People Pursue Reconciliation - Week 1 - Study Notes

English

People pursue reconciliation

James 5:17-21; James 5:19-20

We're beginning a new series here at LAC. I'm calling it, "When Jesus Is in Charge." The reason is that the hallmark of Jesus' teaching was that, when he began his ministry, the "kingdom of God was at hand" (Mk 1:14-15). By this, Jesus meant that beginning with sin entering the world in Genesis 3, other kingdoms have been at work in this world destroying what God had created. Their destructive work is especially focused on the apex of God's creation, i.e., human beings who are made in God's image. The kingdoms that compete with God's kingdom are sometimes summarized as being the world, the flesh and the devil (cf, Eph 2:2-3; 1 Jn 2:16). When those competing kingdoms rule our world and our lives, the result is brokenness. Because of them, people are broken from God, broken inside personally, broken from one another relationally, and broken from the rest of creation.
So, Jesus came to change things. Jesus came to bring God's rule, i.e., God's kingdom, back to creation. He came to end the reign of the kingdoms of this world and to bring God back into the center of our lives. The heart of the Christian message is about the sacrifice Jesus made to accomplish this.
A church is a community of people who are all professing to follow King Jesus. We say we have surrendered to his rule in our lives. When Jesus is lord, when he is in charge, things will be different. But what must change when Jesus is in charge? Many things. Today, we begin with what I consider to be the most basic change, i.e., reconciliation. Reconciliation is restoring things to their intended and proper relationship to one another. If the competing kingdoms of the world result in brokenness, then we should anticipate that the rule of God in our lives and communities will bring broken things together.
I declare to you today that God loves to bring broken things in his creation back together! Jesus came to engage in a ministry of reconciling what has been broken in his Father's world. Therefore, when Jesus is in charge of our lives, our families, our friendships and our church, we can be assured that people will be pursuing reconciliation. Roger, my charge to you tonight is to be a minister of reconciliation – and lead us as a pastor in such a way that we will be a church in which the reconciling power of God is at work.

The Starting Point: Reconciliation to God (2 Corinthians 5:9-6:2)
2 Cor 5:9-6:2 is great text, one of the clearest in the Bible about the reconciling heart of God. Notice what the Apostle Paul said: God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them... God made him (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (5:19,21).
If you are new to church and don't understand all this beautiful language, then please let me know that you want to understand this better and I'll find a way to get you connected to one of our pastors or spiritual leaders. I'll simply tell you that life really begins when God comes into the center of your life. You were made to know God and he has found a way to make himself known.
The Apostle Paul is one of millions who experienced being reconciled to God. Before meeting Jesus, he tried to act like he was fine just as he was. But he wasn't. The Book of Acts describes the pre-Christian Paul as one who gave approval to the stoning of the young Christian leader Stephen. Graphically in Acts 9, we are told that Paul was a man who breathed out murderous threats against people like these Jesus-followers.
But then he met Jesus. As we know, it was an eye-opening experience -- in more than one way. Paul was forced to see himself in a new way: not just fine as he was but a sinner needing mercy. In fact, for the rest of his life, he would say he was the chief of sinners. No longer proud. No longer better than others. But ... this realization of his own sin didn't leave him feeling his life no longer had any purpose. Why? Because, he knew he was loved by Jesus Christ. Paul discovered that God knew him, valued him, was ready to forgive him – and God was even ready to use his life for good. And that changed Paul's whole life. Paul no longer lived for Paul. As he put it in v.15, "I no longer live for myself but for him to died."
He never forgot that he was a product of God's love and grace. Paul was "compelled by the love of Christ" (5:14). And that's what you and I need to remember every time we gather here. We must know as Paul knew, "If there is hope for me to be reconciled then there is hope for anyone!"
So, when Jesus is in charge, even murderous people like the Apostle Paul will find that God is ready to welcome him into relationship. And, in this same great text, Paul marveled that Jesus died not just for him "but for all." Three times in vv.14-15, Paul says that Jesus' mercy and reconciling work is "for all". Who is in that "all". Are you? Your spouse? Your neighbor?
So, here we see it? When we place our faith in Jesus and God comes into our lives, everything changes. And one of the first things to change is our eyes. We begin to see people – all people differently. Paul says in v. 16: "From now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. This is a wonderful thought. Paul is saying that he no longer saw people around him from the negative, pessimistic view of this sinful world. He began to see all people as people for whom Jesus died – "one died for all." How do we see people when we come to know Jesus? 2 Cor 5:17: If anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation: The old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ...
Paul no longer had to look at people just as they are – with all their flaws. No, he would look at people and see them as the transformed personalities that they could become if only they would recognize who Jesus was and receive Christ into their lives. "If anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation." A new creation, it's a wonderful phrase. When Jesus is in charge of your heart, you will know it because you, like Paul, will begin to see people in a whole new way. You will see people as people for whom Christ died. People in whom the Holy Spirit can dwell. And that is true of every human being. Do you see people that way?
So, what is a church? A church is a community of people who have been brought back into relationship with God – by God's grace, received through faith in Jesus, and accomplished by an incredibly costly act of sacrifice. This is where the King of the kingdom of God begins his transforming work: He brings flawed people like you and me us into relationship with himself and then sends us to be his agents of reconciliation.
When a local church like ours has surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus, when he is in charge, then we will be a place calling everyone to begin a beautiful journey with God through faith in Jesus. We will know that there is hope for all people – all people – because what Jesus did on the cross is sufficient for all people. As Paul put it so clearly in 5:18-21: All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
This is our calling as individuals and as a church – to be agents of God's reconciliation. In vv.18-21, we read that God gives us both a message (v.19) and ministry (v.18). Message is important because it tells us that to fulfill our calling, we have to be involved in more than silent testimony. We need to tell people about Jesus. We need to have the courage to use the name of Jesus.
But it is also ministry, which means service. When we see people hurting and damaged, we need to show them practically the love of Christ. Mission requires words and action. This message about what God has done in Christ has to be passed on with words. And the message must be "love-driven" by ministries of compassion or the message will have no authenticity. When the kingdom of God is at work among us, we will begin to see people broken from God coming from all walks of life – ALL walks of life – being welcomed to our church family, loved in the midst of their need, called to trust Jesus, and being reconciled to God.
Is there anyone you know now who needs to be made right with God? Write his or her name down right now. Then begin to pray for them. And ask God to give you a chance to engage specifically with that person in the message and ministry of reconciliation. Some will come to Jesus. That's what happens – when Jesus is in charge.

