On March 3 I wrote about the theme of reconciliation in Colossians 1:21-23. Yeah, but I left something out.

I said that Colossians 1:21-23 seemed (to this person who has spent a large part of his life looking for such things) to fall into a nice, neat sermon outline:

1. The need for reconciliation: “And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds….”
2. The purpose of reconciliation: “…as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him….”
3. The condition of reconciliation: “…provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard….”
4. The scope of reconciliation: “…which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven.”

Nice little (old-fashioned) sermon outline, huh? Yes, but it’s missing something. At the time, I was very consciously leaving out point #5: The means of reconciliation. (more…)

Tags: Christ | Christian Gospel | God's mercy | imputed righteousness | Jesus Christ | Matthew 18:23 | reconciliation | relational theology | the Cross | the Cross of Christ

We are invited into a life in the presence of God. By the grace of God we are enabled to live lives pleasing to God. This is what we read in Psalm 15:1.

Eugene Peterson paraphrases Psalm 15:1 this way:

“GOD, who gets invited to dinner at your place? How do we get on your guest list?”

Or we might state it this way:

Lord God, what is it like to be the kind of person who is fit to live in Your Presence from day to day?

Verse 2 gives us the response to this question: (more…)

Tags: Christian Perfection | confession of sin | honesty | Psalm 15 | relational theology | righteousness | τέλειος | תָּמִים