The One and Only
Text: Col. 1:15-18
Introduction
1. Illustration: Someone once asked a banker how he trained his staff to recognize counterfeit notes:
The banker said, that’s simple, I have them handling the real thing all day, so when a counterfeit note comes into their hands, they know immediately.
2. There are many counterfeit gods today, but there is only one true God - Jesus Christ.
3. Jesus is:
a. Completely God
b. Creator God
c. Cohesion God
d. Controlling God
4. Read Colossians 1:15-18
Proposition: Jesus Christ is the one and only God.
Transition: Jesus is...
I. Completely God (15)
A. Image of the Invisible God
1. Paul begins by saying that Jesus "is the image of the invisible God."
a. The word "image" (eikôn) means the exact image, the very person of God.—Practical Word Studies in the New Testament
b. According to Lightfoot "image" means a mark or figure burned or stamped on (something)...a precise reproduction in every respect.
2. This may sound strange to us. How can something invisible have an image?
a. In Greek philosophy, however, the image has a share in the reality that it reveals and may be said to be the reality.
b. An image was not considered something distinct from the object it represented, like a facsimile or reproduction.
c. As the image of God, Christ is an exact, as well as a visible, representation of God (Garland, NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: Colossians and Philemon, 87).
3. It means that Jesus Christ was the perfect manifestation or revelation of God.
a. God is invisible or unseen, but Jesus Christ reveals God to the world.
b. He reveals God as the exact image, as the perfect representation of God.
c. John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
B. Original
1. Illustration: This last Christmas I wanted to get Daniel an Ovation guitar like mine. I ordered what I thought was an Ovation, but when it came it was painfully obvious that is was not an Ovation, only an imitation. It was a cheap copy.
2. Too many people today are settling for a cheap copy of the real thing. They follow:
a. False god’s
b. False religions
c. False hopes
3. They have traded the real thing for a cheap imitation.
4. Jesus is:
a. The image of God
b. The real deal
c. The one and only
Transition: He is also...
II. Creator God (16)
A. All Things Were Created
1. According to Paul, "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth."
a. The words "by Him" mean in Him; that is, creation took place in Christ, within His very being.
b. The universe exists because of Christ and because of Him alone.
2. Paul’s statement is confirmed elsewhere in Scripture.
a. John 1:3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
b. Heb. 1:2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.
3. The words "all things" are very significant. They mean...
a. "All things" collectively, that is, all the things within the universe were created by Christ.
b. "All things" individually, that is, every single detail of creation, was created by Christ.
c. Each particle and thing, each being and element has come into being in Christ and in Him alone.
4. The creation of Christ includes all the worlds of all the dimensions of being.
a. This is what is meant by the statement, "that are in heaven, and in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers."
b. If there are other visible and living planets and beings in outer space, Christ created them.
c. If there are invisible worlds and beings in other dimensions, Christ created them.
5. Not only were we created by Christ, but we were also created "for Him."
a. We were created to have fellowship with God.
b. We were created for His pleasure.
B. Creator
1. Illustration: Kind of like the little kid who was told this same story in his Sunday School class. After church on way home mom asks him what they talked about in Sunday School class, the little boy tells her that they talked about the creation story and how God had taken a rib from mans side and made a wife for him. After lunch his mother finds him doubled over in pain, and asks him what’s wrong. The little boys says; “My side hurts mommy, I think I’m having a wife.”
2. The truth is this: Jesus created all things.
3. We didn’t:
a. Evolve from a monkey
b. Emerge from a swamp
c. Explode from a big bang
4. We were created by Jesus, the creator God.
5. We were created to:
a. Serve Him
b. Love Him
c. Fellowship with Him
Transition: Jesus is completely God, creator God, and He is...
III. Cohesion God (17)
A. In Him All Things Consist
1. Paul says that Jesus "is before all things..."
a. Jesus Christ was before all things in time. Before the first thing was ever created, Jesus Christ was already there.
b. He always is, was, and shall be.
c. John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2. Jesus Christ is before all things in importance, supremacy, and preeminence.
a. Nothing is superior to Him.
b. He alone is the Sovereign Majesty of the universe.
c. He alone stands before all as Supreme; all else—every single thing—stands under Him owing their existence, worship, and service to Him.
