Brand New: Redemption/Reconciliation

Recap

Last week’s sermon, for a number of different reasons, was a very tough sermon to preach.

We established that the WORLD was created perfect by God, but man introduced what is now know as the Fall by disobeying God and choosing their own way over His and through this ONE act of disobedience, SIN and ALL OF ITS CONSEQUENCES entered into the world.

We also established that this FALL has caused unmistakable brokenness in the world and this brokenness impacts us both in ways that we realize and in ways that we still have yet to comprehend.

We also went to Genesis 3 to highlight three of the major ways in which we are impacted by the Fall:

Pain & Suffering - God tells Eve that she is going to experience great pain in child birth. These words serve as great pain’s introduction into the whole human experience and we know that it is does not stop at child birth

Human Conflict - God also tells Eve that she is going to seek her own desires and domination over her spouse. These words serve as relational conflicts’ introduction into the whole human experience. The Fall not only created separation with God but the Fall created separation between one another and we see that immediately in Adam and Eve’s offspring, Cain and Abel. One murders the other out of sheer jealousy and hatred. Why? Because the curse has turned our relationships upside down...

We lastly observed how the Fall impacted our ability to cultivate, to be fruitful, to produce, to work...God declared to Adam that the ground would permanently cursed as a result of His sin and that no matter who hard he tried to keep them out. Thorns and Thistles would rise from the ground. And that great pain and great fatigue would accompany any type of quality work that he produced. In other words the Fall didn’t ensure that we would work. Work, cultivating, producing, making things was and is a gift from God. The Fall only ensured that good work would be HARD. and only temporal. Our works would eventually return to the Earth just like we would all because of the Fall.

With that in mind, I want to answer four questions this morning...

What Is Christ Going to Do With The Fall?

What Will The Work He Is Doing Include?

How Is He Going To Do It?

What Does That Mean For Us?

What Is Christ Going to Do With The Fall?

Last week WAS a HARD message, but if you were here or if you went back to listen, then you recall that I didn’t actually leave us there. I wanted to give you a sneak peek into where we were going this week. So we concluded in John 9.

John 9:1–3 ESV

1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

As we discussed on last week, underneath Jesus’ statement about neither this man’s sin or his parents’ sin being the cause for His blindness lies a unspoken statement: It is neither this man’s sin or his parents sin that has caused this man’s plight…it is simply SIN.

The Fall has brought inexplicable suffering into the world, but in this moment Christ has arrived to demonstrate that He has power over the effects of the Fall.

The effects of sin and death: Suffering, Relational Conflict, Burdensome Creativity, Productivity, and Work are no match for the divine power found in Christ!

And in this healing of this blind man, God gets glory by showing the world that He has power over the Fall and is able to completely eradicate its effects.

Another Example

Our City Light Teens are walking through the Gospel of Mark this season and if you have a teen and would like more information, let me encourage you now to SEE Matt Clark after today’s gathering or visit connect.citylightvicksburg,org and click the City Light Teens card and fill out the form to request more information.

Alright that ends my plug, in their studies they are looking at one of the more interesting stories in the Bible.

There’s this scene where Jesus is returning back to his hometown of Capernaum for a little rest and relaxation but everybody hears that He has returned so they all show up at the house where He is and fill it completely up til there is no more room on the inside and folks have to start piling up outside.

Well, in the midst of all of this, a paralyzed man who is lowered inside the house by his friends from the roof.

And Jesus in seeing how much faith is on display in these friends and this paralyzed man says to the man: “Take heart, my Son; your sins are forgiven.

Now here is where it gets interesting. As He is saying this, there are some scribes there thinking to themselves, “This man is blaspheming because only God can forgive sins!”

But even though they’re quiet, Jesus knows their hearts so He responds to their internal questions with these words:

Matthew 9:4–6 ESV

4 But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? 5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.”

Did you notice what happened? Jesus says its a lot easier than you think for me to say your sins are forgiven but in order that you may know I have the power to say it…I’m going to command him to walk...

In other words, in order that you may know that I have power over sin. I’m going to show you that I have power over all of sin’s effects.

Jesus not only has power over the very thing that caused the Fall, namely the sins of humanity, He has power over the everything caused by the fall, namely suffering, relational brokenness, brokenness in creation.

He shows His power to reverses the effects of the Fall in human suffering as He goes from city to city, healing all manner of diseases, and alleviating the pain of suffering people.

He shows His power to reverses the effects of the Fall in human relationships as He crosses all of the typical lines that divide us as people. Ethnic, social, cultural barriers are all erased in Christ and as before He departs He establishes a global church that transcends race, class, gender, positions in this life.

He shows His power to reverses the effects of the Fall in creation as He speaks to the storms and causes them to cease or as He walks on water, or as He speaks to the unfruitful fig tree and causes it to dry up and wither

Jesus’ entry into the world signifies the beginning of the reversal of the fall. And It is very easy to understand why He has the power to reverse it, because He was the one who created it.

With all of creation effected by the Fall, in order to reverse those effects, we have to return to the one who is ultimately responsible for the CREATION of CREATION.

