Message Information
- Key Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 5:18-21, NASB
- Series: Sent for the Sake of the Gospel (2026), no. 3
- Date: Sunday, June 14, 2026 (Morning)
- Venue: Central Baptist Church — Lawton, Oklahoma
- Speaker: Jared Byrns
- Audio File: Open/Download
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The Message of Reconciliation
A British film crew made a series of travel documentaries several years ago that I like to put on in the background while I’m cleaning or doing things around the house. I’ve seen them about fifty times at this point, so I can usually just listen. But there is one scene where I always have to stop and pay attention.
The crew is visiting Vietnam, where they meet a group of elderly gentlemen who had served in the North Vietnamese Army. During their visit, those men sit down with a similarly elderly group of Americans who had served during the Vietnam War—what the Vietnamese call the American War. As it happens, these men had once fought against one another.
The Vietnamese men explain that some of their comrades were killed when this particular group of Americans, who were serving in the Air Force, flew over and dropped bombs on their positions. The Americans talk about friends who were killed when their planes were shot down by Vietnamese soldiers firing anti-aircraft guns. Yet, to the shock of the interviewers, these former enemies sit down to dinner together and reminisce about the friends they lost, what their experiences were like, and where life had taken them since.
They talk and eat together like old friends. It was shocking to the interviewers, and it was shocking to me the first time I saw it. It is still shocking when I stop and think about the reality of what they were doing.
The interviewer asked both groups, “Do you hold any animosity toward these men?” I realize their answer is not everyone’s experience, but they gave similar responses: “How long should I hold on to what an eighteen-, nineteen-, or twenty-year-old young man did fifty years ago? He was doing his job. I was doing mine. It was unfortunate that we were put in that position.”
I think about how difficult that would be—to sit down with someone you had once gone to war against and make that kind of peace. Again, I know that is not the experience of everyone who has fought in a war. But for those men, that was where they had come: a moment of reconciliation.
Reconciliation is what happens when something broken is put back together. It may be a relationship or a situation. It does not necessarily mean that it will look exactly as it did in the beginning. In some cases, it may become stronger and better than it was before.
I bring that up because 2 Corinthians 5 speaks about reconciliation. It describes us as ambassadors of reconciliation on God’s behalf to a world whose relationship with Him is broken. That is where each of us begins: separated from God, with that relationship broken. Yet He has called us to serve as ambassadors of reconciliation.
As we spend this summer looking at matters connected to the Great Commission and what our church is here to do, we need to understand what we are inviting people to. This is what every church is called to do, though we are responsible for our own church. The gospel is a message of reconciliation.
When we carry out the Great Commission, we are not inviting people merely to us or asking them to like us. Hopefully they will, but that does not always happen. We are not even ultimately inviting them to Central Baptist Church, though we want people to come, worship with us, and become part of our church.
The end goal is not attachment to us, a particular church, or a particular activity. It is an invitation to be reconciled to God. All the rest can follow, and that is wonderful. But we must recognize what the invitation truly is: reconciliation with God.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:18–21:
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. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Saved by Grace and Sent with Purpose
We see immediately in verse 18 that we are saved by grace and sent with purpose. We could shorten that and say that we are saved to be sent, but I want to make sure we understand what that does not mean. We are not implying that God saves us because of what we can do for Him after salvation.
God does not say, “I have plans, and I am going to send Huey. I know he will be capable of great things, so I am going to save him for that reason.” No, God saves us because He is loving and kind, and because He shows grace in spite of what we deserve. Yet even though He does not save us because of what we can do for Him, He still has a purpose in mind once He saves us. He has a plan for us.
Paul begins verse 18 by saying, “All these things are from God.” When I initially started working on this sermon, I planned to begin several verses earlier. For the sake of time, however, we begin in verse 18. “All these things” refers to what Paul has described throughout chapter 5 leading up to this point.
Going back to verse 14, Jesus died to bear our punishment. That is an enormous thing that has been done for us. According to verse 15, He purchased us. In verse 16, Paul explains that He changes the way we see things. That verse can be a little confusing in the way it is worded, but I believe it refers to what Paul describes elsewhere: the Holy Spirit enables us to perceive spiritual things.
