One of my favorite actors is Tom Hanks. He recently starred in a movie that I have yet to see called Castaway. It is the story of a man who survives a plane crash over the ocean and lands ashore on a deserted island. He spends years there not only trying to survive physically, but primarily emotionally and mentally, as he is totally separated from the outside world.
Every person on earth is born a "castaway." We have all crashed landed on an island called sin. Because of our sin we, too, have been separated from God. Isa. 59:2 says, "Your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you." We are all alone on this island.
But our problem is this: We need more than rescue; we need reconciliation so that we can have a relationship with God. Really and truly that is what missions and evangelism are all about—reconciliation.
Two of the greatest poets who ever lived were Robert Browning and his wife, Elizabeth Barrett Browning. When Elizabeth became engaged to Robert, her parents disapproved so strongly of her marriage that they totally disowned her and kicked her out of the house. Almost every week Elizabeth wrote love letters to her mother and father asking for reconciliation. They never one time replied.
After ten years of writing love letters to her parents at least once a week, Elizabeth received a huge box in the mail. She opened it and found to her dismay and heartbreak the box contained all of the letters she had written her parents; not one of them had ever been opened!
The Bible is God's love letter of reconciliation to us. In the passage we are going to study, which is really one of the great missionary passages in the entire Bible, we are going to see just how beautiful reconciliation is.
I. God Initiates Reconciliation Because Of Our Sin
"Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ…" (v.18a) Now that statement is very important because it does not say that God was reconciled to us, but that rather we have been reconciled to God. Now why does it say it that way?
Well, there was a time in the beginning when this world was in perfect harmony. It was a perfect world. God had put Adam and Eve in a perfect environment. They had a perfect relationship. Then sin came along, and the next thing we see is Adam hiding from God. God was not running from Adam, Adam was running from Him. Adam was not looking for God, God was looking for Adam.
From that time until now every person has been born estranged from God; separated from God. Every person has been born a "castaway." Battle lines were drawn at the Garden of Eden, and war has been going on between God and man every since. That is why man's greatest need is to be reconciled to God.
We hear a lot today about "felt needs." But did you know that there is a real difference between felt needs and real needs? Felt needs are the symptoms; real needs are the root problems.
Listen carefully. Everyone on earth has three basic needs, and if these needs are not met, nothing else really matters. First of all, every person needs to have a personal relationship with God. Because we have been separated from God, we need reconciliation.
But there is a barrier to reconciliation and that is sin. "…that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them..." (v.19a) This is the root problem that Christianity addresses, not the ignorance of men, though certainly men without Christ are ignorant; not the meaninglessness of life, though life without Christ is certainly meaningless; but it is the guilt of the sin of the human race that is the primary barrier between man and God. Every person needs his sin to be forgiven and cancelled. We need justification.
But the good news is when our sin problem is removed and our relationship with God is restored, we then receive eternal life and that is regeneration. How does all of this come about? V.18 says, "Now all things are of God." You see, God initiates this because only He can. You may wake up and realize you are stranded on the island of sin, but the moment you do you also realize that only God can get you off of it.
That's why it is important to understand that we do not need religion. Religion is man's effort to reconcile God to man. The only problem is, man needs to be reconciled to God, and that is something only God can do. That is why missions and evangelism are all about telling others not what they can do for God, but telling others what God has already done for them.
II. God Facilitates Reconciliation Through His Son
V.18 tells us that God "has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ." V.19 tells us "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself." V.20 tells us "Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ." Through Christ, in Christ, for Christ—it all comes back to Christ. How does this take place? "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (v.21)
You see, reconciliation is what God brought about at the cross of Calvary. The cross is the bridge of reconciliation. Picture two cliffs. These cliffs are separated by a large river. This river is filled with crocodiles, piranha, and poisonous snakes. The river is too broad, the current is too swift, the water is too deep, the stream is too dangerous to swim.
Now suppose you are on one cliff and the person you love more than anything else in the world is on the other cliff, and you want to get together with that person. The problem is, there is no human way possible of crossing that river. The only solution is a bridge.
Now picture again two cliffs. On one cliff is sinful man; on the other cliff is holy God. There is a great gulf between man and God; it's called the river of sin. When Jesus Christ died for our sins, He took our sin and gave us His righteousness. At the moment we accept Him as our Lord and Savior, the cross becomes a bridge that enables us to walk over the gulf of sin so that we might have a relationship with God.
