3.4.2026

I was with a colleague at a music conference some years back. While purchasing some music, my friend was treating the person at the cash register like a servant.  It was embarrassing. Finally, I whispered to her, “Take a closer look at who you’re ignoring.” Her eyes got huge and completely changed her attitude toward the “clerk.” 

The “lowly clerk” she treated like a nobody turned out to be one of her favorite composers. 

We hate to be stereotyped and judged, but do we do it? The problem with a stereotype is it never tells the complete story. I personally hate to be labeled. I’m artsy – I enjoy classical music,  but I also like murder/suspense movies and the Marx Brothers. My brother is a man’s man who loves the outdoors and Alabama football, but he cries watching romantic comedies. 

Is there a label that covers all that? 

When we see certain individuals, do we immediately assume things about them? We look at people who are different from us and we make value judgments about them. Humans love to categorize people and then judge them based on that category – and ignore the rest of their humanity. 

But in Christ, we can’t do that. 

To look at a person as a category and not as a person is anti-Christian (you can quote me on that). In II Corinthians 5, Paul writes, “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.” But, you might argue, that is talking about our sins being forgiven. Oh, yes – but wait! There’s more! Look at that verse in context: 

“From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view [literally “according to the flesh”]  . . . So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us . . .”

Our old way of looking at people, at judging people, has passed away. We no longer judge people by human standards because in Christ there is a new creation. Through Christ, our broken relationship with God is restored  and so are the broken relationships we have with those around us. Those comfortable categories – those familiar, beloved and very convenient stereotypes by which we judge another person’s worth – well, you can toss those out of the window.  

This is an often overlooked part of the gospel, but it’s at the heart of the gospel. Reconciliation is the reason Paul wrote Galatians, Romans, Ephesians and Colossians. In fact, Paul spells it out for us in Colossians 3:9-11 (this is right before that verse we’re memorizing):

“. . . you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!”

Look at how Paul cuts right through our favorite categories: Race (Greek/Jew), Religion (Circumcised/uncircumcised), Culture (Barbarian/Scythian), and Class (Slave/Free). Before you start treating women like second class citizens, in Galatians 3:28, Paul adds “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

Gosh. You’d think “there is no longer”! Paul repeats “there is no longer” so often it must be important! 

Race. . .  Religion. . .  Culture. . . Social Class. . .  Gender. . . all irrelevant. How is this possible? 

Through Christ. Through Christ we are reconciled to God, and we are reconciled to one another. And now God sends us out into the world to be ambassadors of reconciliation.   

Reconciliation is a big word we rarely use. The Greek word, apokatallasso means to bring something back into harmony. It means to bring amity where there once was enmity, friendship where there was hatred,  leaving nothing that stands in the way of peace and unity.

It doesn’t mean “tolerance.” That is a stupid, over-used word. Why do I hate that word so much? It doesn’t go far enough (try it out on your spouse and see where it gets you!).  John 3:16 doesn’t say, “For God so tolerated the world.” Our mission is not “Loving God . . . Tolerating Others.” Tolerance is not enough. Don’t just tolerate someone . . . love them. 

In everyday life, we are not to pass judgment, but to bridge all gaps – be they historical, traditional, social class, gender, racial, religious or ________ (you can fill in the gap). We are to approach everyone, no matter the race or gender, whether  rich, poor, middle-class, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian – whether it’s a label they may espouse or a label loaded on them – with steadfast, loyal love, unconditional forgiveness and godly reconciliation – just like God showed us. We are compelled by the love of Christ to show love – not just tolerance – to others. 

We’ll  look at what one writer has called “God’s on-site job of reconciliation” this Sunday, when we read the story of the Samaritan woman at the well and see how Jesus demonstrated  reconciliation. I believe it’s one of the most important passages in the gospels. Come Sunday and find out why!

Blessings, 
Pastor Terry