Advent Christ
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Advent Reading
Today we light the 5th candle of the advent season. This is the candle of Christ. This candle represents the savior that God has given his people. The living messiah, Jesus Christ. We have been reconciled to God through him, our hope is in him, our joy is from him, our peace is because of him, and we are loved by him. Because of God’s great love for us that has been poured out through Jesus Paul writes:
For this reason also, since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
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Today is the last day of the Advent season. The advent season is a way for churches and believers to refocus on the first coming of Jesus. That is what advent means. it means to look forward to someone or some thing important sowing up. The bible speaks of two times that Jesus will arrive. The first is when he was born as precious little baby. He grew and lived a sinless life. He spent three years of ministry proclaiming to the world that he was the son of God and that he was the messiah.
We know looking back that Jesus lived. There is no question about that. History speaks of a man who caused massive disruption to the Roman and Jewish community. Historians record them but at that time few believed in him and in the end they crucified him on a cross. There were many eye witnesses that claimed they saw him alive and risen from the dead and that he has saved them from their sins. That he has forgiven them of their wrong doing.
Today is Christmas, the day that in reality has many different meanings for many different people. As believers it represents the birth of our Lord and savior. the one who has saved us from our sins and sustains us each and every day.
As we read scripture we see that there is a natural tendency for people to walk away from God and and to create their own world. This summer we studied Malachi and the entire book was about how Isreal had walk away from God in many aspects of their lives. We see the new testament full of warnings about false teachers and calls for the church to go back to the original teachings of Jesus and the apostles.
The question must be asked do we focus on Jesus more on Christmas than any other day of the year? Do we do our own thing through out the year and then catch up on Christmas and Easter. What if that is how we lived our lives with our spouses. We do our own thing all year and then play catch up on our anniversary and their birthday. That’s not a healthy way of living but we do that so often.
We see the church moving further and further from the center of the gospel and creating new ways attracting followers. Truth is less and less clear and people are more and more confused about who Jesus really is and why he really came.
Today we are going to refocus on who he is and why he came. To help put him in the right place today. This isn’t elf on the shelf. This is Jesus in Center of all. Join me as we read our main text this morning.
Colossians 1:14–23 (CSB)
In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and by him all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him—if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.
Jesus over All Creation
Jesus over All Creation
Colossians 1:14 (CSB)
In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
God has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves and in Christ we have redemption, full redemption. What does it mean to be redeemed? Redemption is the release of people, animals, or property from bondage through the payment of a price.
Each and every person that was ever born was born into the bondage of sin. The price to make the payment to be free has never been attainable by man’s own work. Like property, it is out of their control to be able to make the payment to be free. We needed someone to make the payment on our behalf. That person was and is the little baby Jesus. It was his life that God required to release man from the bondage of sin. To be forgiven of our transgressions and sins.
But he wasn’t born to die. Paul explains that Jesus is more than just a substitute for corrupted men and women. That he is the over all. That he is over all of creation. He has conquered over death and he continues to reign over his church and believers.
Colossians 1:15 (CSB)
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
God has no form that we would see. As scripture says no one has ever seen God except through Jesus who reveals the Father.
1 Timothy 6:15–16 (CSB)
God will bring this about in his own time. He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal power. Amen.
John 1:18 (CSB)
No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him.
God has been reveled through Jesus to mankind. He is the firstborn over all creation. This word firstborn mean to come first or precedes others. So he preceded all created things.
Colossians 1:16 (CSB)
For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him.
Paul says that everything was created by him. Everything in heaven and on earth. The visible and the invisible. All of the authorities of this world were created by him. All things have been created by him, through him, for him. John reiterates this in
John 1:3 (CSB)
All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.
