• We looked at His supremacy in relation to God, the universe, the unseen world and the church.
• We said that the fullness of God dwells in Christ and that the fullness of Christ dwells in us.
• Tonight we look at the fact that we are reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.
• The new testament uses 5 key words to describe the riches of salvation
• Reconciliation is one of them together with justification, redemption, forgiveness and adoption
• In justification we stand guilty before God, but God declares us righteous. Rom 8:33
• In redemption we stand as slaves, but is granted freedom – Rom 6:18-22
• In forgiveness we stand before God as debtors, but the debt is paid for us and forgiven – Eph 1:7
• In adoption we stand before God as strangers, but is made sons – Eph 1:5
• In reconciliation we stand before God as enemies, but becomes His friends – 2 Cor 5:18-20
• We will have to do a full study on each of these words if we want to understand salvation, but in our text tonight, Paul takes a look at reconciliation.
• The word in Greek katallassō means “to change or exchange”
• It is used in three other places
• In 1 Cor 7:11 it is used where the woman is reconciled to her husband
• In Rom 5:10 and 2 Cor 5:18-20 it is used where man is reconciled to God.
• Here in Col 1:20&21 Paul uses a stronger form of the verb
• The word Paul uses is apokatallassō which means “thoroughly, utterly, completely and totally reconciled.”
• Remember, the false doctrine that was arising in Colossea was that Christ was not God, just a spiritual being sent by God.
• Now the results of that false teaching was that Jesus alone cannot reconcile us with God, we need other things as well.
• That is why Paul uses this strong form of the word, to say, Jesus and Jesus alone is all we need for the reconciliation.
THE PLAN OF RECONCILIATION
Col 1:20 And through Him having made peace through the blood of His cross, it pleased the Father to reconcile all things to Himself through Him, whether the things on earth or the things in Heaven.
• The bible never speaks of God needing to be reconciled to man, but man being reconciled to God
• Rom 8:7 says that the carnal mind is at enmity with God.
• Because of this, we need to be reconciled.
• When sin entered the world, man became estranged from God, enemies of God
• But sin did not just affect man, it affected the whole creation
o Certain angels sinned, and the Bible does not teach that they will ever be reconciled – Jude 6
o Animals were affected, they also suffer sickness death and pain – Rom 8:19-22
o The ground was cursed – Gen. 3:17 – thorns, weeds and thistles
o The stars are under the curs – Job 25:5
• God had a plan of reconciliation
• We must understand, God was not caught by surprise when man sinned.
• It was part of God’s plan.
• See, false teachers today teach that when Adam sinned, God had to make a new plan.
• God then came up with the plan of sending Jesus to make it all right again.
• But actually, God planned the cross before He planned anything else.
• The whole gospel is about Jesus’ work on the cross.
• That is the centre of the gospel
• Creation, the fall of man, everything as we know it, was made to make that initial plan work.
• Sin did not surprise God, it is going according to God’s plan
• Remember – as I always say – doctrines in the Bible is like train tracks
• They run next to each other and we might not understand how they can work together
• but scripture teaches both
• God’s responsibility and man’s responsibility in each doctrine
• Same in this case
• Adam sinned and got punished for it, we are still being punished for it
• But Adam could not, not sin, because it was part of God’s plan.
• Do not ask me how God can hold us responsible for something we did which was according to His plan
• We might understand it one day when we receive our heavenly bodies.
• Rom 9:18-21
• Well, as I mentioned, God had a plan and it included reconciliation
• One of the main reasons why Jesus died on the cross was to make this reconciliation possible.
• Reconciliation for people as well as the rest of creation
• Now there are false teachings going around today which uses this verse to prove their doctrine
• They say that all things means that even unregenerate men, fallen angels and the devil will be reconciled to God.
• This cannot be true because scripture clearly teaches that unsaved men will go to hell
• Phil 2:10 – this verse is also used to prove this false teaching
• What we see-in Phil is not reconciliation but subjugation
• Subjugation is –“ to conquer by force and compel to submit to the government or absolute control of another.” – Webster’s Dictionary
• Reconciled means that we were made right with Him, that we are now His friends, that we now worship Him as Lord.
• Subjugate means to be forced to acknowledge that He is God, not worshipping, just acknowledging.
• The Bible says the demons believe and they shudder. They are not reconciled
• Math 25:41 & 46
• How can we even try to think that all things will be reconciled, when it is so clear
• It is true that the relationship of fallen angels and unredeemed men will change towards God.
