All right, well, good morning. I think we'll go ahead and get started here as we continue our study through Paul's letter to the Colossian church. We'll be reading in chapter one, and we'll start in verse 15 in a few moments, but let's go ahead and open our time here in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the opportunity you give us to gather together, that we can come in your name and look into your word. And we pray that in looking to your word, you would prepare our hearts to hear and receive your word, that we would apply it to ourselves. We would see you in your glory. We would praise you. And you would be building up your church because of the time we spend here. We pray you'll be in our discussion in all that we do, and that everything we do would bring glory to you. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, so we're going to continue, as I say, in Colossians chapter 1. The first portion for this morning, we're going to work on our outline here. As you can see, we've been going through chapter 1. And we're going to begin with the Son's preeminence, looking at these verses 15 through 20, and then, Lord willing, we'll get a little bit further into the chapter, but I'm not naive enough to say we'll finish today. How about that? But as we look at this passage, Colossians 1, 15 through 20, probably a very familiar passage, hopefully to many of us. I mentioned last week that it is one of the two really highest exaltations of Christ in all of Paul's writing and really in all of Scripture. And we'll talk about that as we go through, but it's really exalting Christ for who He is. And I want to start by reading something I read last week as well. This is a quote from Charles Spurgeon. Actually, it's sort of two quotes put together. But when he was speaking on this particular passage, Colossians 1, 15 through 20, and was talking about how you almost can't even preach it. You just have to read it. You just have to lift it up. It does such a beautiful job of lifting Christ that we simply read and meditate and reflect and take in the glory of who Christ is. And what Spurgeon said, he often uses the word theme, I mentioned this last week, to set the context of his quote, the theme, what's the theme of a message, the theme of a sermon, the theme of a song, anything, you know, what is the main point, what is the essence of it? And so he used that term, and I'll put this in these quotes, he says, speaking of this passage, anything which exalts the Savior is precious to the saints. This, this passage, this is one in which the preacher cannot hope to do more than to show how vastly his theme, that is, his Christ theme is above him, the preacher. So we really, all we can do is pretty much just read and take in what the scripture says here. And then he makes such a great point about talking about what it means to preach Christ. He says, we are not content to preach unless Jesus himself is the theme. We do not set before you something about Christ, or something that belongs to Christ, nor something acquired by Christ, or somebody that has known Christ, nor some truth which extols Christ, but we preach Christ crucified. We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. So that's sort of the picture, as we're reading these verses. This is really, in some ways, it's the easiest lesson you can teach, because you just focus on what the Word says, and it's such a beautiful picture of Jesus as Lord. I mentioned Philippians 2 as a companion passage, you might say. It is interesting that in Scripture, we often see things that occur or are repeated. In the Gospels, certain events or certain statements are repeated. Paul often says similar things to one church, and then in another letter to another church, he says something similar. But what's beautiful about this is it's not so much repeated as it's restated. And by that I mean it's said again, but in a way that has a different emphasis. So when you hear it in a different context, you see things that maybe you didn't see in the first one. For example, in Philippians 2, we see Christ is exalted, the main emphasis is Christ's humility. That Christ, though he was equal with God, he was in very essence God. He did not consider that something to hold on to, but he humbled himself. So we have his humility coming down to earth, humbling himself even to death, even to death on a cross, and then God exalted him. So the emphasis is Christ's humility that leads to exaltation in that glorious exchange of him coming and taking on the sin of all who would believe. In this case, Paul's emphasis is the preeminence of Christ. This is Christ as before all time, before creation, the creator of all things, the firstborn. And you'll hear a lot of those words as we read it, be reflecting on these words. Things like first, things like before, above, over. These words are really emphasized here. We'll talk about what they mean. A lot of times when you're thinking about this, the word first, we'll start with that one. First can sometimes, and think about it in English when we use the word first, right? We often mean first in chronological order, right? So if I say, my firstborn child, You know, in our day, we tend to think of simply the one who was born first in time, right? And that is true. That is accurate and true, even in Greek and in what Paul is writing here. But there's also the essence of first born, about meaning the preeminent, the first in place. So Jacob, though he was not the firstborn in time, he received the right of the firstborn. And in many cases you'll see this. Keep both of those ideas in mind when we hear before. He is before all things. Chronologically before, yes, but he's also before, in front of, in prominence, in place. So keep those concepts in mind that both are true. of Christ. And we have to be really precise in this point, because small errors in understanding, in this passage in particular, can lead to large doctrinal errors and ultimately heresies. So let's go ahead and read these verses. I'm going to read 15 through 20, and then we'll take them in order. Colossians 1, starting in verse 15. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church, and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross, through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. By the way, there is an outline, a handout there with our outline. I also have some Bible verses. We're going to be moving around quite a bit, so if it's easier for you to follow in the printed verses, that's fine. And, of course, if you can also follow along in Scripture. One of the main passages we are going to look at is in Hebrews 1. That's probably the third of the New Testament writings, in addition, of course, to Revelation, that really extol Christ. So Hebrews 1 has a lot of parallel points that we're going to bring up. But let's look at this. Now, in some of the commentaries and things that we've looked at and shared and ways to study, one of the things that in studying this came out was we have these seven unique characteristics of Christ described in verses 15 through 20. And it's very interesting. I think in our day, it may seem odd to have to say that Christ is unique. Even unbelievers understand that Christians believe that Jesus is God, that He is the Lord. He is unique. But remember who Paul was writing to. Remember the errors, the heresies, the Colossians. They were questioning the full deity of Christ. They were calling him a created being. They were worshiping angels. Angels being the mediators. We talked about this in one of the early weeks that they believed that God and the spiritual realm could not interact directly with the physical realm. Physical realm was lesser and unworthy of someone as great as the spiritual deity of God. So there had to be these series of emanations, basically angels who would, you know, kind of one to the next, to the next, to the next, and eventually it got to where Jesus came as a man, but he wasn't directly one with God. So Paul is writing to counter that heresy, and he's very clear, and he's talking not just about who Christ is, but the preeminence, the unique nature of who Christ is in God. So he has these seven characteristics that he has. So let's look through these. Verse 15, it says, he is the image of the invisible God. And this idea, image, it is the word icon. It gives us the sense of where our word icon comes from, an actual image. It would be used of a coin that would have the image of Caesar on it. It's certainly used throughout scripture of a likeness. So there's a likeness made. He is the likeness of God. If we cannot see God, who we cannot, Christ has revealed him. And we see this throughout these verses. Hebrews 1.3. and He is the radiance of His glory, that is the glory of the Father, and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high." So Christ Jesus is the radiance and glory and the exact representation. There's nothing that you can't see about God that you can't see, or there's nothing to be known about God that you can't see in Jesus. He is the full representation. Interesting, when Philip says to Jesus, show us the Father, John 14, 9, Jesus says to him, have I been so long with you and yet you have not come to know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Jesus is almost indignant that they don't understand that he has shown the Father to them. He is the full representation. And John 1.18, no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, has explained Him. This is really brought out, exegeted. He has revealed and explained who God the Father is. Jesus Himself, the Son, has done that. He is that exact representation. So everything we might ask about God, we see in Christ. He makes God visible. We know that God the Father is not visible to us, and yet Jesus makes him visible. And again, these are all things that are unique to Jesus, and Paul is making it very clear to the church in Colossae that these heresies that you're sort of dabbling with, or full-fledged getting involved in, that are denigrating the person of Jesus, who he is, are really harming not just you, because you have a bad understanding of God, but it's bringing dishonor. It's not bringing glory to the Father. So he is the image of the invisible God. The second one is the firstborn of all creation. Again, this is where it's important to understand the context, right? Firstborn, that word, it is a Greek word. It literally means, it's the parts of first and to be created or to be born. So firstborn over all creation. There's a real danger here, though. What would the danger be? If you were reading this and you didn't have any other context, and you heard Jesus is the firstborn over all creation, what might you be tempted to think? He is a creature, right? He is part of the creation, simply the first one created. Now, who says this? Where do you run into this today? Jehovah's Witnesses, yeah. Yeah, the Jehovah's Witnesses especially, several others. In fact, the Jehovah's Witness Bible will take the other parts here where it talks about he created all things, they'll insert the word other. He created all other things to kind of shore up their own doctrine saying that he was first created and then created everything else afterward. So there's a lot of gymnastics that we have to go through when we take on bad theology to keep it up. So it's important to remember firstborn and creation, and this is why that firstborn is is so critical that Although he is before all things he is first in order he existed before all things He was not first created. It's really more the emphasis of the Position that he has the firstborn You know the idea that it is That that he has that place of prominence that that honor that right as the first most important of you know It's hard. I can even get myself caught up trying to describe it, but he has that place of preeminence That he is over all things Hebrews 1 chapter 6 Does make this I think fairly clear because it's one place