Huggable or Buggable

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CrossPointe Community Church
P O Box 126
Chippewa Lake, OH 44215

CALL TO WORSHIP

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
Romans 5:6-11

Reconciliation is perhaps the easiest way to understand our keyword for this Lenten series: ‘atonement.’ Unlike last week’s word, ‘covenant,’ or ‘redemption,’ or ‘justification,’ which we will consider as part of this series, ‘reconciliation’ is a term we use much the same way today as it was when Paul used it. Allow me to remind you that ‘reconciliation’ occurs when two parties who were at odds with one another over some issue decide that the issue is not going to destroy the relationship, so they deal with the issue and makeup with one another.

SCRIPTURE

You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.

So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.
Matthew 5:21-24

Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know Him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself (reconciled) through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” (“Be reconciled to God!”) For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
II Corinthians 5:11-20

SERMON

Huggable or Buggable

Randy K’Meyer

In the late 1800s, there were two deacons in a small Baptist Church in Mayfield County, Kentucky. I don’t know if they were related to the Hatfields and McCoys, but these two guys just didn’t get along at all. In fact, they flat-out despised each other.

On one particular Sunday morning one of these deacons came to church and was told that his nemesis was responsible for placing a wooden peg in the back wall so the minister could have a place to hang his hat. Well, this deacon was simply outraged that he had not been consulted. He went to the next board meeting and made an issue of it. The board took sides, and when word got out, so did the congregation. Despite the best efforts of the pastor to bring about reconciliation, the church eventually split over the issue. And to this day, in Mayfield County, Kentucky one can worship at the, get this, the Anti-Peg Baptist Church. ¹

Would you agree with me that there is a need in the world today, perhaps more than ever, for reconciliation? There are those voices in America that would have us believe that these United States have never been more divided than now. I am not intelligent enough to be able to verify whether or not that is true. However; I believe that all of us can agree that as long as humanity has existed, there has always been a need for reconciliation.

Reconciliation between people; all kinds of people! And, more importantly, according to today’s text from II Corinthians, reconciliation between people and God.

Why does Paul urge us to be reconciled to God?

Because until reconciliation occurs, we are enemies with God.

Some of us probably just heard that and thought to ourselves, ‘I am not nor have I ever been an enemy of God. I mean don’t get me wrong, there have been times when He and I haven’t been on the greatest of terms. I’ve skipped out on a lot of church, I’ve gone weeks without praying, done this, forgotten that, but in no way would I consider myself an enemy of God.’

And yet we have already heard today, in his letter to the Romans, Paul declares that people without Christ are enemies of God (Romans 5:10). And to the Colossians, he writes, “You were His enemies, separated from Him by your evil thoughts and actions” (1:21b).

Ah, there’s a reminder of the old, old story. In the beginning, God created people to live in friendship with Him. But something went terribly awry in paradise when the man and the woman decided they could get along just fine without God, thank you very much. The Bible calls that rebellion sin and sin creates an issue between us and God; an issue that if it isn’t dealt with in this life, will have a negative effect on us in the next, if you get my drift.

And so it is fortunate for us that God provided a way for there to be reconciliation between Him and us.

Perhaps an illustration of reconciliation between people will help. Suppose you had a quarrel with a friend. In the heat of the moment, strong words that shouldn’t have been spoken were spoken. Later you chill and you begin to think, ‘I was a fool to argue like that. He or she has always been a good friend; I feel terrible.’

So you decide you are going to do what you have to do to repair the damage. If it was a harsh word, you apologize; if you didn’t speak, you speak. If it was a misunderstanding, you do your best to clear it up. You owe that person some money, you pay it back. And you always include those magic words, ‘I’m sorry.’

As far as it is possible with you, you remove the root cause of the enmity because you know that the root cause has become a barrier between the two of you. And you know that only when the barrier has been removed can reconciliation occur between you and your friend.

We have seen that sin is the root cause of the enmity between us and God. If there is to be reconciliation between us and Him then the barrier caused by sin must in some way be removed.

But we have a problem. The Bible tells us that no matter how hard we may try to remove the sin barrier by engaging in good deeds or being a good person, we just can’t do it.

As Paul clearly states in his letter to the Galatians:

Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law” (2:16).

The good news is that what we couldn’t do, God could, and He did! He sent His own Son to die on a cross so that our sin could be covered over; thus removing the root cause of the enmity between us and God, and paving the way for reconciliation to take place.

God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting their sins against them.
II Co 5:19

Is God no longer counting your sins against you? Have you come to grips with the fact that if He is, then you are still His enemy? But you don’t have to be. It is His fondest desire to see you become His friend through what His Son did for you upon the cross.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s parents disapproved so strongly of her marriage to Robert that they disowned her. Every week, Elizabeth wrote a letter of love to her mother and father asking for a reconciliation, but sadly, they never once replied. After 10 years of writing weekly letters, she received a huge box in the mail. She quickly spotted her parents’ return address. As she joyfully began to tear open the box. She could feel her heart racing as she anticipated words of reconciliation. But to her dismay and heartbreak, the box contained all of her letters, not one of them was ever opened.

