“Cross Currents: It’s Our Church”
Colossians 1:18-29
“At our church…” “Well my church…” “I was at Swindoll’s church and…” “She was saying that at her church…” Familiar phrases – ones we’ve both heard and spoken. We know what the phrases mean –the reference is to a church to which someone belongs. Yet the longer we allow the language of the phrases to remain unchallenged, the more they fill our sub-consciences and begin to subtly affect our attitude about the church. We begin to think and act like it really is our church. Obviously ours is not the first generation to struggle with this. Paul dealt with it in the early church as well.
So as Paul is pointing to the preeminence of Christ, he includes one final declaration. (18) - “And he is the head of the body, the church.” Jesus is in charge of, the ruler over the church’s life. Jesus is the HEAD OF THE BODY. He is Lord of the Church; He has full authority over her. The Church is an organization of which Jesus is the Head. He is her Head not only because God gave Him authority but because it is also THE POSITION HE HAS EARNED. In his letter to the Ephesian Paul wrote (2:19-22 GNT) “So then, you Gentiles are not foreigners or strangers any longer; you are now citizens together with God's people and members of the family of God. You, too, are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, the cornerstone being Christ Jesus himself. He is the one who holds the whole building together and makes it grow into a sacred temple dedicated to the Lord. In union with him you too are being built together with all the others into a place where God lives through his Spirit.” Paul taught that this was made possible because of the price Jesus paid for the Church (Eph.5:23-25) “Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior…Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…” Jesus, on the cross, paid the purchase price for the Church. As much as we love Hope Church we must never forget, it is not our church – Hope is His Church because He has earned the right to be our Head. It’s similar to Mike Illitch – owner of Lil’ Caesars but more importantly of our beloved Detroit Red Wings and Tigers. He bought and owns the teams. No deal is complete, no contract is offered – especially the big ones – no trade is made without his approval. Unfair? Not at all – he paid the price – he owns them. They are his teams. So Jesus has the right to call the shots for His Church.
Note, too, that since Jesus is the Head of the Church, the Church is THE PLACE TO BELONG. Because the Church is the Body of Christ, to be ‘in Christ’ is to be in the Church. “The picture of an individual Christian alone with God is alien to the New Testament.” (i) PEOPLE CANNOT BE FULLY IN CHRIST UNLESS THEY HAVE FULLY JOINED, AND ARE FAITHFULLY PARTICIPATING IN THE CHURCH. Martin Luther went so far as to say “He who wants to find Christ must first find the Church.” (ii) Someone has cleverly but accurately put it this way: Question: Can I be a Christian without joining the church?Answer: Yes, it is possible. It is something like being: A student who will not go to school. A soldier who will not join an army. A citizen who does not pay taxes or vote. A salesman with no customers. An explorer with no base camp. A seaman on a ship without a crew. A businessman on a deserted island. An author without readers. A tuba player without an orchestra. A parent without a family. A football player without a team. A politician who is a hermit. A scientist who does not share his findings. A bee without a hive. (iii)
At the baptism of infants we declare that the child is “...received into the visible membership of the holy Christian Church…” Then when that child, at whatever age, professes Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, he or she also commits to being an active part of the Body of Christ. That’s why the Reformed Church links profession of faith with becoming a full, active member of a particular church. A profession of faith is not complete until or unless a person enters actively into the life of Christ’s Church.
Paul stresses also that since Christ is Head of the Church, THERE IS A PRINCIPLE TO RECOGNIZE. And while a whole sermon could be preached on this thought, suffice it to say that the church is not a democracy – it is a body that gets her marching orders from her Head, Jesus Christ. Therefore UNITY IS FOUND ONLY IN SUBMISSION TO JESUS CHRIST. In fact, where there is little submission to Christ by church members, there is little unity; where the Lordship of Christ is not honored, there is little power. In all we do, we must be in submission - this is Christ’s church, not ours. Whenever we’re more concerned with the type of music, or the style of communion, or the structure of Consistory, or the banners on the wall, or the order of worship, or the process of getting things done, or with our own way and preferences than we are with submission to Christ - we forfeit and fracture our unity. Only when each of us, as members of a particular church, make the transition from ‘Christ and His Church for me’ to ‘me for Christ and His Church’ will we have true, biblical unity. Unity comes only through submission to the supreme Head, Jesus Christ.
