During America’s Civil War, James Longstreet fought for the Confederacy from Manassas to Appomattox, rising to the rank of Lt. General, second in command only to Robert E. Lee. Lee called Longstreet his "Old War Horse" and historians have ranked him as one of the finest, if not the finest, corps commander on either side of the conflict.

All the more amazing, then, is that after the war, this resolute confederate embraced equal rights for blacks, and supported reconstruction efforts to bring the former Confederacy back into the Union.

Colonel John S. Mosby, leader of Mosby’s Rangers and known as "the Gray Ghost" during the war, did an about face and was the campaign manager for General Ulysses Grant in the 1868 presidential race.

Longstreet and Mosby are examples of what you might call "reconstructed rebels," men who went from being in rebellion against the United States to being avid supporters of the Union and reconstruction efforts following the war.

"Reconstructed rebel" also describes every believer in Jesus Christ. We were born rebels against Christ and his kingdom, but now we labor for the cause we once struggled against. It’s exciting to see how God reconciles enemies to himself and enlists them in his service.

Rebellion is part of our nature. David wrote about each one of us in Psalm 51; "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." Each of us has a self-will, and you don’t have to watch small children long to see evidence of that self-will. Psalm 53 says "we all like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – every one – to his own way."

And the demands that it seems God puts on us arouse our hostility towards him. We don’t like trying to follow the Ten Commandments. We don’t love our neighbors as ourselves. We all have an agenda, and most of the time it is we who are at the top of that agenda, followed closely by our wants and our perceived needs.

God’s Law arouses hostility within us toward God because it prohibits us from doing the things that our sinful nature wants us to do. The problem, though, is not with God’s Law. The problem is with us. God’s righteous demands reveal just how unrighteous we really are. God’s Law reveals our deeds as evil and our minds as hostile.

Of course our sinful nature remains in rebellion constantly. Luther wrote that when we pray "Thy will be done," in the Lords Prayer, we are praying for the death of our own will, which opposes God at every turn.

Our reconciliation, the reconciliation Paul talks about in verse 22, doesn’t reflect our nature, but it does reflect the nature of God. That reconciliation restores the original friendly relationship between God and man. Though all we have known from conception was alienation from God, the relationship between God and man wasn’t always that way.

Man was created to be God’s friend, to know his will and delight in it. Adam and Eve actually enjoyed that relationship for a while. Because we are reconciled to God, we can walk with and talk with and know God again.

But that reconciliation was brought about only by the death of the Son of God. In a unilateral move, Christ reconciled us to himself so that we could be presented holy and blameless and above reproach before him. This reconciliation with God is complete through Christ.

Once an active enemy of Christ, that reconciliation had its way with St. Paul. It had its way with St. Augustine who was an openly sinful man in his youth. This reconciliation has had its way with us, we who have gone from consciously opposing God’s will to actively supporting it.

The purpose of this reconciliation is, like I said a moment ago, is to present us holy and blameless and above reproach before Christ on the Last Day. Those qualities are not something we are striving or working to acquire, but a new status we have already been given in Christ. We are called to maintain this status, not by keeping the Law, but by continuing steadfast in the Gospel.

Maintaining our faith in that Gospel, if we don’t shift from the hope of the Gospel that we have heard, we will be presented before Christ on the Last Day as the holy, blameless, and above reproach people that because of our faith, we already are.

Reconstructing rebels reflects the nature of Christ’s ongoing ministry. The alienated relationship that existed before the Gentile believers' confession of faith is described in verse 21. Living pagan lives, they were "alienated" from God, hostile to those who believed, and thoughtlessly doing "evil deeds." The sacrifice made by Christ made it possible for these same Gentiles to become "holy and blameless and above reproach"

But – and there is a big but here – but only so long as believers continue stable and steadfast in the faith. Only then does this state of grace itself continue. Remaining steadfast, or "keeping faith" in the midst of a faithless, pagan world, is the moral challenge that confronts not just the Colossians but all Christians. Unlike "philosophies" which may be adopted intellectually yet require no behavioral modifications, accepting Christ's gift of redemption requires a faithfulness that permeates all of life. Christian piety requires a public face.

