The Supremacy of Christ (Reconciliation)
Colossians 1:19-23
20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22But 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 ¡X 23if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. 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.
Intro: One of five key words used to describe the richness of the doctrine of salvation
„« Justification ¡V a sinner stands before God condemned, but is declared righteous. (Rm. 8:33)
„« Redemption ¡V a sinner stands before God a slave, but is granted freedom. (Rm. 6:18-22)
„« Forgiveness ¡V a sinner stands before God a debtor, but has his debt paid and forgotten. (Eph. 1:7)
„« Adoption ¡V a sinner stands before God a stranger, but is made a son. (Eph. 1:5)
„« Reconciliation ¡V a sinner stands before God as an enemy, but is made a friend. (2 Cor. 5:17-21)
Word: Reconcile (apokatallaso) to totally, thoroughly, and completely change one¡¦s state and standing from enmity to friendship.
Not katallasso ¡V which means to change or exchange from enmity to friendship but apokatallasso ¡V which is an intensified meaning that is thorough and cannot be undone.
I The Plan of Reconciliation
Verse: 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.
A General Reconciliation
1 The Redeem His Lost Creation
Idea: Through the sufficient work of Christ on the cross where His blood was shed, Christ had made a provision for all things to be reconciled with God.
Idea: Everything the Godhead created through Christ in the beginning was lost and cursed in the fall.
Verse: 19The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. Rm. 8:19-21
2 To Reveal His Truth
Note: In the fall, all was lost and cursed and fell under the influence of Satan. Satan is both the ruler of this world (2 Cr. 4:4) and the prince of the air (Eph. 2:2) using his time and influence to blind the hearts and minds of men.
Idea: Jesus came to reveal the truth , expose the enemy, and restore order, and reclaim His people.
B Specific Reconciliation
Verse: 21Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.
Note: Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. Mankind is the center of God¡¦s universe and creation. While He is concerned with all of creation, we are the centerpiece of both His creative and redemptive plans.
Words: alienated (apallotrioo) estranged, cut-off, and separated referring to one¡¦s condition (Rm. 6:23)
Sin separates and estranges us from God bringing with it the harsh penalty of physical and spiritual death.
Verse: There is none righteous, not even one¡K All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Rm. 3:10,23)
Word: Enemies in your minds (echthros) hateful and warring referring to one¡¦s attitude. People who rebel against and resent God¡¦s Word, His standards, and His grace.
Note: The natural man (the flesh) is total depraved and is at war with the Spirit of God. He loves the darkness and hates the light (John 3:19-20) ¡V not solely b/c of ignorance, but mostly b/c of a love for sin.
Verse: 18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God¡¦s invisible qualities¡Xhis eternal power and divine nature¡Xhave been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator¡Xwho is forever praised. Amen. 26B/c of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Although they know God¡¦s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. Rm. 1:18-31
Idea: Man is in a hopeless state of condemnation and destruction. He is an enemy of God b/c of sin and is worthy only of death, Hell, and eternal separation. But God in His great love for us gave us His only begotten Son to rescue us from the pain, power, poison, and penalty of sin in to reconcile us with Himself.
II The Provision of Reconciliation
Verse: 20bby making peace through his blood, shed on the cross¡K22But now he has reconciled you by Christ¡¦s physical body through death.
Idea: Christ made peace between God and man through His blood on the cross
A A Blood Sacrifice (Metaphor of His death)
Verse: 9Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God¡¦s wrath through him! 10For 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! Rm. 5:9-10
Idea: Bloodshed has always been a requirement of God for the forgiveness of sin. From the Garden of Eden to the sacrificial system of the Old Testament God requires the remission of blood for the forgiveness of sin. That Christ died for our sins according to Scripture is of great significance. God required that His blood be spilled in death to bring about the atonement for sin.
Verse: Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Heb. 9:22
Note: While Christ¡¦s blood was precious, it was only when it was spilled out in death could the penalty of sin be paid in full. In a sense, if Christ would have bled without dying, then salvation would have never been purchased and we all would remain under the curse and damnation of sin.