Paul makes that abundantly clear in Colossians 1:15-20 which is where we will focus the rest of our time this morning.

In this text Paul gives us for scriptures to establish the authority Christ carries to reverse the effects of the Fall and in verse 20 we hear of Christ intent to reverse the effects of the Fall by bringing RECONCILIATION... It signifies RECONCILIATION...

Colossians 1:15–20 ESV

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 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. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 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. 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.

Verse 19 and 20 is where I want to place particular attention

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.

The process by which Christ is reversing the effects of the fall is called RECONCILIATION.

Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology Reconciliation > R

Reconciliation involves a change in the relationship between God and man or man and man. It assumes there has been a breakdown in the relationship, but now there has been a change from a state of enmity and fragmentation to one of harmony and fellowship

This is what Christ is doing. He is reconciling. He is restoring the brokenness. Changing the relationship. Eradicating the Fall?

But...

What Does This Work Include?

The Fall changed our relationship with God, our relationship with one another, and our relationship with His creation. It broke it. Fractured it.

However, THROUGH CHRIST ALL THINGS are being reconciled. Meaning that through Christ, all of the relationships that were broken are being restored.

First question I want to ask from this text is when Christ says He is reconciling all things does He really and truly mean ALL things? Is this about people or is this about something more? The answer is it is about something more! A lot more!

First clue we get is the one we’ve already discussed on last week. Humanity and all of CREATION is tied together. God ensured that when He called man to be fruitful, multiply, and exercise dominion over the earth and subdue it. Man in His sin marred that call and in so doing was chiefly responsible for marring the CREATION...

So when man is restored, it is going to include the restoration of creation as well which is why CREATION eagerly awaits the restoration of man in Romans 8.

When man is fully restored, suffering will cease...

When man is fully restored, divisions will cease...

When man is fully restored, creation will no longer suffer any death, destruction, and barrenness. It will too be fully restored.

“What, then, is the scope of this new creation? Because humanity plays the key role in the ordering of God’s world, human reconciliation will lead to the restoration of creation, just as human sin led to creation’s fall...

Wright, N. T. (1986). Colossians and Philemon: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 12, p. 81). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

The second clue that we find is in verse 16-17

Colossians 1:16–17 ESV

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

HE created ALL THINGS - Meaning all things have their origin in Him

HE is BEFORE ALL THINGS - and HE EXISTED WHEN THERE WAS NOTHING ELSE

HE HOLDS ALL THINGS TOGETHER - All things are held in existence through Him and only move BY HIS POWER...

He creates all things, He is before all things, He sustains and keeps all things. He owns all things...

And in all things we are referring to EVERYTHING, In Heaven and on Earth, visible and invisible, Thrones or Dominions, Rulers or Authorities...

So when this same God declares that He will reconcile and bring change in the relationships of ALL THINGS that have been broken. He is still talking about ALL things. In other words, through Christ

All things left broken within Humanity will be restored.

All things left broken within Creation will be restored.

Any thing found broken within the Cosmos will be restored.

Here’s another clue: verse 20

Colossians 1:20 (ESV)

20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven...

ALL THINGS: WHETHER ON EARTH OR IN HEAVEN!

The scale of reconciliation includes everything that is currently broken! Here and beyond...

In Christ God is saving you but He is doing SO MUCH MORE!

He is reconciling all things, restoring all things, changing the relationship from Fallen to Redeemed...

How Is He Going To Do It?

Or a better way to state this question is

How Has He Done it!

Let’s read verse 20 one more time...

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.

In order to restore and reconcile all things…man and their relationship with God, with each other, and the creation in which they’ve been called to exercise dominion over...

Christ takes the chaos upon his own shoulders...

MAKING PEACE BY THE BLOOD...

Jesus reverses the Fall by taking on the punishment of the Fall. Fallenness is bloody. Death is bloody. Sin is bloody. It is violent. It is chaotic

So in order to deliver us from it, He took it upon himself...

Isaiah 53:4–5 ESV

4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

He took all the sorrows, all the grief, all the affliction, all illness and all the punishment for our sin...

He took upon him all of the Fall in order to eradicate the Fall...

There is a word in Isaiah 53:5 and Colossians 1:20 that we need to pay close attention to...

Remember on last week we discussed how sometimes there is a tendency to read a word like peace and limit it too much…we think of an emotion or feeling of calm and a lack of anxiety or worry…but ancient peace was a lot more complicated than this…shalom...

“Perfect, harmonious interdependence among all parts of creation... absolute wholeness – full, harmonious, joyful, flourishing life.”

Christ Jesus in absorbing the impacts of the fall was bringing Shalom to us…He is delivering us from the chaos

and bringing us to Shalom...

You see it in the Crucifixion by the way...

The curtain is turn into two…signifying a change in our relationship with God...

The church is born signifying a changing in our relationship with one another

The sky goes dark and the earth shakes signifying a change in creation…

All taking place at the cross...

This is the means by which we’ve received reconciliation...

What Does That Mean For Us?

English Standard Version Chapter 5

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.