Jesus is Central
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Introduction
Introduction
Good Morning FBCO.....
Thank you
As we continue in the book of Colossians, our passage today sums up why I called this series Jesus Alone. And this is a passage that should bring us hope and joy and contentment. Not because of our accomplishments or the things that go well…it’s literally Jesus alone. And who He is and what He has done for us…on our behalf.... and that should make us feel absolutely amazing.
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7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he richly poured out on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he purposed in Christ 10 as a plan for the right time—to bring everything together in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth in him.
Christ is supreme over all. There is nothing out of His reach. And because of that there is nothing that should bring about overwhelming concern or fear. Knowing he is over all should give us great comfort.
He made everything and He is the watcher of all things.
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We serve an all powerful God who is above all things.
-He is deserving of our worship.
-He is deserving of our obedience.
-He is deserving of our respect and our reverence.
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And we may find ourselves at times asking why. Why is God so deserving of all these things from us?
Much of Psalm 33 answers this for us.
6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
11 The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.
13 The Lord looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man;
14 from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth,
15 he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.
19 that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine.
22 Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.
Our God has done EVERYTHING for us and is deserving of our absolute worship and commitment to Him.
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And not only has He done everything for us....He knows us....He knows us better than we know ourselves.
Psalm 139 is reminder of how intimate our God is with us.
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. 7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?
13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
So, not only has he created us and gives us everything we need, our God knows us, He watches over us because He made us in the most intimate of ways:
He says to us:
I’m a universe maker, a heart former, but no matter what comes in this life, no matter how difficult the road may get, I WILL HOLD YOU AND KEEP YOU TOGETHER…….
Are you clinging to that truth daily that He literally does everything for you and that he knows you?
If not, why?
Are you likewise, seeking to know Him by communing with Him in prayer and through His Word?
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Our God knows us and wants us to know Him. And WHO He is, is what Paul is telling us about in Colossians today.
Stand
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, 20 and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. 22 But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him—23 if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.
Pray
Now....do not mistake this....ALL of scripture points us to Jesus. So, there should never be a moment where you think that it isn’t.
27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,
But this passage we are in today, I would argue, screams of Jesus and who He is more than any.
John MacArthur-
Colossians: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Chapter 4: The Pre-eminence of Jesus Christ
But of all the Bible’s teaching about Jesus Christ, none is more significant than Colossians 1:15–19. This dramatic and powerful passage removes any needless doubt or confusion over Jesus’ true identity. It is vital to a proper understanding of the Christian faith.
You may be asking why this is such a point that Paul is making here, especially for believers.
If you remember back to our introduction and what Paul’s purpose for writing this book. It wasn’t because anything was going horribly wrong in Colossae, it’s because he was warning them of the dangers awaiting them.
And one of those dangers concerned who Jesus was.
There was this Gnostic teaching taking place, also referred to as the Colossian Heresy, that humanity and spirit could not mix. The teaching said that spirit was good but anything of matter was evil.
Do you see how that level of teaching could derail the Christian faith?
Because Jesus proclaimed to be both God and man. And so, this gnostic belief completely denied the deity of Christ...
Meaning, it said He wasn’t who He said He was.
If we do not believe that Jesus was fully man and fully God, we don’t know Him.
If we do not believe that Jesus was fully man and fully God, we don’t know Him.
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And so, Paul makes this point for the Colossians and for us to clearly lay out who Christ is and what power He holds.
Verse 15
Paul comes out swinging in verse 15 with this major truth bomb.
Jesus is the image of God.
Greek
The greek word is Eikon-eecon and it means image or likeness....it’s actually where we get our english word icon. We see it throughout Scripture.
And you may be saying, but humans are also made in the image of God. That’s true. It’s the same word. The difference though is we are made in the image. Jesus is the image.
We can share certain things with God, but not everything. Jesus possesses all of them. And Jesus has been this since the beginning.
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,
And so, by Paul writing this He is making a point that Jesus is God in every possible way and by being the firstborn of all creation He is God in every possible way.... as a human.
Verse 16-17
Paul is laying out here why Jesus can make the claims He does and why they are backed up.
Parents/Kids
This is kinda what Paul is doing on Jesus’s behalf.
He created it. Everything. He did it and it was for Him.
MIC DROP!
But there’s more....
Verse 17 is kinda this pinnacle moment in these verses because it shows the power Jesus has and what He does for us.
It makes clear first that He was here before everything.
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—
But then Paul goes on…BY HIM all things hold together.
He sustains everything.....He created the universe, He created us, He created it ALL-thrones, rulers, authorities, what we see and what we can’t....
As a side- one of the reasons we see here why Paul is pointing out the invisible and visible is because part of this gnostic teaching was saying that Jesus possibly was an angel. And Paul was showing, He is not....He created them.
