BaptistWay Bible Series for August 16: Tell the good news of redemption and reconciliation

BaptistWay Bible Series for August 16: Tell the good news of redemption and reconciliation focuses on 2 Corinthians 5:11-21; Colossians 1:24-29.

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Think with me for a moment about some of the “greats” whose names are well-known in the United States and around the world.

• The sports world has a lot of greats. Roger Staubach was a great quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys football team. Tiger Woods, even at a relatively young age, dominated golf headlines—and still does. Basketball’s Michael Jordan made his Chicago Bulls No. 23 jersey a household number. People still point to Pele as the most influential soccer star in the world.

• Science has produced its share of stars, too. Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity gave us a handle to make some sense out of time and space. Madame Curie figured out how to harness the medical power of the x-ray. Galileo became a science star when he told the earth that we revolve around the sun, not the other way around.

• Entertainment has stars. In fact, we call big-name entertainers “stars” rather than just entertainers. The biggest of these get little stars in Hollywood sidewalks so everyone knows they’re stars. They’re famous enough that we only need to know their last names. Pitt. Clooney. Streep. Glover. Hepburn. Bogart. Wayne. Monroe.  

What made these people stars? For the sports players, it probably is an ability to do some things—even one thing—better than anyone else on the planet, whether from natural ability, training or mental ability to overcome physical obstacles. Science made Einstein, Curie and Galileo notable because they were able to think outside of the known and into the yet-to-be-known; to think unlike others and apply that thinking to the scientific method, with positive results. What makes entertainers stars? Probably their ability to take others away to another reality, whether through acting, humor, music or just the presence of their personalities.

Is your name on any of these lists? Probably not. Mine isn’t, either. It’s not that we’re not special, it’s just that our abilities haven’t been appreciated, our uniqueness hasn’t been explored by marketers, or no one has posted a YouTube video of us falling off a trampoline.

While it’s not an equal world, there is a place where equality is not only sought after but is truly offered. It is the equality of all to come under that redemptive and reconciliatory offer of salvation through Jesus Christ.

In these two passages, Paul is writing to two different churches about this equality. In our 2 Corinthians passage, he writes of the changes that occur to everyone when Christ’s message takes over their lives. And in his letter to the Colossians, he emphasizes his desire for everyone to know Christ and be known by him.

If we have this kind of equal-to-all message and are not sharing it, we’re not participating in God’s mission, because participating in God’s mission means telling the good news of redemption and reconciliation to everyone.
 
As we read these passages, we need to ask ourselves, “Do my actions and the actions of our church demonstrate that telling the good news of redemption and reconciliation is important to us?


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What’s your motive? (2 Corinthians 5:11-21)

“Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade others; but we ourselves are well known to God, and I hope that we are also well known to your consciences. We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an opportunity to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast in outward appearance and not in the heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view,  we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

When Paul wrote this letter, he was trying to clear up some untrue claims that had been leveled against him. He had been accused of insincerity. His response to these claims in this letter to the congregation of Greek Christians in Corinth can serve as model to all of us for our motives in serving Christ and spreading his good news. Among his motives are:

• Fear of the Lord (v. 11) as motive in persuading others. It’s an eternal knowledge of a powerful God that motivates him to share to everyone.

• The purity of his heart (v. 12) in response to those who “boast in outward appearance.”

• The love of Christ (v. 13-16) that convinces/convicts him that Christ died for all and gives us all an eternal world view of how we see others.

• The newness of believers in Christ (v. 17) and their status as a “new creation,” totally without the burden of past sin.

Verses 18-21 share with us the importance of telling others of Christ’s ability to reconcile us to God. He defines this reconciliation in verse 19 by explaining that, “in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself” and, as ambassador of Christ, he continues in verse 20, we are to make God’s appeal to others. It’s an appeal that we are urged to spread to everyone.

What’s your job? (Colossians 1:24-29)

“I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. I became its servant according to God's commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints.  To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil and struggle with all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me.”

Paul gives us two great thoughts in this passage, both about the “work” we are commissioned to do by Christ. Most of us work or have worked. In other words, we’ve held a job. Among the two most important factors in doing a job well is to bring a positive attitude into your task, and the other is to bring a focused goal or set of goals into the job.

In verses 24-26, he shares his attitude about this work. He says it’s privilege—he rejoices—in the difficult work he has, bringing with him the attitude of a servant as he shares the word of God and the truth of Jesus Christ. Are we bringing a joyful servant spirit into our “work” as Christians? Are we even doing the job—or are we showing up with the company uniform and just accepting a paycheck?

The other great thought he shares in verses 27-29 is his focus on who he shares the message with: everyone. The word everyone makes an appearance three times in these three verses. In verse 27, he says God’s intent is to make his message known among the Gentiles—that’s everyone. But his job description follows, with Paul writing that his job is to warn everyone and teach everyone about this message of redemption and reconciliation so that he can “present everyone mature in Christ.” His job was to get everyone ready for judgment. To present them reconciled.

Paul’s message here is that everyone must hear the good news of Jesus Christ, and every believer must participate in their job description of warning, teaching and readying people to believe. How is your report card when it comes to meeting the requirements of this job description?


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