Lord of All
Colossians 1:13-20
Hudson Taylor was a man who made Jesus his Lord. The son of a preacher, saved at the age of 15 Hudson Taylor as a youth fully surrendered to the Lordship of Christ.
His pastor father had prayed for years that his son would go to China as a missionary and as a teenager Hudson Taylor answered the call.
Hudson Taylor started the China Inland Mission and when he came back to England to recruit more young people as missionaries he had one interview question.: Is Jesus your Lord?
He is quoted as saying this reason for that question; If Jesus is not Lord of all, he is not Lord at all!
Hundreds of young people surrendered to take the Gospel to China through his leadership and the entire world knew of his surrender and sacrifice to our Lord. When he was introduced to speak at a conference in Australia there was a long list of accolades. Hudson Taylor stood up and said as JTB before him, “Friends, I’m just a little servant of an illustrious Master”
As we continue our study this morning on the book of Colossians the apostle Paul would have us respond to Jesus the same way Hudson Taylor did. So the question “Is Jesus your Lord?”
The false teachers at Colossae were just like the world today. They wouldn’t deny Jesus just dethrone Jesus. Give Jesus prominence for his teachings and his good will but not preeminence as the Lord of All.
John Howard Yoder talks about the person of Christ and his lordship over all our lives when he writes: “Christians begin to deny their Lord when they admit that there are certain realms of life in which it would be inappropriate to bring Christ’s rule to bear...
Of course, non-Christians will insist that we should keep our religion out of the way of their politics. But the reason for that is not that Jesus has nothing to do with the public realm, it is that they want nothing to do with Jesus as Lord. . . . What we believe about Christ must apply to all our behavior, no matter how many of our neighbors remain unconvinced.”
So let’s look today at how God’s word through Paul in this letter answers the question; Is Jesus our Lord?
I. Jesus is The Savior (v.13-14)
Mankind’s greatest problem is not the economy, global warming, health insurance, gas prices or political leadership. Our greatest problem is sin. Sinners need a Savior and if we really can see our own sin today, if we really grasp how sinful you and I are, how faithless, fearful, and griping we are then we would all shout: How Great a Savior we have!
Well what makes Him so great?
A. He rescued us (v.13)
That word delivered means we were rescued from danger. We could not deliver ourselves from sin and from hell so Jesus came to the rescue.
Notice also were rescued from the power of darkness and conveyed or moved from one place to another.
I love old movies especially old westerns. Danger surrounds a wagon train and they are about to lose all hope and suddenly in the distance. Dir..to..dir..to..dir..to..dir..to...dir.
Where the army soldiers slip behind enemy lines and rescue the prisoners of war and totally catch the enemy by surprise. I imagine that’s how it is when the Gospel is being preached.
The enemy says I got you and people don’t even know they are a POW and as Gomer Pyle said...Surprise...Surprise...Surprise...another soul rescued!
B. He redeemed us (v.14)
The word redemption means to “release a prisoner by payment or ransom.” The word forgiveness means “to send away” or “to cancel a debt.”
Folks please here this when a person gets rescued by Jesus. They are released from the jail cell of sin the ransom has been paid...Our sins are then sent away as far as the East is from the West and the debt that we owe is cancelled by Christ.
Please get this today. You and I were not put on lay away nor were we bought by monthly installments. All sin was forgiven...I’m about to have a spell...ALL SIN was forgiven look @ verse 14 “Through His blood”
AT THE CROSS ALL SIN was forgiven! There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood==Lose ALL their guilty stains.
A deacon had a dream. He was on his way to heaven. Before him there stretched a long flight of stairs. As he started to go up, he was given a piece of chalk and told that he must put a chalk mark on each of the steps for each sin he had committed. When he was about halfway up he met the pastor coming down. He enquired why the pastor was returning, and the pastor answered, "I’m just going back to get some more chalk!"
I. Jesus is The Savior
II. Jesus is The Sculptor (v.15-17)
The false teachers in the time this wonderful book was written were confused about creation. They taught that matter was evil so therefore the human body was evil. This meant Jesus could not have had a physical body. So the teaching was legalism rule the body on one hand or extremism just go sin as much as you want.
Which by the way religious people hold on to these same truths today. Either follow rules and prove yourself a true follower or cheap grace where you are so forgiven that you can sin as much as you want to because grace has it all covered.
Listen the preeminence of Christ means He’s #1 and because Jesus is that in His relationship to heaven and Earth than Jesus ought to be our Lord of everything we say and do. The Bible explains that here in these verses:
A. Before (v.15)
The word image means Jesus is the very likeness and essence of God. By the way we are created in the image of God and are to be the image of Christ.
