<p> THE CROSS AND PEACE COLOSSIANS 1:19-23</p><p>NEED: PEACE WITH GOD</p><p>PROPOSITION: GOD HAS TAKEN THE INITIATIVE TO ESTABLISH PEACE WITH US THROUGH THE DEATH OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST ON THE CROSS. </p><p>OBJECTIVE: LEAD PERSONS TO PLACE THEIR TRUST IN CHRIST ALONE SO THEY MAY ENJOY PEACE WITH GOD.</p><p>INTRODUCTION: In the days following the Second World War the nations of the earth formed the United Nations to promote world peace. Since its inception in 1945 there has not been a single day of global peace. There has been an active, deadly war going on some where on the earth ever since the inception of the United Nations. This is a sad commentary on man’s inability to make peace. </p><p>Someone has observed that Washington, D. C. has so many peace monuments because they build one after every war! </p><p>The Catholic scholar and monk, Thomas Merton, gave us insight into the nature of the problem. </p><p>He wrote, “Man is not at peace with his fellow man because he is not at peace with himself.. He is not at peace with himself because he is not at peace with God.” No truer words were ever written. There is an internal warfare going on in the heart of hmans which leads to open conflict with others. At the root of both of these conflicts is the continuing conflict between man and </p><p>God. Unless we can find a way to be at peace with God, we will never be at peace in ourselves or with others around us. Is there any hope of finding a place of such peace? </p><p>1 We sometimes feel like that henpecked husband whose domineering wife made his life miserable. Even when he was drafted during World War II and found himself on the battlefield, her nagging letters followed him. One day he had taken her abuse as long as he could, and he wrote her a scorching reply, “Leave me alone so I can fight this war in peace!” There doesn’t seem to be much hope of peace when you look at it from a human perspective.</p><p>But thank God for the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel holds out an offer of peace with God to the human family. In his celebration of the greatness of what God has done in Jesus Christ, </p><p>Paul includes peace with God as one of those gospel benefits that has come to our lives. His letter to the Colossian Church gives us some of the basic insights we need in order to understand what it means to have peace with God. </p><p>I. PEACE BEGINS IN THE HEART OF GOD.</p><p>Paul does not see peace as being an achievement of mankind. Rather he seeks peace as being something God decided to do. Our text begins by focusing our attention upon the uniqueness of the person of Jesus Christ. “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him.” In this theologically rich statement we have a condensation of the great truths relating to the incarnation of God in Christ. We are told first that it was God’s will and pleasure that all His fullness be embodied in the person of Jesus. "Fullness” indicates that everything that God is in Himself was at home in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. In His fleshly body God templed Himself permanently among us. But this great condensation of God to be incarnated in Jesus had as its ultimate goal peace between God and man. Paul adds, “And through Him to reconcile to </p><p>Himself all things whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His </p><p>2 blood shed on the cross.” So God found Himself a home in the person of Jesus and came to earth on a mission of peace that ultimately led him to the cross. </p><p>The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, once sought to put into words what the incarnation of God in Christ involves. He used a simple parable in order to illustrate this truth.</p><p>A certain king was very rich. His power was known throughout the world. But he was most unhappy for he desired a wife, without a queen the vast palace was empty. One day while riding through the streets of the small village he saw a beautiful peasant girl. So lovely was she that the heart of the king was won. He wanted her more than anything he had ever desired. On succeeding days he would ride by her house on the mere hope of seeing her for a moment in passing. He wondered how he might win her love. He thought, “I will draw up a royal decree and require her to be brought before me to become the queen of my land.” But, as he considered it, he realized that she was a subject and would be forced to obey. He could never be certain that he had won her love. Then, he said to himself, “I will call on her in person. I will dress in my finest royal garb, wear my diamond rings, my silver sword, my shinny black boots and my most colorful tunic. I will overwhelm her and sweep her off her feet to become my bride.” But as he pondered the idea he knew that he would always wonder whether she married him for the riches and power he could give her. Then, he decided to dress as peasant, drive to the town, and have his carriage let him off. In disguise, he would approach her house. But, somehow the duplicity of this plan did not appeal to him.