where the author of Hebrews is talking about Jesus, talking about Christ as Lord, talking about him as Messiah, the fulfillment of the promise to the Hebrews. And in verse six he says, and when he again brings the firstborn into the world, so at this point you might think, oh, well, he, the father, is bringing the firstborn, the son, into the world. See, he's creating the firstborn. He says, and let all the angels of God worship him. He is worthy of all worship. He is the creator. And we'll see that. In fact, if you look down just a couple of verses, Hebrews 1.8, but of the Son, that is Jesus, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. Do you see that? Of the son, he says, your throne, oh God, is forever and ever. So the son is indeed God on the throne forever and ever. That's forever forward, but also forever back in past. And the righteous scepter is the scepter of his kingdom. So this idea of firstborn, we just have to be very clear and careful that he is above all creation. He has that right of preeminence. Revelation 1.17 says, when I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. John's talking about the Lord Jesus. And he sees him, and he says, I fell at his feet like a dead man, and he placed his right hand on me saying, do not be afraid, I am the first and the last. So he is the first and the last. He is the preeminent. If you think about, another way to think about this first or firstborn is, in our nation we have the president, right? So everyone, we have the president. He presides over the government, so that's why we use the term president. What do they use in other countries? What are some other terms for the political leader? Prime minister, yeah, prime minister. Sometimes it's even premier, right? Or if you like French, premier. But it is the premier or prime minister. Prime means first. So does that mean that he was the first guy in the government? Like we didn't have any government, and then we picked this guy, and then we filled in everyone else. No, of course it's first in prominence, first in place. So the prime minister, the premier is the first, meaning he is the head of all things of the government and everything else comes underneath him. That's what we're talking about with this firstborn. If you will for a moment, turn to Psalm 89. This is another important passage that ties the concept of the firstborn, but lets us realize that it is not simply a created being, but it is actually God himself. In Psalm 89, The context is speaking of references David, and so we're talking about the son of David, and who would come as the Messiah. And beginning in verse 26 of Psalm 89, God is speaking. He says, I also shall make him my firstborn. So there's that term firstborn. This is one that even the ancient Jewish scholars would acknowledge was a messianic psalm, messianic passage prophesying the coming of the Messiah. I also shall make him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. At this point you might think he is a created being and the highest of the kings. My loving kindness I will keep for him forever and my covenant shall be confirmed to him. So I will establish his descendants forever and his throne as the days of heaven." So you see the passages that the psalmist here is blending together, the passages about the firstborn, the Messiah that was to come, and the one who is on the throne in heaven for all eternity. They are one and the same. So you see the firstborn is actually God himself and sits on the throne for all eternity. So he is the image of the invisible God. He is the firstborn over all creation. But then it immediately says in verse 16, for by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. So he is the creator of all things. Everything was made. Paul, in this case, is trying to give every indication and cover every category. A lot of times he'll do this in very simple terms. When he talks about Jew or Gentile, well, he's only giving two categories because in their mind there were only two categories to give. So that's everybody. Here he's talking about things in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible. He's very clearly trying to say that there's nothing made that was not made by Jesus. And he's clearly created. Now, he himself could not have been a created being. And this is why the Jehovah's Witnesses have to put that word other in there, which is definitely not in the text. Because if he was a created being, then he could not have created all things because he himself would have been one thing he did not create. So the the logic is not there and that's why they have to say all others But the logic of scripture is very clear all things have been created by him. He himself was not created He's the creator of all things And it's interesting the way Paul describes it. He talks about all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together. I want you to think for a moment about if just a typical agnostic type person that you might meet. Someone that could be a family member, a coworker, just a stranger on the street. If it's a thinking person, if it's someone who thinks beyond the moment, what are they thinking about? What are the big questions that man on the street is thinking about? Or another way to put it, what are the big questions throughout history people have been asking? What do the philosophers ask about? What do you think? What are some big questions someone might have? Why is there evil? Yeah? What else? Just why, I think somebody said. Why are we here? What do you think, Mike? Where did we come from? Maybe how. How did we get here? People want to understand how. I mean, that's the whole motivation behind the evolutionary studies and everything. Yeah, Cindy. Does God really exist? Yeah. What purpose? Excellent. Yeah. and maybe tie all these up with where are we going? What comes from here? What's next? Paul's addressing all of those right here. Every one of those questions that you have, if we have eyes to see, he says it