Reconciled | Sunday, May 2, 2021

For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. (Luke 19:10)

God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. (2 Corinthians 5:19)

We were made for connection with God and one another—yet only the cross can bridge the divide that sin has made.

Building Toward Reconciliation

I'm rarely shocked by the shifts in our culture. Sometimes I'm a little surprised, but rarely shocked. When I prepare a message, I begin by searching resources—passages of Scripture, biblical commentary, scholarly articles, sometimes data and research, and occasionally even news sources and op-eds in major publications.

We are currently talking about connection here at Cross Connection Church. Our vision is life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus. In previous messages I talked about the purpose of the church and the purpose of human beings as the creation of God. We were created by God to be in connection with Him, to experience perfect communion with Him.

Disconnected, but Sought

Because of the rebellious fall written about in Genesis 3, we are all disconnected from God. We desire connection with something transcendent, but in our own strength and by our own efforts we cannot achieve the connection we seek, no matter how hard we try. Jesus came to bring us back into connection with God.

Jesus came to this world seeking to save that which is lost. Luke 19:10 is one of His purpose statements—His mission is articulated in a dozen or more such statements in the Bible: "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost." Several weeks ago, on Palm Sunday, we looked at Zacchaeus, the tax collector Jesus met in Jericho. When the crowds were upset that He would interact with a sinful man, Jesus declared His mission.

Another clear expression is found in Mark 10:45: "For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." And in John 10:10 He says, "I have come that you may have life, and that you may have it more abundantly." Jesus came on a reconnection mission.

Reconciled Through Christ

The apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5 that God the Father "was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself." Ultimately, though we want to be connected with God, full reconciliation is not possible apart from Jesus's reconciling work, because our sin creates a gulf we cannot cross by our own strength. Using the same word translated "reconciling," Paul writes in Romans 5:

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly... But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us... For if when 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... through whom we have now received the reconciliation. (Romans 5:6–11)

We are reconciled to God through Jesus. The connection to transcendence that every human being desires is possible—only—in Christ. Ultimate connection won't be fully experienced until we are present with God in eternity. As David wrote some 3,000 years ago in Psalm 16:11, "In Your presence is fullness of joy, and at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore." That fullness of joy is what we were created for.

We Also Long for One Another

At a fundamental level we desire connection with God. We were made for it, we lost it through sin, and we can have it restored through Christ. But we also desire connection with one another.

In preparing this message I came across a recent essay published in the New York Times by a young African-American woman named Haley Blasengame. She writes about a recent breakup after five years and how, during the pandemic shutdowns, she has realized she identifies as what she calls a "solo polyamorous" individual. She doesn't want to be joined to one person for life; she cherishes autonomy and preservation of self. A monogamous relationship, for Haley, is confining.

That sentiment may not seem strange to a certain segment of our society in 2021, but it surprises me for three reasons.

A Crisis of Loneliness

First, it's surprising when juxtaposed with the increasing crisis of loneliness, which has been compounded during the shutdowns. In June of 2016, the then–Surgeon General said, "Our greatest public health crisis isn't cancer or heart disease; it's isolation." If isolation was the greatest public health crisis in 2016, it is certainly far worse now after fourteen months of shutdown.

Just last Thursday I came across a headline: "Two in three Americans feel more alone than ever before, and many admit to crying for the first time in years," from studyfinds.org. Sixty-seven percent say they feel more alone than ever; 55 percent feel they've completely lost their sense of community; 54 percent withheld talking to anyone because they didn't want to be a burden; and 46 percent cried for the first time in years at some point during COVID. Haley's essay about wanting to be solo and separated is strange to me because loneliness is at an all-time high.

It Resonates—But It Cannot Last

Second, her essay resonates with a relatively large and growing group of young people. I went to her Twitter account where she'd linked the essay, and most of the responses—from people in their 20s and 30s—were affirming. One said, "Freeing yourself from the suffocation of society is a great and worthy challenge." Another, "I'm daily impressed by the commitment to authenticity and selfhood I see in young women like you." Another, "I love people, I love relationships, but I feel more whole alone." And one more: "I loved this. So freeing... it is what I've been looking for without knowing I was looking for it."

Third, this resonates with people, but it's not possible—not for any sustainable period of life. It sounds good to have love without the responsibility of genuine connection, but it won't last. In the end, if you buy into this mindset, you'll be among the 67 percent who are alone and lonely, because loneliness compounds over time. We are not geared this way. As people move toward what they were truly created for—connecting with people—the one who clings to autonomy will eventually find themselves isolated and alone.

Made for One Another

We were made to live life in connection with one another. Genesis 1:26–28 says, "Let Us make man in Our image... male and female He created them. Then God blessed them... and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth.'" Why bless them to multiply? So they could be connected together as one in community—reflecting the perfect communion of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit within the Trinity.

Genesis 2:18 is a verse worth underlining: "It is not good that man should be alone." God did not create us to live solo, autonomous lives. Immediately after, in Genesis 2:21–25, God takes a rib from Adam and makes the woman, and Adam says, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh... Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed."

From one man, God made two—Adam and Eve—so that the two would be joined together as one. This is an issue of creation, not socialization. Marriage was instituted not by men but by God. The result of that perfect communion is fruitfulness and multiplying, more community, more harmony.

