Colossians 1 and Reconciliation

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Looked at Colossians 1:15 -23 today and asked “what is reconciliation” and, toward the end of the hour, what of this mantra of “racial reconciliation”? What does this mean?

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Well, greetings and welcome to the dividing line. My name is James White and if you've got a Bible Which any more means if you did not forget to bring your iPhone with you.
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I Think I mentioned yeah, I mentioned on Tuesday that Technology almost got me on Sunday, but turn with me to Colossians chapter 1
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Normally when addressing this text and I suppose that's one of the drawbacks of being an apologist is that You know first thing you think about first thing
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I think about I think of James chapter 2 is I'm gonna have to be dealing with to 14 through 24 and Some kind of context of work salvation or something like that and there is a danger
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It's one of the reasons I'm glad that I am involved in a local church and regularly have to preach in that local church because there's a danger and being so apologetically minded that other parts of Scripture that aren't necessarily overly controversial will go skittering past Colossians chapter 1 incredible text always be aware of the fact that Outside of the believing
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Christian community you will encounter a lot of people who will reject
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Pauline authorship of Colossians and Ephesians They do so on utterly unsubstantiated theoretical grounds they create a theoretical history of the church and if anything addresses
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What they think only came later, then that's a
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Pseudepigraphical forgery Maybe you know if they want to be nice. They'll say it was the
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Pauline community That produced it blah blah blah blah But once again like I said
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I hate seeing people You know we get them excited about the Bible And then you forget or you didn't hear one of the programs where I warned you that one of the most spiritually dangerous
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Places for a Christian is called the Christian bookstore or the
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Christian section of amazon .com anymore and You go pick up a you know figure all commentaries are equally good.
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They're not and And Run into some wild -eyed
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Theory and since they've never heard anybody talk about it all of a sudden. They're You know calling in going well,
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I'm sure I'm sure it's never happened I'm sure Rich has never gotten a call someone who says I have to talk to James what right now
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How many of you gotten of that today And it's all about something like this that It's not that it's new.
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It's just they've just now run into it, and it's causing them. No end of pain and difficulty which is understandable but anyway
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Colossians chapter 1 It's very similar to John chapter 1
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Hebrews chapter 1 Has the background of an incipient form of Gnosticism and Utilizes a lot of the language of the
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Gnostics against them and most the time we're focused upon looking at 1 15 through 17 what it means for Jesus to be prototokos the firstborn of all creation
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New world translation mistranslation of verses 16 and 17 insertion of the word other
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That type of stuff but that's not what I want to look at today gonna gonna get past that and Someone on Twitter has just posted
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Christian section on Amazon and Yeah, it doesn't look like much of what's there is overly.
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Oh a bunch of Mark Jones stuff, okay? All right but different Mark Jones's so I Guess I don't know.
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It's really hard to see really teeny tiny print in fact, I I apologized everybody on Twitter this morning because I Initially engaged with this atheist who asked me at first.
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It seemed like an innocuous question About why we don't kill people anymore Don't we believe that the you know, the
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Mosaic Law and all the rest that stuff and you know I've been preaching through the Holiness Code for over a year and the little
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Pictures, especially when they're on a high -resolution screen that's running at fairly high resolution can get really small
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And it wasn't till like the second time. I was getting ready to respond to the atheists. I went yeah and Saw that he had a very profane blasphemous picture for his
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Twitter account and I had already responded to him once so it was just like block Is there a maximum number of people you can block on Twitter?
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I may be getting close. I May be getting close. It's just become a lot easier as go like what what what what what what and And life is is much happier that way anyway back to Colossians chapter 1
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Sort of good that I have my Bible program over here and Twitter over here. Yes nice Distinction between the two
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Verse 15 he is the image of the invisible God the firstborn of all creation for by him all things are created both in the heavens and on earth visible and invisible whether the thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things have been created through him and For him
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He is before all things and in him all things hold together
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He is also head of the body the church and he is the beginning The firstborn from the dead so that he himself will come to have first place in everything
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For it was the father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him and through him to reconcile
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That's the term katalaso Reconcile all things to himself Having made peace to the blood of his cross through him.
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I say whether things on earth or things in heaven and although you Were formerly alienated and hostile in mind engaged in evil deeds yet He has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death in order to present you before him holy and blameless and Beyond reproach if indeed you continue in the faith
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Firmly established and steadfast and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard which was proclaimed in all creation
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Under heaven and of which I Paul was made a minister Now as I said, we normally focus upon the key
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Christological section but I Think it's important to look at what comes after this
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When in verse 17 and he now We should talk about one thing from the
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Christological section In the Christological night when I speak as Christological section the specific text dealing with the nature of Christ that is reflected in verses 15 and 16 and Especially The fact that what is created in Colossians 116 is top on top
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Now there are there are other ways of saying the all all things in In Greek and Top on top rather than simply you've heard of pantheism
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That's the pawn the all all is God God is all Pan and Panta obviously are just different forms the same word but top on top shows
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That the creation actually exists there are concrete things in creation and This is what is created by Christ Visible invisible thrones lordships rulerships authorities
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Top on top through him and for him has been created and he is before pontoon all things and top on top in auto
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Sunnistic in and all things hold together in him and so You you'll have that Use and then you'll have a different use when it is
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When you have pawn in verse 19 because for in him
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It was his or the father's good pleasure For Pawn top play
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Roma for all the fullness to dwell in him All the fullness now what's important there is in Colossians 2 9 we have hottie and I took a joke.
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I pawned up I Roma pawn top play Roma taste they are they tossed all the fullness of deity dwells in Christ in Colossians 2 9
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So there's a lot of assertions being made in Colossians that are very Christologically important and very soteriologically important because here having emphasized that Christ Holds all things together.
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He is also head of the body the church The church now,
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I don't my assumption is that for a lot of us for a lot of Evangelicals the term
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Protestant, I don't know what it means anymore to be honest with you, but and not sure it evangelical he does either but non
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Roman Catholic believers the church thinking of the church in universal
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Expression is Not as normative as the local expression is and It's pretty clear that here in Colossians 118 we're talking about The whole body the body taken as a whole
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He is the Kefal a He is the head of the body the church
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He is the RK the beginning which an RK can also mean Origin and source but given the next phrase is
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Prototic us ecto necron firstborn from the dead Probably the beginning or the first to match with the the firstborn from the dead or no, he might come to have first place in all things so For some folks
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It's a little challenging Or it almost it almost puts it outside of our realm of normal thought to think of the church
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Being mentioned in such exalted language here. We're talking about the creator of all things
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All this exalted language of Christ and Then once you say that then you say he is also had the body of the church right there in the midst of all this exalted language of Christ comes his relationship to the church and Look I know
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Dealing with the everyday stuff in church Recognizing we're all sinners and recognizing
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Bad things happen in the fellowship and the New Testament talks about this all the time the
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New Testament you know if we would just read it and Recognize the apostolic period wasn't this perfect piece of Perfect time of peace and joy and all the rest of stuff there are all sorts of problems in New Testament churches as well the apostolic churches then maybe wouldn't think this way, but it's hard for us to look at the reality in the fallen world of the experience of the church and Then see it likewise in this exalted place, but you got to remember the
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New Testament gives us both the now and the not yet It says, you know, it talks a lot about what our experience now is but it also says we're seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so it's good.
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They're both true and holding them together requires balance there's no no question about it and So there is an exalted view of the church in the
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New Testament that you know, I really bothers me when I hear anybody just Coming down the church all the time just bumble, but it's all church bad church, but it's normally somebody who actually is disobeying the commands of Scripture To be involved in a local assembly.
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It's that that's normally the person that's just constantly Going after the church is someone like that not always not always but generally
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Anyway You have this discussion of Christ as having the first place in all things for in him
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He was pleased for all the fullness to dwell and Don't have time today to talk about what play
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Roma was How play
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Roma Referred to How the
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Gnostics misdefined play Roma and how Paul is really slapping on the face over and over again
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With what he's he's actually saying here but verse 19 is an anti Gnostic polemic there is a by positive teaching there is a negative refutation of Gnostic belief in what is said in verse 19
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But it was the father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him and through him to reconcile
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Ta Panta ice out on to reconcile all things exact same term used of his creative work just a few lines before to reconcile
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Ta Panta ice out on to himself So The subject starting verse 19 is the father and it is through him that is the son
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You can't even begin to understand this without a recognition of John 5 unity of father and son
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Differing roles, but accomplishing one thing There's just it's it's a
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Trinitarian understanding doesn't make any sense any other way But it was the father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him and Through him to reconcile all things to himself
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So that is reconciling everything to the father
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Having made peace the blood of his cross Christ's cross through him
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I say where the things on earth are things in heaven again Purposefully drawing the connection back to verses 16 and 17 and the exhaustive extent of the creation
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Now this is a text that has been utilized a number of times
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By Universalists To argue That if all things are reconciled to God then eventually since There is this
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Hapak's legomena there. Hapak's garment means a word used only one time in Scripture Irena poi a sauce to make peace to make peace
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It's related to peacemakers, but it's different root form. That's why it's they're both Hapak's, but they're sort of pretty close related having made peace to the blood of his cross.
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And so there's a lot of folks That will look at this and say hey
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Universal reconciliation accomplished to the cross peace Everything will eventually be in right relationship to God Well, I suppose if you want to isolate texts and ignore everything then you can sort of skip past the fact that when
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Paul makes application of this in verse 22 and Yet speaking of those who were formerly alienated and hostile in mind
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And I suppose I should have been feeding this this whole time but I was just figuring people look at their own Bibles because I'm not pointing to stuff specifically and And not doing textual criticism, that's why
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I haven't been we haven't been putting it up, but I suppose it wouldn't you know kill anybody if I did
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Window and Accordance ego but you'll notice that And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind engaged in evil deeds yet.
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He has now done what well It's the exact same route here reconciled you In his fleshly body through death, so it's a complete
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Parallel to what was just said in order to present you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach
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If indeed you abide you continue in the faith firmly established
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It says steadfast and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you've heard which was proclaimed in all creation or heaven and of which
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I Paul was made a minister, so if Universalism was true
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Why? Why this why this statement if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast and not moved away from the hope the gospel?
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You have heard If universalism is true, it doesn't matter whether you know what the gospel is or not. Everyone's gonna get saved eventually
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Love wins as someone made money saying So You can you can isolate these texts and try to make them say something other but it's just not possible to read
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Paul as Paul and Come out with a universalistic reading. It just it just doesn't work.
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So what is being said back here? Well, what does it mean then?
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Through him to reconcile all things to himself having made peace to the blood of his cross If there will if there will be punishment for In eternity to come this is also at least for some there's all sorts of forms of conditionalism, but for some while their arguments is
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That eventually and I need some of that stuff too. I totally spaced it say apologies
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If there will ever be if there there has to be a time When peace is
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Made and if there is any punishment going on then peace does not exist. That's one of the arguments
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Of The conditionalist So what does this mean?
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What does it mean through him to reconcile all things to himself? Having made peace through the blood of his cross through him.
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I say where things on earth are things in heaven now. I Think this text more than any other
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Does indicate that there is a Universal Impact of the cross that transcends the limitation of the cross to merely
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Satirical categories try that again and with small words, right?
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with meaningful words, maybe in other words We can never escape the centrality of The redemptive purpose of the cross the union of the elect with Christ The providing of the foundation of the great exchange
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All of those things that it's right there on the surface of the text. It's right there. It's central to the argument
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That is the primary purpose of the cross. There's no question about it but because of the nature of the one who gave himself and the roles that he will take in The eschaton
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There are other impacts of the successful accomplishment of The task assigned
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To the son by the father and I think this is one of them Because the cross has taken place there is a perfect ground of judgment that Will allow
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God to judge in accordance with his nature in other words
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God has demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us, right?
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know the language and so the glory of that act is so great that the rejection of it is basis for condemnation in and of itself we think of John's language when he speaks of in John chapter 3
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And echoed elsewhere in the Gospel of John as well But he who believes not is condemned already because he's not believing the name of the only begotten
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Son of God There is a there's a condemnation upon that person for the rejection of Such a clear revelation from God And Likewise, yes,
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I know so we're out of the Plastics or the paper stuff Yes, yes,
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I don't know why but I sure hope oh good whoo. No, I know
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I wasn't worried about being dirty I was just worried about being hot Some of you are wondering where the tea went it's too hot for tea
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Sorry, if you've got the fan going down there, you got the AC running Yeah, it's gonna be 96
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I think they said by Tuesday So we're we're getting close to the triple digits here in Phoenix and you don't need any extra warmth at that time
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So it'll be a while till we see our Ramos again. Anyway Paul clearly
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Places the impact of reconciliation in salvation in the following verses
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In the Spirit's act of Changing the heart and the mind verse 22
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He has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death in order to present you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach well, who's that it's a church
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I Mean, it's it's individually what we experienced But the church is what is presented before him holy and blameless beyond reproach and the church is made up of individuals
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And so this is salvation that's being spoken of here And yet very clearly it's not just all human beings because all human beings do not continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast and Most human beings don't even have the hope of the gospel which has been heard and proclaimed and all creation so on and so forth so well when it comes to The individuals experience of what this reconciliation is.
