2 Corinthians 5:11 to 6:2

Transcription

1 2 Corinthians 5:11 to 6:2 1 SERMON 9/9/18 All this is done by God, who through Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also. (2 Cor.5:18) In the ruins of Coventry Cathedral stands a bronze cast of a sculpture originally called Reunion (but later renamed Reconciliation) which was inspired by the story of a woman who walked across Europe in the aftermath of the War looking for and eventually finding her husband from whom she had been separated during the conflict. Similar bronze casts also stand in the Peace Garden in Hiroshima, at Stormont near Belfast and as part of the Berlin War Memorial at the German parliament building, a powerful image not only of the reunion of individuals but of reconciliation between peoples. My dictionary defines reconciliation as 'becoming friendly with someone after estrangement,' as 'settling a quarrel' and as 'making two apparently conflicting things compatible with each other.' Estrangement, quarrelling and conflict are fairly common matters even among people we know personally and when you look at the same things on a national or a global scale you find yourself looking at such things as the deep-seated divisions that exist in the Middle East or on the Korean peninsula, and you find yourself contemplating the basis for so much that is askew in our world. What a crying need there is for the restoring of friendship, the settling of quarrels, and the finding of common ground between conflicting ideas and cultures and lifestyles. Which of us has not at some point in our life been at loggerheads with someone? And what rejoicing there is when reconciliation is made not only between this person and that person in our family or in our community, but between groups within our country and between nations. There is a yearning within each of us, I think, for peace and reconciliation at least until it involves us in making the first move towards the person with whom we have fallen out, until it involves us in giving some ground in settling our differences with others, until it involves us in working at compatibility with those who have opposing ideas. And therein lies the root of the problem conflict is endemic in human society

2 2 and because reconciliation involves (to some extent) the display of weakness, few human beings are willing to make the first move. The apostle Paul was no stranger to conflict, not least in his dealings with the Church at Corinth. At the heart of the matter of conflict is a problem with the human heart, not a physical problem but a spiritual problem. But, because of that, the fact of the matter is that reconciliation is possible because the spiritual healing of the human heart is possible. That is the good news that is at the very core of our faith, and that is the substance of Paul s teaching in our passage this morning. The first step in understanding the nature of reconciliation is the realisation that at the heart of it is the action of God Himself in the world. The primary act of reconciliation on God s agenda is between Himself and humanity, because there is a chasm to cross between Him in His holiness and perfection and us in our sin and imperfection. A bridge needs to be built between God and each and every human being and the bridging of that chasm is so important to God that He gave Jesus His Son the task of building that bridge even at the cost of His own life. The final verse of chapter 5 sums up what God has done in reconciling the world to Himself: Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God. (v.21) The bridge is built, the way is opened that we might step across from death to life, from sin to righteousness, and from darkness to light. God has acted will we respond to His call, will we turn from our sin, will we step over that bridge like the prodigal son returning to his father, willing to be taken in even as a servant in other words, will we be reconciled to God? That is the Lord s greatest desire, and Paul here implores the Corinthians (and us with them), We plead on Christ's behalf: let God change you from enemies into his friends! (v.20) If you recognise that there is a gulf between you and Him, then be assured, Christ has bridged that gulf; He has made it possible for us to enter the presence of the living God not as a servant but as a child, not as an enemy but as a friend. Knock and the door will be opened to you, and you will be welcomed with joy. One by one by one as individuals respond to God s approach of reconciliation in Christ, the company of the reconciled is built up, the first great step in God s purpose of reconciliation in the world.

