Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Grace-based biblical teaching and sermons with Pastor Jason White. Messages that focus on Life in Christ and practical application as New Covenant believers.
Reconciliation in the Bible...
The other day I was flipping channels and saw that Star Wars was on…and that made me think about the day my dad took me to see it at a drive-in movie theater. I was probably only 3-4 years old…And we were sitting in the front seat of my dad’s car, and we had a big tub of popcorn that we were sharing and I had an orange soda. And I remember being so enthralled in the movie that I reached over for popcorn and accidentally stuck my hand in my orange drink instead…but I didn’t care, I just remember watching Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader fighting it out with those awesome lightsabers.
I mean it was good versus evil, and I was cheering for good…Luke. I mean, Darth was the bad guy, and I hated him. I wanted to see him go down. Transition: You know as I think about that moment and just Star Wars in general, I’ll also never forget the moment when in the second movie, The Empire Strikes Back, we find out that Darth Vader is actually Luke’s father.
I mean, I could not believe it…at one time, Darth Vader was actually a good guy. He was part of Luke’s family. They were connected. They were in relationship with each other. They were on the same team. They were family.
BUT NOW, they were alienated from each other. That relationship had been broken. Now, one was on the side of good and the other on the side of evil…and that is what Star Wars was, an epic battle over good versus evil…which is honestly, true of life as well…
TRANSITION: And here’s the deal, when we think about good and evil in our own lives, most of us tend to put ourselves on the side of good.
We tend to think that we are good people. I mean we may not be perfect, but we certainly aren’t evil in our minds.
“I mean, Darth Vader is evil, but not me. I’m a good person overall…”
“I mean if there are teams: if there’s a good team and an evil team in this world, I’m certainly on the good team. I’m definitely not on the enemy’s team.”
This is what most of us would say about ourselves, but look at the picture that the apostle Paul paints for us in our opening verse today (Colossians 1:21)…
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.
Whoa…that doesn’t really sound like we are on the side of good, does it?
That’s kind of hard to hear…we may even think, “that’s not true, is it?” But it is…
Let’s break this down a little bit more to see what Paul is saying here…
MINDS...
The word that is translated “minds” here in Greek means much more than just “thinking.” As a matter of fact, in the Septuagint (which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament) it is usually translated “heart,” and is used to refer to someone’s disposition.
In other words, what Paul is referring to is the state of our sinfulness…that we have a sin nature.
This is similar to what Paul writes in Ephesians 2, where he says this:
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
“By nature,” in other words, this is who you are. The reality is that all of us are born with a sin nature, and that sin nature produces sins in our lives.
And that is what Paul referenced at the end of the verse in Col. 1:21…
EVIL BEHAVIOR...
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. (DRAW ARROW FROM EVIL BEHAVIOR TO MIND TO SHOW IT COMES FROM DISPOSITION)
You have evil behavior that comes from your sin nature (your disposition).
And again, while we might tend to think of ourselves as good, we are almost always quick to point out that we know we are not perfect…
We notice that we do some things wrong. We lie, gossip, cheat, steal, disobey our parents, and on and on.
The problem is that we just tend to either ignore those things as no big deal…OR we think of other people and compare ourselves to them…
“I’ve done some bad things, sure, but I’m not as bad as that guy. I’m not evil (we think about Darth Vader…he’s evil. I’m not him).”
“I’m mostly a good person.”
But the thing we have to remember as we’ve already said is that Paul is teaching us the truth about our sin nature, which produces sins in our lives, AND that has consequences…
Look back at 1:21 again…
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.
ALIENATED/ENEMIES
The word alienated here means to be completely ruptured of a former association. To be severed from or cut off from.
Because of your sin nature which produces sins in your life, you are completely cut off from God, alienated from Him, and Paul says that you are enemies.
You are on different teams. He is on the side of good. You are on the enemy’s team. You are on the side of evil. You actually are Darth Vader.
We tend to think we are fine. We’re okay. I’m mostly a good person. Things are going to work out in the end. God’s going to be okay with me because I’m good…
BUT the reality is that we are not good. You and God couldn’t be further apart. He is on the side of good and you are on the side of evil…
No, notice the past tense at the beginning of the verse though…
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.
