#3 We Believe In God The Son, Jesus Christ Series

Start with VIDEO "A GREATER NEED" available at Sermon Central

It’s all about knowing Jesus. But the world has a problem with Jesus. You can engage many people and talk about God, but as soon as you mention the name of Jesus, things will get quiet very quickly. Many will simple try and change the subject. The fact is, the world wants nothing to do with Jesus. If you claim to be a Jesus believing, born again Christian, the world will label you as a religious nut and reject you. The fact is: being a Christian is all about Jesus.

Acts 11:26 … and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

This term “Christian” was coined by outsiders, but the “-ian” at the end simply means “belonging to.” So as Christians we are belonging to Christ. We could have just as easily been called “Jesusians," belong to Jesus.” Being Christians, our confession to the world is “We believe in Jesus Christ. Other places in the world (in Muslim areas), Christians are called "Nazarenians," meaning we belong to the One (Jesus) from Nazareth.

But is that enough? Do we really understand just who Jesus Christ is? Today in the world, and even in this country, the term “Christian” has more meaning as a political term, like saying you are a conservative, or a Republican. I often refer to myself as a follower of Jesus or a believer rather than use the word "Christian." The sad fact is that many who call themselves Christian really are not, nor do they understand who Jesus really is.

We will say, as Christians, we are saved by the blood of Jesus, Jesus died for our sins, Jesus rose from the dead, and many other church phrases. These church phrases are all correct, but what is about Jesus that makes Him so special?

When we confess Jesus as Lord, we are also confessing the Deity of Jesus, meaning that Jesus is part of the Godhead of what we call the “Trinity.” We believe in the Triune God, God as He reveals Himself to us as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The word “Trinity” does not appear anywhere in the Bible. However, the doctrine of the trinity is found throughout the Old Testament and especially in the New Testament. The doctrine of the Trinity has never been fully defined or understood. Many, think that Christians worships three Gods but that is far from the truth. We affirm the Old Testament declaration of the Shema:

Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!

God is one, and he has revealed Himself in three forms or persons, who all exist simultaneously and in unity. How does this work? I really don’t know but my lack of complete understanding of this concept of the Trinity does not change who or what God is. Explaining the Trinity is not the purpose of today’s message, but rather to consider Jesus as part of the God-head. Next week we will consider God the Holy Spirit. Today, we are looking at God the Son

In our focal passage today, there is arguably no other paragraph in the New Testament the contains more concentrated doctrine about Jesus Christ than this. It speaks to His divine nature.

Colossians 1:13–20

If you get nothing else out of today’s message, please do not miss this, if you want to know what God is like, look no further than Jesus.

Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

In the Old Testament, the belief was that no one could see God and live:

Exodus 33:20 But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”

So God came in the form of a human, Jesus. To see Jesus is to see God. The disciples had problems with this.

John 14:8–9 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 God. That is why Jesus said in John 14:6, “No one cane come to the Father but through Me.” We further read:

Colossians 1:19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him

All of what God is, Jesus is. To know God is know Jesus. It’s just that simple. Jesus is God:

John 1:1–2 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.

Jesus himself, identifies Himself as God as exemplified by His “I AM” statements in John. For example in John makes an odd sonding statement concerning Abraham.