Matt Morgan

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. Colossians 1:21

When you think about your life story, are there pivot points where the course of your life dramatically changed? Are there times when you recognize how a choice, decision, or action resulted in a different outcome? When these things happen in our life, we typically describe our lives as how things were before the pivot point and then how things were different after these pivot points. Paul does the same thing in our passage in his letter to the church at Colossae. He defines every Christ follower’s life into two categories: Before Christ and after Christ. Verse 21 starts with “Once you…” and goes on to describe our standing before God prior to Jesus coming to bring the peace we talked about yesterday. Regardless of your upbringing, how many mistakes you have made, or how many things you have accomplished, the beginning of every human story can all be described by Paul in verse 21, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.” That is how every person’s story starts.

Every story that you love has a conflict, a challenge, something to overcome. This is what draws us into stories and causes us to resonate with our favorite characters in the books we read and the movies we watch. When we zoom out and remember the overarching story of Scripture, we see a people who are alienated from God with no way to get home. There is no path to peace. Not only are we alienated from God, but we also find ourselves as enemies of God as we live lives that reject the Lordship of Jesus. It was into this reality that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and it was from this reality that he came to reconcile the world. When we pause and remember that we were once alienated from God, the focus of the story shifts away from us and onto the only person who could ever bring reconciliation and a path to peace.

“Once you were…” but the story doesn’t end there. We’ll pick this up tomorrow when Paul describes how everyone’s story can pivot from alienation to reconciliation. Before jumping to the “but,” take today to reflect on what life would look like without Jesus coming to reconcile us to God.

Reflection:

1. What do you feel as you read the words of Colossians 1:21?  “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.”

2. How does the reminder of your status before God without Christ cause you to embrace the reconciliation you can experience today?

3. What are some of the “pivot points” in your story where God has shown up to change the course of your life?

Pray through the truth of the human condition found in Isaiah 53:1-3:

¹  The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;

there is none who does good.

²    God looks down from heaven

on the children of man

       to see if there are any who understand,

who seek after God.

³    They have all fallen away;

together they have become corrupt;

       there is none who does good,

not even one.

But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation. Colossians 1:22

Yesterday was Palm Sunday, the day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey as the crowds laid down their cloaks and waved palm branches as they proclaimed “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Luke 19:28-40). This is the beginning of what the church refers to as “Holy Week”, as each day moves Jesus one step closer to the cross. It was for this time that Jesus came into the world. He had performed miracles, healed the sick, and proclaimed the good news of the Kingdom of God, but the time had come for him to lay down his life so that the world could have life.

Have you ever approached an upcoming week with fear and concern about what the next few days would bring? Pause and reflect on what Jesus must have been thinking as he stepped into his final week knowing what the next few days held for him.

Luke’s account of the triumphant entry is immediately followed by Jesus weeping over Jerusalem and their unbelief (Luke 19:41-44). Jesus says, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace.” The proclamation of the crowd at the Triumphant Entry was really a declaration of their hope for liberation from the Roman occupation. The Messiah was supposed to come to make life right, but Jesus came to make a way for a sinful people to be made righteous. The prophet Isaiah prophesied years earlier about the coming Messiah, and in Isaiah 53:11 we get a glimpse of what the coming Messiah would do and the sacrifice required: “Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.” While the people saw their greatest need as a fix for the hostility between the Jews and the Romans, Jesus came to address their deepest need, which was reconciliation between God and the world. 

This week we press into the truth found in Colossians 1:22, which says, “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” Because of Jesus, you and I can be reconciled.

Jesus wept because the people of Jerusalem missed the peace he came to bring. That same Jesus continues to offer the peace that an unbelieving world passes by. Do you see it? Do you realize how much you need it?

Reflection:

1. Where are you looking for Jesus to bring peace to your life today?

2. What causes you to miss what Jesus is offering because you think you know what you need?

3. What if God’s offer of peace and reconciliation is true? How does that change life today?

Pray through the truth of Ephesians 2:11-22

¹¹ Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— ¹² remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility ¹⁵ by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, ¹⁶ and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. ¹⁷ And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹ So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²² In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death… Colossians 1:22

We are a week away from celebrating the joy of Easter and our risen Savior! Before we can get to the joy of that morning, we must journey through a week where Jesus suffered more than we can fully grasp to make a way for us to experience reconciliation with God. This week, we will sit in amazing truth found in Colossians 1:21-22, but today, I invite us to look at two people who had very little interaction with Jesus, but whose lives were never the same after Good Friday.

When we read Luke 23:18-27 we see two men who come face to face with Jesus for very different reasons. Judas is imprisoned for insurrection and murder and is likely awaiting his execution. In a desperate attempt to avoid sentencing Jesus to death, Pilot offers to release Jesus in place of Barabbas. The crowd wants nothing of this substitute and demands Barabbas be released and Jesus crucified.

The second man we find in this passage is Simon of Cyrene. Luke tells us that he was coming in from the country, and therefore was not a part of the crowd demanding Jesus’ crucifixion. Suddenly, Simon is seized by the Roman soldiers and forced to carry the cross of this bloodied man who was unable to bear the weight himself. Simon follows Jesus as he staggers on his journey to Calvary carrying his cross.

The Bible gives us very few additional details about each of these men, but their lives must have been changed that day. Can you imagine what Barabbas must have been thinking as he stood in the streets of Jerusalem a free man that day? Did Jesus and Barabbas lock eyes? What questions must Simon of Cyrene have had as he watched Jesus being crucified on the cross that he had carried? What did he do with the blood of Jesus that must have been transferred from the cross he carried to his clothes?

As we step into Holy Week, I want to invite us into the physical reality of Christ’s death. Colossians 1:22 says that we have been reconciled “by Christ’s physical body through death.” Barabbas and Simon of Cyrene would testify to the physical reality of Jesus’ death as incredibly real. Easter is not just a good story, it is a physical reality that changed eternity because God in the flesh died for you and me.    

Reflection:

1. How do you think Barabbas and Simon of Cyrene were changed because of their brief interactions with Jesus?

2. Reflect on how is your life different today because of Jesus.

3. Consider using the EasterNow app this week to follow the events of Jesus’ last week as we prepare to celebrate Easter.

Pray through the truth of Jesus’ physical suffering for us found in Isaiah 53:5-6

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.
⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase, “There is no fear in love”? Honestly, I think about how scary loving can be. To love is to be vulnerable and open to hurt and rejection. This statement comes directly from 1 John and it is an incredible truth that God invites us to embrace through His Word.

John was writing the letter we now know as 1 John to early believers who were fearful of God’s judgment and punishment. They understood what Jesus accomplished, but they could not help but allow fear to creep in that called into question if they would really be found faultless before God on the day of judgment. It is this fear of punishment that John is specifically addressing when he writes the truth we will be digging into this week. Check out the broader context here:

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶ So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. ¹⁷ By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. ¹⁹ We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:15-19

John is not giving us a secret formula to eliminate all the fears in our life but points to the truth of what God’s love has made possible. 1 John 4:10 says, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” The finished work of Jesus on the cross made it possible for all our sins past, present, and future to be forgiven. The love of God in action through Jesus removes the believer’s fear of punishment because we are made faultless before God.  This love is then “perfected” or “completed” when we love others with the love we have received from God. The goal of God’s love was not to end with us but to flow through us to those around us. There is no fear in love because perfect love gives us confidence that we have been made faultless.

Reflection:

1. What fear does perfect love cast out?
2. How does a right understanding of God’s love for you impact your fears today?
3. What does perfect (completed) love look like in our lives?

Pray through the truth of 1 John 5:20

“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”