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Our Brokenness.
God's Grace.
We are a church of broken people, all in need of God's grace. Every one of us, without exception, can come to grips with the fact that we are actually broken. For most of us, it's just a given—we're acutely aware of our brokenness, and we spend more time trying to hide it than deny it. But in this statement, there's also an expectation: that God's grace provides something in response to our brokenness. If we are broken and in need of God's grace, aren't we saying that we expect something will happen when our brokenness is encountered by God's grace?
When Brokenness Meets Grace
Our Own Actions
Sometimes brokenness comes from our own actions. We come face to face with the realities of our sin and realize we don't deserve a relationship with a holy God. And we're right.
David understood this. In Psalm 51:17, he wrote: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. O God, you will not despise." In our brokenness, God accepts our sacrifice of confession and contrition—this is a gift of God's grace.
Actions of Others
Sometimes we can be broken by the actions of others, and we struggle to understand what to do. We can expect that His grace will be near us and bind those wounds.
Psalm 147:3 promises: "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." Psalm 34:18 assures us: "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit."
God's grace can bring wholeness to our brokenness—this is the beautiful expectation woven into our identity as His people.
Two Forms of Wholeness
Ultimate Wholeness: Glorification
There is an ultimate form of wholeness we're looking for—glorification that we expect to experience when we're in the presence of our Savior.
As John tells us in 1 John 3:2: "Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is." We are going to be made new.
Incremental Wholeness: Sanctification
In the meantime, we also hope for incremental wholeness as we grow in Christlikeness. This is God's work of sanctification—He's doing something we can't do on our own.
Paul describes this in 2 Corinthians 3:18: "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another."
Our Part in the Process: Discipleship
God does the actual sanctifying work of making us more like Jesus. But is it just passive, or is there some part that we play in it? I believe this is discipleship.
I define discipleship as our intentional participation in God's work of sanctification in our lives and the lives of others.
Paul often describes this intentional participation in his letters as he goes from telling people who Christ is and what Christ has done on their behalf, then shifts into what life should look like as a result.
Understanding
Who Christ is and what He's done
Identity
Who we are as a result
Action
How we live in response
Romans 12: The Active and the Passive
In Romans 12:1-2, Paul puts the active and passive parts of transformation together, juxtaposing them beautifully:
"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind."
Our Active Part
Presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice is an active effort on our part—something we have to do. We sacrifice things, lay things aside, put things off and put things on.
Paul takes much of Romans 12 to describe in practical terms what it looks like to be living sacrifices: abhor evil, love one another, be patient, rejoice with each other, weep with each other, and much more.
God's Transforming Work
But this active obedience is grounded in God's mercies and His transforming work. There's a risk of jumping straight to the "to do" list, missing the sweet development of understanding who Christ is and what He's done.
Otherwise we could develop a heavy set of religious obligations that we legalistically hold over ourselves and others.
The Foundation: Who Christ Is
Our doing flows best from our knowing and our being. God shapes our identity through our understanding, and our knowing and being fuel our doing. These imperatives—these "go and do this" commands—are based on what Christ has done.
Romans 5:1
"Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Doesn't that fuel obedience? We have been justified and we have peace with our God because of Jesus.
Romans 5:8
"God showed His love for us, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
What a paradigm-shifting truth. Jesus did what He did when we were least deserving. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
It's so important for us to understand who Christ is and what He's done and our identity in Him as a result, in order to have a right understanding and right motivation for living out this gospel life we talk about.
Colossians: The Preeminence of Christ
Paul follows this same pattern in Colossians, spending two chapters laying a foundation of knowledge and identity before pivoting to practical living. He begins by praying that his readers would be "filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord."
Then he gives us this breathtaking picture of Jesus in Colossians 1:15-20:
"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together."
Image of God
Creator of All
Before All Things
Head of Church
The Definitive Victory
Paul addresses threats to the Colossian church—people trying to add polytheistic worship or rigid adherence to the law to what Christ has done. In response, he gives us this powerful image of Christ's complete and convincing victory in Colossians 2:13-15:
"And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him."
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2
3
4
1
You Were Dead
Now you're alive
2
All Debt Canceled
Nailed to the cross with Christ
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Enemies Defeated
Disarmed and put to open shame
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Victory Parade
Definitive triumph in Christ
It's as if the king has marched his victory parade through his kingdom, dragging the defeated rulers and authorities of darkness through the streets to the sound of our mocking and jeering. This is definitive victory.
If Then You Have Been Raised With Christ
On the basis of this knowledge—of who Christ is, of His preeminence over all things, of His definitive victory—Paul shifts to practical living. This brings us to Colossians 3:1-4:
"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."
Seek Things Above
Our participation in Christ's victory should captivate our focus. Where Christ is seated at the right hand of God—that's where our aim ought to be.
Set Your Mind
Your protected union with Christ should direct your motivations. You have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God—secure and safe.
Christ Is Your Life
Our hope in Christ's revealing should fuel our obedience. When Christ appears, you will also appear with Him in glory.
Will You Intentionally Participate?
What does being raised with Christ require? First, that you've died with Christ. Paul tells the Galatians: "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me."
What a paradox—I'm dead, yet I live. In fact, our living needs to be defined by our dying. Because I was crucified with Christ, the living doesn't come from me, it comes from Christ.
My Time
How I spend my time must be filtered through the understanding that it's not my time—it's Christ's.
My Affections
What I direct my heart, mind, and energy to are shaped by Christ and His purposes.
My Ambitions
Ambition becomes increasingly focused on the glory given to Christ rather than serving myself.
Christ and His mission begins to govern my time, my affections, and my ambitions, because my life is defined by Jesus who lives in me. This is what setting our minds on things above really means.
So I'm asking you: Will you intentionally participate in what God is doing in you to make you more like Jesus?
In what ways are you seeking other things? Where are you chasing after the things of this earth instead of setting your mind on Christ? May God point out in our hearts and lives where we need to change, and may He motivate us to actively participate in the work He is doing to sanctify us more into the image of Christ.