1. Jesus’ relationship to His creation (15-17)
2. Jesus’ relationship to His church (18-19)
3. Jesus’ relationship to His children (20-23)
I’m sure many of us have heard the story about the little girl who was coloring a picture in her Sunday School class. It was a pretty picture, but the teacher couldn’t quite figure out what it was going to be. So she asked her. The little girl was so into her work of art that she didn’t even look up from her paper. Without even looking up, she told the teacher, I’m coloring a picture of God. Well, the teacher didn’t quite know what to do. She knew how involved the girl was in her artwork. But she knew she needed to correct her theology as well. So she told her—“sweetheart, you can’t really draw a picture of God, because nobody really knows what He looks like.” The little girl still didn’t look up from her paper when she said, “Well, they will when I get done.” How many times do we do that? How many times do we paint a picture of God based on what we think He ought to look like rather than what He is really like? How many times do we make Jesus out to be something that He really isn’t? There are millions of people throughout our nation who will tell you they love Jesus. They’ll tell you they love Jesus, but have no idea who He really is. Most of the time when I am talking to someone about their relationship with the Lord, I ask them a simple question. I ask them, “Who is Jesus to you?” You would be amazed at some of the responses I get. Some people think he was a great teacher. Some think he was a prophet. Some think he was a good example for us to follow. But most people don’t even answer the question. Most people start to act like they’re running for political office and deflect. They’ll talk about what a good person they are. Or they’ll tell you what church they’re a member of or when they were baptized. They’ll talk about all their good deeds or their charity work. A lot of times they’ll start to tell you about how much better they are than all those church people they know. It’s about that time when I feel like acting like a judge in the courtroom. I feel like saying, “Objection—just answer the question.” Who is Jesus to you? In our passage this morning, Paul answers that question for the church at Colosse. One of Paul’s disciples, Epaphras probably planted the Colossian church while Paul was at Ephesus. Epaphras was saved in Ephesus and immediately went to Colosse and planted the church there. The church there did very well. And you know what happens when a church does very well, don’t you? Satan attacks it. It turns out that he attacked the Colossian church by bringing in some false teachings about Jesus. It was so bad that Epaphras went to Paul while he was in prison in Rome for help. Paul wrote this letter to them to remind them of who Jesus is. That’s what I want this morning to be about. I want us to be reminded of who Jesus is. We’ve just heard a wonderful cantata that told of who He is in His incarnation. Now we’re going to see who He is in His relationships. First, who is Jesus in His relationship to His creation? Look with me in verses 15-17:
COLOSSIANS 1:15-17
First, we need to clear up a little language here. It’s interesting that Paul wrote this to warn the church about false teachings about Jesus. It’s interesting, because we have false teachers today who use this very verse to support their false teaching about Jesus. Jehovah’s Witnesses misuse this verse and make it say what it doesn’t say in order to support their false doctrine that Jesus isn’t God. Their use of verse 15 is wrong. Here’s what the verse means. It means that just as the invisible Father is God, so is the Son who came to the earth in visible flesh. It’s as simple as that. Jesus is God. He is Immanuel—God with us. God in the flesh. God incarnate. The word that is translated “image” in verse 15 is the word that was used to describe an engraving tool or a stamp. In other words, Jesus is the exact representation—the exact likeness of God. Is it something we can ever completely understand? No. If we could, then we would be saying that our little brains are big enough to contain the thoughts of God Himself. And let me tell you something. No matter how smart you think you are—Scripture says that your thoughts are not His thoughts. Your ways are not His ways. You will never completely figure God out. The day you think you have is the day you need to fall on your knees in repentance. Jesus is the exact representation of God because He is God. Verse 15 also says He is the firstborn of every creature. Those same false teachers of our day say that proves that Jesus was created. They say that because they don’t know their Scriptures. Firstborn can mean one of two things. It can mean born first chronologically. Like Kyla. Kyla is my firstborn child because she was born before Katelyn or CJ. Of course, that is not the sense that it is used here. Even though Jesus was born of a virgin, that’s not where He began. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:14 goes on to say, “And the Word was made 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.” Jesus was not first born in the chronological sense. He couldn’t be because He is without beginning or end. As God, He is eternal. But Jesus was first born in the other sense of the word. He is first born according to His position. He is first born according to His rank. He is above all of creation. Because of His first born position, He has all the rights, privileges and responsibilities of His Father. To say that Jesus is the firstborn of every creature carries the exact same meaning as when Scripture tells us that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. He occupies the position of the utmost prominence. And as God of very God, verse 16 tells us that Jesus created all things. When you read the creation account in Genesis 1, Jesus was with God and Jesus was God as God created the heavens and the earth. Nothing exists that Jesus didn’t create. And nothing continues to exist that Jesus doesn’t sustain. In the April 8, 1966 edition of Time Magazine, the cover was completely black. Three words stood out in bold red letters. They asked the question, “Is God Dead?” Well, here’s the answer—No. God is not dead, Jesus is not dead. Here’s the irony of it all. The only reason that magazine cover was able to exist in the first place was because Jesus is alive. The only reason that the atheist is able to say, “Jesus never existed.” Is because Jesus is alive. Verse 17 tells us that by Jesus, all things consist. If Jesus was to remove His sustaining hand from creation for one moment in time, everything would cease to exist. His relationship to His creation is as our creator and as our sustainer. But Jesus not only has a relationship with His creation, He has a relationship with His church. Who is Jesus in His relationship to His church? Look with me in verses 18-19:
COLOSSIANS 1:18-19
What comes to your mind when you think about church? You know that song, “The Church in the Wildwood?” You know the words—“There’s a church in the valley by the wildwood. No lovelier spot in the dale. No place is so dear to my childhood. As the little brown church in the vale.” I enjoy the song, but what a sappy, sentimental picture of church. The little country church might bring back some good memories and it might make some good sentimental pictures, but that’s not a true picture of church. The church is the body of Jesus Christ himself. The church—this church—is the body of Immanuel, God with us. How dare we take that for granted. How dare we abuse the body of Christ with gossip or backbiting. How dare we neglect the body of Christ with messed up priorities or apathy. How dare we! I want you to notice who Paul is talking to here. He’s talking to a local church. He’s not talking about some unseen universal church here. He is writing to a specific group of believers who gathered together on a regular basis as the local church in Colosse. And Paul tells them that they are Jesus’ body. Just like God’s Word is telling us here at Brushfork Baptist Church that we are His body. Salvation and baptism are always in the context of the local church. When Jesus saves a person, He saves them to be baptized into a local church. He saves them to be united with other believers into His body. If you think you’re saved and are not part of a local church, you might want to check your heart. The Bible doesn’t talk about Jesus’ body parts floating around all by themselves. Jesus’ relationship to His church is that His church is His body here on earth. He indwells those who trust Him as Lord and Savior. And because He indwells us, we become part of His body. And as part of His body, we desire to unite with the rest of His body in the local church. Being in the local church as Jesus’ body is the only way we can truly give Him the preeminence verse 18 talks about. Don’t get me wrong, the preeminence is already His. It goes back to what we talked about last week in Philippians 2:9. Because Jesus willingly obeyed the will of the Father, the Father highly exalted Him. For all of eternity, Jesus’ name is above all names. He has the preeminence. But it’s only in the context of worship and work in the local church that we can truly show Jesus the preeminence He already has. Our worship of Him here at Brushfork Baptist Church. Our work for Him here at Brushfork Baptist Church. That is the only thing that truly shows who Jesus really is to a lost and dying world. Jesus has a relationship to His creation. And He has a relationship to His church. Each of those is precious. But neither of those relationships are as precious to me as Jesus’ relationship to His children. Look with me in verses 20-23.
COLOSSIANS 1:20-23
Jesus’ relationship to His creation is the relationship of creator and sustainer. His relationship to His church is the relationship of preeminent headship. But His relationship to His children is a relationship of reconciliation. The word that’s translated reconcile in verse 20 literally means “exchange”. If there’s one thing worse than Christmas shopping, it’s after-Christmas shopping. All the stores are an absolute disaster. Wal-Mart has carts and carts and carts full of things that people are exchanging. Clothes might be the wrong size or color or style. Gifts might be things that don’t work or that people already have. But people line up at the customer service desk trying to exchange things. But let me tell you about the exchange that Jesus made for you and me. Over 2000 years ago, He exchanged His life for yours. But not only did He exchange His life for yours, He exchanged His death for yours. You see, each of us is full of sin. We were born into sin and we’ve committed a lifetime of sin. And because of our sin, we were sworn enemies of God. The only thing that each of us deserve is the complete, total unbearable wrath of God. Our relationship with our creator was irreconcilable. Until Jesus paid the price to reconcile us. Verse 20 says that He paid for our peace with God by the shedding of His blood on the cruel cross of Calvary. The cross of Calvary was His means of reconciliation. Verse 21 tells us that the focus of His reconciliation was you and me. Without the blood of Jesus being applied to your life, you are alienated from God. You are His sworn enemy. You might not be able to look at your life apart from Christ and see that your works are wicked. But you know what? That in itself is a work of wickedness. Anytime you can think that your life isn’t so bad. Or you’re not really a bad person. Anytime you begin to think like that apart from Jesus Christ, you are working the worst kind of wickedness. When you think those things, what you are really saying is that Jesus didn’t really have to die for me. That’s calling His sacrifice worthless. I can think of nothing more wicked than that, can you? The means of reconciliation is the cross. The focus of reconciliation is you and me. The purpose of reconciliation is in verse 22. The purpose of reconciliation is two-fold. It is to take away your unrighteousness. Jesus’ perfect sacrifice does that for you. But if that was all there was, that still wouldn’t reconcile you to God. That would just bring you back to neutral. That would simply take away His wrath. His wrath would be gone, but you would still be empty. You would still be hollow and without eternal purpose. You still would have no righteousness that would commend you to having a relationship with God. But Jesus’ perfect life provided that for you. While His perfect sacrifice can take away your sins, His perfect life can clothe you in His righteousness. It takes both to be reconciled to God. Picture a dirty little homeless boy, living in squalor out on the streets. A servant of the King invites him in off the streets to come live in the King’s palace. In order for the dirty little boy to stand in the presence of the king, he must be washed of all the filth of the street. But not only must he be bathed, he must put on new clothes. That is a picture of what Jesus does for us in salvation. He washes away the dirtiness of all our sin. And then he gives us new clothes. He clothes us in His righteousness so we can stand reconciled before Him as our King. The means of reconciliation is the cross. The focus of reconciliation is you and me. The purpose of reconciliation is to cleanse us from unrighteousness and provide us with the righteousness of Christ. Finally, verse 23 tells us the evidence of reconciliation. Jesus’ relationship with His creation is such that He not only created everything, He continually sustains everything. His relationship with His church is such that He not only started it by being the firstborn from the dead, He continues it by—right now—being our head. Jesus’ relationship with His children is such that when He saves us, He will keep us. Those who He truly saves, will persevere till the end. Grounded, settled, and not moved. In Peter’s second letter, chapter 1:10-11, he wrote, “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” If Jesus has saved you, you will bear fruit. And ye shall never fall. So, I’ll go back to the question I started with. Who is Jesus to you? Is He just the baby in the manger that you take out of the box and dust off once a year? Is He some “get out of jail free” card to you? Is He some type of fire insurance that lets you live any way that you want to and still escape the fires of Hell? If that’s your idea of who Jesus is, you need to heed Peter’s advice. You need to do some work to make your calling and election sure. You need to check your heart. The real Jesus is God. The real Jesus holds creation in the palm of His hand. The real Jesus numbers every breath you breathe and every beat of your heart. The real Jesus lives as the head of this church. The real Jesus deserves and demands preeminence in this church. The real Jesus doesn’t put up with stray body parts that aren’t part of His local body. But let’s get down to your life. What you might want to call your personal salvation. The real Jesus doesn’t just save you to keep you out of Hell. The real Jesus doesn’t save you to make you healthy, wealthy and prosperous. The real Jesus saves you from your sin and unto His righteousness. He saves you for a purpose. He saves you to die to the flesh and live for Him. He saves you to grow His church. He saves you to reach the lost. That is the real Jesus. The question is, do you know Him? Do you know the real Jesus or have you been dealing with a cheap imitation? Today is the day to know the real Jesus. Today is the day to give Him your heart. Today is the day to begin to make your calling and election sure by starting to serve Him. If you have never trusted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, when the music sounds in just a moment, I beg of you to come forward and publicly profess that you’re trusting Him today. If you have publicly professed Jesus as your Lord and Savior, but have not followed Him in baptism, come forward and be obedient today. If you know that Jesus is your savior, but you have turned your back on His lordship, come forward and publicly turn back to Him today. However the Holy Spirit is prompting you this morning, don’t turn Him away. Answer His calling today.