3. Paul also says that "in Him all things consist."
a. Not only did Jesus create the universe, He also sustains it.
b. He maintains the delicate balance necessary to life’s existence.
c. He quite literally holds all things together.—MacArthur New Testament Commentary, The
4. If it was not for Christ:
a. Everything would fall apart
b. Everything would be chaos
c. Everything would cease to exist
B. The Glue That Holds Us Together
1. Illustration: There is a story about a man had fixation for the power of ‘CRAZY GLUE’:
While visiting the Eagle’s Rock African Safari Zoo with a group from St. Petersburg, Russia, a man named Demuth tried to demonstrate one of America’s many marvels. Demuth wanted to show the effectiveness of "Crazy Glue" ... the hard way. Apparently, Demuth put about 3 ounces of the adhesive in the palms of his hands, and jokingly placed his hands on the buttocks of a passing rhino. The rhino, named Sally, had been a resident of the zoo for many years. She was not startled at first because she had been part of the petting exhibit since she was a baby.
However once she tired of the petting, Sally began to panic and run around the pen taking Demuth with her. During Sally’s tirade two fences were destroyed, a shed wall was gored, and a number of small animals escaped. Also, during the stampede, three pygmy goats and one duck were stomped to death. It took a team of medics and zoo caretakers over four hours to apply solvent and remove Demuth’s hands from the rhino’s buttocks.
2. Jesus is the glue that holds the world together.
3. Jesus:
a. Sustains us
b. Meets our needs
c. Cares for us
4. Without Him we are:
a. Lost
b. Doomed
c. Without hope
Transition: Jesus is also the...
IV. Controlling God (18)
A. Head of the Church
1. Now Paul shifts his attention to Christ’s relationship to the church. He says that Christ is "the head of the body, the church..."
a. This concept is not used in the sense of the head of a company, but rather looks at the church as a living organism, inseparably tied together by the living Christ. —MacArthur New Testament Commentary, The
b. He controls every part of it and gives it life and direction.
2. The body finds its purpose, meaning, and significance in the Head who is Jesus Christ.
a. Therefore, the body or church must learn more and more to acknowledge and honor the Head.
b. The body must learn to look to the Head for its plans, guidance, and motivation.
3. The church body is to let Christ control it.
a. The church is to walk a disciplined, controlled life just like Christ says.
b. When the church lives like Christ dictates, then the church body lives a life free of disease and injury.
4. Paul says that Christ is the beginning of the church. The word has significant meaning.
a. "Beginning" means creative power.
b. When something first begins, it is created or brought into being by some person or thing greater than itself.
c. Jesus Christ was the Person who gave birth to the church.
d. He is greater than the church; therefore, He had the power to create the church and bring it into existence.
5. A person who does not follow Christ the Founder fails to really enter the church which He founded.
a. A person may sit in the pews of a building and hear the voice of the preacher, but unless he follows Christ, he is not in the body and movement of the church’s Founder.
b. Therefore, to be a part of His church, a person has to live in the will and movement which He established.
c. They must submit to Christ by being submissive to church authority.
B. In Control
1. Illustration: A man called at the church and asked if he could speak to the Head Hog at the Trough. The secretary said, “Who?”
The man replied, “I want to speak to the Head Hog at the Trough!”
Sure now that she had heard correctly, the secretary said, “Sir, if you mean our pastor, you will have to treat him with more respect—and ask for ‘The Reverend’ or ‘The Pastor.’ But certainly you cannot refer to him as the Head Hog at the Trough!”
At this, the man came back, “Oh, I see. Well, I have $10,000 dollars I was thinking of giving to the Building Fund.”
Secretary: “Hold the line—I think the Big Pig just walked in the door.”
2. Eph. 1:22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church.
3. If we are to be the body of Christ we must:
a. Live by His word
b. Follow His commands
c. Submit to His Lordship
4. Otherwise, we are merely a mutation.
Conclusion
1. Jesus Christ is:
a. Completely God
b. Creator God
c. Cohesion God
d. Controlling God
2. The question that we must ask ourselves is are we submitting to Him in all things?
