Evening Sermon

February 24, 2008

What Reconciliation Means

Text

It stands to reason that with the emphasis last week upon the preeminence of Jesus Christ that we would now come to a description and definition of Jesus as God. With the emphasis last week upon Jesus being exalted in every way possible, it is very useful now to look a bit more closely at what it means for him to be God. And what, exactly, it was that he accomplished on our behalf.

We'll start with a doctrinal subject, but not ever do we study mere doctrine. Never do we focus upon a doctrinal proposition that is merely propositional, that is merely an idea to be framed in your mind. Rather, those ideas about God that are to be rightly framed in your mind serve the greater purpose of worshiping this great God who has created us by the word of his power.

And so Paul's focus here is upon the gratitude of our hearts that serves as the motivation for a godly and God-pleasing life of bearing fruit in ever good work. The motivation is so clearly stated,

v.12 "...giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins."

That recollection of the promise of our inheritance immediately brought forth what we studied last week, namely the exaltation of Jesus above all.

v.15 "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence."

So it is we return to a focus upon Jesus. Specifically,

I. A DIVINE JESUS. In other words, Jesus as God.

Not Jesus a good teacher or Jesus a prophet. Certainly not Jesus some mythical or fictional character that fills the stories of various religious traditions. But Jesus the divine Messiah. Jesus the divine essence. Jesus the second person of the trinity. Our Confession of Faith puts it this way in describing Jesus: "The Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance and equal with the Father."

As I read last week as well, John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

Specifically, according to our text, Jesus is,

A. The fulness of God's essence. v.19 "For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fulness should dwell."

Here is a crucial part of the doctrine of the trinity. In Jesus, the fulness of God dwells. To be very untechnical, this refers to whatever makes God, God. Whatever it is that makes God a divine being, Jesus possesses. Jesus has everything that has to do with the "godness" of God. Robert Reymond notes: "Paul means plainly and simply 'completeness,' 'totality,' or 'sum-total.' To insure that no one would miss his intention, Paul qualifies this noun with 'all,' that is 'all [not just some of] the fullness.'"

So Jesus is not in the category of "creature" but that of "creator." He is not part of the created universe, but the very essence of God who created all things of nothing.

Paul gets even more explicit in the next chapter. Speaking of Christ, he writes in,

Col. 2:3 "...in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

That there was a threat of dangerous error present in Colosse, even as there is always in our own day, we read in the very next verse,

Col. 2:4 "Now this I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. 5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ."

What a danger lurks in every age, to deny the very essence of the deity of Jesus Christ. Such that Paul writes a few verses later,

Col. 2:8 "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily."

The fullness of the godhead. You might not be very familiar with that word, but it simply means the state of being God. It applies to God like the word humanity refers to us. We live according to the fullness of our humanity. We are human beings, fully and completely. Jesus lives as the fulness of the godhead, as divine, as God. Again Reymond, "In short, Paul intends to say that in Jesus we have to do with the very 'embodiment' or incarnation of deity. Christ is God 'manifest in the flesh.'"

Or as John writes so eloquently, John 1:14 "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

But there is always more. Jesus is not only the fulness of God's essence, but also,

B. The fulness of God's purpose. In other words, Jesus is the very essence of God's purpose in all things. Jesus is the very epitome of the eternal purpose of God, for we read, v.19 "For it pleased the Father...that in Him all the fullness should dwell."

"It pleased the Father." That doesn't just mean that the Father was happy about it. That word for "pleasure" does not refer to the Father's reaction to the circumstances of Jesus' divinity, but rather to the cause of it. "It pleased the Father" means quite simply, "The Father determined." The Father decided." It was the Father's will and purpose to accomplish this very thing. This is what the Father chose. This is his own eternal purpose and predetermined will. That Jesus would be fully God. The noun form of this word is used in,

Eph. 1:3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, ... 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself."

So this is God's own eternal purpose, his own eternal determination. His pleasure. That in Jesus Christ "all the fullness [of God] should dwell."

The importance of that doctrine is made obvious in the very next verse, where the defining work of Jesus Christ is identified, namely,

II. THE WORK OF RECONCILIATION. v.20

The idea is this-only as God himself could Jesus reconcile God and man. Only with a fully divine nature could Jesus bring about the reconciliation between fallen man and a holy God. Because a mere man, any mere man, would himself fall under the condemnation of,

Rom. 3:10 "There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one."

A mere man, any mere man, every mere man, would face the difficulty of the earthly priests of the Old Covenants who were required to offer up sacrifices for their own sins. Jesus, to the contrary, because he was God, could offer up himself as a vicarious sacrifice. An offering able to be a substitute for someone else. Therefore it is of Jesus that we read,

Heb. 7:26 "For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people's, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever."

Only Jesus as God can offer a perfect sacrifice for sins.

Heb. 9:24 "For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another-- 26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."

