January 14 Part 4 - God has invited us to be part of reconciling all things back to him

Picking up where I left off on the meta-narrative of the Bible. . . 

 

Part 1, God created order out of chaos. Part 2, mankind is drawn to the chaos. Part 3, God reconciled us back to him through Jesus. And part 4, well I told you it was embedded in our last text. So let’s see if you picked up on it. . . 

 

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

 

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 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.

 

Did you catch it? 

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.

 

This is it, 

 

Part 1, God created order out of chaos. Part 2, mankind is drawn to the chaos. Part 3, God reconciled us back to him through Jesus. And part 4, God has invited us into the process of redeeming all things back to him. 

 

This is the privilege we have as God’s children. We get the awesome opportunity to help reconcile all things back to God. 

 

While this is evident in the Old Testament too, this is especially the message of the new Testament. So let me give that to you first. 

 

Acts 1:4-8

On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” 

 

Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

 

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you: and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 

 

Jesus told them that they would receive power to be his witnesses. The Holy Spirit was coming into the world to empower them to help reconcile all things back to God. 

 

Listen, the Holy Spirit was given for one reason alone. That was to help bring people into right relationship with God. This was an agent of power that would help bring restoration to the entire world. And God didn’t leave it to chance that we would receive this reconciliation. He empowered believers to be part of the process. 

 

You and I are invited into the redemptive work of God. 

 

And he has given us the Holy Spirit to help us do this work. 

 

So it’s that easy. 

 

Part 1, God created order out of chaos. Part 2, mankind is drawn to the chaos. Part 3, God reconciled us back to him through Jesus. And part 4, God has invited us into the process of redeeming all things back to him.

 

Everything we read throughout the entire Bible will always point back to one of these four pieces of the meta narrative. Sometimes you will find more than one of these pieces in a particular narrative. But you will always find at least one. Each piece of the Bible will always point back to one of these parts to the meta-narrative. 

 

For the remainder of the year, we will take time walking through various Bible stories and taking a look at what they say, which part of the meta narrative they point to, and why they matter to us. 

 

But for now, that’s all the time we have for today. . . I love you . . . and God bless.