The Truth of Being an Agent of Reconciliation

I must start this post with an admission of guilt. I have been kicking myself in the face all day (figuratively of course, I am far too portly to literally kick myself in the face) because as I have dealt with this idea of the “Gospel of Reconciliation” I have consistently argued against it using my knowledge of Scripture and reason which was easy enough to do, any fifth grader who had read the Bible could have done it, but never once did I actually go to the Bible to read what is actually says about reconciliation! And that is shameful! How can I accuse others of not reading the passages about it when I haven’t done it either?  But now that I have taken the plank out of my own eye and have committed myself to not inserting it again, I can write this post about the truth of what the Bible really says about reconciliation.  So here we go.

I just finished listening to a recent chapel service from the MidAmerica Nazarene University, the college I attended, as well as my wife, my brother, my wife’s sister, and now my son and other’s from my church and district.  They had guests speaking about being “missional” and that all of us are called to be “agents of reconciliation”. Now, one point that was made was that as Christians we can no longer sit back and expect the missionaries to be the one’s taking part in God’s mission in the world while we remain cozy in our world of tasteless salt and dim light.  (my words not his)  And in this I am in full agreement with him. However, it seemed as though no one on that stage had even the slightest clue what God’s mission actually is and what being an “agent of reconciliation” means.  How 7 or 8 Christians could sit on a stage for over a half an hour and talk about how they are doing God’s mission and living out being His agents of reconciliation without once mentioning the Gospel amazes me. So the following is a look at the primary passages where this concept of reconciliation is revealed in Scripture.

Romans 5:1-11

¹ Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of God's glory. ³Not only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance, character, and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

⁶For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷(For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.) ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous by his blood, we will be saved through him from God's wrath. ¹⁰For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? ¹¹Not only this, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

   “This entire passage is about the Hope that we have in Christ and that is our inclusion in God’s glory at our resurrection. The point of the cross is laid out clearly. That is to be made righteous and to be spared His wrath. The words “reconciled” and “reconciliation” here refer to our Salvation from His wrath and the forgiveness of our sins.  Notice that it is only AFTER our reconciliation that we are “saved by His life”.  This phrase means that our hope of the resurrection and God’s glory are secured by the reality of Jesus’ life after His resurrection.  This is a great promise for us.  In this passage, reconciliation is synonymous with salvation.”

Romans 11:11-15:

¹¹I ask then, they did not stumble into an irrevocable fall, did they? Absolutely not! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel jealous. ¹²Now if their transgression means riches for the world and their defeat means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full restoration bring?

¹³Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Seeing that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, ¹⁴if somehow I could provoke my people to jealousy and save some of them. ¹⁵For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

   “Here again we see that the word “reconciliation” is synonymous with the word “salvation”. Additionally, the word “world” is referring to the people called the Gentiles, or all peoples who are not Jewish.  So Paul’s point is that by the Jews rejecting Christ as Messiah, the opportunity for salvation was afforded to the rest of the people of the world. And salvation can safely be defined by Paul’s earlier definition in Romans 5 as being saved from God’s wrath, having sins forgiven and having a hope for a resurrection into God’s glory.”

II Corinthians 5:1-21:

¹For we know that if our earthly house, the tent we live in, is dismantled, we have a building from God, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens. ²For in this earthly house we groan, because we desire to put on our heavenly dwelling, ³if indeed, after we have put on our heavenly house, we will not be found naked. ⁴For we groan while we are in this tent, since we are weighed down, because we do not want to be unclothed, but clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. ⁵Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment. ⁶Therefore we are always full of courage, and we know that as long as we are alive here on earth we are absent from the Lord - ⁷for we live by faith, not by sight. ⁸Thus we are full of courage and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. ⁹So then whether we are alive or away, we make it our ambition to please him. ¹⁰For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done while in the body, whether good or evil.

¹¹Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people, but we are well known to God, and I hope we are well known to your consciences too. ¹²We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you may be able to answer those who take pride in outward appearance and not in what is in the heart. ¹³For if we are out of our minds, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. ¹⁴For the love of Christ controls us, since we have concluded this, that Christ died for all; therefore all have died. ¹⁵And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised. ¹⁶So then from now on we acknowledge no one from an outward human point of view. Even though we have known Christ from such a human point of view, now we do not know him in that way any longer. ¹⁷So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away - look, what is new has come! ¹⁸And all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation. ¹⁹In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people's trespasses against them, and he has given us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His plea through us. We plead with you on Christ's behalf, "Be reconciled to God!" ²¹God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.

   “Here we have an entire chapter highlighting the very points made in Romans 5 and 11 but this time written to the Corinthians.  The first part of the chapter is stating the fact that we do not belong here on this earth and that all of our longing should be for Heaven. But we are able to have courage in this life and can be content in this life while God’s will is for us to remain here because God has given us the Holy Spirit as a promise that one day we will be with Him in Heaven.  Paul then proceeds to reiterate again what it means to be saved and that it is not just something offered a select few but it is offered to every person in the world.   

