Sermon Tone Analysis

Christ Alone

Colossians

Have you ever heard the story of J. H. von Dannecker?

Napoleon wanted him to do a sculpture of Venus for the Louvre in Paris.

“Sir, I have made a statue of Jesus Christ, and I can never lower my chisel to care an inferior subject.”

Then von Dannecker proceeded to tell the story of sculpting Christ.

Asked his little girl, Who is that?

She clapped her hands in admiration and cried, “It is certainly a great man.”

He smashed the statue and went to work again.

When he finished, he brought her into his studio.

She approached the figure as if it were alive and said in awe, “O, I know Him, He’s the one who said, ‘Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not.’”

Now the statue is a statue, but Christ is the reality of God.

There was a heresy brewing in Colossae that was beginning to cause all kinds of problems.

It’s unclear who the heretics were, but in essence their position was Christ plus something else — But Paul writes this letter and encourages the believers in Colossae — It has always been and is and always will be — Christ Alone.

This is so relative to us today.

I want us to consider Christ in our age.

First, we want to see Christ in an age of Naturalism.

I. Christ in an age of Naturalism

Everywhere you look there are amazing discoveries in the world of science.

From the greater to the lesser, from the discoveries of fantastic galaxies that are immense distances, to the incredible discoveries in microbiology, The scientific and technological literature is flooding the world with literally millions of pages a year.

In such a rapidly advancing scientific world like this where 95 percent of all the scientist who have ever lived in history who are alive today, the natural question is:

How is Christ related to creation, to science, to discovery?

He is Creator.

The false teachers at Colossae were convinced that Jesus Christ was a lesser being way down the line from God who eventually created the material universe.

They viewed matter as evil, and so the good God could have created it.

But Paul maintains that Christ created everything: “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!” John says, “All things were created through Him and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created.”

Hebrews reiterates this — “God...made the universe through Him.” Paul refutes the false philosophical dualism of the Colossian heresy.

Jesus is the Creator and created the material universe.

We can hardly imagine even a glimpse of the power, knowledge, and wisdom of the Creator.

Just consider the sheer size of the universe.

It is staggering.

Our own sun is 100 times the size of earth with a diameter of 864,000 miles — and get this — the sun can hold 1.3 million planets the size of earth.

The earth is 93 million from the sun, an incredible distance.

But listen to this.

The star Betelgeuse has a diameter of 100 million miles, which is larger than the earth’s orbit around the sun.

Of what scientist can see, they estimate the number of stars in the universe at 10 to the 25th power.

That is roughly the number of the grains of sands on all the beaches of the world.

says, “The heavens declare the glory of the Lord.”

Only a mind darkened by sin and blinded by Satan would reject his Creator.

Christ Alone!

Only a mind darkened by sin and blinded by Satan would reject his Creator.

roughly the number of the grains of sands on all the beaches of the world.

He is before all things.

When the universe began, He is.

Jesus Christ is the eternal.

declares, “His origin is from antiquity, from eternity.”

In Revelation, He is “the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

Christ Alone!

He holds all things together.

Not only did Christ create everything, but He holds all things together.

He sustains it all in an amazingly delicate balance necessary for life to exist.

He quite literally holds it all together.

He is the power behind every consistency in the universe.

He keeps all the entities in space in their motion.

He is the energy of the universe.

Scientist discovered the power of the atomic nuclei, what they call the “strong nuclear force” — this is the incredibly powerful force that holds together protons within the nucleus of an atom.

But here’s the thing — they have no explanation for why it exists.

But the Bible does — “by Him all things hold together.”

Christ Alone!

II.

Christ in an age of Ecumenism

Christ created the universe that godless naturalist alleged evolved over billions of years.

They try to give all the evidence of no God, just matter.

But what they cannot give is the answer of origin.

Christ Alone is the answer of origin.

“In the beginning God…For everything was created by Him…created through Him and for Him…and by Him all things hold together.”

We also live in an age of no Authority.

II.

Christ in an age of no Authority

We live in an age where all authority is suspect and questioned.

The overthrow of everything is possible.

There is nothing sacred, not even authority in religion.

We live in an age that the religion of man, the religion of humanity has no rules, no authority, fluctuating ethics, experience is all that matters.

It’s an age of idolatry and Jesus is one of many gurus.

His truth is not binding.

His word is not absolute.

He is not the one true God.

And yet — Jesus declared:

Matthew 28:

Paul clearly states the reason for Christ’s authority.

And

Colossians 1:15

Colossians 2:

And

Col

Let’s focus for a moment on this phrase — “He is…the firstborn over all creation.”

What does that mean?

From the Arians of the early church to the Jehovah’s Witness of today, this phrase is used to deny the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Their argument is that this says that Christ is a created being and therefore He cannot be the eternal God.

However, this ignores the context.

The Greek word translated here Firstborn is πρωτότοκος, which refers to birth order.

In the Greek and Jewish culture of the day, the firstborn son was the one who had the right of inheritance.

He wasn’t necessarily the first one born.

For example — Esau was born first chronologically, but it was Jacob who was the “firstborn” and received the inheritance.

This statement — “Firstborn of creation” does not mean Jesus Christ was created, but refers to His preeminence over all creation.

Keep in mind this statement is in between:

“He is the image of the invisible God” and “For everything was created by Him.”

Both refer then to Jesus Christ as God and Creator — not created being.

Man is made in the image of God but man is not a perfect image of God.

Humans are made in God’s image in that they have rational personality.