Being built up... (5)

Far above all...

This morning, we are going to look Jesus’ authority. You might find this interesting, but Jesus has given His church His authority.

As we get started this morning, let’s take a quick look at why God the Father gave Jesus this authority.

We believe in the Trinity. This is what our Statement of Essential Truths states

TRIUNE GOD

There is one God, the creator, who exists eternally in unity as three equal persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The triune God is loving, holy, infinite, just, and worthy of all worship.

The Father accomplishes his plan of salvation through both redemption and judgement.

All things will be subject to him, and his kingdom will have no end.

The Father sent the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of Mary when she was a virgin.

Jesus became fully human while remaining fully God.

Anointed by the Spirit, Jesus revealed the Father and the kingdom of God by his sinless life, teaching, and miracles.

After he died for our sin, God raised him from the dead, and he is now at the right hand of the Father.

The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father through the Son and gives life throughout creation.

The Spirit draws people to repentance and new life in Jesus Christ.

Through the Spirit’s indwelling, the Father and the Son are present to all believers, making them children of God.

That’s what our Statement of Essential Truths says, now let’s see what God’s word says about Jesus.

Philippians 2:5–8 NLT

5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Even though Jesus was fully God, He did not use this to His advantage, but He took the position of a servant, a slave. He became a human just like you and me.

After He died, He rose from the dead. He isn’t in a grave, but He is alive forevermore.

Philippians 2:9–11 NKJV

9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This morning, this is what we are going to look at: God the Father exalting God the Son.

Can we even begin to understand the conversation that must have happened when God, Himself made the decision to come to earth.

In theory we understand the incarnation, God becoming a human, but this is one of the mysteries that our finite minds must believe.

“With God, all things are possible.”

We’ll start in Ephesians 1:18 to get the complete thought of what Paul was writing.

Ephesians 1:18–23 NIV

18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Philippians 2:5-8 is called the

Kenosis

which means

“To empty Himself”

This has been a huge point of theology throughout the millennia since Jesus’ incarnation.

In Bible College we often discussed and debated if Jesus was impeccable.

Could Jesus actually be tempted?

Did He limit His knowledge?

Was He still fully God, even though He was a man?

Many of these questions have been worked through and prayed through and thought through.

Charles Wesley penned the words in his hymn, “And Can It Be”:

He left His Father's throne above, So free, so infinite His grace; Emptied Himself of all but love, And bled for Adam's helpless race; 'Tis mercy all, immense and free; For, O my God, it found out me.

I do believe that Jesus made Himself nothing and took the form of a slave, and yet it is a mystery that God would become a human and die for me.

Paul’s prayer was that God’s holy people would be able to grasp the riches of His glorious inheritance and to understand the incredible greatness of God’s power.

This power

raised Christ from the dead

and

Has seated Him at God the Father’s right hand

When Jesus ascended into Heaven, the Father placed Him at His right hand. This means that Jesus has equal status to the Father. Whatever He gave up when He came to earth, was returned to Him when He returned to Heaven.

Because of what God the Father has done,

Jesus is far above all others...

Ephesians 1:21–22 NIV

21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,

Here’s how the NLT describes it:

Ephesians 1:21–22 NLT

21 Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. 22 God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church.

He has

No Peers...

You may hear that we all worship one God. If you look through the annuls of history, there have been many nations that had their own gods: Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman, and the list can go on and on.

Isaiah 45:5–6 NIV

5 I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, 6 so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting people may know there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other.

This is where Christianity separates itself from other religions. This is intolerance to some.

How can we say that there is no other God? How can we discredit the beliefs of others?

If you were an inventor and somebody wanted to take credit for something that you had made, how would you feel? Personally, I wouldn’t like it.

Since God is the creator of all things, He isn’t willing to share His glory with anybody.

In the book of 1 Samuel 5, the Ark of the LORD was taken into the temple of the Philistine god, Dagon and placed beside the statue of Dagon. In the morning, when the citizens of Ashdod came into the temple, Dagon was lying on the ground in front of the Ark of the LORD, So, they set it back up in its place.

When they came into the temple the next morning, Dagon had fallen in front of the Ark. This time the statue’s head and hands were broken of and were lying in the doorway.

God was showing that He was greater than the gods of the Philistines.

When Israel came out of Egypt, the nations were afraid of them because of what they had heard the Lord had done.

There is no kingdom, ruler or authority in this world that will rule forever.

If we look at the kingdoms that have risen, and those who have fallen, there is only One who will have no end.

Let’s name a few kings, rulers or emperors: Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Caesar Augustus, Nero, Charlemagne, King Henry VIII, Louis XIV, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, and the list can go on and on. Presidents and Prime Ministers have come and gone, and until Jesus returns, there will be more.

Isaiah 9:6–7 NIV

6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

There is no devil or demon from Hell that can stand against the name of Jesus, because there is power in the name of Jesus.

Matthew 28:18 NKJV

18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

This is not just true for when this was written.

Ephesians 1:21 NIV

21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

God has placed all things

Under His feet

To put all things under His feet means under His authority.

Things in our world may look very bleak. There are wars and rumours of wars. There is famine, earthquakes, and calamity. Much of which many of us may be unaware of. It seems like the only news we hear is bad news, so we don’t even want to watch it. If we aren’t careful, we can become numb or oblivious to the current events in our world.

We long for peace but there is no peace. We may wonder if God can take care of it. If all things are under His feet, why is there so much evil? The good suffer with the evil.

You may get asked questions that you don’t know how to answer. Some will ask genuine questions that they are grappling with, while others may ask questions just to try to trip you up.

The short answer is that we live in a fallen world that has been stained with sin. God gets blamed for a lot of things that people who are not living for God are doing. Satan has power to cause flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes. The Scripture says that he is the prince of the power of the air.

All this will change when Jesus returns.

1 Corinthians 15:21–28 NLT

21 So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. 22 Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. 23 But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back. 24 After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power. 25 For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet. 26 And the last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For the Scriptures say, “God has put all things under his authority.” (Of course, when it says “all things are under his authority,” that does not include God himself, who gave Christ his authority.) 28 Then, when all things are under his authority, the Son will put himself under God’s authority, so that God, who gave his Son authority over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere.

When Jesus came to earth, He chose to become nothing, to empty Himself. He didn’t use the fact that He was God to His advantage, but became as servant.

After He has conquered all of His enemies, He will willingly hand this back to the Father.

This is what Jesus said in

John 10:30 NIV

30 I and the Father are one.”

They are one in unity and purpose even though their roles are different.

Finally,

Ephesians 1:22–23 NIV

22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Jesus is the Head over the church...

The church is not a building even though the church meets in many buildings around the globe.

The church is not a denomination or a fellowship. If you have committed your life to Christ, if you have believed that Jesus died on the cross and rose for the grave to pay for your sins, if you are a Christ follower, you are part of His church.

John 1:12 NKJV

12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 NIV

19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

There is no church without Christ as the head. No one can or will ever usurp His place as the One who leads the church. Many have tried. Cults have risen and fallen, but Jesus is still Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

I like the way that the NLT closes this chapter.

Ephesians 1:22–23 NLT

22 God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. 23 And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.

My prayer is that Jesus would increase and that we would decrease. My prayer is that we would be emptied of anything that doesn’t please God and that He would fill us with Himself. He is the One who fills us with His presence, the Holy Spirit.

We will only be the church as we allow Him to fill us and as He fills us, we are the church that goes and accomplishes the mission of God.

Let’s pray!