• According to the meaning of the word they will be reconciled, but in a different way
• Reconciled as we saw meant a changed relationship
• These people and angels will experience a changed relationship
• They will change from that of enemies to that of judged, as they will submit to His judgment on that great day when He returns
Col 1:21 And you, who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
• Now Paul, speaking in general brings it a bit closer to home, making it more personal
• He speaks about the reconciliation of Christians like the Colossians
• The fact that they were reconciled should be enough evidence that Christ is sufficient to reconcile.
• He reminds them of how they used to be before they were changed, or their relationship was changed
• He does the same to the Ephesians – Eph 2:12-13
• All humans are the same, we are separated from God until we are reconciled through Christ
• Then we become separated to God
THE MEANS OF RECONCILIATION
Col 1:21-22 ... yet now He has reconciled (22) in the body of His flesh through death,
• In verse 20 Paul starts to explain how this reconciliation happened
• Through the blood on the cross
• The blood of Christ speaks about the atonement, not about the physical blood of Christ
• It is a metaphor
• If it was physical blood how would we explain John 6:53-54, Math 27:24-25
• We have to agree that talking about the blood is symbolism.
• We do not drink His physical blood when we have communion
• Heb. 9:22 says that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness
• This shedding of blood is not just talking about bleeding, but about a violent death
• the kind of violent death Jesus died on the cross
• The critical element in salvation is the sacrificial death of Jesus for our sin – Rom 5:9-10
• In this verse “by His blood” and “by the death of Hi son” is the same thing and both is described as the means of reconciling us to God.
• If Jesus bled on the cross but did not die, it would not have served the purpose it was supposed to serve
• He had to die and thus shedding of blood speaks of that death
• So it is not His blood, but His death that saves us
• Christ did not just die as a sacrifice, but also as a substitute
• He has reconciled you in His fleshly body through death
• Rom 8:3 tells us that God sent His Son to condemn sin in the flesh while he was in the likeness of sinful flesh
• He was our substitute and died a death that paid the full price, satisfying God’s wrath
• Contrary to the false teaching of that day, Christ was sufficient to pay the full price for sin
THE AIM OF RECONCILIATION
to present you holy and without blemish, and without charge in His sight,
• The ultimate aim of reconciliation for God is to present His elect before Himself as holy and pure
• 2 Cor 11:2, Jude 24,
HOLY
• The word hagios means to be separated from sin and set apart to God• As a result of our relationship with Christ, God sees us as holy as His Son
• Eph 1:4 says that we should be holy and blameless before Him
• That should is not a request, it is a fact. He will finish the good work He started in us
• We see the same thing in 2 Cor 5:21
BLAMELESS
• amomos means “without blemish• In the OT it was used to speak of the sacrificial lamb
• In NT it speaks about Christ
• Heb. 9:14, 1 Pet 1:19
• Through the reconciliation we are given a blameless character
BEYOND REPROACH
• anegkletos does not just means blameless, it takes it a bit further• It means no one will be able to bring a charge or accusation against us Rom 8:33
• Reconciliation makes us holy, blameless and without charge or accusation before God
• He sees us now already as we would be in heaven one day
• We are already clothed with the righteousness of Christ.
• Spiritual growth is just us becoming in practice what we are in reality before God
• 2 Cor 3:18
THE EVIDENCE OF RECONCILIATION
Col 1:23 if indeed you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard and which was proclaimed in all the creation under Heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister,
• It is a sad fact that not all who profess to be Christian will one day enter into heaven Mat 7:22-23
• One of the greatest marks of someone who is truly reconciled is if he continues in the faith, grounded and steadfast
• The bible speaks about this in numerous places
• Luk 8:13, Joh. 8:31, 1 Joh. 2:19
• And what were they to continue in?
• In the gospel as Paul preached it, the gospel that they heard
• Those who were spreading the false doctrine was accursed according to Gal 1:8-9
• Let us end of by quickly looking at 2 Cor 5:17-21
• 5 truths found in here about reconciliation
o It transforms men – “v17 – new creatures”
o It satisfies God’s wrath – V21 “to be sin on our behalf”
o It comes through Christ – v18 “reconciled us unto Himself through Christ”
o Available to all who believe – v19 “in Christ reconciling the world”
o We been given a ministry of proclaiming the message of reconciliation – v18-19 “ given us the ministry of reconciliation” & “committed us to the word of reconciliation”
Aplication
Verse 20 – we need the same attitude as Paul – we need to beg people to accept the reconciliation that was made possible for them through the work of Jesus on the cross. Before it is to late
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