Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at The Finality of The Cross P9 (08-25-21)
God Reconciled the World unto Himself so as an Ambassador for Christ, I Implore you to be Reconciled – (BELIEVE HE DID IT!)
In this chaotic world we live in, and we really do not need to say much about that, riots in various cities, floods and earthquakes in various places, lockdowns, and critical race theory being pushed in the schools, and a push for unproven experimental injections, with various rewards for doing so and punishments for not doing so. The world has gone crazy and seems to be heading to the new world order, with infrastructure being developed and conditioning of the masses for supporting it, as to what the bible prophesies concerning a coming one world government headed by the antichrist, as you can read about in the book of Revelation.
With that being said, it is easy to lose focus of what our job is as a believer and as an ambassador of Christ. Jesus warned us ahead of time these things would happen so it should not catch us by surprise for He clearly tells us about these last days in the word of God. But fear not. For as believers we are to guard our hearts and minds, to be prepared, to live not in fear but in faith from first to last, to not let our love grow cold and to not be deceived. How much more so do we need to keep our focus on Jesus Christ and be in His word for truth to be revealed to us and to fulfill the purpose for which He called us to as an ambassador for Christ as we draw closer to the end of the age. So let us keep the right perspective and focus.
Christ came to this world to save sinners and reconcile the world unto Himself. How did He go about doing that? He Himself live by faith in what his Father told him to do, in what to say and how to say it. He did not come to defeat the Roman government that was in control at that time and hated by the people of Israel and of Judea. Why? That is not what God sent Him to do. He did not come to set up an earthly kingdom at that time but to die on a cross in order to rise again.
His kingdom was not of this world but was of heaven and our citizenship is also of heaven. So what did He call us to do, to save America? What if America is part of the Mystery Babylon as prophesied? Are we trying to save a sinking ship? Certainly, the restrainer is here to restrain, but that is not our job, but God’s, to do with the world in accordance to His knowledge and His plan. We cannot change the world and we cannot even change ourselves. Yes, we are instructed to keep what we have until He comes, but we need to keep that in proper perspective as an ambassador for Christ, and in accordance with what God personally calls you to do or say. Christ is our life and the righteous shall live by faith.
What we certainly know is that God desires for us to experience His love and forgiveness, and to be reconciled to God. The bible says we can boldly come to Him and experience His reconciliation by no other way than faith. Does that mean everyone will be saved? No, because people have a choice, and sadly many people will reject the message, after having heard it. But have all heard this message of reconciliation, that God has made His appeal through us to proclaim? Are we so focused on saving America that we have forgotten our primary purpose as ministers of reconciliation, ministers of a New Covenant, and ambassadors for Christ?
So let us go back and review the foundation Christ has laid in our hearts. When we were lost, what was the pattern of our life, the thinking in our mind? Did we not long for forgiveness of sins? We may have been in a religious system trying to get ourselves forgiven. And, obviously there is an awareness of sin, and that forgiveness of sins is needed in the heart of man, but we incorrectly think we have to do something to get forgiveness from God. You may get burdened down by the fact you have to keep coming back to a God you do not know, and think He is angry at you all the time based on what you do or don’t do. Maybe you just rebel against religion altogether because you know you cannot do it and don’t want to be a hypocrite. Or you may be just indifferent and none of this is really a big deal to you, and so you just do the best you can and care less about religion, for that is for the weak and stupid people, is what you think. But you hurt or wrong someone and that caused a problem in a relationship you want to be corrected, to have your former friend forgive you and get reconciled back to him. So we are familiar with broken relationships caused by what we have done or others have done to us. You have to conclude that we are beings that do not function properly when we do not experience forgiveness, both from God and from one another.
At some point, we come to know more about God, and we sense His drawing of Himself to us. This love of God is different than that of the world we live in. He loved me and you while we were still sinners. You hear a message of the cross, that when Jesus died He died for me, to forgive me of all my sins, not only mine but the sins of the whole world. But what does that really mean? When we come to understand I was a wretched man, not just someone who sins, for we all do, but sin caused my death, my separation from God. I was under the control of Satan, the god of this world by default since birth, the nature I inherited from Adam. I am not born basically good, but born dead spiritually. I was not just a sinner but dead spiritually, and I needed not only forgiveness from God, but new life.
