How to Witness: The Ministry of Reconciliation

Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. (2 Tim. 2:23-26)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor. 5:17-21)

These two paragraphs teach how to minister and how not to minister. The passage in 2 Timothy speaks of four wills that are involved in a man’s conversion:

1. God’s will
2. The Christian’s will
3. The non-Christian’s will
4. Satan’s will

The key will in the passage is the Christian’s will. He is told how not to witness and why. He is told how to witness and is told what the effect of that witness will be.

In 2 Corinthians, we find out five things:

1. The Christian is reconciled.
2. He has been given the ministry of reconciliation.
3. He has been given the message of reconciliation.
4. He has been given authority to speak for Jesus Christ.
5. God has given us the gospel.

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Roots by the River

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