I love to read biographies. I've read enough to know that biographies all follow basically the same pattern. There will be a short section devoted to the birth of the subject; there will be a little longer section devoted to the youth of the subject; there will be a long section devoted to the adult life of the subject; and then a very short section on the death of the subject.
As you know there are four biographies of Jesus—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But these biographies are very unique. Two of the four biographies don't even mention the birth of Jesus. Only one of the biographies barely refers to his youth. All four biographies have much to say about His adult life, but then here's the amazing thing.
One-fifth of the gospel of Matthew is devoted to the death of Jesus; one-third of the gospel of Mark is devoted to the death of Jesus; two-fifths of the gospel of Luke is devoted to the death of Jesus; fully one-half of the gospel of John relates someway and somehow to the death of Jesus Christ.
Now why in all four gospels is there such a devotion and an emphasis on the death of Jesus Christ? Because it is only through His death that we have reconciliation. It is only through His death we have justification. It is only through His death that we have regeneration.
V.21 tells us thoroughly what happened on the cross of Calvary. At the moment Jesus died God made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us. That is, He took our place; He died in our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Now let me add just one other great word to these other words we've been thinking about, and that is the word identification. When God's Son came in the form of man, so that He could die a human death in behalf of our sins, He made possible our reconciliation.
I heard about a great boat that was plowing through the ocean, and there was a little boy and his beloved dog on board that boat. Well, the dog got careless and fell overboard. The little boy became frantic and ran to the captain of the ship and said, "Sir, my little dog has fallen overboard. Will you stop the ship so that I can rescue him?" The captain indignantly said, "Son, this ship does not stop for a dog."
The little boy said, "Well, sir, would you stop the boat to save a boy?" The captain said, "Well, of course, we would." Immediately the little boy jumped overboard, swam back to the dog, rescued the dog and then, of course, the captain stopped the boat and rescued them both.
Now just as that little boy took the part of that animal, in like fashion the Lord Jesus Christ did not stand on the sidelines and just give advice or cheer us on, He identified Himself with us; He became sin for us; He took our part and lifted us off of the island of sin by His love. Because of that we can have reconciliation with God.
III. God Delegates Reconciliation To His Saints
Three times in this passage Paul talks about the fact that we have been given the responsibility of reconciling others to God. In v.18 we are told that God "has given us the ministry of reconciliation." In v.19 we are told that God "has committed to us the word of reconciliation." In v.20 we are told, "we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us."
Now if you will think about that carefully, you will realize exactly what God has done. First of all, we have been given the ministry of reconciliation. Listen again to v.18, "God has given us the ministry of reconciliation." Now reconciliation, as you know, is where you bring two parties together who have been estranged, and restore the relationship.
Well, God has given us the privilege of taking the hand of the sinner who is willing, and the hand of the Savior who is able, so that the Savior can turn that sinner into a saint. He can turn that criminal into a king. He can turn that slave into a sovereign.
By the way, did you know that all of us are ministers in a real sense. I hear people talk about being called into the "fulltime Christian ministry." May I tell you something? We have all been given the fulltime ministry of reconciliation. Every one of us is to be a minister of reconciliation. Every one of us has been given the responsibility of taking the hand of a person who is lost and, through the cross of Calvary, bring the hand of God to that man and joining those hands together, that men might be reconciled to God.
But we've also been given the message of reconciliation. V.19 says that God "has committed to us the word of reconciliation." Now we know that our ministry is to share a message. If you are not telling people that they are at war with God, that they need to be reconciled to God, and that they can be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, you are not fulfilling your ministry.
This past week I had one of the sweetest soul-winning experiences of my life. I visited with a man who had been watching our television ministry and sent an e-mail to me through our web site. I found his address and went to visit with him. He had served 18 ½ years as an army ranger and a paratrooper.
By his own admission he was a hard-charging, hard-drinking sergeant. As I was sharing the gospel with this dear man, I came to the point where I invited him to receive Christ, and all of a sudden I remembered something—this is a soldier. He understands what it is to be at war. I looked at that man and I said, "Dan, do you understand the terms ‘unconditional surrender?'" Immediately, as if he were snapping to attention, he said, "Yes sir, I do." I said, "Dan, I am asking you to make an unconditional surrender of your life to Jesus Christ." He looked at me and said, "That is exactly what I am wanting to do." That man was instantaneously reconciled to God.