So it is that only God himself could accomplish reconciliation between God and men. And that is the eternal purpose of God. Reconciliation. That is the work of Jesus Christ. Reconciliation. Those who were by nature children of wrath becomes beloved children by adoption. Those who were enemies of God were brought near and accepted as beloved. Reconciliation. That's the gospel. Reconciliation is perhaps the single most descriptive identification of the work of Christ in our salvation. For example,

2 Cor. 5:18 "Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

Also, Rom. 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation."

And we know the goal and objective of that reconciliation. Peace.

A. The objective of peace. Rom. 5:1 "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

Reconciliation means peace. Removing the enmity means establishing the peace. Let me go back to, v.20

It is certainly clear there the cost that had to be paid. The cost of peace is blood. Peace with God is accomplished only through the blood of the cross. There is, therefore, an absolute sense of,

B. The necessity of blood. The principle is clearly laid out in the Old Testament. And even more clearly illustrated by all the sacrifices required by the ceremonial laws of God.

Heb. 9:18 "Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. 19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you." 21 Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. 22 And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission."

There is the statement of necessity. "Without shedding of blood there is no remission." Or, perhaps more plainly,

Rom. 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death."

God's own righteousness has established the just punishment for sin. The stipulations of the covenant have clear consequences for covenant breakers. Death. More explicitly, the shedding of blood in death.

And so only a divine Jesus, in the real human flesh of a man, is capable of accomplishing the work of reconciliation. And oh, how that work is needed!

III. THE NEED OF RECONCILIATION. Oh, how desperately we need to be reconciliation. Because how certainly we are all born in a state of enmity. We are born, by nature, as children of wrath. As Paul writes,

Eph. 2:1 "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others."

Only then, in the context of that alienation, does the gospel even make sense. Only those who understand that they are alienated from God can understand the whole idea of salvation. So Paul continues in,

Eph. 2:4 "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast."

You were dead. And God made you alive. You were dead in your trespasses and sins. That is the very definition of,

A. Alienation from God. Dead. Separated from God. And that's how Paul describes Gentiles before they were saved.

Eph. 2:12 "...that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world."

How's that for clarity? "Having no hope and without God in the world." That's alienation. v.21

Notice there,

B. The expression of alienation from God. It's not hard to spot. Not hard to identify. You were "enemies in your mind by wicked works." You showed yourself to be enemies. You showed the rebellion of your mind by your wicked works.

Remember what I just read from Ephesians 2, speaking of what it meant to be alienated from God. It is not that you wanted to be saved but God wouldn't have you. No, it is instead that those who are dead in their sin are those who walk "according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air." They are "the sons of disobedience." Those who are dead in their sins are not those trying to be good, but those who live according to "the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind."

Beloved, this is what is so wrong with so much religion and religious practice of our day, the idea that you can claim peace with God all the while living at enmity with him. And we must say clearly, NO!

Isa. 48:22 "There is no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked."

Instead we must declare, Rom. 1:18 "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness."

And this is the evidence of that ungodliness and unrighteousness,

Rom. 1:24 "Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them."

So also Paul writes, Eph. 5:3 "But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them. 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret."

You cannot claim peace with God when you live your life as those aliened from God. And unrepentant disobedience is the expression of that alienation. Your disobedience. Your alienation from God. Thus God's alienation from you. And he will surely make that alienation final.

Rev. 22:14 "Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. 15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie."

So there is a goal to this work of reconciliation. God has a purpose which he will fulfill. Not merely the forgiveness of our sins. That's only the first step. It is crucial and fundamental step, to be sure, distinct from all that follows. But much does follow our justification. It's called sanctification. And sanctification means making holy.

C. The goal of reconciliation is holiness. God reconciles us to himself through Jesus Christ in order to make us holy! v.21-22

That is the will of for us as Christians, our holiness. To present us holy and blameless. That's not imputed righteousness. That's not the righteousness of Christ imputed to us in our justification. That is real, personal, actual holiness which is the fruit of a lively faith.

The importance of not losing sight of that goal is made obvious in the next verse, where Paul actually gives a gentle warning to the people of Colosse, v.23

So, beloved, cling to the hope of the gospel, the gospel I preach to you. The gospel that by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Cling to the promise of the gospel that in Jesus Christ there is forgiveness of sins, that God has "reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ."

Cling to this hope of the gospel declared here in our text,

v.21 "And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death."

Do not be moved away from that faith by any measure of false teaching or by any measure of Satan's temptations. It is the hope of the gospel.

Rom. 5:10 "For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."

With that sure and certain hope, that realize that the God who has reconciled you is working in you to make you holy,

v.22 "...to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight."

And remember, that's what Paul has been praying for these dear people all along.

v.9 "For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins."

People of God, the ministry of the gospel is the ministry of reconciliation, that you might be reconciled to God in peace. Yet the goal of that reconciliation is that you might live your lives in a manner of obedience fully pleasing to him. So I preach to all of you that gospel of reconciliation. And to all who are reconciled, I preach to you the call of holiness.

Fully Searchable
Bible