What if someone offered you four incredible options — never pay taxes again, perfect health for life, $500,000, or a luxury home — with no strings attached? As appealing as those sound, Pastor Josh White challenged us to consider something far greater: being reconciled to God and transformed by His grace. In Colossians 1:18-23, Paul reveals that Jesus doesn’t just offer us a better deal — He offers us a completely new identity.
From Enemies to Family
Before we come to Christ, every one of us is born with a problem at the core of our being — we think it’s all about us. Pastor Josh identified three things that drive enmity between people: My way (“It’s mine, not yours”), My power (“I’m in charge, not you”), and My ideas (“My opinion matters more than yours”). These attitudes don’t just cause conflict between people — they create hostility between us and God.
Colossians 1:16-17 tells us that all things were created by Christ, through Christ, and for Christ — and He holds everything together. When we fail to recognize that Jesus is most important, that He is all-powerful, and that He owns everything, enmity with God begins in our minds.
“And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.”
— Colossians 1:21-22Here’s where we see the remarkable love of God. When we were His enemies, Christ didn’t destroy us — He died for us. Romans 5:8 says, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God made the first move. He didn’t wait for us to clean ourselves up. Because of His great love, He wanted to reconcile us — not as servants, but as His own children.
One of the most beautiful implications of this truth? We no longer need to fear coming to God. Hebrews 4:16 invites us: “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Because Christ has fully accepted us, we can run to our Heavenly Father with anything and everything on our minds.
From Seeking the World’s Approval to Glorifying Christ
Before reconciliation, our motivation is to get what we can from the world. We crave validation. We want people to look at us and say we have worth. Social media feeds this desire — we post, we seek likes, we measure our value by others’ opinions. But once we are reconciled to God, everything changes.
“Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
— James 4:4The world cannot save us. The world cannot satisfy us. Its pleasures are temporary at best and leave us empty in the end. But when we are reconciled, our motivation shifts: we no longer live to please people — we live to give glory to Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 captures this beautifully: “For the love of Christ controls us… He died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” Our question becomes: Who are you living for? The world’s goal is to get as much out of us as possible. But Christ’s goal for us is our holiness — that He might present us holy and blameless before the Father.
Pastor Josh asked a convicting question: Is there anyone in your life who has your holiness and maturity in mind like Christ does? Most humans have a “what have you done for me lately?” mindset. But Christ is completely different — He is working in our lives to produce holiness, not to use us.
From Self-Focused to on Mission with Christ
Here’s the most radical change of all. Before reconciliation, we live for ourselves. But once we’ve been reconciled, Christ gives us a brand new mission: the ministry of reconciliation. We are now ambassadors of this good news, imploring others to be reconciled to God.
“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”
— 2 Corinthians 5:18-19If the message of reconciliation is true — and we have every reason to believe it is — then this must become our mission. Nothing in life matters more than this. Pastor Josh concluded with an invitation: If you have never been reconciled to God, if you are still His enemy, then right now is the time to accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
Romans 10:9-10 tells us exactly how: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
And for those of us who have already trusted Christ? We now carry this same mission — to share the message of reconciliation with a lost and broken world. That’s why we do church. That’s why we gather. That’s why we go.
Scripture References
- Colossians 1:16-18, 21-23 — All things created through and for Christ; reconciliation in His body
- Romans 5:8-11 — God’s love demonstrated while we were still sinners
- Ephesians 2:1-7 — Made alive together with Christ by grace
- Hebrews 4:16 — Draw near with confidence to the throne of grace
- James 4:4-5 — Friendship with the world is enmity with God
- 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 — The ministry and message of reconciliation
- Romans 6:8-11 — Died with Christ, live with Him
- 2 Corinthians 11:1-3 — A divine jealousy for the church’s devotion to Christ