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And He literally…this isn’t figuratively, He literally holds it together.
This should make us feel AMAZING!
Nothing will take down creation or us unless it is in God’s will. That’s why we can’t lose our minds over things going on in this world. Covid, global warming, political landscape.... nothing can destroy what God holds together. We don’t possess that kind of power.
Of course we need to at least put forth some effort and allow the brains God has given us to operate but ultimately this is His. And He holds us together. What comfort that should bring for us that our God… Our Savior Jesus....is holding the universe together and preserving it and us.
Verse 18
We see here how Christ relates to the church. Paul wanted to make sure it was known how we should view him.
Because...
He is the head of the church.
He is the beginning of the church.
He is the firstborn of the church.
He is the first of everything in the church and creation.
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Jesus is the head.....He is the ultimate decision maker....not the pastor, elders, deacons or congregation but solely Him.
The church is referred to as the body and that brings us this amazing picture and Jesus is literally the head.
By that there is not discrepancy of His position. Now, Scripture does teach about the church and it’s leadership. Hebrews is a great source but ultimately, Jesus is the head, He is the high priest…He is the king and His position is always first.
And because of that God the father, placed all of Himself in Christ...
And through Jesus, because of who He was and what he had, was able to reconcile, bring us back to him. The Greek word for reconcile, means to change or exchange. That’s what we see. Jesus, when we know Him, changes us.
That’s why if you find yourself going, “well I’ve been going to church for a long time but nothing has changed for me”.....let me say this with as much humility and grace as I can....you don’t know Jesus then.
That’s how powerful He is....if you know Him and the change He does is evident.
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Jesus’s shed blood on the cross, literally brings about peace. It’s a peace of inner conflict with our self. Because He reconciles our bondage to sin with our Holy God. Two completely opposing things. And Jesus did that by sacrificing Himself because a penalty had to be paid to reconcile.
Think of unpaid bills....
Paul goes on to show us how we were unreconciled before through our sinful actions and Jesus paid that by not only dying on a cross, but through that action He took on the wrath of God for us, in our place. Therefore, He could present us to God, not as sinful, unholy people....but holy, faultless and blameless.
Praise God for that!
And because of that, we must remain steadfast in the faith and not allow worldly ideologies to sway our devotion and commitment to Jesus and the truth of God’s Word.
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As servant’s of Christ, we must remain steadfast to the Gospel.
As servant’s of Christ, we must remain steadfast to the Gospel.
We can’t say I believe the Gospel message, I love Jesus and reject or sympathize with sinful beliefs or teachings.
“I’m astonished at the number of people that want to go to heaven when they die but literally want to have nothing to do with Jesus. It makes no sense whatsoever.” -Voddie Baucham
And that is the point Paul is making for us here and reminding us of based on the amazing work of Jesus. Based on who Jesus is in creation and who Jesus is to us…our Savior.
Word
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And if you have never given your life to Him....if you think this is rubbish and I don’t need it. Think again because that’s the sin talking.
Through His work on the cross, that Paul has shown us here, Jesus gave us the way to redemption…to be reconciled to a our Father in heaven.....and what keeps us from just having it is our sin.
No bigger of sinner than Paul
15 This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, so that in me, the worst of them, Christ Jesus might demonstrate his extraordinary patience as an example to those who would believe in him for eternal life. 17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
If Paul can accept that He was a sinner...
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace
All people are slaves to sin, but God, purchased our freedom through the blood of His son.
He doesn’t make us take it.
That’s how great God is-
He doesn’t need us, but He wants us to be with Him.
We have the choice and Christ is the key to bring everyone together. That was God’s plan to bring all of us together and back to Him.
IT WAS THROUGH CHRIST!
If you have never given your life to Christ, I want to implore you today to make that decision. Not that it’s a decision we can force but through the prompting of God’s Holy Spirit, commit your life to Him today.
Salvation is free…it’s gift he gives to you…it’s not something you can claim in your own power…so that no man can boast…but he freely gives it because of what Jesus did on the cross.
Closing
Closing
That is the point the Paul wants us to see here in these verses today. Who Jesus is and why knowing Him is so important.
There are many things in our lives that we allow to be central. It can be accomplishments, it can be friendships, it can be our jobs, our hobbies....it can really be quite plainly the things we WANT. Our wants can be deceptive.
God has blessed us with the body of Christ…fellow believers who love the Lord and in return love us…
Basement
And beyond that through the body, He has given us the head…Jesus Christ. The creator, the sustainer, our sacrifice, our savior, our high priest, our King.
Jesus has qualified Himself through who He is and what He has done to be the most central person in our life. And quite frankly, the only thing we need.
If He isn’t central for you today....whether you believe or not....I implore you to reflect on the things that are sitting in His position and figure out how to move them.
Jesus is central and must be central in all of our lives.
Pray