Grace, mercy and peace through Jesus Christ, who has reconciled us to himself and now sends us out as his messengers of reconciliation. Amen.

2 Corinthians 5:14 For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵ And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. ¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ 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. ²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Lord, there is urgency and ecstasy in proclaiming the message of your great love. Allow your word to have free course, that it may declared among all peoples of the world. May we cheerfully support the cause of the gospel. Bless those who labor in far-off lands, away from loved ones and familiar places. Keep our missionary families healthy and in love with you as well as with one another. May their courage and zeal for the gospel be an example to us whenever we feel tired or are tempted to be apathetic, and may they always be found eager and willing to serve you and your holy name. Amen.

In the movie, "Dead Poets Society," the rather eccentric but very inspiriting English teacher, John Keating, played by Robin Williams, takes his senior class of boys into the foyer outside the classroom. There Keating says to them, ’"Carpe Diem. Seize the day. We are food for worms, lads. Because, believe it or not, each and every one of us in this room is one day going to stop breathing, turn cold, and die." Keating then turns the boys’ attention towards the trophy cases in the foyer, filled with trophies, footballs, and team pictures.

Keating says, "They’re not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Their world is their oyster. They believe they’re destined for great tings, just like many of you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in." The boys lean in and Keating hovers over their shoulders. He whispers from behind them, imitating the ghosts of the past. "Carpe Diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary."

This teacher, while he may have been inspiring, was teaching the boys that success in this life was the most important thing to pursue. He thought that everything ended when we all became "food for worms," when we all began a new job as daffodil fertilizers. However, as Christians we understand that there is much more to this life – there is a life to come. Keating was right in one respect, though. We must "seize the day." Now is the time to be reconciled to God. Now is the time to carry out our ministry of reconciliation. Now is the time to treasure the souls that God treasures – both our own souls, as well as the souls of others in our world. We must seize the day and spread the gospel so that many more might be saved.

We are reconciled to God. Reconciliation simply means being brought back into relationship, brought back into friendship. By nature we are enemies of God. We ignore him and disobey him. We hide from him. We avoid him. Our sins shame us and those sitting around us would certainly be ashamed if they knew the kind of sins we commit in private. And yet God still loves us.

A very famous verse in Romans 5 says this: "God demonstrates his love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." It goes on in verse 10, "For if, when 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." While we were still God’s enemies, ignoring him and rejecting his rightful lordship over us, he sent Christ to reconcile us to himself.

2 Corinthians 5 explains exactly how this works. You see, this reconciliation didn’t require God to say, "Oh I’ll forget about all the bad stuff, come and be my friend." He didn’t just ignore our misbehavior and rebellion. That would have made us into spoiled, rotten little brats – destined for eternal timeout in hell. Do you ever see any of those spoiled, rotten brats running around in the grocery stores or malls? They are racing up and down the aisles, screaming, throwing a tantrum when they don’t get their way, talking back to their parents – acting like little heathens. And those are just your kids. The other people’s kids are even worse.

If you ignore your child’s misbehavior, pretend it isn’t happening and no one is noticing, you are not helping your child. You are raising your child to be a selfish, self-indulgent, little brat, with no respect for authority. But if you deal with the problem right away with a stern warning, a time-out, a swift swat on the behind, you get their attention. You are correcting the problem that has developed in the parent-child relationship.

There is a problem in our parent-child relationship with our heavenly Father. The problem is our sin. That problem required God to absolutely deal with us and come up with a solution. God can’t accept us when we are black with sin. We have to be pure, white and clean. Otherwise we will stain God’s presence with a big, ugly, black smear – a stain that our holy God won’t and can’t put up with. So he reconciles the world to himself by not counting sins against people. Paul said, "God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them." But he didn’t just forget or pretend our sins weren’t there. Paul continues, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

Just as the consequences of sin is death and separation of God, being the righteousness of God means that we are clean and can approach God’s throne with confidence. We can be friends with God. We can truly be called his children. Jesus became sin for us by bearing those consequences in our place. He became God’s enemy, so that we could be God’s friends. In his anguished cry of "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me," he was cut off from his father’s presence, the unity of the Trinity severed in a tragedy beyond human understanding, so that we could be at peace with God. He became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God. That’s the message we’ve received, that’s the reconciliation we’ve enjoyed if we know Jesus – and that’s the message we need to be proclaiming. Since we have been reconciled to God, now we have been given the ministry of reconciliation to carry into our world.

