The Supremacy of Christ. Christ Church Winchester, 19.1.03 am
Colossians 1:15-20
One theological college in the USA hosted an annual picnic, to which they invited one of the greatest minds to lecture in the theological education centre. One year, the guest lecturer was a professor, who spoke for two and one-half hours "proving" that the resurrection of Jesus was false.
The professor quoted scholar after scholar and book after book. He concluded that since there was no such thing as the historical resurrection, the religious tradition of the church was groundless, emotional mumbo-jumbo, because it was based on a relationship with a risen Jesus, who, in fact, never rose from the dead in any literal sense. He then asked if there were any questions.
After about 30 seconds, an old preacher with a head of woolly white hair stood up in the back of the auditorium.
"Docta Professer, I got one question", he said as all eyes turned toward him. He reached into his sack lunch and pulled out an apple and began eating it. CRUNCH, MUNCH, "My question is a simple question",....CRUNCH, MUNCH... "Now, I ain’t never read them books you read"...CRUNCH, MUNCH... "and I can’t recite the Scriptures in the original Greek"...CRUNCH, MUNCH... "I don’t know nothin’ about Niebuhr and Heidegger"....CRUNCH, MUNCH...He finished the apple. "All I wanna know is: This apple I just ate------was it bitter or sweet?"
The professor paused for a moment and answered in exemplary scholarly fashion: "I cannot possibly answer that question, for I haven’t tasted your apple".
The white-haired preacher dropped the core of his apple into his crumpled paper bag, looked up at the professor and said calmly, "Neither have you tasted my Jesus."
The 1,000 plus in attendance could not contain themselves. The auditorium erupted with applause and cheers. The professor thanked his audience and promptly left the platform. (from www.sermoncentral.com Contributed by: Jan Spencer)
It’s all about Jesus, this morning.
= unpacking v13 “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves”. Unpacking the nature of the Son… the king
- therefore the nature of the Kingdom
The Colossians were well taught by Epaphras (v7)
- but I reckon he’d told Paul of some problems they were having
o where misunderstanding Jesus had led to some strange practices
o (what you believe IS important)
- most scholars think had been influenced by Gnosticism
o didn’t DENY Jesus, but dethroned Him
o if you don’t know who someone IS, it affects how you act towards them
Illustr: ever got heated with someone and the thought ‘I wouldn’t have if I’d known WHO…”
At LBC singing on train?
o Ch 2:23 flogging or flaunting of body
Because G denied value of flesh
o 2:20 adherence to extreme laws and ‘do’s’ & don’ts
o 2:18 worshipping angels (rather than Jesus)
but all these things were useless at doing them any good, as they had the wrong picture/relationship with JESUS. Simple as that
Our society/churches & religions are filled with people who shout about this or that
- but in the end the answer, reality = v simple
o it’s about Jesus and who He is
SO- it’s all about Jesus, this morning. I love that!
He is
The image of the invisible God
Seeing Jesus as He actually is is crucial in finding God
At a reception honouring musician Sir Robert Mayer on his 100th birthday, elderly British socialite Lady Diana Cooper fell into conversation with a friendly woman who seemed to know her well. Lady Diana’s failing eyesight prevented her from recognizing her fellow guest until she peered more closely at the magnificent diamonds and realized she was talking to Queen Elizabeth!
Overcome with embarrassment, Lady Diana curtsied and stammered, "Ma’am, oh, ma’am, I’m sorry, ma’am. I didn’t recognize you without your crown!"
SOURCE: Today in the Word, November 16, 1995, p. 23., from www.sermoncentral.com
We use the word ‘image’ in our language, but it doesn’t convey the fullness of its use, here
- ‘get myself a new image’
- ‘he’s the spitting image of his father’
But the word here is Eicon, from which we get Icon.
- conveys EXACT REPRESENTATION
- Heb 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
o In other words Jesus IS exactly God
- Also conveys REVELATION
o Conveyed in Heb 1:3 “the radiance of God’s glory”
Radiates God. Reveals God. Shows God
• = how God is seen
o Illustr: in reading for this, read Gk letter “I attach my Icon, drawn by”,
So the reader would know HIM
o JN 14:9 Jesus answered: "Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.
The firstborn over all creation
I can remember getting very distressed in discussions with JWs over this
- “it means he was made before us. God made Jesus. Jesus made everything else”
- again, doesn’t deny Him- but dethrones Him
(They’re good folks, and God KNOWS, but wrong)
But I concluded, here, that it’s not talking about TIME … WHEN Jesus was made
- as it says v16, “he created all things, and was before all things”
o (not ‘all other things’ as the JW New World Distortion says
… but rather RANK. The rank of firstborn OVER all creation
- rank. Status. He’s the heir…. And the maker
For by Him all things were created
Literally ‘in Him all things’
- everything!
