(you can listen to the audio of this sermon on my podcast at: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/697261.rss)
Intro:
• Mom & daughter at breakfast. Is God here? Getting more and more specific… Is God in my juice cup? Yes… Little girl:
• I Gotcha!
• Unwittingly we shape our concept of God to more comfortable, to fit our idea of who he should be. To be able say, “gotcha! I can manage you now!”
• there are several problems with this but for our purpose today as we move into the 2nd half of the chapter, we must ask ourselves if the object of our faith is big enough to handle our lives and circumstances.
o Many times, our conception of God, our faith in God is in something too limited, too small.
o Essentially, it’s idol worship. (Jesus and… from last week).
• To recap: In ch. 1, Paul offered a prayer designed to guide our minds and hearts to ponder exactly where we have put our faith. Jesus clearly has something to do with it, but we’re prone to making our spiritual experience “Jesus and ______” rather than “Jesus only.”
• His conclusion in that part of the chapter is to remind us that our faith in Christ (belief in the gospel) has brought us into a new place in creation.
Colossians 1:13–14 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
• The logical direction to go from here is to elaborate on who Jesus really is. If the goal is to having a saving faith in Christ, what have we put our faith in?
• Who is this Jesus? Have we done the same thing to Him that the little girl did? Have we turned Him into a “gotcha!”? To do and be what we want instead of living by faith in the eternal Lord and Savior of all?
He Is...
• Most scholars agree that vv. 15-20 are a hymn of the earliest church.
• If you want to teach someone a concept they’ll remember, make a song out of it.
The Image of God
Colossians 1:15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
• Image = icon. Paul wants us to understand that Jesus of Nazareth fully represents God, in fact, he is God.
• Why this matters: Jesus is much, much, greater than we can imagine. If we’re going to commit to basing our life and faith on Him alone, we need to know that He is has the power and ability. That he’s worth our faith.
Creator
Colossians 1:16–18 for 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. 17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. 18 Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything.
• Scenario: Broken car. Two options.
o Call up a buddy who gets on youtube and sorta-kinda figures It out, gets on RockAuto.com and buys all kinds of stuff. When he’s done he’s got some spare parts but that ain’ t all that important, is it?
o OR you can take your car to the team who designed, fabricated and assembled the car from the ground up. Who know exactly what’s going on with it and fix it perfectly.
• Who are you going to trust? It’s the same with your life.
o “Jesus and _______” is trusting the shade tree mechanic.
o Jesus only is taking your life and your world to the Creator who designed it all and compeletely understands what you need.
Head of the Church
Colossians 1:18 Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything.
• With v. 18, Paul answers the unspoken complaint that the world we live in doesn’t completely reflect Jesus’ Lordship.
• This is true. I’d ask you first to imagine just how bad things could/would be without Christ as Lord.
• Paul’s point in v. 18 is to remind us that the mission is on-going.
Key to Reconciliation
Colossians 1:19–20 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and 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.
• Peace is the key.
So We Are...
• Past, present and future.
Formerly enemies
Colossians 1:21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.
• In the past we were far away from God. Paul is careful to communicate that it was OUR thoughts and deeds that caused the separation.
• Separated = alienated. Isolated, lonely.
• When we are out of a reconciled relationship with God, our entire life is changed. Chronic sinful behavior results.
• We are full of fear, suspicion, our natural inclination to self harm and harming others is unchecked.
Personally reconciled
• That was the past. The present is that we are, individually and corporately, reconciled to God through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
Colossians 1:22 Yet 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.
• He has completely identified with us: shared our suffering, borne our sins and taken the consequences of our sentence of death by his death on the cross.
• A Jesus only lifestyle consistently recognizes that our reality is perfection in Christ - holy, blameless and without fault.
• But we must be wise.
Don’t Drift Away
• There’s a warning built in...
Colossians 1:23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.
• The undertow at the beach. Subtly, gently picks you up and sets you down a little further each time. We look up and we’re a mile away from where we started.
• Same with our spiritual lives if we’re not careful.
Conclusion:
• Are we living with a “gotcha” kind of faith?
• One that makes God fit our idea of what should be?
