Reconciliation of All Things (HBLT)

Jesus will reconcile ALL THINGS to Himself.

Colossians 1:19-20

Bible Passage

Colossians 1:15-20 (ESV - English Standard Version)

15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

16For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

17And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

18And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

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

1

HOOK (Grab Attention)

Hook

How many of you, when you see something that is out of place or in the wrong place, it drives you absolutely crazy until it is put back in place??

Something laying in the wrong place

A clock that isn't set on the right time

a picture in someone's house that is hanging crooked

Opening statement:  There is nothing more relieving than when something that is wrong has been made right.

When something is wrong and we know it, it causes:

stress

anxiety

if it is something SIGNIFICANT enough, it can cause DEATH, because it could endanger lives

EX:  A loose power line

Same with our spiritual lives.

When something isn't right in our relationships, it causes STRIFE.

Our UNDERSTANDING of each other can get "lopsided" or "catywampus"...

Our UNDERSTANDING of Who God is can be "lopsided" as well...

Us desiring things to be made completely RIGHT is something that is sown DEEPLY into our New Nature in Christ...

WHY?

Because Christ IS going to make all things right.

You can TRUST THAT....trust that with ALL OF YOUR SOUL.

How do we know this??  Let's look at the passage....

2

BOOK

Bible Passage

Colossians 1:19 (ESV - English Standard Version)

19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

Explanation

I want to begin with this...

THIS is where we miss the boat with understanding who God is...THIS is where we can get "lopsided about God"

We tend to get "hung up" on ONE or TWO things about God and we forget what this verse says...

"For in him ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD WAS PLEASE TO DWELL

We get on our "kicks" about what we JUST learned about God or it may be the ONLY thing you have ever learned about God...

I can say this without a DOUBT

Our current understanding about God and Who He is (our theology) IS NOT "THE END" of God...

THIS IS THE PROBLEM with most Christians...we are TOO EASILY SATISFIED

We find a "nugget" about God and then that becomes EVERYTHING God is to us...

Does this mean that your current understanding about God becomes "wrong" at some point??

Not always, but sometimes.

The ATTRIBUTES of GOD are ALWAYS TRUE...it is OUR VANTAGE POINT is what changes

God is MUCH more than 

Reformed Theology is NOT the END of Christ...it is the BEGINNING

The part I want you to remember is THE FULLNESS OF GOD

He is more than what you are learning at the moment

His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts.

Bible Passage

Colossians 1:19-20 (ESV - English Standard Version)

19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

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

Explanation

"pleased to dwell"

"pleased to reconcile"

Forgiveness vs Reconciliation

You can FORGIVE someone, but not be RECONCILED with them...

FORGIVING someone means you will no longer hold anything against them.

Jesus said that if we do not FORGIVE others their trespasses, HE will NOT forgive OURS.

It's not that we EARN God's forgiveness by forgiving, but that God expects FORGIVEN PEOPLE to FORGIVE!

Being RECONCILED means "to REESTABLISH a close relationship between"

Bible Passage

Colossians 1:20 (ESV - English Standard Version)

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

Explanation

"reconcile to himself all things"

"all" = pas = some of many types OR every single

firstborn of ALL CREATION

by him ALL THINGS were created

ALL THINGS were created through Him and for Him

He is before ALL THINGS

in Him ALL THINGS hold together

in Him ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD was pleased to dwell

through Him TO RECONCILE TO HIMSELF ALL THINGS

EVERY SINGLE THING, WHETHER ON EARTH OR IN HEAVEN, WILL HAVE A CLOSE RELATIONSHIP REESTABLISHED WITH GOD.

The root word for "reconcile" here is "apocatastasis"

        1) to reconcile completely

        2) to reconcile back again

        3) bring back a former state of harmony

What about those suffering the wrath of God??

What does this passage say??

through Him to reconcile to Himself ALL THINGS

What about the word "eternal"??

"Olam" in the OT = vanishing point

"Aion" in the NT = Age (the Age endurance of a person)

G. Campbell Morgan says explicitly concerning olam/aiõn:  

Quote

“Let me say to Bible students that we must be very careful how we use the word ‘eternity.’ We have fallen into great error in our constant use of that word. There is no word in the whole Book of God corresponding with our ‘eternal,’ which, as commonly used among us, means absolutely without end.”

G. Campbell Morgan

Explanation

"Eternal Life" = aionios ZOE

The length of time in "eternal life" is NOT dependent upon the word "aionios", but on the NATURE OF "ZOE", the very LIFE OF GOD.

God has no beginning or end

I AM THAT I AM = YAHWEH

He has "made peace by the blood of His cross"

There is no more hostility.

Bible Passage

Colossians 1:21-22 (ESV - English Standard Version)

21And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,

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,

Explanation

"Through Him to reconcile all things to himself"

all things WILL BE RECONCILED to him

if you are born again, you are reconciled NOW

to present you holy and blameless

it is NOT a PARTIAL reconciliation, it is WHOLE because of the blood of his cross

HE TOOK OUR PLACE

That was NOT partial, but in WHOLE

We have WHOLE RECONCILIATION with Christ.

3

LOOK

Application

WHY DOES THIS MATTER??

Why do we need to understand this??

How does this affect our lives??

If you don't believe your RECONCILIATION to God is significant, you don't really believe your sin is SIGNIFICANT.

We were at WAR with God.

our flesh HATES God

it wants to BE God

God has RESTORED you as a son or daughter of God

Adam and Eve rebelled against the Kingdom

We as Adam's sons and daughters, were cut off from the King and the Kingdom

We are NOW RECONCILED with God

Better to be reconciled NOW than to be reconciled later...

We don't fully understand what all that entails in the end.

Some are destroyed

Cast into outer darkness

Remembered no more

Separated from God

Since God "holds all things together", to be separated from Him is to CEASE TO EXIST AFTER JUSTICE HAS BEEN MADE

maybe those are restored to humanity, but maybe there isn't anything left to restore...

Scripture speaks on the "reconciliation of all things" and of being destroyed.

We MUST remember the "fullness of God" and not allow our vantage point to remain lopsided with only one or two attributes of God.

He is MORE than we ever imagined.

The Attributes of God keep going DEEPER

4

TOOK

Bible Passage

2 Corinthians 5:17-20 (ESV - English Standard Version)

17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

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

19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

20Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Challenge Application

Opening statement:  There is nothing more relieving than when something that is wrong has been made right.

There is nothing more RELIEVING than when WE were RECONCILED to God by being born again!

The Gospel IS the message of reconciliation.

God is making His appeal to the world through you and me...

What kind of ambassador for Christ are you right now?

You will grow in your FAITHFULNESS and FEARLESSNESS with the message when you are FULL of grateful joy for your own reconciliation to Christ.

If you are EXCITED about what Christ has done in your life, you will be EXCITED to SHARE what He has done!

You can convince yourself that you are grateful and excited in your HEAD, but is it in your HEART??

Jesus says:

Luke 6:45 "The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."

Quote

The business of the Gospel is to bring people to God and to reconcile them to God.  Not to fill churches!  Not to have good statistics!  But to reconcile men to God, to save them from the wrath to come.

Martyn Lloyd Jones