‘The Word of Reconciliation’

‘The Word of Reconciliation’

…that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

II Corinthians 5:19

The Apostle Paul was very clear about his mission. His parting words to the Ephesians were, ‘For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.’ He, like the rest of the Apostles, ‘ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.’ As he completes our text for today, he declares that God had, ‘committed to us the word of reconciliation.’ Paul could be very clear and concise in delivering this ‘word of reconciliation.’ He summarizes it with simple elegance, ‘For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures….’ We are the spiritual inheritors of this mission and message. In our day and generation, God has ‘committed unto us the word of reconciliation.’ This is why we preach Christ. It is neither by religion, nor theological disputing, nor organizational structure, nor elaborate attempts at cultural relevancy, nor entertainment that God reconciles the world unto Himself. It is by Christ, and it is ‘by the foolishness of preaching’ that God saves ‘those who believe.’ All those other things are, at best, irrelevancies, and at worst obstructions to the declaration of ‘the word of reconciliation.’  For the desperate, destitute, sighing, dying world to have peace with God, it must have Christ, and Christ Alone. Here is our to message you. ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.’ ’Be reconciled to God.’

Our Gracious, Holy and Wise God,
we praise You, that You have bestowed upon us,
the High privilege of declaring Christ.
We rejoice that we have this privilege daily,
of making Christ known to those who are as yet,
not reconciled to Him.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning