Be Reconciled to God

 

Colossians 1:19-22 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the crass. 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation- 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. What does it mean to be reconciled? How does this change your Christian walk and relationship with God? Resources: Believe God https://www.livinggodministries.net/living god ministries/radio_archive/audio_hles/romans 36 believe god_5_11.21.mp3 Reconciled https://96tolife.blogspot.com/search?q=reconciled Faith Alone Shirt (online store) https://www.teepublic.com/long-sleeve t-shirt/64576664-faith-alone

Blessed are the Peacemakers

 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." Matthew 5:9

The words of Jesus Christ are often taken as instructions on how to live your life. Doing this may have some benefit, but often leads to misinterpreting what the Lord was trying to say. When it comes to the Sermon on the Mount, the words of Jesus are said to be, "How to live a life that is dedicated to and pleasing to God, free from hypocrisy, full of love and grace, full of wisdom and discernment." While this statement sounds good it is not the intent of the message Jesus delivered. There is the assumption that it is possible to perform all that He mentioned. Furthermore, as it pertains to Christians, we are not under the law. Yet, we put ourselves under the law by attempting to incorporate the teaching of Jesus into our lives as if we are commanded to live as He directed. Nowhere is this seen more clearly than when it comes to verses like Matthew 5:9. 

We all desire to be blessed by God. Therefore, when passages that promise us blessings if we behave a certain way appear, we are motivated to live up to their requirements. A peacemaker is "one who makes peace, as by reconciling parties that are at variance." What people tend to believe is that if we reconcile two parties at odds with each other and bring peace between them, then we are children of God. There is nothing wrong with establishing peace between two parties. However, that is not what makes a person a child of God. When a person is born into this world they are spiritually dead to God in their sins. Being spiritually dead to God means that you are His enemy. Romans 5:10 says, "For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!" What is it that you need when you are enemies? You need peace. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, He became our peacemaker between mankind and God.

Upon a person believing God and accepting Jesus Christ as their savior, they become a child of God. Jesus said, "Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God ... (John 1:12)" You don't become a child of God because Jesus said peacemakers are children of God. This implies that there is no stipulation attached. You become a child of God by believing Jesus Christ and receiving Him as your savior. Once that happens you are reconciled to God because you have received the forgiveness that He provided for you and had the Holy Spirit of God restored to you. There is no longer any debt owed to God you cannot pay. Any hostility between you and God is over. The war between you and Him has ended. There is peace. Now that there is peace between you and God, as His child, you have become a peacemaker. You are charged with sharing that blessing with the rest of the world.

In 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, it reads, "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.  We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God." The blessing that children of God have received through faith in Jesus Christ, is that we are now ministers of reconciliation. We are blessed to be at peace with God and now we take that message to the world as His ambassadors. The message of complete forgiveness of sins and being spiritually alive to God through the restoration of the Holy Spirit is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In His Sermon on the Mount, the Lord was leading people to Himself, so that through faith in Him we could say, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1)." Grace and Peace.

What the World needs Most

A Buddhist monk was asked to describe what is a miracle. He replied, "What does this world need the most? It needs healing, love ... it needs reconciliation. I think that's a miracle. That's the miracle we need... So let's stick to the real miracle which is to transform the human mind." Little does this monk know, but he is describing the work of Jesus Christ and doesn't even know it. Buddhists, in general, and Buddha, in particular, do not believe in the existence of God. Rather, they believe in things like an "enlightened consciousness" and Jesus Christ, unfortunately, is not a part of their worldview. However, this monk does seem to recognize what the world needs, but doesn't go far enough in his explanation.

Healing

The Bible is full of examples of miraculous healings. The majority of the focus when it comes to healings are the physical healings. If you simply look at the miraculous healings that Jesus performed during His earthly ministry you have the blind seeing, lame walking, lepers cured and the deaf hearing (Matthew 15:30; Luke 7:21-22) and numerous other similar miracles. There is, however, a different type of healing that only Christians experience, but is available to the entire world. The Bible tells us, "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53:5)." There is no greater healing than that which occurred when Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world. The debt of sin we owed to God, but could not pay, separated us from Him for thousands of years. But, now, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God is no longer counting our sins against us. Therefore, we can now receive Christ's offer of salvation which will begin the healing of our hearts toward God and, subsequently, with our fellow man.

Love

One of the greatest needs of the human heart is for unconditional love. God put this desire in our hearts because only He can meet that need in Himself through faith in Jesus Christ. The dictionary definition of love is "an intense feeling of deep affection." We may think of this in terms of the love we feel for a significant other or maybe for a child. While that is fine, the Bible describes love as something different. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)." Test yourself. Are you always patient, kind, etc? Of course not. This is a description of the love of God. If you are a Christian, you will begin to experience the love of God meet the desire for it in your heart. And as it grows in you, you will begin to love others as God, in Christ, is loving you. As the world sins against you, God's love will begin to be expressed through you. When you are presented with the opportunity to be impatient, unkind, envious, boastful, proud, dishonorable, self-seeking, easily angered, and to keep records of wrongs, you won't want to do that. It is when this starts happening that you realize you are bearing God's love He is producing in and through you. This will, in turn, begin to change the people around you as you become a living witness of Jesus Christ.

Reconciliation

Reconciliation is an accounting process that uses two sets of records to ensure figures are correct and in agreement. It confirms whether the money leaving an account matches the amount that's been spent, ensuring the two are balanced at the end of the recording period. In other words, there is no debt outstanding that remains to be paid. In 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, the Bible says, "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God." From God's point of view, the "books" are balanced. We owed God our lives as payment for our sins. But, our sins are so terrible that our death would be insufficient as payment. Only the death of God would be sufficient as payment for our sins. That is why, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21)." Jesus Christ did for us what we could not do for ourselves in order to balance the books with God on our behalf. That is why we are implored to be reconciled to God. The debt of sin is paid and our sins no longer separate us from God. Believe it. Be reconciled.

Transform the Human Mind

In Romans 12:1-2, we read, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." To renew your mind is to transform it. The key to remember is that this doesn't happen through the sheer will or determination of the individual, but only through the presentation of ourselves to God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to use us as He sees fit. We become living sacrifices; offering ourselves to God to do His work through us. As Christians, because God lives in us, we have "the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16)." And because we have the mind of Christ, we will know what it means to be healed by, loved by and reconciled to, our God. As we go out into the world, we will be able to share these things with those we encounter in hopes that some will turn to Jesus Christ by faith and be saved.

The monk recognizes the miracle the world needs most. Unfortunately, he doesn't recognize the only One that has provided that miracle; Jesus Christ.