In Christ Part 1
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Intro
Intro
A couple of weeks ago we looked at
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
The idea of that text was to be captive according to Christ rather than things of the world such as the love of knowledge, human traditions, or the elemental spirits, be they the literal elements or spirits.
The question that likely arises in our minds though is why.
Why does it matter that we not be taken captive by these things.
They me seem good. They may give us pleasure.
The problem comes though in the fact that when we are taken captive by these things they are put at the forefront.
In that position they are contrary to God.
Wisdom in itself is not bad.
Human tradition in itself is not bad.
Not all of the elemental spirits in themselves are bad.
However when we are carried away by them, in contrast to God it is like oil and water. Toothpaste and orange juice.
Has anyone tried to mix oil and water?
You get the picture, they don’t mix.
That is where Paul goes with our text for today.
He gives us a reason for why we should not be taken captive by these things.
Paul is answering the question for us; why does it matter that we are in Christ?
Read Pray
The fullness of deity dwells bodily in Jesus. v.9
The fullness of deity dwells bodily in Jesus. v.9
How often do we have the thought or idea that God is far off?
It seems like, at times, that He is a far off distant being.
Perhaps we look up at the night sky on a clear dark night and we think to ourselves, you know, God is out there somewhere.
We yearn for closeness though.
We desire closeness in our relationships.
Closeness seems to fill a void that forms in side of us.
And we all have the desire built in to fill that void.
That is one of the reasons that many people go out seeking things to fill that void.
They seek knowledge, they follow traditions, they are enamored with ghost stories, they look to the world to give them meaning.
Paul is speaking out against the empty deceit that fills that void.
Paul begins this by saying that in Christ, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.
Paul is describing here what we today call the hypostatic union.
Big word to say the Jesus is fully God and fully man.
The God-man relationship of Jesus cannot be expressed well in human language or thought for that matter.
To begin to understand this phrase we have to know the words that Paul is using.
the state of being god, divine character/nature, deity, divinity
a: the rank or essential nature of a god: DIVINITY
b capitalized: GOD 1, SUPREME BEING
2: a god or goddess 〈the deities of ancient Greece〉
3: one exalted or revered as supremely good or powerful
The New American Commentary: Philippians, Colossians, Philemon The Answer to the Threat (2:9–15)
The fullness of deity was Paul’s way of stating that Jesus is every bit God.
The New American Commentary: Philippians, Colossians, Philemon The Answer to the Threat (2:9–15)
The fullness refers to the completeness of the divine nature, but it does not mean that Christ is all there is of God. In fact, the word for God chosen by Paul expresses deity, not divine nature. Jesus is every bit God but does not exhaust the dimensions of deity. Father and Spirit are equally divine.
This nature of being God. Jesus exalted state dwells bodily.
The IVP New Testament Commentary Series: Colossians & Philemon Christ Is God Within History (2:9–10)
by taking on human form in the person of Jesus from Nazareth, God, who is neither human nor limited by history, has become a human participant in world history. Through the person of Jesus, God is able to disclose more perfectly and intelligibly the Creator’s kind intentions for all things.
He is both the author and a participant in history.
That is why it is so difficult for us to understand.
In Christ, and Christ alone is the fullness of God found.
3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
It is in this truth that we are taken captive according to Christ rather than philosophy or the empty deceits of human tradition and elemental spirits of the world.
This is beginning to show us why it matters that we are in Christ.
In Christ one encounters the true, authentic fulness of God, over against which all other conceptions of God, speculations, and experiences are secondary.” The implications are clear: “There is no need for men to spread their allegiance among a variety of manifestations of divine authority, since God’s nature and purpose are seen complete in Christ”
This is beginning to show us why it matters that we are in Christ.
Filled in Christ
Filled in Christ
Made full in Christ. v.10
Made full in Christ. v.10
10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
You have been given fullness in Christ.
This is another perfect verb.
The idea is of a past completed action, the filling, with present and ongoing results. You remain filled.
Some versions read have been made complete. I think this is a bit too strong of word for to use in this case because completion gives the impression of finality, like there is no more to be done.
