Topic: Ministry of reconciliation
Bible Reading: Haggai 1-2; Revelation 16.
Memory Verse: “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;” 2 Corinthians 5:18 (KJV).
The Lord Jesus was born to reconcile men to God. The reconciliation process entailed taking on all the sins of the world and paying ultimate price for those sins so that we may become righteous. Since God is holy and cannot be joined with any form of unholiness, the reconciliation process entails cleaning us from all form of unrighteousness so that we can be holy to qualify us for reconciliation with the Holy God. So, our redemption and subsequent reconciliation was through Christ Jesus “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;” Romans 3:25 (KJV)
And God has given us the example of our Lord Jesus who reconciled us to God and committed the ministry to our hands as his disciple. 2 Corinthians 5:18 (KJV) asserts, “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;” This behoves on us to reconcile everyone to Christ. We saw that the Lord Jesus Christ never forsook anyone, instead, He found ways of bringing them back to God. Thus, the woman caught in adultery in John 8:1-11; the Scribes and Pharisees wanted to stone her to death, but Jesus saved her and asked her to go and sin no more! She was reconciled to God! But these days, you find believers abandoning brethren that have fallen into sins as if they are lepers when in fact efforts should be made to reconcile them to Christ in love.
It is pertinent that when a child of God sins and falls short as a disciple, we should correct him and where necessary sanction him to serve as deterrence to others but more importantly, the correction should be to reconcile him back to Christ. Thus, when people are sanctioned for sins or errors committed, they should be treated with love with a primary purpose of reconciling them back to God rather than giving Satan opportunity to draw them back to himself.
Similarly, when we come in contact with any unbeliever, out first assignment is to find ways of reconciling such a person with Christ Jesus. And when we do this we would be a full partaker of the Ministry of reconciliation which has been committed to all disciples of Christ. That is why your focus at every time should be what the Lord Jesus said of His purpose for coming to the world in Luke 19:10 (KJV) where he asserts, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Merry Christmas.
Action point: Look out for those that appear to have been abandoned instead of being reconciled to God and reconcile them to Christ Jesus.
Bro. Biodun Oyapero