So Paul is saying to them that this used to be true of them…they were people with a sinful nature who were alienated from God and considered His enemies…
BUT NOW that is no longer true. So, what was it that happened? Well, Paul tells us next.
22 But now he has reconciled you…
RECONCILED TO GOD (reconciliation in the bible)
To reconcile means to be brought back together. If you had a fight with your best friend and then were alienated from them, then you quit being friends. You were no longer in a relationship with them. You were enemies.
But if you reconciled with them then that means that you are now friends again and back in a relationship with each other.
So Paul is saying that you were enemies with God. You were on the side of evil and God was on the side of good, but now you’ve been brought to His side and are no longer considered enemies but friends. You are in a relationship with Him.
BUT HOW? How did that happen? Well, that’s what Paul says next…
22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death…
You may remember if you’ve seen the Star Wars movies that Darth Vader actually had a change of heart and sacrificed Himself for His son Luke. He died in his place so that Luke would live.
And that is similar to what Jesus did for us except it’s even bigger than that.
See, Jesus was not bad in the first place. He was not Darth Vader. He is a good, perfect, and holy God who had no sin in Him.
But we are told this in 2 Cor. 5:21…
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
In other words, Jesus wasn’t evil, but He took all of our evil and placed it on Himself to pay the penalty for all of it which was death. And after dying, we know that He was raised from the dead 3 days later and defeated the power of sin and death forever!
And now Jesus offers us that forgiveness if we’ll just receive it by faith, and in that moment, we are brought from enemies onto His team. Into His family. We are reconciled and are now friends.
And here is why…because we aren’t just forgiven in that moment, but something else happens…
22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—
HOLY...
The moment you put your faith in Jesus, you are joined into a spiritual union with Him and He makes you holy.
The picture is this: taking something filthy and washing it and setting it apart as something brand new and useful for a different purpose.
You were filthy, but you have been washed clean and set apart from the enemy’s team and are made into this brand new person who will be used for God’s good purposes now.
WITHOUT BLEMISH...
A blemish of course is a mark or a flaw on something that leaves it no longer perfect. It spoils whatever that thing is.
I mean we have a car show today, and there will be some really nice cars out there. So let’s say you walk out and see this car that is perfect in condition. It’s perfectly white, shiny, smooth, spotless, and just breathtaking to look at…
But let’s say that I take a can of black spray paint and painted a big black spot on the hood (now it has a blemish and is no longer perfect…you would look at that and it would stand out and everyone would know that this car is ruined)
And that was you. You had the big black spot on you called sin which stood out before God…but now Paul is saying you’ve been washed and made clean and that black spot is gone. You are now in perfect condition and stand out as a beautiful new creation…
FREE FROM ACCUSATION (to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation)
An accusation of course means that someone blames you for doing something wrong. If I saw you steal something, then I could accuse you of stealing and you could be charged by the police for breaking the law.
And that is exactly what is true of you before God if you have never received His free gift of salvation.
You have been accused of breaking God’s law. You have sinned against Him. And as you stand before God accused of this crime, you would be found guilty and have to suffer the consequences which is death and eternal separation from Him.
But because Jesus took all of your crimes to the cross and already paid the penalty for them, when you receive His forgiveness, then you are no longer guilty before Him!
Satan can try to come to God and say, “But I saw him or her lie and gossip or disobey their parents,” but Jesus would turn and say, “But I’ve taken that to the cross and paid for that crime already, so you can no longer accuse them of that,” and God would say, “That’s right, NOT GUILTY!”
So this is what Paul is saying is true of the people in the church at Colossae. They were sinners. They were alienated from God and considered enemies, but b/c they had put their faith/trust in Jesus for salvation, they have now been reconciled to God, and are holy, without blemish, and free from accusation…clean, made perfect, and no longer guilty before God.
Verse 23…
23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.
Uh-Oh! Now this seems to throw a wrinkle into what all we just said was true because we see the word IF here! This makes it seem like it’s conditional.
