Because we have been reconciled to God and have HOPE through Christ, we are called to the ministry of reconciliation.
Why do we pursue people at all? Because we have HOPE in what God has done in Jesus… and we have been called to reconcile as we have been reconciled. We pursue others, because Christ pursued us!
Do you ever listen to a sermon and while you’re listening, related passages are popping into your head? For me, this always leads to the most fun time of meandering through the Word later, discovering a treasure trove of snippets about God and how He’s called us to live in Him. That was the case after I heard a sermon from pastor Josh Tompkins recently. It sent me digging deeper and deeper and became part of a message I got to share with a lovely group of ladies in California as they retreated together right in the middle of a re-name and re-launch of their church in Los Angeles.
Reconciliation and Hope: Our Reason to Love Others
Romans 5:1-8 —> Our Unshakable Hope
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
2 Corinthians 5: 1-21 —> Our Driving Force
Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. (Emphasis mine.) Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
- We pursue because Christ pursued us.
- We love because Christ loved us.
- We reconcile, because Christ reconciled us.
Resources:
Pastor Josh Tompkins, West End Baptist, Unshakable Hope
Listen to Episode 9, Be Kingdom Minded
Read Holiness, Brokenness, and Life-Giving Hope
Four Tips for Purposeful Planning
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