- All the things they so easily worshipped
o Angels, ‘thrones’ principalities
- The things our society worships
o Money. Materialism, the stars, ‘foreknowledge’
He made it all and He’s beyond and above it ALL. More precious than silver
Don’t get me wrong! There’s nothing wrong with the GOOD things God gives.
- Gnostics missed this. Thought material stuff was BAD
o Nope. It’s just gotta be UNDER JESUS
(‘coz it is, anyway)
- how easily we put the GOD above GOD
o Illustr: CBBFC & IE & husbands ashes
"Whatever you love most, serve most, seek out most, give to the most, worship the most, and care about the most is your god.
Your “god” can be your career, your bank account, the way you look, a particular position or degree, influence, power, or physical pleasure. It can even be something that is considered intrinsically good, yet you allow it to dominate your life more than God – such as your marriage or your family. Your “god” is whatever you allow to control you, to be the ultimate guide to decision making, the place of your supreme loyalty, and the source of your self-worth."
o SOURCE: James Emery White, You Can Experience an Authentic Life, www.sermoncentral.com
Oh Jesus, my creator- be firstborn over my life!, because
- you are before all things. … and only God is before all things
In Him all things hold together
What stops the moon ploughing into the earth? The earth into the Sun? The universe into something the size of a nutshell (which they say it came from… and may return to!)
- God’s laws of course… scientifically. But theologically?
>> JESUS!
Actually, behind this line is a whole load of then topical Jewish debate
- okay, God made the earth… but then he rested
o what about that ‘day off’. Was he really idle or was He sustaining things
conclusion: He was still at work, sustaining ALL THINGS. Otherwise all would collapse
so, when it says ‘All things hold together in Jesus’, here
- and in Jn 5:16 Jesus says He works on the Sabbath like His Father
- it’s applying this debate to Him and saying ‘HE is the sustainer. He is God’
All things were created for Him
Everything was created IN Him, but also FOR Him
- He is the goal of all of this!
- The British Scientist Stephen Hawking says, “The eventual goal of Science is to provide a single theory that describes the whole universe”.
o Well the theory of everything is to be found in JESUS.
“My Jesus, my saviour- Lord there is NONE like you
- mountains bow down and seas roar at the sound….”
Including the church!
While Paul is spelling out what Jesus is the firstborn over… he just reminds us that He’s
- OUR head. The head of the body… the church
Gosh- I’ve been doing this for 14 years, now… and I’m in the best church I’ve ever been in. Great folks
- but I’m aware just how much of what we do is about US
o “it’s all about me…. Do things MY way”
- church: it’s about the person at the front . HIS church
o or people not wanting anyone to touch THEIR church
change things, unsettle things
o or their PLACE, agenda
I have NO specific issues in my mind. None whatsoever
- but it’s HIS church. JESUS’. It’s HIS bride!
- and He’s who we come for. Why we stick it, do it, grow through it
Reconciler of all things
Because He’s our reconciler. The one who can reconcile us to God… and to each other
- dunno where you’re at. Out of sorts with God, or one of His people
o well, you needn’t be! He can reconcile ALL things, to Himself and IN Himself… if we let Him
And, in closing. One little thing that brings together reconciliation, restoration and my final point- resurrection
Resurrection
My daughter told me this: A man is driving along a highway and sees a rabbit jump out across the middle of the road. He swerves to avoid hitting it, but unfortunately the rabbit jumps right in front of the car. The driver, a sensitive man as well as an animal lover, pulls over and gets out to see what has become of the rabbit.
Much to his dismay, the rabbit is dead. The driver feels so awful that he begins to cry. A beautiful blonde woman driving down the highway sees a man crying on the side of a road and pulls over. She steps out of the car and asks the man what’s wrong.
"I feel terrible," he explains, "I accidentally hit this rabbit and killed it."
The blonde says, "Don’t worry." She runs to her car and pulls out a spray can. She walks over to the limp dead rabbit, bends down, and sprays the contents onto the rabbit. The rabbit jumps up, waves its paw at the two of them and hops off down the road.
Ten feet away the rabbit stops, turns around and waves again. He hops down the road another 10 feet, turns and waves, hops another ten feet, turns and waves, and repeats this again and again and again, until he hops out of sight.
The man is astonished. He runs over to the woman and asks, "What is in that can?"
The woman turns the can around so that the man can read the label. It says....
"Hair Spray - Restores life to dead hair, adds permanent wave."
He’s the firstborn in another way./ The firstborn from the dead. The prototype for how we’ll be. New bodies/beings somehow from old bodies/beings
- and we know it because HE rose from the dead
- we trust that it doesn’t all end here BECAUSE OF JESUS
o it all starts and ends with Him. Alpha and omega. Beginning and end.