With a reminder of the reconciliation Christ offers all of creation behind him, Paul now turns a mirror on his own life and ministry. Here is what being a "minister of the gospel" has done for him. In stark contrast to the preaching and practices of Colossae's false teachers, Paul first focuses on the central place of suffering in his own life.

Since Paul alludes to his own experiences, Paul wanted the Colossians to understand experiences of suffering not as signs of weakness or as testaments against a faithful proclaimer of the gospel, but rather as a model of Christian behavior for the church. It may be that Epaphras, whom Paul upholds and defends throughout this epistle, may have himself suffered attacks or losses that were being used as evidence against the truth of his teaching or the power of Christ.

Here Paul proclaims suffering as a primary means of experiencing oneself as a genuine servant of Christ. In verses 23 and 25, Paul emphasizes that his role in relationship to Christ is "minister." The Greek in verses 23 And 25 uses the word “διάκονος” (diakonos) that we have translated as “minister.” That word encompasses the meaning “servant” or “helper of people who render service as Christians”, or “being in the general service of God, Christ, or other Christians”.

As this "servant" Paul gladly took up his special commission -- that is, as a missionary to the Gentiles. Missionary Paul knows the meaning of suffering, but missionary Paul also experiences the joy of sharing the greatest "mystery" ever known. This "mystery" is not some secret system. This mystery is the miraculous gift of "Christ in you, the hope of glory."

The word "mystery" is a kind of shorthand that includes several theological concepts. To the Colossians, Paul uses this term to describe God's divine plan for bringing redemption to both Jews and Gentiles. In this "mystery" of "Christ in you" the "you" is plural. The "hope of glory" is the offered salvation of all of mankind, all of those who start out as rebels against God but end up as reconstructed rebels.

Laboring to warn and teach everyone with all wisdom, that everyone may be presented mature in Christ, Paul shares in the ongoing afflictions of Christ in the world and to faithfully proclaim the reconciliation accomplished solely by Christ.

Jesus Christ was always the point and context of Paul’s proclamation. He may have touched on other subjects and given the fledgling churches he ministered to some advice, but Paul always continued the announcement that through Christ’s death and resurrection, God has been reconciled to us.

It is through that proclamation, it is through the Gospel message, not through the works of the Law that Christ reconciles himself to every individual. So complete is this reconciliation that Paul is able to proclaim "Christ in you."

The goal of the proclamation is the same as the goal of the reconciliation – to present every individual perfect, complete, mature, in Christ. This, then, through the power of the Holy Spirit working through that proclamation, is our goal: our final presentation. And this is our reason for serving as God’s reconstructed rebels.

Romeo and Juliet is classified as one of Shakespeare’s tragedies. You remember the story; the kids fall in love, they do the balcony scene, they get married, but secretly because their families are mortal enemies. Then, Juliet is forced to marry another man, and to avoid it, she pretends to die. Trouble is, Romeo never gets the word. Thinking Juliet is really dead, he kills himself, and when Juliet wakes up and finds Romeo dead, she really does kill herself.

Sure, a tragic story. Or is it? Shakespeare makes it clear that the deaths of Romeo and Juliet was a terrible price – but the result, was the reconciliation, the peace between these long-hostile families.

Truly never was there a day of greater woe than the day Christ Jesus was nailed to the cross – and never was there a greater price. But was it really a tragedy? "You who were once 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."

Christ reconciles enemies to himself and reconstructs them into his most passionate and dedicated workers. Our sinful nature is still a relentless enemy of God and always will be, but the new nature in Christ, the part of us that is holy and blameless and above reproach, gladly agrees with and accomplishes God’s will every single day. Amen.