JESUS IS ……
COLOSSIANS 1:15-22
Intro: A young sentry was on guard duty for the 1st time, and he had orders not to admit any car unless it had a special identification seal on its bumper. About the middle of the night, an unmarked car approached his guard shack and the sentry stopped it. Inside, was a general and his driver.
When the Sentry advised them that he could not admit any car that didn’t have the special seal on it, the General became impatient and somewhat angry. Ignoring the sentry, the officer leaned forward and told his driver: “Don’t worry about it, just drive right on through.”
When the sentry heard this he looked into the back seat and politely said, “I’m sorry sir, but I’m new at this. Could you please tell me who I should shoot first - you or the driver?”
[ He is Lord, Jeff Strite, sermon central]
. Sometimes we seem to get confused about who exactly is in charge.
. One day this lion with a big ego went around asking the other animals who the king of the jungle was.
“Who’s the king of the jungle?” the lion roared at a monkey. “Why you are, Mr. Lion,” said the monkey with fear in his voice.
The lion went on and found a zebra. “Who’s the king of the jungle?” he snarled. “There is no doubt about it. You are Mr. Lion,” said the zebra.
Seeing a turtle crossing his path the lion bellowed, “Who’s the king of the jungle?” Scared out of his shell the turtle said, “You are Mr. Lion. You are the king of the jungle.”
Then the lion came upon an elephant. Once again he roared out the question, “Who’s the king of jungle?” The elephant used his trunk to grab the lion by his tail. He spun him around over his head several times, dunked him in a mud hole, and slammed him into a large tree.
Dazed and dirty the lion said, “Just because you didn’t know the correct answer was no reason to get upset.”[sermon central]
. Just exactly who is King?
. Just who is the King of the jungle?
. Who we should be following?
. As a church, you are embarking on a process this day in relation to who will lead you .
. Who will be your leader in the coming months and years
. As I said sometimes there can be confusion on this matter.
. Our scripture today reveals to us just who really is in charge.
. While the church has to have, and needs leaders, they are not the ones in charge.
. Gods word tells us that we are to have Pastors, Deacons , Elders, Bishops. Teachers and other people to fulfill Gods purpose for the church.
. While these offices are necessary, even these people are not the ones who will insure success in the endeavors of the church.
. There’s only one King, only one person who will lead this church or any other church.
. That King, that person is none other than Jesus Christ.
. Our scripture this morning tells us why we should accept, why you should accept none other than Jesus.
. He can use whoever you chose to lead you, but make no mistake this morning folks. If you don’t look to Jesus for your leadership, all your efforts will be in vain.
. Lets look at our scripture .
Col. 1:15-22, 15Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is dsupreme over all creation,
16for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
17He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together.
18Christ is also the head of the echurch,
which is his body.
He is the beginning,
fsupreme over all who rise from the dead.
So he is first in everything.
19For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
20and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
21This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.22Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
. We see here that we should accept Jesus as our leader because He is the REVEALER of everything
. verses 15&16 show this to us. 15Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is dsupreme over all creation,
16for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
. God is revealed in Jesus
. When we look at Jesus, we see God.
. Paul didn’t waltz around this fact here . Paul writes that Jesus is God.
. He is the visible image of God
. I’m sure your familiar with the phrase “Like Father Like Son”
. That’s what Paul is telling us. When you encounter Jesus, you encounter God.
. Jesus is God revealed to mankind.
. God revealed to us through Jesus Christ.
. In John 1:18 John writes af Jesus. 18No one has ever seen God. But the gunique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.
. In John 14: 8, Phillip asks Jesus to show them the Father and in 14:9 jesus says to Phillip;”… anyone who has seen me has seen the father…”
. Jesus is the physical and spiritual manifestation of God.
. A little girl was in her Sunday school class one Sunday and the teacher asked the class who Jesus was . The little girl raised her hand and the teacher called on her. She said that Jesus was God with skin stretched over Him.
. God is revealed to us through the person of Jesus Christ.
. Jesus is in charge because He is God, and that’s who we are supposed to follow.
. Not only do we see God revealed in Jesus , we also see creation revealed through Jesus.
. Verse 16 says that through Him God created everything
. This is not a sermon on creation but just think with me for just a moment.
. How can anyone look around at our world and believe that we are here just by chance. Science itself attests to a designer.
. If you just study creation, you get a glimpse of the power and wisdom of the creator. The sheer size of the universe itself is astounding. The sun is 100 times the diameter of the earth and could hold 1.3 million planets the size of the earth in it.
. Our galaxy, the Milky Way contains hundreds of billions of stars.
. Astronomers estimate that there are million or even billions of galaxies.
. They estimate that the number of stars in the universe could be as high as 10 to the 25th power. That’s roughly the number of all the grains of sand in all the beaches of the earth.
. psalm 19:1-4 the psalmist writes; The aheavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.
2Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known.
3They speak without a sound or word;
their voice is never heard.
4Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
and their words to all the world.
. Paul writes that through Him, meaning Jesus, all this was created.
. That means that when God said let there be light, it was the voice of Jesus that rang out through the heavens.
. In all the days of creation, when God spoke, It was the voice of Jesus that echoed through out the universe.
. When God said let us make man, it was Jesus who was the creator of life.
. In Jesus all of creation was revealed.
. Everything that we see and things that we cannot see.
. Paul writes that everything was created by Him and also for Him.
. This whole existence that we have was created for Jesus.
. For His Glory.
. For His honor.
. Paul reveals the answer to the age old question; why are we here?
. We are here because we were created for Him.
. Created to bring glory to Him, not to ourselves.
. That is why we should follow Jesus. That is why He is our king.
. He created us for that purpose. To follow him.
. We follow Jesus, we look to him as our leader because in Him, everything is revealed.
. Not only do we see Jesus as the revealer of everything but he is also the Ruler of Everything.
.We see this in verses 17&18: 17He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together.
18Christ is also the head of the church,
which is his body.
He is the beginning,
fsupreme over all who rise from the dead.
So he is first in everything.
. Paul writes that He holds everything together.
. As ruler of all of creation, He holds everything together.
. In our sermon last week, one of the properties of salt was that it is a preservative and that we as Christians being obedient to god help hold this world together. We help keep this world from slipping into chaos. From the decay that would set in if salty Christians weren’t in the world.
. Paul says that Jesus not only holds our society together but that He holds all things together.
. He is the ruler of everything.
. He holds all creation together.
. A guide took a group of people through an atomic laboratory and explained how all matter was composed of rapidly moving particles.
The tourists studied the models of molecules and were amazed to learn that matter is made up primarily of empty space.
During the question period, one visitor asked, "If this is the way matter works, what holds it all together?"
For that, the guide said there are many theories but there is no definitive answer.
. Folks I have the answer right here.
. Paul writes that Jesus is the One who holds all things together.
. Peter tells us what’s going to happen when Jesus ceases to hold the world together. In 2nd peter 3:10, peter writes:
. But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.
. On the day of the Lord, the elements themselves will pass away.
. Jesus is the ruler of everything, from the elements all the way to you and I.
. Not only is Jesus the ruler of all the elements, He is also ruler of the church.
. Verse 18 says that Jesus is the head of the church and that we are the body of the church.
. Jesus is the ruler, He is the King. He is King of the jungle because He is the Head.
.As long as He remains the Head, the body will function the way it is supposed to do.
. Churches lose their direction and get confused about who is in charge when the head is taken away from the body.
. How many of you remember the star wars movies?
. As I was thinking through this concept of the body losing it’s head I was reminded of a scene from one of the Star Wars movies.
. I don’t remember all of the details but it was a scene that showed all the robots that had been damaged just piled up in one room. CP3O had been tossed in there because his head had been removed from his body. It shows Chewbacca finding his head and the head looking around for its body. You see the body couldn’t function without its head. Try as hard as he could, He couldn’t make the body do what he wanted it to do. The body just lay there , lifeless.
. That’s what happens to many churches who lose their head. They are just existing, lifeless.
. Another example is a little more graphic be applicable.
. When I was a little boy growing up on that chicken farm, we would go and get chickens for lunch or dinner and my mom would cook them. Well of course they would have to be killed and plucked before they could be cooked.
. They way that they would kill them was to wring the necks off the chickens. Well when that happens the chickens just flop around, you never know which way they are going because they head is gone. They can’t see where they are going.
. Churches without Jesus as their Head just kind of flop around with no idea where they are going because they have no head.
. They have no direction. They may have elected leaders but they have lost sight of who is ultimately the Head of the church.
. Jesus is the ruler of everything. He is the Head of the church.
. Not only is Jesus the Revealer and Ruler of Everything, He is also the Reconciler of Everyone.
. Paul writes in verses 20-22: 20and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
21This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.22Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
. Think about this. The one who created all that we see.
. The one who reveals God to mankind.
. The one who holds the entire universe together.
. This person chose to die a horrible horrible death on a cross.
. Because their had to be a way to reconcile you to God and this was the only way.
. Paul writes that we were enemies of God, separated from God because of who we are as human beings and that the only way for us to ever come into the presence of God was through a reconciliation with God.
. The only way to do that was through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
. How could we not allow Jesus to be our leader.
. I hear a lot of talk about excitement around here and to tell you the truth, I’m excited too.
. We should all be excited when we realize that the person just described is going to be our leader.
. He is the one we choose to follow.
. We should be shouting from the roof tops, come and see who is in charge at our place of worship.
. In order for us to recognize Jesus as the Head of the church, we must first make him head of our lives.
. He must first be the leader in our lives in order for us to submit to His leadership in the church.
. Have you given your life to Jesus today?
The Alliteration outline came from Adrian Rogers sermon; Who Is Jesus. Sermon Central.
