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2 Corinthians 5.11-21
06 March 2011
Introduction
A theologian is born by living, nay dying and being damned, not by thinking,
reading, or speculating. Martin Luther
The Lord has more truth and light to break forth from His holy word John Robinson
However, as in so many cases, it is Paul who articulates and works out the
detail of this doctrine in several key passages of teaching
o God loves us
o There is a problem
o God has done something to remove the problem
o The result, potentially, is peace
o Therefore respond to the good news
o God loves us
I think that Rob made this point last week, but in case he didn’t or you’ve
forgotten, let me repeat it, the cross did cause God to love us. He always
has loved us and always will love us even when we stand under His
judgement
Tom Wright in one of his books compares what happened on the cross to
an extinct volcano. Was Calvary like that, a one off, a massive explosion,
now concluded? The Cross certainly was a one off, but that ‘one off is
indicative of a massive eternal love lying constantly ‘under the surface’.
Though some don’t like it, ‘love for the sinner, but hatred for the sin’ sums
this truth up perfectly for me. We are God’s enemies, but He is not ours!
o There is a problem
: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s
sins against them
Part of the problem lies on our side. We don’t want God as Rob was
explaining last week. But part of the problem lies on God’s side. He loves
us as I have said, but cannot condone our sin. Hence we stand under
God’s judgement as well as His love
o God has done something to remove the problem
Peace, of course, represents not simply the absence of enmity, but the
possibility of a new depth of relationship and a new way of living. Which
is why the Gospel is about far more than the forgiveness of sins, important
as that is!
o Therefore believe the Good News
The reconciliation Paul speaks of is not automatic. Christ has paid the
penalty of our sins, but to suggest, as some do, that this means that I am
necessarily forgiven is to think in too mechanistic terms. Reconciliation
concerns people, it is personal, thus there must be an acceptance of the
offer of forgiveness by the one to whom it is offered or the process of
reconciliation will not have taken place.
1
As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. 2 For he
says,
I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
II. The implications
God has made the most amazing offer. Have you and I accepted it? Like
the prodigal or lost son, have we made the journey home? Or at least have
we started down the road. Becoming a Christian is not a matter of simply
placing a tick in the box to say that we accept Christ as Saviour, it is a life
changing encounter with the living God. And so, as much as it is about
coming home, it is also about enjoying home, about feeling the strong and
warming embrace of those arms on our back.
In 2 Corinthians we see clearly that Paul draws no hard and fast line
between the vertical and the horizontal in terms of relationship – though it
is, perhaps, a little more complicated than that as Paul is an apostle and so
represents God – nevertheless, taken in the round, reconciliation in Paul
and the bible, is clearly something that should and must extend out to
others.
Have you build up a barrier against another person? Ask God to help you
take it down! It will not be easy, quite the opposite, it will be painful, for
reconciliation is always based on truth and we usually prefer not to face
that.
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