Bror Erickson
Last Sunday of the Church year,
Col. 1:13-20
Bror Erickson
[13] He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, [14] in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
[15] He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. [16] For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. [17] And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. [18] And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. [19] For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, [20] and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Col. 1:13-20 (ESV)
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He has delivered us. There is the concrete folks. It’s done. I love it. Paul just tells you “he did it.” He delivered you already from the domain of darkness it no longer has dominion, no longer has power over you, you have taken a transfer, you’ve been transferred, you now belong to a different kingdom, a different domain, a different authority who has power over you, a kingdom of light, ruled by His Son, His Beloved Son, in whom we, that is you, have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. All past tense, nothing left for you to do sort of thing.
It isn’t qualified. This is enough to give a pastor a heart attack. He doesn’t let you argue here! But what if? Who cares? Pastors, oh do we ever have the legalist in our heart saying that can’t be true, you can’t preach that to your congregation. They might be scandalized. You might be scandalized. Well that’s just a license to sin, which is the last thing I need, permission to sin. Forgiveness isn’t permission. Forgiveness is forgiveness!
It makes me want to jump for joy hearing this. Perhaps, it even makes me a bit happy and punch drunk enough to enjoy life. See, permission or no, I find myself sinning. And I hate that about myself. The good that I would I do not, the bad that I would not, now that is what I do! And all the more it seems sometimes because I’m trying so hard not to! Know anyone like that, perhaps yourself? The law has never helped me overcome a bad habit or a sin. I know what I’m not supposed to do. It rarely stops me from doing those things. Guilt? It just drives you back to that for which you feel guilty. Spiral of false belief, despair, shame and great vice, that brings then more despair, and more shame and drives you to more great vice, and around and around you go till the toilet gurgles. Been on that ride before? Are you on it now?
Then Paul tells us, no it’s a lie! The devil he wants you, he deceives you into thinking you belong to his domain of darkness, and it is from that false belief that everything else sets in your despair shame and vice. But you have been transferred you no longer belong to the kingdom of this world ruled by its prince, the domain of darkness, even if you do live here. You belong to another Kingdom, a kingdom of light, a kingdom ruled by forgiveness. You belong to the Kingdom of God’s Son, in whom you have redemption in whom you have forgiveness.
And it is quite that simple. He doesn’t let you argue. Doubt concerning this is the trick of the devil. Doubt concerning this is the domain of darkness. Doubt and darkness come together here. No, Paul unqualifiedly says it is done.
No, he doesn’t ask the Colossians about their faith, or their repentance. Not at all. He just tells them the truth. You see this is the modern misinterpretation of justification by faith as we so often like to say. All You Have to do is believe. And then we have all sorts of baggage attached to this word. All you have to do is repent. And more baggage.
We conceive of faith as something we do. This is why so many have such a problem with infants being baptized. Today the word faith is saddled with baggage it never had in the New Testament. We almost consider it synonymously with a leap. And you have to make it true for you. We say stupid stuff like that. “Well if it’s true to you.” What?
See Paul he just proclaims the truth knowing it is true regardless of whether you believe or not. To Paul, debating this is like debating whether the sky is blue. It is true whether or not you believe it. He doesn’t let you say that here, this if you believe, or repent.
Such statements can drive a man to utter despair. Asking himself what it means to believe, what it means to repent. And then you have a guy saying repent means not doing it again. And you are left wondering, “have I repented?” I did it again to today. I promised yesterday I wasn’t going to do it. I promised I wasn’t going to curse, but then… and I did it. I must not have repented. And then even if you managed to stay clean and sober for the last 15 years there is tomorrow and the same battle over and over again and the only thing that guarantees you won’t drink another drop is to pass away in your sleep. But then what was that, repentance is never doing it again? So how do you know you repented, you might do it again. See what kind of hell such reasoning brings, and how it traps you again and again, and again. This is why Paul doesn’t allow it. That and it just isn’t true. The truth really is you have been transferred to a kingdom of forgiveness. Jesus forgives you. And He forgives you now knowing more about you than you, and loving you more than you love yourself, which is a heck of a lot more than you love your neighbor. And you may not know if you will ever look at porn, or get drunk, or cheat on your wife or husband, or cuss at your children, or otherwise ruin their lives with your own dreams and aspirations, but then God does and he still forgives you. And it is incomprehensible. But if you have any doubt, know that Jesus:
He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. For by him and through Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- ALL Things were created through Him and for Him. And he is before all things and in him all things hold together, and he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning the first born from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent, for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven making peace by the blood of the cross.
And so who are you to doubt him? He is your king in whom you have redemption the forgiveness of sins.
Now the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment