THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION

MATTHEW 5: 9 & 2 CORINTHIANS 5: 18-21.

Reconciliation is the central message of Christianity.  This is the ministry of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ and His primary mission while on the earth.     He came solely to make peace between God and man, so that through this relationship man can receive the grace to be reconciled to his fellow man and consequently live at peace with all the people around him.  Enmity between God and man was orchestrated by man’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3; 1ff.  This separation created a gap between God and man and man began to live in bondage to Satan and his relationships became dominated by sin and wickedness.  Genesis Chapter six describes the intents of man’s heart as being evil continually because sin had corrupted and contaminated his heart.

God needed to bring man back to fellowship with Himself, the privilege that was withdrawn when God drove man out of His presence in the Garden of Eden.  God’s love for man had been unrivalled and incomparable since the creation of man.  He therefore sent His only begotten Son to become a man and dwelt among us for the work of reconciliation to be accomplished.  First of all, Divinity had to dwell in humanity in the womb of Mary the virgin for nine months.  A God-Man was conceived and born in Bethlehem. This God-Man is Jesus Christ and He dwelt on earth for thirty three years plus.  During this period, He lived as Man and experienced humanity with all the attendant challenges but was found without sin.  “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” – Heb. 4:15.

The work of reconciliation was not an easy one even for Jesus Christ because He had a lot of challenges to contend with.  Satan was there, confronting Him with temptations, the human enemies also put many obstacles before Him, but we thank God Who daily filled Him with the Holy Spirit and power until when He rose triumphantly from death.  “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps; “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth.”

Who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;

Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by Whose stripes you were healed.” – 1 Peter 2: 21 -24.

The work of reconciliation requires self-sacrifice, self-giving, forbearance and total surrender.  The ministry of reconciliation is for all Christians and that is why Jesus Himself remarked in the beatitude that “Blessed are the peace-makers for they shall be called children of God.” – Matt. 5: 9.  All believers must ensure that we are reconciled to God and become spirit-filled.  We all must also endeavour to be daily led and controlled by the Holy Spirit so as to produce the fruit of the Spirit – Romans 8: 14 & Galatians 5: 22 -23.

The Bible refers to us as Christ’s Ambassadors and we have been entrusted with the Ministry of Reconciliation and God is reconciling the world to Himself through us – 2 Cor. 5:18-21.  It becomes a responsibility for us to live love and be selfless.  We have to be ready to be patient and tolerant and live like people who have no right for the sake of our Master and Saviour that we are representing. Jesus loved even at the point of death and died for us when we were yet sinners – Rm. 5:8.  We are to be reconciled to all peoples regardless of their attitudes towards us and no matter how bad and unlovable they may be.  We are charged to repay evil with good and to love all.  We are to love our friends and enemies alike – Matt. 5:43-47

Another level of our responsibility as agents of reconciliation is to become peace-makers or apostles of peace.  We are to reconcile people to their fellow human beings.  When people are having feuds and are at logger-heads, we are to go out of our ways to ensure that this is achieved.

Finally, before the ascension of Jesus Christ, He handed over the ‘Great Commission’ to us.  We are to go into the world and make disciples of all nations and bring them into the Church for baptism and Spiritual growth – Matt. 28:18-20.  He reiterated it in Acts 1:8 that we shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us and we shall become His witnesses all over the world, starting from where we are.  Evangelism is the primary assignment of the Church and all of us are expected to be involved.  We are ‘Evangelists’ by calling and commission.

We are appealing to us to look out for opportunities to share the gospel with all that we shall always come in contact with.  The gospel has a simple message and this is expressed clearly in our hymn “We have a gospel to proclaim.” – AMNS – 431.  Introducing Jesus Christ to people is the greatest help that we can give to people while we are also practically obeying God.