Week of July 22, 2024
Extraordinary Life in Jesus - Reconciled
Central to the Christian Good News and our extraordinary life with Jesus is that through him, we are reconciled with God. This week we’ll explore this amazing truth and give thanks that the barrier of sin and judgement has been broken down by Jesus.
Monday | Ephesians 2:1-10
In this reading, the Apostle Paul describes the necessity and therefore the central nature of God’s reconciling grace for the Christian faith. What do you think Paul means when he describes his readers as “dead in your transgressions and sins” (v.1)? How does that describe your situation with God without Jesus? Why does this make “grace” necessary? Martin Luther defined grace this way: “Grace means the favor by which God accepts us, forgiving sins and justifying freely through Christ” (Luther's Works Vol. 12, p. 376). How would you define God’s grace given to you (vs.8-9)?
Tuesday | Ephesians 2:11-21
Paul goes on to describe the situation of his Gentile readers before they came to faith in Christ: separated from God and from God’s people of Israel (vs.11-12). What’s been your experience of feeling like an outsider, as if you didn’t belong? What has Jesus done to break down barriers of spiritual and ethnic separation (v.14-18)? What was the end result for his first readers (v.19)? How does it feel for you to now be a spiritual insider, to know that you belong to Jesus?
Wednesday | Colossians 1:15-23
Here the Apostle exalts in the supremacy of Jesus, especially concerning his mission: “to reconcile to himself all things” (v.20). What’s your first reaction to “all things”? Dr. Paul Deterding writes, “Here Paul indicates the scope of Christ’s work of reconciliation, namely, that the whole ordered universe be reconciled to him … The reconciliation of the universe means its restoration to what its Creator intended for it. It is brought into harmony with the Creator through being under the headship of the risen and exalted Christ, who “made peace” (1:20), thus bringing the restoration of peace. All people in Christ are now reconciled to God willingly through faith (which receives forgiveness), and they will be completely restored by the resurrection of their bodies to the state of incorruption and complete harmony with God, their Creator, and Redeemer.” [Paul E. Deterding, Colossians, 60.] What aspects of God’s creation and humankind do you most long to have reconciled with him? What aspects of your own life (physically, mentally, relationally, and spiritually) do you know are not fully what the Creator intended? Reflect on what it will be like to have these transformed in earthly life and fully restored and recreated in heaven.
Thursday | Romans 5:6-11
In this reading, the Apostle Paul again emphasizes the necessity and the nature of God’s saving work through the sacrificial death of Jesus. How does Paul describe our situation without Jesus (vs. 6,8)? What does it mean that we are spiritually powerless and undeserving? What does Jesus’ death tell us about God (v.8)? To be “justified” before God is a legal term meaning to be “declared not guilty,” to be made right with God. But then in v. 10, Paul switches to reconciliation. Dr. Douglas Moo writes, “Reconciliation language, on the other hand, comes from the world of personal relationships. “To reconcile” means to bring together, or make peace between, two estranged or hostile parties.” He notes that the language of reconciliation wasn’t used much in other religions. But in the Christian faith, a relationship with God is the core gift given through Jesus. [Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, 311.] What does it mean for you to be in a reconciled relationship with God? What becomes our response to this gift (v.11)?
Friday | 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
What do you think is the “worldly point of view” toward others that Paul references in v.16? How has this perspective on other people changed given that God has reconciled “the world” to himself (v.18)? What is the message that we are to bring to the world (v.19)? How do you carry out your mission of being Christ’s ambassador in your daily life (v.20)?
