Jesus is Greater Because He is Enough

*** CHANGED ORDER NEXT WEEK ***

What was religious background of Colossian church? Likely, it was made up of:

Those who had worshipped the Greek/Roman gods

Those who had once participated in the various mystery religions

Those coming from Judaism

All of them had left something familiar, something they thought was true, in exchange for a life of walking as an apprentice to Jesus.

Can you imaging how unsettling this was for them. Everything they thought they knew has now been turned on its head. They had left behind what gave them a sense of security, a sense of control or power, a sense of community. I can imagine that now, on this side of their decision to follow Jesus, that certain doubts might begin to slip in. They’ve just bet all their money on one horse. What if they’re wrong?

The question they are perhaps beginning to ask themselves is, Is Jesus enough? Is there something greater that I should look for? Is he sufficient? Is he all I need, or do I need to also add others things from my past? Is there some other path to God that I should be walking?

That’s the message they were likely getting from those around them. The Romans were always fairly tolerant about having your own gods, as long as you worshipped their gods too - and particularly Caesar. One of the chief reasons that Christians were persecuted in the ancient world is that they wouldn’t offer prayers or burn incense to the emperor. For the Romans, you needed Jesus plus idols to have enough.

But those in the mystery religions we saying similar things. Believing in Jesus is fine, but you also need this special knowledge that only we can give you. Then you will have everything you need. If you have Jesus plus our secret knowledge then you’ll have enough.

And from the Jewish camp, there were those who had come to believe that Jesus was the promised messiah, but also maintained that you also needed to keep the Jewish laws and rituals in order to please God. If you have Jesus plus certain rituals then you’ll have enough.

Jesus is good; but Jesus alone wasn’t enough.

It’s not just an issue for the Colossians. Unfortunately, the church has communicated a message that Jesus is only enough for the afterlife - he can get you to heaven. But we’re not sure that he’s enough for this life.

The Greek/Roman idols never really went away. They just took on new disguises. And so for this life you need to still worship Aphrodite the goddess of sex to find real pleasure. You have to worship Mars the god of war, exercising power and control over others to get what you need. You have to worship Hermes the god of commerce, selling your soul for money and things because that is what will make you happy and satisfied. We seek after perpetual youth, beauty, wealth, status, happiness, and self-gratification - all the gods of Rome - because we aren’t sure Jesus is really enough.

Or, we dilute Jesus with our own homegrown beliefs. I believe in Jesus - but I still read the horoscope or look at my zodiac signs. We borrow ideas freely from other religions or from New Age and blend that with our belief in Jesus.

Or, sadly, there are many Christian’s who still live like the OT law is binding, adopting a way of relating to God through performance rather than grace. Their focus becomes sin management and rule keeping.

In the rest of his letter Paul will dismantle each one of these things that rise up against the sufficiency of Jesus. Paul would say that Jesus + anything = nothing.

We began a new series last week going through the letter to the Colossians, the theme of the letter being that Jesus is Greater.

The big question this morning is, is Jesus enough for you?

The vision the Paul wants them to see is that, in Christ, they already have everything they really need. And all the frenetic activity of pursuing more and trying to be more in your own effort doesn’t actually give you more. It makes you less.

The vision set before us this morning is that there is a way to live, not separated from money and sexuality and power, or all the other good things we want or need, but one that holds these in their proper place. Not as idols we give our lives to, but as good gifts received from God.

Jesus is greater because he is enough.

Pray.

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Out of this very dense passage - hymn? - I want to draw out three things reasons Paul gives for why Jesus is enough.

First, Jesus is enough because he is supreme over Creation.

Colossians 1:15–17 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

Paul isn’t just introducing Jesus to us; he’s making a direct counter against any spirituality or philosophy that we might be tempted to turn to. He goes head on with the lie that you must add anything to Jesus. His point is that anything you might add by default is lesser bc it was created BY Jesus. Jesus is supreme because:

He is the exact image of God. He is not an approximation. He’s not like God in some way. To look at Jesus is to look at God. If you wonder what God is really like, you look at Jesus.

Firstborn of Creation. This is not a claim about Jesus’ birth order - Jesus is uncreated. It is about rank. To be the firstborn in that world meant to be someone who holds the highest rank. He is supreme over everything in creation.

He is the creator of everything. But I thought God created everything. He did, but Jesus was the agent of the creation. Maybe a bad analogy, but it might be like the relationship between an architect and a builder… Again the point is that anything you might try to add to Jesus is by default something less than Jesus.

He sustains everything. Jesus is the glue that holds all of life - and can hold your personal life - together.

If Jesus is supreme over the creation, then there is nothing that you can add to your life outside of him that can take his place or add to you in any way. And if you are in Christ, there is nothing in this life that can be taken away that can make you have less. If you have Jesus, you have it all. Jesus is enough.

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Then, Jesus is enough because he is supreme over the New Creation.

Colossians 1:18–20 “He is 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 in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.”

Still countering the philosophies that the Colossians are faced with, where something needs to be added to Jesus in order to have enough, Paul is stating clearly that Jesus is enough because he is the only one who can offer you the kind of life with God that you were made for. A new creation kind of life.

The whole story of the Bible can be bookended with Creation at one end and New Creation at the other. Everything fits in between those two themes. Everything that is happening from the fall of humans onward is about bringing the creation - and you and me - to the new creation. Not heaven in the clouds, but a restored creation here. And Paul’s point is that this is all made possible by Jesus.

Jesus is the head of the church - those who have responded to his message and surrendered their life to him. We are those who even now can begin walking in the new creation.

Firstborn of the dead - this is about his rank because of his defeat over the grave, and over those who will share in his victory. You should know that, in Christ, your future is not sitting on a cloud with a harp, it’s an embodied, resurrected life on a renewed earth.