You see, that is why we have also been given the mission of reconciliation. "Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God." (v.20) In Paul's day the Roman Empire had two different kinds of provinces; each related to the Roman government in a different way.
Senatorial provinces were made up of people who had submitted to Rome and were peacefully obeying the law. Imperial provinces were still rebellious, and in somewhat of a state of war. So Rome sent ambassadors to those provinces to keep the peace and to represent the Roman government.
The good news for the human race is this: God has not declared war on the human race, He has declared peace. He's not looking for a truce, nor is He looking for a cease fire. He is looking for a permanent peace and an eternal relationship with us. You see, God is not interested in the rehabilitation of criminals; He is interested in reconciliation with enemies. We are to be his ambassadors of peace seeking castaways, telling them because of the cross of Jesus Christ you can be rescued from the island of sin and you can be reconciled to God.
At Stanford University there is a golden spike. That spike is six inches long, it weighs 18 ounces, and in 1869 it was valued at roughly $350. But that spike represents what some engineers to this day call perhaps the greatest engineering accomplishment in the history of the world.
Steven Ambrose wrote about this engineering feat in a great book entitled Nothing Like it in the World. If you like good history you ought to buy this book and read it. It is the story of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad.
On May 8, 1869, on board a special train of the Central Pacific Railroad, traveled a man named Leland Stanford, for whom Stanford University is named. On board that train with Stanford was the last spike that would be driven made of gold, the last tie made of laurel, and a silver-headed hammer which would be used to complete officially the Transcontinental Railroad.
The ceremony of completing the railroad had been elaborately planned. There was a telegraph wire that was to be attached to the golden spike, and another telegraph wire attached to the sledge hammer. When the golden spike was tapped in, the telegraph lines would send the message all around the country, and all would know the railroad had been completed.
Well, two men put the last tie, the laurel tie, in place then Leland Stanford stepped up with that silver-headed hammer to tap that golden spike into the ground while an entire country waited breathlessly to know the deed had been done. Even though Stanford swung and missed, striking only the rail, it made no difference. The telegraph operator closed the circuit and the wire went out with one word—"Done!"
Well, across the nation bells pealed, even the venerable Liberty Bell in Philadelphia was rung. Cannons boomed all over America from San Francisco to Washington, DC. As a matter of fact, it was said that more cannons were fired that day in celebration than ever took part in the Battle of Gettysburg. Fire whistles, firecrackers, and fireworks were going off everywhere. There was singing and praying in churches. The Tabernacle in Salt Lake City had over 7,000 people in attendance. Chicago had a parade that was the biggest of the century—seven miles long with tens of thousands of people participating.
Why all this excitement over the completion of a railroad? Well, think about this: Before the Mexican War during the Gold Rush that started in 1848 through the 1850s, and until the Civil War ended in 1865, it took a person months and would cost more than $1,000 to go from New York to San Francisco. But less than a week after the pounding of the golden spike, a man or woman could go from New York to San Francisco in seven days for a cost of $65.
But the change was even greater than that. Mail that once cost dollars per ounce and took forever to go from one end of the country to the other, now cost pennies and could go from Chicago to California in just a few days.
Even more importantly, the Trans-continental Railroad and the telegraph together made modern America possible. Things that could not be imagined before 1869 now became common place. A nation-wide stock market came into existence. So also a continent-wide economy in which people, agricultural products, coal and minerals moved wherever anyone wanted to send them and did so cheaply and quickly.
A continent-wide culture in which mail and popular magazines and books that used to cost dollars per ounce, and took forever to go from East to West coast, now cost pennies and got there in a few days was born in an instant. In other words, all of America was radically changed and the industrial age had come full bloom.1
Well, I want to take you back 2,000 years to a place called Calvary. There the golden spike of God's love was driven through the wrists and the feet of Jesus Christ by the silver-headed hammer of God's grace. More than a continent was joined together—God and man were reconciled. I'm here to tell you today that until Jesus comes back, that is our ministry, that is our message, and that is our mission; saying to a lost world—be reconciled to God, knowing that because of Jesus Christ you can.
1. Steven Ambrose, Nothing Like it in the World, pp. 360, 364, 366, 369-370.