Transcript

The following is entitled, “The Touch of the Master’s Hand,” by Myra Brooks Welch.

’Twas battered and scarred and the auctioneer, Thought it scarcely worth his while, To waste much time on the old violin, But he held it up with a smile:

“What am I bidden, good folks,” he cried, “Who’ll start the bidding for me?” “A dollar, a dollar; then Two! Only two? Two dollars, and who’ll make it three?

“Three dollars once; three dollars, twice; Going for three—” but no, From the room, far back, a gray-haired man, Came forward and picked up the bow;

Then, wiping the dust from the old violin, And tightening up the loose strings, He played a melody pure and sweet, As a caroling angel sings.

The music ceased and the auctioneer, With a voice that was quiet and low, Said: “What am I bid for the old violin?” And he held it up with the bow.

“A thousand dollars, and who’ll make it two? Two thousand! And who’ll make it three? Three thousand, once, three thousand, twice, And going, and gone,” said he.

The people cheered, but some of them cried, “We do not quite understand, What changed its worth.” Swift came the reply: “The touch of a master’s hand.”

And many a man with life out of tune, And battered and scarred with sin, Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd, Much like the old violin.

A “mess of pottage,” a glass of wine; A game—and he travels on. He is “going once,” and “going” twice, He’s “going” and almost “gone.”

But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd, Never can quite understand, The worth of a soul and the change that is wrought, By the touch of the Master’s hand.

This poem reminds us how Christ can touch a life and transform it and make it new by His grace.

2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

The “therefore” tells us these teachings are all built on one another like building blocks. You have “Wherefore,” in v. 16, and “Therefore” in v. 17.

When a person trusts Christ as their Savior, that He died for their sins and rose again, they come into union with the risen Savior forever and are “in Christ.” Being “in Christ” the believer is a new creation. We are made new in Him.

In Christ, old things pass away, all things and everything becomes new.

The earth now isn’t your home, you have a new home of heaven. Your calling isn’t to live for yourself, you have a new calling to live for the Savior who died for you and rose again. You are not the authority for how to live your life, that has passed away, you have a new authority for your life, the Lord and His Word.

You are not dead in sins, that old thing has passed away, you have new life in Christ, you have a new hope of the Rapture, you have a new body waiting for you in glory.

When “all things become new” at salvation, we gain a new motivation for who and what we live for: the love of Christ constrains us to live for Him, not for ourselves.

You no longer view people only after the flesh, that has passed away, you have a new view of people, you have new insight into how you view life, knowing that Christ died for all and that people need the Lord and the life, meaning, and salvation found in Him.

When “all things become new” at salvation, you no longer have to live for the temporal only, now you have new and eternal values, plans, loves, desires, that come from God’s Word based in Christ to live by.

In Christ, individually you are a new creation, and under grace you also become a part of a collective new creation, the Church the Body of Christ. When we are saved, we become members of and joined forever to the Church, the Body of Christ.

The Body of Christ is a new creation made up of believers who are all new creations in Christ. The Body of Christ is a new creation that didn’t exist in time past before the Apostle Paul. You can’t find the Body of Christ mentioned outside of Paul’s letters.

It was a new creation that began with Paul and was revealed only to Him. In this present dispensation of grace, all who have trusted the good news that Christ died for our sins and rose again, become members of the Church, the Body of Christ. We are all one in Him.

When we trust Christ as Savior, at that moment in time, we are instantly baptized by the Holy Spirit into Christ, into the Body of Christ, and all things are become new, and we are given new life, a new purpose, and a new hope, a heavenly hope.

And to the members of the Body of Christ, God has also given to us a new message to proclaim to the world: the ministry of reconciliation.

2 Cor. 5:18: “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.”

“All” the new things of those who are in Christ “are of God.” He is the Source and Author of them all.

Our new life in Christ, our new hope and calling, our new motivation, they are all of God.

The new creation of the Church, the Body of Christ, the new dispensation of grace, our new home of heaven, it’s all “of God” and based on the plans and purposes of God. And our reconciliation is all of God verses 18 and 19 show.

In this context in verse 14, we learn that because of sin, man was “dead” or separated from the life of God.

Colossians 1:21 says we were alienated from the life of God, “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled.”

Romans 5:10 says we were enemies of God. “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

Mankind was out of fellowship with God, separated, enemies, at enmity with God. The basic meaning for the word “reconcile” is “to change thoroughly.” Here it refers to the changed relationship between God and the lost world through Jesus Christ.

