Jesus: in a compartment or in control?
Col 1:15-20
Full Script version
Key verse: ‘He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together’ (v.17)
Big idea: To ask: ‘Is Jesus merely a compartment of our lives, or is He in control’?
Service Sheet:
Title of talk
What’s so special about Jesus?
1. Lord of creation
2. Lord of salvation
3. Lord of my life?
So… what about me?
Introduction LOOK UP!
I love shopping! Day off - Trafford centre – 7 hours!
Asked myself 2 questions:
Challenged – how easy & enjoyable it was. 7 hours with God?
Really up for it – get excited at what I might find – put my all into it. All-consuming
Is it the same with God?
Do I get equally passionate about God?
Excited?
Challenge to us this morning is:
Is Jesus just in a compartment of our lives – unpack
Or is He in control of our lives?
Last week, what does it mean to be a Xn?
Saw that JC transformed Paul’s purpose in life
Thought about who we are in X and what Xnty is all about
This week, turning to look at who is this Jesus we follow?
Why bother?
Why follow someone who lived 2000 years ago?
Why not follow Buddha, turn to horoscopes and crystals, or how about a DIY god?
What’s so special about Jesus?
Maybe we buy into the pluralism of our age which says that Jesus is just one way among many, that we can construct our own spirituality from different sources
Maybe we can privatise our faith and say that it works for us,
But when it comes to other people, if other religions work them, that’s fine
Maybe we can just have Jesus in a comfy compartment of our lives
Maybe we’ll come to church and tangle with Him on a Sunday
But when it comes to our lives Mon-Fri – our work lives, our school lives, our social lives if we don’t work, those are separate areas or compartments
Let’s look again at the reading we heard, and as we do, I want us to keep in mind that question:
Is Jesus just in a compartment of our lives…
Or is He in control of our lives?
In looking at that question, we’ll be referring to the Bible – believing that the Bible is God’s eternal word to us and therefore through it God will speak to us today.
1. Jesus is Lord of creation
Lord – in charge of, in control of.
v.15 tells us He is the image of the invisible God
Msg: ‘We look at Jesus and see the God who cannot be seen’
God is invisible/no-one has ever seen God -Jn 1:18
JC reflects and reveals God as the Son of God
Jn 1:18, 14:9
People are made in the image of God – Gen 1:26-27
We are to ‘rule over creation’, stewards of what God has given us. Ultimately, JC is Lord of creation
He is the firstborn over all creation
JC has priority and sovereignty over creation
Means supreme/sovereign, not necessarily born first
Ps 89:27 refers to Solomon as David’s firstborn, but wasn’t David’s first son
v.16 – By Him all things were created
Jn 1:1-3
JC was God from the beginning – 2nd person of Trinity involved in creation
Msg: ‘Everything finds its purpose in Him’ - expand
v.17 – Key verse
Will look more at who Jesus is over the coming weeks – his character, what he said about himself, what he did and so on. Today if nothing else, take away ‘He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together’
Jn 8:58
Take away Jesus and there is nothing
v.18 – First to rise from the dead – others rose only to die. Head of the body, the Church
Word that is translated as supremacy occurs nowhere else in NT – it’s important!
Jesus is Lord over, and Lord of creation
2. Jesus is Lord of salvation
Salvation:
Rom 3:23 tells us ‘The wages of sin is death’.
When we die in our sins, we die eternally separated from God. We are in terrible shape and until we realize that, we won’t understand the significance of Jesus as Lord of salvation. Good news is that Jesus came to die in our place, instead of us. And when we admit the state we’re in and turn to Him, Jesus offers us a life of eternity with God – because He is Lord of salvation
v.19 – Fullness of God dwelt in Him
Not just ‘a bit God’!
JC shows us what God is like
If we want to know God, look at Jesus
Jn 14:8ff – already seen, Jesus reveals the Father
He reveals God because He IS God.
v.20 – Reconcile things to Him through the cross
Doesn’t mean He’s saved all people – universalism
Mt 25:41-43, 46 – Read
Ref (for those making notes): Rom 2:8-9, Heb 10:26-31, 2 Pet 2:4-10, Rev 20:11-15, 2 Thess 1:8ff
Christ’s salvation – his offer of eternal life with God - will extend to every part of creation – it’s available to all. No-one is beyond the possibility of God’s salvation
JC made reconciliation possible, but reality will only happen when he returns (Ref - Ro 8:21)
Religion of 21st century is consumerism
We even define who we are by our consumer choices
So isn’t JC/Xnty just one consumer choice?
JC takes us above this - Only Jesus can save us
Not just ‘my lord’ but Lord of the universe – Lord of everything. ‘In Him all things hold together.’
Jesus isn’t just one way to God – he’s the only way to God. Jn 14:6 – The Way, The Truth, The Life. Not a...
Isn’t a wise teacher or a good man
If JC is only God or only man, doesn’t solve problem of reconciliation between God and humanity
Unique about Xn faith
Love – free choice
Ultimately, God allows us to choose
Evil/Good
Love – not forced
Jesus Lord of creation; Lord of salvation
So…
3. Is Jesus Lord of my life?
Is Jesus just another compartment in our lives?
Is He just someone we brush with on a Sunday?
Walk boundaries - explain
Cocooned off – our lives are fragmented
Work in one place, live in another, shop in another…..
Is Jesus just another compartment in our lives?
Do we follow a Sunday Jesus or an everyday Jesus?
I wonder if we believe practically that Jesus is the Saviour of the world?
Or do we see Jesus is a means to an end?
We believe Jesus is there…
to make us better husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, children.
to make us better businessmen or women.
to make us more respected in our community.
We believe that Jesus is there for many things.
But I wonder if we have forgotten that Jesus’ prime reason for coming to this earth was to seek and save that which was lost. (Lk 19:10)
Jesus did not come to make me better; He came to transform my life. People don’t need to be better dressed up sinners.
We can worship Jesus not just because of what He has done for us, but because of who He is
Not focussed on ourselves, but in JC – ‘in Him all things hold together’
RSI – wouldn’t be here. Haven’t got it sorted, but realised I needed to look 2 God, not to myself
So Where is Jesus in…
Our thinking Our work
Our families Our leisure activities
Our time with our friends
Our relationships with others
Our use of our money Our use of our time
Our ambitions Our dreams
Do we just come to meet with God on a Sunday? NO! We’re in God’s presence all the time – He is there with us wherever we go (even TC!)
If we only view meeting with God as something we do when we come to church, or when we have a time set aside for prayer, then we’re saying He is just one compartment in our lives
Lk 14:33 – give up everything
Can we echo word of psalmist: Ps 73:25
Paul – Ph 3:7-8
Here is the transformation in Paul – self-centred to God-centred. Everything revolves round JC
Ph 1:21 – ‘To live is X, to die is gain’
Read ‘Funny how we think…’
‘He is before all things…’
Since Jesus created all things, and offers salvation to all, we owe our whole lives to Him.
Since Jesus created all things, including us, and offers salvation to all things, including us, He understands us and the needs we have better than anyone possibly could.
Since Jesus created all things, and offers salvation to all, nothing at all can separate us from Him. No power in the world is superior to His.
Jesus: Lord of creation
Lord of salvation
Lord of my life?
Not just in a compartment, but in control
Methodist covenant prayer to end with:
I’ll read it first, then pray it
If you want to pray it along with me do – read it so you’ll know what you’re praying!
I am no longer my own Lord, but Yours.
Put me to what You will, rank me with whom You will;
put me to doing, put me to suffering;
let me be employed for You or laid aside for You, exalted for You or brought low for You;
let me be full, let me be empty;
let me have all things, let me have nothing;
I freely and whole-heartedly give all things to Your pleasure and disposal.
And now, O faithful God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
You are mine, and I am Yours.
So be it.
And this covenant which I have made on earth, may it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.
