Making Peace By The Blood of His Cross

Questions from the text and from this week.

This has been a difficult week to observe.

I have seen whole communities protests where doubtless there are genuine feelings of hurt and anger.

I have seen riots and brutality, theft, envy and pride.

I have seen a tendency to coldness and indifference by many in the Church to the entire situation.

We are divided by politics and social media.

I have seen manipulators and accusers, leeches, use this situation for their own gain -Companies making sure that their product is still safe to buy and people moved to speak from a motivation of fear rather that truth or love.

But how should we see a hurting world?

Matthew 9:35–38 (ESV) — 35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

In our own nation, and over the past few weeks especially, there is an abundance of motives represented, and signs of every variety to go with them, one thing is abundantly clear: Our nation and our own communities are broken.

Almost every sign I’ve seen in one way or another simply cries out: “There’s a problem”; “I’m hurting”; “There is brokenness here”.

But the the signs , and I’m not condemning them here, don’t carry any true solutions. They are a cry for a solution, not the offering of one. Friends, that’s why were here today. That’s why we gather.

That’s what we are. We are protestants. The prefix “pro” means for, and the rest of the word comes from the root to testify. We are protestors - “for the testimony” -of the salvific and sufficient good news that comes through Jesus Christ alone.

That’s our sign in the midst of the hurt. Our great delight is that we do not lack hope.

There is a word that we have in the church that isn’t often used in our society. It isn’t used because it isn’t a reality for our society. The word is redemption.

When faced with troubles, and they are very real troubles, the wisdom of our world will seek to re-educate, or re-distribute wealth or power, or re-arrange and reorganize, but it cannot redeem. That belongs with God.

Our culture will try to reform itself, but it cannot reconcile God and man and man to man.

[One interesting thing to note is that when a people desire to affect change, they come together and with one voice declare their beliefs. Friends, that is a powerful force for change, and its also a good description of the church. If you want to see change, then gather together regularly and lock arms with those who care for you and declare your same message. So protests do work, but it is the gospel of Jesus Christ that has survived and thrived for millennia because it is backed by the power of the Holy Spirit]

So, today, as we gather with heavy hearts, we’re going to fix our eyes on the one and only solution to them, and that’s Jesus.

To the world, that sounds insensitive and arrogant. We don’t say this as a boast in ourselves, we say this as a boast in Christ. To a hurting world that longs for healing we relish that there is a Healer. To a world that needs counsel, there is a Great Counselor. To a diseased world there is a Great Physician. To a world of darkness the scripture says there came a Great Light.

Friends, if our community can’t look to us for a clear and decisive answer then we have failed them and have no business planting a church in Atlanta.

Today, our recent headlines might be my main example throughout our reading, but it would be improper to take our problems to the text, manipulating the original meaning to fit our times. Instead, what’s always proper is to take the text in all of its Christ-exalting power and bring it to our times and see how the text changes them.

Paul speaks to the Church at Colossae: In Christ, they are a whole and helped people. Our world is a broken, disjointed and helpless people.

Colossians 1:8–14 (ESV) — 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. 9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. [This is the thesis statement, but back up and flesh it out]

This is a full and meaningful life. They are:

Full of love in The Spirit (v.8)

They are growing in Spiritual wisdom and understanding (v.9)

They are to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, bearing the fruit of every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God (v.10)

They live with power. V.11 says they are strengthened with the power that God’s supplies for endurance and patience and joy.

V. 12 is an acknowledgement that grace has gloriously come from the Father, making those without access to his kingdom of peace, those who lived in darkness, inheritors or light.

V. 13 is a reminder that our transfer from darkness to light was brought about by a name, the beloved Son, Jesus.

V.14 tells us that through him we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. Things are different now.

This is sort of Paul’s thesis statement before the body of work.

He is thankful for the faith of the Colossians

He is praying for them

He is delighted that they are full of love for the saints because of their heavenly hope.

