Every group that you walk into has a culture, a feel, a way things go. And whether or not somebody took the time to plan it out or write it on paper, that doesn't really matter. There's just going to be a culture. And the truth is you're going to sense it in the first 90 seconds. And you intuitively understand this.
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So it's probably good to think about it. And I think a more important question to think about this morning is, what drives our culture here as Peace Lutheran Church? What's the action behind it? What's the story behind it? What's the power behind it? The good thing is, we don't have to guess what it is. We don't have to, like, put a board up here and take all the, the Bible doesn't leave us guessing.
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In 2 Corinthians 5 that we're going to get into right now, Paul tells us what it is that drives a grace -filled, reconciling culture. And surprise, it's not any church program or a personality. What is it? Well, that's going to be our goal today. We want to answer that question, what creates and drives a grace -filled, reconciling culture among us?
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It's fitting that the last day of the forgiveness series, we land on a word like reconciliation. Because reconciliation is a relationship word, right? That's kind of what we've been talking about with forgiveness. And so when you hear the word reconciliation, what comes to your mind? Maybe it's something like, now we get along, we made up, we have maybe even agreed to disagree, certainly those are all positive things in a relationship. But I kind of call those out just so you know that those things don't even come close to capturing the powerful truth behind the words in this context. God's brand of reconciliation that we're talking about this morning, so much more. So much more.
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And so when you hear reconciliation this morning, this is what I wanted to call to mind. A radical change. Radical change. So radical that not only can you not imagine it, there's no way you and I could carry it out.
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So here's the radical change I'm talking about. Think about relationship. I want you to look at God. I want you to look at us. God is completely holy. Purely just. Right? And then we, we are polluted with sin by nature. And if we don't like that, well guess what? We prove it. Every time we do or fail to do what God desires and what he commands us to do. Right? That's just our nature coming out. It's living who we are.
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And so we are so heavy with guilt and sin that a relationship with a holy God is impossible. You saw the experiment I tried to do with how sin and holiness, they repel each other. They cannot touch each other. And so when you look at reconciliation and we're thinking about the relationship between God and us, we can't like get along now. We can't make up for things. We can't agree to disagree. Right? And I know that's not a fun thing to hear, but I can't help that. That's, that's the truth. And so unless something changes, that's how a holy God has to see a world of people. Just facts here.
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God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Radical change. I want you to think, what happened? What, what changed? It wasn't God. God didn't change his holiness or his justice. Sin still repulses him. He has to punish sin. But that holy God chose to act in mercy. He sent a substitute. His own son, Jesus.
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That's who's being talked about here. That's the one who knew no sin. Not in his nature and not in his living. And yet what did God choose to do? God chose to charge Jesus with the sin of the whole world. And because that substitute carried the guilt to the cross, God then charged the holiness and righteousness of Jesus to the world. And so the world of people is now counted as being without sin by proxy, by substitute, by proclamation of God.
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That's the radical change that happened because of God's mercy. God and his justice didn't change. And we, it's not like we had a change of heart and we could change ourselves to be holy. That didn't change. What changed is because of Jesus, the status of people, the standing before God to judge, how God sees people because of Jesus. That's what changed. And so that's reconciliation. Not that we worked it out with God. God worked it for us. Our guilt to Christ. Christ's righteousness to us.
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That's an accomplished fact for all people, the world, right? But it is the change of status that we realize and we experience personally by believing in Jesus through faith in him. That's, that's the beginning of the passage, right? If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone. The new is here. In Christ, you have this reconciliation.
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So, before I move on, I just want to, I want you to just hear this again personally. In Christ, you are a reconciled person. And this morning, we gather in this place as reconciled people. This is what defines us. This is our identity. And this is what drives everything that comes next.
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God places in your hands the living grace of Jesus. And that living grace of Jesus isn't just to be put in a jar on a shelf and be amazed at it. It is to be worked into everything that you are, everything that you do, in your home, in your relationships, in your congregational life, in our community.
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Reconciled people become reconciling people. That has to be the movement, right? If I have stared at the consequences of my sin and I have deeply felt the distance of a violated God and all of a sudden I hear the heart -chearing news that in Jesus my status with God has changed, my guilt is canceled, I have peace with God, it's been declared, how can I not hear that enough? How can I ever get tired of talking about it? How can I ever get tired of living it and sharing it? I can't. It's who we are, right? It's what we do. Reconciled people naturally become reconciling people.
