Sermon Details:
Series Title: We Serve the SAME God
Sermon Title: We Serve the SAME Savior! (Pt.2)
Sermon Text: Colossians 1:21-29 [ESV]
Introduction:
In our journey through this letter to the church in Colossae, we have learned how we are ALL on the same team and we have been called to serve… to get in the game!
Last week we took a look at how Paul describes our leader, our ‘coach’ if you will… He speak of WHO Jesus is! We discovered that Jesus IS our deliverer… we learned that Jesus is our creator and God… we also saw how Jesus is our LEADER… the cornerstone of our faith!
But what does that mean for us? I believe Paul lets us know in the verses that follow… and what Paul is doing is going beyond WHO Jesus is, and he is describing WHAT Jesus has done… Let’s look at those verses right now! [read Col 1:21-29 here – follow me]
Jesus Reconciles (v21-22)
Paul begins his description of WHAT Jesus has done by setting the stage… Paul reveals in v21 of where these believers were before they came to know Christ – they were LOST! This is where EVERYONE is who does not know Christ as Savior…Paul says:
21And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,
Alienated
Hostile
Alienated – outsider, shut out of fellowship – NOT WELCOME!
Hostile – against God, hateful and opposing to God… not necessarily on purpose, but could be a passive opposition to God, in other words, you simply do not acknowledge God in your life…
The results for NOT having God in your life are made clear by Paul… he tells us that they were doing evil deeds… what does he mean? doing evil deeds – is the natural result of not being a part of God or NOT acknowledging God in your life… it leads to selfish and evil deeds.
Isaiah wrote in Is 53:6 that…6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
When we stray, we are doing evil… it doesn’t have to be murder or other things we may consider to be ‘evil’…when we turn away from God or refuse to turn TO God… we are sinful & sinful = evil.
Paul sets the table with our situation before God and doing how we are evil deeds, but then in v22 he reveals WHAT Jesus does for our situation! Last week we saw WHO Jesus was as ‘deliverer’ now we see WHAT Jesus does as ‘deliverer’ -- he reconciles us to God!
v22 tells us…22he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him…
What Jesus does…
Reconciled [show v22 highlight #1 here] here Paul is going all the way back to the Garden where Adam and Eve disobeyed God and brought sin into the world… the stain of sin was passed down through the blood line from Adam to ALL the world…
In Romans Paul tells us that we have ALL sinned… not just a few, but ALL of us! Our sin may be different than other people, but sin separates us from God. I want you to hear this… we are ALL born INTO sin because it is our very NATURE to sin or should I say that we are natural born sinners!
Paul says that we are reconciled by Jesus… the Greek Paul uses here means that we are brought back to a former state of harmony!
When we are reconciled…we are brought back to an innocent & pure state like that in the Garden after Creation.
When we are reconciled in Christ we are able to commune with God personally, just as Adam and Eve were able to in the cool of the evening in the Garden… We are also seen by God as ‘very good’ … just as He originally saw creation! THAT is what being reconciled to God means!
How Jesus does it…
Paul says reveals that Jesus accomplished reconciliation for us thru… his body of flesh by his death. [show v22 highlight #2 here]
This is Paul’s reference to Christ on the Cross. Jesus allowed himself to be crushed for our sake, his body was bloodied and killed so that we could know reconciliation to God!
Isaiah foretold about WHAT Jesus would come to do…
Isaiah 53:4-5 tells us:
4Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
Jesus paid the price for our reconciliation with His own body! We are reconciled because of His sacrifice. And the wonderful news about this is He did it willingly for all His creation…
Jesus reconciles us and we see the heart behind the reconciliation and it is a heart of love for His creation!
Rom 5:8-9 tells us…
8but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood…
Why Jesus does it…
21…in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him…
Jesus reconciles and the result of that reconciliation is that we are made to be innocent and stand blameless before God. To be reconciled is like being picked up and cradled in the arms of Jesus, totally loved and forgiven.
Jesus reconciles with the kindness of a Savior! He does not reconcile us begrudgingly or with any condition, but lovingly and with all compassion… I picture our reconciliation similar to how Jesus rec’d the children in Mark 10.
