Ministry of Reconciliation

Out of God's great love, Jesus gave His life for you so that you would live for Him.

“While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites—men, women and children—gathered around him. They too wept bitterly...We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women...let us make a covenant before God to send away all these women and their children...the whole assembly responded...you are right ...this matter cannot be taken care of in a day or two, because we have sinned greatly in this thing. So the exiles did as was proposed...they sat down to investigate the cases” ‭‭Ezra‬ ‭10‬:‭1‬-‭16

Have you ever come across a difficult passage within Scripture and been unsure of how to reconcile what you know of the love of Christ with what you read in other texts? In this passage, the people are told to separate themselves from their foreign wives and children. Talk about a heart-wrenching scene. Can you imagine telling someone you love that you can no longer be with them because of the requirements of your religion? Can you imagine sending your own kids away?

The Bible is not meant to make us comfortable. It is meant to draw us close to God and become His people. We should wrestle with what we read and look by faith beyond what we see. The people could tell things were not right in their community, and they needed to cleanse anything that caused them to be unfaithful. Worldly views and foreign relationships were causing the people to turn from God. How does this relate to us? Consider if anything in your daily life is causing you to move away from God.

Cleansing required action. The people had to decide whether to continue on the path that led to separation from God or to do what was needed to reconcile with Him. Would you be willing to end relationships in your life if that was what was needed to walk rightly? Do you have any friends or acquaintances who seem to lead you to do things that are not holy? The people inherently understood how they were being influenced. We are all influenced by others. God wants us to turn from being people easily influenced by worldly ways to people so transformed by His love that we become ambassadors of Christ to the world around us.

“Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, you his servants; praise the name of the LORD. From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised. The LORD is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes, with the princes of his people. He settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭113‬:‭1‬-9

Do you agree with the psalmist? Do you believe that the right thing to do is praise God from morning until evening? Is this what you do or desire to do? Do you ever wonder what gets in the way of praising God? Our lives are influenced by algorithms and other people. Social media and the seductive culture around us are vying for our attention and devotion. Consider all that influences you each day. How do your patterns reflect what pleases you?

The psalmist wants us to see that God is worthy of our praise. He is worthy of our devotion. The God who is higher than the highest heavens is the same God who has the compassion to bring the poorest of the poor close to Him. He lifts up those in need and reconciles the lost. He restores dreams and resurrects hearts. He does the miraculous. He makes the childless woman at home with a full family. He does this because God is love, and love compels action.

“My son, pay attention to my wisdom, turn your ear to my words of insight, that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge. For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave. She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths wander aimlessly...Keep to a path far from her...Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. For your ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all your paths. The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast. For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭5‬:‭1‬-‭3‬-23

Adultery and seduction never benefit anyone. How do you think these influenced the exiled people when considering how they left God for people who worshiped other gods? Notice that seduction often starts with seemingly harmless words. Is it not the same for us? A little extra time looking at a seductive image or considering a seductive invitation. Wisdom tells us to pay attention to what we hear so we can discern between right and wrong. God wants to lead us to the blessed life and tells us that we have to steer clear of anything that leads to sin.

Think about what you see when you scroll social media. Is it more lust or more love? There is a big difference between lust and love. Lust leads us to satisfy fleshly desires without regard for righteousness. Lust leads to sin. Holy love leads us to righteousness. Lust is about pleasing ourselves. Loving like Jesus leads to pleasing God. Solomon says that for lack of discipline and discernment, the people die. He clearly calls his children to choose which path they will take. Which will you take today?

To choose love over lust is to choose God because God is love. It is His love for us that compels us to stay on course. It is not out of obligation that we choose love over lust, but as a response to the love of Jesus that sets us free from the chains of seduction.

“I will make known my holy name among my people Israel. I will no longer let my holy name be profaned, and the nations will know that I the LORD am the Holy One in Israel. People will be continually employed in cleansing the land. I will display my glory among the nations...the nations will know that the people of Israel went into exile for their sin, because they were unfaithful to me. I will now restore the fortunes of Jacob and will have compassion on all the people...They will forget their shame and all the unfaithfulness...I will be proved holy through them in the sight of many nations...I will pour out my Spirit on the people of Israel, declares the Sovereign LORD.” ‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭39‬:‭7‬-29

The theme of cleansing, purifying, and separating continues as Ezekiel receives the word of God. Only in this passage does a shift occur. While the people do take action to cleanse the land of unholiness, it is God who does the work of setting things right. He makes a dramatic statement. He says that He will be proved holy through the people. Do you realize what this means? God redeems and restores you so that you would display the holiness of God.

The same people who were unholy and unfaithful become the instruments that God uses to show His holiness to the nations. God is the God who makes all things new. He is the One who takes what is broken and makes it beautiful. Rather than writing people off, He renews a right spirit in them. The love of God is so amazing because it is freely given when we least deserve it. God does what we could never do and, in doing so, displays a heavenly holiness unlike any other. You may not see it, but God has a plan to do great and wonderful things in and through you.

“For we live by faith, not by sight. So we make it our goal to please him...For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ...Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all...And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭7‬, ‭9‬-‭11‬, ‭14‬-‭21‬

Christ's love compels us, for it is by faith in Him that we are set free and made holy. Paul wrote that you are the righteousness of God. You are a new creation. However you have been looking at yourself is not how God looks at you. You are not a person striving to cleanse yourself and overcome all that is wrong with you. You are the righteousness of God and made new by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The old is gone, so let go of the past. Let go of people or perceptions of yourself that are not pleasing to God. The only thing that pleases God is walking with the right view of the righteousness in which you now stand so that you would display the holiness of a changed heart.

This may be the single greatest exchange in all of human history. Jesus, who had no sin, took on all the sin of the world that has ever been committed, is currently being committed, and will ever be committed. He took it all. Consider the weight of that sin. The depth of depravity, the darkness, and the death that He had to endure. All of the sin for all time of all people. No wonder He was sweating blood in the Garden of Gethsemane. He who had no sin became sin, but that is not where the story ends because the stone was rolled away, revealing an empty tomb.

We become the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ. Do you believe this? Will you declare it? Say it out loud. I am the righteousness of God. We want to be humble in how we live, but we should also stand firm in understanding how God sees us. When God sees us, He sees Jesus. You are not your past. You are not your worst mistakes. The enemy of your life wants you to look at yourself as less than, unworthy, and too far gone. Jesus looks at you with love. He delights in you. He speaks your name and calls you His own. You are irrevocably made new in Christ. You are a child of the King and now get the incredible privilege of representing your King to the world around you.

Love alone compels us. The same love that led Jesus to the cross leads us to live to please God. We have been reconciled so that we might understand that we are ministers of reconciliation. We have received grace so that we might extend grace. We have been forgiven so that we might forgive. Now take the truth of how much Jesus loves you and apply it to others. Ask God to help you see others as He does, and then ask who needs to hear about His love.

Will you make it your goal today to please Jesus as a person thankful for all He has done for you? Will you walk by faith, not by sight? Will you separate yourself from anything leading you to sin? You are free from that old life. Will you let His love guide your thoughts, your words, and your actions? Whether you like it or not, you are an ambassador. People will see something when they see you. Choose to be Christ's ambassador. Live as one who is a new creation, full of His righteousness, so that others would see the holiness of God in how you live.