The Word of Reconciliation

Note: This is a Bible lesson that I had prepared for the Elementary Age kids at the church I attend. Unless otherwise stated, Scripture passages are from the New Living Translation (which is generally easier for kids to understand than, for example, the New American Standard Bible).

Today we are going to do what is called a “word study”. Anybody ever done a word study before?

A “word study” is when you take one word or phrase and you look through the Bible to figure out what the word means. I most often do word studies for really big words that I come across in the Bible, and that is exactly what we are going to do today.

Today’s word that we are going to study is “Reconciliation”. Has anybody ever heard that word before? Does anybody want to try and guess what it means?

If you were to go to a dictionary and look up the words “reconcile” or “reconciliation” you’d find something like this:

To restore to friendship or harmony
A situation in which two people or groups of people become friendly again after they have argued.

Now let’s imagine that there are two friends, we’ll call them Timmy and Felicia. They’ve been best friends since they were babies. But one day Timmy decides that Felicia isn’t “cool” anymore, and he tells her that he doesn’t want to be friends with her anymore, and that her hair is ugly. What can we say about Timmy and Felicia’s relationship? It is broken. What needs to happen now? Timmy and Felicia need reconciled. They need reconciliation.

This is just a cheesy example, but our goal today is to figure out what “reconciliation” means in the Bible, and how we can then apply it to our lives. Ready?

I am going to read four passages, and as I read them I want us to answer two questions:

What is the relationship that is broken?
How is the relationship reconciled?

Romans 5:1-11

1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.

2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.

4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.

5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.

7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good.

8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.

10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his son.

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

The relationship between sinners (us) and God.
We have “peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us” (verse 1) “We have been made right with God through the blood of Christ, saving us from the condemnation of God” (verse 9). “Our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son” (verse 10). “We can now rejoice because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God” (verse 11). “We have been made right in God’s sight by faith” (verse 1).

Colossians 1:15-20

15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,

16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see – such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.

17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.

18 Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything.

19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ,

20 and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

The relationship between EVERYTHING and God.
“He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.” (verse 20)

Ephesians 2:11-22

11 Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” be the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts.

12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.

13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.

14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us.

15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups.

16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.

17 He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near.

18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.

20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself.

21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.

22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

The relationship between Jews and Gentiles (the two primary groups of people in the ancient Jewish mindset, you could also say this is the relationship between “God’s chosen family and the outsiders”).
“Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ” (verse 13). “He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us” (verse 14). “He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups” (verse 15). “Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death” (verse 16).

2 Corinthians 5:18-21

18 And all this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.

19 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.

20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making an appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”

21 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.

The relationship between God and people.
“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” (verse 21).
BONUS QUESTION: What can we do now that we have been made right God? Tell other people this great news!

Review

What does reconciliation mean?
What are some of the broken relationships that we went over that need reconciliation?
What should we do now that we have this great news that we are reconciled to God through faith in Christ?