Colossians 1:19 “For it pleased the Father that in Jesus, all the fullness of the God likeness would dwell. v20 And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, that through Him, all things might be reconciled unto himself, and that means all things, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. v21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now has he made available your reconciliation. v22 This He did for you in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight”.
The Greek word used here for reconciliation, is apo-kata-llassō, which means, “To remove all that would separate us, to reverse our situation”
In the middle of the word is the phrase “Kata” which means from us-ward to God-ward.
The process of reconciliation will often bring us into a confrontation which I will call, the “Do”, the “To”, and the “Who”…
We struggle and become tangled in the Matrix which is created by what we do, and we begin to accept that, as who we are... Someone who has stolen then wears the label of “Thief”… Someone who has told a lie, gets the label of “Liar”… Someone who has cheated gets the label of “Cheater
That person who offended you, 10 years later has a label you put on them as “that person who offended me”..It’s the process that builds a web, ensnaring us and convincing us that what we have done is now and forever who we are. It’s like saying that because we eat at McDonalds, that makes us a “Big Mack”…(now they have a double Big Mack) UUUUCK!
The problem that comes when your do becomes your who… is that you begin to look for loop-holes in the rules and regulations that govern all our lives, so you can justify your “who”, because if you can’t justify it, then you will need to reconcile it.
Just before the death of actor W.C. Fields, a friend visited Fields' hospital room and was surprised to find him thumbing through a Bible, because Fields was well known for breaking every rule and every principle in the bible. When he asked him what he was doing with an open Bible in his hand, since he never read it, Fields replied, "I'm looking for loopholes my dear, I’m looking for loopholes."
Speaking of loopholes, I recall reading about a golfer on the pro tour who wasn’t doing well, and he started hustling amateurs while on tour for $50 a hole. One day he was approached by a *….man wearing dark glasses and carrying a white cane who offered to play him for $100 a hole. Even though the professional was in a slump and could easily beat the amateurs, this was even below his scruples. "Why, I can't play you," the professional protested. "You’re blind!" "Yes, I am," replied the blind man. "But that's all right. I was a state champion before I went blind. I think I can beat you." So the Professional thought to himself, blind or not, if the guy was crazy enough to challenge him...well, why not, I’ll take his money? "You did say $100 a hole?" The blind man agreed. "Well, all right then, It's a deal. When would you like to play?" "Oh, any night this week, will be fine," replied the blind man. "Any night at all."
This guy could never defeat the professional in the daytime at the level of the Professional golfer, so he got the pro golfer to play on his terms, then he had a very good chance of beating him…without having to change who he was. We would say that the blind guy found a loop hole, which he could use to change the odds and get the odds over in his favor….
Webster’s dictionary defines a loop-hole as “an ambiguity or omission in the text, so that the intent of a statute, contract, or obligation may be evaded” also, it is defined as “a means of escaping the true purpose of an agreement or obligation”.
One Sunday morning, the preacher’s sermon was about Forgiving Your Enemies. As they moved toward the end of the service, He asked his congregation, “How many of you have forgiven your enemies?” About half the folks held up their hands. He then repeated his question. Since it was past their lunchtime, this time about 80 percent held up their hands just to get it over with. He then repeated his question again. Everyone responded, except one small elderly lady. “Mrs. Jones?” inquired the preacher, Are you not willing to forgive your enemies? “I don’t have any.” she replied. smiling sweetly, “I’ve outlived them all”.
That loophole means that you don’t have to forgive them if you can just out live them…..
There are folks who make their living by finding loop-holes, we call them lawyers, and there are a lot of folks using them, to avoid the consequences of contracts, obligations or their own actions. There are all kinds of loopholes….Some Catholics have found a great loop-hole, just sin all you want, go to the priest, confess, dump your sin in the confessional, and start all over again….WOW!
There are those who use the grace teaching loop hole….confess your sins repent, and you get forgiven, and when you do it again, God has forgotten all about it…. “Lord, I did it again”….You did what…I don’t remember!.... Wow, what a great loop-hole… it’s like the revolving doors of grace….!
Now I’m not trying to give anyone ideas here…. I’m just stating the fact that for someone looking for loop holes, they will find them and perhaps fool everyone, BUT GOD!
Let me get to the second thing that tries to prevent folks from reconciliation and that is the “To” which is connected to their “Who”.
When my adoptive mom took me home at the age of 3, to raise me, she was totally committed to giving me a loving, caring home. But her children and her husband, never really accepted me and as a result, I grew up with a lot of rejection. What they did to me, greatly affected my “Who”… or who I came to identify myself as. I began to become an angry young man. I began to put up defensive walls around myself, in order to deal with the insults and rejection. This was to shut things out so they didn’t penetrate. What was done to me, was becoming who I was.
We can continue to curse the darkness or light a candle….Don’t let what others have done to you, determine who you are and will become. We can choose instead to be reconciled.
