Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): Today, Stuart Briscoe will share a message from Colossians about how to have a balanced viewpoint of your Christian experience, part of his series for people on the grow. Stuart begins in just a moment.

In their new five-message series, Fighting Unseen Forces, Stuart and Jill show you straight from God's word how you can stand strong against your spiritual enemy and live victoriously in Christ. We'll send you a copy of this resource as our thanks for your support today to help others experience the life of abundance God wants them to have in Jesus. So call today to request your copy of Fighting Unseen Forces: 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388. Or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now, here's Stuart and the message, "Getting There from Here."

Stuart Briscoe: Colossians chapter one, we will be looking into the passage commencing with verse 21. In the previous section, the Apostle Paul had been reminding the Colossian Christians of the magnificence, the majesty of Christ, and had concluded that section by saying that God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Christ, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things. Now he picks up on this idea of reconciliation and develops it with particular reference to the Colossian Christians.

So we read from verse 21: "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 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, if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel you have heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant."

Verse 28: "We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me."

Let me remind you that sometimes Christians tend to be a little bit hard on themselves. They've got high aspirations, they know what they're aiming to be, but they get very, very discouraged. They feel they're not getting anywhere. Well, there's a very simple antidote to that, and that is: remember where you were, and compare where you are with where you were, and you'll probably find a lot of things very, very encouraging.

On the other hand, there are some Christians who get very complacent, and they say, "Hey, that's where I used to be, and look where I am now. I've arrived." And God says, "Uh-uh, no. Think in terms of where you're going and realize that there's a whole lot more that needs to be done in your life." In other words, in the Christian experience, if we are to be balanced, we need to be thinking of where we are in terms of where we were and of where we're going.

Now, let me remind you, of course, that as we look into this passage of scripture, it was written to believers in Jesus Christ. And I assume that there will be some people listening to me now who are not believers in Christ. The tenses, therefore, will not necessarily apply to you. But listen very carefully, if you will be so kind, to what we have to say because much of what we have to say can be of help to you as well.

First of all, then, talking to the Christians and also talking to us by the Holy Spirit, this passage of scripture reminds us of where we Christians were. I refer to verse 21. This is what he says: "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior." Notice, if you will, three things there.

He says that people who are Christians recognize that previously, they were alienated from God or estranged from God. The significance of this, of course, is very, very profound indeed because Christians believe that they were made by God for God, and that the only way that they can live truly human lives is in terms of God.

If a man or a woman, therefore, is made by God for God to live in union with God, but has lost God, then clearly there's something of great significance lacking in their lives. It has been pointed out that people reach their true humanity when they use their God-given ability to know God, when they utilize their God-given ability to appreciate what they know of God, and when they take opportunity of expressing that appreciation for what they understand of God.

This is what sets us apart from all other created beings. However, if we are created by God for God to know Him and to appreciate Him and to articulate that appreciation, but we've lost God, we're alienated from God, then clearly there is something very, very seriously wrong in our lives.

Now, people will testify to the fact that they were alienated from God in different ways. Some will talk about an emptiness in their lives. They'll talk about something being missing in their lives. They'll talk about looking for satisfaction or self-fulfillment. What they're really saying is what the old theologians used to say: that there's a God-shaped blank inside us, that we're alienated from God, and that we're only going to be fulfilled, we're only going to be satisfied when we find a God-shaped God to fill that God-shaped blank.

Other people, of course, are much more antagonistic in their attitude to God, although Paul points out that everybody who is alienated from God is, to some degree, antagonistic towards God as well. Notice, if you will, that he says in verse 21: "You were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds."

The word translated "mind" here is the equivalent of the word "heart" as it's used in the Old Testament. And so it doesn't just mean intellectually we argued against God. It means in terms of inner attitudes, there was an antagonism towards God.

Now, of course, some of us can look back to days when that was very, very obvious. We were overtly antagonistic to God. We blasphemed His name. We shook, as it were, our fist in His face. We would deny His existence or doubt very much if He was there at all. And sometimes we would live lives that were clearly and blatantly opposed to all that He had told us. We were alienated from the life of God, and we were antagonistic towards Him.

Other people, of course, are covertly antagonistic to God. That means that they don't do anything overtly in opposition to God, but they just disregard Him. They simply regard God as being irrelevant. They regard Him as being something considerably less than God in their lives. And that is fundamental antagonism to God. If God is God, to fail to acknowledge Him as God is a fundamentally antagonistic attitude.

And so whether we are overtly or were overtly antagonistic to God or covertly antagonistic to God, Christians can testify to the fact that at one stage in their experience, they were alienated from God. They were antagonistic to God.

Thirdly, they were active in evil works, in evil behavior. Paul puts it: "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior." Those who are estranged from God, those who are either covertly or overtly antagonistic to God, clearly are not living lives that please God. They are doing things that, by God's standards, are totally unsatisfactory.

