Jesus Is Enough

TITLE: JESUS IS ENOUGH

SCRIPTURE: COLOSSIANS 1:15-20

(Adapted from Dr. David Jeremiah devotional)

Do you ever get the feeling there is no such thing as having enough in our world? We live in a culture where there is an incessant pressure to add on to existing things. Think about all of the people who just have to add their own personal comments to a post on Twitter or Facebook. And whether you find yourself dining in a fine restaurant or sitting at a fast-food drive up window, you are always pressured to add something to your order.

• Do you want Fries with that

• Do you want to Super Size your order

• It’s as if the status quo is never enough!

There is no more tangible example of this phenomenon than in the explosive use of additives over the last thirty years. Additives are just what you think they are - they are things added to products that make them Stronger - Last Longer - or Look Better. Additives are in everything —

• From Gasoline

• Toothpaste

• Makeup

• Even the buildings we live and work in are a product of additives because Steel itself is the result of Carbon being added to Iron

Even though we often don’t think about it, we constantly put additives inside our bodies. There are - -

• Preservatives in bread and cheese to make them resistant to the growth of mold

• Food Coloring in Margarine to make it look more like Butter

• Artificial Sweeteners in soft drinks to make them calorie-free

• In our Coffee we ask for the Blue Packet or the Yellow Packet – containing artificial Sugar

And while these are all seemingly acceptable ingredients, there comes a point where adding to something actually subtracts from its value. Additives often bring damaging side effects, and with that awareness there is a growing movement to return to natural products. Companies are now making soda from real cane sugar because natural sugar is better for you than high fructose corn syrup or the chemicals found in diet soda. And nutritionists have found the natural fat found in butter is healthier for you than the additives that make up margarine. The world has begun to realize that some things are best when they are left in their natural state.

While this movement back to natural, organic roots has happened in the world of food, it has not yet fully happened in the realm of faith. It would be wonderful if people saw the Bible and the Gospel in all its rich clarity and realized that Christ alone is sufficient for salvation and for every spiritual need of the human soul. But unfortunately what happened thirty years ago in the commercial world has infiltrated the Church and has created a mindset and attitude that is an affront to God - people are bringing additives to the redemptive work of Christ on the cross.

But the Bible is very clear that Jesus was and is the “Plan of Enough” as set out from God. Freshly reminded in today’s exhortation to be careful about overstatement, let me celebrate the importance of this passage just briefly before we dive into the details. COLOSSIANS 1:15–20 is the most well-known passage in the letter, and for good reason.

• It is one of the high points in the whole New Testament

• It is no exaggeration to say this is one of the greatest paragraphs in the history of the world

• It is dense with foundational and all-encompassing truth

• It is boldly Christ-Centered

• These very well may be the most important six consecutive verses in the Bible

• Here is the heart of the Christian worldview, undiluted, packed tightly into one short paragraph

Scholars and lay readers alike have long noticed as we move from VS. 9–12, transition into VS. 13–14, and then finally land into VS. 15–20, there is a shift in Paul’s language from his typically long flowing sentences, to these short, simple poetic declarations about Christ. Because these six verses have that poetic feel — like a Creed or A Hymn found in the First Century Church — some interpreters have speculated Paul adopted it from early-church worship, and perhaps adapted it for his purposes here in the letter - Perhaps. That would not be a problem if it were the case. But I see no good reason to think it more likely that someone else composed these lines other than Paul. The massive truth distilled here in such short space and simple sentences is theological genius at work, and plainly Paul, along with Luke and I would even suggest John, stands as one of the clear theological giants we know from the first-century church.

One of the problems the Colossians’ had to deal with was allowing worldly traditions to get in the way of their relationship with Jesus. They had become Christians though learning of the Gospel of Christ,