Word has traveled to Paul through Epaphras that they are full of love in the Spirit

They are to be full of wisdom from the Spirit

Walking in a manner worthy of the Lord - pleasing to him.

They are to bear fruit in every good work, and increase their knowledge of God.

They should be strengthened with God’s power for all endurance and patience and joy, giving thanks to the Father

God is the one who has qualified them to share in the inheritance (firstborn from all creation) of the saints of light.

It was God who delivered us from darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

There, in the Son and in his kingdom, is redemption and the forgiveness of sins.

That’s what we want to focus on today. The gospel is not good news to those who are hurting because it is a proven process, that with time they can find peace. The gospel is good news because peace is granted immediately, decisively and gloriously. The claim is not to come and advance toward reconciliation, the claim is to come and be reconciled.

So we will take a minute and glory in Christ. Some objections might be that it’s not that simple. That the world is full of complex problems. Our answer should be that he is a complex Christ, sufficient for all of our sins.

2 Corinthians 1:20 (ESV) — 20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

The Preeminence of Christ

Colossians 1:15–23 (ESV) — 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Why is Jesus our solution to the world’s problems? When you see Jesus, you see God.

He is the firstborn, the inheritor of The Father’s possession: Creation [Not born first, like the Jehovah’s witnesses believe. He is the firstborn heir of all things - creation. If we want justice, peace, truth, rest — all of those things belong to him.]

16 For 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.

Heaven and this world, its dominions, authorities - all things were made by him and for him. They are for Him. His glory.

Heaven and Earth - all things

Visible and Invisible - Streets, protests, rulers, but also our hearts, our minds, our motives.

Why is Christ and all-encompassing answer to the hurts of the world? Because there is nothing in the heavens or the world that is not a reality without his intention. He is the designer. And He is its sole Redeemer.

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

He is glorious or weighty beyond all other things.

His glory binds all things together. Heb. 1:3 — It’s not his philosophy that upholds the world, it’s his power - It’s not with his exertion, it’s with his word.

18 And 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.

What is he the head over? Politics? Government? No, His glory is that He is the head of the Church. And his eminence comes from being the first born from the dead. His preeminence is the work of redemption. He takes the dead and brings life. He takes the darkness and brings light. He takes a people torn by sin and can bury and resurrect their souls and their bodies.

This is our leader. This is the power and weight behind our protest.

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.

Making peace by the blood, do you see the irony there? Peace through destruction. Peace through death.

Jesus is the stopping point. Where else will justice truly be served?

At Jesus’ cross, the sins of all men come to die with him. At Jesus’ cross, all men are flattened and all swords and re-forged into plowshares. The destructive weapons get bent into constructive ones.

Here alone is redemption. Here alone is reconciliation. This word doesn’t just mean that the enmity is gone, it means that there is now the presence of love.

First, wouldn’t that be great to know that you were reconciled to God? It only happens through Christ.

And wouldn’t that be great for our world? That too isn’t possible without Christ. MLK said that you can make a law where a man can’t kill me, but you can’t make a law where a man would love me. Only Christ can take the heart of stone and make it into flesh.

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

The offer is not to come and join the process of reconciliation. The offer is to come and be reconciled by his death.

Come and have your sins paid for.

Do not be alienated from God any longer, but come and be a son, a daughter, and a friend.

Come and have your hostile mind turned into love.

Come and have evil deeds of hate redeemed into the love of neighbor as thyself.

Come and be presented to God right now as holy and blameless and free because of Jesus.

The Fruit of Our Inheritance:

Colossians 3:1–17 (ESV) — 1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. 12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Prince Caspian Illustration:

“Aslan" said Lucy "you're bigger". "That is because you are older, little one" answered he. "Not because you are?" "I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.”

We have a sufficient gospel.

Sadly, even in the church, I have seen many people express their sympathy, even with well-intentioned motives, by joining worldly methodologies that are powerless to truly reconcile man.

Friends, Church, we have a sufficient gospel because Jesus is a sufficient savior.