right here. Does God exist? Yes. That's very clear. Where did we come from? He created all things. Jesus Himself created all things. Why are we here? They are created for Him. It's for His glory that we are here. Everything else is details, but we are here for His glory. How? How do we go about living? In Him all things hold together. You can go and study and it's amazing to see how science The scientists who are not believers will just keep pumping out these scientific discoveries and be completely blinded to the God who created this order and ordered this world. And even as they find more and more things that, frankly, we understand, confirm the truth of who God is, and yet they miss that. He is holding all things together at every moment. He, all things have been created through Him. All things are created for Him. And we are moving to a future where we are one with Him. We were created for Him. We will be. Those who are His will be with Him in eternity. All things are for His glory. So as the creator of all things, this is not simply a, he made it and let it go. This is not simply, especially, and that's so important that Paul talks about, in him all things hold together. You know, you have the Enlightenment era idea of the watchmaker God, right? The God who created the world, wound it up, and then just lets it go and his hands off. Paul is contradicting that 1,500 years before that idea ever was thought of by saying, no, God, Jesus himself is sustaining and upholding all things every moment right now. It is not that he just started and let it go. He is right there. He is holding it together to his glory. It is for him and for his glory. Okay, the next part, number four, he is also head of the body, the church. A very kind of brief phrase here. He mentions head of the body. I looked these up. I looked up many of these words. I encourage you to do the same as you get the opportunity through either online or through other tools, Bible study tools. And this one, I looked up the word head. You want to know what the word head means? It means head. Yeah, head. Pretty simple. It's just like English. But just like English, it can mean your physical head. Even with animals, it describes the head of the donkey or the bull or whatever. Obviously people, the head, but it can also mean head meaning, you know, ruler over or lord over or however it might be. Same word. Okay, so he is head of the body. So what's interesting about that is Paul is not simply making a philosophical statement. He is bringing in analogy, a picture, a word picture, the body. He has described the church as the body. He does that in many of his letters. And so what does the head, thinking in physical terms, what does the head mean to the body? What are some things that that makes you think about? What would you say about the head relative to your body? It makes your body move, right? The head directs what the body does. Causes us to think, right? It's the seed of wisdom and knowledge, thinking. Yeah. Can it be removed? It can be removed, but it would not go well. You cannot live through that. It cannot be removed. The head is inseparably joined to the body. Again, this is not a God who is distant and separate from his people. This is a God who is attached and close to his people as closely as your own head is to your own body. That's how tightly God is to his people. So he's using that analogy from the head to the body, but also implied in there is he is head. He is Lord over the church. And we are to submit to his leadership. We certainly, again, head is the same word. It's the word used in Ephesians 5, where the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. So it is that he is the head. He is the one who has all authority. He is the leader of the church, but he is also its own head and the one that directs where the church goes. Okay, number five. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. So now we have, again, this word of firstborn. We're seeing the beginning, which is, again, a chronological beginning. We read that passage when Jesus appeared to John, and I am the first and the last. He is the beginning and the end. Um, so he is the beginning. He, um, again, this idea of the firstborn being first in place, first in prominence, not merely the first one. Uh, and in this case it's firstborn from the dead. So he was of course the first to rise from the dead. in a fully resurrected body into a fully, truly resurrected. We had others, Jesus raised Lazarus and others who may have been, theologians will describe that as they were revived, not necessarily raised or resurrected, but they were revived. They were brought back to life, but they still died again. Lazarus died a second time. He truly died. He was not raised to an imperishable body. He was raised back to a temporary body, which then died. Jesus is the first to be raised to an imperishable body. So he was very clearly the first in time, but again, also first in place. So we have to remember that. And let's see. Oh, here's a good point to remember that the whole idea of angel worship that was going on in the church, the idea that you have all these various beings being sent from God because God could not be close to his creation. Now you have the creation, you have the son going through death. and being raised, but not raised into some ethereal spiritual being, but raised with a physical body. And Paul is bringing that home again and again to refute the errors of the Gnostics that were taking root in the church to say, no, he had a physical body. He was raised to this physical body. And he has that body even today. So he's being very clear to reject those errors and redirect the thinking of the church. It is interesting, too, to see that he says he is actually the origin of the church. When you think about the firstborn of the dead, the church comes from him. He is its originating power. The resurrection is what created the church. And then we have Pentecost with the preaching, and then on