Reconciled by Jesus

(Colossians 1:21-23)

Mankind has been beset with sin since the time that Adam and Eve sinned and fell from the grace of God. Since that time sin has increased and all humanity suffers from its effects.

Paul notes this problem in the first words of this section showing how we were all estranged, hostile in mind and doing evil deeds. We were separated from God because of sin.

But God’s grace has once again appeared to mankind in the form of Jesus Christ, and through Him we are now reconciled to God. We have been redeemed by the death of Jesus Christ to be reconciled and brought into the presence of God.

Reconciled by Jesus

This is a wondrous thing, that we have been given a second chance to return to the grace of God. We who do not deserve such grace and kindness have been given the opportunity to return to the place Adam and Eve were created into. We have the opportunity in Jesus Christ to become perfect once more.

This is the will of God. He wants people to come to Him and seek His perfection. And He freely gives us all of the things we need to be perfected in His sight.

Paul speaks about the ministry of reconciliation that comes through Christ and how we are reconciled by Jesus. He said this:

17 Therefore, if any one 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. (2 Corinthians 5:17-19)

The will of God is that we be reconciled by Jesus and He has given us the ministry of reconciliation through the gospel of salvation.

In Christ Jesus, God was reconciling the world back to Himself. It is by the death and resurrection of Jesus that God is reconciling the world so they can once again come into the place of perfection. This is the plan God has for all of His people. He provided the path through Jesus Christ in the hope that people would seek Him and find the pathway to reconciliation.

It is not God’s will that anyone be lost, but He has left the decision to come to Him in our hands so that those who do come, do so because they want to come.

The message of reconciliation is a simple message and rightly so. It is simple because it needs to be something anyone and everyone can have access to. The basis of the message is faith, and everyone is capable of faith. Anyone can believe in God and in what He has done in Jesus Christ and so be reconciled by Jesus.

The process of reconciliation

The question then arises as to how we are reconciled by Jesus? What has God done in Jesus Christ and what are we to believe in faith to be reconciled to God?

As I mentioned, it is of necessity a very simple thing. The process goes something like this:

1. First we must believe that God exists and rewards those who seek Him
2. We must recognise that Jesus died and was raised from the dead, resurrected to new life
3. We must believe that He told us to be baptised into the death of Jesus Christ. Baptism is a critically important step and it must be a full immersion baptism as an adult into the death of Jesus Christ and in His name.
4. We must believe that as we go down into the waters of baptism we die with Christ, and as we are raised out of the baptismal waters we are resurrected with Christ. That is, we must believe that we have died and been raised and have taken on the death of Jesus Christ as if it were our own death, and all of this is through being baptised.
5. Now that we have died and been raised, we must believe that we are dead to sin and our sin has been removed.
6. We must also now believe that we have been released from and set free from the laws of Moses, which are only binding on a person during their life (remember, we are now dead to this life)
7. Furthermore, we must believe that we are new creations in Jesus Christ, born from above, and because we are set free from the sin and the law, we now receive the free gift of righteousness by faith. We believe we now stand righteous by faith before God.
8. And if we are righteous by faith we are also perfect by faith as we no longer have sin and we can no longer break the law and commit sin because the law has been removed from us. We now do what is right because it is our desire to please the Lord and God the Father, not because there is a law to punish us for failures.
9. And finally, now that we are righteous by faith in the sight of God, God will give His Holy Spirit to those who seek this gift so as to teach and guide us into the full perfection of God and to transform us into the image of Jesus Christ. All the other things above happen at the time of our water baptism, but this work of the Holy Spirit may take the rest of our lives as He helps us overcome the passions, lusts, and desires of the flesh.

This is the process of reconciliation and it is all based upon faith and the grace of God. By faith we accept these things to be true, as described in the Bible. And by grace God offers these things to us and overlooks our mistakes as we continue our walk and the Holy Spirit helps us when we are weak.

This is how to be reconciled to God. It is how we are reconciled by Jesus. There is no other path and no other way that a man can be reconciled by Jesus and so stand perfect before the Father.

And one final point, we must come to Christ and follow these things EXACTLY as He has laid them down for us. We cannot receive His blessings and promises by following some other way, or by doing only part of these things. We must do what He says, not what we think or what might feel good to us. It’s God’s way or no way at all.

So find the truth of His way. The Bible says, “Seek and you will find.” Seek His way, which is there to be found if you are willing to look.

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