Let me pause here just for a moment, however, and say in parentheses that if I'm talking to somebody who is an unbeliever, it is very, very important that you understand—and I say this firmly but lovingly to you—it is very important that you understand that the person who is uncommitted to the Lord is a person who, in God's sight, is alienated from Him, antagonistic to Him, and active in behavior that is unacceptable.

And the profundity of this is recognized when we accept the fact that we are accountable to God for the lives that we live. Do not assume that because we're decent and law-abiding, that that is all that God requires. God requires us to accept the fact that all of us, without exception, are alienated, antagonistic, and active in evil behavior, and this needs to be forgiven, and this needs to be turned from.

There are some people whose lives are so bad, whose lives have fallen into such a shambles, that you have no difficulty at all pointing this out to them. They say, "Hey, don't tell me and don't rub it in, man. I know. Get me out of here." But there are other people who find it very, very hard to accept this because they've decided that they are living lives that are perfectly acceptable. They may be to themselves, they may be to society, but not to God. And He's the one who counts.

Guest (Male): This is Telling the Truth with Stuart and Jill Briscoe. Today, Stuart is in the book of Colossians with his message, "Getting There from Here." Stuart will be right back with more.

You can't always see it raging around you, but every day, you're locked in a battle that threatens your spiritual, emotional, and relational well-being. Spiritual warfare is very real, and you can't afford to sit this fight out. Your spiritual enemy will stop at nothing to keep you from experiencing the abundant and impactful life you're called to in Christ.

But you can stand strong in Jesus and the power of His Spirit, and Stuart and Jill want to show you how, straight from God's word, by sending you their new five-message series, Fighting Unseen Forces. We'll send you this encouraging series as thanks for your gift of support to help people around the world hear the message of Jesus through broadcasts like this one today.

Your gift of support helps Telling the Truth carry the message of God's love to people across the globe so they can experience life in Christ. Call today to request your copy of Fighting Unseen Forces when you give: 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388. Or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org.

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Let's go back now to Stuart.

Stuart Briscoe: Let's move on then from where we were to where we are. And in verse 22, Paul explains to the Christians, "But now." Now, notice that this is in marked contrast to verse 21, where he says, "Once you were." Past tense. "Once you were." Past. "But now." Present. He is moving from where they were to where they are.

And there are two particularly important things we should note here. First of all, he explains to them that they are reconciled to God. And secondly, he explains to them they are justified by God. Now, "reconciled" and "justified" are not words we use every day in our normal vocabulary. They are words we should understand as far as spiritual experience is concerned.

Notice, if you will, this idea of being reconciled. First of all, in terms of divine initiative. We read in verse 22: "But now he," that is God, "He has reconciled us to himself." Do you get that? "Now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy," etc. The initiative for our reconciliation to God is with God.

Now, it may be that some of us have got the mistaken idea that we decided one day, quote, "To accept Jesus as our savior." Now, of course, that was great if we did it, but we must not let that terminology move us away from a profound spiritual truth. And it is this: our salvation, our reconciliation, does not originate with us. Our salvation originates with God. It is God who has reconciled us to Himself. It is not we who do it ourselves.

If we fail to recognize this, we will have an inadequate view and understanding of the grace of God. It was the grace of God that determined that we should be reconciled. It was the grace of God that even desired that we should be reconciled to Him. It was the grace of God that determined how we should be reconciled. It was the grace of God who made the means of reconciliation available to us. It was divine initiative.

These people who are Christians in Colossae need to be reminded that they are what they are, as opposed to what they were, because of the divine initiative. He, in grace, reconciled them to Himself.

Notice secondly, a very important thing, and that is that the divine incarnation is involved, too. Verse 22 again: "Now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death." Remember that these people in Colossae needed to bear constantly in mind that the only reason they could be reconciled to God, their alienation taken away, their antagonism done away with, their evil activities forgiven, the only basis on which it could happen was that God in Christ had come into the world, in the incarnation had assumed our humanity, had lived physically among us and died a physical death on an awesome cross.

He is strongly underlining the necessity of the physical death of Christ on the cross as the basis of our salvation. And perhaps we need to remind ourselves that there is salvation in none other. There is no other name under heaven amongst men given whereby we must be saved. And this name is Christ, and this Christ is a crucified Christ. We dare not move into any type of, quote, "reconciliation ministry" that ignores the death of Christ. It becomes sub-Christian as soon as we do.

But those who are true believers recognize that they are what they are, reconciled to God, first of all because of the divine initiative, and secondly because of divine incarnation. Christ was born in Bethlehem with Calvary in mind. Christmas had Good Friday in mind right from the very beginning.

Notice also that he strongly emphasizes the death of the Lord Jesus again. Verse 22: "Now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death." The only basis upon which sinful man can be reconciled to God is through the death of Christ. The wages of sin is death. We either pay it ourselves or allow Christ to pay it for us.

