2 Corinthians 5:14-21 Reconciled

2 Corinthians 5:14-21 (Evangelical Heritage Version)

14For the love of Christ compels us, because we came to this conclusion: One died for all; therefore, all died. 15And he died for all, so that those who live would no longer live for themselves but for him, who died in their place and was raised again.

16As a result, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we knew Christ according to the flesh, we no longer know him that way. 17So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. The new has come! 18And all these things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 19That is, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them. And he has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation. 20Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, inasmuch as God is making an appeal through us. We urge you, on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

Reconciled

I.

The year was somewhere around 1983. As a US soldier I found myself on border duty for the East/West German border. There was a giant fence nearby. The fence wasn’t to keep westerners out, it was designed and built to keep the eastern bloc people from escaping to western Europe.

It was drilled into the head of every soldier that the fence was not the border. The real border was marked out with white posts with a four inch band of red at the top. It was drilled into our heads because any soldier standing on the east side of those posts could be apprehended by eastern European military and there would be nothing the US Army could do about it.

The job on the border was to watch the Russians and East Germans watching us. US soldiers tend to have a heavy dose of smart aleck. They would often sidle right up to one of those posts, take a good long look at the guard towers on the eastern side 300 meters or more away to make sure the soldier in the tower was watching, then step deliberately across the line, stand there for a few moments, and step back. They would cross the line, otherwise known as trespassing.

II.

Paul mentions trespasses in today’s Second Reading. You know he’s not talking about taunting a foreign government, or stepping into someone else’s property. He is using the word “trespasses” for sins. It’s an alternate form of the word “transgress.” For my catechism classes I use this slide: transgress—to cross the line or to rebel.

When you’re talking about violating God’s will, transgressions, or trespasses, are much more serious offenses than stepping past a red and white border post. Trespasses cause what is known as irreconcilable differences.

That term is often used in divorce proceedings, especially, it seems, when it comes to celebrities. To “reconcile” means “to restore to friendship or harmony.” If things have become irreconcilable, it means that it has become impossible to restore any sense of harmony.

What makes such differences irreconcilable? It would seem that in almost every case one or both spouses are not willing to do the work to restore harmony. Harmony doesn’t just happen, it takes work. Any married couple can attest to that. But if neither, or even only one, is willing to do the work, the efforts at harmony will collapse.

How about the relationship of human beings to God? God wants a relationship that is reconciled—in perfect harmony. God told his Old Testament people that maintaining such harmony required: “You shall be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Leviticus 19:2, EHV). Jesus reiterated the premise in the New Testament: “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48, EHV). Perfect and holy mean the same thing.

So...are you willing to do the work? Are you willing to be reconciled to God by working at your relationship?

If you are sitting in a church pew, that’s probably one of the reasons. You desperately want to be reconciled to God. You want a good relationship with him. You might try, really hard to make that happen.

But there’s that red and white border post. There’s the boundary line of God’s law. Just like the US soldiers you just can’t resist sidling right up to the edge of what God says is appropriate. And then...you cross over the line. It’s in your nature. You just can’t resist.

Just because you were born a sinner, or that you have an old sinful nature, doesn’t change the fact that your trespasses cause irreconcilable differences with God. How could harmony be restored if both parties don’t accomplish the work?

III.

Sin is serious. Sin demands a life as payment. That’s what God taught his people all through the Old Testament with all the sacrifices he required so that his people could be reconciled to him. But it was never enough. People kept trespassing; they kept crossing the line. Sacrifices had to be repeated so the people could be reconciled—at least, for a time.

Paul says: “God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21, EHV). Jesus did not know sin. Since Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, he was born differently than any other human being in that he was not born with a sinful nature. From his conception by the Holy Spirit onward, there was never a moment in his life that Jesus had a sin of thought, or of word—let alone a sin of action. Jesus not only carried our sins to the cross to pay for them, Paul says he became sin personified. God treated Jesus as if he were every single instance of crossing the line in trespass that has ever been committed.

“All these things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ... 19That is, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19, EHV). There was a reason that God treated Jesus as sin personified. He wanted to reconcile the world to himself. Remember that reconcile is: “To restore to friendship or harmony.” God knew it was impossible for any person to be perfect and holy as he demanded. He knew that the work of one side—human beings—would be fatally flawed in the efforts to restore friendship or harmony. Because human beings couldn’t keep any part of the bargain, God sent Jesus to be the Savior who would carry it all out.

“We came to this conclusion: One died for all; therefore, all died” (2 Corinthians 5:14, EHV). Sin requires a life as payment. That’s what God instructed his people in the Old Testament. Nothing changed about the requirements. The ultimate life was actually required to make good on God’s perfect and holy demands. So One died for all.

But who is this all? All believers? All whom God foreknew would come to faith in Jesus as their Savior? “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19, EHV). “The world.” That’s who God was reconciling in the death of Jesus. Not just some, all. The whole world. All those trespasses of stepping up to the red and white post of the law and then crossing the line have been paid for by Jesus. He did it all.

IV.

Soldiers stepping past the red and white pole were putting themselves in danger of being imprisoned on the Soviet side of the border. I don’t remember that ever happening, but that was the potential penalty.

The potential penalty—the certain penalty—for sin is much more severe: eternity in the prison of hell. But the trespasses of stepping over the line have been paid for in full by Jesus.

“So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. The new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, EHV). Someone who is “in Christ” is a person who recognizes the work of Jesus to reconcile the world to God by his death and resurrection. These people are called “Christians.” They recognize that the old sinful self has been put to death on the cross with Jesus. Now they are reconciled with God. Believing in Jesus makes you a new creation.

“The love of Christ compels us, because we came to this conclusion: One died for all; therefore, all died. 15And he died for all, so that those who live would no longer live for themselves but for him, who died in their place and was raised again” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15, EHV). No longer is the believer working to resolve irreconcilable differences, because they have already been resolved by Jesus. Now believers work to live in love for the One who restored their harmony with the Heavenly Father.

“And he has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19, EHV). Those who have been reconciled and know it are to share the message of reconciliation. Since Jesus died for all, it is important that all know it. While you can’t reach every single person in the world yourself, you certainly can reach some.

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, inasmuch as God is making an appeal through us. We urge you, on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20, EHV). Christianity is not a passive exercise. Sitting in a pew and hearing the Word of God, being reminded of what God has done for you, is not all that being a believer is about. You are also included with Paul and with pastors and teachers to be ambassadors for Christ.

God grant that you are so filled with joy by the reconciliation of God that you share the great good news of Jesus with others, that they, too, might be reconciled with God. Amen.