   One thing to point put is that Paul is clear that the reconciliation proceeds from God NOT from us.  Reconciliation is not something we do, ever.  It is something God does.  Paul also defines reconciliation again for us with very clear and precise language.  Here he defines it as “not counting people’s trespasses against them”.  To restate that in more modern language, that is the forgiveness of sins. Immediately following that definition, Paul then says that God has given them that very message, the forgiveness of sins, reconciliation.   

   Finally, to make sure his point is well taken, Paul again defines what he means and likewise what Christ means, by reconciliation when he says, “God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.” This entire chapter is about the forgiveness of sins in order that people can someday be with God in Heaven!  And THAT is the message of reconciliation that we are to take to the people of the world

Ephesians 2

¹And although you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ²in which you formerly lived according to this world's present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, ³among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest...

⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, ⁵even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you are saved! - ⁶and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷to demonstrate in the coming ages the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; ⁹it is not from works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them.

¹¹Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh - who are called "uncircumcision" by the so-called "circumcision" that is performed on the body by human hands - ¹²that you were at that time without the Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, ¹⁵when he nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man out of two, thus making peace, ¹⁶and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed. ¹⁷And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, ¹⁸so that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household, ²⁰because you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. ²¹In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, ²²in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

   "Once again, just as in Romans 11, Paul makes the point that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was not only for the Jews but also for the Gentiles and that through the cross, both are equally reconciled to God, so much so that they are to become one body and that the Church. The point is clear; the cross of Christ reconciles us to God."

Colossians 1:9-23

⁹For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, have not ceased praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰so that you may live worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects - bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of all patience and steadfastness, joyfully ¹²giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the saints' inheritance in the light. ¹³He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

 ¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation,

 ¹⁶for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him - all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers - all things were created through him and for him.

 ¹⁷He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him.

 ¹⁸He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things.

 ¹⁹For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son

 ²⁰and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross - through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

²¹And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your minds as expressed through your evil deeds, ²²but now he has reconciled you by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him - ²³if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, without shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant.

   “And again, we have Paul writing the same points to the Colossians that he had written to the Ephesians and Romans before.  We should not expect that this rendition would be any different than his previous two writings nor that the definitions of the words used would be different.  In this part of the letter Paul does specify that they should bear fruit in good deeds but that in order to please Him, saying nothing about those fruits attributing to their redemption which he clearly states in verse 14 is “the forgiveness of sins.”   

   Further on Paul describes Jesus Christ in great detail culminating in His purpose which is reconciling “all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross - through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.”  The language here is slightly different than what is used in the other letter’s but the idea being expressed is identical; we are reconciled to Christ by His death on the cross.    

   If there is any question, Paul continues by stating the fact that they are reconciled by Jesus’ physical death so that they might be presented “holy, without blemish, and blameless…”.  Paul leaves no question as to what he means when he uses the words “reconcile” or “reconciliation”. He is the only one to use these words in the New Testament and he clearly defines them each time they are used as the forgiveness of sins.

   Its amazing how deceived Christians have become. The “Gospel of Reconciliation” that is being preached from our pulpits and taught on our universities is directly from the mind of Satan and it is time to cut away the sheep skin from the wolves who have invaded our churches and school.”

Romans 8:18-23

¹⁸For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. ¹⁹For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²²For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. ²³And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

   “Finally, I must include this passage from Romans because it is used in combination with the verses about reconciliation to create this impression that Scripture teaches that we, as agents of reconciliation, are to bring about this redemption of creation. I have already explained fully the passages regarding true reconciliation so it seems this passage should be moot but let’s look at it anyway.   

   This passage first begins with stating that the things we go through, the suffering, ‘are not worth comparing with the glory’ to be revealed.  And what is the ‘glory’?  It is our entrance to Heaven.  Paul further describes this glory as the ‘revealing of the sons of God’, ‘adoption as sons’, ‘the redemption of our bodies’.  Additional clues that Paul is strictly talking about Heaven comes when he refers to this glory as ‘this hope’.  And not simply “this hope” but that in this hope we were saved.  This language matches the other passages exactly.  Paul is consistent in his presentation of the Gospel as being the forgiveness of sins which saves us from God’s wrath and gives us the hope of Heaven. He says the same thing here in regards to those who are to be adopted as sons.  Then he makes a connection that we see nowhere else in Scripture.  He tells us that all of creation longs for the day of our final redemption so that it too may be set free from its bondage to decay wrought on it by Adam’s sin.  Yet it is clear that creation’s hope does not lie in us but in our redemption by God.   

