WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:01.520 Amen. 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:02.399 C.S. 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:12.960 Lewis, you're probably familiar with him, British writer of the 20th century, he said something pretty profound about praise and how it functions. 00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:24.160 He said this, I think we delight to praise what we enjoy, because praise is not merely, praise not merely expresses, but completes the enjoyment. 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:28.800 It is its appointed consummation. 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:34.880 It's not out of compliment that lovers give, uh keep on telling one another how beautiful they are. 00:00:35.039 --> 00:00:38.240 The delight is incomplete until it is expressed. 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:40.000 He goes on. 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:47.119 The Scotch Catechism says that man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:50.159 But we shall then know that these are the same thing. 00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:53.200 Fully to enjoy is to glorify. 00:00:53.759 --> 00:00:58.799 In commanding us to glorify him, God is inviting us to enjoy him. 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:03.759 I think this is just a beautiful concept to meditate on, so take that with you. 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:09.760 But it's also what Paul, the Apostle Paul, is doing in our passage this morning. 00:01:10.079 --> 00:01:32.319 Last week we began our fall sermon series in the book of Colossians, and Russ kicked us off by going through the introduction to Paul's letter, and he told us that the occasion or the purpose of Paul's letter is that Paul and other apostles had gone through Colossae and other parts of the Greco-Roman world and had preached the gospel. 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:34.079 People had come to faith. 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:43.680 Churches had been formed, but now, later on, years later, new teachers had come behind them and they were preaching a similar but different gospel. 00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:53.840 And the problem was so much that Paul felt the need to write to the church in Colossae and to begin to correct some of these errors. 00:01:53.920 --> 00:02:02.400 And we don't know exactly what this heretical teaching was, but we kind of piece it together by looking at what Paul emphasizes in his letter. 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:10.479 He's not just writing out of inspiration or the kindness of his heart, but he's writing out of care and concern for the Colossians. 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:20.560 And how we can, what we basically have put together is this that these teachers, these new teachers, were telling the Colossians that it was all well and good, that they had come to faith in Jesus. 00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:22.319 That's good, that's where things belong. 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:28.960 But if you really want to be spiritual, you need to move on to other deeper spiritual truths. 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:36.560 And before we jump into this section, it's good for us to relate that we can do the same things, right? 00:02:39.039 --> 00:02:51.520 The passion, uh, the zeal, the the way our hearts were once gripped by the gospel can often become very ordinary and boring, can't it? 00:02:52.800 --> 00:03:02.560 We started with Jesus, or maybe we've had ups and downs in our Christian life, and we find ourselves at times kind of wondering what is this all about? 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:13.840 Perhaps you're going through a difficult time in life and you wonder if the gospel is really relevant to what is going on in your life. 00:03:14.800 --> 00:03:23.439 What's fascinating about Paul's response, in some of his letters, he attacks kind of the problem head-on, especially in the letters to the Corinthians. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:28.000 If you watch this, he'll say, You guys are doing this, it's bad, stop. 00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:30.719 In Colossians, he doesn't do that. 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:43.439 He, after his introduction, the first 14 verses, he launches into just kind of a description of who Jesus is, because that's the crux of the issue for the Colossians and these new teachers. 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:49.919 Jesus was no longer preeminent for the Colossians. 00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:59.919 Paul's desired result for these Colossians, what they would, that they would simply gaze upon the glory of Christ again. 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:21.120 It's kind of like if you visited the Grand Canyon when you were a kid or 30 years ago, and you have this vague memory of kind of how great it was, but you go back and you stand before the expanse that is the Grand Canyon, and you are reawakened to the awe that it is before you. 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:26.720 Paul, in this passage, he invites us to stand in awe before the Lord once more. 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:32.160 So let's look at the first part of our passage, verses 15 to 17. 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:49.360 He says, He, Jesus, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:54.240 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:59.519 Our first point this morning is the supremacy of Christ over all creation. 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:01.600 This is what Paul is getting at. 00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:08.639 Paul begins the section by talking about Jesus in his relationship to God and to creation. 00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:13.519 He tells us first that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:15.920 Well, what does that mean? 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:21.680 It means that Jesus makes God visible. 00:05:23.040 --> 00:05:26.319 He's talking about his incarnation, of course. 00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:31.360 If you want to know what God looks like, look at Jesus. 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:39.040 Martin Luther famously said, if you want to know what God is like, look to the cross and the suffering God. 00:05:39.839 --> 00:05:45.040 The God who loved his creation so much, he was willing to suffer and die for her. 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:51.920 He doesn't reveal himself in power and conquest, but in weakness and sacrifice and love. 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:56.720 This has been called Luther's theology of the cross. 00:05:57.279 --> 00:06:12.879 But in reality, we can look at all of Jesus' life, from his humble birth through his childhood into his adult life, his public ministry, to gain an understanding, a three-dimensional view of who our God is. 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:19.519 God in his compassion and mercy, his patience, his internal strength, even his anger. 00:06:20.959 --> 00:06:23.040 And we see that throughout his ministry, right? 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:24.560 Especially his miracles. 00:06:24.639 --> 00:06:29.439 These are the things that dumbfounded the disciples and confused the religious leaders of his day. 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:33.120 Jesus calms the storm with a word. 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:39.040 He heals the lame with a quiet command. 00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:46.959 He even reveals his authority over death by raising more than one person from the dead. 00:06:48.399 --> 00:06:54.800 In all of this, the people were confused and they began to noodle on this puzzle. 00:06:55.120 --> 00:07:02.399 After Jesus calms the storm that threatened his disciples' lives, they exclaim, Who is this? 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:06.319 That even the winds and the waves obey him. 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:12.639 A quick word on this phrase, the firstborn of creation. 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:16.720 This little phrase has led many astray over the years. 00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:23.199 We have the initial kind of heretics of this were the Arians in the early church. 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:31.600 Today we call them Jehovah's Witnesses, and in some ways Mormonism follows this wrong path. 00:07:31.839 --> 00:07:36.639 That says that Jesus himself is part of the creation, that he is not eternal God. 00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:39.279 But that's not what Paul is talking about here. 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:45.680 In his first century context, he's talking about the legal rights of inheritance. 00:07:45.839 --> 00:07:57.199 Jesus as the eternal Son of God is the Father's firstborn, and therefore all of creation that belongs to God is Jesus' inheritance. 00:07:57.519 --> 00:08:08.000 So what Paul is saying here is as the eternal Son, all of creation belongs to Jesus as much as it belongs to the Father. 00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:09.920 Let's go, let's continue. 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:10.399 Paul. 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:22.240 Paul says, For by him, Jesus, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. 00:08:23.040 --> 00:08:30.879 You see, not only is Jesus supreme over creation, kind of like as a role or a job, but he is the creator himself. 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:36.960 This divine mystery of the Trinity, which we were just singing, holy, holy, holy. 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:42.879 Genesis 1 tells us that God spoke creation into being. 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:46.799 In John chapter 1, the apostle tells us that Jesus is the word. 00:08:48.320 --> 00:08:54.799 Jesus is the one through whom God the Father created all things. 00:08:55.440 --> 00:08:57.679 And Paul is very specific here. 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:05.519 There is nothing that has been created, that was not created through Jesus. 00:09:06.399 --> 00:09:09.440 Whether it's in heaven and on earth, those are the only two realms. 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:11.759 Okay, so that's everywhere. 00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:15.440 Visible or invisible, those are the only two types of things. 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:17.120 So everything. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:22.559 All that is created, thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities. 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:34.000 These are words that we'll see in different places in the New Testament, and they they represent power, seats of power, whether humanly and physical or spiritual and invisible. 00:09:34.159 --> 00:09:37.759 So Jesus is Lord over Satan. 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:42.080 I love that scene with Jesus and Peter. 00:09:42.240 --> 00:09:56.720 Peter cuts the ear off of the Roman guard soldier, and Jesus says to Peter, if I wanted, I could call ten legions of angels to come. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:00.240 These soldiers mean nothing. 00:10:00.720 --> 00:10:06.000 Caesar in Rome means nothing compared to my power and authority. 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:11.120 Nothing happens to Jesus that he doesn't allow to happen. 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:21.200 Whether it is the most powerful human being on the planet or whether it's Satan himself, Jesus is above all powers. 00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:26.240 Finally, Paul says, he is before all things, and in him all things hold together, right? 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:29.440 He's before all things because he's the eternal Son of God. 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:31.759 But listen to what Paul says here. 00:10:31.919 --> 00:10:34.240 In Jesus, all things hold together. 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:47.679 This is no deistic God who has a creative fancy and puts all things together like a wound clock and just kind of sends it floating off into space, never to have anything to do with it again. 00:10:47.919 --> 00:10:56.799 Every moment of every second of every day, Jesus is willing us into existence. 00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:08.320 This is part of what Scripture means when it says that whether we're Christians or non-Christians, we all owe God our complete allegiance and thanks. 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:13.120 It's not just the air that we breathe belongs to Jesus. 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:18.960 The lungs that we breathe the air with only exist because Jesus allows them to exist. 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:26.639 From the beginning of this sentence to the end of this sentence and into the future. 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:32.799 Jesus is creator and sustainer of all things. 00:11:32.879 --> 00:11:43.840 And Paul's implicit question to the Colossians and to us is this to whom will you go that is greater than Jesus in all of creation? 00:11:45.440 --> 00:11:46.879 Let's continue. 00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:49.360 I have no idea how long I'm going. 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:51.759 So, Sam, you'll be all right. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:52.320 Okay. 00:11:52.960 --> 00:12:10.399 And he is the head of the body, the church, he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent, for in him all the fullness of God is pleased to dwell through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace with the blood of his cross. 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:14.159 Point two, the supremacy of Christ over the new creation, right? 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:20.399 Notice Paul's brilliant parallelism throughout this passage as he praises Jesus. 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:29.039 He jumps from Jesus in his incarnation and his pre-incarnation as the creative word to his death and resurrection. 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:32.559 He is the firstborn from the dead. 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:39.679 Not only is he the firstborn over all creation, he is the firstborn of the new creation. 00:12:40.240 --> 00:12:57.279 Willingly taking on flesh, dying on the cross, he defeats death and rises from the dead, beginning a process of new creation, re-creation, which Revelation tells us is a world where sin and death are no more. 00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:07.759 So Paul says, this is who Jesus is, not only the beginning of creation, but the beginning of new creation. 00:13:08.799 --> 00:13:12.480 Because of this, Paul says, Jesus is preeminent. 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:26.639 Take every category you can imagine power, wisdom, might, love, compassion, wrath, there is none higher than our God, who's embodied in Jesus Christ. 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:31.279 Jesus is Lord of all, whether in heaven or on earth. 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:37.519 And then Paul steps into one of the most explicit statements of Jesus' divinity. 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:43.200 For in him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. 00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:51.440 This word fullness was one of the catchphrases of these false teachers. 00:13:52.559 --> 00:13:56.320 If you wanted fullness, you needed to move on from Jesus. 00:13:56.399 --> 00:13:58.639 And Paul says here, there is no fullness. 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:00.399 There's nothing more. 00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:06.559 Jesus is where the fullness of God dwells. 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:16.080 Just as God amazed his people in the Old Testament after the Exodus by dwelling with them in the tabernacle in the wilderness. 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:27.279 Now God has come to dwell with his people in flesh, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, in an even more personal way. 00:14:29.039 --> 00:14:39.360 And through him, through Jesus, he came to reconcile to himself all things, whether in earth or in heaven, making peace by his blood on the cross. 00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:41.279 So notice what Paul's doing. 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:45.200 He began by talking about creation, maybe on your side, creation. 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:49.360 He talks about the beginning of history, and then he talks about the end of history. 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:52.960 Jesus is the beginning of the new creation that we look forward to. 00:14:53.039 --> 00:15:00.559 But now he turns to the cross, the center, the fulcrum of history on which everything turns. 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:09.759 Jesus, the beginning of all things, the end of all things, the Alpha and the Omega, but he is also the center of all things. 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:13.600 And his death on the cross. 00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:16.240 There's so much we could explore here. 00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:19.840 If you can't tell, this passage is incredibly dense. 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:34.720 But Paul's point, Paul's emphasis in this section, in this part, talking about Jesus' death on the cross, is that he alone is the one who reconciles. 00:15:44.399 --> 00:15:50.720 Broken in ourselves, broken between us, broken between us and God and the creation. 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:59.759 What Paul is saying here is that Jesus alone is able to heal, to save, to reconcile. 00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:02.559 There is no reconciliation apart from Jesus. 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:07.679 As the Apostle Peter says in Acts chapter 4, there is salvation and no one else. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:14.399 For there is no other name under heaven given among men that we must be saved. 00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:23.360 Again, Paul's implicit question here to the Colossians and to us is this to whom else will you turn for salvation? 00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:27.039 All right, final part of our passage, 21 to 23. 00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:40.960 And you who were once alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he is now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. 00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:54.399 If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which he has proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a minister. 00:16:54.639 --> 00:16:59.440 Point three, the supremacy of Christ over salvation. 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:16.799 What Paul is reminding the Colossians of here is that Jesus' death and resurrection, his divinity as the eternal Son of God, is not simply theological doctrines written by theologians in some high ivory tower. 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:20.000 This truth is their life. 