Then we come to verse 17, where Paul speaks of the new life we have in Christ. All the old credentials he describes elsewhere—whether earlier in this letter or in Philippians 3, which we will look at tonight—may make him look good on paper. But they mean nothing in comparison with what God has done.
All these things God has done for us have nothing to do with the list of what we bring to the table. Despite any credentials we may have, we also bring sin, selfishness, and all the rest. Yet in spite of what we bring, God does a work in us.
When Paul says, “All these things,” he is referring to salvation, and he says that all of it is from God. The payment for our sins is not something we earned or deserved. Spiritual freedom is not something we gained on our own. The ability to see and discern spiritual things is not something we gave ourselves. New life is not something we accomplished. All these things are from God.
It is important for us to understand that salvation is by grace. It is not based on what we can do for God, either before or after salvation. We all have things we are not especially good at. Sometimes even the things God calls us to do are not the things at which we feel most capable.
Those of you who have been here for any length of time have heard me get tongue-tied while trying to preach, and yet God calls me to keep doing it. God has a plan and a purpose for us when He saves us.
Verse 18 says that He “reconciled us to Himself through Christ.” When He did that, He had a plan and purpose in mind. That purpose is spelled out at the end of the verse: He gave us “the ministry of reconciliation.”
Your conversion—the moment you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior—was not the end of your walk with God. It was only the beginning. Sometimes we act as though we simply need to get people saved and then move on. Do not misunderstand me: salvation is the ballgame. But there is more afterward. Salvation is the beginning of our walk with God, and His plans for us involve sending us.
That is why Paul speaks of this ministry of reconciliation. God has done all these things that we did not deserve or earn. He has given us all these spiritual gifts in salvation. They are free to us, though enormously costly to the God of all creation. Then He says, in effect, “There is more that I have for you.”
This does not mean that His work is a burden placed on us, as though we must now pay for our salvation. It is a privilege in which we are allowed to participate. We get to do the things God has called us to do.
I love that, at least once a week, someone here tells me that he or she had an opportunity to share the gospel, help someone in need, or pray with somebody. They are excited about it. Doing the Lord’s work and fulfilling the Great Commission is not drudgery. It is a privilege in which we get to participate.
You and I are saved by grace, and then we are sent with a purpose in serving the Lord.
Entrusted with the Message
Paul elaborates in verse 19 on what this ministry of reconciliation involves. God has entrusted us with a message of reconciliation. That is why I began with the story of those former soldiers. We know what reconciliation is, but we do not always think of it in terms of the gospel.
When we think of the gospel, we do not always think of reconciliation as our message. Yet the ministry of reconciliation described in verse 18 is the message of verse 19: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.” That is our message.
Why is that important? Because much of the world thinks our message is, “Do better. Try harder. Be like us. God is mad.” That is what many people believe Christians are saying.
I hesitate somewhat over the phrase “God is mad,” because God is not pleased with sin. At the same time, He is loving enough to provide a way of reconciliation. The obstacle between God and humanity does not have to remain, because God has done the work.
The passage does not say that we reconcile ourselves. It says that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. God has done the work. Jesus made the sacrifice.
Reconciliation means that a broken relationship has been repaired. In this case, we are speaking of the relationship between God and humanity. What broke that relationship? Sin.
Why does sin break the relationship between God and man? Is it because God is a cosmic killjoy who refuses to let us have a good time? No. We were not made for sin, and sin goes against the very character and nature of God.
Why is lying wrong? Because God is a God of truth. Truthfulness is part of His nature. Why is stealing wrong? Because God is a God who gives, not one who robs and takes what does not belong to Him. Of course, everything belongs to Him, but that is a matter for another day.
Every command God gives us—everything He tells us to do or not to do—reflects who He is. That is why He tells us in both the Old and New Testaments, “Be holy, for I am holy.” What we are called to do is tied to who He is.
When we choose sin, we are not merely saying, “God, I prefer something different from what You prefer,” as though I want Thai food while Charla wants Taco Casa. I am not going to take that personally. We simply have different preferences.
But if my wife said, “I hate Thai food and everything about you,” I might take that a little more personally. When we choose sin, we reject the holiness of God that lies at the very heart of who He is. Sin therefore stands between us and God. It breaks the relationship.
The good news is that this broken relationship can be repaired through Jesus Christ. Verse 19 says that God is “not counting their trespasses against them.” God knows our sin is there, yet He chooses not to hold it against us. Why? Because of Jesus Christ.
It is not because God suddenly became unconcerned about sin. It is because the sin has been paid for. The punishment has been carried out, and Jesus has taken that punishment.
Because God is a just Judge, the crime must be answered for. Suppose a murderer or child molester is caught, the evidence is overwhelming, the jury finds him guilty, and the judge simply says, “It is all right this time. We will let him go.” People would rightly call for that judge’s removal, because that would not be justice.
A just judge ensures that the penalty is carried out. The Father does that, but the Son willingly took the punishment for our sins. Because the penalty has been paid, God chooses not to count our trespasses against us.
Because of what Jesus Christ has done, we can be reconciled to the Father. All the necessary work has been completed. Everything that stood between God and humanity has been removed by Jesus Christ, and the relationship can be restored.
That is the message we take to the world. It is not, “Do better. Try harder. Be like us. Do everything the way we want you to.” The message is, “You can be right with God. You can have a relationship with the God who made you. You can be restored to fellowship with Him.”
You do not have to carry your sin and remain separated from God by it. You do not have to remain enslaved to it. You can be set free and made right with God.
That is the message He has entrusted to us. According to verse 19, He has “committed to us the word of reconciliation.” It is now our role to announce that reconciliation to the world.
We need to understand this because, although we probably know that the word gospel means good news, we sometimes approach it as though it were bad news. Admittedly, bad news is involved: our sin and our separation from God. Yet we can become fearful and apologetic when we share the gospel, as though we were saying, “I am sorry to bother you, but I need to talk to you about your car’s extended warranty.”
We act as though we are imposing on someone. But we possess the best news anyone has ever shared: the separation between you and the God who made and loves you can come to an end. You can be brought back together with God, and you do not have to earn or deserve it. He has already done the work.
That is an incredible message to bring to people: you can be right with God.
Ambassadors for Christ
Verse 20 calls us ambassadors of reconciliation. We call the lost to reconciliation as ambassadors for Christ.
It is amazing how God works. When the music for today was selected last month, I had no idea I would be preaching from this passage or even preaching this series. I did not know which verses had been chosen to appear on the screen before the final song. Yet one of those verses spoke of this very truth. It makes me think God wants us to understand that we are ambassadors.
As ambassadors, we represent Christ and share His message with authority. One of my favorite television shows from years ago was Madam Secretary, about a woman who unexpectedly found herself serving as secretary of state. I cannot recommend everything in the show, so please understand that. But I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes depiction of dealing with ambassadors and foreign governments.
I know it was fictional, but I learned a great deal about how that world operates. When a country sends an ambassador to another nation, it must choose someone trustworthy, because that person will speak on the country’s behalf.
If I need to send a message to Charla while she is elsewhere in the house and I do not want to go find her, I might send one of the children. I am not necessarily going to send our youngest child unless it is a very short message, because the message may get jumbled.
Yesterday our youngest child relayed something that sounded as though Charla had “capped somebody with her gun.” I do not even remember what she had been trying to say or what someone had told her. To be clear, Charla does not own a gun, much less use one to shoot anyone. It was simply a message that became badly jumbled.
I love our youngest child, and I have nothing against her. She is four. But I cannot trust her to deliver a complicated message accurately. I would be a little more willing to send Benjamin or Madeleine and trust that the message would arrive correctly.
Whenever we send someone to speak on our behalf, trust is involved. A nation sending an ambassador wants to make sure that ambassador correctly communicates its policies so that no one accidentally starts World War III or ruins a trade agreement.
God has placed you in a position of trust. He has committed this message to you. That ought to amaze us, and it ought to make us a little nervous because of the awesome responsibility we have been given.
We speak as ambassadors. We have been entrusted with getting the message right. That does not mean you must memorize a canned presentation. It means you need to understand the message well enough to share it with a world that needs to hear it.
