Why is Jesus Important in My Life?
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What an honor and a privilege to preach to you today. My goal here today is simply that each one would leave here encouraged. Not by me. Not by one another. May we ask the question, “Why is Jesus important in my life?” and come away encouraged by the answers.
Read Colossians 1:21-23
The first two words in this verse point us backwards momentarily. “And you…” takes us back to verse 15, where Paul sets out to establish the preeminence of Christ by stating: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” We are able to take all that is said of our Lord in these verses and now say, “what does that have to do with me?” Paul answers, “and you” as if to remind us that our response to who Jesus is the thing that matters the most in the universe. He begins with addressing what was once in the past for the Colossians he wrote to.
The Past
The Past
Why is Jesus important to my past? Paul lays out what the life a person was like prior to the point where they made their great confession that Jesus Christ is the Lord of their life. It is important that we spend the appropriate amount of time remembering what that life was like. If we spend too much time, we run the risk of glorifying the gratification of our flesh rather than rightly mourning them. At the same time, if we spend too little time, we will most certainly cheat God out of the glory He deserves in the story of our redemption. We ought not enjoy discussing these things by themselves without pairing them with the glorious truths found in the next verse. What is being described in verse 21 is a life of misery.
What exactly did this life of misery look like? All of humanity has experienced this Genesis 3 world, being cast out of Eden and thus separated from God. Of course, this was necessary because of man’s sin and the holiness of God. And thus mankind experienced such a separation. But how does this describe a life of misery? When we read in the bible about what heaven will be like, it sounds like a wonderful experience. We don’t have all of the details laid out but by all accounts, it is the place I would want to be. However, without the presence of God, heaven would be nothing. It is the presence of God that brings the truest of joys. Thus, a person being cut off from God because of their evil is true misery.
In this separated state, we have for us described both the physical state of our sin as well as the mental state. The hostility of the mind comes first, whereby our thoughts and desires were once opposed to that of God. While we may not have actively considered God as an enemy, that is exactly what we were because of our rejection of Him and the truth. These are the inward thoughts that made our alienation necessary.
Next Paul addresses the outward manifestation of this sinfulness as evil deeds. The doing of evil deeds here is not merely acting against the commands of God once in a while. A person has not recognized the God of the bible as the Creator of the World and Lord of their life does whatever they want whenever they want. We can look at the world and see the type of living that is being described here. Throwing out all logic and justifying the most godless acts by whatever means possible. It is sin that plagues the mind as well as the hands and provides proof of the destination of a person’s soul.
We have the two primary pieces of evidence of pre-conversion depravity: the mind, only focused on gratification of self, which leads to the engagement of evil deeds.
But praise God that the tense of this verse is the past. The disciple of Christ was once alienated but is now brought back into a place of favor. We were once enemies of God based on our hearts and thoughts but now strive to have the mind of Christ. Our deeds could only have been described as evil but now reflect a righteousness that is not our own.
The reason that the misery described in verse 21 is in the past is because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross, reconciling the lost back to Himself. We no longer suffer from alienation from God because of the bodily death of Jesus. And that work has made a discernable impact on our lives, hasn’t it?! FF Bruce summarized it well by writing, “the work done for them is made effective in them.”
So, what does Jesus have to do with my past? Simply put, He was absent from it and that is why it was the way that it was. We now look at the
The Future
The Future
Why is Jesus important for my future? The work of reconciliation through the bodily death of Christ has been laid out as the only means by which our past could have been corrected. This reconciliation has ramifications for our current state but also affects how we will be presented at the second coming of Christ. The presentation here is in the future rather than the appeal in Romans 12 to “present you your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God…”
On that day when we stand before the Father. If he were to merely look at our own merit, the resume would read with the following: sinful, guilty, and deeply flawed in morals. However, because of the reconciliation, we are presented first as holy.
Notice here the progressive sanctification from the Holy Spirit. Day by day we are molded to be more and more like Christ until one day in heaven we will be holy as Jesus is. In Romans 8:1-2, Paul highlights the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”
Similarly, we are guilty by all accounts without reconciliation. Instead, we will be presented as blameless before the Father. It is true that the blemishes of our own lives are painfully obvious, yet the crucifixion of Jesus has drastically changes our standing.
And the final way we are presented in eternity is as blameless. Previously, there was much accusation and now we have been freed from that. Consider the request of David in Psalm 51:14: “Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.” The one who deserves to be deemed guilty will now be charged as above reproach, without a charge at all. Just imagine with me knowing that you are guilty and being cleared despite that guilt. This is the situation that we are talking about.
You see, Jesus has made a future in heaven possible. We are now able to be presented before God as holy, blameless and above reproach.
Well, we’ve covered the past and the future. Are we now free to live our lives however we want until Christ returns? Certainly not. So, why is Jesus important for the Present?
The Present
The Present
I’m all about a good crockpot meal. Throw all the ingredients in for 4 hours on low, come back, stir and serve. If we stop at verse 22, the life of a disciple of Christ seems like that easy crockpot meal. We were once alienated from God but have now been reconciled through Jesus bodily death on the cross to be presented as holy, blameless and above reproach. However, this presentation is conditional based on the word “if” in verse 23. That is how the presentation will go if you do one thing: continue in the faith. How is it that we can continue in the faith?
We continue in the faith by living consistent lives. Living consistently isn’t to say that we don’t continue to make grow in the Lord. This means that there is steady progress rather than extreme highs and lows. The words stable and steadfast each point to a foundation that can be built on. Anyone who has spent any time doing construction would tell you that a foundation for a home ought to be strong beyond just the time that the walls and roof are added. It should be trusted for decades to come that it will bear the weight that will be added to it. There should be consistency over time in its ability to do the job that it has been made to do
In the same way, the life of the disciple of Christ should be live consistently. Does my life look the same behind the pulpit, coaching my son’s softball team, watching Vanderbilt get destroyed on a Saturday, alone with my computer, with my wife and kids, and at work?
The second way that we are to continue in the faith is belief in the true gospel. A significant aspect of the letter to the Colossians is that there were many false teachers who were attempting to deceive them regarding the gospel. This was not an issue that is unique to the first century, sadly. There are many versions of the gospel that are contrary to the true gospel which saves us. In order to fend of the false gospel, we ought to preach this gospel to ourselves every day. I stand before a room of preachers as well as others. Whether God has called you to the pulpit ministry or not, we all have a responsibility as disciples of Christ to proclaim these truths that brought us near in the first place.
In Ephesians 2:12-14, Paul gives a great summary of this beautiful good news. | “…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…”
My brothers and sisters, we must live in a stable and steadfast manner. But we also must maintain a proper view of the gospel in which we were first saved. We need His strength to continue in the faith for we will crumble under the pressure if left on our own to move forward. The moment we take for granted the hope of the gospel is the moment we become complacent in living for Him.
Finally, one encouraging note about this verse is the fact that Paul believes that the future presentation of the Colossians was headed on a trajectory of holy, blameless and above reproach based on the word indeed. He is not doubting their continued faith or predicting a forfeiture of salvation, simply placing the necessary reminder that continuance is necessary.
So, what does Jesus have to do with the present? Jesus Christ is the cornerstone on which our lives are built on. We have a responsibility to be consistent in the lives in which we lead and be reminded daily of the hope that we now have!
Jesus has everything to do with me. He has fixed my past by reconciling man to Himself by His bodily death on the cross. He has promised a future with Him because of our presentation of holiness, and has strengthened you and me to continue in the faith.
Pray
Read Colossians 1:15-20