After a LONG day’s walk he was tired and the disciples were tired… but there were parents there seeking for Jesus to bless their children… the disciples wanted NO part of it, but Jesus rebuked their attitude and told them to let the children come! Isn’t that beautiful… He invites us to come, no matter the situation!
But it does not stop there… When we look at v16 of Mark 10 we see the individual and personal nature by which Jesus invited these children. Mark says, “…and He took them in His arms (one by one) and blessed them, laying His hands on them…”
This personal one to one blessed love is how Jesus reconciles US! One by one, He picks us up and cradles in his arms as he blesses us with reconciliation to the Father so that we stand blameless and pure in His presence!
Paul points out reconciliation as WHAT Jesus does… what does that mean for us today? If you do NOT know Jesus it means that you can know Him today by allowing Him to reconcile you to God.
If you are a believer today, the biblical truth that Jesus Reconciles means that we are loved and cradled in His arms and we must live out that reconciliation in our lives. We are called to become instruments and agents of His reconciliation in this world.
We must seek out the lost to see them reconciled to God like we have been! Are you seeking the lost today? Are you acting in love based on your reconciled life? Or are you sitting on the sidelines? Remember we are called to get in the game!
Paul tells us how Jesus reconciles, but Paul also gives us an illustration of how Jesus RESTORES…
Jesus Restores (v23-25a)
23if 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. 24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25of which I became a minister
This is Paul’s personal illustration and attitude of what it means to be reconciled by Christ and then restored to the ‘created order’ type of relationship with God!
Jesus reconciles us with what He accomplished on Calvary and the result of that reconciliation is that we are made innocent and blameless before God… being reconciled by Jesus we are restored to our Creator!
When we look at what Paul wrote, we see a minister of the Gospel who is content where he is AND how God is using him! Paul understands his purpose in the kingdom and understands he has been fully restored by God!
Paul mentions ‘the hope of the Gospel’… what does that mean? The ‘hope of the Gospel’ is restoring those outside of God’s grace back into His grace. Those in sin are being restored to the created order of innocence and a personal walk with God.
Being Restored reflected Paul’s joyful & confident realization of what God had accomplished already and was still accomplishing through his life. Paul’s relationship with God as creator had been restored and he was now realizing/comprehending what that meant.
Paul says in v24:
24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,
Now this is a very difficult verse to understand, but if we look at it at face value we can draw some basic conclusions about it.
First we see Paul is REJOICING about the Colossian church. Although they may be having some issue with a heresy and he is having to write them about it…
He is still ecstatic about their fellowship and the reports he is receiving about them. This is very important because Paul was writing this letter from prison in Rome shortly before he was put to death.
We find Paul REJOICING, but this rejoicing was happening even thru his suffering. I believe we can see 2 things about Paul’s life here:
FIRST, his life was NOT an easy life, but Paul had to deal with pain, hurt, heartache, difficulty and betrayal. Now he was in prison, but still he made the choice to REJOICE!
Second, we can see that Paul’s focus was NOT on his life or his sufferings, but that his focus was on the work of God he saw happening around him…and in that, he found great joy!
So on the surface we see a man who is in a difficult situation, but he has learned to rejoice in spite of the hardship! He can do this because of the success of the Gospel… he finds joy in seeing God’s work succeed, even in a church he did NOT plant…
We could understand his exuberance if this was a church he had planted, but here was a church he had never even visited, but yet his focus was on the success of the Gospel and rejoicing in how this fellowship was serving God!
The next part of this verse is the hard part. Paul says, “…and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church…”
Now what does Paul mean when he says this? There are many views about this passage, but ultimately this passage is about Paul’s identification with the suffering that comes as a result of being a follower of Christ!
Let me share what I mean… Paul wrote in Gal (his earliest letter) 2:20 “… I have been crucified with Christ…” here Paul relates his connection with the ultimate suffering of Christ. Many believe this to be symbolic in nature, but Paul held that the sufferings of his ministry were part of who he was in Christ!
We find this evident in other writings from Paul. Turn to Rom 5:3-6 (ESV) Paul also says this about suffering to the church in Rome:
3Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
Suffering was a path that all believers will be called to walk because it builds endurance, character and increases our hope…and in that suffering, we do not know shame! In other words, Paul is letting us know that suffering as believers builds us up…
And in his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul is saying in v6… “…because God’s love has been poured out on us thru the HS…while we were WEAK Christ died for us…” in other words we are RESTORED in Christ because of His love for us and His willingness to suffer FOR us! So as believers we must be willing to embrace and endure suffering for Him.
Our own Josh Peeler, wrote a paper on these verses and he said this, “Paul was saying both that believers would share in Christ’s sufferings and that there was a ‘need’ within the body of Christ for such suffering.”
In other words, suffering is part of who we are as believers. However, what does this have to do with being ‘restored’?
Well we can see that Paul was at peace in his sufferings. He was not confused or wondering, ‘why me o’ Lord?’ Paul understood suffering for Christ was 1st part of being ‘in Christ’, but 2nd it was something to embrace and rejoice in…
This view of suffering was not limited to Paul. Looking at Acts 5 we see other disciples with the same understanding. Peter and John were taken and beaten by the Pharisees for preaching Jesus when they had been told NOT to… Acts 5:40-41 (ESV) -40and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
Most of the early church viewed suffering for the sake of Christ to be expected AND it was worthy of rejoicing! They saw that to suffer for their Savior was an honor… that they were being counted worthy to suffer because of their obedience…
Suffering in obedience is cause for rejoicing because the enemy is trying to tear us down and stop us and we have suffered at his hand and we have been counted worthy to suffer for HIS name!
Here in v24 we find Paul expressing JOY thru his suffering! This reveals the peace that was present in his heart! The peace Paul speaks of in Phil 4… a peace that passes all human understanding. The peace Paul reveals here is a direct reflection of the reconciliation and total restoration that had taken place in his heart!
In other words, where Paul had been ‘restored’ to the bosom of His creator!
Let’s look at it like this: [restoration powerpoint slides here]
It is like that mechanic who goes out to the junkyard [show junkyard picture here – slide 1]
He searches tirelessly for that ‘certain’ car. [show junkyard pic of mustang here – slide 2],
Then when he finds it [show junkyard pic of mustang here – slide 3],
He finds it, he BUYS it for his own and takes it back to his garage to begin fixin’ it up! [show garage picture of mustang being repaired – slide 4]
The master mechanic uses his skill and talent to scrape away the rust, sand off the rough edges, to remove the filth and dirt, to clean, to mend and bring this old junker BACK from what it had been and the final product is a newly restored car [show newly restored mustang pic here– slide 5] back to its original condition!
Here Paul reflects a joyful attitude in his suffering as a direct result of his reconciliation and being restored to God! Paul is at peace, regardless of the suffering…
For those here today who profess Christ as Savior… let me remind that you have ALSO been restored… restored back to our Created Image…As the psalmist says:
Psalm 30:1-3 (NLT) [show verses here]
I will exalt you, Lord, for you rescued me. You refused to let my enemies triumph over me. O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you restored my health. You brought me up from the grave, O Lord. You kept me from falling into the pit of death.
If you are a believer today, the biblical truth that Jesus restores us by reconciling us to our Creator! This means we can rejoice in all things! Here we find Paul rejoicing IN his suffering! This reveals that we must not only be willing to suffer for the sake of Christ, we should EMBRACE it and rejoice IN it!
Let me ask, are you willing to rejoice when you suffer for Christ? Are you willing to be like Peter and John? Are you willing to be like Paul? Do you have a joyful spirit in the midst of persecution? We must rejoice because we have been restored to our Creator!
Jesus reconciles, Jesus restores but Paul also notes that…
Jesus Reveals (v25b-29)
25…according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
What Paul is saying here in these verses is that according to the stewardship of God… Christ is revealed through his life! In other words, Jesus reconciles us, Jesus restores us and then Jesus is revealed to the world THRU us!
Jesus reveals his love, character and glory through our lives in this world after we are saved and reconciled to Him. Paul is informing us that Jesus is revealed in us THRU our service/obedience to Him!