Reconciler - As the one who is the fullness of God in flesh he has become the source of reconciliation with God. In assuming a body like ours he brought himself under the curse of sin and death. At the cross he took our place, dying for you and me, taking our death upon himself. By the cross he has removed anything that stands in the way of a relationship with God, and no other philosophy or fad or ritual can offer that.

Jesus is enough because he is the solution to our greatest problem - the death that results from sin. Jesus plus being a good person can’t help you. Jesus plus a good prayer life - nope. Jesus plus serving in kids’ ministry… Jesus plus putting money in the plate.. To add anything to Jesus is to miss Jesus altogether. Jesus is enough.

Have you ever turned to Jesus and asked him to forgive you? To make you his child?… (Next step slide)

Jesus is enough because he is supreme from beginning to end, from Creation to New Creation.

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Finally, Jesus is enough because he makes you complete.

Colossians 1:21–23 “And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him— provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel.”

Paul takes these cosmic truths about Jesus’ supremacy and now makes them personal.

You were once estranged from God. You may not have disliked God or been angry with him; likely, you never gave him much thought. You lived life for yourself. But whether you realized it or not, you were living separate from the God who made you for himself. And as a result, your mind and body were hostile to God. That was your former state.

Now you have a new state. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, you have been reconciled to God. Brought near again. And the result is that he is now working in you to make you holy, blameless, and irreproachable. Do you know what it means to be irreproachable? To be without fault. This is who you now are by faith in Jesus.

He can hold you securely in faith. Here is Paul’s final shot at the philosophies and religions and rituals facing the Colossians. You don’t need them. Jesus alone can hold you safely. These other things you might be tempted to turn to cannot offer that. You don’t need to search for anything else. When you find Jesus, you find all you need.

Jesus is sufficient for everything in your life. In Jesus you are now complete. Jesus is enough.

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Let me return to the questions I started out asking, that I think the Colossians were asking. Is Jesus enough? Is there something greater that I should look for? Is he sufficient? Is he all I need, or do I need to also add others things from my past? Is there some other path to God that I should be walking?

I’ll give the answer I think Paul has given: Jesus + nothing = everything.

Jesus being enough hit me personally a few years ago. I went through a period of time where I was questioning certain things about by beliefs. Now we label this deconstruction. I wasn’t questioning the existence of God or the basic story of Jesus. But there were beliefs I had been handed about various things that I had an increasingly hard time reconciling with what I read in the Bible.

I began questioning how’d I’d been taught to read the Bible concerning the creation story, Revelation, women in ministry, etc. Each time felt like I was in danger of being on a slippery slope to becoming to losing my faith - or worse, becoming a liberal Christian!

But the Lord gave me a vision that gave me permission to question and ponder things. He showed me that I was in a small row boat on a stormy sea. That’s what deconstruction/reconstruction felt like. At times the waves seemed big and that I was in danger of becoming lost like so many do when they begin question their faith. But then in my vision I turned around, and I could still see a lighthouse that would guide me back to solid land. The message was that so long as I kept the lighthouse in my sight, I was safe to explore what was around me. I couldn’t get lost.

Jesus is the lighthouse. He’s all the lighthouse I needed. Jesus is all the lighthouse you need. Jesus IS enough.

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Paul offers a vision of life without lack - at least, no lack in anything that is truly essential. How can we begin to walk out this truth?

Last week I talked about the need to get the story of Jesus inside you, so that you begin to live out of his story instead of the secular story the world offers. If you don’t know where to begin, I still have a paper on the back table that will connect you to a 90 plan to read through the NT.

But how are you going to counter the voices that tell you that you need something more than Jesus to be happy or satisfied? I think another key tool that God has given us is the gift of memorization. Memorizing key truths from scripture gives you a powerful tool to resist the other voices that speak to you.

I know, you aren’t good at memorizing. Except I imagine you know your address. And you phone number. And your birthday. Probably your mom’s birthday. You probably remember how to tie you shoes and who the first President was.

You may not like memorization, but you can memorize. Wink, wink.

So I want to challenge you this week to try and memorize Paul’s hymn - verses 15-20. The best way to do this is to write it down. If Julie were here she could explain the science behind what happens in our brain as we use a pencil. You’ll just have to take my word for it that writing things down makes it easier for your brain to remember. So write the passage down somewhere you will see it multiple times a day, and then just say it over and over.

But more than just accomplishing a challenge, I want you to see firsthand how having something like this passage memorized can strengthen you anytime you’re face with the temptation to add anything to Jesus in order to feel whole or complete. Jesus alone makes you complete. Jesus is enough.

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Communion

Invite ministry team down

God may be showing some of you this morning how you have been living out of false stories about yourself, about others, our about God himself. As we prepare to take Communion together, we also want to minister to you and pray with you about these competing stories that are dominating your life and thinking. As you come forward for Communion, either before or after, I invite you to allow these people to pray for you this morning.

Have them stand… Invite the worship team forward

Explain how we do Communion and who is welcome

Let’s rejoice together with all God’s people with another early hymn in the letter to the Philippians:

Philippians 2:9–11 NRSV

Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Each week we rehearse your greater story demonstrated in Communion - the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus…

Thank him that our stories can become new...

Through the blood of the cross he has washed our sins away. Through his victorious resurrection he has guaranteed us eternal life. Through his ascension and the outpouring of the Spirit he has made us one with you.

We remember Him who for us and for our salvation, on the night that he was betrayed...

Come Holy Spirit and overshadow these elements. Let them be for us your body and blood so that we can participate in your redemptive work for us. May we find mercy, healing and salvation through the finished work of the cross. Amen.