2 Corinthians 5:11-21 The Ministry of Reconciliation
Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because 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.
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 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. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Reflection
Do you ever wish you could have another go? a chance to go back and do something differently, to avoid a big mistake you made? Most of us can recall times when we did something foolish or sinful. We wish we could take back that one conversation or email, that one deed that remains imprinted on our minds. Perhaps some of us wonder whether God could ever accept us with such a blemish in our past.
The good news of Jesus is that God makes us new. He not only wipes away our past sins; he creates a new person by reconciling us to himself through Jesus. When we confess our fall from the goodness of God’s created intent for us, God offers us the gift of redemption in Jesus. When we trust in Christ, God does not count our sins against us. What a gracious gift!
This awesome truth gives us new freedom as we live. God knows that we are sinners, but our status at the judgment is not “sinner.” Instead, we are redeemed and newly created in Christ. God sees in us the perfect love of Jesus. He calls us to live for Jesus and to share the good news of his love with other sinners who are in need of the same grace.
God has given us something better than a do-over. He forgives us and makes us new in Jesus.
We are a faithful people, living in the light of the risen Christ, who goes before us and with us, who lightens our way, who transforms our being and makes all things new. We gather to worship you, O Lord. We come, Lord, to ask that you help each of us to make sense of life; to make sense of life through heaven’s eyes; to make sense of this transitory existence in the light of life eternal; to give us a vision of life beyond the now; to give us a faith that trusts your leading and engages with your will. Amen.
How can we thank you, God, for all you have given us? How can we grasp the enormity of your giving for us? We can give you thanks: that you have given us the risen Christ; that you have poured out your Holy Spirit; that by your being and presence you make all things new; that in knowing you, our lives are transformed. We give you thanks that with you, from the smallest word and tiniest seed, great things will be. Amen.
Suggested Listening How Deep The Father’s Love For Us www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKDujmtyAVk Love divine, all loves excelling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q3jmXn6HTQ The church’s one foundation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKRmncbUMps
