Speaker 1: 0:01

May the Lord bless the reading and preaching of the word through the empowering presence of his spirit, amen. I want to take us back for a second to verses 13 and 14. If you don't have one of these, we're in Colossians right now. We have these little printouts up at the front. We'll be spending six weeks in Colossians and this is week two. We're titling this series Risen with Christ, living the Resurrected Life.

Speaker 1: 0:32

We are in the time of Easter still, so I know we typically think of Easter as the one single day, that one single Resurrection Sunday day, that one single resurrection Sunday. But on our church calendar we recognize that this is the period where we're still recognizing the effects of the resurrection until we reach the day of Pentecost, and that begins the life of the church. When I think about the resurrection, and when I've thought about the resurrection, I've typically thought about the resurrection in terms of the significance that it bears on apologetics. There's a book called Case for Christ by Lee Strobel, right, and it's this guy who's trying to disprove the Christian faith because he doesn't like Christianity, and he ends up studying one of the central claims about Christianity that Jesus resurrected. And in studying that he comes to the conclusion that Jesus did resurrect. And the resurrection kind of becomes the turning point where he says well, if this is true, all of the rest of it is true as well. And so when I've grown up thinking about the resurrection and thinking about why it's significant, I typically haven't thought of it more than that. I've thought about the death of Jesus on the cross. I've been like, well, look, his cross is what took away my sins. His cross is where I was saved. But I hadn't really recognized what was the significance of the resurrection. And what we're planning to do and hoping to do in this series is just recognize that the resurrection doesn't just validate, authenticate our faith, but it actually presents the lifestyle that we are to live in Christ right. So I think I mentioned this last week when we were doing the table.

Speaker 1: 2:17

But in Romans, chapter 6, paul makes this argument that because we have died with Christ, that means our sinful life dies with him and that when he resurrects and when we are joined to Christ in his resurrection, that means that we experience, or should experience, a new type of life in him as well, a new ethical life, a new direction of life, a life that is in the spirit that says my life will be guided by Christ and by his ways. Right. His resurrection directs our life, directs the way we ought to live. So the preeminence of Christ that we're going to be looking at in today's passage directs how it is that we are to live for him. The song we just sang, I think, sums it up really well. Right, for from him are all things, and because of that, to him are all things and he deserves the glory. And I think that that's going to sum up a lot of what our passage is going to display.

Speaker 1: 3:19

So I'll start us by first looking back at verses 13 and 14. This is the end of the section that Royce preached last week. I'll just read these two verses for us really quickly. He says Paul writes he, that's God the Father. You can see that in verse 12, god the Father has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And so Paul's beginning to make a statement. He's not really defending it, he's just making the statement God the Father is the one who has delivered us. That should be cuing in some Exodus language for us. Right, the idea of delivering from one kingdom into a new kingdom.

Speaker 1: 4:09

So much of the New Testament takes these Old Testament stories and reimagines them through the life, ministry, death and resurrection of our Savior right. So it says right, the same way that God moved his people from Israel into the promised land, he has done that same delivering act for us who are in Christ. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of and we would expect to hear the word kingdom of light, right. And if you see, in verse 12, that's what he says that God has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Right, he's delivered us from darkness and brought us into light.

Speaker 1: 4:47

And again we see another theme that shows up in the Old Testament scriptures right, actually, at the beginning of the story In Genesis, chapter 1, the world begins in a state of darkness, darkness. It begins in a state of darkness, right. So in Genesis, chapter one, verse one kind of serves as like a summary of what goes on in God's creation act. But it begins with the world is void, it's empty, it's in a state of darkness and chaos, it's not usable, it does not produce life. And it is for God to step into the scene and take that which is dark and chaotic and void and fill it. Fill it and make it with light and make it usable and make it life-giving and life-bearing, right. So when you think about this idea of darkness and we just use darkness as a catch-all term for anything evil.

Speaker 1: 5:46

But I think particularly Paul is already starting to grab these other themes of Scripture and trying to bring them into our passage. Even the section I read from in verse 10 for the confession, the idea of bearing fruit, that's garden imagery, right. And we'll see later in chapter two, verse six, that he says as you receive Christ Jesus, our Lord, so walk in him, rooted in him. Right, more garden language, this idea of the garden, of the transfer from dark into light, the Exodus language, of being delivered from one kingdom, from one evil rulership, one evil authority, into a good one, into God's kingdom. Those are themes that he's bringing up. And even the idea of God's kingdom, the kingdom of his beloved son, brings to mind for us the kingdom of King David, right. David is God's chosen righteous ruler who rules with justice, and his son is not just David's son but is God's son and through him God's kingdom is brought into the world, right. So we see this kingdom imagery, we see this resurrection imagery. There is a spider right there, I got it First flick. There's new Exodus language, there's creation language, there's kingdom language, all being brought together in this passage, right here, from the start. And he isn't making it super explicit, he's just signaling us through some of his word choice dominion of darkness, deliverance, transference, kingdom of his beloved son.

Speaker 1: 7:21

And you'll notice, in verse 13, who is the one who is doing the salvation act. It is God the father. That's the he there in verse 13, who has delivered us and transferred us. So God the father is the one who saves us from this evil thing and into this new thing. God the father is the one doing the saving act. And yet you see, in verse 14, this additional phrase now about the Son, the beloved Son. It is in the beloved Son in whom we have redemption. So this is interesting, right? Because in verse 13, god is the one who is doing the saving. And then in verse 14, the saving is happening through the Son. Right, it's a two-person act where God the Father is doing the saving, but he's doing it through his son, into his son as well. You see that that's all right there in verse 13 and 14. And I think that's going to lead off into what Paul is going to say in 15 through 23.

Speaker 1: 8:23

Now, 15 through 20 has long been recognized as kind of a song, as kind of a poem, and you can kind of feel the tone of it as we read through it. But it's even more clear when you look at the language parallels that go on in Greek, and I'll try to make sense of them for us. But we have this song that Paul is using. Some people think it was a song that was before Paul that he's just using. Some people think Paul wrote it. I don't think it makes a difference for our passage.

Speaker 1: 8:54

He's using these words, he's using this idea to make his own case for us and this is what he says right. So now he's speaking about the beloved son in whom we have been saved into and in whom is our redemption right. So now he's speaking about the beloved son in whom we have been saved into and in whom is our redemption right. Now he's going to branch off and make that the central topic that he's going to address. So I want to split this section for us into two sections. The first part of the song is about Christ's creation and we'll see that in his creation. It is by him that all things are created, through him that all things are created and for him that all things are created. And our second point, which we'll get to in a bit, is that Christ's reconciliation, or his new creation. That'll be the second part of the song and we'll address that more when we get there. For now we'll look at this first part, verses 15 through 17,. Christ's creation by him or in him, through him and for him. It begins he, christ, is the image of the invisible God, right, and that for us again should be bringing up.

Speaker 1: 10:02

What passage of scripture Image of God, genesis 1. Genesis 1, right. Who is made in the image of God in Genesis 1? We are. All of humanity is right. This was an idea that was, in the ancient world, thought to only be for the kings, right. So the king kind of represents the God, the deity. And yet Genesis 1 transforms that and says all of humanity, both male and female together, are image bearers of God. And so Paul is taking that language and that picture and he's drawing it and pulling it into Christ.

Speaker 1: 10:41

And he includes an extra word here that isn't found in the Genesis account, the description of God being invisible. Now we can read into that a lot. Obviously, spirit means he's not a physical being, the way that you and I are physical beings. Something invisible, by definition, is something that is not visible, or, in other words, not seen. Right, you can't see it. So that's the significance behind why he's including that word invisible, because what is an image? An image is something you see, right.

Speaker 1: 11:16

So what he's saying is that there's the invisible God and all his attributes and all his glory and all his holiness who we cannot fully see. And we see that take place a lot in the Old Testament as well, where they are not allowed to see God in his full glory. And yet this son, this beloved son, the Christ, is the one we can see. He is the image, the visible representation of the invisible God, right, and he's this to the max, to the extreme. So where we were all called to be that, where we were created to be God's image bearers we don't always do that well he's restored us to be his image bearers again and carries that out into his world through us. But we see that his son is said to be, that the image of the invisible God is said to be that, the image of the invisible God.

Speaker 1: 12:07

And he adds on this additional line the firstborn of all creation. Now some people of course get caught up with that line, because a firstborn of creation does that mean that he's the first of the things created? And there's many reasons why I think that's not what Paul is saying here, but I'll just point out the most obvious one. For us, the most obvious is that in verse 16, we see this that by him all things were created. So obviously he is not one of the ones that is created, because it's by him that everything is created, right? If he were created with all the things created, he couldn't be the one creating them, right? So what he means by firstborn then has to be thought of in terms of what that would have meant.

Speaker 1: 12:52

In the Old Testament scriptures and we see that terminology come up a lot the idea of a firstborn is really important. You might remember the story of Esau and Jacob. Esau is the first one born and that means that he's not just the first one to come out of the womb, but that because of that he has a special status that he has inherited by being the firstborn and that means that he is given a certain set of rights, a certain set of blessings and a certain set of responsibilities. And Jacob does what he can to pull that out and say I want the firstborn blessing for myself. But we'll also see in the Exodus story that God says of Israel Israel is my firstborn. And because Egypt does not treat God's firstborn with honor, thus he wipes out Egypt's firstborn. Thus he wipes out Egypt's firstborn right. But much more.

Speaker 1: 13:50

In Psalm 89, you have a particularly Christ-centered Psalm where it's talking about the son of David. And in Psalm 89, I think it's verse 27, god says I will make him David's son, the firstborn of all the kings of the earth right. So it's not just saying I'm going to make him be the first one to come out of a womb, but he's saying I'm going to make him, above all the other ones, right In terms of status, in terms of his blessing, in terms of his right as the firstborn right. And even thinking of that in Psalm 89, he says I will make him the firstborn right. So it's like he's being transferred this status, and I would say that's what Paul is doing here and using this firstborn language for Christ, he's saying I am going to give him the status, the rights, the blessing, the responsibility, the highest position in the family, since he is the firstborn right, and think about that in terms of family dynamic. The firstborn has a special place above the rest of the family. He is being recognized and made into the firstborn, over all creation, and that means that in the family of creation he is the most important one, he has the highest position in the family of creation. That's what I think Paul is saying here about the Christ. He's the image of the invisible God and he is above all, the rest of creation, and I think the next two verses are going to clarify what he means by that a little more. Four right, and that's our causal preposition. This thing is true because of this thing I'm about to say, because in him, in Christ, all things were created. Right Now, this is tricky because when we think about creation I was just watching this debate between I think it was William Lane Craig he's this very popular, important Christian apologist who's done a lot to defend the Christian faith and then this Muslim apologist, and the Muslim apologist is pushing him and he's pushing him on the Trinity and he says to Dr Craig, he says who created the world?

Speaker 1: 16:07

Is it the Father? Is it the Son? Is it the Spirit? They can't all create it and they all can't create it equally. Was it that the Father created it? 50% of it is his responsibility and 50% is the Son's responsibility. And I think Dr Craig responded to him well and said no, you're thinking about it all wrong.

Speaker 1: 16:24

And he used the analogy of a fire lighting a candle. If you had a candle that were unlit and you took two flames and you went to light the candle, one flame alone is totally in itself capable of lighting that candle alone. Now if you take two or in our case three candles, three lighters, and you put those three flames to the one candle, the candle would be lit. Would it be that one flame lit it and the other didn't? Well, no, all the flames, the two flames, are both capable totally in themselves, of lighting the candle. But two flames are both capable, totally in themselves, of lighting the candle, but both of them put together, light it together. They're both totally causally efficient for lighting this candle.

Speaker 1: 17:16

So you can think of creation in that way, where it's like God is totally capable of having done it by himself God the Father, and yet God the Son is also totally capable of doing that same thing. And we see actually in the Genesis account that God, the Father, speaks the word the Son, and we see in verse 2 that the Spirit hovers over the waters in Genesis. So even in Genesis you have this picture of the three present in this same passage in the act of creation, and Paul is making the claim that the Son is the one doing the creating. And now what I've already said about verse 13 and 14 is relevant. In verse 13, god is the one who does the deliverance, god is the one who does the transferring to the Son, and yet how is he doing it? Through the Son, god is the one doing the saving, but he's doing it through the redemption of his Son.

Speaker 1: 18:15

I think we could say the same thing taking place here in creation, that Christ, the beloved Son of God, is the one doing the creating, enacting the creating of all things. But, as we'll see at the end of the verse, it's also through him that that creation takes place. But before that, he kind of clarifies and uses this language to highlight, in case there's any sort of misunderstanding what does he mean by all things? Right, he doesn't just mean the physical world that you and I live in. But he's going to clarify something more. Listen to this right by him, all things were created in heaven and on earth. That's Genesis, one language, visible and invisible. In other words, the physical things that are on the earth you, I, all the animals, all the plants but also the invisible things, the spirits. The spirits and this is significant because of what he said in verse 13.

Speaker 1: 19:21

In verse 13, there's this domain of darkness that we're being transferred out of that word domain is the same word in our translation as authorities. And what Paul is starting to do is he's starting to make a case that Christ is not just preeminent over all the earthly kings, but also all the spiritual beings that might be in the air, and this is going to be significant as you continue on through Colossians. But he created all things. He created all the visible things that we experience and see in our world, but he also created all the spiritual beings, even the ones that were evil, even the ones that we became enslaved to in the domain of darkness. Even those things were created by him. Why would he do that? Because, at the end of verse 16, he created them for himself, for his own thing and, as we know from the story of scripture, we rebelled from that and some of the angels rebelled from God.

Speaker 1: 20:22

But it's still the case. It is still the case that God created them and that God has a purpose for them, that they were purposed by God for his own act, for his own works, before the rebellion. But even then, they are not above him. They are not equal to him. The devil is not an equal enemy to God. He is subservient to him. He is subservient to him, and that means even the domain of darkness, even the powers of darkness that we see and experience in the world, are not outside of God's control. They are under him and they are subservient to him. And, as it says, one day every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord right.

Speaker 1: 21:10

By him, all things are created, everything is created, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities. Now think about that in this world. If you're in the Greek world under the Roman Empire and you are a Christian who is experiencing at its most extreme the oppression, persecution, murder of people like Saul right, and at its least extreme, you're at least experiencing being ostracized, being the group that is pushed aside, being the group that is not recognized and protected by the state, you are under an evil power, and this is why the people of God have always hoped and believed that God would deliver them from an evil kingdom into the kingdom of light, into the kingdom of God, into the kingdom of his son, where his son would rule righteously and bring true justice into the world right. So when he makes the statement that he's created all things thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities he's making sure all the grounds are covered for his readers that every single thing you experience under evil oppression and it's not just evil human oppression, but evil spiritual oppression through those earthly powers all that you experience under their tyranny is still under the lordship of the Son, and that's relevant to this community and it's relevant now and it will probably always be relevant until Christ returns fully. We will experience evil powers in the world that enact evil, that do not enact justice but that ostracize, that demonize, that push others down. And every single power is subservient to him and is ultimately for him to be for him. All these things that you might experience oppression under are subservient to the Christ, to the preeminent Christ. Christ is above his creation. He is the most significant one in creation because he created all things. And then, as it says in the end of verse 16, all things were also created through him and for him, and for him because he created it. It's his, he can do with it Whatever he wants. We are his, we are for him. All of his creation is for him and that's where I outlined that all things were created through him.

Speaker 1: 23:52

Thinking back to Genesis, how does God bring his creation to be? He speaks it. He speaks it. He speaks it. And John will recognize Jesus, the son, as the speech, the revelation, the manifestation of God's will, the word. It is through him that everything is created. So what Paul is saying is that the Christ is the one who is enacting the creation, but he's also the one being created through, and that everything that is in the created world is for him, for the purpose of him, because, in verse 17, he is before all things. That is what makes him firstborn, that is what makes him preeminent, and in him, all things. That is what makes him firstborn, that is what makes him preeminent, and in him all things hold together.

Speaker 1: 24:45

Some people have this idea of God that God creates the world and steps away from his world, that God really does exist and God really has made everything that is, but that he isn't actively present in the lives of his people and isn't actively present in his creation. That has not been the standard Christian belief. Instead, we would say not only has he created it, but because he created it, he's the one that sustains it as well. He's the one that holds it all together and keeps it from falling apart. I think of the picture in the first Spider-Man from the Marvel series right, the new Spider-Man, by the way when there's this scene where he's trying to hold this boat together. The boat splits in half and it's falling apart, and so he shoots all his webs around and strings it together and he's like kind of elevated and held in the middle and he's holding onto the webs and trying to hold all the things together and little does he know he missed one particular web. He needed to hold it together and it all falls apart, right, and Iron man has to come and save him, right. That's kind of this picture I get of, like everything is being held, except for he didn't miss something. It's all existing currently, because Christ is currently keeping it in existence.

Speaker 1: 26:10

Right, we just have this assumption, right, the sun rises in the morning and it goes away in the evening and it'll come back in the morning again. Why would we expect that to be the case? Why would we expect something that goes away to come back again? Well, we expect it, particularly in the sun, because we've experienced it every single day. We know that every single day, the sun will continue to rise, but that's an idea, that is something we've already come to accept. It's something we've already come to believe and just expect to be real and to be reality for us. But I think we would more rightly say that the reason why the sun continues to rise is because Christ makes it continue to rise.

Speaker 1: 26:57

The reason why the rain falls down and elevates up and then comes down again is because God makes it rain, and we see that in the Old Testament scriptures, right, we see instances where Elijah can say God, remove the rain, and it doesn't rain. We see instances where the sun is doing its regular thing and Joshua goes out to war and they need more sunlight, so the sun stops for them. Because, ultimately, god is in control of his creation and we would say, yeah, there's a regular rhythm to creation. It kind of does what it does. And we might not think God is behind that, but that's not how ancient thinkers and the biblical writers thought about it.

Speaker 1: 27:37

Christ is the one who is making all things constantly occur. He is the reason why the world continues to turn. He is the reason why the sun continues to rise, why rain falls when it does, why the moon comes out when it does. He's the reason why the oceans do not constantly overwhelm the land, even though we know that at times tsunamis occur or whatnot. God has created barriers. He's created the world in such a way where it does what he designed it to do. It functions the way it does because he created it and because he maintains his creation.

Speaker 1: 28:15

And for the significance in this passage, it's not just God broadly who is doing this, god the Father, but it is particularly also God the Son who is creating, creating through creating for his own purpose and upholding all things and keeping it rotating, keeping it in creation. And this brings us to the second part of Paul's poem, christ's reconciliation. And we'll see in this section as well that it is also in him, through him and for him, that the reconciliation takes place. Another way of saying reconciliation is new creation. Right when we think about our liturgy. Each Sunday. We think of it and structure the liturgy in terms of this pattern of God's creation, the fall that's kind of exemplified in our time of confession, but then God's redemption and the insurance of pardon and the songs we sang like worthy of it all in the sermon, and ultimately, god's new creation.

Speaker 1: 29:23

How are we to live in God's new creation? The new creation is something that's going to take place fully in the future, but it's something that has began to take place through Christ, through Christ's death, burial, resurrection, life ministry. The kingdom has come, the resurrection has already begun. The new creation has already begun through Christ. That's what he says in verse 18. He is the head of the body, the church. I'm gonna pause there for a second.

Speaker 1: 29:51

That seems really odd and compared to the great glory he just demonstrated in the last few verses, he created everything and he's the head of y'all. He created everything and he's the head of y'all, right? Doesn't the contrast seem weird? He's like glorious in every way and yet he's very significantly present and chosen to be present and chosen to be the head of you guys, right? You small, fickle, faithless at times, mistaken, broken people who he is redeeming. He has chosen, in his great splendor, in any of the things he could be doing, he has chosen to be with his people. He has chosen to enter into the world and become the head of his people, the church of his people, the church.

Speaker 1: 30:40

And you'll notice here the similarity between verse 15 and verse 18. In 15, he's the image of God, he represents God, and now here, in verse 18, he's the head of the church. He represents the church right. The same way that he exemplifies and represents God in verse 15, he exemplifies and represents his church before God in verse 18. He is the head of the body, the church, the authority over the church. The church is his great act of redemption. It is his great act of new creation. So, yes, he created all things in the world, in heavens, on the earth. But now for his great second act of creation, what is he going to do? Make you guys right, think about the significance of that for God's people that, with all that he could have done, he decided for his great act of to bring us in. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. Right Again, within the paradigm of how the Jewish scriptures are working, you have these ideas that all collide together the idea of God's redeeming and transferring his people out of a state of exile, out of Egypt, out of Babylon, into the kingdom of his son, but you also have this idea of new creation and you also have this idea of the resurrection.

Speaker 1: 32:15

The Jewish people believed there would be a resurrection to occur. Some people would be resurrected to life with God and some people would be resurrected to judgment, and they expected a resurrection to occur. Some people would be resurrected to life with God and some people would be resurrected to judgment, and they expected for that to occur. At the end of times, at the very last moment in history, when all things end, god resurrects all, has his final judgment, brings some to life and some to judgment. However, what we find in the life of Christ is something that they did not expect that in the middle of history a single person would arise by his own will, right. They expected this final resurrection to occur and yet in history, Jesus Christ resurrects, he initiates, he begins this great act of new creation, this great final resurrection that is gonna come. He is the moment when all the new creation begins to take place.

Speaker 1: 33:10

He's the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. As I already discussed about the firstborn. That means he's preeminent, that means he's authority over all the ones who come back from the dead. The same way that being the firstborn of a family means that he has the central, most most pivotal role in that family. So also of all of those who will come back from the dead, us, he is the most significant one, he is. Paul will say in first Corinthians 15, he's the first fruits, he's the beginning of many others that are going to occur.

Speaker 1: 33:41

And he does this in order that in everything he would be preeminent. Right, he's not just preeminent over all of creation, but by being the firstborn from the dead, that makes him also preeminent, superior above all else, in God's new creation as well. So in this way, christ is superior over all creation, all the rulers, authorities, powers, dominions. And he's also superior in God's new creation through his resurrection, for in him, him verse 19 for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Right. The same way we saw these, this language, in verse 16, by him or in him, through him and for him. We see a similar pattern here In him, by him, in verse 19,. All of God's fullness is pleased to dwell in Christ and we see that already taking place in his great act of creation.

Speaker 1: 34:53

God's act of creation is God acting through his son. Right, we already see in 15, he's the image of God. That's what he's rehearsing here again in verse 19. All of God, all of God's entirety, all of his glory, is pleased to dwell in the son because he is preeminent, because he is the firstborn, and through the son, through the Christ, to reconcile all things to himself. So, just as it was through the word that all of creation began to exist, it is also through the word, the Son, that we are reconciled, that the new creation occurs, that we are brought into the fold of God. It is through the Son that all of us are redeemed. That's what we saw in verse 13 and 14, that God is the one doing the saving. But he's doing the saving through his Son. That's the same statement he's making here, right, it is by him, in him, that all of God is pleased to dwell and pleased to work, because through him he's doing the saving act, he's doing the reconciling.

Speaker 1: 35:56

And notice here in verse 20, it's not talking about the reconciliation of us. It's talking about the reconciliation of all things. What I was saying earlier about the thrones and powers and dominions and rulers, all those things that are wicked, that have turned away from him thrones, powers, earthly, heavenly, us included, all of his creation. The same way that he created all things and all things fell apart, he is reconciling all things back into himself. He's reconciling them through his peace being made by the blood on the cross, and those things are being reconciled to or for himself. It is in him, it is through him, that the reconciliation of all things occur, and it is for him that all things are being reconciled, through Christ in him, for him. And how is he doing this? By making peace by the blood of his cross. He's restoring the world back to the way it was.

Speaker 1: 37:08

He's bringing things back into a state of peace, and peace doesn't just mean an absence of war, an absence of struggle. It also is a word commonly used in the Hebrew Bible to mean peace, blessing, well-doing, right. Shalom is the word there in Hebrew, and it's the one that Paul is using the Greek word to put in its place. That's not just, yeah, absence of struggle, it's actually well-being, prosperity, goodness blessing. He's making all that occur through his atoning, death on the cross and through being the firstborn from the dead. Through his death, through his resurrection, all things are being reconciled back to himself, as it was to be, and then Paul is going to bring it home, for the Colossians and for us too. Right? So God created all things through his son. All things are being recreated into a new creation state through his son.

Speaker 1: 38:10

And now, particularly as it relates to us as the believers, as the church, paul says this in verse 21,. And you, who are once alienated, once hostile in mind, once doing evil deeds, we could say, under the thrones and rulers and dominions of this world and in the spiritual realms, once we were previously in a domain of darkness, under the authority, under the power of darkness, and so we were alienated from God, we were hostile towards him, we were doing evil things because we were not of God. We were hostile towards him. We were doing evil things because we were not of God, even though we were once. In that verse 22, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death. Us in order to do what? In order to present us holy, blameless, above reproach before him. So, as Paul is saying right, all things are by him, in him, the reconciliation is occurring through him and it's for him. And in what way is it for him? It's for him in this way that he's doing it, so that all of us would be holy, blameless and above reproach for him. We are being made holy by him and we are striving for a holiness, to see God for him. For him, this is all for him. From him are all things, to him, are all things. He deserves the glory he deserves our lives to be for him In order to present us holy bl, blameless, above reproach before him. That's why he reconciled us. And then he ends with this if indeed you continue in the faith Now Paul assumes, hopefully, that his readers, that his church will continue to walk in him.

Speaker 1: 40:02

He'll say later, in verse 28, that he is teaching everyone with all wisdom in order that he may present everyone mature in Christ. So he sees himself as part of the ministry that is going to do this thing make you stable and steadfast and continue in the faith, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation. Paul sees himself as a minister, as a, as a continuer of that conclusion for the people of God. He is ministering, he is writing this letter so as to produce in the people of God further continuing faith that is stable, unshaken and continues to be steadfast in the Lord. So all things are for him. We are included in those all things. We are part of the church of which he is the head and he is doing it to make us holy in him.

Speaker 1: 41:01

I kind of skipped over my big idea at the start of the sermon, I'm realizing, but this is it. Because Christ is preeminent, because he is superior. What does that mean for us? That means we are totally ought to be holy for him. Totally ought to be holy for him. Holy in terms of being set apart from the world, but holy also in terms of being entirely, absolutely for Christ. We ought to be totally about Christ in everything, because he is preeminent. It is because he is above all things in every significant way that you can even think and describe, because of that great preeminence. That is why we ought to be absolutely only for him.

Speaker 1: 41:51

Christ will say this right, he'll say in the gospels if you are to be my disciple, this is what it means. You deny yourself, you deny your own desires, you deny the things that make you Lord of your life. You pick up your cross and you follow him. You lay everything else behind to follow him. That's the obstacle that the rich young ruler can't get over. He's not willing to let go of all of his riches to give to the poor and to follow Christ.