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Well we are Reconciled Through The work of Jesus Christ But what about someone who remains under God's wrath?
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Does that make does that make God's the sons work? meaningless in their behalf or Is Paul's point that the judgment of God that then comes upon?
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those individuals is Just and good and righteous and has been demonstrated to be so because of the demonstration of God's righteousness at the cross
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There was a universal demonstration not only of God's power but of God's justice in his own self giving at the cross and so while My peace with God is
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Based upon that that exchange of his righteousness for my right my my sin
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Etc etc Christ taking my punishment. I receive his righteousness
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While that's my personal experience as part of the people of God Even the judgment the just judgment of God upon sinners is demonstrated to be just Because of what takes place at the cross the cross has a greater judicial demonstration in the sense that it shows
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God's forbearance God's patience God's purpose and none of this requires an abandonment of Election or God's divine decree or any of that?
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But it does require us to look fully at everything that is said and to recognize that If it was
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God's intention from the beginning to demonstrate the fullness of his character and To judge sin justly
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By The judgment of the one he has appointed the
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Sun then The cross Demonstrates his power in fulfilling all of these things and therefore everything has the right relationship to God through the perfect accomplishment of his purposes and so this term reconciliation
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Just as Sanctification can have a positional as well as an experience as an experiential aspect reconciliation likewise can have a universal aspect
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That differs from the personal aspect only those who as It says in verse 23
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Continuing the faith firmly establishes steadfast not moved away from the hope the gospel that you have heard only those that that's descriptive of receive personal reconciliation
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With God and hence have peace having been justified by faith Romans 5 1
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But there's also a sense of universal reconciliation in the sense that because of the accomplishment of Christ's work
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Then God's judgment is demonstrated to be just in all aspects of his governance over that which he himself has created the
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Demonstration of his wisdom to the to the powers and so on and so forth spoken of also in the book of Colossians Now you may be going you've gone on for half an hour now.
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I didn't realize it been that long and you have not
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Specifically Explain why this is relevant well some of you may have seen the
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Article that I posted Last night and then expanded upon.
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I actually posted it. I don't know what about three o 'clock in the afternoon. I think I had in there had been a number of Responses That had been thrown out there in In Response to my 545 word
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Facebook article But the one that had been
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Retweeted and called a scholarly response and You need to interact with this and and Russell Moore had had retweeted it and so on and so forth
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I Decided all right
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Uh Everybody keeps saying you you need to you know, and it's from the reformed african -american network and all the rest of stuff you need to You need to read that okay,
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I'll read it so I read it and just went wow and I just I just saw so many issues
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So clearly the form the the shadow of this external source of authority this this
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Narrative that does not is not derived from biblical ex -jesus.
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It's not derived in biblical categories. It's It's very familiar to me from other movements as well in its basic form
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And I could just see very clearly the impact it was having on Really the twisting of my words and and intentions and it's very very divisive and so I Thought well, you know what?
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I Am going to respond to this and I'm going to quote.
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I think I quoted over half of it and I'm going to respond to it and I'm going to respond to its accusations and I'm going to point out what the issues are here that we have a
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Christianized Religionized Critical race theory type thing that is being promoted
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Within the context of a reformed and obviously rather young group of individuals and so I wrote my article and it again, like I said quoted a major portion
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I didn't measure exactly how much but a major portion of The article that I was responding to So I post that about three o 'clock about ten minutes later the website crashed and May have had something to do with that may have not
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I don't know So I had to reformat the Article and put it on my personal
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WordPress blog And I Don't know about two hours later.