3 3 Which takes us to the second thing. You see, according to the Bible s teaching, the Church is the fellowship of those who have stepped across Christ s bridge to be reconciled with the Father, and in the passage we read this morning, Paul gives us several consequences of being reconciled with God which therefore ought to be characteristics of the church. Fundamentally, those who have been reconciled to God have died, he says. They don t die in the body for if that were the case I imagine there would be a fairly short queue of people waiting to cross the bridge of reconciliation with God, but there is a death to worldliness, which opens the way for a new kind of living. Paul writes: No longer, then, do we judge anyone by human standards. (v.16) He writes, Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come. (v.17) And he writes, He died for all, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but only for him who died and was raised to life for their sake. (v.15) These are characteristics of the biblical Christian. I wonder, do they describe you and me? Do they describe the fellowship of Christians here in Kinross? As those who are called to be the church here in these days, we must each come and lay down our life before the God who has reconciled us to Himself, and we must each be prepared to enter into a new life, to let go of our worldly aspirations power, greed, selfishness and to let go of our worldly outlook and attitudes towards others. If you are in Christ, you are a new being the old is gone (Well, is it?) The new has come. (Has it?) We each need to let the new of the Holy Spirit in, so that we live no longer for ourselves but wholly for the One who has died to reconcile us to God, and who was raised again. And when individuals like you and me really begin to live that new life, the church which is made up of those individuals, the fellowship of the reconciled, will begin to be what it should be. That is the second step in God s purpose of reconciliation in the world, and it leads directly on to my third point this morning, and to what is the key aspect of this passage as we seek to put our faith to work, to live out our faith at work or within our circle of friends. You see, those who are reconciled to God through faith in Christ, are given the ministry of reconciliation in the world, (what this Good News Translation renders 'the task of making others his friends also') opening up

4 4 for those around us what has been opened up for us by the proclamation of the message. We are speaking for Christ (or as the New International Version puts it) we are Christ s ambassadors. What a wonderful image! I occasionally read the Court Circular in the newspaper there you sometimes discover what goes on when an ambassador is appointed. He or she has an audience with the Queen, our Head of State, before going off to represent our country in another part of the world. And in exactly the same way, if we have been reconciled with God, we are invited into His presence and then sent out to represent Him in the place where we live and move and have our being, promoting His interests, making Him known, and making it possible for those who wish to enter His Kingdom and service too. Again, in Paul s words here, We know what it means to fear the Lord, and so we try to persuade others. (v.11) For We are ruled by the love of Christ. (v.14) If we have heard and understood the Gospel and if we have been reconciled to God and transformed by Him, then we can do nothing else than go out with that message to this community and seek to persuade others of the liberating, reconciling truth of the Gospel. As we go from this audience with the King immortal and invisible, the only-wise God, we each go invested with a responsibility to be His ambassador in whatever company we may find ourselves in the course of this incoming week. Will you think of yourself in that role tomorrow morning or Wednesday evening or Friday afternoon, and will you act accordingly? You are a representative of the Most High God, a spokesperson for Jesus Christ. Let others see and hear Him through you. Of course, at every stage of God s purpose of reconciliation in the world there is the opportunity for sabotage: God s offer of forgiveness, His call to human beings to be reconciled to Him, may be refused and we may refuse to be reconciled to our fellow believers; or again, those who find comfort and security in the fellowship of the redeemed may refuse to leave the comfort zone and venture out into the conflict-ridden world for which Christ died. We need to take a long, hard look at ourselves as individuals and as a church, because for the most part we don t seem too bothered in our time about persuading others of God s message of reconciliation or about reaching out to those around us who as yet know nothing of the transforming reality of the saving grace of God.

5 5 What has God done for us? He has made His own Son share our sin so that in union with Christ we might share in God s righteousness. What has God made of us? In Christ we are a new beings, and the old is swept away. What does God require of us? To be speak for Him in the world, taking the message of reconciliation to those around us, and continuing by our prayers, by our words and by our actions the transforming ministry that God Himself has begun in us. At every turn there will be trouble, but with every victory, however small, there will be rejoicing the rejoicing of the Father and all the angels as He welcomes another redeemed soul into His family; the rejoicing of the Church as gradually all the strongholds of evil and division are vanquished and the flags of the coming Kingdom are raised in victory; and the rejoicing of each lost soul who discovers that in Christ there is hope, there can be reconciliation, there can be the fulfilment of those deepest yearnings of the human heart estrangement can become friendship; ancient quarrels can be settled; compatibility can be found even in the midst of apparent conflict. If I didn t believe that with all my heart, I would have given up the ministry of the Gospel long, long ago, but 29 years ago yesterday I was ordained to the ministry of Word and Sacrament and I still believe this to be at the very heart of our calling as Christians in the world, slow process though it often is: to proclaim and to show a new and living way, not the deathly old, worldly way of quarrel and conflict but God s life-giving way of reconciliation and peace. All this is done by God, who through Christ changed us from enemies into his friends and gave us the task of making others his friends also.