Yet, how would you rate your personal and Epiphany’s congregational ministries of reconciliation? You know of God’s salvation, love, and forgiveness. Yet, how often do you witness your faith to others? Epiphany Lutheran Church was founded 79 years ago as a mission congregation. Yet, how much of our congregation’s budget is set-aside for missions and evangelism?

Think about what happens in our congregation or our personal lives when we fail to live Jesus’ mission for us. We nurse our tender and hurt feelings instead of caring about Satan harming souls. We are more concerned about the upkeep of buildings at home, school, and church then the upkeep of souls in our care. There are more people involved in cleaning, fixing, and working than reaching out, sharing their faith, and visiting the lost, lonely and hurting. More time is spent discussing personal and church finances than contemplating generous offerings to support worldwide missions. Time, talents, and monies are drained for things that won’t endure, while souls that needed to hear the message of Christ from you get missed. You see what happens when our focus is on property or self – we lose sight of souls.

64 percent of our offerings go to support our pastor and teachers. 27 percent of our offerings go toward facilities and debt. Only 3 ½ percent of our budget is divided between the WELS and Shoreland for mission work. That means the majority of our budget is spent on our church and school. That’s not bad. That’s actually a very good thing, as long as we don’t see our church and school as just "keeping the status quo" or only "educating our own." If we look back at the history of our congregation and look to its future, we need to see Epiphany Lutheran Church and Wisconsin Lutheran School as mission tools for the people of this congregation. We need to use our church and school to reach out and bring more souls to Christ.

However, sadly I have heard this kind of thinking too often from well-intentioned Christians, "We need to do more evangelism so that we have more people in church to pay the bills." "We need more tuition children in school to offset the rising costs of education." "More people means more money."

Is that why we do evangelism? Is that why we promote our Christian day school? Is that what being ambassadors for Christ means – bringing in more people so that their money comes with them? I hope that is not what Epiphany and WLS are about.

If people want to join Epiphany and send their children to WLS, that is awesome! We will accept them with open arms. We will gladly look forward to seeing them in our pews. But the main thing is that the people we meet are reconciled to God and that we will see them in paradise in heaven.

So often evangelism sermons like today’s sound good in church, but people fail to put these words into practice in the real world. Here is Paul’s motivation for your ministry of reconciliation once you leave this church: "For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." You have been born again through water and the Spirit in your baptism. You are under the influence of the Holy Spirit. When someone is under the influence of drugs or alcohol it affects his or her behavior. They walk, talk, and act differently. Since you have been truly changed by the power of God, you are compelled to live differently from the rest of the world. You are no longer living for yourself, but for Christ who died for you.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" We are transformed. We aren’t not like we were before in our sinful state. We have a new relationship with God. This new relationship creates a new attitude, a new way of making decisions, and a new lifestyle. And people are going to notice. They may think you’re a little weird, but real Christianity will always win out.

"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation." All these things are from God. This isn’t something that we come up with on our own. This isn’t something we do under our own power. If it were left up to us, we would never want to leave the comfort of our own home to talk to others about Christ. We would never feel comfortable sharing our troubles and weakness, our faith and salvation with another person. We would never spend the extra money to educate children in our school who are not members of our church. Yet, we do all that because this motivation came is from God.

Since we are different, new creations, and reconciled through Christ, Christ has given us this ministry of reconciliation. "[Christ] has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us." Being ministers of reconciliation isn’t just a desire, it is our job. We are God’s fellow-worker in spreading the gospel. We are God’s chosen instruments for spreading this message of reconciliation. We are God’s ambassadors, as though God was making his appeal through us. That’s our purpose for being here as Christians.

If God only wanted us in heaven, then he could have taken each of us in our baptismal grace. There must be a reason we are all sticking around. The reason is so you can spread the gospel and encourage others in the faith.

God has given us an immense privilege and an immense responsibility. God has asked us broken, sinful people to be in partnership with him. God has chosen someone who you know to be one of his people and is saying to you – "let’s work together to see this friend of yours saved." The God of the universe is saying, "Let’s work together". We’re part of his plan and we’re a crucial part of it – and there comes a fairly scary responsibility. If we’re Christ’s ambassadors, we represent him to the world. We represent him in the way we talk and in the way we treat each other.

"Seize the Day!" Now is the time for people to be saved. The opportunity will not last forever. We don’t know when Jesus will return. We don’t know when people will die, so make the most of every opportunity. Paul is urgent: "We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God." Today is the day for you to take up your mantle as an ambassador for Christ. You can’t put it off. It is God’s command and it is urgent. We have been reconciled to God and entrusted with the privilege of being God’s fellow workers. It’s a great gospel we’ve got, so let’s take it to the world. Amen.