In other words, you are only reconciled to God and holy, without blemish, and free of accusation IF you do your part…otherwise you will become enemies of God again and be unholy, blemished, and guilty as charged.
BUT here’s the thing: that would fly in the face of everything that Paul has said so far in this letter. We looked at this passage a couple of weeks ago in Colossians 1:12-14
12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Has qualified…Has rescued you from the dominion of darkness…been brought into the Kingdom already and have redemption and forgiveness now!
There are no conditions. Paul doesn’t say that these things are true IF we do something on our part here. It’s all about what Jesus has done and is already true of them now and will be forevermore!
So, what is Paul talking about here? Well, let’s look at it just a bit closer…
So, Paul says “if you continue in your faith,” and then gives us an example of what continuing in the faith looks like by saying…
23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.
The Greek word translated “established” here is written in the perfect tense and the passive voice.
perfect tense— The verb tense used by the writer to describe a completed action that occurred in the past but which produced a state of being or a result that exists in the present.
In other words, you are established and will continue being established based on what has happened to you.
And again it’s passive…meaning that you didn’t do the establishing, nor will you maintain the establishing.
SO, because of the way this is written in the original Greek, makes it seem more like Paul is certain this is going to happen with them.
He’s saying, “if you continue in your faith, and I’m fully expecting that to happen because you have been reconciled to God, made holy, without blemish, and are now free of accusation.”
I think he’s trying to say to them: YOU AREN’T LIKE THE FALSE TEACHERS. They are showing their true colors.
They were never “established and firm” because they were preaching a Jesus PLUS gospel…
Which is not the gospel at all…Remember, this is why Paul was writing this letter: to combat the false teachers who were trying to distract them from the true gospel of Jesus plus nothing = everything.
And here in verses 21-23 Paul is showing them how Jesus accomplished everything in their lives… through His death on the cross…His finished work made them reconciled, holy, without blemish, and free of accusation.
“You’ve been established and will continue in Him…receiving from Him…drawing from Him alone as your Source, not from these other things!
This is the true gospel..
And what Paul even says last in this verse…
This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
This is the true gospel…those false teachers are saying that it’s Jesus plus these other things that will qualify you…that will rescue you from the dominion of darkness…that will reconcile you to God and make you holy, without blemish, and free from accusation…
But since this is the gospel they are preaching, you can see that they are false teachers because they are not continuing to hold firm to Jesus plus nothing.
So don’t fall for that false gospel. Know that you are qualified by Jesus alone…that you are rescued by Jesus alone…that you are reconciled to God by Jesus alone…that you are holy, without blemish, and free from accusation by Jesus alone AND I FULLY EXPECT YOU TO CONTINUE IN YOUR FAITH BECAUSE THIS IS WHO YOU ARE!
So what does all of this mean for you today?
Well, it means that if you have put your faith and trust in Jesus that all of these things are true about you. You are reconciled to God. You are holy, without blemish, and no matter what Satan tries to accuse you of, you are declared NOT GUILTY by God through Jesus.
So, thank Him! You weren’t some good person who just needed to get over the hump a little bit… you were alienated from Him completely…enemies of God, but now!
So, continue to walk in faith. Trust you have everything you need in Jesus. Continue to receive from Him as your Source.
But if you are here this morning, and you are realizing that you are alienated from God and considered His enemy, know that reconciliation is offered to you as a gift.
Maybe you are a kid who's in the room today, and you thought you were okay because you come to church or because your parents are Christians. Maybe you’ve thought that you have done some things wrong for sure, but that you are mostly a good person…
But you saw today the truth, that you are on the enemy’s team and there’s nothing you can do to become friends with God again because of the sin in your life.
Well, if you make the decision to put your own faith and trust in Jesus to be YOUR personal Lord and Savior, then all of the things we read about today will become true of you too. You will become friends with God and be made clean, and spotless, and will be declared NOT GUILTY before God.
And so if that is you this morning, I want to invite you to pray a prayer of faith with me and receive Jesus into your life.