The Rev. Dr. John Stott stated it eloquently. “If the church is in the end to be united under the leadership of Christ (Eph. 1:10), it will not in the meantime be united in any other way. Is the continuing fragmentation of the church due ultimately to this one thing, its failure to 'hold fast to the Head' (Col. 2:19)? No doubt many would dismiss this as a ludicrous over- simplification. But I am not so easily shifted from my ground. The stubborn obstacle to the uniting of the churches is either the cherishing of traditions which are not in the Bible …, or the abandoning of doctrines which are... I keep returning to this simple question: is Jesus Christ the Lord of the church, so that it submits to his teaching however unpalatable, or is the church the lord of Jesus Christ so that it manipulates his teaching in order to make it palatable? Will the church listen humbly and obediently to Jesus Christ, or will it behave like the brash adolescent it often seems to be, contradicting its master and putting him right where he has gone wrong? Is the church 'over' or 'under' Christ?” (iv)
Paul also reminds us that since Christ is Head of His Church, THERE’S A POWER TO EMBRACE. Let’s never forget that the church is not only an organization; it is also an organism. It is alive and vital. That’s why Paul goes on to say (18-19) “...he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him…” JESUS CHRIST IS THE LIFE OF THE BODY. Through His resurrection Christ became the power and life of the Church. God infused Jesus with all His own powers and attributes so Jesus could pass them on to His Church. As Nicholson has written, “He is the Head of it as His own body; the seat of its life, the source of its activity, the center of its unity, the inspiring, ruling, guiding, sustaining power of its spiritual being and blessedness.” (v) We never get our life from the preacher, the worship, the programs - we get our life from Christ Himself. He is the supreme life giver. Nor do we make churches grow – we can provide an environment ripe for growth, but Jesus is the growth producer. (Eph. 4:15-16 GNT) “Instead, by speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we must grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head. Under his control all the different parts of the body fit together, and the whole body is held together by every joint with which it is provided. So when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows and builds itself up through love.”
Only dependency on, and submission to Jesus Christ our Head will give Hope Church ongoing life and growth. We will only ‘Share Christ’s Love, Shine Christ’s Light, and Shape Christ’s People’ effectively if Christ Himself is our source of life.
Jesus is not only the Head of the Body but, Paul adds, Jesus is also the GOAL OF THE BODY. Just as He is the goal of history, so He is the goal of the Church: Verses 19 – 21 announce THE PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH: “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” The purpose of the Church is to BRING ABOUT RECONCILIATION. As Peterson words these verse in The Message: “From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he. So roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe - people and things, animals and atoms - get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross.”
Notice the PROCESS GOD USES. The Bible is not a story of humankind’s search for God; it is the history of God’s search for and rescue of people estranged from Him. RECONCILIATION IS THE WORK OF GOD. And it is Jesus Christ alone who can heal the breaks and bridge the chasms in our world. For through Jesus Christ all things – all things, in heaven and on earth – are reconciled to God. The door of reconciliation with God is open. Remember what happened when Jesus drew His last breath on the cross? The curtain in the Temple was torn in two; there was now a way into the holy of holies. The way back into the presence of God was now open to all.
And now RECONCILIATION IS THE WORK OF THE CHURCH. (22-23/28-29) “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant…. He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.” The heart of the Church’s ministry, the heart of our ministry, must be preaching and proclaiming ‘Christ crucified.’ For the cross is the way into the presence of God.
