For the full audio of this message listen here: Lives Hidden With Christ - Forgiven
Last week, we began our exploration of Colossians chapter 2, specifically verses 9-12, where Paul speaks of a circumcision not done by human hands—Christ removing our sinful nature, or the “old man.” This concept is deeply connected to this week’s passage, verses 13-15, which form one continuous, profound thought.
There is simply too much truth here to unpack all at once, so this week, we focus on the remarkable work of God as Paul writes:
“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness which stood against us and condemned us. He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." (Colossians 2:13-15, NIV)
This is the Word of God. Let’s wrestle with what Paul means when he says, “When you were dead."
The Reality of Spiritual Death
We are breathing, our hearts are beating, and we are, by all appearances, alive. So, what does Paul mean by “dead”?
He means a spiritual death—a profound separation from God due to our sinful nature, or what Paul calls the sarks (flesh). This sinful self is the “old man,” the innate desire within us that leads toward anger, malice, greed, and all the ugliness we hide and manage.
Here’s the critical question: What can a dead person do?
The answer, quite simply, is nothing. Dead people just lie there. They can’t move, can’t make themselves alive, and certainly can’t bring themselves to life.
In the same way, if we are spiritually dead, there is absolutely nothing we can do to fix our separation from God. This leads us to the most remarkable statement in the passage:
“God made you alive with Christ."
This is the heart of the Gospel. We did not clean ourselves up. We did not make the first move. Christ came to us—while we were still wrapped in our sinful, “uncircumcised flesh”—and made us alive in Him.
We can add nothing to this salvation. We can’t lead ourselves to Christ; Christ comes to us.
The Danger of the Whitewashed Tomb
For those of us who have walked the Christian path for a long time, there is a subtle danger: forgetting where we came from. We can easily slip into thinking, “I’m pretty good now. I go to church, read my Bible, I pray, I avoid ‘sinful’ things."
When we begin to believe we are responsible for our goodness or our spiritual life, we forget that it was Christ who made us alive. And when we forget this truth, we become judgmental and mean. We become like the whitewashed tombs Jesus described: looking good on the outside, but dead on the inside.
Our goodness is not a result of our effort; it’s a reflection of the overwhelming grace that changed our lives. We must never forget that Christ did it all.
All of Our Sins Forgiven
Paul wants us to grasp the full depth of this grace: “He forgave us all our sins."
Think about that. When Jesus lived, died, and rose again, all of our sins—past, present, and future—were still ahead of us. Yet, He looked down the corridor of time and said, “It is forgiven. It is done.”
Despite this radical truth, how often do we still freak out over guilt and shame from sins committed years ago, or even yesterday? We struggle to believe Jesus truly forgave all of it.
But Paul says He didn’t just forgive it; He took the written code of legal indebtedness—everything that stood against us and condemned us—and nailed it to the cross.
A Call to Grace
We need to let go of the guilt and shame because all of our sins have been forgiven. And because we have received such great mercy, our call is clear:
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Do not shame or guilt others. When we encounter people who don’t yet know this forgiveness, we must point them to grace, mercy, and welcome.
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We need the Gospel preached to us daily. We forget the grace given to us, and we need our community of believers to constantly remind us: “Brother/Sister, you are forgiven. You are loved. You are accepted.” The Gospel is not a one-time magic prayer; it’s the daily sustenance for our souls.
A Cosmic Victory: Triumphing by the Cross
The victory of the cross is not just individual; it’s all-encompassing.
Paul says Christ, by the cross, also:
…disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them…
The cross breaks down all systems—cosmic spiritual powers, worldly authorities, and broken structures—that challenge God’s love and grace. It is a reorienting of all things, redeeming and restoring everything that is broken in our world.
The world thought it defeated Jesus by hanging him on a cross. But Christ used that very cross to achieve an ultimate victory, rising from the tomb in power and declaring that death has no hold.
Our Marching Orders
The question for every follower of Jesus is this: How do we take this radical, overwhelming grace and apply it everywhere?
Christ did not wait for us, the spiritually dead, to clean ourselves up. He came and made us alive. He now expects us, as living people, to go out into the world and bring life there too.
This is our witness. This is our work.
Challenge & Prayer
I challenge you with three questions today:
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Trust: Have you truly trusted that Christ’s faithfulness has made you alive? Take that good, hard look and settle that truth in your heart.
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Reflection: Do you move through the world as one who reflects this amazing, overflowing grace? Or are you a little more like a whitewashed tomb—looking good on the outside, but dead on the inside?
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Action: How are you embodying this grace out in the world? How can you use your gifts, skills, and abilities to step in and bring life to the broken places and people around you?
Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your grace. We are grateful that You didn’t wait for us, dead people, to become alive, but You went ahead and made us alive in Christ. Help us to be a people who bring this life, this hope, and this overwhelming forgiveness out into the world. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.