If you look at the enmity between God and man, it appears hopeless. You have a perfect, infinite, almighty, holy, righteous God whose justice must be satisfied by the punishment of all who have violated His laws, His righteousness and holiness. And we all have, because “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23 says.

Sinners cannot just decide to be reconciled to God and effect a reconciliation. You have a holy God whose justice against sin must be satisfied, and you have a helpless sinner who can do nothing at all to satisfy it. Mankind thus stands in a doomed position.

Any change that is going to come about in that relationship of hostility and enmity between God and man, any reconciliation, has to come from God.

That is the gospel, that God so loved the world that He sought a way of reconciliation. He sought the way to reconcile Himself with sinners.

Reconciliation is a divine provision by which God’s displeasure against man was appeased. The hostility was removed. Reconciliation is at the very heart of the gospel.

And it’s “all of God.” God provided it, God accomplished it, all we can do is receive it. It is offered to us as a gift. It isn’t achieved by us; it is only accepted or rejected by us.

We are reconciled to God “by Jesus Christ.” The Person who reconciles us to God is Jesus Christ, and the place where He reconciles us is His Cross.

The only way to satisfy God’s justice, to satisfy His wrath and vengeance against sin, and reconcile sinners, is through the perfect payment for sin by Jesus Christ at the Cross.

And thus, at the Cross, God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.

Verse 19 reads, “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”

Reconciliation to God is based on the imputation of sin onto Christ. The demands of God’s justice against our sins had to be paid for in order for anyone to be reconciled to Him. So the world’s sins were imputed to Christ at the Cross, because as it says, “He died for all.”

Now, anyone in the world can be reconciled to God, all can be and have the opportunity to be saved by the Cross and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The “not imputing their trespasses unto them” does not mean that man will never have their sins imputed to them again. The “not imputing their trespasses unto them” took place at the Cross. The time when “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them” took place at the Cross.

It’s another way of stating what verse 21 says, “For He hath made Him to be sin for us.” During those 3 hours of darkness, Christ was “made sin.”

God, during those 3 hours, took the sins of the world and did not impute them to the world, He imputed them all to Christ. And Christ paid for the sins of the world, and “He died for all” and paid sin’s penalty in full so that now, anyone can be reconciled to God.

God’s part in reconciliation is done. He has made the world save-able by the Cross. God has put away everything that meant alienation from His side, which took place by the perfect sacrifice and all-sufficient payment for sin by Christ.

Christ was the only sacrifice who could satisfy God. Christ is the only mediator who could stand between God and man. Christ is the only way. He is 100% God and 100% man.

He is the only one who could reconcile God to man, who could break down that animosity, He alone.

The Cross was and will always be the greatest expression of love the universe will ever know, when God extended His love toward sinners to the degree that He gave up His own Son to bear the punishment we deserved in order that we might be made right with Him.

Now God does not have to be reconciled to man. That was accomplished by Christ on the Cross, when God reconciled the world to Himself by imputing their trespasses unto Christ and Christ paying for all our sins. It is now man who must be reconciled to God.

And that is the message now that has been committed to us. The heart and soul of our responsibility as believers is that God has called us to make known the message of reconciliation. It is our duty then to tell people they can be reconciled to God.

Our message is a message of salvation. It is a message of the cross. It is a message of life. It is a message of reconciliation. And opposed to all the false teachings that exist in the world, it is the truth about salvation, it is the truth about the cross.

It is “committed” to us by God as our duty and responsibility in v. 19. In v. 18 we are given the “ministry” of reconciliation.

And the word “ministry” speaks of “service.” So it is our privileged duty and service to God, as we who live eternally, live not unto ourselves but for Him who died for us and rose again, to make this message known.

Our mission is to bring the message of reconciliation to all the world, because Christ died for all.

We are called to make known that that the relationship of hostility, enmity, alienation between God and sinful man has totally changed and just by believing that Christ died for your sins and rose again you are forgiven, you have new life, and are reconciled to God.

This is the greatest work in the world, because it deals with the greatest issue in the world, the eternal destiny of souls. And we carry out this ministry as “ambassadors of Christ.”

2 Corinthians 5:20: “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”

An ambassador represents his government in all of its character and all of its dignity. An ambassador is a minister of state, representing his own country in a foreign land. Paul always speaks of the ministry as an exalted and dignified calling.

Here he says the church is Christ’s ambassadors sent by Christ to the world in which we live. As ambassadors it teaches us that this world is a foreign land, and that our home is heaven. As ambassadors, we are spokesmen for Christ, we are His mouthpiece, we are His rescue workers.

Ambassadors are not free to set their own policies or develop their own message or promises. In the same way, we are called to live under the authority of Christ and the authority of the Scriptures, and the message we proclaim is God’s Word. We are Christ’s representatives. You could say that the Church is God’s “house of representatives.”

While Secretary of State during the Regan presidency, George Shultz kept a large globe in his office. When newly appointed ambassadors had an interview with him and when ambassadors returning from their posts for their first visit with him were leaving his office, Shultz would test them.

He would say, “You have to go over to the globe and prove to me that you can identify your country.” They would go over, spin the globe, and put their finger on the country to which sent—unerringly.

When Shultz’s old friend and former Senate majority leader Mike Mansfield was appointed ambassador to Japan, even he was put to the test. This time, however, Ambassador Mansfield spun the globe and put his finger on the United States.

He said: “That’s my country.” The Secretary said: “I’ve told that story, subsequently, to all the ambassadors going out. ‘Never forget you’re over there in that country, but your country is the United States. You’re there to represent us. Take care of our interests and never forget that you’re representing the best country in the world.’”

We must never forget where our home and our allegiance is. Our citizenship is in heaven. We represent heaven and Christ to this world. This is to raise our level of commitment to rightly represent our home and Savior by a strong testimony.

What also is to raise our level of commitment is know that we are ambassadors “for Christ.” We each represent Christ before this world. We are all the official representatives of God the Son!

As ambassadors and representatives for Christ, in our service of making known the message of reconciliation, “in Christ’s stead,” as Christ would do, our Lord would have us begging men and women, boys and girls, to be saved and be reconciled to God.

We beg and plead with people in light of the consequences if they don’t believe and are not reconciled to God, which is eternity in the lake of fire in torment in judgment for their sins. So Paul says “as though God did BESEECH you by us: we PRAY you in Christ’s stead.”

We are to urge and beg the lost telling them that God has removed the barriers and made reconciliation and salvation available for you if you will just receive it. You don’t have to do anything, you just have to receive it as a free gift by faith alone.

We call them to faith. We call them to believe in Christ’s provision.

We beg them and tell them verse 21: “For He [God the Father] hath made Him [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”

Out of love and grace, Christ was made sin for us. He died our death. He took our punishment. The fact and the truth that He died bearing our sin, takes our sins and punishment away, and it frees God to make us the righteousness of God in Christ.

When we believe the gospel, all our sins are forgiven, all our debts are gone, we are fully reconciled to God, we are declared righteous, and we receive the very righteousness of Christ, so that when God sees us, He sees the righteousness of Christ. And we are ready for eternity in heaven in the presence of God forever.

This is the message of reconciliation. This is good news, this is the best news. No message equals this one in importance.

This is what we live for. This is what the church should be willing to die for, this is what we preach for, this is what we serve the church and others for, in order that, in the end, this message of reconciliation might effectively reach unbelievers, that they might believe and trust Christ as their Savior and be reconciled to God before it’s too late.

Father’s Day 2005 was not a joyful day for Toby Hawkins of Bountiful, Utah. His 11-year-old son Brennan Hawkins had been missing for two days. A much-anticipated excursion at a Boy Scout camp in the rugged Uinta Mountains had turned tragic.

Somewhere between the camp’s artificial climbing wall and the chow hall, Brennan had become separated from the others. In spite of 3,000 volunteers joining with law enforcement search-and-rescue units to comb the windswept wilderness area 100 miles northeast of the Hawkins’ home, there was no trace of the boy.

As day three of the fruitless search gave way to day four, hope began to bow to reality.

An 11-year-old without food or shelter in the dangerous outdoors could not survive indefinitely. Forrest Nunley, like thousands of others, learned of Brennan’s disappearance on the news over the weekend.

Making himself available to join in the effort, the 43-year-old housepainter from Salt Lake City took Tuesday off from work and drove nearly two hours to the search area.

But instead of looking in the region where the search had been focused the previous four days, Nunley drove his ATV about five miles away from the camp.

By midday, he made the discovery countless people had been praying for. “I turned a corner, and there was a kid standing in the middle of the trail. He was all muddy and wet from walking over wet ground,” Nunley said.

Having discovered Brennan, the willing volunteer picked up his cell phone and was relieved to get a signal. He dialed 911 to report his find. It was a call that would precipitate a corporate sigh of relief and prayers of thanks.

One man’s decision to make himself available and be used on a life-saving mission was the link that saved Brennan Hawkins’s life. Your decision to make yourself available as God’s ambassador can be the link that saves someone from eternal death.