The word firstborn means first in importance. Now we know as Christians why this important but why is this so important to all religion or how to get to heaven.
Jesus said it like this in John 14:9, “He that has seen me has seen the Father.” God is invisible but Jesus claimed to be God and showed us God by revealing Himself to us.
John 1:1-2 says it like this, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” (NKJ)
B. Because (v.16-17)
The Bible makes it clear here that Jesus is the sculptor or creator of all things. V.16 cannot make that any plainer. Because He is God and was with God in the beginning which means they have always existed then we can understand again Jesus is first and foremost.
I showed you John 1:1-2 but let’s look at John 1:3, “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (NKJ)
**v.17**
If I can apply this it has to be with a truth God showed me. Jesus is the Sphere where everything exists. The agent that everything came into existence and He is the reason we were created.
Stay with me...death just becomes part of life, tragedy becomes part of triumph, valleys become part of mountain top experiences, physical burdens become part of spiritual benefits and heartaches become part of joy unspeakable.
How everything exists because He made it and He wanted it to be made for Himself.
Hudson Taylor knew this and went to China and married a daughter of a preacher/missionary there. Their daughter died of water on the brain; the entire family was almost killed in the Yang Chow riot his wife died after that in childbirth; his second wife died of Cancer but through all of that his China Inland Mission had 641 missionaries plus 462 Chinese helpers at over 260 stations.
That’s how he could say, “I’m just a little servant of an illustrious Master.”
I. Jesus is The Savior
II. Jesus is The Sculptor
III. Jesus is Superior (v.18-20)
Wednesday night’s sermon was on the Benefits of Glory. Days of Heaven here on Earth. I was greatly encouraged to see one of our young men and his wife surrender to the ministry at the invitation. He said you were preaching right to me.
I had several other comments from people and phone calls and each one got something else completely different than the other from that message. Folks, that’s Jesus speaking to the hearts of His people. He knows what each of us need and when we need it.
Notice how in these verses:
A. He is the Head of the Church (v.18)
The word head means more than leader or in charge it means now get this:
Source and origin. The word beginning there means originator. What this means is the church has its origin in Jesus and its operation in Jesus.
Jesus provides the source for which a sermon or song can speak to every heart to supply spiritual needs and Jesus is in charge Church of the physical needs of the church. He’s the head of the body.
Over the years people have come up to me and said pastor I don’t agree with this decision you’ve made. And I’ll say that’s okay we can disagree, Brenda and I don’t all the time its okay. But as the overseer the one Jesus has entrusted this to this is what I feel Him leading us to do. Well I don’t agree and they give me the why.
And then I’ll say well I’ve prayed about this for quite some time have you prayed about this? Here is what happens they look at me turn around and say Well I just don’t agree with it.
Folks if He is the source we better be asking Him what He wants for us as a family and as a church family.
B. He is God (v.19-20)
V.19, “all the fullness should dwell.” That word fullness means “the sum total of all the Divine power and attributes.” People today say Jesus was a good teacher, prophet, a model for us to live by.
No friends, He is God and He reconciled all things made them right before Himself by giving His life on the Cross for ours.
Why? Why would He do that? v.13 answers that and it’s the only time in God’s Word the phrase is used Jesus is “the Son of His love”
1 John 4:8 and 1 John 4:16 both tell us that “God is love.” God loved us so much He would die for the sins of His creation and now we who have trusted Him are at peace with Him.
Conclusion: As I was reading about the life of Hudson Taylor this week I couldn’t help but ask why did he keep going back to China after so much tragedy in his life.
One little story stood out. It was the story of a middle aged Chinese man was a leader in Buddhism and had long sought truth with Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism but found no rest for his soul. But Hudson Taylor led him to Jesus and he became a soul winner and preacher to his country men.
That middle aged man asked Hudson Taylor who long did Hudson Taylor’s country have the Gospel? Hudson Taylor said for hundreds of years. The man said, “What! You have had the Gospel for hundreds of years and only now have come to share it with us? My father sought this same peace for 20 years and died without it...Why could you have not come sooner?”
I believe right then Hudson Taylor committed his life to make Jesus his Lord.
I believe we all are faced with times of life changing Lord moments and if we’re not careful we’ll let them slip on by.
So church family can we say today Jesus you are Lord of All?
Does He have your tithe, your time, and your talent?
Is He your Savior?
Is He your Sculptor?
Is He Superior?
In your life...don’t miss the moment today to crown Him Lord of all that you are.
PRAY
