MESSAGE

FROM THE

WORD

GOD’S PLAN FOR RECONCILIATION

Colossians 1:19-23

SERIES:  Colossians                                                                                            Message # 9

            The famous poet Henry David Thoreau was once asked if he had made peace with God.  He replied, “I didn’t know we had a problem”.  That response shows both Thoreau’s belief in universalism, that is that everyone will go to Heaven, and his ignorance of what the Bible truly teaches.  We saw in our study several weeks ago that one of the reasons Jesus came to Earth was to bring us out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son.  That is a picture of conversion.  It is also a picture of our condition outside of Jesus Christ.  This picture is seen throughout the Bible.  It began in the Garden of Eden, continued through the Old Testament sacrificial system and was explained in the New Testament.  We read,   ROMANS 3:10-23     You may notice that verses 10-18 are all passages from the Old Testament.  The Bible teaches that because of sin, mankind is alienated from God and in need of reconciliation.

            This is one of the reasons Paul wrote to this little church at Colossae.  He wanted to communicate to God’s people the truth of man’s need for reconciliation and God’s plan for reconciliation.  We read                 COLOSSIANS 1:19-23                     This may not seem like a difficult passage for us to deal with, but it is a major issue in the culture God has called us to minister to.  The idea that we are alienated from God and in need of a savior is old fashioned.  We can do quite nicely on our own thank you.  We do not need a God to save us and especially one who demands some bloody religion to accomplish that task.

            Into our culture comes the Holy Spirit who is committed to convicting people of their sin and drawing people to the savior.  This is our task, to be the agents God uses to lead people “out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of His beloved Son”.  How does He go about this?

            FIRST, THE PROCESS OF RECONCILIATION BEGINS WITH GOD.  There is nothing we can do to reconcile ourselves.  The entire scheme of reconciling sinners was in the heart and hand of God.  To show the incredible love shown by the Father, I want to go back to a previous message.  You will remember that we spent several weeks in verses 15-19 looking at who Jesus Christ is.  We looked into great detail at verse 19, Jesus was “THE FULNESS OF GOD”.  Everything that Jehovah is and was resided in Jesus Christ.  Jesus was an exact DNA match to the God of the Old Testament.  Bring that idea into our message for this morning.  We read,             VERSE 19, 20a                 When God planned out His means to reconcile the world, He did not send an angel, he did not send a prophet, he did not send a king.  When God saw a sinful creation and wanted to reconcile it to Himself, He sent Himself.

            SECOND, PEACE FROM RECONCILIATION COMES THROUGH THE CROSS.  There is no more offensive object in our society today than the cross.  In our community, a man filed a law suit last year to have the cross removed from Mt. McCoy.  In the county of Los Angeles, the county supervisors have decided to remove a tiny cross from the county seal because of a threatened law suit by the ACLU.  In San Diego, school children were allowed to dress in Moslem attire and pray to Allah, to learn cultural diversity, but a manger scene was not allowed to be shown at the same school.

            The cross is not a side issue in the Bible.  As you know, I have been working with other pastors in an attempt to bridge the gap between the Christian and Jewish communities.  Because of the actions of some claiming to represent the church centuries ago, there is a block in relationships between our two groups.  Without lowering our convictions, we are seeking to make inroads into this important group.  I was reading a book this past week on healing this relationship from a Jewish rabbi.  He began to see the need several decades ago but came from a different view point. 

            As he shared in his book, he wrote that the most important event in his journey to bridge our two groups happened when he became friends with a disciple of Reinhold Niebuhr.  That name may mean nothing to you, but he is considered the greatest theologian of the 20^th century.  The only problem is that Niebuhr denied the virgin birth, blood atonement, and resurrection of Jesus.  This was one of the reasons unity could be shared on such a short notice.  If you remove the cross and the resurrection, Christianity becomes Judaism.  We read, 1 COR. 1:18-24            Our desire is to build bridges without denying the cross.  This is obviously a difficult task.

            We must understand the centrality of the cross.  This began at the beginning.  We read,                    JOHN 3:13,14; 12:32; 1 PETER 1:17-21          The cross was in the plan of God before the world was ever created.  I can’t understand that, but it is what the Bible teaches.  The crucifixion of Jesus was the means by which God neutralized the power and penalty of sin. 

            THIRD, THE PROBLEM OF RECONCILIATION IS SIN.  Have you ever had a situation where someone you liked really did something totally wrong and wouldn’t admit their error?  Does that affect your relationship?  Of course it does.  That is what happened with the human race and God.  After Adam and Eve sinned and were driven out of the Garden, mankind went from bad to worse.  We read,         GENESIS 6:5                 Because of their continual wickedness, God sent the flood.  We haven’t come all that far since then.  Our desire is still to do our own thing. 

            God began to offer His people an escape from the penalty of sin.  The sacrificial system was designed to picture the Messiah who was to come as it offered the people a means of seeking God’s forgiveness for their sin.  The blood sacrifice was a picture.  We read           LEVITICUS 16:7-22         The goat that was sacrificed was a picture of the blood that would have to be offered to bring salvation.  The scapegoat that was sent out into the wilderness was a picture of the one who would take the sins of the world upon Himself.  Paul writes,             COLOSSIANS 1:21         This is remarkably similar to what he wrote in      EPHESIANS 2:1-3                   What was our condition before God?  It was a condition consumed with sin.  It is important that we understand this point.  When we talk about our condition before God as being controlled by sin, we are not saying that the person never does any good.  We are saying that the controlling influence of our life is sin; that is to do our will not God’s.  When we talk about everyone having a sin nature, we mean that everyone seeks their own best interest, rather than God’s.  This may lead people to do good deeds.  Many do good deeds because it is in their own best interest.  We do not do them because we want to please God. 

