This isn't the sixties and it isn't the eighties. We're knocking at the door of the 21st century, but I read in the Bible that we are to give priority to being a new creation in Christ Jesus and to the ministry of reconciliation. I wonder if we learned anything at all from our past mistakes.

CONSIDER PAUL'S PHILOSOPHY OF LIVING AND DYING

So what do we do about it? I could do what a lot of others have done - rehearse a long laundry list of charges and allegations against the church, but I really don't want to continue the practice of genocide against ourselves. But how do we get things back on target? We are now ready to look at some of the material Paul wrote in the first part of the chapter.

In the first ten verses, Paul talked about living and dying. He wanted us make sure that we understand immorality. He said,

Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. (verse 1)

For Paul everything that's here is temporary. He made that point quite eloquently back in chapter 4. We are a pilgrim people. Peter said in 1 Peter 2:11, "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul."

We will never see ourselves as carriers of the ministry of reconciliation unless we understand that. Certainly, we have to deal with the business, the commerce and the industry of the world that's here and now, but we must never allow ourselves to forget that we live in a temporary tent. And that means the ministry of reconciliation between God and people is the only thing that ultimately counts.

When you get your priorities straightened out, then you'll inevitably find yourself looking for that city whose builder and maker is God. If we're too much attached to this world, then verse 2 will come across like a sour note in a concert, but if we really believe we are a new creation; if we really believe we've been reconciled to God and it's our business to conduct the ministry of reconciliation, then verse 2 will be right in tune with our thinking and we will, "groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling."

THE LOVE OF CHRIST

There's one more thing we need to consider in the text and that's our motive for the ministry of reconciliation. He never says "The world is lost if you don't get out and win souls, their blood is gong to be on your hands." He never says, "You can't go to heaven unless you take somebody else with you." He never says, "the fruit of a Christian is another Christians." What he does say is this.

For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died (verse 14).

If we are going to be changed from a group of people who are preoccupied with ourselves, committing genocide against one another, to a new creation, a group of people who think differently, act differently and respond differently to the coldness of the world, we'll do it because the love of Christ compels us to do it. If the love of Christ, doesn't compel us, I frankly do not know what will.

CONCLUSION

What is needed is an awareness of who we are, regardless of where we are. We are representatives of Christ. Some people will never see Christ at all if they don't seem him living in us.

Years ago, I worked in a bus ministry. We picked up children from homes where Christ didn't have a very high priority. Basically, we offered free baby sitting for a couple of hours. One morning, I picked up a little tyke and sat him down on my lap. He looked up and me and said, "Mister, are you God?" That will certainly get your attention. I assured him that I was not God, but when I think about it, I was God's representative. His contact with me and with those bus workers may have represented his only contact with God in his early years. That's why it's so important to seriously think about your role as Christ's representative.

Norman Bales
Southern Hills Church of Christ
Norman's e-mail address: nlbales@allaboutfamilies.org

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