WHAT IS LIFE SERIES?
THE GRACE OF RECONCILIATION PART 3: MAN TO MAN
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1. Jesus’ prayer for man’s unity
- Jesus called them His very own
- Unity according to the pattern of unity in heaven John 17:21
- Purpose of this unity
- is to make a public statement / declaration as a testimony for the world, as a witness that God sent Jesus to the world John 17:23 ‘… that the world may know that You have sent Me”
20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will[a] believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. John 17:21-23
2. Jesus’ command
- Jesus resounded the Shema
- In its entirety, the Shema consists of three paragraphs: Deuteronomy 6:4–9, Deuteronomy 11:13–21 and Numbers 15:37–41.
- the greatest commandment / the essence / culmination of the Torah
- The First Greatest Command: to love God fully and wholly:
- man to God
- with all heart, with all soul, with all mind, with all strength
- The Second Greatest Command: to love your neighbour as yourself:
- man to man
- a description of love that is the supreme way to love
- is more than sacrifice Mark 12:33
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one![a] 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:4,5
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” 37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment.39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22:36-39
29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’[a] This is the first commandment.[b] 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 So the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. 33 And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul,[d] and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Mark 12:29-33
3. God’s command
- 10 Commandment
- honour father and mother
- to have a long life
- in God’s promised land
12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. Exodus 20;20
4. Jesus’ model prayer
- reverence to God and declaration of God’s glory
- preeminence of God’s will on earth
- provision of daily provision
- forgiveness of debt from God as man forgive their debtors
- double mention, the only part Jesus’ exposed
- to forgive other’s trespasses to receive forgiveness from own trespasses
- protection from the wiles of satan
9 In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come.Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation,But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.[a]
14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Matthew 6:9-14
The Unholy collaboration
Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. Genesis 11:1-9
Principles of unity:
means to an end, without ethics
1. Unity based on race and language Genesis 11:1
2. Unity based on intention Genesis 11:4
3. God accredited to their unity, the power of one Genesis 11:6
- unity of race
- unity because of language
- unity makes them unstoppable i.e. they will be able to accomplish what they propose to do
The definition of reconciliation:
- English word: to reconcile from 2 Corinthians 5:19
- Greek word: 2644. καταλλάσσω katallassó
- I change, I exchange, I reconcile.
- HELPS Word-studies 2644 katallássō (from 2596 /katá, “down to an exact point,” intensifying 236 /allássō, “to change”) – properly, decisively change, as when two parties reconcile when coming (“changing”) to the same position.
- HELPS Word-studies 2644 [2644 (katallássō) was originally used for the exchange of coins; “properly, to change, exchange (especially of money); hence, of persons, to change from enmity to friendship, to reconcile” (A-S).]
Dedication Song.
Key C
Let There Be love Shared Among Us
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