It is not our church. We are Christ’s Church and we do not exist for ourselves but for ushering others into the presence of Christ. The church is not a gas station where we fill up our tanks so we can make it through the week. The church is not an entertainment center where we come to feel good and be served. The church is not a drug store where we get medication for our pain. The church is not a big box retailer where we get good bargains and great service for our families at a bargain price. (vi) The church is not a country club. The church is a life-saving enterprise that rescues people and brings them to Jesus who reconciles them to God.
RECONCILIATION IS OUR WORK. This brings to mind an old fable. Fred Somebody, Thomas Everybody, Peter Anybody, and Joe Nobody were neighbors, but they were not like you and me. They were odd people and most difficult to understand. The way they lived was a shame. All four belonged to the same church, but you would not have enjoyed worshiping with them. Everybody went fishing on Sunday or stayed home to visit with friends. Anybody wanted to worship but was afraid Somebody wouldn’t speak to him. So guess who went to church – Nobody. Really, Nobody was the only decent one of the four. Nobody did the visitation. Nobody worked on the church building. Once they needed a Sunday School teacher. Everybody thought Anybody would do it, and Anybody thought Somebody would do it. And you know who did it? Nobody. It happened that a fifth neighbor (an unbeliever) moved into the area. Everybody thought Somebody should try to win him for Christ. Anybody could have made an effort. You probably know who finally won him: Nobody!
What a contrast to Paul: “This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant…. He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.”
Perhaps the Holy Spirit has put an idea in your mind, or a groan in your heart. Follow it. A woman in Africa was reconciled to God through encountering Jesus. Overwhelmed with gratitude, she wanted to do something for Jesus and the kingdom. But she was blind and seventy years of age; therefore her contributions did not seem to be very significant. She was uneducated, but she came to the missionary with her French Bible and said, “Would you mind underlining John 3:16 in my Bible in red?” The missionary was very intrigued to see what she was going to do. The woman took her Bible and sat in front of a boys’ school in the afternoon. When school was dismissed, she would call to a boy or two and say to them, “Boys, come here please. Do you know French?” Very proudly, they said that they did. Then she would ask, “Please read to me this passage underscored in red in my Bible.” They did. Then she would ask, “Do you know what it means?” They would say, “No, we don’t know.” And she would tell them the story of Jesus. Twenty-four young men became pastors due to the work of this blind woman, touched by the contagion of the light in her which Christ brings.
We must seek to be agents of reconciliation. As Paul wrote (2 Cor. 5:17-19) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”
It’s not our church. Jesus Christ is Supreme! Jesus Christ is supreme in all things. He is our glorious Head. As Beth Moore passionately wrote: “Jesus is greater than we have yet learned, more able than we have yet seen, more willing than we have yet dreamed, and infinitely worthier than we have yet risked.” (vii) Are you willing to learn, to see, to dream, to risk? How far will you go? As John Wesley used to say, “Do you love God? Do you fear Christ? Then that is enough.” Jesus Christ gathers and engages us. He is the central figure. He rules over us. The question is, does he really? WHO IS OVER YOU? AS OTHERS OBSERVE YOUR LIFE, WHOM DO THEY SEE?
(i) From Belonging: A Resource for New Members, 2003 Reformed Church Press, update 2007p. 11-12
(ii) From A Different Kind of King, John R. Brokhoff, Pulpit Digest, November/December 1989, p. 14
(iii) Tan, P. L. (1996). Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (p. 243). Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc.
(iv) The Daily thought is taken from Authentic Christianity © 1995 John Stott and Timothy Dudley-Smith.
(v) Oneness with Christ, Bishop W. R. Nicholson, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI, © 1903 by A. B. Simpson, p.81
(vi) Colin Smith, from the sermon The Church: Sharing the Passion of Jesus – from www.preachingtoday.com
(vii) Dunnam, M. D., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1982). Galatians / Ephesians / Philippians / Colossians / Philemon (Vol. 31, pp. 357–358). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.
(viii) Unrolling the Scroll of Freedom, Beth Moore, Christianity Today, March 2015, p. 51
