The Word Became Flesh

The Word Became Flesh To Reconcile the World II Corinthians 5:17-21 December 9, 2007 Dr. Paul T. Eckel 1

The Word Became Flesh To Reconcile the World II Corinthians 5:17-21 In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. (II Corinthians 5:19) Let s face it, reconciliation is not a household word. It s not a Christmas word either, or so we imagine. That s why we are surprised to find it showing up in a favorite Christmas carol of all places! Hark, the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King; Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled! Reconciliation seems to be tied to Christmas after all. It s part of the big reason for Jesus coming among us. It s a fundamental purpose of the Incarnation. The Word Became Flesh To Reconcile the World. Probably all of us believe reconciliation to be a good thing. But what does reconciliation mean? That s a pretty good place to start. The Greek word for reconciliation originally meant simply to change. Initially it was about changing or exchanging money. By the time the New Testament was written, however, the word had taken on the technical sense of changing enmity into friendship thus our translation reconciliation. Now the question is, how does reconciliation work? How Reconciliation Works Suppose we explore this question through the use of an everyday, though hypothetical example. 2

Let s suppose Sandy and I have had a fight. For the purposes of this illustration, Sandy can be male or female, wife or husband, friend or family. The issue is, some tension even enmity has come between Sandy and me. Obviously all the blame for a broken relationship cannot be laid at the feet of one party. Yet honesty compels me to admit I am primarily to blame. My problem is how can I get back on track with Sandy? That is, how can reconciliation between us occur? At first I decide to give Sandy an expensive gift, hoping this will patch things up between us. But I find that Sandy is perfectly free to reject my offering and keep the feud going. Sandy won t be bought off. Next I try being nicer than normal to Sandy. But Sandy reads my smarmy ingratiation. After all, being nicer than you need to be is a contradiction in terms where family and friends are concerned. Desperate now, I throw myself on Sandy s mercy and beg forgiveness. Yet even my passion proves unproductive. Sandy can simply turn a deaf ear and continue to live with resentment and bitterness. Finally, it dawns on me. If reconciliation is ever to occur the decisive action has got to come from the one who has been wronged, in this case from Sandy. Sandy must be willing to accept, to forgive and so to bridge the separation caused by my wrongdoing. So important is this principle, I m going to repeat what I have just said. It is absolutely essential for an understanding of reconciliation. The healing of a relationship begins when the one who has been wronged takes the decisive step, reaching out and reaching across to the other. Broken on Our Side Surely you see where this insight leads us. Any honest reading of our human situation lays bare a broken relationship between us and God. 3

Be clear, though, it is we who have turned from God, not the other way around. Estrangement from God is the result of sin. Sin is separation from God. None of us is exempt. The Bible declares with universality, All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We have allowed the God-ward side of us to atrophy. When we finally recognize this and own it, many of us get panicked. We begin working desperately to patch things up with God. As in Sandy s case, we sometimes try to buy God off. We make deals with the Almighty, strike bargains and offer bold promises. We start coming to church hoping this will help. We tidy ourselves up in an effort to win back God s favor. Down deep, I suspect, very few of us feel satisfied trying to put God in our debt. Which only makes our situation worse. No matter how much credit we think we ve earned with God, we re never sure it s enough. We feel lost. Perhaps you have known the feeling. A small boy s newspaper ad read: Lost my dog. He s little, old, no teeth, named Tiger. We feel sorry for the kid and keep an eye out for an old, stray, toothless, little mutt. But what if we read: Lost my faith somewhere over the past years. Somehow got off the track not sure how to get back. Don t know where God is don t know where I am either. Healed from God s Side All on our own we lost ones can never successfully mend things with God. That s because as we learned a moment ago with Sandy the decisive action in reconciliation has got to come from the other side. It has to originate from the one who has been wronged in this case from God! 4 And this, it turns out, is exactly what the Bible says happened. In Christ, we are told, God was reconciling the world to Himself. God the One who has been wronged by our sin, our separation God has taken the initiative.