Joe Theismann enjoyed a history making 12-year career as quarterback of the Washington Redskins. He led the team to two Super Bowl games -- winning in 1983 before he lost, in the following year. When a leg injury forced him out of football in 1985, he was forever embedded in the record books as Washington's all-time leading passer. But at the end of Theismann's career, he said, “I got stagnant. I thought the team and the Redskin organization, revolved around me. I had the wrong attitude and the wrong priorities. Today I wear two rings—one you can see and one you only I can see. I wear the winner's ring from Super Bowl 17, and the loser's ring from Super Bowl 18, which no one else can see,. The difference in those two rings is that one of them I earned, before I started making excuses for myself”.
Someone has said that life is a continuous process of being reconciled with things we had never expected to happen.
Our entire lives, Satan has placed people and circumstances in our lives to make sure that what is done to us, will cause us to make excuses for who we’ve become. And we fall deeper and deeper into the web which he has woven. As a result, we begin to see who we are through the lens of those experiences. We get good at the blame game, so that the very people that Christ came to redeem, have put up such a wall of defense and have become so good at finding *….loop holes, that they miss the biggest loop hole of all which God provided when He sent Jesus to give us all a way out, and to reconcile us from all the “Do” and all the “To” that have occurred through the many experiences of our life.
A blind man was out walking with his seeing-eye dog when suddenly the animal paused and wet down the man’s leg. Bending down, the man stretched out his hand and patted the dog’s head very lovingly. After watching what had just happened, a bystander said, “Why are you patting him? That dog just lifted his leg on your pants!” “I know,” said the blind man, “but I’ve gotta find his head before I can kick his butt.”
(well anyway it takes and internal change to keep from always reacting to all the things that the world around us has done to us)
2 Corinthians 2:14 “Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the unmistakable greatness of the knowledge of Himself unto us in every circumstance”.
Many see the teachings of the bible as something that will restrict their fun and keep them from doing all the things they want to do in life. They think that they will be branded as a party pooper and a religious nut if they really allow Christ to enter their world as Lord and King.
I like what one guy said…. He said, “If I make Jesus Lord of my life, and He’s right, I’ll be in heaven. If I don’t and He’s right I’ll be in Hell, but even if there is no heaven and no hell, the teachings of the bible still produces the kind of people that make the world a better place in which to live.
We can have information, but it is a better thing to have revelation. But even with revelation, there is no guarantee that you will have a better life and that you will get what you want in life. Because you can have information and revelation but still refuse to put it into action through obedience. It takes information plus revelation plus action, to receive what God says is available to us.
An example of the difference in information and revelation took place during the Middle Ages and there was an account about Saint Martin of Tours, the saint that Martin Luther was named after. In the account, Satan appeared to St Martin in the disguise of the Savior himself. St. Martin was ready to fall at his feet and worship this majestic being of glory and light. But as he prepared to do so, he looked at the palms of his hands and his feet and he asked, "Where are the nail prints?" instantly, the apparition vanished, for it has been unmasked.
Satan may deceive many, by giving them loop holes to avoid going God’s way, but he can never duplicate the marks on Jesus’ body which were placed there for our salvation, and justification. Often it is not bad things which cause men and women to miss out on the best life that God has waiting for them, but it is all the good things, which become the substitutes for the best things. Do I choose the Good, or the Best? We make those choices every day of our lives, all day long…
Both the hummingbird and the vulture fly over our nation's deserts. All that vultures see is rotting meat, because that is what they look for. They thrive on that smelly, rotted diet. But hummingbirds look for the beautiful, colorful, fragrant blossoms of desert plants. The vultures live on what was. They live on the dead things of the past. They fill themselves with what has come and gone. But the hummingbirds live on what is. They seek new, fresh, vibrant life. They fill themselves with the nectar and the sweetness of life. Each bird continually finds what it is looking for. And what it expects to find, it finds….And so do we all.
God describes this struggle with the “do” and the “to” of life, in…
Genesis 3:15 “And there shall be enmity (hostility and hatred).between Satan and the woman, and between Satan’s seed (sin and carnality) and her seed. And it shall bruise (break, crush, and overwhelm) Satan’s head (position, power and authority), and he shalt bruise the heel (to take by surprise, to come from behind, sneak up on the blind side) of her offsprings”.
Adam and Eve had a fantastic relationship with God. God provided all the necessities of life for them and he placed them in a beautiful garden. What else could they desire? They were created in God’s image. Since God did not want puppets that he could manipulate, he gave them a mind to make their own decisions. But one decision they made, was because they thought God was doing something unfair to them…. (there’s the do and the to, that is connected to the who)
So, because they didn’t understand that the rules were not meant to restrict them but to protect them, they decided to disobey God. The relationship had changed, God still loved them, but their view of God had changed, because their view was now usward and not Godward. Because of this usward view, many have given up on God because they want Him in their own image. But if He were to become in their image, He would then cease to be God and we all would be the biggest losers!