and on to the church. But it starts with his resurrection. He started the church, so that's why also he is the head of the body, because he is the firstborn from the dead. We don't refer to ancient Israel, or the pre-Christ era Israel, as the church. There's a reason for that. The church is the collection of believers after the resurrection. and ascension, and that is who he is. So he is the firstborn from the dead and the beginning of the church body. The sixth point, he is the fullness of God, for it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him. This one is, let's see how far we go into this part, because this is, there was a concept that was very popular in Greek theology, the, oh no, I'm going to say it wrong, planera, planera, I think I got that right, which was the idea of the fullness of something. And so, The Gnostics would say that we can't fully understand the fullness of who God is. And true Gnostics, Christian Gnostics would say God in the sense that we say God. But there were other Gnostics who didn't even claim to be Christian who just talked about a spiritual being. or things in the spiritual realm. And they would say, we can't understand the fullness of it. And they would use this word. It's sort of like our desire, our goal is to pursue understanding it, but you never really get there. But we're going to keep trying to get there. I mean, it sounds like many philosophies we hear today. Maybe even some Eastern philosophies that would say there's, you know, you're constantly pursuing even though you're never attaining. But we can't really know these things. So it's, you know, it's this idea that they put out there. Well, that word that they were using to describe what cannot be known, Paul is using to say Jesus is that word. He is the fullness. He is the plenera. He is the completeness of who God is. And so when he says in verse 19, it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him, he's being very clear that Jesus himself is the full nature of God, not some created being, not some lesser being that was eventually allowed to come to earth to kind of point the way, but he was fully God himself. Look at Colossians 2.9, and again I'll hit some of these fairly quickly, they are also in your notes. Colossians 2.9 Paul says, for in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. very clearly saying, all that fullness is in bodily form. And this idea of bodily form is really interesting because, I think we'll talk about this in a little bit, it is really emphasizing the nature, the human nature, literally the flesh of Christ, all the fullness dwelt there in his body, not simply in a spiritual sense, but in a very real, tangible sense. So he is the fullness of God. Yeah. That's right. Mike was saying that he's not just the collection of knowledge, he is the origin of knowledge. He is truth. So we can learn about him, but he himself is truth. And anything we know is only from what God has revealed to all people. Even the unbeliever who finds some truth in the world, it's revealed by God, not something that we discovered or created. Very good reminder there. Again, back to Hebrews 1.8, but of the Son, that is of Jesus, he says, your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of his kingdom. So he is God. Of the Son, he says, your throne, O God, the Son is God. He is the permanent abode of God's very nature. That's the idea here. So the fullness of God dwells in Jesus. The last thing, in verse 20, sometimes you might see in commentaries, verses 15 through 19 are talking about the nature of Christ, and 20 begins the transition to be talking about what he has done. But we're keeping this in this section because it's still talking about who he is through what he has done. Verse 20 says, and through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, Through him I say whether things on earth or things in heaven. So he is the reconciler of all things. And in this case, it truly is all things. But we have to be careful, because here's another case where some doctrinal error has come in. What do you think might be a natural inclination if you heard Jesus is the one who reconciled all things to the Father? Universalism, right? The idea that all are saved, all have been reconciled. Now in one sense, we're reconciled just in the sense that we have a proper relationship to. Reconciling means you're in a proper relationship to somebody else. So in one sense, he does reconcile all things, even through judgment, because he's putting them in the proper relationship to himself. So there's a sense in which reconciliation, sort of like when you say you're watching a game, and your team's down by 30 points, and you're holding out hope until the last quarter, and then what do you say? You reconciled yourself to the idea, we're going to lose. That doesn't mean you won, it just means you accepted what was happening. So in some senses, reconciling all things can mean simply that. But ultimately, we have to remember scripture interprets scripture. And so in this case, someone who might be tend toward a universalistic interpretation here, we have to understand he has fully reconciled and restored only those whom he has ordained and he has saved in the case of people. So only those things which can be reconciled to Him are what are truly fully restored in that type of relationship. All things will come under His feet. All things will be in proper relation to the Son, to the glorious Lord. But ultimately, only those who are His own will be restored to a loving, joyful, proper relationship with Him. So this idea of reconciling, so the word can mean to change or to exchange. Again, it's sort of to be in that right relationship to. You might think of other places where, where else would you hear reconciliation? Where do we hear that today? What was that, accounting? The accountants in the room appreciate that as the first example. That's right. We have everything reconciled. The books are balanced, proper relation. Counseling, if