 |
2000-12-13 - Reconciliation
The Christmas season is fully upon us. Just what was God's plan in bringing
about Christmas? Why did He decide to manifest Himself as a human being?
Why did He provide this wonderful plan of mercy, grace and love that I often
cannot begin to comprehend?
Jesus came to reconcile man to God.
Hebrews 2:17 (LB) And it was necessary for Jesus to be
like us, his brothers, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High
Priest before God, a Priest who would be both merciful to us and faithful
to God in dealing with the sins of the people.
He came also to reconcile us with each other. Throughout the Bible, we find
examples set by Jesus and others, of reconciliation between individuals.
Jesus must have thought that reconciliation should be a high priority in
our lives. Nowhere else in the Bible can I find an instance where a teacher
instructs someone to leave the church and make up with someone before giving
an offering.
Matthew 5:23-24 (LB) So if you are standing before the
altar in the Temple, offering a sacrifice to God, and suddenly remember that
a friend has something against you, leave your sacrifice there beside the
altar and go and apologize and be reconciled to him, and then come and offer
your sacrifice to God.
Esau and his brother Jacob were reconciled:
Genesis 33:4,11 (LB) And then Esau ran to meet him and
embraced him affectionately and kissed him; and both of them were in tears!
11 Please accept the present that was brought to you, for God
has been gracious to me and I have all I need." And because Jacob insisted,
Esau accepted it.
Luke tells about the reconciliation of Herod and Pilate:
Luke 23:12 (LB) That day Herod and Pilate became
friends-before this they had been enemies.
This is hard stuff. It is difficult to do. But it is Biblical and I have
seen it work in both my own life and other people's lives. So let's just
go through this next passage and see the steps Jesus lays out for us to take,
when trying to restore a relationship.
Matthew 18:15-17 (NIV) If your brother sins against you,
go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to
you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one
or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony
of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the
church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you
would a pagan or a tax collector.
Step One is the most difficult one. Jesus is saying for us to go to the person
with whom we have a problem, share our feelings and do it in private. Our
natural inclination is to go tell everyone we know, except the person that
we feel has wronged us. Before long, the situation has been stirred and changed
into something even worse than the original version. And more harmfully,
the telling of others can turn into gossip.
I am not a very confrontational person. Therefore this first step is very
difficult for me. I have written short notes to people, and at other times
called them on the phone. I once came out and asked for a private meeting
face-to-face. But in the few times that I have invoked the Matthew 18 principle,
the dispute was settled after Step One. The dispute never went any farther.
Please don't think that all this happened very quickly. One reconciliation
took me ten years to complete. Often we become paralyzed with anger and can
never take this initial step, but if we really want to live as fully-devoted
followers of Christ, we must try.
The second step, if necessary, is to take one or two people along with you
to serve as witnesses to the process. I am assuming that this other person
or two would help mediate the matter and provide unbiased opinions of the
situation, in order to help start a process of healing and understanding.
The conflicts that I have seen, have been resolved with Step One, so hopefully
the third step in this plan will not be necessary. When needed, its purpose
is to shed light on the dispute. It serves as a way to reprimand the guilty
party while hopefully setting up a means to restore him back to fellowship
with others and with Christ. I recently witnessed a successful example of
this step in action. The situation was somewhat different as it involved
a church member and a pastor. The pastor had committed a sin. Another pastor
confronted the pastor, who denied the charge. The pastor and an elder of
the church then confronted him. Though the evidence against the pastor was
overwhelming, he was still unrepentant. However, he did resign. The church
was told of the reason for the Pastors' resignation and the healing has begun.
So there you have it -- a simple yet profound, three-step Biblical plan of
reconciliation, given to us by none other than the great Reconciler himself,
Jesus Christ. Now the question is: Are you ready to take the first step?
Try it; it works. What better time than now, to start on a path of reconciliation
with someone in your life?
Father-thank You for giving us such an amazing book,
the Bible, which contains Your word and Your instructions for doing life
right. Help us make this Christmas season a season of reconciliation. Just
as You sent Your Son to reconcile us with Yourself, help us to follow His
example. In Christ's name, Amen.
David Massey
david@masseyre.com
http://www.cfdevotionals.org
http://www.peacewithgod.com |
 |