A missionary, was given a car but he discovered that it would not start unless you pushed it. So, he would always park it on a hill or leave the engine running. If he couldn’t do this, the children would all get behind and push. He did this for two years. When his term was up and it was time to leave, a new missionary came, and he began to explain to him what he would need to do to get the car started. The new man began looking under the hood, and exclaimed, no wonder it won’t start, the battery cables are loose. He gave the cable a quick tightening, got in the car, pushed the switch, and the engine roared to life. For two years the missionary had put up with a situation that could have easily been solved. The power was there all the time. Only a loose connection kept him from putting that power to work.
The reason we need God’s plan of reconciliation is because we have a bad connection, and a lot of things aren’t working like they should, because that connection needs to be restored. One of the meanings of reconciliation is to become reconnected….Don’t let your connection get loose through lack of prayer, reading God’s word, and staying in touch with fellow Christians.
One of my wife’s favorite writers is the poet, Elizabeth Barrett. Elizabeth suffered an accident when she was a child, and was a semi-invalid, which caused her father and mother to be highly protective of her. When she married Robert Browning in 1846 their wedding had to be held in secret because of her father's disapproval. After the wedding they sailed to Italy, where they lived for the rest of their lives. But even though her parents had disowned her, Elizabeth never gave up on the relationship. Every week she wrote them letters. But not once did they reply to any of them. After 10 years, she received a large box in the mail from her parents. When she opened it, with excitement, she found all of her letters… not one of them had been opened!
Today those letters are among the most beautiful writings that can be found in classical English literature. It is certain that if her parents had only read a few of them, their hearts would have been changed and the relationship with Elizabeth would have been restored, but they were never opened.
How true that is with the letter which God has sent to all mankind, yet so many remain at a distance, still looking for loopholes, still unchanged. If they ever truly received what the Father has said to them, surely their hearts would be touched and they would be reconciled back to the Father’s amazing grace and love. There is nothing which can compare with the eloquence and grandeur of what God was willing to do to reconnect us.
I love you, and I truly want all that God has for you, but I’ve got to tell you, if it meant that I had to tell my son or daughter that they had to die in order for you to come into your God given destiny….I’m afraid you would be in a heap of trouble!!!
But that’s exactly what God did for each of us… Because the penalty God gave for sin, in the garden of Eden, was death, God had to honor His own penalty. You see, every part of God’s spoken word had to be constant and steadfast, or none of His word could be trusted.
This is what God said in Genesis 2:16 “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, v17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die”.
God had to be true to His word, so He, Himself, God in the flesh, had to become the one to pay His own penalty… so as Adam’s offspring…son of Mary, He was born to die, so His word could be trusted for all men….
Romans 5:17 For if by one man's offence(lapses and offences) death reigned, much more they which receive God’s abundance of grace (unmerited favor) and of the gift of righteousness(putting them in right standing with himself) shall reign in life by Jesus Christ, (the Messiah, the anointed one)” This was all done that we might reign in life and not be the victims of life!
A change on the inside will automatically bring about a change on the outside. I can study health foods, and know all about vitamins and suppliments, but until I get them on the inside, they won't do me a bit of good. If I have pain, I can have knowledge of painkillers and what's in them and how they work, but until I put it inside my system, I will continue to be in pain....
The moment when a person looks up, because they have come to their lowest point and through the tears, gets a revelation of the outstretched arms of Jesus waiting, for them to come to him. And that person prays that life changing prayer…. “Lord, Jesus, I am sorry for all that I have done wrong. I am sorry for all my sins and the mistakes in judgment I have made. I believe you came to this earth to save sinners just like me. I believe in your birth, your death, and in your resurrection. I believe you have a place for me in your kingdom. I am asking you to come into my heart this very moment and make me a new creation. I love you and praise you and thank you for your love and your salvation.” Amen.
At the very moment the Holy Spirit takes up residence in a person’s life, they are no longer the person they used to be.
Reconciliation means that instead of Satan, spiritual death, sickness, disease, and poverty reigning over us, we reign over them! As part of my new identity and my new position in Christ, as my king, I rule over Satan, my circumstances and experiences of the past. The moment I am reconciled, I begin to experience the reality of the price that Jesus paid for our sins at Calvary. All-round rest and peace, a new position and a winning attitude, the authority and power of Christ, all are guaranteed to us, in Jesus’ Name!
Paul said to the Ephesians, and to all of us as well… Ephesians 5:17-20 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, and not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. So then, we are now become ambassadors for Christ…”.
The powerful lyrics of a song by Bill and Gloria Gaither, say- "There's a line that is drawn through the ages; On that line stands an old rugged cross; On that cross, a battle is raging; For the gain of man's soul or it's loss; On one side, march the forces of evil; All the demons, all the devils of hell; On the other, the angels of glory; And they meet on Golgotha's hill; The earth shakes with the force of the conflict; And the sun refuses to shine; For there hangs God's son, in the balance; And then through the darkness he cries; It is finished, the battle is over; It is finished, there'll be no more war; It is finished, the end of the conflict; It is finished and Jesus is Lord”