Living in Proximity, but Divided

We all recognize that we don't live perfectly connected lives. We live in close proximity to one another—here at our location we're within ten miles of nearly a million people—but we don't live in genuine communion. We may be more divided right now than at any time in recent Western history: divided over religion, sadly over skin color, over socioeconomic status, definitely over politics, and over ideology and perspective. Is it any wonder that at a time of great division we also have increasing isolation and loneliness?

Yet the aspirational message we're being sold by those who steer culture—through Disney Plus, Hulu, Netflix, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, podcasts, AM radio—is the idea of solo polyamory: that you can connect with everybody without any responsibility to those you connect with.

Where the Division Came From

Where did all this separation come from? The same answer as before. Genesis 2 ends with Adam and Eve naked and unashamed. But Genesis 3:6 says, "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food... she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings."

They were naked and vulnerable before, with no shame. As soon as they sinned, brokenness and shame entered, and they sewed fig leaves to cover up their own brokenness. That is the first evidence of religion in the Bible—man trying to fix the problem on his own—and it will never be sufficient. Division, separation, isolation, loneliness, and death are all results of the fall. What's amazing is that all our own efforts to deal with the brokenness only make things worse. We deeply desire unhindered connection, but it's impossible by our own efforts, even our best.

The Path and the Place of Reconciliation

So what is the answer? We turn to Ephesians 2, beginning at verse 14. Paul describes a separation between people groups—Gentiles "without Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel... having no hope and without God in the world."

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation... so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross... Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. (Ephesians 2:14–19)

Jesus is the mediator who reconciles us to God and to one another. The path of reconciliation is the gospel: Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us; His blood was shed, His body broken, and through His blood we are reconciled. And the place of reconciliation is the church, the body of Christ. Whether Jew or Gentile, whatever skin color, ideology, or political party—the church is where we are joined together as one. Through the blood of Christ we're reconciled; through the body of Christ we're united. That is the theological basis for our mission: life in connection with God, one another, and the world through Jesus.

From Theology to Practice

Now I want to move from the theological to the practical. I'm a huge fan of applied theology—it's not enough to know these things in the mind; we move from orthodoxy, what we believe, to orthopraxy, how we live it out. What does life in connection actually look like? I can't answer that exhaustively, but I can give you a beginning.

First, you must accept Jesus. You must put your trust in Him as Savior and Lord, receive His forgiving grace for your sins, and commit by His grace to become part of the church. We all live in a broken world and live broken lives because of sin (Genesis 3); we long for the better creation we read of in Genesis 1 and 2; and our own efforts—religion—will never be sufficient. So Jesus stands in our place and deals with our sins, so we can enter into connection with God and one another. Don't trust in your own works; trust in Jesus.

Connecting With God

How do we practically connect with God? Through the Scriptures, where we get to know what God is like and what He likes—His nature and His will. We can deduce some things from creation, but we need the special revelation of Scripture.

We connect with God through prayer, talking to Him and expecting that He hears and answers—and we see answered prayer here all the time. We connect with God when we gather and worship Him together in song. We connect with Him through communion, the bread reminding us of His broken body and the cup of His shed blood. We connect with Him through baptism, which we'll be talking about more in the coming weeks. We connect with God through sacrificial serving—giving of ourselves both here at the church and in our outreaches. And we connect with God when we give financially; it's a pattern in my life, and my wife's, to give of the firstfruits of all our income, sacrificially.

Connecting With One Another

How do we practically connect with others? One way is fellowship—what the Bible calls koinonia—living in communion and community with one another. We experience it when we gather on Sunday mornings, when we serve together on a service or outreach team, and through our Connect Groups, home groups that meet throughout our county to share a meal, encourage one another, hear about each other's lives, serve, and pray. You can learn more at lifeinconnection.com.

We connect with one another through serving each other, through worshiping God together in community, and through praying together for one another and for the needs of the church. And we connect when we care for one another. There are dozens of "one another" verses in the Bible—probably more than fifty—that say love one another, care for one another, bear one another's burdens, forgive one another, share with one another. Our aim as a church is to daily learn more of what it looks like to actually live those out.

Looking Ahead

Our vision is to experience, express, and extend life in connection in all that we do. We've talked about life in connection with God, and today about life in connection with one another. That final word—extend—is what we'll talk about next time: life in connection with the world. This is what Jesus commissioned His followers to do—go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, sharing this good news of restored connection, of being reconciled to God and one another. I hope you'll join us next time.

Closing Prayer

Father God, I pray that You would take the truths of Your Word and cause them to go deep into our hearts—that like a seed they would take root and grow up and produce fruit in our lives. For those who already have a relationship with You, begin to produce the evidence of Your Spirit—love, joy, peace, kindness, self-control, gentleness, all the good things described in Galatians 5. And for anyone watching who has not yet put their trust in You, draw them by Your Spirit to ask You into their life, to forgive their sin, to trust not in their own works but in Your saving grace. Begin a work of grace in their life. I know there are people watching who feel isolated; draw near to them, encourage them, and bring them into a place of connecting both with You and with others. We ask this in Jesus's name. Amen.