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I look on Twitter and the author of the original article has responded to me and Says this is all
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I'm gonna say to you. This is the only response you're gonna get and There's some pictures, you know how you can take screen caps and I I haven't figured out how to do this and Twitter yet, but I guess you have to use the
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Web interface or something but you can take these screen captures and just pile them all onto one thing and then you have to click on each one it blows up and and you can't select text or anything like that and You know,
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I think it was initially designed to take multiple pictures of your cat or something but now people are actually responding by this means and So I saved the three different screen captures
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And I had to go to church We still have we still have Wednesday night services very unusual for most people.
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We sell one separate services and So I Got back last evening and Added a
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What was a 28 almost 2 ,800 word of course part of that was
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Responding to the author so quoting the author had to type out Had to take each one of those graphics and sit there and type out what was in the graphics 2 ,800 word additional so I think that what that's seven thousand
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Three hundred about seventy three hundred words. I think is what that article now stands at and I added it to the bottom of The as an update to the previous post so it all be in one spot
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I thought that was probably the best way to do it and I'm sure that the outcry has been just as great as the week before last
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But I already have such a long block list that I haven't seen here at least much of it
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I've already blocked most of the noisiest folks but I still saw a lot of stuff and a lot of it utilizing this kind of language that You know speaking truth to power and white privilege and all the the buzzwords that you're supposed to Everyone's supposed to just now bow down to and go.
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Yeah, I Agree and because if you don't then you're a racist which I find to be a real diminishment of the actual problem of racism when you conflate
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Disagreeing with a racially based Narrative with actual acts of racism when you put the two of them together
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That's dangerous and it actually helps to hide acts of racism
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Because that's it's not racism to disagree with critical race theory or religion ized versions of it or Any of the other type of narratives to disagree with that does not make you a racist by any stretch the imagination and if you say it does
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You are assisting in Hiding what's really bad about actual racism and since racism is a sin then biblically
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Anybody can be a racist. I Am afraid and I happen to know
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That there are many people Who don't think they can be a racist because they're the wrong color
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There are people honestly when I was telling someone about this they're like no no one believes I said, oh, no, no, no
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They they there are yeah I remember within the past ten years Michael Medved had a
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Program had a young lady on in fact woman professor somewhere Who was arguing that it's not possible to be black and a racist?
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because you have to have power to be a racist and So if you're in a minority and you don't have the power then you can't be a racist now
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Is it not just simple biblical common sense that that? Attitude should never exist in the
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Christian Church. Now this woman that I heard in the radio. She wasn't wasn't claiming to be a Christian. So but sadly,
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I have already encountered this idea and And There is a tremendous amount of racism in the black community
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It's expressed in music all the time I can't help but I mean sometimes I'll be sitting there at the street corner and my windows are rolled up and I can still
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Hear it. You know what I mean? yeah, my windows are rattling it to me and I can hear the slurs.
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I hear the racist attitude. I see it on television all the time I see it in the language and it is almost never challenged.
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It's almost never challenged Oh, yeah, we only get into that so Anyway, I saw all this stuff coming and then one of the things
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I tried to have a few conversations With some people see how far could go and without becoming really super nasty and for some folks
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It wasn't very long but for others a little bit longer And one person said
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I just cannot believe that you can just so easily Dismiss the cries of your brothers and sisters for justice
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Where have I done that? And when you push what he's actually saying is well
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You hurt people by what you said and I go why? What was untruthful about what
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I said, well, it's not that it was untruthful. It's just the way it was said Why?
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You see For you to be offended by something you have to be able to explain what was how how did you discern?
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That it was the intention of this individual to offend you What about their life?
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What about their actions? What about their worldview would give you evidence?
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That it was their intention that these words would be taken offense to be taken in an offensive fashion
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Now, I know I just dated myself because I know that in our society today You can't even ask why something's offensive because as long as somebody says it is it is and you're to stop right there
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That is irrational No Meaningful discourse can take place in our society and no meaningful biblical discourse can take place within the church when that kind of unthinking emotionalism that kind of postmodern blather is allowed to rule the day
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Your emotions are your emotions. You are a human being you can control them
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You can control them that's the biblical teaching about what people made in the image of God can do and so I'm sitting here going what?
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You know this one person who was saying you're ignoring their pleas for justice No, I wasn't I was
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I was talking about the damage that is done by a rebellious attitude and fatherlessness
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In our country and especially in the black community What does that have to do with justice?
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well, you just I didn't say it right because you see you're supposed to well, I'm not supposed to say it first of all and Secondly, it has to be accompanied by well, it's sort of like it has to be accompanied by that the pinch of incense upon upon the altar and Instead of say saying
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Kaiser kurios you have to say Critical race theory kurios or something like that.
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You know, you have to tip the hat you have to acknowledge the supremacy of the narrative or risk the wrath which is certainly what
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I have seen and One of the One of the terms that came up was well, you're supposed to be seeking racial
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Reconciliation racial reconciliation. I point out to a number of folks
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That The language it's used very often in this particular discussion is the language of warfare
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Language of battle as if I'm on one side of a battle against a racial minority and I'm like I wasn't aware.
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Oh, that's right. You aren't aware. That's that's that white privilege thing There there's you know
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There's no way of reasoning with the with the can the convinced person here because it all ends up spinning back to the same starting point
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But I'm like, well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute racial reconciliation. What do you mean by that?
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Well, look at what happened in America When well the middle of 19th century,
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I don't remember Okay, and my parents don't remember and my grandparents don't remember and my great -grandparents don't remember and my great -great -grandparents were born about then and I happen to know that at least on my dad's side.
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The one line wasn't even here at the time Because they were born in Dundee, Scotland so, um,
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I Was not raised By someone telling me well, you know
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Our ancestors were treated pretty badly Treated pretty badly. And so you just you just need to think about that every day and And if you have any problems in your life, it's because of what happened to them.
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I wasn't You know, my mom had a real simple simple Thing that she would say all the time
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There are two kinds of people in this world those who choose to be happy and those who choose not to be Now that may be just a little on the simplistic side, but there's a lot of truth to it and I would just I Utterly reject the idea that I can go
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Well, you know the reason that I didn't accomplish this or the reason I didn't do that is because of what happened 100 years for I was born
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Has nothing to do with anything. Oh But but I cannot yeah, my parent my my family was not well off at all and I Think any of us if we go far enough back in that crazily tangled family tree we'll be able to find people that had been mistreated and put down and everything else and What does that have to do with me?
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especially in the church and So I get back to this this concept of racial reconciliation
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Which makes it sound like I'm guilty For what my quote -unquote race did 200 years ago and That therefore
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I'm supposed to seek Reconciliation for something I didn't do but someone generations earlier
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Well not even related to me directly Because see I did I just cannot function with this race idea.
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I'm sorry. I am NOT accountable for what white people did I'm not
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I can't Babe Ruth white guy, right? I think all right
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I'm not accountable for his home runs. I Can't I can't take any credit for that.
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Okay, Einstein White guy I I can't
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I didn't do well in math. I can't take I can't take credit for that. Okay, and so this whole idea of credit blame back and forth
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Race stuff. I don't get it. I don't I don't think that way and so The idea
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I guess is however, despite that is that no you need to seek the reconciliation of races and I just I just want to cry and go but I'm I Don't think about races and I don't see any basis within and of course the term right racial reconciliation here is within the church
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Where do we get that? Where does that come from in the Bible I Just where is it and so I start thinking about reconciliation and And that's why
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I looked Here and although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind engaged in evil deeds.
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Is there anything about race there? I mean this is these are words directed to The whole church, right?
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I'm almost afraid to be perfectly honest with us seeing some of the stuff I've seen I am almost afraid that there might be some people who are going well, actually, you know this was written to the church at Colossae and So You know
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They would have been of this particular race. Well, the funny thing is they're Probably all of skin
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Turkish type folks. They're smacked out in the middle of it How do you how do you even this whole thing a race just doesn't work?
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Not biblically Those are true words to every
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Converted believer in Jesus Christ, there are no exceptions. There is no one that's not true of There's no one who's born as a
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Christian. And so these words are true for everybody You were formerly alienated and hostile in mind engaged in evil deeds.
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That is the testimony of every single believer today in Jesus Christ formally
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Yet he has now Reconciled You in his fleshly body through death
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That's true of every believer That's true of everybody what that means is there is no
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Jewish Christian Church and No Gentile Christian, but that was what that now that really was
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Paul's concern That really was Paul's concern. He was very very concerned that there not be two churches
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And that one is a little closer to God than the other No Even a verse that every
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Christian I know has memorized for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God in that Context the all is all
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Jews and all Gentiles that covers the entirety of the human race and so the whole idea of racialism
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Utterly foreign here Utterly foreign What's the basis biblically of?
