Colossians 1: Reconciled

Colossians 1:19-23

According to Mr, Google, the strongest glue in the world at this time is called DELO MONOPOX HT 2860, an epoxy resin developed by a German adhesive company. This glue holds the Guinness World Record for the heaviest weight lifted by glue, having lifted a 17.5 ton truck using just 3 grams of the glue...

They applied the glue to a surface about the size of a coke can bottom… It is impressive!

As impressive as this sounds… This stuff can never bring us together to God, or hold a family together.

...It has never, nor can ever hold a family together like mamas can.

You hear this expression from many family members: “Momma is the glue that hold us all together.”

Now: It is amazing how she held all the things together that me and my brother broke. Plates and dishes, and precious/fragile decorations that have been passed down through the generations.

But beyond this, it is amazing how she held the family together. The siblings could be fighting like cats and dogs, but one tear from momma’s eyes brought us to repentance. It brought an end to the hostility, at least for a little while.

She would even make us hug it out… and we would do it for Momma.

Momma fixes the meals and brings us together. Mother’s Day, mother’s birthdays, and mother’s funerals bring us all together. We could be so far away… But we would all be brought back together...

Why? Because of a person. Because of Love. Momma’s love for all of us and our love for momma brings us all together.

It is amazing how wonderful godly mothers are able to bring about such reconciliation.

Maybe it is because they are seeking to imitate and glorify their God and Savior.

God is a God of Reconciliation. God is in the business of Reconciliation.

God is in the business of bringing people together. God is in the business of bringing His children to Himself.

The Bible’s story outline revolves around these themes: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration.

God knows how to reconcile and He tells us here that Christ is the how. Christ is the foundation of this reconciliation. Christ is the reason. Christ is how. Christ brings all things together.

Now the question someone is asking right now is, “why do we have to be brought together? Why do we have to be reconciled?”

First, we need to understand that if we are in need of reconciliation… then relationship has been broken. There is separation and there is estrangement between persons or groups of people.

The Bible teaches us that Sin has separated mankind from God and there is no peace with God, no unity with God because of this.

This is our greatest problem: People are away from God. People are separated from God. We are broken.

So, our greatest need today: To be reconciled to God.

The first and greatest problem people have today is not a mental or physical problem, it is not a financial problem… Our greatest problem is a worship problem… It is a relationship problem… It is a vertical problem.

I am created by God and for God. I am created to have a relationship with God forever, but sin has separated me from this God… and He cannot love me as family until we are reconciled.

Before we work on horizontal relationships with one another, before we work on anything else, run to the alter and cry out for anything else… The first thing is first: Get right with God through Christ.

As a guilty sinner without a Savior, I am under the judgment of God. I am an object of divine wrath, deserving… not just a switch or a belt… but hell itself… Verse 21 says that we are or we were alienated and we were enemies of God...

This alienation, or estrangement, means that we are cut off from one another… Cut off, severed…

That is how bad the relationship was/is, and this is how far away we are… And we do not have peace with God as we are still living in our sins...

And we cannot fill this gap or create this peace with God… Only Jesus can.

Men are thinking right now: “Well, what can I do to fix this. I am a fixer… this is what we do.”

Men and women… This is something we cannot fix.

We cannot apply our own glue. But we cannot pull God to us. We cannot fix the brokenness of our souls.

So, God sends His Only Begotten Son to bring us to the Father. Christ Jesus reconciles sinners, who are broken, cut off, far off and away from God… and He brings them to God.

What do we do? We acknowledge this and We cry out in faith in Jesus, “Lord have mercy on Me a sinner, I will place my trust in you...” We believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, turn from our sins… and He saves us… He brings us in… and we now have peace with God...

God applies the Blood of Christ, or the life of Christ… and this creates the bond and fixes the problem

Jesus brings the sinner to God… and we are reconciled, not for days or years, but for all eternity.

The greatest problem we have is taken care of.

Jesus has done this.

And what does God do through Jesus?

Verse 22 - In Christ, He presents us Holy, blameless, and irreproachable in His sight… He cleans us up!