Romans 11:36 (CSB)
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
So what does this leave out. Nothing. Everything means everything. The Jesus that we focus on in today’s world seems to be the man who makes us feel better about our lives. We live in a time where Jesus is the fairy godfather who justifies my behaviors or helps me be my best self. Do you see that today? Jesus did not come to earth to make us feel good. He came to earth to save us from our selves. We are created by him, through him, for him. Our Jesus is the center of everything. The air we breath the life we have. Not only does he create everything he also sustains life as we know it.
Colossians 1:17 (CSB)
He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.
We see this in:
1 Corinthians 8:6 (CSB)
yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from him, and we exist for him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through him, and we exist through him.
Hebrews 1:2–3 (CSB)
In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
We exist because he wills us to exist. If he wasn’t the God that he is, he could end all of the life as we know it by just willing something else. But since our God does not lie, does not fail, does not change, we know that he will see his plans to fruition. We can trust that we will kept till the end by him.
Maybe you are asking, if this is true, if everything is created by him, through him and for him, what about all of the bad stuff. The bad stuff is the stuff men dream up to find new ways of doing evil. Read Romans chapter 1 and you will see that men reject the ways of God and create new types of evil. Or reinvent them. The end of chapter 1 reads.
Romans 1:28–32 (CSB)
And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right. They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. Although they know God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die—they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.
This is what men create and even though man continues to follow this path, Jesus still loved them and died for them. For his church. For Jesus to redeem his church, his followers he would have to overcome death. Because God is just and the wages of sin is death, so death would have to happen. But Jesus overcame death to be another firstfruit.
Over Death
Over Death
Colossians 1:18 (CSB)
He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.
Christ is the first to overcome death and it is by his power that we are able to live after this life as well. For he is the first in everything and for a specific purpose.
1 Corinthians 15:20 (CSB)
But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Romans 8:29 (CSB)
For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
Colossians 1:19–20 (CSB)
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Peace was made by the sacrifice that Jesus gave on the cross. His own life. Because of that single act, we are reconciled back to God. That was the payment for our debt. That was the payment we could not make. Only Jesus the pure and perfect sacrifice could fulfill the law and bring peace.
Acts 26:23 (CSB)
that the Messiah would suffer, and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.”
Jesus is over all of creation, he has conquered death and now is over his followers, his children.
Over Us
Over Us
Colossians 1:21–23 (CSB)
Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him—if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.
We were once against the things of God and maybe some of you might find that you are still hostile towards God in different ways. That you are seeing that you are living contrary to what you are starting to believe is the correct way and you need help a savior from your ways. We were all there at one time, but Jesus has reconciled us though his death.
For the purpose of presenting us holy, faultless and blameless before God. This means to present us pure, unaccusable, and unblemished.
Then we get to the “if”. This can be tricky but one commentator put it this way
Thru the Bible Vol. 48: The Epistles (Philippians/Colossians) (Objective Work of Christ for Sinners)
This is not a conditional clause that is based on the future. The if that Paul uses here is the if of argument. It does not mean that something shall be if something else is true; rather it means that something was if something else is true. We would say, “Since ye continue in the faith grounded and settled.” Paul’s point is that we have been reconciled—it is an accomplished fact. So if you are a child of God today, you will continue in the faith grounded and settled. You will not be moved away from the hope of the gospel which you have heard.
Since we have been reconciled we will be grounded and steadfast in faith and we will not shift away from the gospel. We will be presented with Jesus when he comes the next time.
2 Corinthians 4:14 (CSB)
For we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you.
Romans 5:10 (CSB)
For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Communion
Communion
I am going to ask the worship team to come up an play for a little while. I would ask that you spend some time reflecting on today's message. Write down your final thoughts, sit in prayer of worship and repentance, fill out a connection card if you would like to speak with me more.
Let us pray.
and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
Let a person examine himself; in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup. For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. This is why many are sick and ill among you, and many have fallen asleep. If we were properly judging ourselves, we would not be judged,
Lets read this together.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John testified concerning him and exclaimed, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The one coming after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’ ”) Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness, for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him.
5 Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6 so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice.