Good Friday

Opening

Please stand with me for a call to worship.

Calls to Worship (35 Good Friday)

Leader: He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed.

Congregation: All 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.

PRAYER

Father we gather here tonight in humble reflection. We celebrate all that you have done for us so much that often we over look our blessings. Lord tonight let us remember that it was for us that you had to die. That we too are guilty of having you nailed to that tree. That we too need your forgiveness, your grace, your mercy. Lord meet us here tonight. Amen.

Our message for tonight is titled Reconciliation: What Blood Bought. We will be looking to Col 1:19-20. If you brought your own Bible or want to follow along on your device please turn their now. If you are using the blue pew Bible please turn to page 1086. Or you may follow along on the screen.

Let us hear the word of the Lord.

PASSAGE

Colossians 1:19–20 ESV

19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

May the Lord bless the reading of his word.

As Christians one of the things we often celebrate is the fact that we have been reconciled to God. But do we take the time to reflect on what that means or the way that it was achieved? Tonight we are going to look at these two verses to see if we can come to a deeper understanding of this truth we so deeply appreciate.

When we consider reconciliation we understand it as the healing of a severed relationship. It is the idea of a settled, sealed, and harmonious relationship where enmity and animosity once reigned. But how do we go from a state of enmity and animosity to a state of settled, sealed, and harmonious? That is what we hope to look at tonight.

The Fullness of God

One of the things that Paul wanted for the Colossians to know was that Jesus was the fullness of God. Why is this important? Paul’s concern for the Colossians was that they not become captive to false ideas.

Colossians 2:8 ESV

8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

Paul follows this up by doubling down on what he said in verse 19.

Colossians 2:9 ESV

9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

By this Paul means that the totality of God dwells in Jesus, or as Melick puts it, “Everything that God is, Jesus is.” When it comes to reconciliation understanding this aspect of Jesus is important. For if he was not truly the image of the invisible God. If he was just merely a good man that walked closely with God. Then the example that is set for us is that reconciliation is born out of our own strength.

How good can you be? How giving can you be? How obedient can you be? How much suffering can you handle? How many of us have tried to heal a relationship through these methods? How many of us have looked to our own strength and understanding for the solutions? We have all been there. We have all heard those words to just be the bigger person, to just get over the issue.

We turn to man’s understanding, we turn to empty words, we turn to our traditions. And yet, when we do this there does not seem to be a feeling of settledness. Rather, those feelings of animosity tend to be carried with us. We never really sense peace. That is because reconciliation cannot happen in man’s strength. Reconciliation happens due to a supernatural strength that is imparted to us. Why is this? Because reconciliation comes through God alone.

Paul in addressing the Philippian Christians explains how this came to be.

Philippians 2:5–8 ESV

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

See there is a model here for how reconciliation can come about. See Jesus who is the totality of God, did not empty himself from being God, but rather humbled himself by adding to himself the human experience. Through this means Jesus came to serve man, by being obedient to the plan of God by being put to death on the cross.

See the settledness of reconciliation does not come out of our own strength by being the bigger person. Settledness comes by imitating Jesus. It comes by humbling oneself and serving the one that has committed the offense.

The Gospels state that Jesus had to fulfill the Scriptures by being numbered with the transgressors. That comes from Isaiah.

Isaiah 53:12 ESV

12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

The one who knew no sin became sin. In doing this he settled the issue. If you have found Jesus as your Savior your account is settled. The almighty Yahweh, in his incarnate form, took your place. He who holds the power of life and death. He that all things were made through and for and that all things find their being. He humbled himself, came as a servant for you, so that longing aching feeling that runs so deep inside of you can be settled. And yet his work stretches far beyond you.

Reconcile to Himself All Things

In giving his life Paul informs us that Jesus reconciled all tings unto himself. Often as humans, in our self centeredness, we believe reconciliation only to be extended unto us. Yet, Paul’s words in verse 20 include all things.

Colossians 1:20 ESV

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

When the curse was handed down in Genesis 3, we see all of creation condemned. What we need to understand is that the Scriptures indicate that all of God’s creation is living and active and responds to him in their designed ways. Yet, by man’s sin all of creation was cursed. The land, the vegetation, the seas, the animals. All were put under curse because of man’s disobedience.

