Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 02 October 2022 and 12 Jan 2025, by Major Michael Ramsay
Our
passage today, Romans 5:8-11, is about reconciliation:
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were
still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified
by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10
For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the
death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved
through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
This
passage, especially Verse 10, speaks about being enemies and this inevitably
reminds me of war. Especially these days when the war rhetoric is at such a
feverish pitch! War then inevitably reminds me of Remembrance Day and our need
to never forget and never get drawn into a global catastrophe like the world
wars again. Remembrance Day is a key event in our community and in the Royal
Canadian Legion’s calendar.
I am
the legion padre and as such am honoured to participate in quite a few different
legion events. The Legion is about remembering our service people and wars and
how many died longing for peace – dreaming of the day when we have no more
enemy to fight.
Verse
10 of our text today says this:
“For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the
death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved
through his life!” We were Christ’s enemies: When we were not under
Christ’s leadership, we were by definition under our own or another’s
leadership. We were not citizens of His kingdom and therefore we were citizens
of a rival and that rival was at war with Christ. and thus (and possibly even
by our own actions, deeds, words, and thoughts) we were His enemies.
One
might say, “Don’t be silly; I wasn’t God’s enemy! When I didn’t know God, I didn’t
do anything against Him. I did good things. I didn’t hurt anybody. Just because
I didn’t serve Him, that doesn’t mean that I was ever God’s enemy, does it?”
The
Apostle Paul contrasts two groups of people in his letters: citizens of heaven
(people who follow Jesus) whom he calls ‘saints’ and citizens of anyplace else whom
he calls ‘sinners’. Paul defines the sinner simply as a member of a movement at
war with Christ. This member is an enemy of God, in much the same way that
whenever Canada invades another country, I, as a Canadian, am their enemy. Even
if I don’t bomb their hospitals and schools myself, even if I disagree with the
war, I am their enemy as I am a member of this country. Likewise, a sinner is
simply anyone who is not presently experiencing the joys of “life with Christ”
because they are not yet with him, they are with the enemy (cf. Ro 5:1, 12:12,
14:17, 15:13).
We
know that pretty much all countries at war do terrible things – just look at
the news about what Israel and the US are doing in the middle east right now! Politicians,
soldiers, citizens of countries at war do and our responsible for terrible
things!
During
the second Word War, we know of the horrible things Germany and Japan did. The other
side, our allies and Canada as well. We treated our fellow Canadians of German,
Italian, Ukrainian and especially Japanese ancestry as our enemies. We
confiscated the assets of Canadians of Japanese origin and moved these citizens
into interment camps. (The famous Canadian scientist and environmentalist,
David Suzuki, spent part of his early life in a Canadian internment camp.) We
treated people as our enemies. And as is shown through the official government
apologies and tax money paid in reparations by Canadians who were not even
alive during the Second World War, the repercussions and the liability for our nation’s
actions rest with all of us.[1]
I read
a book a while ago, Girl #85: A Doukhobor Childhood.[2] It tells the
story of Canadians of Russian decent here in BC whom our government took from
their families, banned their language, their culture, their traditions, and put
them in residential schools that were more like jails in the latter half of the
20th Century - during the lifetime of many people in this room. And, of course,
as we now have TRC, Orange Shirt Day here, we all are at least vaguely familiar
with the IRS that First Nations children were sent to across this country. The
one here, run directly by the Canadian government, I understand, was
particularly bad. The actions of politicians and others whom we may never have
met, and may have died before we were ever born, have caused much damage and
made us enemies of people we have never met. There has been all kinds of
hardships and abuses suffered directly and indirectly (and many of those
responsible such as the political parties who planned and orchestrated these
things and some of the individuals who perpetrated the horrors) and as a result
all of us have suffered a rift, a division from what happened and so we are all
in need of reconciliation.
The
author of Hebrews puts it this way, in the context of our relationship with
God, he says that every time we sin we are taking up arms against Christ
(Hebrews 10:28-30). Therefore, as Paul argues in his letter to the Romans,
before we served Him, our moral self-government warred perpetually against
Christ, whether we knew it or not – and we have suffered the consequence of it.
Now, lest we think all is lost and that we cannot possibly be reconciled with
each other and God, Paul writes, Romans 5:6, “at just the right time, when we were still
powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” Verse 8: “but God demonstrates His own love
for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Verse
10, “while we were God’s
enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of his Son, how much more,
having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” and not
only this but, Verse 11,
“also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now
received reconciliation.”
So
here is the thing about reconciliation. There is nothing you and I can possibly
do reconcile ourselves to God. The rift is too big; humanity was the
perpetrator of that rift and we are not in a position to initiate
reconciliation. We can confess, we can repent, but we cannot reconcile without
the full participation of the victim and without forgiveness. Desmond Tutu
says, “there is no future without forgiveness”.[3] Reconciliation is the
healing of a rift. It is repairing relationships. It is making things whole
again. Reconciliation is never a one-way street. Reconciliation can only occur
as people walk side-by-side as brothers and sisters.
Wally
Samuel, a Nuu-chah-nulth elder, said, I believe, on one Orange Shirt Day, that
reconciliation begins when we work again, when we have jobs again , when we are
part of society again alongside others again. I think of Hereditary Chief Jeff
Cook who is a member of Rotary, on the board of Directors of the Sage Haven
Society and the Bulldogs. I think of Judge Wolf. I think of Remi, Christina,
and others who work alongside us everyday as part of our team here. This is
reconciliation in action in the Canadian context and the Port Alberni context
and in our context here in this place. We have all been offered this great
opportunity to live out reconciliation with our friends here whom we love.
I
think of those addicted and living with alcoholism who were once at war with
themselves and others through their addiction, who have now been freed and are
living sober, clean lives helping and encouraging others. Pointing them to the
freedom of reconciliation.
It is
the same with you and I and God. Jesus has made it possible for you and I and
everyone to be reconciled to God. He has made it possible for you and I to come
and live and work with and for Him. He has forgiven us. As such He invites us
to join Him in His work, in our work, by loving our neighbour, serving others.
by -for example- working on the food truck, serving in the soup kitchen,
volunteering at the Thrift Store, in the Food Bank, at the seniors homes, with
the kids programs and kitchen programs upcoming, with worship team and Bible
studies and if we have done all that we can possibly do with any of those
things and we can’t possibly do anymore, we can still live out our reconciled
lives with Christ by tithing, read our Bibles, and just spending time cuddling
up to God, sharing with Him the news and the joys of our life here. We are
invited to reunite with our Heavenly Father today . We are invited to live
reconciled lives. As such, it is my hope that we will all live out our lives
fully reconciled with God – even beginning today.
Let us
pray.
---
[1] Michael
Ramsay, Salvogesis Guidebook to Romans Road (The Salvation
Army: Vancouver Island, BC, 2022), Chapter 5
[2] Helen Chernoff
freeman, Girl #85: A Doukhobor Childhood (FriesenPress,
Victoria, BC, 2013)
[3] Desmond Tutu. No
Future Without Forgiveness (New York, NY, USA, Double Day, 1999)
January 12, 2025
Responsive Reading:
Psalm 118
Blessed be the Name of
the Lord
Cry of My Heart
Step by Step
Offering
Prayer
Scripture Romans 5:8-11
This Little Light of
Mine
I Have Decided to
Follow Jesus
My Jesus I Love Thee
Message
Amazing Grace
Just as I am
Jesus All for Jesus
Extra Extras:
Send the Fire
Benediction
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