Reconcilation

Reconciliation is the process of making enemies friends. It is bringing two parties together as friends.

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Paul uses the word reconciled or some form of that world five times in this passage.

Paul makes it very clear that God wants to reconcile people to Himself. God wants us to be His friends.

In this passage Paul tells us:

What God has done.

How God did it.

What our part is in God’s plan.

What God has done.

God has provided the opportunity to be reconciled or to be made friends with God.

According Genesis 1:27 God created us as humans in His image. We are the only thing that God created in His image. One of the things that it means for us to be created in God’s image is that we are capable of having a personal, intimate, love relationship with God.

God’s desire for each of us as His human creation is that we be friends with Him. That we live in intimate relationship

The way God did this was in two ways by one instrument.

When we are reconciled with God, we are made into a new creation.

When we were born, we were born with a nature to sin. Our default setting is that of sinning. This is why Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3 that you  

must be born again.

When we surrender our lives over from our authority to Jesus’ authority, we are born again and become a whole new creation. We get a new nature that is empowered by the Holy Spirit to obey God.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is receiving a new nature and living in that new nature.

When we are reconciled with God, we take on us His righteousness because He took our sins.

Being reconciled with God means that I am righteous, not because of anything I have done but because God has declared me righteous based on Jesus’ finished work on the cross.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is accepting God’s declaration that I am righteous and living that way.

This new nature and new righteousness come solely because of Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is all about the cross.

Our part in God’s plan of reconciliation is that, once we have experienced being reconciled to God, we are to become ambassadors of God’s reconciliation. We then become the messengers of reconciliation.

That means I don’t view any person according to the flesh. I don’t view people from a human viewpoint, but I view them as Jesus does.

In Matthew 5:44 Jesus tells us to:

Love our enemies

Pray for those who persecute us

I recently sat in a meeting with a group of church leaders and a discussion arose about the homeless in our community. The discussion became about how bad and dishonest these people were.

That is not being ambassadors of reconciliation.

Being ambassadors for reconciliation is:

Loving my enemies

Praying for those who persecute me

Loving people even if they disagree with me or don’t like me

Not judging people based on outward appearance

Sharing the truth of Jesus’ love, mercy, and grace

Allowing Jesus to overcome man-made barriers to the Gospel

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being ambassadors of God’s message of reconciliation.

With Jesus, Reconciling People to Himself and Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

Joe

Grace & Punishment

All choices carry consequences. Good choices lead to certain outcomes. Bad choices lead to certain outcomes.

God, in His love for His human creation, pours out grace, and grace can overcome the consequences of our bad choices.

In 2 Peter we are shown the greatness of God’s grace and the seriousness of His judgment. 

2 Peter 2:4-10

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until judgment; if He did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes He condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what

is going to happen to the ungodly, and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly

distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.

Peter makes sure that we understand that God will punish sin and rebellion against His authority.

Peter mentions:

The fallen angels being cast into hell and chained up in gloomy darkness.

The ungodly people of the ancient world who refused to hear and respond to the truth.

The wicked people of Sodom and Gomorrah who lived their lives focused on sensual pleasures.

All three of these groups had access to the truth and opportunity to change. They chose to ignore and reject God and His will to do their own will.

Bringing judgment is not God’s preference. God is love and a God of grace and mercy. He loves His human creation and desires to grace us, not judge us.

But God is a just God and will judge and punish sin. When we make choices that are sin, we face the danger of judgment.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is recognizing that sin leads to God’s judgment.

We also see God’s grace in this passage.

God’s grace saves Noah and his family from the flood.

Genesis 6:8 says that Noah found favor in the eyes of God. Favor is grace. Noah was given grace by God.

It was not Noah’s life that caused God to save Noah. It was God’s grace that caused Him to save Noah.

Out of God’s grace we are told twice (Genesis 6:22 & 7:5) that Noah did what God commanded. This obedience came after God had pour out grace on Noah.

Peter calls Noah a herald of righteousness. This again came after God graced Noah.

When God gave Noah grace, Noah’s response was obedience and proclamation of God’s truth.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is receiving God’s grace and responding in gratitude and obedience.

Noah was not a perfect person.

In Genesis 9:21 we are told that Noah drank wine and got drunk and he then passed out naked in his tent. His sons had to come in and cover him up.

God does not require perfection. Grace overcomes our imperfections.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is not depending on always doing it right but on God’s grace.

 God’s grace delivers Lot from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Peter calls Lot a righteous man.

Lot selfishly chose the Jordan Valley area. This area was lush and green. It was the best pasture land around and Lot chose it as where he wanted to go when given the opportunity by Abraham. Lot moved to live close to Sodom and Gomorrah and then eventually into Sodom itself.

And even when Lot was told what God was about to do, destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, he was reluctant to leave.

In Genesis 19 after Lot and his daughters had escaped the destruction, Lot had sex with his daughters and produced children.

Lot didn’t look very righteous from a human point of view.

God declared him righteous based on His grace.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing God’s view of us to be who we are.

Sin brings punishment, but God’s grace overcomes the sin and punishment.

By and Through the Grace of God,

Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                       Joe

Difficulties Turned to Strengths

Jesus was not a trained rabbi. He had not studied under a certified rabbi of any kind. The Jewish religious leaders did not acknowledge Jesus as a rabbi and certainly not as the Messiah.

