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Evangelism itself is a form of mediation, what the Apostle Paul calls “the ministry of reconciliation.”  An evangelist mediates between God and a lost soul toward salvation.  The sin of a soul offends God, one estranged from Him, and the evangelist mediates with the gospel.  When I write that, I do not mean that an evangelist is a mediator, like 1 Timothy 2:5 says that Jesus is.  No man comes to the Father except by Jesus Christ (John 14:6).

Ambassadorship Mediation

2 Corinthians 5:18 gives the sense of mediation in evangelism, when it says God “reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.”  Then it follows, “and hath given unto us the ministry of reconciliation.”  Jesus Christ reconciles to God as the Mediator.  Still, however, God also gives believers the ministry of reconciliation.  In the next verse, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself,” but he has “committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”  The mediation believers do is by “word.”  We talk to people.

Verse 20 says that we are “ambassadors for Christ,” so this is like diplomacy.  Ambassadors represent one nation to another nation.  “We are ambassadors” is the Greek presbeuo, used only here and in Ephesians 6:20.  Presbeuo is “to be a representative for someone” (BDAG).  The way we participate in this mediation is through word, and the message of words that we speak as ambassadors Paul writes in verse 21:

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

That one sentence encapsulates the gospel.  It’s something believers can speak as diplomats for God with total authority from Him.  The goal is to bring someone in the kingdom of this world or the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God.

God then wants unity between those in His kingdom.  The New Testament shows that to be in a true church.  It also reveals that churches should want unity with each other too.  These realities I wrote about earlier in this series.

Mediating Harry and William as an Example

The Situation

True reconciliation necessitates God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each of the members of the Trinity.  No true peace will come without the Lord.  He provides the basis of peace, first getting right with God through Jesus Christ.  Harry and William won’t have that without humble submission to God’s Word.

Much of the world knows about the rift now between the two brothers, sons of King Charles of England, William, the heir to throne, and Harry.  Harry came out this weekend in anticipation of his published autobiography and said he wants his father and brother back.  Is this to say, he wants reconciliation and mediation?

In accordance with true reconciliation, Harry cannot have it on his terms alone.  He announced to the world that the relationship between him and his dad and brother did not have to be this way.  On the other hand, Charles and William view the relationship a different way.  If they were talking, I think they might say the same:  “It didn’t have to be this way.”  What would it take to restore a relationship, so it is no longer ‘this way’?

Mediating The Conflict

I use Harry and William as an example because they are a prominent conflicting relationship with an obvious barrier between them.  Anyone can see both what the discord or dispute between them is and how reconciliation and mediation could occur.

Harry might not take take reconciliation or mediation.  He receives his greatest income by telling family secrets.  In mediation, if that could occur, I would confront both sides about keeping internal family disputes secret.  They settle them in private only.  If Harry chooses to leave his royal duties, he must give up his titles.  Any money he makes must exclude public ties to the monarchy.

I would take Charles, William, and Harry through their grievances.  Each would confess what I knew, what is proven, to be true.   Both must repent, and then forgive.  Each party must keep all listed ground rules for the future.  As a result, both sides have their brother, their sons, and their father again.

Realities of Mediation

When I write about mediation, I am not writing about compromise, the wrong idea that two sides get together and come to some middle ground.  It may seem like that, because the mediator listens to both sides.  They both may have different versions of the same event.  Both parties also might have their own set of grievances against the other party.  When the mediator listens to one side and agrees with that side, the other side might view that as compromise, when it isn’t.

Sometimes what one side sees as a violation the mediator says is Christian liberty.  He may identify it as a doubtful disputation.  One side may think something is what it thinks it is, but a mediator says, “No, it isn’t.”  Coming to some of those types of decisions is why two sides get a mediator.  In general, a party does not want to see it a different way than what he or it sees it.  He very often won’t.  If he agrees to a mediator, he might have to do that.  This is mediation.

A mediator very often sees what two conflicting parties do not or cannot see.  He can point out inconsistencies on either side.  If he does his job, he wants true, legitimate reconciliation between the parties, that is, biblical peace.

If a party only wants to hear its side, what some may portray as its echo chamber, it can choose to do that.  It is choosing then not to reconcile.  Mediation reveals or tests the desire for reconciliation.  It provides that last plank or marker toward reconciliation.  It follows the model of the Lord Jesus Christ and the example of the apostles.