you have relationships that are broken. War, right, yeah, war. You could have countries at war and then ultimately reconciled. Spouses, right? Husband and wife can be reconciled. What does that mean? They were not in a proper relationship. Maybe they were separated. They were not, even if they weren't physically separated, maybe their relationship was broken. Reconciled means we've restored it back to a proper relationship. You exchange the broken, the improper, the state of war, whatever it may be for the right, the proper, the unity. So, it's the restoration of that right relationship, but it's thoroughly, completely, totally restored. This isn't just, to use the war example, this isn't just a ceasefire. Okay, I'm not going to shoot at you for a little while because we're going to try to work this out. This is fully restored. That's what he's done. He's reconciled all things. Ephesians 2.16, he's talking about reconciling people here, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. So you have this division among people. and Jew and Gentile in particular, you have this division and that hatred, that enmity is put to death in the cross because they're brought together as one body being reconciled to the Father. I was just thinking about what you said earlier, even reconciling the idea that your team's going to lose. Sometimes there's just that internal battle, so to speak, of desiring something, and then you're not getting it, and you're reconciling within yourself. And so it just makes me think about, too, just that submitting. Right, we do submit. Well, and you make a great point there, Kristen, because one of the things that the commentators talk about in this point is, it's not God who had to change his mind. The point was not that God changed his mind about us. The point is we had to change, our mind had to be changed toward him. And we had to be made right before him. He is the same. We are the ones who have to change. A lot of times we think God was reconciled. Oh, he now sees us differently. Well, yes, but it's because we're different. He didn't change anything. We're the ones who have to change and submit. So that's an excellent point there. Let's look also at Romans 5, which you can turn there or it's in the notes. In verses 10 and 11, Paul says, for if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we now have received the reconciliation. Another point here, kind of in the same vein, is God does not need to be reconciled to man. Man is reconciled to God. So when we have the reconciliation that happens, it is not God changing and Him meeting us. We are made fit to meet Him. And again, this is where Paul is just hammering this idea about addressing the Gnostic heresies. Think about the mediators, right? How are we reconciled? We're reconciled through Christ, through Jesus himself. He is our mediator. The Gnostics, when they talked about the angels, the angels were the ones in their thinking who mediated between God and man. And that's what Paul's addressing. What's the problem with that? Well, the angel is neither human nor divine, is neither God nor man. So your mediator is as inferior as can be. Angels are wonderful. They're creative beings. The ones with him that did not follow do exactly his will at all times, but they cannot be a mediator. The two parties that they would mediate, they are neither. Jesus can be the mediator because he's both God and man. So our mediator is so much greater than any that you would hear from the world, any that you would hear from these philosophers. He is the true mediator. He is the one that brings about reconciliation. And it's always being reconciled to the Father. You notice, and this is where we get into the finer points of theology, especially around the Trinity, Jesus is reconciling us to the Father. Strictly speaking, he's not reconciling us to himself, he is the mediator reconciling us to God the Father. Yeah, actually I take that himself, through him, through Jesus, to reconcile all things to himself. God the Father, it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him, in Christ. I'm going to add the Christ, I'm interpreting, I'm acknowledging this, but I think what he's saying is it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Christ and through Christ to reconcile all things to himself. meaning to the Father, back to the Father. I know, when we have the hymns get a little, yeah, and you do have to interpret that, you know, the hymns, because when it's written in Greek, it didn't make, it's not capitalized in the original Greek. Actually, they were all capitalized in the original Greek, but, so it doesn't, it's a little harder to tell, but I take this, I think the interpretation is God the Father is reconciling to himself, God the Father, through the Son, Jesus. Right, in the context of scripture interpreting scripture. So it's a beautiful picture of our mediator, who is both God and man, who is the one who truly can bring men in reconciliation to the Father. That's the picture that we have. And it's a glorious image of Christ, exalted, preeminent, everything that you could say. And if someone, I mean, if someone's in the church, I'll close the section with this thought. I can't imagine someone in the church who was puffed up with his ideas about Gnostic theories and philosophies and angels and everything else. If you read this, this has hopefully got a cut to the heart. because if after reading this, you're still going for angels, you really missed it. You are on a level so much below what God is doing and the glory of the son who is one with the father. So let's take that from that passage. Let's transition to now this sort of this movement, as I was saying earlier, from who Christ is, his nature, his character, to some of the things he has done. Let's read verses 21 through 23. So after exalting Christ, talking about how he was the one reconciling all things, making peace through his cross, and then Paul goes on to say, and although you, back to the church now, although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death, in order to present you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach, if indeed you continue in the faith, firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister. So as we look at these, and once again, I've sort of highlighted some of the phrases that we'll try to touch on as we read through these verses. He starts with, you are alienated. This word, it's pretty much what we think of it. It's estranged. You have a relationship that's been separated. It's not strangers. You are not strangers. Sometimes this word gets translated as you are strangers from God or from the gospel. But in this case, it's not strangers in the sense that you've never met. It's estranged, meaning there is this tension. It's a brokenness of the relationship. So you were alienated. You were formerly alienated. Another time, I'll probably mention this every week, remember that Paul is writing, as he said at the very beginning, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ. So he's writing to those who are truly in Christ. So this only applies if the hearer, the one hearing it, is in Christ. If not, then you're still alienated from God. But he's saying if you are in Christ, if you are set apart, if you are sanctified, then you were formerly alienated. So although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, this one is interesting. The word hostile is really the word for enemies. Matthew 5, 44 is an example where Jesus talks about praying for your enemies. Anytime you see this idea of the enemies of God, that's what we were. And that's many other places in scripture where the same word is used. Anytime the New Testament quotes from the Psalms and the Old Testament where God will make your enemies a footstool for your feet, talking about the Messiah to come, ultimately fulfilled in Jesus. That prophecy of putting the enemies under their feet, that's the same word. That's where we were prior to being redeemed, being given that new heart, being saved. We were those enemies, alienated, estranged. hostile in mind. Actually, the enemies part is the hostile, the word hostile in mind. And Paul makes it clear. Again, everything has this context in the background of the heresies he's speaking against. You were hostile in mind. You were enemies in your thinking. In every thought, every part of the inner man, you were hostile to God. But it doesn't just stay there. Right? Sin begins in the heart, but rarely stays in the heart. Because then he goes right on to say, you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds. Some of the translations kind of make it seem like the deeds are what made you hostile, but the order is important. It's your hostile in mind, your thinking, your heart, your desires, your intentions. All of that is, for those who are not in Christ, is opposed to God. And therefore, we live that out by engaging in evil deeds. So he's making it very clear how that sin, that hatred, that enmity is expressed in the actions that we then create. And people may not think about it. There's the person who's an angry atheist who's going to go out and rail against God and rail against the Gospel. And then there's the person who looks like the peaceful, loving person, but is engaged in all sorts of sinful activities. He may not look angry. He doesn't look like an enemy. But that person is still an enemy of God if he or she is not is not reconciled to God So so it's important to remember. That's where we were alienated estranged enemies both in our thoughts and our deeds and then verse 22, yet now he has reconciled you. If you will turn to 2 Corinthians 5, it's a little bit of a longer passage, so I'd like to read that together, talking about what it means, how we were truly reconciled. He's using that same word that he had used back in verse 20 here. And in 2 Corinthians 5, beginning in verse 17, Paul says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things passed away. Behold, new things have come. Now, all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God were making an appeal through us, we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. So you have that idea of reconciliation all through that passage in 2 Corinthians, but it starts with the new creation. It begins with we are a new creation. Any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. So he starts with that. He has reconciled you. back to Colossians verse 122, yet he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body. So he has brought you to God. You're fully reconciled. You're not grudgingly accepted in. It is fully restored, fully reconciled to him. And as we talked before, it is God, we are the ones who need to be changed to be reconciled, and He established that. So now we are that new creation. We can be in right relationship with Him. How He does it, the reconciliation is in His fleshly body. This is one of those times, again, which is a bit of a repetition. He could have said, He reconciled us in His body. Literally, it's in his body of flesh. So the word soma, body, that's the word body as in the body of Christ. But then he brings the word flesh, sarx, into that. So it's sort of emphasizing, this is not merely an allegorical statement, that in his body, That in his body, that is to say, it could have been taken as more of an allegory, a picture, an analogy, but he's saying, no, in his body of flesh, in the physical flesh that Christ took on, that is what was used to reconcile us. So he's emphasizing that. He's countering those Gnostics who would say, you know, God does not have a body. God is spiritual. That's what we're going for. No, Jesus not only came, not only reconciled us, but he did it in the physical body. The very thing that the Gnostics were saying was impossible is the very thing we need in order to be rightly restored to God. So he's saying the reconciliation is in his fleshly body. And why? Well, it's to present you. He's