Colossians #3: Jesus is enough x5

I miss Michael Buffer. He is a person who brings great joy to my life, and with this Virus around, I don’t get to enjoy him.

Now many of you probably don’t know who he is, but you have heard him. He’s the Lets get ready to Rumble guy. He announces MMA, boxing, soccer… all sorts of sporting events are introduced by Michael Buffer.

He has a great voice for sure, but one of the ways he makes every event special is how he introduces the competitors. He lists their accomplishments as it were… he goes through their records, their wins and losses, their titles, where they are from and how they are known.

That sounds pretty boring as I describe it, but he has a way of making it really exciting.

That’s the way I read today’s text. Paul is excited about Jesus. You can hear the passion in his words even as we recite a translation.

I’ve told you about a lady from my home church on Kent Island… Mrs Phyllis. She was one of the church matriarch’s. She would just walk the halls of the church in worship. Praising God, praying, singing. you could hear her all the time… thank you Jesus… lord help them… praise you Jesus… Hallelujah....

She lived in appreciation of her relationship with Jesus. She was constantly in awe of him and his love.

That’s what I hoped would begin to take root in us this week as we prayed the prayer I invited us to pray together. I’ll share it again today, but it came from Col 1:9-14

Fill me with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that I may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God. Strengthen me with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled me to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. He has rescued me from the domain of darkness and transferred me into the kingdom of the Son He loves. I have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, in Him

I hope you found that praying this prayer for yourself, was beneficial. Scripture says we don’t have because we don’t ask, so asking for a full awareness of his will for our lives is a great thing to ask for… the power to endure, the Joy of Christ for living.

You may have struggled with this this week.

I think often times, prayer… like other parts of the our walk with Jesus, can get .... hard… we get tired.... It’s not that we don’t WANT TO… its just that we don’t feel compelled to do them... We lose interest and it becomes a struggle.

Or we compartmentalize our lives… this is a place to pray and worship… this is a place to work.... this is spiritual time… this is regular time.

That’s part of the problem that the church in Colossea had, they were being taught that there was

It’s one that we can fall into here today as well. It’s when we start to see tthe world as bifurcated… split in two… a spiritual life and a physical life. We do this. Think of music.. we have spriitual music and secular music. We worship on Sunday but we live monday -Friday.

Paul is writing to correct this way of thinking. And he begins with a passionate account of who this Jesus is.

It is this Jesus that Paul introduces again in vs 15-23… and it is exciting. I can almost hear this in Michael Buffer’s voice:

Colossians 1:15–20 NIV

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 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 and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

And the crowd goes wild!!!

I think we all want to know that Jesus. THAT Jesus inspires… THAT Jesus continually shapes our living.

I want to spend a few minutes today talking about this Jesus, but I don’t want to over explain it. I want us to sit and marvel at his greatness… That’s how Paul described him… not scientifically, but relationally… how he relates to creation, to His church, and to us our is how we can get lost in him.

Jesus is Enough in Creation - Col 1:15-16

Paul is writing in response to the false teachers in Colossea remember. It seems that there was some disagreement about the source of creation.

In most pagan religions, the physical world is considered evil or bad and the spiritual world is good, and the farther away God is the more holy he is. So there is no way the true God Holy as he is, could ever come to earth and interact with creation. Therefore the pagans would argue, and even some religions today, that Jesus then must have been some sort of emissary of God…

To that sort of thinking, Paul says not at all!

God chose to create through his son…

He is Lord of Creation...

He is the only thing to be worshipped.

He is greater than wealth, sex, power, sports, or key lime pie, steamed crabs, or smoked bbq ribs...

There are many things in our world to enjoy, appreciate, and even marvel at… We have a couple of woodpeckers who come to our bird feeder. I could watch them for hours.

When baseball starts back up… we will all appreciate it… even watching the Orioles… on the bright side, with a shorter season, they may actually do better… all these things to enjoy… but not to be worshipped.

As Paul wrote in Romans 1, We are made to know him and worship him and not created things

Jesus is the Creator

The false teachers in Colossea were very interested apparently in the work of spiritual forces in the world. And Paul says… Jesus is in control of them as well… the visible and the invisible… EVERYTHING is under his authority.

Jesus is the firstborn OVER creation.... He is the supreme Lord of creation. Jesus created and remains in charge, holding everything together.

Jesus is Enough to Sustain - Col 1:17

Holding it together because it all points to him. It is for him. He is the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end.

As created beings you see, even we are created for him… so our salvation isn’t to be seen as a rescuing us from an evil world, but an act of God, reclaiming everything that rightly belongs to Him and Him alone.

