Christ and the Church
Notes
Transcript
Kid Chat. Today we will be talking about Jesus and God. We cant see them but we know they are real. We see proof of them all around us. Creation was their idea. Do you know of anything else that your cant see but you know is real? Something you can see the proof of around you? Candle. Heat. Wind
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.
Image of the invisible God
Icon (eikon) - representation. The image represents and symbolizes the object pictured.
Here’s how my little mind understands part of this idea that Jesus was the representation of God the Father: When people talk about my children; when they say that Ella is so beautiful. Her smile lights up a room. Her laugh is infectious. She has such a compassionate heart. I know what they are seeing in her is a reflection, a representation, of her mother. If they had only ever met Ella and never met Melonie, they would still be describing her mom.
There is another half of this idea of icon: manifestation. When the symbol is more than just a symbol but it carries with it the actual presence of the object. The object isnt represented, it has actually come here. J.B. Phillips version of the bible calls it the ‘visible expression’ of the invisible God. In Christ the invisible God BECAME visible! Thus, the un-seeable (cant look upon Him and live), un-approachable (you go up on the mountain. You talk to God and tell us what He said. If He speaks directly to us we will die!) God of the OT became seeable, approachable, knowable in the person of Jesus Christ.
Firstborn of all creation - preeminent and privilege over all creation. Obviously not literally ‘firstborn’ because the next verse begins to place Him as Creator. In relation to God the Father, He has unique privilege. Privilege dominates the understanding of this passage. Privilege distinguishes Jesus from creation instead of placing Him within it.
So Jesus reveals God (shows us the fullness of God) by his manifestation and is seen as prominent and preeminent over creation.
This creation contains things both visible and invisible. It includes powers and authorities. He does not mention heavenly bodies so we know he is talking about the unseen realm when naming heaven. He does mention powers so we can understand He is talking about heaven as the place of spiritual beings. Which now means the place of spiritual battles.
What does His privilege and preeminence and prominence tell us about those spiritual beings and battles? He is over them. He is creator of them. They must submit to Him.
Is there a spiritual battle in your life? Appeal to the ruler of the spiritual realm!
But the important thing is Jesus is the goal of all creation both in heaven and on earth.
All exists for His glory - Creation and redemption are theologically tied. Perfection was created. Perfection was lost. Redemption was made to restore what was lost.
I exist for His glory - the primary goal of my life should be to point others to Him. When I get to heaven, there should be someone telling me ‘there are a lot of folks here because of the way you lived, wanna meet them?!’
All exists by His creative power - I’ve seen it described: God as the architect, Jesus as the builder. From the spiraling of DNA inside the human body to the largest planet of our solar system, Jupiter (gravitational vacuum cleaner).
I exist inside His creative power - am a product of
Made in His image, I contain a measure of His creative power
In the town hall in Copenhagen stands the world’s most complicated clock. It took forty years to build at a cost of more than a million dollars. That clock has ten faces, fifteen thousand parts, and is accurate to two-fifths of a second every three hundred years. The clock computes the time of day, the days of the week, the months and years, and the movements of the planets for twenty-five hundred years. Some parts of that clock will not move until twenty-five centuries have passed.
What is intriguing about that clock is that it is not accurate. It loses two-fifths of a second every three hundred years. Like all clocks, that timepiece in Copenhagen must be regulated by a more precise clock, the universe itself. That mighty astronomical clock with its billions of moving parts, from atoms to stars, rolls on century after century with movements so reliable that all time on earth can be measured against it.
All exists for His glory - Creation and redemption are theologically tied. Perfection was created. Perfection was lost. Redemption was made to restore what was lost.
I exist for His glory - the primary goal of my life should be to point others to Him. When I get to heaven, there should be someone telling me ‘there are a lot of folks here because of the way you lived, wanna meet them?!’
All exists to be reconciled to Him
It starts here. He is head of the church. We are reconciled to Him because of the forgiveness of sin. We are to be a visible example to the watching world. reminder.
We take that reconciliation from here out there. We bring the good news to the afflicted. We bind up the broken hearted. We proclaim freedom to those bound up in sin. We renew and rebuild and restore. All like points us to.
Everything that was touched by sin will be touched by grace. YOUR LIFE has been touched by sin. You were born into it. Has it been touched by grace? Not common grace but saving grace.