Colossians1_15-23

Colossians 1:15-23     Does God need a new image?

Theme: Jesus makes God fully known to us

Aim: To want to know God through Jesus

Is Christianity the only movement in the word that doesn’t recognise the importance of having a good image? Surely it’s about time that God got with the times and released a new image for himself. Something hip with a catchy tag line in lower case letters. The celebrities know that image is important. Think about how many changes of image Madonna has been through over the last twenty years. She’s had the bad taste bride phase in the eighties, then she went though the sex crazed leather clad biker girl phase in the 90s, from the Operatic diva image in the days of Evita and finally and now she’s doing the trendy modern mum thing to go with her children’s book release. The corporate giants know image is important too. In 2000 the transnational oil giant British Petroleum re-branded itself as "bp: beyond petroleum." The re-branding was part of an effort to portray BP as an environmentally friendly energy company rather than an oil company. They replaced their logo a vibrant green-white-and-yellow sunburst to symbolize their commitment solar power and they changed the company name to use lower-case letters because focus groups told them it was friendlier than the old imperialistic capital letters. So, what do you think? If we gave God an opportunity to re-brand himself for the twenty first century, do you think he would take it? How would you advise him if you were his marketing consultant? Well, 2000 years ago that’s precisely what God did. He made himself clear with a new image. Well, it’s not quite right to say it was a new image, because it’s not that there was anything wrong with his image before then. But this was his once for all statement when God would make his image known to the world. So what was his logo or his slogan? What was the catch phrase that God chose to express himself perfectly? Well, here’s the big surprise for us: it was none of these – it was a person. God’s image is (according to verse 15) the person we call Jesus. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.   So here is my first point: Jesus makes God known to us in person The radical claim that we’re making today is nothing short of this – that God can be known by every one of us here personally by getting to know Jesus. He is the image of the invisible God. How can that be? Well, Jesus is uniquely qualified to make God known to us for this reason, because he is God himself. That’s what the next few verses tell us. v15 tells us that he is the firstborn over all creation. That doesn’t mean that he was the first one to be born in creation, for plainly there were many millions of people born before Jesus was. The firstborn son in ancient culture was the heir of the estate. Something like Jaime Packer. When Kerry Packer dies (is he still alive?) then Jaime will inherit the entire packer empire. And Jesus is the firstborn in that sense – of all creation. He is going to inherit the entire creation – the earth, the sun, the entire solar system, the whole universe will belong to him. Why? Because it was all made by him and for him. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. Not only did he make the entire universe for himself, but according to verse 17 it only continues to exist because he wants it to. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. That chair is holding you up right at this moment because Jesus Christ is holding it together for you. The electricity is pulsing through this microphone, the sun is shining outside, the blood is surging through your veins, all because Jesus Christ wants it to be that. It all exists because of Jesus and for Jesus. I’ve been reading this book on the plane on the way over. It’s a fascinating and exhilarating history of science. And in quite a few places Bill Bryson acknowledges the limits of science. Speaking about atoms he waxes eloquent about how amazingly numerous and clever they, and how incredible it is that they make us who we are. But then he acknowledges that no-one really knows why they do that. Why do atoms come together to make people? What is their motivation? They seem to have no reason to do it. It doesn’t make them happy or better little atoms in any way. But still they comply and make us what we are. They do what they do because of Jesus. And what’s more, according to verse 18, Jesus is not only the heir and sustainer of this universe, but also of the next one. See that word firstborn again there in verse 18:  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.   Why is Jesus uniquely able to make God know to us? Because he is very God himself. He made the universe for himself, he sustains it, and when he re-creates it afresh he will inherit the new creation too. In short, as verse 19 puts it, “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him” Jesus makes God known to us in person IllustrationLet’s say you wanted to get to know an Australian male. You could send a fax to the Australian Consulate down on The Strand and ask them to send you a photograph and maybe that would give you some idea. He’d probably be standing there with a cricket bat looking sorrowful and dejected right now. They could also fax you a list of typical Australian male qualities: culturally refined, articulate, a moderate drinker, a careful listener and sensitive to the needs of women. You could read a list like that and build up in your mind an image of what your typical Australian male is like. But the only real way to get to know an Australian male is to meet one and get to know him personally. Only then could you discover for yourself that he is, in fact, brash and insensitive, sports-obsessed, beer swilling, utterly devoid of culture and hopelessly mystified by the female species. ApplicationGod wants to be known personally, and that’s why he has chosen to make himself known this way, by coming into the world as a person - the person of Jesus Christ. That’s why his image is not a logo, a slogan, an airbrushed supermodel. It’s a flesh and blood, real, living, breathing person called Jesus. And that’s why Christianity is not about rules, regulations or rituals. It’s about knowing God personally, having a real, living relationship with the God who wants to be known by every one of us personally. Let me ask you something: isn’t that what you’ve been searching for all your life: to know God? Maybe you didn’t even realise it. Isn’t there deep inside, in the secret place of all of our hearts, an ache in the soul that just won’t go away? It’s a continual thirst and a restlessness that is always there when we rise in the morning and when we lie down at night. It’s there in the most wondrous moments of life and also in the most sorrowful. It lurks behind every smile and every handshake. A perpetual, unremitting thirst that will never be satisfied until we come to know God. We might try and satisfy it with all kinds of other things.With pleasurewith possessionswith successwith powerwith drugs or alcoholwith romancewith family But the ache in the soul never goes away, does it? And in the secret place of the heart, in the quietness of the night when it’s just you and your thoughts … it’s still there. That’s because it’s an ache for God – to know him. And it will never be satisfied until it is satisfied in Jesus. He is uniquely qualified to do it, because he is the God himself.  Listen to what he says in John’s gospelJohn 4:14 (ESV)  “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."   Jesus makes God known to us in person. LinkBut it’s not quite as simple as I’m making it sound, is it? Because while there is an ache in our soul to know God, there is also a secret power at work in us that keeps getting in the way. If we’re really honest with ourselves, there’s something in us that is profoundly opposed to God and all his ways. We might put it in mild terms that make it sound acceptable, “I’m not perfect. I do my best. I’m not a murderer.” But look at how the Bible puts it in verse 21, 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. And that is our second point today. Point 2: Jesus makes peace between us and God Because of our evil behaviour, we have two problems. We are alienated from God and we are enemies in our minds. God is opposed to us, and we are opposed to God. He has pushed us away from Him, and that’s exactly where we want to be. In short, there’s a war on between God and us. And doesn’t our experience confirm that? We thirst and gasp and grope for God but he is not there. What we secretly long for and desire is just not obtainable for us; because our sins have made enemies of God and we need someone to reconcile us. That is exactly what Jesus has done for you if you’re a Christian. He has made peace between us and God, and reconciled the warring parties. Read verse 20 and 22 with me. 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. […] 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation And do you notice how he did it? It puts it here in three different ways: Through his blood, by Christ’s physical body, through death. That’s all saying the same thing – by his death in our place. Isn’t that the most fantastic news you’ve ever heard? The war is over! Jesus has made peace for everyone who belongs to him. He has reconciled us to God. IllustrationAbout five years ago I had the great privilege to visit a place in the Turkish Dardanelles called Galipoli where thousands of allied soldiers lost their lives in the first world war. It’s a haunting place with grave after grave commemorating those men who gave the ultimate price for king and country. But what makes it particularly haunting is the warmth of the Turks toward their former enemies. There is a great stone plaque there which records the words of General Attaturk who fought in the Turkish army at that very spot and later became Turkey’s first prime minister. Listen to this. “Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives… you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours… You, the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears. Your sons are no lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.” Isn’t that incredible? The men who were once their enemies have become their sons. But so much more incredible is this news from God. The men at Galipoli who had become sons of Turkey were dead in the ground. They did not live to enjoy the peace that they won with their own blood. But through Jesus Christ we can become sons of God today while we live, and the result is eternal life! They became sons by the shedding on their own blood on Turkish soil, but we become God’s sons by the blood of Jesus shed on our behalf. By their blood they established peace between men and men.But by his blood Jesus established peace between men and God. ApplicationLet me ask you then – are you at peace with God. Or more importantly, is God at peace with you? It’s not oversimplifying the situation to say that every one of us in this room today is in one of two positions before God: we are either at war with him or at peace with him. Which is it for you? I want to just conclude with a word to each of those groups of people. To those of us who have come in here today without the peace of God in our lives. We are at war with him. Our every waking minute is spent resenting God, hating him or just plain ignoring him. Do you know it’s possible to turn that situation around today? God wants to make peace with you. He sent his son the Lord Jesus to die and to reconcile each of us to God. So, this is God’s amnesty. The day when God’s enemies can freely become his sons. He is ready for peace. His anger has been poured out on Jesus so that we can escape it and know him in peace. Today is a great day to lay down your arms and be reconciled to God? Conclusion And finally, to those people who already know God personally through Jesus. In the days when this letter was written Christianity didn’t have a very good image either. It was considered weak and pathetic. There were other options that people thought were much more attractive and impressive – asceticism – denying the body’s basic needs, legalism – keeping the rules, or mysticism – trying to connect directly with God in meditation or ritual. And it’s no different today. Those are still the main religious alternatives to believing in Jesus. But here is a great reassurance for these Christians in Colosse to keep standing fast in their faith. There’s only really one way to know God in person – through Jesus. And there’s only one way to have peace with God – through Jesus. That’s why the apostle Paul who wrote this letter to them is so passionate that they should continue trusting in Jesus. See what he tells them in verse 23, 23 continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. 

So don’t you dare ever move away from trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Stick with him through thick and thin, whatever the world says to you about being a Christian.

Fashions always come around again, don’t they? Sooner or later they all come around again. Paisleys came around again, flares came around again. My marble wash drain pipe jeans will eventually come around again. I know they will.

Christianity may not be fashionable now, but it will come around. When? When we pass from this world into eternity. In eternity, in the sight of God. God’s image is Christ. Don’t be ashamed to wear that name.