Today those love letters are among the most beautiful in classical English literature. It is said by many that had her parents only opened and read a few of them, they would have been compelled to reconcile with their daughter.

The Bible is our love letter from God.

God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them.
II Co 5:19

So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
Romans 5:11

Now that we have been reconciled to God, how should we then respond?

He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.
II Corinthians 5:19b

To be sure, Paul is primarily referring to our opportunity to foster reconciliation between people and God. However; because we peeked at Matthew’s gospel about reconciliation between people, it would be prudent for us to give that some attention.

Remember, reconciliation doesn’t describe good relationships in general, but rather, good relationships which follow when some sort of strife has been overcome.

In a Peanuts cartoon, Lucy says to Snoopy, “There are times when you really bug me, but I must admit there are also times when I feel like giving you a big hug.” Snoopy replies, “That’s just the way I am, huggable and buggable.”

Hey, that’s the way most of us are! Sometimes we are huggable. And at other times, buggable.

We’re like the proverbial porcupines trying their best to endure a Northern Canadian winter, in which to get warm they huddle together. But when they do, their quills begin to jab each other, so they move apart. Before long they are shivering again, so they move close again, only to feel the stab of the other’s quills. And so it goes as they continue this strange dance in the winter night.
Like the porcupines, we need each other, but we have a way of needling each other, thus the need for reconciliation.

Is there someone in your life who you have been needling, or who has been needling you? If so, decide you are going to do what you have to do to repair the damage. If it was a harsh word, you apologize; if you didn’t speak, you speak. If it was a misunderstanding, you do your best to clear it up. You owe that person some money, you pay it back. And you always include those magic words, ‘I’m sorry.’

Do this before it is too late and something small festers into something much larger that is also much harder to resolve. Take care of this as soon as practicable or before you know you’ll have an anti-peg Baptist Church or Elizabeth Barret Browning situation on your hands.

Now from Jesus, back to Paul.

God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him.
II Cor 5:18

And those of us who have been reconciled with the Father through the merits of Christ have been given the opportunity; yea, the responsibility to participate, in some way suitable to us, in the ministry of helping others be reconciled to God.

When I say suitable to us, God knew what He was doing when He made us. He custom-designed each of us with a unique combination of personality, talents, and temperament. And He wants to use each of us in our unique own way to help others be reconciled to God.

A study of the New Testament in this regard helps tremendously, as we discover all sorts of people with different skills and personalities being used by God to bring about reconciliation between God and people.

Peter, for example, was a very confrontational person, who was very successful in confronting people with the claims of Christ. Some of you are, by nature, confrontational people. God is ready, willing, and able to use you to reach the kind of people who will only respond to someone who directly but gently confronts them.

Similarly, Paul in Acts, like some of us can, took an intellectual approach to bring about reconciliation between God and the kind of people who need to be intellectually engaged (Acts 17).

And then there is the blind man’s testimonial approach: Look what Jesus did for me, “I was blind, and now I can see!” (John 9:25).

And then there’s the Samaritan woman’s invitational approach, “Come and see this guy Jesus, He knows all about us.” (John 4:29).

“He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” (II Cor 5:19b-20).

Now it just so happens that our next Process of Discipleship class will focus on this ministry of reconciliation. Like Annie’s class When God’s People Pray this one will take place after worship and will include a light lunch. Our facilitator will be Jim Brandenburg and as it stands now, the first one will take place Sunday, April 2nd. So please mark your calendar.

According to an old legend, after Jesus is crucified, resurrected, and returned to heaven, the angels gather around Him in amazement, gazing at the wounds in His hands and feet. Finally, Gabriel speaks, “Master, You suffered terribly down there. Do they know and appreciate how much You suffered in order to bring about reconciliation between them and the Father?”
“No,” Jesus replied, “Not yet, right now only a handful of people in Palestine know.”
“Then what’s the plan to get the word out to the rest?”
“I’ve asked Peter and James and John and a handful of others to spread the word. They will tell others, who will tell others, and in this way, the word of reconciliation will find its way across the whole wide world.
But Gabriel, knowing the nature of human beings asked, “What’s Plan B?”
“I have no plan B,” replied Jesus, “There is no alternative strategy, I’m counting on them.”

21 centuries later, He still has no other plan!

And so my friends, Let us “Shout to the north and the south, sing to the east and the west, Jesus is Savior to all, Lord of heaven and earth.”

Why? “For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation” (II Corinthians 5:19).

1 quoted from: Doyle L. Young, New Life for Your Church, © 1989,
[Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, © 2004] Page 270. https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/contention-intervention-john-williams-iii-sermon-on-contention-269078