Verse: 11When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. 12He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! 15For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance¡Xnow that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. 16In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. 18This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20He said, ¡§This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.¡¨ 21In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. 23It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God¡¦s presence. 25Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
B A Blood Substitute
Verse: 1There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2b/c through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. Rm. 8:1-3
Idea: All of us are like sheep gone astray deserving of death, Hell, and eternal separation from God, but through the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross our sin debt is paid in full as God¡¦s wrath was satisfied.
III The Point of Reconciliation
Verse: 22bto present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.
Words: Holy (hagios) to be separated from sin unto God. (see 2 Cor. 5:21)
Without Blemish (amomos) to be blameless and spotless, Used to refer to the sinless nature of Christ ¡V our spotless Lamb of God.
Free from Accusation (anegkletos) it goes beyond blameless. Not only are we without blemish but also no one can bring a charge against us. Not even Satan the accuser can make a charge stick against a person who has been reconciled with Christ.
Verse: 31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all ¡X how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died ¡X more than that, who was raised to life¡Xis at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
Idea: The purpose of the cross was not only to rescue, redeem, and reconcile us, but it was also to empower and enable us to live victoriously for Him in this life (Jn. 10:10). I have a new position (sinner to saint) and a new purpose (not my will be done but His will be done). Furthermore, because of the reconciling work of Christ on the cross, I have become a conqueror in Christ Jesus. Satan has no authority in my life.
Verse: 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written: ¡§For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.¡¨ 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rm. 8:35-39
IV The Proof of Reconciliation
Verse: 23if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. 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.
A A Continuing Faith
Idea: Those who possess a genuine faith will continue in a genuine faith. Not everyone who says that they are Christians are truly Christians, but only those whose walk matches their talk reflecting the nature and ministry of Christ.
Note: Parable of the Sower (Mt. 13) speaks to three soils in which the seed never produced a fruit. There were signs of germination, but the plant never grew to fruition.
In 1 John 2:19, John wrote about people who go out in God¡¦s name but who don¡¦t minister the truth of who God is. He refers to them as anti-Christ, b/c they are leading people away from an authentic faith. Such is a person who calls themselves a Christian but who does not lead a Christ-like life.
B A Continuing Focus
Idea: The focus of an authentic Christian faith is the ministry of reconciliation. Christians understand and cherish that they are to always be about the Father¡¦s business of sharing the Gospel (good news) with others so that they may be reconciled to God.
Five Truths about Reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)
1 Reconciliation transforms men (vs. 17)
2 Reconciliation appeases God¡¦s Wrath (vs. 21)
3 Reconciliation comes through Christ alone (vs. 18)
4 Reconciliation is available to all who believe and receive Christ (vs. 19)
5 Once Reconciled ¡V every believer has been given the ministry of reconciliation (vs. 18-19)
Exegesis
The triune God was pleased to present Himself in all of His fullness in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ ¡V and that through Christ, and Christ alone, He would totally, thoroughly, and completely change a person¡¦s state and standing from enmity with God to friendship with God by reconciling the creation to Himself through the death of Christ on the Cross. Whether things are earthly and physical, or whether they are heavenly and spiritual, He did this by making a provision of peace through the sufficient work of Christ on the cross where His blood was shed for all of creation. For without the shedding of blood, there would have been no remission or forgiveness of sin.
At one time you were estranged and cut off from God in a state or condition of separation and you were an enemy in your mind and attitude constantly at war with God rebelling against and resenting God¡¦s word, His standards, His grace because of your Godless, selfish, fleshly actions and attitudes. But now God has transformed and transferred you from an enemy of God to a friend of God by Christ¡¦s physical and earthly body which was broken and spilled out in his physical death as a substitutionary atonement for you. So that He might present you holy (one who has been separated from sin unto God), without blemish (that is blameless and spotless), and free from accusation ¡V so that no one, including Satan the accuser, can bring a charge that will stick against you. Everyone will know that your faith is authentic if you remain constant in an established and well grounded faith that produces a growing fruit and if you remain constant in your focus to share in the ministry of reconciliation that you have already received and if you are not moved from the hope that is held out in the good news that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for your sins. I want to remind you that this same good news that you have already heard, and that has changed you, is continually being proclaimed to every creature under God¡¦s creative hand, of which I Paul, am a servant and slave.