The Inevitable Result of Reconciliation to God: A Reconciling Church Family (James 5:19-20)
This brings us back to the last two verses of James' pastoral letter to his people. Many scholars have been baffled by these verses being the close of a letter. James included no final greetings or promises of prayer. Instead, he gave a challenge to his people and, I think, to us as well.
Pastor Carol Kenyon told me that when she has left her boys at college, her last words are not unimportant words. And, the final words are usually not new thoughts either. She wants to drive home the most important things, the things that she has talked with her boys about often. With that in mind, look at what James said as his last words to his people:
My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins (James 5:19-20).
Do you feel the passion of these verses? It's clear that there were much-loved people who once were in the church and apparently walking with the Lord and who were there no longer. They had wandered "from the truth" – which, as you now know from James, meant not only that they were no longer believing the truth of Scripture. Probably, much more, they were no longer living for God. And, James suggests what most of us know: When people leave the local church, they are almost always drifting away from God. The early church had no concept of a true Jesus-follower not being a part of a local church.
Many, many of us here at LAC feel with James when he writes this. We have family members and friends we love deeply who are not walking with the Lord. If you can do so right now, will you write down the names of people like this who come to your mind?
What does James call us to do? We should all be people who watch out for others in our church. Notice that James says, "If anyone should bring that person back..." Anyone. So, how will a person who is wandering come back to the Lord? Is God supposed to zap him by a lightening bolt? Will an angel appear to her? These things could happen. However, they usually don't. The normal means that God uses is "someone". Someone who has the heart of Jesus, lovingly and courageously engages the wanderer and gets him/her off the path of death and back onto the path of life.
It's not just the pastor who does this. It's not just the spouse of a wandering spouse who brings the spouse back. It's not just the parent of the wandering child bringing the child back. "Anyone". It's our ministry together. Once again, Pastor Carol helped me grasp the beauty of being in a church like James envisions. She asked, "Do you know how we feel when someone else goes and shows love to our child and then he comes back to the Lord?" Well – I do know. I've experienced other people in the church working hard to bring back to the Lord people I love – but, for whatever reason, I was unable to reach. I love those people who cared enough to reach people I love.
This is what is to happen in a church when Jesus is in charge. We make sacrifices to get to know one another – by serving together and being in small groups together. I urge you to find a smaller group to be a part of and a place to serve. I promise you, once you get rolling with this, you will love it. When you are involved in these ways, you'll begin to know when people are wandering from the truth. And, with much prayer and some sacrifice, God will use you to bring people back.
Why am I so sure of that? I'm so sure because God loves to bring broken things in his creation back together! He especially loves to see human beings, broken human beings, being brought back together. A church in which Jesus is in charge pursues reconciliation. We should love to show mercy and welcome people to God's family because God loves to show mercy and welcome people to his family.
When you step into a broken world and seek to be ambassadors of God's reconciliation, you can be assured that the Wind of God's Spirit will be blowing in your direction. Those who have been incarcerated will find freedom and a place of belonging. Those who have been proud of their own success (like Paul was) will find the joy of humility as they experience the love of God. Those who have gone astray will be welcomed home. That's what will happen when Jesus is in charge.

Ordination is the formal acknowledgement and affirmation that God has
called a pastor to "vocational ministry". At LAC, we believe all followers of Jesus are
called and sent as "ministers", that means, as people sent to serve others utilizing the gifts God gives to us. The one who is ordained has been specially called to serve the church as his or her profession by equipping each one in a local congregation for works of service to the glory of God (Eph. 4:11-16; Col. 1:28-29). Roger has completed the ordination requirements and we gathered last night as a church family to celebrate the ministry call God has already placed upon Roger Bosch.

To His glory,

Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor