Colossians 1:19-23

Well, if you'll remember from Sunday morning, Keith started his sermon with the principle that we are designed to be ruled. And he mentioned that the world is constantly offering all of these different philosophies and ideas about who should be ruling us and what is oppressing us.

Well, the Colossian church, it seems, had been dealing with a similar issue. There was a pressure to include outside philosophies that were more contemporary to the times. There were different ideas of who Jesus was and what authority he really had. They were being told, add this, or subtract that, or have you considered this rule? And so while the Colossians weren't necessarily rejecting Jesus, there was the temptation to reduce him so that they could make room for these other ideas.

And so this letter that we have before us was to address those challenges. Paul wants to encourage the Colossians and the solution that he offers, as it turns out, really is the solution to the biggest problem that every Christian ever has. You only ever need a bigger view of Jesus.

You see, at the end of the day, the Colossians were losing sight of the glory of Jesus. And so in his letter, Paul wants them to remember that reality, that Jesus reigns supreme over everything in the universe, and specifically in this passage, that because they are Christians, that means Jesus reigns supreme over them. In a word, they are reconciled to him.

Jesus's preeminence

Because if they remember that, if they remember that they are reconciled to Jesus, they will be compelled to persevere in faith. They won't turn to new philosophies or false traditions, but they will remain steadfast in their faith. And so that's what I want to show you from this text, because really that's the lesson for us as well. If you have been reconciled to God, you will persevere. in faith. And Paul lays that out for us in four steps. There are four steps of our reconciliation that we can see from this text. So the first is this, Jesus's preeminence or supremacy. In order for us to understand our reconciliation, we have to start with Jesus's preeminence. And that's exactly what Paul does.

In verses 15 through 17, he reminds us that Jesus is preeminent over all of creation because he made creation, and he sustains creation, and he holds all of it together from the largest galaxy down to the individual atom. All things were made through him and for him, and he is above all things. And then in verse 18, Paul continues and says, not only is Jesus preeminent in creation, but he's also preeminent in the new creation. And that's because he was crucified for sinners and resurrected from the dead, and because of that, he will come again to dwell with his people so that he might be preeminent in everything. And so in verse 19, Paul sums it all up and says,

for in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

In the person of Jesus Christ, we see the fullness of God himself, such that all that is in God is in Christ. All of God's glory and splendor and majesty and who he is, is perfectly manifested in Jesus. That is to say, Jesus is fully God.

And so the question Paul wants us to ask is, If this Jesus is supreme over all of creation, and he is supreme over all of new creation, there is nothing bigger or weightier or more glorious than Jesus. Jesus is in first place over all things. Then should he not be first place over me? Or maybe we could ask it differently. What is first place in your life? What motivates you? What drives your decisions? Why do you do the things that you do? And this doesn't just apply to the big things in life, but the small stuff as well. What determines how you spend each dollar, or what time you show up to church on Sunday, or even how you get dressed in the morning? Because this passage tells us that the answer should be Jesus, and yet, I think if we were to be honest with ourselves, we would find that that is not our natural instinct.

Our problem

And in fact, Paul would agree with that because that's exactly where he takes us next. He goes from Jesus's preeminence to our problem. That's the second step, our problem. Look with me at verse 21.

And you, who were once alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds.

You'll notice that Paul is reminding the Colossians of what they once were. They were alienated from God. And this is true of everyone here. Every human being is born into this world alienated from God. That's just the natural default. There is a separation between God and man. And Paul explains why. He says it's because we were hostile in mind. When we come into this world, our mindset is in rebellion to God. All of our attitudes and thoughts and intentions are against Him. It's not even that we're neutral to Him, we hate Him. We're instead absorbed with ourselves, our goals, our ambitions, our desires, and we're filled with pride such that we exalt ourselves and we wage war against God to take His throne for ourselves.

And so then Paul describes our actions as evil because our deeds, even our best deeds, flow from a heart that hates God. That's what makes it sinful. That's what makes it evil. It wants to steal glory from God and give that glory to you. This is why he says in Romans 8 that

the hostile mind does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

And so Paul concludes that we are alienated, cut off from the life of God. But it's not just people who are alienated from God. All of creation is affected as well. That's what Paul means in verse 20 when he speaks of God reconciling all things. The entire created universe is wrongly ordered to God. Ever since man's rebellion in Genesis 3, creation itself has been under a curse of chaos and disaster and disorder.

Jesus' peace

And so we have this problem of sin. Even though Jesus is preeminent over everything, because of sin, the world is wrongly related to him. And it's at this point that the Apostle Paul moves us to the third step, and this is where we really see the heart of reconciliation. We can call this point Jesus' peace, Jesus' peace.

Look with me at verse 20.

And through him, to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

The reason that the fullness of God that has forever existed in the sun comes into the world is to make peace. But these words, reconcile and making peace, I think it would be worthwhile for me to maybe recontextualize these words for you. Because I think in today's culture, we tend to look at these words and we think of like these happy, flowery thoughts with, you know, cards and hugs and kisses. And I mean, how many times have we heard, let's just compromise. Let's all, everyone put aside our differences and just get along.

but that is not how the Colossians would have understood this idea. Rather, the image that Paul is going for is the idea of pacification, a very familiar concept in Rome. When a region in the Roman Empire would rebel, the Caesar would not just bargain with the region and give them flowers and chocolates to try to get them to go along with the program. Instead, he would send his army to utterly crush the rebellion. He would crucify the rebels, decimate the cities, and exact a massive fine, thereby making peace and restoring the rebellious region back into its proper order under his authority.

Now in the same way, the world and all of humanity are in rebellion against God. And what this text is saying is that God will bring everything back into right order under his authority. And he will do so by sending his son, the commander of the armies of the Lord. Jesus Christ will come as the conquering king to destroy all rebellion. He will rid the world of all evil and hostility. He will create a new heavens and a new earth, and he will establish his kingdom of perfect justice and peace where he will rule with perfect righteousness forever and ever and ever. That's what it means that he will reconcile all things to himself.

And if you've been tracking so far, you might be thinking that's terrible news. Because Hun, you've just told us that we're the rebels. And if God is to rid the world of all rebellion and evil, then he must rid the world of us. But this is where we have to look at how God will reconcile all things. In verse 20, Paul says he makes peace by the blood of his cross. He even goes as far as to say in verse 22 that if you are a believer, you have already been reconciled. In other words, there is a coming day when God will pacify all rebellion and usher in his kingdom. But before that day, he is offering peace now. He's gathering citizens for his kingdom by offering peace to rebels, and he's purchased that peace by the cross. At the cross, Jesus, the sinless Son of God, who has forever been in perfect relationship with the Father, bore the eternal wrath and judgment that was reserved for us. He was crushed in our place, crucified for our rebellion, but then he was raised from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the Father, waiting for the day when he will come again to fully reconcile all things.

And what this text promises is that until that day, if we turn from our hostility and by faith, we come to Jesus. We come with empty hands, knowing that we have nothing to offer, but we grab hold of his sacrifice, trusting only in him. He has promised that he has already endured the punishment for our rebellion. All of our guilt and sin was transferred to him and his blood and death and resurrection becomes ours.

Because when we put our faith in Jesus, his spirit unites us to him so that when God looks at us, he no longer sees rebels, he sees his son. In fact, we see more of the results of that in verse 22.

He has reconciled you in his body of flesh by death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.

There's a way in which we are continually growing in holiness and blamelessness and to be above reproach, but when we are united to Jesus by faith, this is also true of us right now. Before God, we are seen as holy. That means we were once alienated and separated from him, but now we belong to Christ. We're blameless. God delights in us. He's pleased with us because when he sees us, he sees the perfection and beauty of Christ. and we're above reproach. There is no charge or guilt that can be brought before us that will stick in the courtroom of God because we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

Because when we put our faith in Jesus, all these things that belong to Jesus become ours too. And when that happens, and you allow this reality that you have been reconciled to shape who you are, you're able to recognize that Jesus is my King. and I am a citizen in his kingdom. I am no longer against him. I am no longer in bondage to my hostility, but because of what he's done, I belong to him. I am restored to him. I am free to serve him, and I love him.

Our perseverance

But you know, reconciliation doesn't stop there, because Paul has one final step that he wants us to know, and that is our perseverance, our perseverance. Look with me at verse 23. Paul says, all this is yours,

if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Now, Paul is not telling the Colossians that reconciliation depends on them continuing. He has no doubts that they belong to Jesus. He's been telling them that they have been. Rather, he is describing the necessary evidence of a reconciled life. And that only makes sense. The person who is wrongly ordered to God, who by nature can never have faith, he can never submit to God, there is nothing for him to continue in except his hostility. But for the person who has faith, well, what is faith? We saw this past Sunday that at the core of faith is this idea that we are turning from our sin, we're turning from our rebellion, and we're coming to King Jesus to submit to his good rule. And so for the reconciled believer, the person who has already been transferred into the kingdom of God, this person has been freed from the oppression of sin. Continuing in faith means we are just now, day by day, continually submitting to his rule. You see how that works? We're just living out our citizenship now. We're living out the reality of who we are. We're coming to Jesus to tell him, command me, Lord. I belong to you. I want to serve you. This is the regular pattern of the Christian life. It's the evidence of the Christian life because only a reconciled person can live like that.

J.I. Packer put it this way,

the only proof of past conversion is present convertedness.

So I think it's worth reflecting, well, what does that mean practically? You know, most of the time, perseverance takes ordinary forms. It's usually setting the regular habits of life where each day you are putting off sin and you are putting on Christ. You're mastering his word so that you'll let it rule over you. You're consistently gathering with his people. You're thanking God constantly and you're doing everything for him.

And that is exactly what Paul is calling the Colossians to. Remember, he's writing to a church that's being tempted with all these outside philosophies. And so Paul's reminding them that because they are rightly related to Jesus, continue with Jesus. Don't leave Jesus, don't drift away, don't move on, hold fast to Jesus. And isn't it good news that God provides even for that? The scriptures tell us over and over and over that the very God who reconciled you is the same God who enables you to persevere. Yes, you must persevere, but he will empower you and he will keep you. He will supply the very strength you need to cling to Jesus.

And you know, one of the ways he does this is by expanding your view of Jesus. His spirit shows you more of Jesus so that as you get a bigger view of him, you're reminded again and again and again that he is worth more than anything this world has to offer. And so what Paul is saying is once you've seen who this Jesus really is, the infinite heights of his preeminent glory and that he went to infinite depths to reconcile you, why would you leave him? Where else would you go? There's nothing better. There's nothing greater. There's only Jesus.

So continue with him. Will you pray with me?

Father, we thank you that even while we were your enemies, you reconciled us by the cross. We pray now that your spirit apply these truths to our hearts that we would see more of Christ and that he would stir us to love him more and persevere in our faith. In Jesus name we pray, amen.