In reality, if we look out our own lives there is plenty to be done in each and every one of us in our walks with Jesus.
This one of the things that Paul wrote to refute in .
The Corinthians were boasting in themselves and their spiritual arrival in Christ when Paul wrote
: 10-
10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. 11 To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, 12 and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.
14 I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.
So what is it then that we are being filled with?
The words in scripture were not chosen at random, they are there for a purpose.
There is a broad range of ideas that fullness encompasses.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: Colossians and Philemon 1. Spiritual Fullness in Christ (2:8–15)
All the “fullness” of the deity resides in Christ; believers, who are “in Christ,” are “filled”
tells us one part of this filling.
16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
Jn. 1:
One idea that for the reason Paul was using the idea of fullness in Colossians was to refute the idea that others were saying “We offer you the means to attain real spiritual fullness, to move on form Christ to a deeper spiritual experience.”
This message is the same today for us.
There are so many things trying to coax us into a deeper spiritual experience.
Be it the experience of false joy, fleeting pleasures, things that simply do not last.
The only thing we can be filled with that lasts is Christ.
This talk of fulness rightly draws us to Jesus.
:7-
In Jesus is speaking to a woman.
Jn. 4:7-18
7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
The Samaritan woman as we see from this story was chasing after things to fill her up.
She states in V. 15
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
She desires to be filled.
Jesus before continuing his discussion though speaks to the about her current situation.
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
Jn. 17-18
We don’t know the back story behind her 5 husbands but we know that the man she is currently with she is not married to.
Jesus responds
She is seeking after something to fill the void inside of herself.
Throughout time the enemy has used the lie that Christ is not needed or not enough.
Paul though in is proclaiming the exclusivity of Jesus.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: Colossians and Philemon 1. Spiritual Fullness in Christ (2:8–15)
In him, and in him alone, God has decisively and exhaustively revealed himself. All that we can know or experience of God is therefore found in our relationship with him.
The NIV Application Commentary: Colossians and Philemon Contemporary Significance
Albert Camus once wrote, “Truth, like light, blinds. Falsehood, on the contrary, is a beautiful twilight that enhances every object.” Paul warns about persuasive opponents who undermine Christian claims to truth with “twilight” delusions. Every generation of Christians faces new assaults on their faith. But these challenges are only a serious problem for those who are not thoroughly grounded and growing in their faith. Those who are uncertain in their faith can easily fall victim to half truths, misrepresentations, pious fables, and outright lies. They also become vulnerable, depending on their personal inclinations, to anything that may pass itself off as wisdom that appears to be more chic, more cut and dried, more profound, or more esoteric.
We in this community are no different.
What about us?
What is our desire?
What do we desire to filled with?
Are we chasing after fleeting desires in our work, in our homes, in our time alone?
The final statement that Paul makes in verse 10 is that Christ is head of all rule and authority.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: Colossians and Philemon 1. Spiritual Fullness in Christ (2:8–15)
Paul continues to apply to his readers the theology of the great Christ hymn of 1:15–20, where it was asserted that Christ is the one through whom “all things were created,” “things in heaven and on earth,” “whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities” (v. 16). The authority of Christ over spiritual beings that the language of 1:16–17 (and 20) implies is explicitly claimed here.
Jesus is not only in authority as the directing force of the body, but also the animating force.
Jesus is the one that makes the body move and determines what it can and cannot do.
There are so many things beckoning us to submit ourselves to their influence that we might find greater security.
We must remember though to keep our gaze fixed on the head of all rule and authority.
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Beyond just gazing from afar at the spectacular person of Jesus, we also have the amazing gospel-laced revelation that the reason Jesus became the God-man was for us. The personal union of God and me in him is personal for us. His fully human nature joined to his eternally divine nature is permanent proof that Jesus, in perfect harmony with his Father, is unstoppably for us.
He has demonstrated his love for us in that while we were still sinners, he took our nature to his one person and died for us ().
This is part of the reason of why it is important that we are in Christ.