</p><p>3 At last, he knew what he must do. He would shed his royal robes. He would go to the village and become one of the peasants. He would work and suffer with them. He would actually become a peasant. Thus, he did and he won his wife.</p><p>So, God considered how He might win human kind. God in Christ became one of us. He took upon himself the form of human flesh to dwell among us. Paul says, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself.” The peace that we now have with God started in the heart of </p><p>God. It was not our idea.</p><p>II. PEACE WAS WON AT THE CROSS.</p><p>This becomes the obvious focus of the Apostle in our text. He declares that God was “making peace” through His blood shed on the cross. This is a reminder to us that it is human sin that continues to be the barrier to peace with God. The whole of the creation has been at war with </p><p>God since the Garden of Eden. Paul uses some descriptive words in this text to highlight the human problem that made the cross necessary.</p><p>He describes the human condition as being “alienated from God.” This word alienated is a strong word. The tense of the verb indicates that this is a fixed state or condition for the human family. It means that we are in a state of separation from God. When a person is an alien they are separated from their motherland. We talk about illegal aliens in this country and by that we mean that they are not citizens of this land. Their citizenship is somewhere else and our fixed condition is one of alienation or separation from God.</p><p>4 This reveals itself Paul says in our attitude. He says that we were “enemies in your minds.” The word “enemies” is a strong word revealing hatred and active hostility. The word “mind” indicates the basic attitude or disposition of the person. In our sinful condition the basic attitude of the human family is one of deep hostility toward God. This further reveals itself in behavior. </p><p>“Because of your evil behavior” Paul writes. Our attitude, being one of hostility toward God, makes us do things that are displeasing to God, hurtful to ourselves and harmful to those who are around our lives. But at the root of the whole problem is this alienation, this separation from </p><p>God. God knew that man was powerless to ever do anything to change this basic condition.</p><p>This is where the cross fits in. In the cross God takes the bold step toward peace by causing His son to die as a sacrifice for our sins on the cross. By dying as the sacrifice for our sins on the tree, it is now possible for us to come to God and have peace with God. All peace with God is based upon what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. He died for our sins. </p><p>This text makes clear to us that the problem is in us and not in God. God did not need to be reconciled. We were the ones in need of reconciliation. God was not alienated – we were alienated. God did not have enmity toward us – we had enmity toward God. God had done no evil toward us – we had done evil toward God. But God has done that which was necessary to make peace possible. </p><p>Dr. Ralph Turnbull told of a friend who went to visit an elderly lady, crippled by arthritis. When asked, “Do you suffer much?” She responded, “Yes, but there is no nail here,” and she pointed to her hand. “He had the nails, I have the peace.” She pointed to her head. “ There are no thorns</p><p>5 here. He had the thorns. I have the peace.” She touched her side; “There is no spear here. He had the spear, I have the peace.” That is what the work of Jesus Christ on the cross means for us.</p><p>He gave Himself as a sacrifice for our sins on the cross that we might enjoy peace with God.</p><p>III. PEACE WITH GOD BRINGS FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD.</p><p>The key word used by the Apostle in this text is “reconcile.” The Apostle states “And through </p><p>Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth, or thing in heaven.” In order for this reconciliation to take place, there had to be the making of peace at the cross. In a real sense reconciliation’s the fruit of the peace making.