"The Ministry of The New Creation"( 2 Corinthians 5:17-21)

 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

 

In 2 Corinthians chapter 5, Paul reminds us that we are saved in verse 14 through the death of Christ.

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;

2 Corinthians 5:14 ESV

However, it is not enough just to receive a new life. Paul also emphasizes that we must not be content with our salvation, but we also need to reconcile. This brings up the question, "How do we reconcile and with whom?" For us to be ministers of reconciliation, we should reconcile three broken relationships.

1. We need to reconcile with this world.

 

And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

Genesis 3:17 ESV

God created the world, and it was good, but through our sins it has become broken and twisted. All the good, marvels and wonders of this world can be twisted by our rapacious appetites and turned into vices and sorrow because sin has entered this world through us. We can reconcile with the world by doing our best in our work. Although we might not succeed in worldly measures, so long as we do our best we reconcile.

2. We need to reconcile with other people.

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.

2 Corinthians 5:19 ESV

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Matthew 22:37-39 ESV

The second broken relationship involves our neighbors. Jesus explained that our neighbors were anyone whom we have met in our lives. This kind of reconciliation requires us to forgive others no matter how they have offended us. In addition, we need to help those who are in need and to love to all those in our lives. We need to be like Jesus in this respect.

so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Romans 12:5 ESV

We are all different, and, as Christians, we must be cognizant of this. The Gospels were written by four different people and all had their different perspectives, but they still gave the same message. The Church is a congregation of people from all over the world with Christ as the head, and without constant forgiveness, the Church will suffer.

3. Reconcile with God.

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Genesis 3:8 ESV

After Adam and Eve sinned, they hid from God. This is normally what we do also. We hide from God when we have sinned because of shame and fear. Yet God wants us to remember him and love God. To return to God and be loved by God.

Let us be Ministers of Reconciliation by loving our God as a new creation and loving our neighbors as ourselves.