Jesus experienced rejection from many sources. Jesus didn’t view Himself or define Himself by what others said or thought about Him. He defined Himself by what the Father said to Him.

Matthew 3:17

And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.”

Matthew 17: 5

While he was speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”

The Father says:

Jesus is His Son

Jesus is loved by the Father

Jesus is pleasing to the Father

Jesus is to be listened to

Jesus knew all this and was reminded by the Father at a very critical times in His life.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is letting God define you, not the world.

When most people give their qualifications for ministry, they mention education, training, and experience.

In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul lists the things that don’t qualify him and those that do qualify him to be a minister of Jesus.

In verse 22 Paul says that he is a Hebrew, an Israelite, and a descendant of Abraham. These are not what Paul see as qualifying him to serve Jesus.

In verses 23 through 27 Paul list his qualifications:

Prison Time

Floggings

Exposed to Death Many Times

Five Times Receiving 39 Lashes

Three Times Beaten with Rods

Stoned (with stones)

Three Shipwrecks

A Time in the Open Sea

Constantly Moving from Place to Place

In Danger from Rivers

In Danger from Bandits

In Danger from His Own Countrymen

In Danger from Gentiles

In Danger in the City

In Danger in the Country

In Danger at Sea

In Danger from False Brothers

Labors and Toils

Without Sleep

Hungry and Thirsty

Cold and Naked

Paul list his scars as his qualifications.

We, as a rule, try to avoid danger and punishment and discomfort. Paul saw them as a part of what it meant to follow Jesus.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is letting our difficult times equip us to minister the Gospel.

Paul does not allow all these difficult times to lead him to see himself as a victim.

In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 Paul says, “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Paul saw his difficulties as something to boast in.

Paul saw his difficulties as something that made him stronger.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing God to turn your difficulties into strengths.

I experienced some of those difficulties this past week. I found myself in the local ER Thursday night with chest pains and high blood pressure. It turned out that is was not my heart, but it did involve stress. The stress was not put on me from others, but stress I put on myself.

God had been speaking to me about my worry and stress for some time. It took me laying in an ER hooked up to machines to hear God to tell me that ministry is not dependent on me and that I am not invincible. These last three days have felt more peaceful and joyful.

It has also shown me that I was being too critical of others. God’s grace is real for me and is to be dispensed to others.

It is truly amazing what God reveals when you slow down and listen to Him. It is also amazing how God uses difficult times to grow and strengthens us when we slow down and listen.

In God’s Power and God’s Perspective,

Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                           Joe

Really Hear What God is Saying

I have been studying and teaching God’s Word for over four decades. There are many passages that I have read, studied, and taught many times. The fact is, there are times when I know the passage so well that I don’t think about what God is saying that might be a new understanding. I just study and teach it without really hearing what God is saying.

One of those passages is 1 John 1:9.

1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

I focused for a long time on the first part of that verse. The part that says “forgive us of our sins”, and ignored the second part that says “and cleanses us of all unrighteousness”.

Forgiveness of our sins is important. It is hugely important that, when we confess sins, God forgives. The truth that God forgives us of every sin when we confess it is comforting and gives me assurance of God’s love.

But the reality is I have been told by people that I was forgiven for something that I had done to someone only to have it brought up the next time I offended that person.

Jesus is telling us that He forgives us and releases us from the penalty of our sins. He is also assuring us that those sins are cleansed. Those sins are no longer true of us. Those sins have been removed from our lives: past, present, and future.

I no loner bear the penalty of those sins I have confessed.

I no longer bear the guilt of those sins I have confessed.

I no longer bear the shame of those sins I have confessed.

I did things when I was in high school that I look back on now and regret that I did them. But those are sins that I have confessed, and God has forgiven me and cleansed me of those.

God not only releases the penalty of my sin, He also takes away the shame of my sin.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing God’s forgiveness and God’s cleansing.

Then in Romans 8:1 it says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

God will never condemn me or reject me.

I have been condemn by other humans.

I have been rejected by other humans.

I have never been and I will never be condemned or rejected by God.

That truth frees me in two areas.

It frees me never to fear that God will not want a relationship with me.

It frees me not to overreact when I am condemned or rejected by other humans.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing that God wants a relationship with me and that will never change.

A third familiar passage is Romans 8:37-39 were we are told that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Then is goes on to tell us that all the things that we think will separate us from God’s love will actually never separate us from His love.

Things like:

Death nor Life

Angels nor Rulers

Things Present nor Things to Come

Nor Powers

Nor Height nor Depth

Nor Anything Else in All Creation

The truth that nothing in the physical or nothing in the spiritual can cause God not to love me is the most assuring truth that I could possibly have.

Almost everything in this world is based on how we perform.

I have to do certain things or have to measure up to a standard for others to like me. The truth that I don’t have to do anything to get God to love me and that His love will not ever be kept from me is awesome.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing God loves me and that He will always love me, no matter what.

God forgives my sins.

God cleanses me from my sins.

God will never condemn me.

God will always love me.

God will never allow His love to be taken from me.

This is a God that, if I didn’t know, I would want to know.

This is a God that I want a relationship with.

Knowing Who God Really Is, and

Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                         Joe