Now how many of you enjoy getting in trouble because of someone else’s actions? None of us. Yet this is what happened. All of creation was to be subjugated to man. Man was to subdue it, to rule over it on God’s behalf. When man fell all that he was over fell as well. The Scriptures testify to the fact that creation has groaned waiting for the time to come when all has been restored.

Romans 8:22 ESV

22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

Creation waits, they wait because they were put into bondage, they were separated from their creator, and not because of their own volition. And this mystery of reconciliation, the work of Jesus, did not impact only the material world, but also the immaterial world. Paul tells the Ephesians that this was a mystery hidden only in God that has now been revealed in Christ.

Ephesians 3:9–10 ESV

9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

See God’s desire is that all of his creation one day be restored. That is what is coming after his second coming. His first coming was to set the captives free and to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom. The second coming will be the King bringing his kingdom. A day when all this cursed world is done away with. A day when sin no longer has an affect on our lives in any regard.

But maybe that all sounds to good to be true. Maybe that sounds like a nice story but the reality is that this life is hard and then you die. This is where we need to understand the seal that comes through reconciliation.

In his first chapter to the Ephesians, Paul informs them that when they believed in the Gospel message. That when that work of reconciliation was applied to them, that something happened to them.

Ephesians 1:13 ESV

13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

They were sealed with the Holy Spirit. But this seal was not for nothing. There was purpose to this seal.

Ephesians 1:14 ESV

14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

The Spirit serves as the seal of the guarantee of our inheritance. Well what is this inheritance? The most obvious is the next life to come free from the sin of this life. The other aspect to this inheritance is a current peace that we can have with God.

Romans 5:1 ESV

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The reconciling work of Christ has settled our position with God, it has sealed our future inheritance and our current peace with him. But it came at a price.

Peace By the Blood

The shedding of blood to cover the shame brought on by sin is a concept that runs the length of the Scriptures. Adam and Eve’s means to cover their own nakedness were insufficient. God took the life of an animal in order to properly cover them. The sacrificial laws of the OT shows us that the cost of sin is steep. That it requires a life to be given to cover that sin. It is to show man what is needed to cover their sins, but also to cause them to stop and reflect on the value that comes with a life of any living being.

Colossians 1:20 ESV

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

Sin has a great cost to it. Sin separates us from God. Sin separates us from our fellow man. Sin causes us to experience enmity and animosity. Sin infects and destroys every aspect of life. But why blood to cover and why by the cross?

Romans 6:23 ESV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The cost of sin is death. It is an interesting fact the the end of sin is death, but the end to sin is death. For this wage of sin to be paid a life must be taken. This is the principle that the Scriptures present. We do not have to like it, but it is the case none the less. But why did Jesus have to die on the cross? Why couldn’t he have died a natural death at the end of a long life?

This is where the intention work of God comes in. He, the keeper of his promises, knowing full well the requirement needed for reconciliation. Took it upon himself to see this gap between man and God bridged. Commenting on this David Mathis states,

“Jesus did not shed his blood by accident. This was no random death. Tragic as it was, it was deliberate and voluntary. He was executed unjustly, and his blood was spilled on purpose at the cross, both by sinful men and the holy God-man. They took his life, and he gave it. In doing so, he absorbed the righteous wrath of God, granted us his full legal acceptance, purchased our true freedom, restored our most important relationship, and made peace for us with God himself.”

By doing so a harmonious relationship with God can occur. See we need to realize that this peace is not fleeting peaceful easy feelings, but rather a state of being. This state of peace is now where we reside as Christians. A peace that was bought with the blood of Jesus in an intentional fashion. This was not happenstance. This was not some person who decided to succumb to the will of their god. This was the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth. This was the One True God. This was the Alpha and the Omega, carrying through with his promises.

Closing

As we are closing tonight, we need to consider what reconciliation does. We see how through Jesus’ work he has brought about our settled position with God, he has sealed this promise with his Spirit, and by this we can now live in a state of peace. But this is not just for us. Christ has called us to go on his behalf sharing this same message.

2 Corinthians 5:18 ESV

18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

We have been reconciled and we are called to go and show how God seeks this with others as well. We are to demonstrate this with in our own relationships. Yet, this can be hard. It can be hard to humble ourselves to serve others for the sake of reconciliation. In closing tonight I want us to watch a video reminding us of the work that Jesus did for us. The message is from a sermon by pastor Judah Smith about 10 years ago. Let us listen to what he has to say.