It is His death which is a substitute for our death. In His death on the cross, it is possible for us to miss out from that awful eternal death, separation from God, because we put our trust in Him. But if we want to get right with God by doing an end run around the cross, forget it. And if we want sins forgiven on any other basis than the death of Christ, forget it. We have got to recognize that the basis of reconciliation is divine initiative, divine incarnation, and divine intervention in the death of Christ on our behalf.

The second thing that we notice here is that he talks about the fact that we Christians are justified by God, too. I refer again to verse 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."

Notice, if you will, the expression "to present you." The word could be used in a variety of forms, but one legitimate application of it here is to describe a law court in which somebody is presented before the judge. The judge hears the evidence, passes sentence, pays the sentence himself, and then declares the prisoner free to go with no further charges against him.

That is basically one of the ideas of justification. When a person who is alienated from God, antagonistic in attitude, and active in evil is reconciled to God, something else happens. That person is justified by God. God brings him into His presence and declares him utterly and totally forgiven. No further charges to answer. To be justified, as somebody has said, is to be "just-as-if-I'd" never sinned at all.

When you are justified by God, you're welcome back in God's neighborhood. He doesn't keep hitting you over the head with what you did. He doesn't keep laying the guilt trip on you. You're justified. You are justified. You are presented in His presence holy, without blemish, free from accusation.

Guest (Male): This is Telling the Truth with Stuart and Jill Briscoe. Today, Stuart Briscoe has shared from the book of Colossians about maturing in your faith. In just a moment, Stuart talks about feeling distant from God and why living a life that feels good is dangerous.

Between the pressures of paying bills, taking care of your family, and keeping up with a chaotic calendar, it's easy to feel outnumbered and overmatched. And those are just the visible challenges you face each day. The unseen forces of evil can make life seem even more overwhelming, threatening your spiritual, emotional, and relational well-being.

But you're not without help and hope. And in their new five-message series, Fighting Unseen Forces, Stuart and Jill Briscoe show you how you can live victoriously, knowing that with Christ and His Spirit, you're never alone. This new series is our thanks for your gift of support to help more people experience life through the resource and teaching of Telling the Truth.

Generous friends like you keep broadcasts like this one today going, even reaching people in places that are closed to the gospel. So if you haven't given before, now is a great time to jump in and help keep God's word going out around the world to you and many others. And remember to request your copy of Fighting Unseen Forces when you call and give. Just call 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388. Or you can give online when you visit tellingthetruth.org.

Now, Stuart is here to answer a few questions from today's message. Stuart, if someone feels far from God, how do they start to change it?

Stuart Briscoe: Now, the operative word in your question—which is an important question—is the word "feels." If someone feels far from God, how do they start to change? I would say they start to change by recognizing what God has promised.

And what God has promised is this: the soul that comes to Me, I will under no circumstances reject or cast him out. Remember what Jesus said: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me," and "behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." And that Jesus Himself said of the Father, that He has promised, "I will never leave you, nor will I forsake you."

So there's a disconnect here now between what God's word says and what we feel. And I think we start to change the situation of feeling that God is far from us when we make an intelligent decision to go along with what we know rather than what we feel. It has to do with what we know in our minds through the work of the Holy Spirit taking His word home to our hearts, that has to be in control of our feelings rather than our feelings controlling our thinking.

Guest (Male): Stuart, why is living a life that we ourselves view as good and acceptable dangerous?

Stuart Briscoe: Well, that's an important question because I think it does sound a little dangerous to say that living a life that we regard as good and acceptable can be dangerous. But let me clarify the position, and thank you for giving me an opportunity to do that.

What I meant by that is this: that frequently, when it comes to the spiritual life, we have our own standards. And our own standards can be very, very, very different from the standards that God has set out for us.

And I believe there's a reason for us finding our own standards more attractive than God's standards very often, and it is simply this: our standards are often more attainable. And they are more attainable because we limit our standards to the level of our own attainment. And that's where the danger is.

What we need to be recognizing is that God has given us standards that are beyond our attainability. We just cannot do it ourselves. But He gives us grace to do what we cannot and to be what we are not. Now, if we settle for the level of our own attainment, we never discover what He can make available to us to live in newness of life.

Guest (Male): Thanks, Stuart. Before we go, we want to remind you that this month, when you give to support Telling the Truth broadcasts like this one today, we'll send you Stuart and Jill Briscoe's five-message series, Fighting Unseen Forces.

This powerful new series will help you stand strong in Christ and in the power of His Spirit against the enemy so you can live victoriously each day. Please request your series when you call 1-800-889-5388, 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online when you visit tellingthetruth.org.

Thanks for listening to Telling the Truth today. Come back again next time for more biblical truth from God's word with Stuart and Jill Briscoe. Experience life here on Telling the Truth.