We represent Christ, and we share His message with His authority. That matters because the world will sometimes ask, “Who says?” The answer is, “He does.” If someone does not like it, the argument is ultimately with Him. He is the One who said it.
There have been difficult things I have had to preach, particularly from 1 Corinthians. At times I have prefaced a message by saying, “If you do not like this, take it up with the Holy Spirit and the apostle Paul. I am not the one who wrote it.” God said it.
We speak with Christ’s authority because He has sent us. Yet the passage also says that we appeal to people. We invite them. There is even an element of begging or pleading with them to be reconciled to God.
That pleading does not come from a position of weakness. When God makes His appeal through us, He is not saying, “Please, please, I am incomplete without you.” That is not the picture here.
We plead on God’s behalf because we understand what is at stake. Jesus was clear about what happens when a person remains separated from God for eternity. He spoke clearly about the reality of hell, and He also spoke about the peace with God that believers will enjoy in heaven.
There is much we do not know about heaven. We ask whether particular descriptions are literal or symbolic. I simply want to be where Jesus is. I am satisfied with whatever heaven looks like if I get to be with Him.
I know I do not want hell. The torment described there may not even be the worst part. The worst part is the recognition that Jesus is not there—that the love and presence of Jesus are absent.
We plead with people, not because God is weak, but because we know what is coming. We say, “I am begging you; do not do this.”
Have you ever tried to talk someone out of a bad decision? Maybe it was a friend, a child, or a grandchild. Sometimes you become a little more forceful when it is one of your own children. You plead, “I am begging you not to make this decision.”
In the same way, we plead as representatives of a God who desires to show mercy. He loves sinners enough to show mercy, but He will not compromise His holiness in the process.
The work has already been done. God has already done what was necessary. Therefore we say, “Come and be reconciled to Him.”
We call people out of love and out of concern for them. This is the point of the gospel: reconciliation with God, proclaimed by ambassadors for Christ.
The gospel is not, “Do better,” “Try harder,” or even, “Be sincere.” We sometimes hear people say, “As long as someone is sincere.” I have heard preachers say that in television interviews. But a person can be sincerely wrong in his response to the gospel.
The answer is not to achieve a particular state of mind. It is not to hope that God will tip the scales in our favor. It is not any of the substitutes for hope offered by other religions. It is the call to be fully and entirely reconciled to a holy God through Jesus Christ.
We must understand that Jesus has done the work and now calls us to be right with God because of what He has done.
It is like the prodigal son we studied several weeks ago in Luke. The son did not have to earn or deserve anything. He did not even get through the explanation he had prepared. He turned back to the father, and the father received him with open arms.
The Sinless Substitute
We end with the truth of verse 21: reconciliation is possible only through the sinless Substitute. It is not enough for us simply to say, “God, I am back.” If Jesus had not died and paid for our sins, reconciliation would not be possible.
This passage about reconciliation is inseparably tied to verse 21: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf.” The Father took the Son, who was just as sinless as the Father and just as fully God as the Father, and placed our sin upon Him.
Jesus was made to be sin for us. He took responsibility for our sins at the cross. When He died there, He was nailed to that cross in our place. He shed His blood in our place. He died in our place with our sin upon Him, “so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Our sin was gathered up and laid upon Jesus as our Substitute so that it could be paid for and forgiven. Then, in one of the most unequal exchanges in history—but also the most gracious—His righteousness is credited to us.
When we are reconciled to God, He does not say, “Things are fine now, but I will bring up what you did the next time I need ammunition in a fight.” You may know people who do that. God does not do that to us.
He chooses not to hold our sin against us. He looks at us and sees the righteousness of Christ. Our sin was placed on Christ so that His righteousness could be credited to us. Through that exchange, we can be reconciled to God.
What is necessary is that we acknowledge our sin and admit that we are wrong and God is right. We acknowledge that our sin is evil and separates us from Him. We believe that Jesus died to pay for that sin in full and that He rose again three days later, demonstrating His victory.
Then we ask for His forgiveness. The Father is eager to grant it. He is eager for what Jesus purchased to be applied to you.
If you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, the message is clear. Acknowledge your sin. Trust Christ as your Substitute. Ask Him for forgiveness, and He will give it.