"Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation." (2 Cor. 5:18-19 NASB)
I truly believe in these two verses we find the heart of the gospel and the heart of God's identity and character. The word reconcile or reconciliation essentially means "re-establishing relationship." Through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, the relationship between God and man was reconciled. The sin that had started in the garden was anulled and now we have not only forgiveness in Christ, but full access to God. As Paul writes elsewhere in the New Testament, "The Lord is near." This is the word of reconciliation that began in Jesus' proclamation: "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand." (Matt. 3:2 NASB) A way has been made for the re-establishment of the relationship between God and man. "This is the LORD'S doing; It is marvelous in our eyes." (Psalm 118:23 NASB)
However, the work of reconciliation did not end at the cross, or even at the empty tomb. It continues today through the work of everyday, ordinary people. The Kingdom of God advances in the world today through the Church of Jesus Christ as it has for the last 2000 years since Christ was walking the earth physically. We have gone forth into all nations, yet there remains a people group to which the "keys of the Kingdom of God" have been withheld. They, for the most part, have had the "key of knowledge" withdrawn so that they might not enter in the gates of the Good Shepherd's fold.
The people group to which I am referring is that of the community of men and women with physical or mental handicaps. Their numbers are growing at an alarming rate, yet the Church of Jesus Christ as a whole has not opened our doors to them. The percentage of children born with Autism has grown to 1 in 150 children and truly has reached epidemic status, yet if one were to survey the number of churches who had a special needs ministry and/or class we would likely find the number to be more like 1 in 150,000. Couple this with the general prevailing attitude towards families with special needs children and you find that they are not only isolated from Christian community, but they are isolated from Christ.
We must do better. We as ministers of reconciliation must take initiative to elliminate those barriers which Christ has destroyed by His death, resurrection and ascension, "for you are all one in Christ." We must take the news that "God was in Christ" reconciling the world to Himself. We must bind up their hearts with the earth shattering news that God did not cause their children to be born with disabilities, but He can cause good to come out of it. We must share that the character of Jesus Christ and His ministry contained in the words of Luke 4:18-19:
"The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because He anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord."
This is a word of reconciliation that must be worked out in the lives of those to whom the Kingdom of God must go...
Shalom my friends,
Pastor Jeremy
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