March 31, 2019                                                                    Text:  2 Corinthians 5:16-21

            A phrase we have spoken or have heard spoken when we see non-believers faced with worldly problems is, “How Do People Make It Without Christ?”  A group of believers may also utter these words when they are receiving peace and comfort in their troubles.  The answer to that question, “How Do People Make It Without Christ?” is . . . they don’t. 

            But you see everyone ponders the question.  The atheist, the agnostic, those searching, those turning their back on the church.  They deal with death and problems and challenges and without Christ they have nowhere to turn.  Being human can slap you in the face and with a brain everyone knows sooner or later someone is controlling the rolling sphere where we make our home.

            Let’s take Paul’s words this morning and see the importance of our Lord and what it means for our lives.  And so the questions once again . . .

“HOW DO PEOPLE MAKE IT WITHOUT CHRIST?”

            On either side – heaven or earth – the non-believer lives in a state of nothingness or eternal damnation.  There is no hope or purpose.

            Listen to this from a Dr. Howard J Van Till in an article entitled, “Faith and the Cosmos:  Our Search For Life.”  “Perhaps we should ask even deeper questions about life.  Not just, ‘Where is life?’  But, ‘Why is life?’  ‘What is its ultimate purpose?’  ‘Is it to experience love?’  Questions like this take us far beyond planetary cosmology and into the realm of human experience – from the purely physical to the profoundly spiritual.  If the giving and receiving of love is the ultimate purpose of life, then why is there pain and grief?  There is much that I do not know, but this I have learned:  one’s greatest experiences of love’s light follow one’s darkest nights of need.  Perhaps that is what finding life is really about.”

            Aspirin anyone.  Talk about depressing.  Life without Christ is nothing but an on-going puzzle with more and more questions.  “How Do People Make It Without Christ?”  They don’t.  They never have and they never will.

            Listen to Paul’s words in our text.  “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.  Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” (v. 16-19)

            All of Dr. Van Till’s questions are answered in these few verses.  Man rebelled, decay and death came, “pain and grief” to use Van Till’s words.  God did something about this separation from God.  He was reconciling the world and not counting their trespasses against them.  God sent Christ to pay for our sins and earn for us forgiveness.  He also gave us a reason for existing – He has entrusted us with the message of reconciliation.  We have words of comfort and hope for all the Dr. Van Till’s.

            When I was an accountant for my dad’s business, each month I had to reconcile the bank statements.  This means that what we had in the ledger lined up with the bank’s figures.  Like I do with our checkbook at home, I sat there at my desk until every penny was accounted for.  Being off 3 cents could take an hour or longer to figure out.  It was pure elation when those 3 cents were found.

            God does the same with us.  Our reconciliation took considerable doing.  Only God could manage it.  In this scenario we have no part in the reconciliation, God has done it all.  We could never track down or correct every error or sin we’ve committed in our dealing with God and neighbor.  God simply declares the accounts reconciled by stating:  “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Mt. 3:17)  The Father accepted the Son’s sacrifice and we are complete.  We are forgiven and heaven bound.  We make it with Christ as our Savior.

            Unfortunately, all of us sitting here today know someone or a lot of someone’s who are on the outside of Christianity.  They put on a good front but inside they hurt, they long for purpose, they ache for peace in their lives.  Who can share that with them?  You and I.  Our text says we are “ambassadors for Christ.”  Ambassadors in our world represent countries.  That government sends them.  Christ has sent us.  We speak His Words.  We share His love.  We talk of His plan of salvation.  Not everyone will eagerly receive this message.  But speak we do because there is no more glorious calling.  There is no higher honor God could give us than to be His ambassadors of reconciliation.

            The world continues to search.  Their human reasoning looking for answers.  We know the answer.  Aren’t you glad you know Christ?  And doesn’t that change the way you live . . . and see . . . everything?  Everything.

                                                                                                Amen.