Colossians 1:15-23 - Indispensable
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
[READING - Colossians 1:15-23]
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. 19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. 21 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, 22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.
[PRAYER]
Who is the most indispensable person in your life? Who’s the one you can’t live without, the one you must have to make it through life?
Some of us would point to spouse—a husband or wife.
How many times have we said or heard someone say, “I couldn’t live without my wife,” or “I couldn’t make it without my husband”?
Some of us might point to our parents or our children as indispensable.
You might have said, “I can’t imagine life without my Mom.”
For some of us, those indispensable ones are friends or neighbors or brothers and sisters in Christ.
But some of us have lost the very ones we once thought of as indispensable.
And then, perhaps to our own surprise, we found a way to keep living.
We were able to do that because, although the ones we loved were greatly loved by us, they weren’t literally indispensable.
None of us are literally indispensable.
Life will be different without us here, but one day when we are not here, life will go on.
In truth, there has only ever been one truly indispensable human being—and that one is Jesus Christ.
[CONTEXT] The Christians in Colossae were being tempted by false teachers to dispense with Jesus.
They were tempting the Colossian believers to redefine Jesus in various ways, but it all amounted of a denial of Jesus as He truly is.
For example, if they redefined the deity of Jesus so as to make Him not God, then they would have been rejecting Jesus as He is—because He is God.
Or, if they redefined the humanity of Jesus so as to make Him not human, then they would have been rejecting Jesus as He is—because He is human.
Or, if they redefined the death or resurrection of Jesus so as to make His death and resurrection something other than a bodily sacrifice and bodily resurrection, they would have been rejecting Jesus as He is—because He really was crucified and resurrected in the body.
When you redefine Jesus as He is, you dispense with the real Jesus—and that’s a really big problem because Jesus is literally indispensable.
You can’t dispense with the real Jesus without real consequences.
[CIT] Paul wanted the Colossian Christians to know that Jesus is truly indispensable.
[PROP] God wants us to know the same thing this morning.
We can’t do away with the real Jesus.
He’s indispensable.
[INTER] Do you know this morning that the real Jesus is literally indispensable?
[TS] Notice how Paul lays out his case for the indispensability of Jesus with three ARGUMENTS…
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
ARGUMENT #1: The real Jesus is indispensable in creation (vv. 15-17).
ARGUMENT #1: The real Jesus is indispensable in creation (vv. 15-17).
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
[EXP] Paul begins v. 15 with a declaration: Jesus is “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”
When we think of Jesus as the image of the invisible God, we ought to think of Hebrews 1:3 and John 1:18.
Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus is the exact representation of God’s nature.
John 1:18 says that Jesus , who is Himself God, has made God known to us.
When we think of Jesus as the firstborn of all creation, we ought to think of Psalm 89:27, which first applied to King David and then ultimately to King Jesus. In that verse, God says…
27 “I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth.
David wasn’t the firstborn of Jesse’s sons, and he wasn’t the first man God ever created, and yet God says I will make him my firstborn.
But the meaning of firstborn is explained in the second line of Psalm 89:27, “I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth.”
That’s how Paul means firstborn in Colossians 1:15—Jesus is highest; He is first in rank; He is most important; He is supreme.
The Jehovah’s Witness like to point to the use of the word firstborn here in Colossians 1:15 and rob Jesus of His deity.
They dispense with Jesus as He really is and will pay an eternal price.
Paul declares that Jesus is God and that all creation is about Him.
To back up this declaration, Paul offers explanations.
The first explanation we might call the By Him Explanation, which we see in v. 16.
All things were created by Him.
In heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities both earthly and spiritual.
It has all been made by Jesus, therefore He is God and all things are about Him.
The second and third explanations might be called the Through Him and For Him Explanations, and we see those at the end of v. 16—“all things have been created through Him and for Him.”
Jesus was the agent of creation and will receive glory, praise, and honor from creation, therefore Jesus is God and all things are about Him.
The fourth and explanations might be called the Before Him and In Him Explanations.
Before Him there was nothing because, as v. 17 says, He is before all things.
Notice how this speaks to the eternality of Jesus; it doesn’t say, “He was before all things,” but “He is before all things.”
Because He is eternal (i.e., outside of time), He is still before all things.
“…and in Him all things hold together.”
Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus “upholds all things by the word of His power.”
Jesus is not only Creator, He is also Sustainer.
Just as nothing was made without Jesus, so nothing would continue to exist without Jesus.
[ILLUS] Have you ever had someone say to you, “You know, this place would fall apart without you?” Or maybe someone has said to you, “You know, you’re the only thing holding this place together?”
