“We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
Colossians 2:15,16
Are you sure?
I can’t tell you how many millions of times I’ve said these words to others. To myself.
Cooking – When I’m grilling steaks or hamburgers, I always ask how they like their food cooked. Do they enjoy their meat rare, burnt, or somewhere in-between?
Computers – I’d sit down with people to see what their needs were before I built software. Did they want the calculation to work a certain way?
Contracts – during the negotiation process, I was less interested in what the contract said and more interested in what they wanted it to do.
When someone asks “Are you sure” they are being kind and careful. They are repeating the question because it’s absolutely the best way to be certain that the other person understands. And repeating what you just said is a great way to do your best to make sure people are paying attention. That they understand.
Paul repeats two important truths here.
1. We not justified before God by the works of the law.
2. We are justified before God by faith in Jesus Christ.
When someone is justified, it means that their relationship is right. It’s good. It’s the way it was meant to be. There’s nothing in-between them. There’s complete transparency. Nothing is hidden.
Since we’ve broke our relationship with God, there is a huge disconnect between us and him. Some people think of it as a canyon that we can’t jump or build a bridge over. We’re on one side and God’s on the other. There’s nothing that we can do to get back to God. This is why God had to act. He had to take charge. So, what did he do?
Even though we did all the pulling away, we did all the separation, he did all the reconnection. He did all the reconciliation. He did all the repairing. We turned and moved away from the God who never moves. And there was nothing we could do to return back to God.
So, he had to do something. But more than do something, he had to do it all. He himself moved towards us. He did all the paying. He did all the moving. He did all the justifying.
And how was this accomplished? It was 100%, totally, once-and-for-all done and accomplished through Jesus Christ. Period. He made the way back to God. He brought God back to us.
And what’s our part? What’s our responsibility? Not to do anything to pay for or earn it. Our part is to accept it. Receive him and his payment as the way back to God. Jesus is the connection that we say yes to and secure his salvation.
This idea is so important that it’s repeated to make sure the Galatians not only hear it, but also believe it. They need to burn it into their hearts and minds. They need to make this how they think about God and how they live their life.
They’ve been living all their lives with the idea that they had to work to pay off their debt with God. That they had to earn God’s love and affection. That they had to do so many good things to get God’s attention.
You see, the good news about Jesus is so wildly different from anything the Galatians had ever thought that it had to be repeated over and over. That God loved them and died for them without any works or payment, was 180° from everything they’d been taught.
Aren’t we in the same boat as the Galatians? Isn’t the idea that God would love us, paying for everything to bring us back to him, the wildest idea imaginable? It’s totally against anything we’ve thought.
Our assumption is that since we’re the one that pushed away from God, that we’ve got to do all the coming back. But the truth is that God is the one that has already done all the work. Done all the paying. Done all the moving. And he’s standing right next to us, waiting for us to open up and receive him.
It’s the greatest offer in the history of the universe. There’s no hidden agenda. He did it because he loves us.
Isn’t it time that we listen to this message that repeated so often?
Noodling Questions
How often do you need to hear the truth repeated before you get it?
Explain the impact of God repeating his message of live for you has.
Why would we push God away after he’s repeated his loving message over and over again?
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