   He also makes clear that this will take place at the redemption of our bodies which will take place upon Christ’s return. So in the end anything we do to attempt to redeem or reconcile creation to God is an effort in futility.  It isn’t pure vanity since we are called to be stewards of what God has given us and made us rulers over but if we expect our work for the planet or even for our fellow man to somehow be a part of their redemption, we are being duped.”

It's All O.K.

    I have been a Youth Pastor since 2005 and it has been the best position I have ever held in my life.  However, over the past several months I have been going through the process of resigning my position.  I will still be involved in the Youth Group and even more with the Young Adult group at my church.  My final Sunday as a Pastor will be in the next couple weeks but the Youth Group has been aware this day was coming for a couple months now and they have been going through this process with me.
     I have had many conversations about my leaving with the teens and have received many nice comments and I have appreciated them all.  But this morning a conversation I had really made it all very real.
     A young girl asked, as we were about to begin Sunday School, when I was leaving.  I told her that I was going to be the Youth Pastor a few more weeks but I wasn't leaving.  So she asked when I was moving.  I told her that I wasn't moving.  A little confused, she qualified her question and asked if I was still going to be attending our church.  I responded that yes, I was still going to be a part of the church.  To this she settled into her seat and said, "Oh, that's ok then." And with that it was done.
     To realize that your presence attributes to the "o.k.ness" of a young person's life is a truly life changing thing. It is a humbling thing. It is something that until that moment I hadn't really understood.  Well, I am not sure I still fully understand it but it will be something I will never forget for as long as I live.  Deserved or not, in someone's life it's all o.k. because I am around.  Wow. What else is there to say? It's all o.k. And I am forever thankful for that.

Do Nazarenes Teach Biblical Inerrency?

The following is an excerpt from an email exchange I had with some pastors regarding the Church of the Nazarene's Statement of Belief regarding The Holy Scriptures.  At the time I was only aware of a resolution circulated by the Joplin/Missouri District NYI.  Since then I am now aware of a resolution put forward by the Indianapolis and SW Indiana Districts.  Both resolutions are simply trying to make our Statement of Belief clearer and stronger.  Having read both resolutions, I think they both misunderstand what our statement already says and miss the problem with our statement.  Therefore I wanted to elaborate on both of these issues.

Here are the link to the resolution:

http://www.gacorlando.com/images/resolutions/JUD/jud-805.png

The wording in our Articles of Faith, while not untrue, confuses what the Scripture tells us. Our wording seems to state that the Word of God, while inspired, is only to be considered inerrant in "things necessary to our salvation". Scripture states something different even within the passages used to support our own statement.

Example:   2 Timothy 3:16-17 "16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." "All Scripture is inspired by God" - "All" meaning all not only selected verses; "inspired by God" meaning coming directly from God though written by humans in human languages; "from God" meaning it is true since God is Truth and everything that comes from Him is true. So logic and common sense would tell us that everything we consider Scripture is true. (there are many Scriptures supporting this but I won't list them here) Now I wouldn't say this means that every period, spelling and comma are inerrant as some would say because I don't see any Biblical support for that but that doesn't change the fact that everything found in Scripture is true. "All Scripture is...profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;" - "teaching" means doctrinal teaching; "reproof" means refutation of adversaries; "correction" means to set right again; "teaching" is as in discipleship; and "righteousness" refers to our disposition or conduct in common life. NONE of these things have to do with "things necessary for salvation". I think profitable can equate to true because if it weren't true it wouldn't be profitable and likewise if it is true then by definition it is inerrant.  

  So what I see is a statement that, while not untrue in and of itself, is confusing.

I found it interesting that in Chapter Four of 2 Timothy the writer goes on to command us to preach the Word and warns us of a time when people would not tolerate sound doctrine. The writer makes a clear statement about Scripture, tells us to preach it and then warns us of those who would call it into question and turn from it. We see that happening now and perhaps we, as a church, have become victims of our own failure to communicate a sufficiently strong statement about the Scriptures.      We need to make it clear in our language that we hold to the inerrancy of the Scriptures, period.       In the end, I don't see the need for our statement to contain a phrase mentioning "things necessary to our salvation" specificallly. Rather than enhance our statement it does more to confuse it really. It is a very confusing statement. First it says that we believe that all Scripture is inerrant (plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures) and then we go on to expound and thus throw into question our initial statement (inerrantly revealing the will of God concerning us in all things necessary to our salvation). If the first statement is true, the second one is true by default and need not be specified. However, if the second one is true then the first one isn't necessarily true. Therein lies the problem with this wording.  This wording would be much more accurate and clear I think; "We believe in the divine and plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, that being the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, so that whatever is not contained therein is not to be enjoined as an article of faith."