Those sorts of statements may make us feel more important than we really are, but they are literally true with Jesus.
Without Jesus, this creation would fall apart.
He is the only thing holding this place together.
He is God and all things are about Him.
[APP] Pause for a moment and consider that you are apart of Jesus’ creation.
You were made by Him, through Him, and for Him.
Before you were, He is.
And in Him you hold together.
Whether you’ve ever realized it before, Jesus is indispensable to you.
Shouldn’t you give Him honor, glory, and praise?
[TS]…
ARGUMENT #2: The real Jesus is indispensable in the new creation (vv. 18-20).
ARGUMENT #2: The real Jesus is indispensable in the new creation (vv. 18-20).
18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. 19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
[EXP] The world that was created by Jesus, through Jesus, and for Jesus was marred by our sin against God. As the pinnacle of God’s creation, when man fell into sin and death all of creation was cursed by sin and death.
But Jesus isn’t just Lord of creation; He is also Lord of the new creation.
And just as there is no creation without Jesus, there is no new creation without Jesus.
The new creation refers to reconciliation of all things to God the Father through the work of Jesus, God the Son.
So Paul begins v. 18 with another declaration…
18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
The church is the body of Christ, the hands and feet of Jesus, but the church is also the community of the resurrected.
As we who were dead in sin trust in Jesus who died on the cross to pay the price for our sins and rose from the dead to make us right with God, we are resurrected— we pass from death to life through faith in Christ.
Jesus is the head of the church (the most vital part of the church) because He is the firstborn from the dead; the first one to be physically raised from death to eternal life.
Therefore, He will come to have first place in everything—in creation and in new creation.
After the declaration in v. 18, Paul offers two explanations in defense.
In v. 19, we have the Fullness Explanation: Paul said it was the Father’s good pleasure that all the fullness of deity dwell in Jesus.
In other words, Paul reminds us that Jesus is very God of very God.
And then we have in v. 20, the Shocking Explanation: this Jesus, who was and is very God of very God, reconciled all things to the Father through the blood of His cross.
Listen to how shocking this is…
Creation was made by Him, through Him, and for Him. He is before all things. In Him all things hold together. He is God, and its all about Him, and yet He poured out His own blood on a Roman cross to reconcile all things to the Father!
This is why Paul declares that Jesus is the head, the beginning, the firstborn, preeminent, supreme.
Now some have argued that all things being reconciled means that all people will eventually be saved. This is a false teaching known as universalism.
Notice in v. 20 that the reconciliation of all things is equated with the peace that Jesus has won through the blood of His cross.
Peace can be achieved either by winning our enemies or by defeating our enemies.
By way of the cross—i.e, by way of His death and resurrection—Jesus has reconciled all things to the Father by guaranteeing the salvation of believers and guaranteeing the defeat of rebels.
Jesus does both by way of the cross.
He is indispensible in the new creation.
[TS]…
ARGUMENT #3: The real Jesus is indispensable in your salvation (vv. 21-23)
ARGUMENT #3: The real Jesus is indispensable in your salvation (vv. 21-23)
21 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, 22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.
[EXP] The whole point of Paul declaring the indispensability of Jesus in vv. 15-20 is that he could say to the Colossians in vv. 21-23, “Don’t dispense with the real Jesus! Don’t cast Him aside for some redefined Jesus! Hold on to this real Jesus!”
To make this point Paul spoke of their separation.
They were separated or alienated from God, hostile toward God, hating Him and engaging in evil deeds.
That’s v. 21.
Then Paul spoke of their salvation.
While they were still sinners, Jesus reconciled them to God through His bodily death and resurrection.
That’s v. 22.
Then Paul spoke of their sanctification.
Jesus reconciled them to the Father so he could present them to the Father holy, blameless, and beyond reproach.
That is, Jesus reconciled sinners to the Father so He could present them to the Father perfectly sanctified.
But then Paul spoke of one qualification.
The Colossian believers could rest in the assurance of their salvation and sanctification so long as they endured to the end with Jesus—“if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the Gospel that you have heard…” (v. 23).
In other words, hold on to Jesus; He indispensable.
[APP] Do you know that He is indispensable?
Do you know that you must not only believe on Him for salvation, but you must keep on believing in Him for salvation?
He is indispensable in creation.
He is indispensable in the new creation.
He is indispensable in your salvation.
Only He can save you.
And you will only be saved by enduring with Him.
[TS]…
Conclusion
Conclusion
[PRAYER]