Colossians 1 - Who is Jesus?
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Well Good Morning! So good to get to share on a Sunday morning service. We continue to ask you to pray for Pastor Todd and Kellie and the kids for their safety and their bonding as a family; and of course mercies upon all the legal issues still to be completed and travelling mercies for their return trip home.
Now as most of you know, Pastor Jeremey and myself are co-teaching through the book of Colossians in Todd’s absence, so I will pick up today where Jeremey left off.
So let’s stand as we read our text for today;
9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously
12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.
13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and 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 in Him all things hold together.
18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,
20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
21 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,
Prayer
As we begin, we will be approaching the Holy of Holies today. Learning about who Jesus Christ really is. I have entitled today's message “Who is Jesus?”
To begin let me remind you of verse 2;
2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.
That is; that Paul wrote this letter not only to the Colossians; but notice, to the saints (lit:Holy ones) and faithful in Christ, the “who are” is in italics meaning its not in the original but added for clarity in English.
So as you read this understand this is written to all who are in Christ everywhere, meaning you and me! On the Colossian church William Barclay writes;
The Letters to Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians The Church at Colosse
The Christian church at Colosse was one which Paul had not himself founded and which he had never visited. He classes the Colossians and the Laodicaeans with those who had never seen him face to face (2:1). But no doubt the founding of the church sprang from his instructions. During his three years in Ephesus, the whole province of Asia was evangelized, so that all its inhabitants, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord (Acts 19:10). Colosse was about 100 miles from Ephesus, and it was no doubt in that campaign of expansion that the Colossian church was founded.
Our text this morning opens with Paul’s prayer for the this fellowship;
9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
It is always great when you know someone is really praying for you, especially someone who knows Jesus. No of this “thoughts and prayers” stuff. I hope when you and me as believers say we will pray for someone that we will and do.. BTW- the best way to do that is when pray is offered or requested, do it right then. Doreen is great at that, How many times has she said “let’s pray right now!” You won’t forget if you do it know.
Here Paul is praying that they would be filled with the knowledge of His will.., wow what a great prayer, to know God’s will. But it get’s better Paul prays that they might have the wisdom and understanding to apply God’s will and to do it.
The word in Greek for knowledge here is epignōsis, not just head knowledge but experiential knowledge. We might call it heart knowledge. This only comes from being born again, its a God thing.
Paul continues in verse 10, hi prayer is for the purpose that we might walk or live our lives in a manner worthy of the Lord. And we careful in how we live, not to be saved but because we are saved. Worthiness carries the idea of giving equal weight. As in an honest days work for what we are being paid. How much is Jesus worth to you? We can tell by how we live our lives.
Have you ever considered that every place we go, everything we look at, everything we say, Jesus is right there. Let us remember;
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
Finally Paul end s his prayer with this, that God would fill us with His power. Imagine knowing what to do and having no power to perform.
Paul writes in Phil;
13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
He does it all for us, gives us the thought, then the desire, and then the power!
God is so good to us!
Now Paul gets into the meat, and purpose of his letter, which is who is this Jesus we serve.
13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
I don’t think we need to explain that this is a very dark world. In fact beyond the physical world there is an even darker spiritual kingdom that is encroaching upon all of us.
So here Paul explains that God has rescued us from this domain of darkness. That is before Christ; we were prisoners under the authority of the Prince of Darkness, Satan, without any hope of escaping. So Christ has rescued us, and not only got us out of jail but, he has transferred us into His own kingdom.
The word and concept of the word transfer is interesting.
In ancient times following war the victorious kingdom would uproot the citizens of the conquered kingdom to now live in their own kingdom. i.e. - Judah was conquered by the Babylonians and transferred to Babylon. In the same way Northern Israel was conquered by the Assyrians and sent to Assyria.
So here God has not only rescued us but brought us into His kingdom. That’s why death does not scare the believer. We know our rescuer and where we are headed.
Add to that He has redeemed us and forgiven all our Sin, past present and future. He alone by His blood has settled our debts, they are paid in full, and as our Goel or Kinsman redeemer will also avenge our blood on the evil one.
Now historically at the time of writing a great heresy was gaining a foothold. It was called Gnosticism; from the Greek word for knowledge, gnosis.
BTW - the gnostic heresy is still alive today in the JW’s and others.
Paul is writing to combat these heresies, as was John in 1 John. Gnosticism held that salvation was all to do with special secret knowledge that could only come from an enlightened individual.
Gnostics believed that the flesh and material world was evil and that only the spirit was good. Thus they believed that God who is supremely good could not have created the universe directly. They held that only a far lesser, and one far removed from God, called an emanation could have created the Earth. This teaching has led to many other heresies like epicurean and stoic philosophies. Paul will touch on these in Chapter 2.
So with that brief understanding it will help us see the depth of what Paul is explaining.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
The word here for image is eikōn.
Images: Religious Icons
The Greek Orthodox and other Orthodox churches use “icons.” Which really just a picture or a statue of a Holy Person. The Greek word here speaks of a likeness or image. If you have a coin with you you see an Icon an image of a former president.
Here in our text, it indicates the exact representation of God in the sense of moral character and holiness. Jesus said;
John 14:7–9 (NASB95)
7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”
8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Jesus is in every way God. In theological terms He is the theanthropos, The God-Man.
The word firstborn is not in regard to birth order but is referring to priority and preeminence. There are many examples of this throughout the bible. Think of Isaac, Jacob, Ephraim. They were all called firstborn but not according to birth order.
Look at verse 16;
Colossians 1:16 (NASB95)
16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
People will often question that Jesus is God. Yet here Paul lays it out very plainly. Here Paul pulls apart the Gnostic understanding piece by piece. Notice;
In verse 16 notice, For by Him all things were created “By Him” who is Him? Jesus.. how many things were created? All things. How many is all? All!! But just in case one would say well that's the physical universe Paul says;
“ both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.”
Unequivocally stating Jesus of Nazareth is the creator God!
In verse 17 Paul says something very interesting;
17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Did you know that science can not explain how atoms hold together. Scientists call it Atomic glue. Some unknown force that holds everything together. Currently at CERN in Switzerland the worlds nations are spending multi-billions of dollars to discover the so-called God-particle. We do not have a reason that an atom doesn’t just explode having like charges they should repel. But they don’t.
Why? Because Jesus is holding it all together. Jesus is the atomic glue that holds everything together
BTW - that’s what a nuclear bomb does it breaks the bond and the expulsion of energy is incredible. Just a tiny amount was in the bomb that fell on Hiroshima.
One day Jesus will break that bond and we will get what Peter describes;
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
And then of course we get a new Heaven and a New Earth.
Paul finishes his thought with this;
18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,
20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
So Our Lord Jesus is the head off all; of everything. Because everything that’s in Jesus is God. He is literally bursting at the seems with the divine, because he is God. Paul amplifies verse 19 in chapter 2,
9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
John put it this way;
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
And so I ask today, do you know Him. Do you love Him.
You can.. pray with me.
Pray