Sin is the cause of broken relationships, whether mine or someone else’s, and the pain and sorrow we experience in this world. I needed new life, a new way to think and live. When a person recognizes that God met that need in my heart through God initiating His love to me, it becomes amazing Grace. God reconciled the world unto Himself through His death on a cross, so that the world will feel free to come to Him, since there is no longer any barrier of sin to not approach Him. He forgave all our sins on the cross. God in Christ reconciled the world unto Himself, is not counting our sins against Him. Now, He has risen from the dead and says, “Come unto me for life”. He is calling out to each of us to accept His reconciliation, for He has already done everything we need, made every provision for reconciliation. We are proclaiming His reconciliation.
I responded to His love by faith in His reconciliation and became a new creation, the very love of God was poured into my heart. He placed His Spirit in me and I become a child of God, with God as my Father. I receive from Him what I never had and could never produce in the energy of my own flesh. I became a new living being, with Christ alive living in me. So now I come to understand this motivation of God, it was not spikes that held Christ on the cross, but His love for me that held Him there. What love is this? Not only that, His death was just a preparation for what He wanted to give me, His very life, His nature to be lived in me. He died a death like mine so that in His resurrection I can be raised and experience a life like His.
This new life we have is to express itself in love. As we realize the love God has for us, and is now living in me, He tells us to love one another as I have loved you and to forgive one another as I have forgiven you. To the degree we comprehend God’s love for us is the degree it will be expressed through us to others. That new life is lived by faith, in communication with the God alive living in you. So when someone sins against you, the desire is for their reconciliation. As far as it depends on you, you make peace with everyone. It is not that everyone will make peace with you, but you make every effort to make peace with them.
This desire to be reconciled is directly related to this restored relationship with God. That in turn shows up in the same desire that God reconciled you to express itself through love. Faith expressing itself through love is what counts. One heart changed at a time is how a person’s life is changed, by this message of reconciliation from God we preach, the message of the totality of the cross and being made complete in Christ. As this message is received and believed, and is walked out by faith, that is how a community is changed, a world is changed and a society is changed, not by activism and protests in the way of the world, not by stomping out poverty campaigns and getting the right man in office to save our country, but by allowing your body to be available as a living vessel, as an ambassador for Christ, to be used as God intends you to be used.
As you think about an ambassador for the United States, living in France to represent the United States, would he go into France and tell France what leader they should put in place, and to talk about all the evils of drinking wine, and to talk about the evils of immorality over there? What is an ambassador supposed to do? He represents the United States. He should be modeling the attitudes and character of what a citizen of the United States should be. Sadly, the United States is a far cry from what it should be and has become a mockery and disrespected by the nations of the world. It would be hard to be an ambassador of the United States today, especially as a dual citizen of heaven. But if you are an ambassador, your job is to represent your country in a foreign alien land. You are to be a representative of another nation in a foreign land. You look out for the interests of the United States.
Our citizenship is in heaven and we represent the interests of God in heaven. What manner of life do we live as a representative of heaven? We are a child of God so we should be living like one. What message does God want us to convey to the world as an ambassador of heaven? Is it not the ministry of reconciliation, that God has reconciled the world unto Himself, not counting men’s sins against Him? We can tell any person in any country, that their sins are forgiven, whoever they are, lost or saved, and whatever religion they are involved in. Why? God has taken away the sins of the world forever, back to Adam and for all eternity, for the person yet to be born. There is no punishment for sins left for you, for Jesus took it all. That is the message God has told us to proclaim, and we represent His interests, for the world to be reconciled to Him because God already done the work for our reconciliation. So God’s appeal through us is to implore men to be reconciled to God because He has done everything necessary for your reconciliation, and He wants to give you new life, a new way of thinking and living.