talking again to those who are believers. Christ took on that body and then he took on our sin to be reconciled. Why? To present you, to present us before God. This word present is really, it's really a neat word when you look it up because it actually means, it essentially means to stand beside or to place beside. So it's one thing to say, you know, you know, whatever, this is some movie presented by so-and-so, you know, right? That just means they kind of spent some money and here's the movie. No, this is someone who you're saying, may I present to you, and you're bringing someone. You know, in old days when you would do introductions, Nowadays, we say, oh, Steve meet Joe, Joe meet Steve. It used to be very quaint, very formal. May I present to you this, you know, Steve Johnson? May I present him to you? It was very formal. But there's a sense of saying, this is a friend. This is someone that I trust, that I value, and I'm presenting him to you. I would like you to get to know him. That's the picture, and Jesus, so Jesus is not simply presenting us, like, throwing it out there, okay, you're good to go, go ahead. He is walking right with us to the Father and presenting us and saying, this, this is one. And ultimately, he's told us in other places, one that God has given. He's saying to the Father, this is one you have given, I am presenting to you, but he's right there with us. That's the picture of present. It's not merely an impartial third party distant. It is very close. And he's doing that. Yes, yeah. Right. How do we present the gospel? How do we present Christ? So before God, Christ presents us. And before men, we seek to present Christ. So yes, we do present him to others. And he is a close friend. He is the one who is the true Savior. That's a great reminder for us, too, that we can do the same. So he presents us, what, as three things, holy, blameless, and beyond reproach. Okay, so holy, this is a common word, you probably are familiar with that. Holy, what does that mean? Set apart. Thank you. Glad we're all paying attention to Ty. So holy means set apart, sanctified. It's not merely, he's going to talk about blameless and without blemish, but holy means just set aside, not part of this sin and the world that we're in, but set apart from it. So we're presented to God holy. Interestingly, the second word he says is blameless. The next two words are very closely related. In the New American Standard, it's blameless and beyond reproach. Blameless, the first of those two words, technically is without blemish, okay? And this is, again, a fine point, but blameless to me means you're thinking about I did something wrong. It's something I did and I did it wrong, so I'm going to be blamed for it. Okay, well, I don't have anything to be blamed for. That's blameless. Without blemish, the word that's used here is really more like it's used of the Old Testament sacrifices. They would bring an animal without blemish. You can't blame the animal for having a certain blemish on his coat. It wasn't a blame that he did. It's perfect. So in this sense, it's not so much the blameless, because that's more the second word that we're going to talk about in a moment, beyond reproach. This is without blemish. This is perfect. This is just exactly as it was meant to be, exactly as it would be perfectly created. That's the word he's saying. So we are set apart, sanctified. We are perfect as God created and intended us. When Jesus presents us before the Father, he presents us as perfectly created, without any blemish. And then the third word is beyond reproach. This is the one that says, as if I've done nothing wrong. The beyond reproach can mean blameless, irreproachable. It's the same word that's used in the qualifications for elders in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus, that they should be beyond reproach. Now, there we know that as elders we're not perfectly beyond reproach the way we're presented before God, but the idea is the same. We should not be, there should not be that taint of you've done something wrong. And it's truly fulfilled. when we're presented before God himself. So to take a couple of these verses, and maybe we'll pick up with verse 23 next week, but to finish, let's look at 2 Corinthians 4, 14. That is a, back a page from where we were before. 2 Corinthians 4.14, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. So again, we see these ideas of presenting. Jesus is presenting us before the Father. The without spot or blemish, 1 Peter 1.19, which is in your notes, you can read it there, it says, but with, you know, we're not saved with silver, we're not redeemed with silver or gold, but with precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. So in that case, it's again that idea of the unblemished That second word is also used in Jude, verse 24, one of the great doxologies that we often use as a benediction. Now, to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy. Same idea, we can stand in the presence of God blameless, spotless, perfect, not because of anything we've done, but because of the reconciling work of Jesus Christ. So let's use that as a, in fact, I'm going to go ahead and read Jude. We'll close with that as we finish this morning. Here we are, Jude 24 and 25. Now, to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen. So let's go to him in prayer. Our Father, we do thank you for this time that we've had. We thank you for your word and how your word is so clear. How your word exalts the Son, exalts the Lord Jesus Christ. And that we can see that he is the beginning and the end. He is the one who has made the way He has reconciled us that we may come before you even now, even as we pray. We come only because of his work and all that he has done for us. We pray that you'll be with us as we go into the worship service now. Pray that we will do all things to glorify you and that you will be building your body, your church, even now. We pray this all in Jesus name. Amen.