We cannot reach into heaven and grasp God. But God can come down-to-earth and grasp us. And He has! The Word became flesh! In Christ, God has taken the first and most costly step. Christ had to be willing to reach out to the lost. He was willing. Jesus came to seek out and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). Christ had to be willing to humble Himself. He was willing. He humbled Himself and became obedient to death (Philippians 2:8). Christ had to be willing to suffer. He was willing. He was wounded for our transgression, crushed for our iniquities (Is. 53:5). Christ had to be willing even to die for us. He was willing. Christ died for our sins (I Corinthians 15:3). In Christ the Word became flesh and even today continues reaching out to us. This is the message of Christmas. Christ was born to reconcile the world. On the personal side we are made right with God when we receive Christ s touch and open our hearts to his love. This, of course, is not the end of the process, only the beginning. Paul insists that once we have accepted Christ s reconciliation, we are commissioned as ambassadors for Christ, God entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. That is, through believers like you and me God continues to make his grand appeal, Be reconciled! Across the Terrible Chasm What would it look like to make that appeal and be an ambassador of reconciliation? Let me share with you this morning an old yet powerful pastoral memory. It remains for me a stirring example of reconciliation. After his tour in Vietnam, he came home. But things weren t right between him and his wife. Finally he admitted to having an affair with a nurse while in Nam. His wife was shocked, then outraged! They dropped by my study on their way to a divorce lawyer. 5

Their talk was intense and accusatory. She was hurt, wounded and pressing for divorce. He was ashamed, scared and trying desperately to appease his wife and win her back. He begged for forgiveness and made extravagant promises. She stonewalled. So went our stormy sessions. Things were eroding quickly, so I stepped in. In the fewest of words I shared with them what reconciliation is about and how it works in fact, the only way it ever works. Reconciliation is spiritual, I explained, not psychological. God, the One who has been wronged by our sin has reached out to us with a nail-scarred hand. Reconciliation never comes cheap. Someone always has to shoulder a cross! Reconciliation only happens when the person who has been wronged is willing to pay the highest and heaviest price. This is where you come in, I said, directing my attention to the wife. If your marriage has any chance of being saved, you hold the key. There is no hope unless you are willing to absorb the awful pain and reach across the terrible chasm caused by your husband s wrongdoing. What followed was the most intense and passion-filled silence I have ever experienced. The inner struggle was enormous as the lives of two people hung in the balance. He was terrified. She was bleeding. The emotional distance between them was extreme even though they sat no further away from each other than a chair is from a sofa. Everything depended on the next move. Terribly heavy moments ticked by in silence as the passionate private struggle raged on. Then, as if in ultra slow motion, her hand began to lift as though it was a heavily weighted thing. Slowly O, so very slowly! she began reaching out across the appalling emotional distance between them and touched the waiting hand of her broken and desperate husband. We all wept. 6

Christ Still Reconciles We ve dared to approach the heart of it all this morning God s reconciling love in Christ. The Word Became Flesh To Reconcile the World. In Christ s brokenness, he absorbed the pain and spanned the terrible chasm created by our sins. Now let s risk being personal. Have you experienced brokenness or perhaps caused it? Have you been hurt or hurtful? Is there strain between you and another that you wish could be resolved? Jesus showed us how to do that, demonstrated how the wounded one becomes the healer. Christ wounded by our sin, our separation has reached out to you and me. Now, as a reconciled wounded one yourself, you have a chance to reach out across the pain and touch the hand of that other person who is hurt. That s how reconciliation begins. It s the only way it ever begins! This is the glorious promise of Christmas. Because of Christ s coming God and sinners are reconciled. Now, as believers reconciled to God, Christ commissions each of us to be ambassadors of reconciliation, reaching out to others and hastening the time When peace shall over all the earth, its ancient splendors fling, And the whole world give back the song, which now the angels sing. 7

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