The Fullness of God

Introduction

Recap Series

Jesus is the image of the invisible God

Jesus is the Creator and sustainer of everything seen (physical world) and unseen (spiritual world)

Jesus is the Head of the Church

this includes its teachings, its ministries, and its members

Why is it important to know these things?

Today - Jesus is “The Fullness of God”

Times at Christmas that we ask questions that we do not necessarily ask the rest of the year

how much did Jesus know and when did he know it about being God?

we know that he is God the Son, second person of the trinity, but how much God and how much man was he while he was walking this earth,

did he shut part off at certain times?

Colossians 1:15–19 (CSB)

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

16 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.

17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.

18 He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.

19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,

So we ask our questions… So how much did he know? When did he know?

we ask questions like this because we cannot imagine all the power of God being in a human

We look at our little ones and cannot imagine, as perfect as we might think they are, being God

like some of our 2nd, 3rd or 4th graders boys!

What we will see is that God came… not sent somebody, He came in the form of a man, born of a virgin and laid in a manger.

From the very beginning it has been God’s plan to redeem mankind and He was excited to do so.

The Son of God

This is who we celebrate coming into this world

we like to say things like “Remember the reason for the season.” or “Keep Christ in Christmas.”

But we must understand the “who”

Luke 2:9–11 (CSB)

9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:

11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.

This is not just some baby, this is not just any child, this is the savior of the world

that is the “Him” in our verse

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 1)

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,

It is who he is, not who he became.

The more appropriate question is why did God have to come

Genesis 15:1–3 (CSB)

1 After these events, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield; your reward will be very great.

2 But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

3 Abram continued, “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.”

After this is the covenant between God and Abram

sacrifices were made and God alone walked through them

explain the significance of that

This demonstrates that we had a problem and God is not just an answer, but the only hope that we have

the angels said a savior is born

God passed through the sacrifices alone

In the same way that God made the covenant without being dependent on man, He was born in a way that only God could do it

born of a virgin

Jesus’ brith was a miracle that was completely dependent on God

God did this because left to ourselves we would have messed the whole thing up

we could never accomplish what was needed to save ourselves

The Fullness of God

Our questions about God, who and how much and when did he know, all stem from the false gods that we have heard stories about

we watch or read about gods like Zeus or Hercules

This is not greek mythology, God is real

anything of that sort would mean that Jesus was created, see v15-17

Jesus is 100% God

Colossians 1:19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,

God had to come, left to ourselves, we mess it up

Genesis 15 is followed by Genesis 16

Genesis 16 is the story of how Sarai, the wife of Abraham

tell the story

Isaiah 7:14 is proceeded by Isaiah 7:1-13

Ask for a sign that God will take care of you, will protect you

Isaiah 7:14 (CSB)

14 Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.

Immanuel means, God with us.

This understanding that God himself, the creator of the world is in direct contrast to false teaching that had made its way around Asia Minor at the time.

Gnostics - Believed and taught that God could not be known, except by special revelation

you had to go to special people who had special revelation about God to know him

Jesus was thought to be one of those who had special revelation

God would never come to a sinful place like this

Paul says the “Fullness of God” was on him

Play - RO - ma = a technical term in the vocabulary of the gnostic false teachers

the sum total of all the divine power and attributes

Paul uses their own terminology to combat their false teaching

God in all his power is not just far off, but has come in the form of the man Jesus Christ

the fullness of God was born in the manger

the angels declared it and the shepherds rejoiced!

We too should rejoice knowing that the creator of all things seen and unseen came to this world, not leaving it to ourselves, so that we could be saved

And it was his pleasure to do so

The Pleasure of God

I have been married over twenty-five years, there may have been a time or two that Heather has had to ask me more than once to do something

maybe a time or two that I sighed when going to complete the task

To often this is how we look or think of God

He created man and man sinned

ughh… fine, here is how you make a sacrifice

Man becomes more evil

ughh… fine, here is how you make a boat to survive this flood that is coming

God’s people get enslaved in Egypt

ughh… here is the one who will bring you our

here is my law, so you don’t get into trouble anymore and can make your way to me

Man messes up the sacrifices and worships other false gods

ughh… fine I will come, live and die on the cross

Colossians 1:19 (CSB)

19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,

God was pleased

Pleased = High degree of pleasure

Have you ever heard somebody say, “My pleasure.” while serving you?

why is it that they say this… most often because they work off of tips and they expect you to pay them.

they believe that they are about to receive something for the task and way that they served you

It is not any different with God

expect that we do not tip him as we would a server at a restaurant

we have nothing that we can give to him that we would repay him

yet it is his pleasure to come into this world, in the form of a man because he gains us

Hebrews 12:2 (ESV)

2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

You and I are the joy that is set before him.

the time that we will be gathered together and untied with him for all of eternity

it pleased God for his fullness to be on him, that his joy would be complete as we would be united throughout all of eternity.