Speaker 1: 42:21

This man approaches Jesus and says hey, I want to follow you, I just have to go bury my dead father. And he says let the dead bury the dead If you're going to follow me. It's everything He'll say in Luke, chapter 14,. Before you choose to follow him, count the cost, because everything is on him In the temple. In Mark, chapter 12, you have this widow who approaches the temple to give to the temple and she gives all of what she has. And Jesus praises her and says what she has done. Like all these people give a little bit of the lot that they have, but she gives everything of the little that she has. Everything is being given.

Speaker 1: 43:07

Later, in Mark 14, you see this woman who approaches Jesus with this expensive oil and ointment and anoints his feet. She pours out the most expensive thing you could have at his feet. Everything is being placed before him, not part, not a significant part, but all, wholly, all of it. All of it is being given to him, and that is why Paul is making the case of his superiority, of Christ's preeminence. Because if he is preeminent over all creation, if he is preeminent over all of the new creation, if it is through him that all things were created, if it is through him that reconciliation occurs, it also means that all of creation, all of his new creation, ought to be for him, and you all, we all, as part of his redeemed people, ought to be fully and totally for him.

Speaker 1: 44:04

Paul will say later in Colossians 3, verse 1, if you have been raised with Christ, if you have been raised with Christ, if you are really a part of that body of which he is the head, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated in his glory before the Father. If you are a part of Christ's kingdom, if you are part of Christ's body, part of his family, then all things are his. All of who you are ought to be for him. For him, that's easy to say and a lot harder to live, and it looks different in different scenarios of our life, whether it looks like ministry or whether it looks like working at a nine to five job. Regardless, he imagines the same thing. All of that ought to be for him, right? The people that Paul is writing to?

Speaker 1: 45:10

Paul isn't writing to the theologians and to all the great religious teachers, all the Pharisees. He's writing to a small group of believers congregated in this one city, trying to live an honorable life to our Lord Jesus Christ. That's who he imagines, and yet he doesn't lower the standard for them. He doesn't say, just because you're not in a full-time position of ministry, you don't also owe him all. No, actually, he's speaking to the all, to the rest, and saying you owe him all. That expectation is not lowered for young Christians. It's not lowered for old, fragile Christians. It's not lowered for dying Christians or poor Christians. Lowered for dying Christians or poor Christians. It's a standard that he expects and prays for all Christians to walk in. That's what that is going to mean for us as well that all of us live wholly and totally for our Lord Jesus Christ, because he is preeminent, because he is superior. Lord Jesus Christ, because he is preeminent, because he is superior, let's pray.

Speaker 1: 46:27

Heavenly Father, lord, god, we thank you for your glory, lord, we thank you that you are powerful, that you are above all, that you are above us, lord. God, help us to see your glory totally. Lord, more and more. God, help us to experience more of your glory.

Speaker 1: 46:41

Lord that the Colossians, at times, were seeking for it in the wrong things. They were seeking for it in the shadows. Instead of the thing that was to come, lord, they sought it in Sabbath practices, in festivals, in asceticism and in worship of angels, and they were not seeking for it in you in Christ. But you say that all other things, all religious acts, are all a shadow of the substance which is you, jesus Christ, our Lord, and that all things pale in comparison to your glory and that all things are totally unworthy of our attention, of our demands, other than serving you as our Lord. God, make that real in our hearts. Make that a reality that we feel, but also one that we choose to walk in. Show us what that looks like, lord.

Speaker 1: 47:35

Over these next few weeks, god, clarify how we are to do that, lord, how we are to do that in our families, how we are to do that in our work, how we are to do that, lord, how we are to do that in our families, how we are to do that in our work, how we are to do that as we serve your church and as we serve your community. Lord, you expect a totally transformed life, a totally abandoned life to you. Lord, show us how to live an abandoned life for you, god, that goes beyond the places that we compartmentalize to Lord. Help us, lord, to not compartmentalize our faith and your lordship to a particular comfortable place in our life, lord, but that all of us would be totally committed to you as Lord, as King, as the preeminent one, that is, from whom all things come, to whom all things are directed, because you deserve all the glory, lord. We praise you, lord Jesus, we thank you for your reconciliation, we thank you for your work done in us and in your name. We pray Amen.