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the demand that I Show forgiveness to someone else. It's that I have been shown forgiveness, right?
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So if I have been reconciled in his fleshly body through death
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Then it follows that everyone in The body has experienced that same reconciliation so if you start talking about if you start talking about making it a
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Goal of the church to pursue racial reconciliation
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You're now adding a goal that is outside of biblical parameters and Seems to misunderstand what
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God has already done in the work of the gospel itself because We have been reconciled in his fleshly body through death in order to present you
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And that's a plural you Before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.
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That's everybody That One act of reconciliation was enough.
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Why is anyone saying there needs to be something more and and please don't be naive
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These words were written in a day of Remember Herod and little boys of Bethlehem remember what
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What Rome would do even during the days of Paul in lining roads?
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With Jews who were crucified for rebelling against Rome. I mean the atrocities
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That we see being committed today. They were all going on back then This is only a matter of decades before Titus and Roman legions would destroy
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Jerusalem and then eventually Masada as well there were atrocities everywhere and so there were all sorts of If anyone had wanted to raise questions of saying oh, but Paul What about what this group has done to that group, but Paul will have none of this
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He will have none of it if we've all Only have one means of access to God the
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Father through the Lord Jesus Christ There is only one door and the door does not have different spots on it for whites blacks
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Chinese Hispanics Indians or anybody else It's one door and only those who are made in the
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Imago Dei Go through that door and that's everybody and if you try to insert anything more in there
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You're adding to the gospel It's a dangerous thing to do That's a dangerous thing to do.
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And so I started thinking about that and I was like wow, this is
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Where'd all this come from? Well, it came from people Who could rightly recognize
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That White racist attitudes in the north and the south both places are
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Disgusting things and they still exist but you then have to add in an unbiblical idea about racial unity not there's everything beautiful and About the diversity of the body of Christ, but that does not substantiate
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Racialism it may be one thing to rejoice in the beauty of the differences that exist you know,
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I travel the world and I Attend worship services that are a lot different than what we have at PR BC.
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Okay, and It's beautiful I attend places that are extremely serene and and Respectful and just and then
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I see some folks that are a lot more excited in worship in other places And a mixture of all of these things.
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Yeah, that's beautiful But what makes it beautiful is those folks do that then turn around and say and you've got to do it like we do it
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And so I'm not saying that there are not differences between us but what
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I am saying is there is only one means of access to the Father and the idea of inserting
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Racial Reconciliation when the one reconciliation that has already been worked out through the blood of his cross is more than enough
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It's more than enough Don't go trying to add to it Don't don't add some new task to the church.
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That's dangerous very very dangerous, so just some thoughts as I engaged in some of the
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Criticisms almost all of which were Emotionally based and not factually based.
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I mean I would I just cannot believe you haven't repented for what you did and What was that again?
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Well you offended people I offend people all the time I offend people all the time but there's a vast difference between going
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I'm going to go purposely offend people for the sake of offending them and saying I'm gonna speak the truth, and I'm gonna speak it in love and If people are offended by that well, that's between them and God and the truth there is a difference there and It Does seem to me that for a lot of folks to even be given access to the club
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You must automatically accept the fundamental truthfulness of a unbiblical race based narrative
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That I think is fundamentally damaging to the message of the gospel itself
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It's a problem it is a problem and Yeah, I ran afoul of it.
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Okay fine I think I've shown a little light on it, but I'm not gonna let this become my
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Subject I have far too many other things to be doing in fact. We should be able to post fairly soon
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Well, we've already posted and just got something else about the conference in South Africa interestingly enough and In Cape Town, and then we we just pretty much confirmed a one -night conference in Belfast Northern Ireland on I believe the 16th of May and Definitely going to be at least one possibly two churches in London on the 14th and 15th
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But we're working those Specifics out right now obviously have to is we have to get the flights taken care of and stuff like that But have things coming up and need to be focused upon those things, but Hopefully those few thoughts will be of some assistance to you as you consider these particular
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Subjects so I do have some other things to get to but I didn't get him to him today I wasn't sure whether I was gonna get to Brian's on Or not
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There's some other interesting stuff that has come up But we'll hold those to the next program