What is so special about Christ? 07-31-2022

The Lighthouse Keeper

Do you know what a lighthouse is?

Where do you see them?

what is there Job, or what used to be their job back when men manned the lighthouses

To Keep the light operating all night and during other darkness

There is a story told about this one lighthouse keeper who was very friendly.

He was so friendly that if a ship came by,

low on fuel, to get to the port they wanted, he would give them fuel

from his tanks.

Then one night lightning hit the light house and put out the light.

The lighthouse operator quickly engaged the generator and fired it up,

so there would be a light warning people about the rocks there.

The engine started up and ran fine

for about 20 minutes, and then it stopped.

It was out of fuel.

The lighthouse keeper searched for more fuel but he

had given all the rest of it away, without restocking.

So the rest of the night, the storm raged on, with no lighthouse to guide or warn the ships.

Because the light was out, a ship crashed into the rocks

and many lives were lost.

There was a trial.

The judge told the keeper, you are a nice guy, but you forgot your first duty

to make sure the light ran every night, all night and every day that was too dark.

Your negigence cost peoples lives.

The keeper got in big trouble that day.

Sometimes as grown up, we get so busy doing good things for people,

nice things for people, and we forget

the most important things we can do for others,

is to share with them about Christl

To share with them their need for salvation, the forgiveness of their sins

To share with them the solution to their need, repenting of their sins and

asking for Jesus forgiveness.

Let me pray for you and all of us.

kids dismissed

Gnostic Teaching

The gnostics believed that only spirit was good and matter, physical things were all evil.

So they could not believe that God created the world.

how could

“Why would a good god create something evil!”

That made no scense to them.

They said that Jesus was only spirit, that his birth from Mary was something like gas through a funnel.

One minute his spirit was apparently in her, the next it was outside, looking like a human baby.

The Gnostics taught that you needed more then just Jesus forgiveness to get into heaven

you needed their secrete knowledge

or you were just out of luck.

Since the Gnostics didn’t believe Christ was a flesh and blood person,

His death on the Christ was just a spiritual parlor trip and

the Gnostics will gladly explain how you really get saved.

or consider, People today think there are many ways to God,

and to be considered,

a tolerant person you better believe that too!

But that is not what Paul taught.

Colossians 1:15–23 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. 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 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—23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

I want us to start this morning with a focus on verse 19

Colossians 1:19 NIV

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

You know from Context that the Him referred to is Jesus Christ

Buy the way, something i meant to point out last week was that Paul's earlier letters make reference to “Jesus the Christ”, so

Jesus was his name and

The Christ was his roles.

But here and in his other later letters, I’m told he called our Lord

Jesus Christ

So thru common usage, Christ became a noun, part of his name, instead of a clarification of His role.

Back to the Fullness of Christ

What is the Fullness of Christ?

When I read again this passage in study, my mind said

what is the fullness of Christ?

The fullness of Christ is everything that Paul has just listed about Christ from verse 15 onward starting with

1 He has his Fathers looks

The New International Version Chapter 1

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God

Do you remember when Jesus was with his disciples the night of his betrayal and Philip says

John 14:8 NIV

8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus reply tells us the same thing that He,

Jesus is the image of the invisible God

Here is his reply

John 14:9 NIV

9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

2 Firstborn

The New International Version Chapter 1

the firstborn over all creation

Some will get stuck here because

when they read firstborn over all creation they concluded

Jesus was a created being, not God

but first can also mean first citizen.

When we say John is awarded first citizen this year,

we don’t mean, he was the first citizen,

we mean by his example his actions

we consider him the best, or one of the bests.

Vs 16 can help us understand that Christ is first, he is primary because He was involved in all of creation

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (Chapter 1)

16 For by Him all things were created, . . . . . .

So Jesus is more important than everything

everything created,

because He was there doing the creating.

3 What did he create

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 1

both in the heavens and on earth,

The Heavens, all the stary hosts

The Earth

Those are very material things, Christ created

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 1

visible and invisible,

so he created things we can see and things we can’t see at all or

can’t see without the help of tools and instruments.

What else did he create

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 1

whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities

That’s not material things

but not spiritual things either

It’s cultures, customs and laws, both tangible and social laws.

To sum the created things all up Paul concludes

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 1

all things have been created through Him and for Him.

All things were created thru Christ’s work.

through Him

but it also says

For Him

Have you ever that that

you were created,

not to frustrate God but for His pleasure?

It is pleasing to God when his children turn to Him for help, for salvation.

or to put it another way

Ezekiel 33:11 NIV

11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’

You were created for Him, not to crush and mangle but to be rescued and helped.

That will bring Him joy, to help you and me.

So #3 was Jesus created everything

#4

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (Chapter 1)

He is before all things

Another way of saying, He is #1

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 1

and in Him all things hold together.

All things HOLD together

Can you imagine what would happen if God stopped holding things together for even just one moment?

Poof, all gone, unless God chose to restore the world.

But God won’t blink,

God won’t forget about us,

even for a second.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 1

He is also head of the body, the church

The head of His Church, the body of Christ, that’s another first place position.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 1

and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,

The beginning, that’s first

Firstborn of the dead.

Now some will stop here going

Wait a minute.

Jesus raised people from the Dead

So how is he called the Firstborn from the Dead?

Everyone, raised from the dead, before Christ was raised, still has a mortal body.

By that I mean, some day they would die again.

Lazarus would die again

Jairus daughter would die again

and so on.

But Jesus was the first one resurrected with an eternal body.

Romans says

Romans 6:9 NIV

9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.

So he is first again.

and verse 18 concludes

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 1

so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

ALL these attributes show us why is says

Colossians 1:19 NIV

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

Jesus Christ was no ordinary man.

What is the results of Christ Reconciliation?

Colossians 1:20 NIV

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.

The results was peace with God.

that affects the world

Romans 8:22 NIV

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

There will be a new heaven and a new earth

But more important, the peace Jesus offers through His death on the cross is available to us.

If we choose to accept it.

Where we saved by spiritual effort alone?

No! Verse 20 says we are saved through his blood shed on the cross.

Verse 22 talks about

HIS FLESHLY BODY

Colossians 1:22 NASB95

22 yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—

How do you explain that if Jesus never really had a body?

What is our Part in Salvation?

Verse 22 say

He has now reconciled you

Verse 23 continues the thought about your reconciliation

Colossians 1:23 NIV

23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

There is a conditional IF

If you continue in your faith

The good true gospel message that the Colossians started with

if they hold onto their hope of heaven

they will get their in due time.

Our part is to not forget our primary mission

like the nice, helpful lighthouse keeper

We need to stay on our primary missions,

Let the Lord be Lord of your life

Tell others about what He has done to say you

Invite them to be saved too.

That is more important than making people comfortable.

What was Paul’s points in this section of the letter

Christ supreme

First in everything, everything good

Salvation is not Christ Plus Something Else

Jesus really had a body

He really bled and died for you and me

Jesus was really raised from the dead with

an eternal body

Our job is to not loose sight of the Gospel

And when it comes to sharing Christ with others,

It’s more important to gently, but clearly warn others

then to say things they want to hear.

Amen brother and sister?

Amen.

Let’’s Pray