This is the second post in a series on reconciliation. In the first post we looked at the Biblical basis of reconciliation and in this post we’ll look at some common misunderstandings of it.

How can reconciliation be misunderstood?

The religious person, like the proud Pharisee in Luke 18, underestimates his sin. He does not consider how Paul describes us as dead, alienated, enemies or hostile. By doing so they think too much of themselves, too little of the cross, and therefore never see the depths from which they needed to be saved or the lengths that God had to go.

The self-pitying person thinks that their sin is too great for Jesus, that His work on the cross wasn’t enough to cover their sin. Ultimately there is an element of wanting to atone for their own sins wrapped up in this. The cross itself and all of the truths of the results of reconciliation – adoption, family, brought near, cleansed, righteous – speak against this directly.

The social justice person preaches mission or calling without the cross, sin, or the need to be eternally reconciled. While they may be fixing temporal problems, ultimately, people are not reconciled from their sin to God and from death to life.

A fundamentalist preaches sin and identity but not calling. “We” might have a new identity, “we” have been saved, but “they” do not and are not. Without an emphasis on the calling, our world becomes two dimensional: us and them.

Why or how can we reconcile?

Our identity is now “in Christ”. We are now counted righteous, brought near to God the Father as close as a son or daughter can be. We are no longer slaves to sin, death, the law, or satan. We are presented holy and blameless before Him because of Christ. Our calling is to be ambassadors of this message – and it is a message that needs to be proclaimed. We are to make disciples (identity) by going to all nations (calling).

How can we do that? Because of what Jesus says just before the Great Commandment in Matthew 28. “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” The One who died for His enemies, who gives life to the dead, who reconciled us to the Father – He is the same One who is Lord over all things.

NB

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Dead. What does this word convey to us? Have you seen a dead person in a casket, or come upon a dead animal in the woods? It is obvious that they are not about to take another breath, or reach out to us, or get up and walk away. The man in the casket is cold and lifeless and most definitely not present. The animal’s eyes are glazed and empty and flies buzz greedily around them. This is what dead means.  Yet when we read certain verses in Scripture, somehow we feel differently about the word. In Ephesians 2 Paul says in verse 1 “…you were dead in your trespasses and sins…” and in verse 5 that “…even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ…” And from this point we somehow come to the metaphor that God throws us a life preserver and we grab a hold of it. But this does grievous harm to Paul’s metaphor. A dead thing can grab hold of nothing. A dead thing cannot tread water. A dead thing can do absolutely nothing…unless it is quickened.

DK

For a more thorough treatment of this topic, check out these sermon notes from John Piper.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1985/521_Why_We_Need_a_Savior_Dead_in_Sins/

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