When we are saved, we actually become more human… not less. We become more of what God intended for us to be in creation.... as we walk with Jesus, we come to work with Christ in transforming the world back towards God’s original intent.

so when we are saved… and we are involved in the world, the world begins to experience reconciliation to God. The government, the economy, social, political… the whole world begins to be reshaped by Jesus. There is nothing out of reach… no marriage, no relationship, no corner, no back alley, no home, no career, too far gone, too dark, too broken, hopeless… because Jesus is at work in EVERYTHING.

Our world has bought into some of the same things that the Colossians had, horoscopes, astrology, the occult, paranormal. Forces that told them that we were hopeless to change things… that it was destined to be the way it is.

Paul says you re right in thinking that there is something spiritual at work in this world… But Jesus is in charge of it all. He alone is Lord.

He holds it all together… it is for him… that applies to all of creation… And that includes the new creation… the church.

Jesus is Enough as Lord - Col 1:18-19

Throughout Scripture, there is this two pronged approach to understanding God’s dealing with the world… there is a vertical and a horizontal. There is one that is between God and creation and another that is between Man and creation.

Genesis itself begins with 11 chapters focused on creation while the remaining were on the new created people of God. In the 10 Commandments, the first 4 are about our interaction with God and the remaining 6 are with our interaction in the world.

It makes sense that Paul would write in this way as well… well trained as a Jewish boy.

Not only is Jesus first creation, he is first in the new creation… the firstborn from the dead.

That’s the proof he is head of the new creation, the church. Jesus you see wasn’t the first person to rise form the dead… but he was the only one who didn’t die again. That puts him in first place… preeminent. He is Lord over creation… he is Lord over the church...

the source of redemption

Jesus is Enough to Redeem - Col 1:20-23

Paul writes… “In him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.”

All the fullness… it sounds unnecessarily repetitive, but when you think about it, it is really a way of thinking about quantity and quality. All of God… was in him… the fullness of God was in him… Paul was using a word the false teachers used “fullness”. they used it to talk about what was lacking in the life of a real disciple… and Paul used it to show that nothing is lacking in the work of Jesus.

That he saved completely, totally. He had all the fullneess of God’s ability to save us.

In vs 13-14 he talked about it when he wrote:

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

“Satan held the world in a death grip of sin. Jesus purchased us back. Like a prisoner released by a terrorist who received the ransom payment, we are now free”

This idea of being ransomed, that Paul was pointing back to, would have been something that most listeners would be familiar with. A ransom that most in Colossea only knew could happen… but Paul was teaching Jesus did it.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

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

He has paid the price… now, remember… now, hold on to this… now, live tthis out.

This message that has been proclaimed to you and is being proclaimed all over the world is at work… Believe this.

This was a powerful reminder for the church in Colossea. Paul, in his most passionate voice, in fact, probably quoting a song that they were familiar with, was seeking to draw them back to the truth that they heard at first… one they would remember… before these false teachers came in to confuse them with extra teachings… he wanted to remind them of just who the Jesus is.

This is important to us as well. Let’s face it, how many of us get excited about prayer? I know many of us are excited to get back into our churches… to get back together as a church community… but what about our time in prayer… what about our time studying God’s word?

Let’s face it… we are human. We need inspiration from time to time. I do, you do. It’s part of who we are.

Paul understood this, that’s why these words are here for us… he was writing to remind the church of the supremacy of Christ.

The question remains, that each of us have to answer on a regular basis… is Jesus enough?

So is Jesus enough for you?

I found this video a few years ago… by a great old preacher… S.M. Lockridge… I love it an I hope you will too.

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As a football coach, I love a great halftime speech… to get you pumped. That is Rev Lockridge’s speech, and that is Paul’s speech. I pray you found in these words today the identify of the true Messiah, one who has given and given and given… and only asked us to receive it and believe.

If you have been moved today and you are moved to engage your faith, to seek to live moment by moment in worship… in the chat just type… Jesus is enough for me.

In the comments just type Jesus is enough for me.

I want to pray for you right now… you can raise your hand right where you are… some of you may want to stand up.. some get down on your knees...

Lord, thank you for Jesus. Who lived and died for us, so that we could become the children you created us to be. Forgive me of my sin, I’ve failed you and myself Lord, but you know that. You love me anyway. You loved me before I messed up and you love me still. You loved me so much you sent Jesus to die that I might be restored to you. Thank you for forgiveness. Thank you for giving me a new life father. I ask you to help me live, to live for you. God I give you my life. Use me for your glory. Keep me close, send me your spirit to inspire me and keep me full of your strength. Thank you Lord I love you… Amen!