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:24.079 This truth is our life. 00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:47.039 That God became flesh and he dwelt among us and he willingly went to the cross to die for our sins, taking our sins on himself, graciously giving us his righteousness, so that in him we might become sons and daughters of God, fully at peace. 00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:49.200 At peace with God. 00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:53.440 There is no more wrath, there is no more judgment, there's no disappointment. 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:55.519 That's a whole sermon right there. 00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:57.920 God is not disappointed in you. 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:02.960 He loves you because you are in his son. 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:07.680 That is the gift of righteousness. 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:10.480 And what's behind it all? 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:14.880 Jesus came to do all of this so that he might present us. 00:18:16.079 --> 00:18:17.519 I don't really know what that means. 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:29.920 I think of like a third grade, you know, pageant or something, some ballet performance, you know, and you see your kid come up on the stage and do their, you know, and you're just like beaming, like, oh, that's my kid. 00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:35.359 Not a good ballerina, but you know, beautiful. 00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:39.039 And that's what Jesus is doing. 00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:48.559 He is making us holy, removing our blemishes so that we might stand before him one day, and he will beam at us as we beam at him. 00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:53.119 It's all in love, my beloved. 00:18:54.880 --> 00:19:03.920 And Paul gently encourages the Colossians as he encourages us to come back to the simplicity and the beauty of Jesus. 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:07.839 There's so much today that gets in the way. 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:21.200 There's so much deconstructing going on within the church, and a lot of that is necessary, and it's it's the result of just a lot of the failings and trauma we've experienced as the church and in the church. 00:19:22.240 --> 00:19:27.200 And so it can be refreshing to come back to this simple truth of the Christian faith. 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:33.200 What Russ likes to say a lot, that Jesus plus nothing equals everything, right? 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:37.599 Which we can even simplify more than that. 00:19:37.759 --> 00:19:38.880 It's just Jesus. 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:42.319 Jesus loves you. 00:19:43.359 --> 00:19:44.559 Jesus died for you. 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:48.559 Jesus is the greatest thing above all creation. 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:50.640 He is the head of the new creation. 00:19:51.119 --> 00:19:52.799 He is supreme over salvation. 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:59.839 There is no other name to run to, no need, nothing else you need to do to earn your worth or value. 00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:03.119 Just run to Jesus. 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:08.480 The Olympics just ended in Paris. 00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:10.160 And uh it's been really fun. 00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:21.119 I got to see a lot of events, but there's tons that I didn't get to see, and so these these new fangled things called reels, you know, on Instagram or Netflix or whatever. 00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:23.599 Um man, I'm so old. 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:26.079 Uh there's this great one. 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:32.720 Apparently, this American gymnast got a perfect 10 on some flippity flippity. 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:42.480 And uh it's amazing, you know, they show the thing and you're just like, oh my gosh, this is amazing, you know, flipping through the air, landing on the ground, like no hop, no bounce, or whatever. 00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:51.119 But what's amazing is like, you know, the camera is watching the gymnast, but like on the other side of the gymnast are the judges. 00:20:51.680 --> 00:21:00.000 And they zoom in, and one of the judges, as this gymnast hits the ground and sticks the landing, her mouth drops. 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:02.480 She's a gape. 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:07.839 And I think that's that's what Paul is doing in our passage. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:14.400 He's just looking at Jesus, and he's just standing agape, and he says, Beloved, let us look to the Lord. 00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:18.160 Let everything else fall away. 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:22.640 Remember who he is because he will tell you who you are. 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:27.039 That you are at peace with God and you are at peace with yourself. 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:32.000 And we can be at peace with our neighbors if we will embrace what C.S. 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:32.960 Lewis was talking about. 00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:39.519 Let's gaze at the beauty of Christ and let's finish that gazing and that enjoyment with praise. 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:40.799 Let's pray. 00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:43.039 Our Father and our God. 00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:45.359 Who is like you, O Lord? 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:49.039 Let us sit and gaze upon the Lord. 00:21:49.440 --> 00:21:53.759 For there's nowhere we would rather be when we are in the Spirit than in your house. 00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:58.000 Before your presence, you are peace forevermore. 00:21:59.680 --> 00:22:04.480 Lord, just give us another taste of who you are, O Father. 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:07.359 Be glorified in us and let us enjoy you forever. 00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:09.039 We ask in Jesus' name. 00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:09.599 Amen.