Sermon Tone Analysis

Last time we looked at three great “He is” statements about Jesus.

He is the image of the invisible God.

He is “before all things,”—that is, eternal.

All things are held together by Him.

And He is the undisputed Head of the church.

This time we’re going to explore Jesus as our Great Reconciler.

“For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”—vs.

19-20

After setting before us the deity of Christ, Paul now sets before us the death of Christ.

Scripture reveals that God has no plan, no program, and no purpose for planet earth that does not center itself in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.

We are now confronted with the most amazing of all the purposes of God—to save ruined sinners of Adam’s fallen race at infinite cost.

J.B. Phillips writes, “So the spotlight swings from the deity of Christ to the death of Christ, from the dizziest heights to the uttermost depths, from light unapproachable to night unbelievable, and from the thunderous applause of the heavenly hosts to the bitter blasphemies of murderous men.”

In a single sentence, down we come from the realm where Christ is crowned with glory and honor to the place where He was crucified in weakness and shame.

“Having made peace through the blood of his cross,” writes Paul, “by Him to reconcile all things to himself; by him, I say, whether they be things on earth or things in heaven.”

One might think that, at the sight of the cross, God would open up heaven’s entire arsenal to destroy His Son’s killers.

But instead, He opens up His arms in reconciliation.

Paul begins with the means of our reconciliation—the blood of Jesus’ cross.

Rather than waging war with man over it, God “made peace” through Jesus’ blood.

Rather than punish us over the blood, God pardoned us through the blood!

This vast and amazing plan of redemption began in a past eternity.

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit decided they would act in creation.

But through total foreknowledge of all things, knew also that if they acted in creation, they would have to act in redemption.

Thus, John the Revelator calls Jesus “the Lamb that was slain from before the foundation of the world (Rev.

13:8).

God full well knew Lucifer would rebel, and ultimately seduce Eve, who in turn coaxed Adam into sin.

Sin would spread like an ugly plague throughout the earth.

God saw it give rise to graveyards, cancer wards, insane asylums, prisons, and endless wars.

This posed a problem.

God’s holiness said “punish them.”

God’s love said “pardon them.”

The solution was simple but profound.

God passed sentence against the human race, the maximum sentence commensurate with absolute holiness—death.

This was followed by damnation in that dreaded hell originally created for the devil and his angels (Matt 25:41).

Then, in the Person of Jesus Christ, God Himself paid the penalty.

When Jesus hung on that cross between heaven and earth, somehow in the unfathomable workings of God, your sin and mine was laid upon Him.

When He cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Jesus was enduring a horror of great darkness we shall never understand this side of heaven.

On the cross the demands of God’s holiness and the demands of His love have been met!

The psalmist wrote of this, saying “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Ps.85:10).

This was the means of our reconciliation.

Next, Paul points out the measure of our reconciliation.

God’s reconciliation will extend to two realms—heaven and earth.

“…and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”—vs.

20

This verse makes it clear that both heaven and earth were defiled by sin.

Sin began in heaven, not on earth.

It began in the heart of the highest and most glorious created being in the universe—Lucifer, son of the morning.

In light of this, God intends to create both a new heaven and new earth.

All trace of sin will be removed, and both spheres will be reconciled to God.

His reconciliation also extends to total rebels on earth:

“And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled.”—vs.

21

Paul says we are mentally alienated.

Man’s battlefield is the mind.

In our minds we were alienated from God and were His enemies in our thoughts.

This is not hard to see in our world.

False religions that deny Christ flourish all around us.

Evolution, secularism, atheism, agnosticism—in countless ways man’s mind is held captive by the devil.

And we are morally alienated.

“Alienated…by wicked works.”

Wicked thoughts lead to wicked works, and that is the story of mankind.

Sin has debased and ruined humanity.

Only through the reconciliation of the blood of the cross can we be saved from it.

Sin makes us aliens and enemies of God.

It separates us from God mentally and morally.

Paul next points out the meaning of our reconciliation:

“…to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight.”—vs.

22

When God looks at you and me, all He sees is the blood of Christ.

When Satan accuses us before God’s throne as he did Job, God says, “All I can see is the precious blood of Christ.

The sin you accuse them of is under the blood.

I see no faults, no flaws, no blemish, no wrong!”

Thank God for such a mighty reconciliation!

Paul next moves from our standing to our state:

“… if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.”—vs.

23

In light of all He has done, we are, in turn, to be loyal to Him. “If you continue in the faith…” No demand the Lord places on us can be too great.

Songwriter Isaac Watts put it:

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

That were a present far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine

Demands my heart, my life, my all.

Let’s be clear.

Paul is not casting doubt on our salvation with his use of the phrase “If you continue…” His verb usage is in a tense meaning, “If you continue in the faith (which you will assuredly do).”

It is not a question of “if you do this or that,” you will be saved; it is a question of “because you are saved,” you will do this or that.

Next, Paul says we are to live for Him, identified with His cross.

“ I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church,”—vs.24

This statement has confused many.

What did Paul mean, “I…fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ?” Surely the sufferings of Christ were complete.

He said on the cross, “It is finished.”

Let’s explain.

When Paul was formerly Saul and persecuted the church, Jesus appeared to him and said, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 22:7).

Notice, Jesus didn’t say, “Why are you persecuting them?”

He said, “Me.”

At that moment, Paul understood the mystical body of Christ—that for him to put his hand upon a Christian was for him actually to put his hand on the Christ.

Throughout all the long centuries of the Christian era, members of the body of Christ have suffered, and Christ has suffered with them.

As His body (the church) suffered, Christ (the Head) has suffered with them.

The two are inseparable.

So, Christ’s sufferings are of two kinds.

Christ has suffered once for all for our sins.

And now Christ suffers with His saints, and that suffering goes on and on.

The first kind was redemptive suffering.

The second kind is responsive suffering.

This is what Paul meant by, “I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ.”

Paul saw his calling as a “stewardship.”

“…of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,”—vs.

25

The word “minister” here simply means “a servant.”