Tuesday, April 2

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Tuesday, April 2

Colossians 2:14-15

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross.

The most humiliating experience of my athletic career, and there were more than a few, happened when I was a sophomore in high school. I was a starting forward on the Byram Hills High School varsity basketball team the day we had to play the top ranked team in our classification in New York State, which was Alexander Hamilton High. To give  you an idea of how good they were; Hamilton had six guys make the All-League team. Think about that! That means their sixth best player – a guy who didn’t make their starting team – was still better than the rest of the players in our league. They were good.

On this particular day Hamilton was gunning for #1 in the state and they showed no mercy. After 40 years I still remember that the score at the end of the first quarter was 32-2. It seemed like they had 8 guys on the court. I don’t think we got the ball past half court more than twice the whole quarter. By half-time the score was 66-12, and the final score was 117-32. At the time I think that game set the New York state record for point spread; they beat us by 85 points.

I think that game forever changed me in one significant way. Before that game, I had always found it easy to be intimidated by other teams. When I would look down at the other team as they warmed up, it would always seem to me that they were bigger, faster and stronger than my team. And while this was often actually the case, it would also seem to me that our opponent was actually evil in some indefinable way. They seemed less like an opposing team and more like a mortal enemy. I imagined that they carried malevolent intent in their hearts and I felt fear welling up in my own.

But, strangely, after that 85 point loss, something in me changed. I resolved never to be afraid of an opponent again. I think I figured that I had faced a formidable and terrifying foe and survived. I had seen the beast and lived to tell the story; and since it couldn’t possibly be worse than that, I decided I would never fear again. And I didn’t - except for that time playing the state champs in football - but we won’t talk about that now!

The Bible tells us we have an enemy who is powerful, ruthless and desires our destruction. In 1 Peter we read:

Be self controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8

This is the serpent that lied to and tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. This is Lucifer, the “morning star” who was cast out of heaven for his pride (Isaiah 14). This is the Father of Lies who tried to tempt Jesus in the wilderness. This is Satan, who seeks to destroy all God made as good and will one day be cast into the lake of fire in eternal judgment.

This is the author of all sin and death. And for a brief moment, as Jesus cries out from the cross, the Evil One seems to have claimed victory over the Son of God.

And yet, even at that moment, the seeming defeat is accomplishing a great victory.

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross.

There’s so much packed into this brief paragraph that we’re going to need three days to unpack even a portion of it! Let’s start with one of the smallest words Paul uses.

He writes, “He forgave all our sins…”

All.

“All” is a small word, but an important word. The Greek word Paul uses is panta, which carries the sense of “every part of a whole; every kind of…” and adds a significant emphasis to Paul’s thought.

He could have said, “He forgave our sins…” and that would have been sufficient. But he goes beyond the notion of “our sins” in general by adding the word “all”. He is saying that God, through Christ’s sacrificial death, forgives all our sins; that is, each specific sin, every kind of sin, each and every sin however great or small.

Sometimes I think we trust Christ’s forgiveness in a general sense but not in a specific sense. I think we believe we are generally forgiven, but when it comes to that specific sin, you know, that sin, we kind of hang on to that one because it was, you know, pretty awful.

Yes, we have a ruthless and relentless spiritual enemy. Yes, we have failed in so many ways. Yes, we can feel, at times, that we are so far behind in the game that there’s no hope at all. 

But then we read:

When you were dead in your sins… God made you alive with Christ. 

How? How can spiritual death be turned into spiritual life? How can my failures be transformed into victory? How can my enemy be ultimately defeated?

He forgave us all our sins…

Not some; not part of; not most; but all. 

It took his death; it took his blood; it took the cross; but it means all my sins are forgiven.

Yours too.