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He is committed to us. The message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us. This is amazing. I mean, if God acted in mercy toward the world of people he made and God sent a substitute to be condemned for the sins of the world people and God is not counting the sins of the world against them, you know how deeply he longs for everybody to hear and experience this new status, this reconciliation they have. So how's God going to let people hear it and experience it? Can you believe this? He chooses to do it through you and me.
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People are going to experience reconciliation with God through you and me. God is making his appeal through us. Remember, we started talking about culture. If that isn't a culture shaper and a driver, I really don't know what it is. Right? Because if God is choosing to speak through us, there has to be this certain heart and spirit and tone and action among us.
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This message of reconciliation, it's a culture that appreciates God's word. Think about the word ambassador. Ambassador doesn't speak for themselves. They speak on behalf of someone else only. And so this isn't our word. This is God's word. And so God's word is first and foremost, and we hear it first and foremost.
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God's word will do for you what no pep talk can ever do. It'll show you the truth about your sin. It'll announce Jesus' life, death, and resurrection to you. It'll remind you of your status now as holy and dearly loved. And so we want to be near that as often as we can. Let that word correct us when we're wrong. Let it comfort us when we're weary.
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Let it happen at home. Let it happen at church. And then, as people who appreciate and hear that God's word, we want to speak that word confidently because his word is the power God uses for others to experience the reconciliation that he has won for them. And so we don't try to improve upon the message. We don't try to make it a little more palatable. We just announce it, right? We let the word go to work. The king's words carry the king's power. That's the idea of an ambassador. That's what you are.
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Second, we have a culture of urgency. Paul's words, we implore you, we beg, we plead with you, be reconciled to God. So that's urgency. Think about God's heart for you. The last three weeks, we talked about how patient it is, but think about how persistent it is to constantly pursue you so that you experience reconciliation. That's the heart we take as well.
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Urgent imploring looks like kindness that just keeps showing up. It looks like sending that fourth, gentle, I'm thinking about you text for the fourth week in a row. It looks like praying daily for the same name and not giving up after the first no. That's a culture of urgency. This is that important. This is God's urgency. The gospel offered again and again.
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And then finally, the word again, it does create a culture of reconciliation among God's people, among you and me, you and you. Think about what it means to carry out the ministry of reconciliation. It means taking everything that we have talked about with forgiveness, knowing that God has forgiven those sins. Not seeking justice from people, making them pay for their sins, but knowing Jesus paid for their sins. Having a posture of forgiveness towards someone, whether you feel it or not.
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It means having healthy boundaries before reconciliation. All these different things that we have talked about, what is it? It's putting the forgiveness of Jesus first, the gospel of Jesus first. It's first and it's last among us. It's everything. Right? What does it look like? It means cheering mercy over scorekeeping with each other. It means that we're going to protect people rather than polishing our image. It means we're going to measure success in our congregation by forgiveness or repentance and forgiveness rather than our busyness. That's a culture of reconciliation.
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It means that we speak God's words to heal to one another rather than our words to hurt. It means maybe praying with someone before just giving our advice. That's a culture of reconciliation. It means acting like an ambassador of a God who cares, who loves people. Meeting people where they are. Listening. Applying God's word to heal so that they can experience that reconciliation. That's a culture of reconciliation.
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And when we're doing these things, man, is it going to make a difference. It's going to just go into every area of your life. In your home, can you imagine this rhythm of repentance and forgiveness when brothers and sisters in the house are saying, I'm sorry, Jesus forgives you, I forgive you. When husbands and wives are saying that to one another and living it. Can you imagine your work life? You know, everyday life or just with your neighbors. Like not always being like, oh, against this person, but having that posture of forgiveness with people.
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And of course, it's going to permeate our congregation. This new status in Jesus, it's going to set the tone from the altar area to the coffee line and everywhere in between. Every group of people has a culture. Churches have a culture. Peace has a culture. So what is our culture? Let me end with the same question I began with. When our bolder friends come in, our neighbors, any guest comes in and they sit here in peace, what are they going to experience? Are they going to feel weighed or welcomed? What are they going to hear first from you? Your opinions or God's good news? What are they going to see from us? People, backs turned, protecting our group, our spots? Or people walking across the room to hear a gospel -driven greeting? How are they going to see us loving one another? Repentance, forgiveness, lived out?
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Well, I am absolutely confident of the answer to those questions. Why? Because you are reconciled people. We are a gathering of reconciled people. We have been entrusted with this message of reconciliation. And so that is what drives, that is what creates a culture of grace and reconciliation. Let that always be true among us by the power and the grace of our God.
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