Today, we will just consider the first step.
Colossians 1:21-23 reads, "21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 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— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant."
The first step is a change in orientation. Whereas, we were separated from God, through faith in Christ's work on the cross, we have been reunited to God.
There was a time when we were "alienated from God." During this time, we had no time or regard for God. We started and ended each day without a thought of him. We cut him out of our thinking, and , as Paul describes in v.21, we were "enemies in our minds," toward God.
I'm sure that you remember how that felt, I sure do. We avoided God.
The phrase in v.21 ”because of your evil behavior," is a poor translation. It sounds as though evil behavior is the cause of our alienation and hostility toward God. In reality, it is inner alienation from God and hostility toward Him, that causes evil behavior.
"But now," Paul writes in v.22, "we are reconciled to God."
When we cried out to God for help, and, when we saw that the death of Jesus was for us, the scripture makes it clear, He made us alive to Himself. As a result, our thinking began to change, being made more consistent with God's way of thinking. It is at this point that we no longer see God as an enemy, but as a friend.
From our newfound personal relationship with God, we grow in our understanding that the gospel of Jesus Christ has rendered us holy, whole and complete in God’s sight, without blemish and free from accusation.
Notice the first phrase is v.23 ”if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel." This sounds that the believer has to perform to maintain his position in Christ. Not so!
The Apostle Paul is simply saying that God has reconciled (justified) us through Christ. But the subject in context is spiritual maturity. People who are spiritually mature do not live out of a spiritually immature posture of trying to earn and/or maintain God's favor. The spiritually immature posture is a product of the flesh, the product of worry.
Justification is accomplished the moment the believer believes in the finished work of the Lord Jesus, yet the outworking of this is the ongoing development of spiritual maturity. Colossians 1:23 does not mean that we earn and/or maintain God’s favor. No we have His favor because of what Jesus did on that cross.
Moreover, in the Greek, this phrase (“if you continue”) is a first-class conditional sentence, meaning, "if you continue and you will." The Lord Jesus is not only the author of the believer's justification, He is also the author of our sanctification. Our role is to be willing and submitted to Him.
The first stage in the process toward spiritual maturity is having the firm foundation of understanding that God has rendered you HOLY through your faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Tomorrow, we will consider the second step toward spiritual maturity.
Tomorrow, we will consider the second step toward spiritual maturity.
