“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” 2Corinthians 5:18-19
LIGHT FOR NOW: The gospel is the message of reconciliation.
The preaching of the gospel of Christ is an on-going work; this is carried out by the believer (the one who has believed the gospel of Christ). Hence, preaching the gospel of Christ is the responsibility of the believers in Christ. Now, it is one thing to be on the go, and another thing to know the content of the message you are on the go for. We are not on the go to condemn sinners; we are on the go to preach redemption to them; to be on the go and preach what is not the content of the message is an abuse to the message in itself. Many people are out there condemning sinners when they are supposed to be reconciling them to God. Condemnation is not what will save the sinner, it is God’s love communicated to the sinner that has the capacity to save the sinner. Good news cannot be that your sins will take you to hell; good news is that Jesus went to hell because of your sins. We are not sent to preach hell to the unsaved; we are sent to preach the love of God (that is, the gospel of Christ) to the unsaved. Meaning that hell is not the message the unsaved will hear and be saved, Jesus is the message the unsaved will hear and be saved. When the gospel is well-presented, the sinner man does not see his sinful act, the sinner man sees God’s disposition towards his sins (that is, Jesus bore his sins). The emphasis of the gospel is not the conduct of the unsaved; the emphasis of the gospel is God’s disposition to the unsaved. It is the love of God and nothing more. Paul in Romans 5 elucidates this further: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Moreover, in verse 10, Paul makes this clearer, “For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (Romans 5:10).
So, how did God reconcile us? Through the death of the son; meaning we were reconciled to God in Christ. What message has been committed to us according to 2Corinthians 5:18-19? The word of reconciliation; this is the good news that God reconciled man in Christ. Now, note that reconciliation goes far deeper than the English dictionary. In normal parlance, reconciliation has to do with two people coming together to make peace or restore a broken relationship. There exist two words in Greek that explains the word reconciliation. It is the word “dillasso” which implies that the two parties come together for reconciliation. The second word is the word “katalasso” which implies one person taking it upon himself to reconcile the other without sitting with the other or having a dialogue with the other. Now, what God did for us in Christ was not “dillasso” but “katallasso”. That is, God reconciled us, he did it without seeking permission from us or having a dialogue with us so as to agree whether to reconcile us or not. This is the love of God (him reconciling us). The good news is that the reconciliation God did in Christ for us is eternal; that is, eternal reconciliation. That is why another word was used in Greek; it is the word “apokatallasso” and that word was used because God solely did this reconciliation and it is forever. Thus, God did not have a dialogue with us in order to reconcile us; he took it upon himself to reconcile us forever. This is the love of God; this is the gospel committed to us. And by that reconciliation, the problem of separation of man was solved. Hallelujah!!!
INSTRUCTION: Preach the message of reconciliation.
PRAYER: Father, I thank you for reconciling me to yourself; I am committed to the message of reconciliation, in Jesus name, Amen.
FOR MORE LIGHT, get the message ‘The Love of God’.
QUOTE: You have been reconciled to God to reconcile men unto God.
DAILY BIBLE READING: MORNING: ROMANS CHAPTER 5; EVENING: 2CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 5
LIGHT FROM THE WORD 