I do not understand a child’s fear of the bathtub. We would swim in mud, in ponds, rivers, and have enough dirt in our crevasses to plant potatoes… But when it came to that good clean water… We just didn’t want any of that...

Now some of us liked our dirt, and our mud, and we live in it without shame.

Some of us are too ashamed and fearful of approaching momma...

We do not want to mess up her bathroom...

What is she going to say? What is she going to do? You better not climb into the bed dirty or muddy… You are not going to rest very well and the wrath of momma will be on you...

But now, spiritually… Some people love their dirt and they do not want to come clean.

And also… Spiritually… Some of us see how dirty we are and we are too ashamed to go home and face God...

We are so ashamed and afraid of what God is going to say or do...

But what does Jesus say to a heart such as this? Jesus just says “Come… Come as you are… and I will clean you up. I will make you presentable. I will wash you and you will be clean.”Jesus says “I must wash you if you will have any part of Me… And I want to wash you… and you will be clean.”

And Jesus makes those who are filthy… white as snow, holy, blameless, and irreproachable in His sight.

Momma’s arms and hands were long enough and strong enough to reach out… grab us and pull us into the bathtube… They were long enough and strong enough to pull me towards herself, and towards my brother and sister...

Jesus has done this for His people… He has pulled us to Himself, into that holy cleansing, and He has brought us all together as One Big Family, holding us all together.

Jesus stretches His hands out and brings us all together...

It did not matter that we were so far away...

Isaiah 59:1 - The Lord’s hand is not short… It can reach you wherever you are.

Now: Let’s take this and apply this to our relationships with others:

The Lord’s hand/arm is not too short… but mine is.

When it comes to reconciling with others… Does it feel like you have Tyrannosaurus Rex arms?

Is it difficult for us to reach out and pull in?

We want to imitate Christ in this way. And Christ is The Reconciler...

A Person has brought us together. A Person can bring us all together...

Remember:

God is a God of Reconciliation… and God’s Business is Reconciliation…

2. He has given us a Ministry of Reconciliation. We are in the business of Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:20).

Those who have been reconciled… We look to the Reconciler, Jesus and we work at reconciling.

a. We work at reconciling the world to Christ, through the Gospel...

b. And we work to reconcile our family/church family relationships...

We go out, as those who have been brought in… and we tell others, we compel others, we reach and teach others… “Come to Christ… Come and be restored… Come and be forgiven… Come and be clean...!”

If they are within your reach… they are not too far away to reach out.

We Tell them… “Be reconciled to God before its too late!”

The Love that we have for Christ and for people compels us to work at this reconciliation.

2. And for those who are already in the Family of God...

Those who are Christians, in the home… at the local church...

And there has been that division between brothers and sisters… there have been those fights, or disagreements… There is a distance… There are walls… between us.

Are our hands/arms too short to reach out and be reconciled to one another? Have we gone too far that we cannot be a family any longer?

Are we too far gone?

What will compel us to work at reconciliation with one another?

A Person. Christ will compel us. Love for Christ… And love for one another will compel us to work at this.

As we look to Christ today… as we look at the Gospel, and what Jesus has done for us...

I believe that we will all come to agreement that if Christ would reach out to someone like me… if Christ would extend His loving arm towards me… If Christ would show me such mercy...

I can reach out to my brothers and sisters… for whom He died for.

Or better yet… As we both look to Christ together… And maybe even see the tears in His eyes...

And allow this to break us, and then allow Him to take His arms and bring us together.

Jesus is Glue that brings us and holds us together… He is the Holy soap that will clean up our lives and our relationships… He will bring peace to our families...

He is the One who will keep us and sustain us together, forever...

God is still in the reconciling business today.

Are we?

Gods arms are not too short today… but are ours?

Is the Lord calling us to be reconciled to Him today?

Is the Lord calling us to be reconciled to one another as His people?

We could be so far away… But we are never too far away to be reconciled.

Momma was good at holding things, holding people together. Momma is good at this.

But, as we have seen today… Momma was just imitating and glorifying Jesus the whole time...

God is a God of Reconciliation… and God’s Business is Reconciliation…

2. We are in the business of reconciliation...

Be reconciled today.

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