Devotional 3-10-10

The mission of Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church is to bring others to Christ, embrace them with love, nurture everyone in faith, worship God joyfully, and reach out in service to the world.

The vision of Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church is to be a covenant community transformed by God's grace to share the love of Christ with the world.

Please read 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

God makes his appeal through men who are ambassadors for Christ! Paul is proclaiming the way of reconciliation and the imperative need that man accept the ways which God has provided; he underscroes the urgency of immediate acceptance of God's grace.

What is reconciliation? Renewal of friendship, the act whereby barriers of any kind between parties are removed and their relationship is placed on a firm basis of love and friendship.

Man, to be on a basis of love with God must remove barriers in his heart again man (Matt 5:23-24), to the end that God may give him the glory Christ promised (John 17:22).

Since man often places barriers between God and himself, God has planned the way of reconciliation and gives us a redeemer to remove those barriers (2 Cor 5:19-20).

On our part, the reconciliatin is by faith, through Jesus Christ, for we are not our own (1 Cor 6:19, 20; 7:23) and we become what we are through grace (1 Cor 15:10).

Reconciliation brings life (Rom 11:15) and being justified and reconciled, we do not again face condemnation (Rom 8:1). It is a gift of God (Eph 2:8) and we become his workmanship (Eph 2:10).

The initial step is reconciliation: "Repent" for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matt 4:17). If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (John 1:9).

Reconciled through Christ -- All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation; that God was in Christ, reconciling the world until himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and has committed unto us the word of reconciliaton.

(Cor 5:14-21) These verses bring us to the heart of Paul's gospel ... by indentifying with our life, death and even sinfulness, God in Christ has tranformed the whole human situation; Jesus' resurrection inaugurated a "new creation." (Cor 5:17)

This is more than the transformation of individuals, although it includes that. From this good news, inspired by Christ's love for all (Cor 5:14), springs the Christian mission -- really God's mission (Cor 5:20).

The Ministry of Reconcilation (Cor 5:17) In Wesley's own translation, he adheres to the original Greek text. "If anyone be in Christ, there is a new creation." He adds -- "Only the power that makes a world can make a Christian." By the power of God's love communicated to us throgh Christ, we are re-created, our dulled spiritual senses are reawakened. For then "God, men, the whole creation, heaven, earth and all therein appears in a new light."

Now we konw what Paul meant when he said, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself." We can't keep this good news to ourselves, according to John Wesley, but must become ambassadors for Christ to the whole world, God making his appeal through us.

Prayer
We ask forgiveness, Our Father, for all the wasted opportunities in our lives to serve others, for the words we might have spoken, for the deeds we might have done to bring others to Christ. Forgive us that when we should have listened to your voice we turned a deaf ear. Forgive us when we might have seen great needs, we looked the other way. Give us other opportunities and help us to heed them.

Help us, O Lord, in the ministry of reconciliation to recognize ourselves as your instruments. Work through us in this the world's greatest mission. We ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen.

Sources:

The Wesley Study Bible, NRSV, Abingdon Press 2009.
The Goodwill Bible, National Publishing Company, 1943.
The Interpreter's Commentary on the Bible, Abingdon Press, 1971.
Mysteries of the Bible, Readers Digest, 1988

Frank Hanshaw