he likens himself to an envoy sent by Christ to the world in which we live. He was a spokesman for God, and God was pleading through him.

• This is the nature of the task of Christian ministry – Speaking the word of God and representing faithfully his message not our own…
• A true preacher is a “hearld” 2 Cor. 4:5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. GK - kerusso, kay-roos'-so; to herald (as a public crier),

Joe Novenson – Speaking recently about a trip to Africa. Dinner with a church leader. “Pastor Novenson do you know 2 Cor 4:5??” “Yes” he answered. “Do you preach Christ as Lord?” “Yes” he answered. “Do you also preach yourself as a ‘slave’ of Jesus Christ?” “No” he answered, “Not Really.” The African bishop continued, “How many leadership seminars have you attended which give you those big three ring binders with leadership principles in them?” Novenson, “More than I can count.” The bishop replied, “You keep that kind of ministry in America, we don’t need it over here.”

Application: So often pastor’s are OK with the exalted nature of preaching the Word but are not doing it with the humility of a slave of Jesus Christ.

HOW IS SUCH A COMPLETE RECONCILATION POSSIBLE? VERSE 21 - THREE IMPUTATIONS… To relate to a particular cause or source; attribute the fault or responsibility to another…

FIRST, God took Christ, who knew no sin, to represent our sin and to receive the punishment due for sin in His death on the cross.
· Psalm 32:1-2 How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit! 
· 1 Peter 1:19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. 
· Christ’s struggle in the garden of Gethsemane with the cup of sin which would be poured upon Him on the cross.

Spurgeon: The great doctrine, the greatest of all, is this, that God, seeing men to be lost by reason of their sin, hath taken that sin of theirs and laid it upon his only begotten Son, making him to be sin for us, even him who knew no sin; ….That is the doctrine of the substitution of our Lord Jesus Christ on the behalf of guilty men.

"Oh, hear that piercing cry!
What can its meaning be?
'My God! my God! oh! why hast thou
In wrath forsaken me?'

"Oh 'twas because our sins
On him by God were laid;
He who himself had never sinn'd,
For sinners, sin was made."

APPLICATION: Jesus took upon himself the punishment of our sins…

SECONDLY, We are in a state of justification since our sins were imputed to Christ 
· The problem of sin – it alienates us from the living God.

· Murray, p. 130-131, We are justified by faith and therefore simply by entrustment of ourselves, in all our dismal hopelessness, to the Saviour whose righteousness is undefiled and undefilable. Justification by faith alone lies at the heart of the gospel and it is the article that makes the lame man leap as an hart and the tongue of the dumb sing. Justification is that by ~hich grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life; it is for the believer alone and it is for the believer by faith alone. It is the righteousness of God from faith to faith.

· Legally, we have no sins since Christ has taken them away…

· Romans 3:20-24 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. ²¹But now the righteousness of God without the law is maifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; ²²Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: ²³For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; ²⁴Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

 
Application: Our sins are forgiven, we have eternal life now as a gift through the death of Christ…
 
THIRDLY,  The perfect righteousness of Christ is attributed to us. 

· Romans 5:17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

· Romans 5:19For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

· Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

· Philip. 3:9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,

· ALIEN RIGHTEOUSNESS
 
APPLICATION – What a great salvation! From a sinner to a child of God…
 
CONCLUSION: This is the ministry of reconciliation…God is entreating, (parakaleo,) INVITING CALLING…Be Reconciled
 
YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE TO RESPOND TO HIS KINDNESS TODAY… 
 
FOR SALVATION…
FOR SANCTIFICATION…
 

We must not miss the extravagant lengths God has reached to become our heavenly father.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning letters for reconciliation went unheeded and unappreciated…

God’s letters of reconciliation in the sweet Gospel of Christ often goes unheaded and unappreciated…