Me - a Minister of Reconciliation? - 2 Cor 5:17-21

Title: Me…a minister of reconciliation?
Date: September 21, 2008
Text: 2 Cor 5:17-21

Introduction

- The U.S. standard railroad gauge (distance between rails) is four feet, eight-and-one-half inches.
- Why such an odd number? Because that's the way they built them in England, and American railroads were built by British expatriates.
- Why did the English adopt that particular gauge? Because the people who built the pre-railroad tramways used that gauge.
- They in turn were locked into that gauge because the people who built tramways used the same standards and tools they had used for building wagons, which were set on a gauge of four feet, eight-and-one-half inches.
- Why were wagons built to that scale? Because with any other size, the wheels did not match the old wheel ruts on the roads.
- So who built these old rutted roads?
- The first long-distance highways in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions. The roads have been in use ever since. The ruts were first made by Roman war chariots. Four feet, eight-and-one-half inches was the width a chariot needed to be to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses."
- Maybe "that's the way it's always been" isn't the great excuse some people believe it to be.
Clark Cothern Tecumseh, Michigan.
- Change is sometimes hard to initiate, sometimes it is hard to accept
- But most of us have come here, looking for life-change

We are a new creation

- Adam Clarke Commentary - Behold, all things are become new.
- “The man is not only mended, but he is new made; he is a new creature, καινηκτισις a new creation, a little world in himself;
- “Formerly, all was in chaotic disorder; now, there is a new creation, which God himself owns as his workmanship, and which he can look on and pronounce very good.
- “The conversion of a man from idolatry and wickedness was among the Jews denominated a new creation. He who converts a man to the true religion is the same, says R. Eliezer, as if he had created him. “
- the same concept happens as when God recreates the earth for man’s habitation
- the earth was in chaos and confusion
- it resulted from rebellion against God, when Satan refused to allow God to rule over him
- our lives were in chaos, we were confused, what was life about etc
- we had no idea what was right or wrong, we were just living from moment to moment
- then God steps in
- the Spirit of God hovers over the waters and he says, let there be light
- John 1:1-5 Jesus came to bring light into our lives
- He looks at us, the new creation and he says it is very good!
- I like it
- I like what I see

We are reconciled to God through Christ

- Reconciliation - to change, exchange, as coins for others of equivalent value –
- 1. to reconcile (those who are at variance)
- 2. return to favor with, be reconciled to one
- 3. to receive one into favor
- This change is not gradual, it happens in an instant
- The recreation of the earth’s surface did not happen over thousands of years – it happened in an instant
- Let there be light, and there was light
- A leper comes to Jesus and wants to be healed
- Mat 8:1-3 Be clean
- An instant healing
- This is what Jesus offers to us
- I am now a different person from who I was before this change happened
- Before, I did not want to obey God or follow him
- Rom 8:5-7 the fleshly mind does not want to be subject to God
- But if we want life and peace instead of death, we must make that choice
- It’s like Indiana Jones stepping out onto the bridge of faith
- He had to take that step and risk falling into oblivion
- We too have to take a step of faith and believe
- Now I am a new person
- Not one who has been patched up and mended
- But a new creation!

Now that change spreads throughout our life

- wherever that change touches, there is transformation
- there is an example in the
- Ezek 47:1-9
- This change will spread through our life
- Jesus will bring healing to all he tou7ches
- So we will start to examine our anger and distrust and unbelief
- God will start changing us, from the inside out
- We will have a new desire, not a desire to rebel against God and authority, instead there will be a desire to do it right
- Whatever situations we face, as we allow God to touch that situation, it will change and we will change in the way we react

We are now messengers of that reconciliation

- Now God says, freely you have received, freely give
- Matt 10:8
- God now sends us out as Ambassadors
- He has entrusted the Gospel to us
- We do not have the words to speak
- But God tells us that he will give us the words to say
- Matt 10:19
- Our life can be so different
- It can be changed thoroughly, from the inside out
- Not just a cosmetic change on the outside
- This gives us a purpose and a reason for being alive
- Our desire will be to share this good news of a transformation that can come, through what Jesus did on the cross
- Awesome!