RECONCILIATION

blessed be the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.

Romans 4:8

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Romans 5:9-10

Concerning reconciliation, John Stott writes:

“Justification is our legal standing before our judge in the court, reconciliation is our personal relationship with our Father.”

To me, reconciliation is one of the most beautiful themes, if not the most, in the entire Bible. You see, for us to be reconciled it must have once been that we were already in relationship and things were good. However, we must also recognize that for reconciliation to take place that our relationship with God was fractured, and we see this as we read Genesis 3 and from then on watch the disobedience of man against God.

The beauty of it is that “while we were enemies (Rom. 5:9),” God came and rescued us. Once again, like in propitiation and justification, we have no part in reconciliation. The Father is loving enough to not just restore us into right relationship through the death and resurrection of the Son, but we now are adopted sons and daughters with all the love possible from the Father (Rom. 8:12-17).

So what are the effects of reconciliation, other than being adopted by the Father?

The first result of reconciliation is simple, complete humility! When we rightly deserved eternal punishment (Rom. 3:23), God the Father initiated reconciliation, God the Son made it possible, and God the Holy Spirit made us new.

The second result is seen in 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 and Ephesians 4:17-24. We are to put off the old self (our sinful wicked ways) and live in obedience to God and be ambassadors of Christ. To hear more on the 2 Corinthians passage you can hear a sermon I just preached on it at www.sevensdchurch.com or go on iTunes and type in Seven San Diego Church.

So, as we ask ourselves the question I asked you two days ago to keep at the forefront of your minds, did Christ have to die for us, the answer so far is a definite yes. The Father needed a perfect sacrifice to satisfy His wrath, the Father needed a perfect man to take our punishment if we were to be seen innocent, and the Father needed Christ’s death and resurrection to restore us into right relationship with Him.

Of all these, reconciliation is by far the most personal, for we have now been restored to a VERY personal relationship with God.

THE CROSS

Over the next week to two weeks I will be studying and writing on the atonement. My main focus and purpose in this is to grow closer to Jesus and look a bit deeper into the cross. There is a secondary purpose to this study, which will be shown through the writing. I want my study to be a tool for the church, specifically Seven San Diego Church. A lot of times we throw around words like justification, propitiation, and reconciliation and some Christians might not understand these. However, they are highly important concepts and help make clear why Christ died on the cross, for who Christ died for on the cross, etc.

My friends, there is nothing more important than studying what Christ did on the cross. Please feel free to ask questions, write comments, or call me so we can discuss anything I do not write clearly enough for you to understand. My heart loves studying this stuff and I will do my best to make it simple and understandable. One thing I ask is that you pass on what I write to non-Christian friends and please be purposeful and missional and discuss these things with them. I hope this will bring you as much joy as it will for me.