You Are A Minister of Reconciliation
Many years ago, our younger daughter came downstairs disheveled and crying. What in the world had happened?
Apparently, what started as a simple misunderstanding had turned into an angry battle between sisters!
I was reading through the Chronicles of Narnia with the girls and had asked Becca to go upstairs to see if Abby wanted to read. When Becca went to ask, Abby was reading one of her own books and replied she would be down when she finished her chapter. Becca wanted a very concrete ‘yes’ or ‘no’ so she could fulfill her role and deliver a clear answer to Dad.
Apparently, they went back and forth for a couple minutes, escalating in intensity until they got into an all-out, scratching, hair-pulling fight! These two loving little girls who enjoyed being sisters and friends were now acting like enemies.
Obviously, there was some work to do in order to reconcile them back into loving relationship.
The glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ is the story of enemies being reconciled.
In Romans 5:8-11, the Apostle Paul wrote: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (ESV)
However, our problem with God is not just a simple misunderstanding. Our inherited sin nature, complicated by our rebellious choices, causes every person on the planet to initially be an enemy of God. But because of His love for us, Jesus graciously paid our sin debt and restored us to a loving relationship with our heavenly Father. When we receive Jesus’ accomplished work by faith, we are also reconciled to each other. We are no longer enemies; we become blood-related children of our loving Father. We are now defined by our restored relationship to the King of the Universe.
As His children, we are then entrusted with the significant ministry of reconciliation.
In 2 Corinthians 5:17-20, Paul says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (ESV)
The word “ministry” is the one from which we get our word ‘deacon’. It means service, ministry, or mission. And this reconciliation, as mentioned in Romans 5, is the restoration to divine favor.
We are given the significant role of speaking the good news of the gospel (the message) so that others can experience this new life. Our heart’s desire—compelled by the love of Christ we have experienced ourselves—is to encourage people to trust Christ and receive this new identity, an identity which brings us from the status of enemy to beloved child.
Speaking of beloved children… I wasn’t sure how to handle two weeping, yelling girls. My left-brained, male perspective had a really hard time grasping what the big deal was in their minds. But I listened to them and prayed to God.
In helping our girls reconcile after their fight, each of them had to come to the point of recognizing their sinful contribution to the conflict. Then, there had to be confession of the wrongdoing. Confession does not simply mean ‘saying sorry.’ Every one of us has experienced an inauthentic ‘sorry’ at some point in life. They don’t mean anything. Real confession is agreeing with God that what I did is wrong.
After an appropriate confession, forgiveness was extended, and then the relationship could be restored. Honestly, it took some real work, more tears, and a bit of time for us to get the girls to the point of reconciliation. But it was so worth it. True peace was restored and sixteen years later, they remain good friends.
Dear Saints, being a minister of reconciliation is a significant role with which we have been entrusted. When we get to be part of changing the eternal destination of our friends and loved ones, we experience the significance of what God has given us.
There is no way we can do this on our own. We don’t have sufficient understanding. Thankfully, God is the one who makes us competent as ministers of the new covenant (See 2 Corinthians 3:4-6).
Remember, it is extremely significant that ‘God is making His appeal through us.’