List vs List

Several writings that I came across this morning in regards to  Evolution/Creation Sunday 2007 I found interesting.  They show the battle that is raging out there about this topic and how much more involved it is than most people would think. First, this one ( http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54176 )  about this list ( http://www.dissentfromdarwin.org ) that just brought to my mind about how strange it is that as Pastors from many denominations are placing their names on a list denying the Bible and supporting Evolution, there are Scientists from around the world placing their names on a list raising doubts about the validity of that same evolution.  Why is it that the church always seems to be 50 to 100 years behind?  Not that I would have supported the Church supporting evolution 100 years ago any more than today but it just seems that in every area of society, music, media, societal issues of any kind, the church waits until something is out of vogue with the rest of society (somehow then making it ok for the church to be involved in it) until it decides that maybe they should look into this thing.  I just don't get it.  I dread the day when society finally champions sexual abstinance and the church takes up the virtues of promiscuity...oh, wait...its already happening. The church really needs to get a clue.  And this evolution debate would be a great place to start.  Finally, Scientists are bowing to science instead of giving it lip service and bowing instead to their religion (evolution is a religion) and what does the church do?   Well, we start bowing to the religion of evolution of course.  For those of us who can see this, let's raise a voice to start supporting science as we should have done all along.  Science supports the Bible and Christianity and now that Scientists are finally admitting it, let's not fail God and the people of the world who have been so devastated by the effects of the evolution religion by dropping the ball and embracing another religion. Second was this ( http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/science/12geologist.html?ei=5065&en=4f4a020a32419ff4&ex=1171861200&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print ) which details something that I had not even considered before.  The sickening fact that our Universities are actively discriminating and censuring Christians for being Christians!  These people openly say that being a Christian automatically disqualifies a person from getting a degree in any scientific field.  This is outrageous and if there is any better reason to attend a Christian University if there is one that effectively deals with the field you are entering, I don't know what is.  I firmly believe that within my lifetime Christianity will be illegal in this country but still, we must do whatever we can to keep that day from arriving for as long as we can.  If you are a Christian who is all concerned about being accepted by this world and this society and your deepest desire is to be friends with the world, I have some depressing news for you.  They hate you.  And they will always hate you, until that time when you devoid yourself of enough Christianity to where you no longer can be considered one, even if you still call yourself one.  Jesus PROMISED that the world would hate us (Mt 10:16-22; 24:9; Mark 13:13; John 15:18-21) and we, in America, have been relaxing and wallowing in this false idea that we can make the world love us.  Are we calling Jesus a liar? We need to wake up and start living in a manner worthy of Christ and to hell with selling out Christ for the sake of the love of the world!  Are we so dim as to think that a world ruled by the the Prince of the Air, Satan himself, is ever going to accept and love us? Who are we kidding?  The day Satan loves you is the day the world will...and not a moment sooner.  Only a fool will hold his breath for that day to come.  Love your Brethren and love your enemies, be in the world but not of it.  And do not trample the Blood of Chirst under foot for without valuing the Sacrifice of Christ for you with all your heart, you will be unable to value others, even unto your enemies.

Happy Evolution Sunday!

Well,  in just a few hours it will be Evolution Sunday, celebrating  the birth of Darwin.  Only a little over 500 churches are taking part in this event so its not too big a deal yet.  But I still felt compelled to dub tomorrow Creation Sunday at our Youth Group.  Maybe it will catch on.  Who knows?    I have already posted on this subject before but in reading a little more about it, I stumbled upon an argument that I had not thought of and it was rather interesting.  Here is a quote from David Kupelian: "(By the way, if you call yourself a Christian and believe you evolved from a lower life form to a higher form, as evolution preaches – I mean, teaches – you are denying the very heart of your faith. Jesus Christ, whom you claim to follow, taught that man fell from a higher estate into sin, and is therefore in need of salvation. If we have evolved from a lower life form, improving constantly over the eons to our present advanced state, there is no possible need for salvation through the substitutionary death of the Son of God. There's absolutely no wiggle-room here, friends. You're busted.)" This idea just shows how far you have to twist Scripture in order to  accept a theory that more and more scientists are rejecting.  As I have said time and time again, once you start rejecting one part of Scripture, the rest eventually falls by the wayside.   The false idea through all of this is that we must choose between Science and Religion and the only way for the two to coincide within a person is for Religion to take a bow.  This is a lie of Satan himself.  If a person seriously looks at the scientific facts, they go right along with Christianity and not with evolution.  Evolution isn't scientific, it isn't logical, or reasonable, nor is it even statistically possible, or moral.  What dealings should we as Christians have with such tripe?  Only to expose it to the light of Truth.   For all of you who accept evolution and who call yourselves Christians, I challenge you to evaluate what part of of your relationship with God, the Creator of the Universe, you are willing to give up.  Because you will have to give up something, and I pray that it isn't your very soul. Happy Creation Sunday!  Enjoy!