The key verse in this bunch is v28 that says:
28Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
And the key phrase in that verse is the very end where Paul says: …that we may present everyone mature in Christ... Paul is saying that believers must present or ‘reveal’ to the world a true picture of Christ! The mature believer presents a true picture of Christ. A picture that reveals His love, His mercy, His grace, His redemption…
Do you realize that Jesus IS revealed in your life? The question is what revelation of Jesus are you presenting to the world? Paul presented a revelation of Jesus the ONE who saves, redeems and loves… how is Jesus revealed in YOUR life!
The life of a believer who is obediently serving Christ and living according to the command of Jesus should reveal that Jesus has TOTALLY changed them… they have be redeemed and restored and fully reconfigured!
I watch a TV show called Restaurant Impossible… and that show is about failing restaurants who are ‘restored’ back to profitable and successful restaurants by a skilled chef and restaurateur!
This man comes into a restaurant and reveals to them their flaws and why they are failing… his comments are very painful, but they reveal the truth about their restaurant.
Then he tears down the old, and reshapes the layout, furniture, equipment, menu and staff of the restaurant… and in 48hrs he presents a RESTORED restaurant to the public…
That is exactly what happens when we are reconciled in Christ!
This is exactly what happens when we are restored in Christ!
We are REVEALED to the world around us… in that revelation Jesus is REVEALED as Savior of our life!
On the show Restaurant Impossible they often go back to these restaurants to see how they are doing a year after they have helped them recover… many are still successful but there are also many that have fallen back into disrepair and have become unsuccessful again, some have even went out of business…
But spiritually speaking, Jesus does not reconcile and restore us…and then leave us on our own! Jesus has promised he would never leave us. He promised that the Comforter would be with us always… there to reveal TRUTH and CONVICTION of sin!
In other words, it would be like this man staying with this restaurant to MAKE sure they made it… that he would ALWAYS be there to help them make the right decisions!
THAT is exactly what happens for believers! We have the presence of the Holy Spirit to lead, guide and direct us! We have the presence of the Holy Spirit to REVEAL Jesus thru our lives!
This is why Paul says what he says in v29:
29For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
For this I toil… is his realization that he must be mature in representing this Jesus who has reconciled him…who has restored him… Paul realized that Jesus must be revealed to the world thru his life!
When Paul says this he is NOT saying that HE can do it, but he is saying that he make the choice to pursue it, but he understands that it can only be accomplished thru the power of Christ! Paul says:
…struggling with all His energy that He powerfully works within me...
Yet another way Jesus is revealed IN us is when we allow Him to empower our obedience! He empowers us to do things we could NEVER do on our own and the world takes notice and He is revealed! So our obedience IS part of Jesus being revealed but also … Jesus IS revealed in our reliance on Him in our obedience!
We can see a biblical truth here that Jesus should be ‘revealed’ in our lives! He restores us thru reconciliation and in that reconciliation we reveal His love, mercy, grace and redemption through our obedience! [clear screen now]
Does your life reveal Christ to the world around you? Or an even more penetrating question is, “What does your life reveal about Christ to the world around you?”
Are you willing to be obedient to His calling on your life? To serve where He had called you? To wait tables for Him? To tell others about Him? To let the little children come and you tell them about Him? To teach a class for Him? Are you willing to be obedient?
Paul shares that we cannot do this of our own power, but our obedience must come through our leaning on HIS power? Are you allowing Him to empower you in your life FOR Him today?
Conclusion:
This morning you have heard that:
Jesus reconciles us…we are drawn TO Him and made blameless
Jesus restores us…we are redeemed and restored to our creator
Jesus is revealed IN and THRU us…through HIS power we can reveal Christ to the world!
You can know the reconciliation and restoration of God this morning… He is drawing you to Him right this very moment… [Evangelistic invitation here]
You can know the revelation of God thru your life this morning… He is willing to lead, guide and direct our steps as we reveal Him to the world around us… he has promised that He will empower us to BE who we are called to be so that the world will SEE Him for who He is… the Savior who loves them! [Believer’s invitation here]
Jason would you lead us in our time of invitation…
