A Life Worth Living: A Lord Worth Following

Children’s Church

Ever play follow the leader?

How does the game work?

Are you good at it? Which part…being the leader or being a follower?

INTRO

Many people claim the name of Jesus but Jesus does not claim them because He is not the Lord of their life.

When we see Jesus we need to understand that He is supreme in every way and claiming to be His demands we yield to His Lordship.

Colossians 1:13–23 ESV

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 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, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

1) Ultimate Authority (vs. 13-18)

Colossians 1:13–18 ESV

13 He [Jesus] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

He is the Author and Sustainer of all Creation (vs. 15-17) and New Creation (vs. 18)

“...that in everything he might be preeminent.”

Firstborn is not used here chronological, but rather to display status.

Understand who Jesus is!

When we declare Jesus as our Savior, He must also be our Lord…our boss

Too many people are claiming Jesus, but Jesus isn’t claiming them. (Matt. 7:21-23)

“Firstborn of all creation” means that Jesus is the most important thing in this world!

Everything happening in this world should be viewed through the lens of Jesus.

Everything we seek to do in this world should be viewed through the lens of Jesus.

Jesus gets to decide what is important and what isn’t.

“Firstborn from the dead” means that Jesus is the most important thing in the New Creation!

He is the head of the church.

Everything we do as a church must viewed through the lens of Jesus.

We have life because He died. We have a new outlook on life because He rose from the dead. We have a new purpose in life because He ascended to Heaven and is coming again!

This is why the only true life worth living is a life that follows Jesus! His is greater and most worthy of all we could ever think, say, and do!

2) Unmatched Accomplishment (vs. 19-22a)

Colossians 1:19–22 ESV

19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22a he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death,

When Jesus came, He didn’t just halfway accomplish His purpose…the fullness of God was in Him because He is God.

This is why He was able to reconcile to Himself all things and make peace by the blood of his cross.

As a result, we who were once alienated and hostile in thought and deed are now reconciled to Him.

He brought us to Himself. He ends our rebellion and molds our willful allegiance.

There are far too many people who are claiming to be for Jesus but are living against Him.

You cannot claim Jesus and accept or celebrate sin, whether in your life or within our culture.

If you’re in Jesus, you’ll struggle with sin because there is an ongoing struggle in your heart in your head for control.

A person who claims Jesus but doesn’t know Jesus will justify and celebrate sin, not struggle with it.

You were once alienated, but in Him you are no longer a foreigner or a stranger to Him.

Therefore don’t let His ways be foreign to you. If Jesus is your Lord, then you cannot let His ways be foreign to you!

By His authority, He calls us out of darkness and into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).

Therefore we must leave behind the things of darkness and no longer make excuses, but rather we should seek to be transformed by the renewing of our minds!

Only Jesus can accomplish salvation and reconciliation. Only He can make us new in how we think and how we live! This is why He is worth following!

A Life Worth Living is found only in Jesus because of His Ultimate Authority, His Unmatched Accomplishment, and His Unbridled Ambition!

3) Unshakable Ambition (vs. 22b-23)

Colossians 1:22–23 ESV

22b in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Jesus’ unshakeable ambition is to present you as holy and blameless and above reproach before Himself.

This doesn’t mean just live out your life on your own terms and then Jesus waves a magic grace wand that is filled with His blood over you the moment you die.

If that’s what you think of Jesus, then you don’t understand who He is and what He’s about.

He doesn’t want to save you in eternity, He wants to save you for eternity!

This means that He will pour His blood over you now, wash you white as snow, fill you with His holy spirit and begin transforming your life now!

He removes your heart of stone and places within you a new heart, making you a new creation, with a new ambition for holiness, blamelessness, and seeking to be above reproach.

Above reproach means that any criticism or accusation is deemed uncharacteristic and unthinkable.

This is why the Holy Spirit of God inspires the apostle to include the word “if”.

You prove yourselves to be true Jesus followers by persevering and enduring to the end.

This is precisely why as Baptists we believe once saved always saved.

Those who are truly saved will persevere and endure.

I didn’t provide for my salvation, I can’t lose my salvation, but I certainly can’t lose what I never had in the first place.

Anyone who comes to Jesus only for what they think they can get from Him for their own personal gain and advancement without embracing all of who He is and yielding their lives to Him will fall away in frustration.

They come thinking Jesus will make their present life better and more comfortable when in reality what they truly need is to surrender their lives to Jesus and let Him give them new life!

Jesus doesn’t want to just put a fresh coat of paint on your old, broken, sinful, busted life…He wants to give you a new life that is transformed in Him!

There are too many people who walking down a dangerous slope of mixing the Gospel of Jesus and a false social gospel.

As a result, they are unstable and wishy washy and proving to be Christians in name only who are not truly sold out to Jesus, and therefore His.

There are a lot of lost “c”hristians in our world, in our nation, in our state, and in our community.

A true Jesus follower must continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the true Gospel of transformation and new, spiritual life. This is the good news: that Jesus saves you, redeems you, reconciles you to Himself and is transforming you to be holy and blameless and above reproach.

This is His unshakeable ambition!

CLOSING

He is preeminent with ultimate authority!

What He has accomplished through His death, burial, and resurrection is unmatched!

His unshakeable ambition is to draw you to Himself, making you all together new as one who is holy, blameless, and above reproach!

This is why A Life Worth Living is surrendered to A Lord Worth Following!