</p><p>This word “reconcile” has a rich history. It has in it the idea of bringing two hostile people together so that friendship is restored between them. It is a staggering thought that God was on a mission of restoring a friendly relationship with those who were in attitude and practice His enemies. But this is the heart of the gospel. There is now between you and God a changed state where before there was the fixed condition of hostility, alienation, anger, and rejection. There is now the fixed state of friendship. You and God on the bases of the work of God’s son at the cross are reconciled. As I have already indicated, God is never our enemy. It was our enmity toward Him that had to be abandoned. </p><p>One of the regular offerings given in worship in the Old Testament was the “peace offering.” </p><p>This offering symbolizing the communion of the worshiper with God. It was said to have a </p><p>“sweet smelling savor to God." As this sacrifice was being burned on the altar, God would smell with delight the aroma of the burning sacrifice. And then part of this sacrifice was served </p><p>6 in a communal meal as the family gathered together. It symbolized our communion, our sharing, and our participation with God. We are now on the kind of bases with God, that he feels free to come in to the home of our lives and to commune with us as friend with friend. And He invites us to come in to the living room of His home and commune with Him. This peace with God is a wonderful gift from God. </p><p>IV. PEACE COMES TO OUR HEARTS BY FAITH.</p><p>After focusing our attention on what God has done for us in the cross, the apostle takes us a step further. “Now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish, free from accusations -if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not removed from the hope held out in the gospel.” “If you continue in faith” points the way to know peace with God. We come to know peace with God in our hearts when we put our trust in what God did for us at the cross and continue to walk with such dependence upon Him day by day. Peace comes as a gift from God and the gift is received by faith. </p><p>A. B. Earl, one of God’s effective servants of the Lord in the past generation, shared a personal experience that demonstrates this truth. As a pastor he went to visit a lady, a medical student, who was right at the point of beginning her medical practice. She had finished all of her course work and almost all of her residency, and was prepared to launch out in her chosen career but there came upon her a terrible illness, a lung condition that was incurable. She was not a </p><p>Christian and had not been open to the Christian faith.</p><p>7 As Dr. Earl went to see her, he knew that she had turned away the last minister who had attempted to visit with her but his desire to help her was so great that he went anyway. Due to his warm and gentle manner, she did allow him to come into her room. He sat beside her bed and visited with her a while, seeking to share with her loneliness and her pain. After a while the good pastor said to the young woman, “If an angel from heaven was sitting where I sit and he held in his hand a deed written in the blood of Christ with only a blank space to be filled in, and the blank space would be a place for you to write your name and thereby you would transfer ownership of your life to Jesus Christ, would you be willing to write your name in that place and transfer your life to the ownership of Jesus?”</p><p>After a thoughtful moment she said, “I would.” Then the pastor said to her, “You do then have a desire to become a true Christian?” </p><p>She replied, “I do.” Then the good pastor said, “Would you let me pray for you? Would you let me kneel here beside your bed and offer a prayer on your behalf and while I am praying would you consider just saying to Jesus, “I give my life to you.” There is no angel here with a deed written in His blood on which you could write your name but that does not keep you from saying to Jesus, “I give my life to you.” Would you do it?”</p><p>She said, “I will.” </p><p>8 Then the good pastor knelt on his knees and prayed for the woman. When he had finished his prayer, he lifted his eyes to her feverish face and said, “Did you offer your life to Jesus?” She said, “I did.” </p><p>After that visit with Dr. Earl, she lingered for several more days. Every time someone came close to her she would whisper to the person, “Peace. Peace. Peace.” They knew what she meant. In her hour of death by surrendering her life to Jesus Christ she had found peace with </p><p>God. </p><p>Such peace with God is available to you. There is no need for you to live with a broken relationship between you and God. God has taken the giant step of becoming one of us and dying on a cross so that there might be peace between him and you. Will you bow your head before him this morning and say to him, “Lord Jesus, I give my life to you.”? If you will do that then you will leave this house today enjoying peace with God. </p><p>This is how this peace with God is received by faith. You are not dealing with an angry enemy when you approach God. You are approaching the God who came to earth in person on His Son so that He might have a peaceful relationship with you. Will you not respond to His reconciling work in Christ Jesus our Lord at the Cross?</p><p>9</p>