            FOURTH, THE PURPOSE OF RECONCILIATION IS HOLINESS.  This is so common sense that it amazes me so many people resist this truth.  Paul writes    VERSE 22               Remember I asked you earlier if you knew someone who had offended you and was not willing to confess their sin.  What if after heavy counseling they were finally able to admit their mistake and reconciliation took place.  As you headed home, that individual turned to you and said, “Reconciliation is so wonderful.  It has opened up a new avenue of communication with you.  However, the best part is now that we are reconciled, I can go out and do whatever I want and it will not affect our relationship”.  The individual who did that would be an idiot.  Reconciliation doesn’t give us the freedom to go out and be offensive.  Reconciliation gives us the obligation to do everything we can to keep our relationship healthy.

            Did you notice that we did nothing to bring about our reconciliation?  God did all of the work and the result of that was we can now stand before God holy, blameless and beyond reproach.  This is God’s work.   

            This is the God’s desire and it will be established.  We read          ROMANS 8:28-30             Did you notice what we are predestined to be?  We are predestined to be like Christ.  It may be Heaven before that task is accomplished, but it will be done.  God is committed to taking sinful people and transforming them into Christ-like creatures.  This is why it is so foolish to resist.  Why not yield to His will and allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in your life? 

            This is a pretty high standard isn’t it?  To be holy is to be set apart for what God has designed us for.  This is the focal point of Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life.  When we live a life in which God can say “you are doing what I created you to do”, you are holy.  Blameless indicates that there are no glaring errors in our life, and being beyond reproach indicates that there are no secret sins.  This is a high standard, but I want you to notice something in this verse.  Paul does not write, “you should be holy, blameless and beyond reproach…”  This is not something we can do; it is something God has already done.  We read            REVELATION 12:10, 11               How do we overcome?  We overcome through the blood of Jesus.  “What can wash away my sin?  Nothing but the blood of Jesus”.              HEBREWS 9:11-15       Every year the high priest would enter the

            This was the entire purpose of the incarnation; that God would become one of us, offer Himself as a perfect sacrifice and reconcile a sinful creation to a holy God through His own blood.

            FIFTH, THE PROOF OF RECONCILIATION IS PERSEVERANCE.  How do you know if someone is a good cook?  Simply taste their food.  How do you know if someone is truly reconciled to God?  Look at their behavior.  We read           COLOSSIANS 1:23        I admit this verse does sound a little like works, so let me explain.  The word for “if” confuses the passage.  The word is better translated “since”.  Paul is not stating that we will stand before God if we do enough good works.  Paul is simply relating the reality that those who are truly brought into a right relationship with the God of the universe and are filled with the Holy Spirit will continue in the faith.  Paul is not hoping they will be steadfast, he is stating this is the proof of their conversion.  This is a very controversial issue today.  Some claim the sinner need do nothing except say they want Jesus to forgive their sins.  Others say that those who are truly converted will prove that faith by acts of godly behavior.  Who is right?  Let us let Jesus decide.               MATT 7:22,23            It is Jesus who says many will stand before Him claiming to say the right things.  He will reject their claims, because all they did was “say”.  The Kingdom of God is not talking.  Jesus said,     JOHN 14:15; 15:14          It is not enough to say you love God.  The most important verse in the Torah is called “the Shammah”.  It is quoted in every synagogue around the world every week.  We read     DEUTERONOMY 6:4, 5         Did you notice that God did not say “You shall say you love the Lord your God…  Moses understood that it was not sufficient to just say something.  You actually had to believe it.  This is what Paul is trying to communicate to us today.  It is not enough to say you believe in God.  There must actually be proof.  Some might think that this amounts to legalism and works.

            There is probably more misunderstanding on legalism and works than on any other issue.  Legalism and works are activities done with the attempt that God will be impressed and grant us salvation.  That is not the issue in this passage.  Rather, godly behavior is the manifestation of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of an individual.  We read                   TITUS 2:11-14             Paul is saying the same thing in Titus as he said in Colossians.  When God’s saving grace comes upon a sinner, the result is the desire to resist sin and live a holy life.  Because you hope this will impress God?  No, because the Holy Spirit leads sinners to desire a godly life.  We read                          JOHN 16:5-11               Jesus lays the burden of proof of love on the follow through.  Is it our desire to obey God?  Is it our desire to run our own life?  Those questions are answered by what we do. 

            Let me give you one other proof that reconciliation has taken place between you and God.  When you truly understand you are totally unworthy of standing in God’s presence and you truly understand that you will spend eternity with Him for one reason, because of His mercy, there is one more proof that you are right with Him.  We read                     II CORINTHIANS 5:17-21            Do you know why most of us do not share our faith in Christ more often?  First, we do not truly believe that our friends are lost.  Second, we feel that many of those around us are not as worthy of being in God’s presence as we are.

            When you understand that you are unworthy of God’s mercy, no one is beneath you.  Your desire is to share the reconciliation you have received with others.  It becomes a burden that we must share with others.  Did you sense Paul’s heart, “WE BEG YOU…BE RECONCILED TO GOD”.

            It was a shame that Thoreau did not know where he stood with God.  It is in knowing where we truly stand that we can come to Him, seek His mercy and forgiveness and be reconciled.