The "Enoughness" Of Jesus Series

Sermon Brief

Date Written: September 3, 2009

Date Preached: September 6, 2009

Where Preached: OPBC (AM)

Sermon Details:

Sermon Series: Back To School – Believers Edition!

Sermon Title: The ‘Enoughness’ of Christ!

Sermon Text: Colossians 1:13-17

Introduction:

Just recently in our area, we have seen many of our children and grandchildren start BACK TO SCHOOL! Many are going back to that education process that shapes and molds their minds to become productive members of society!

And today I want to start a sermon series that takes US ‘Back to School’ [so to speak] but in our ‘class’ we will not be going over the 3 R’s of education… you know - Reading, Riting and Rithmatic!

What we WILL be addressing are the very basics of our Christian walk, Who Jesus is, How important is Scripture, What happens to ‘make’ us saved AND finally WHO IS GOD! But to start out on this journey, I believe that there is NO greater subject than Jesus Christ!

Jesus is the best place to start because all of TRUE Christianity is centered IN Christ Jesus! The term “Christianity” that we use to describe ourselves comes from the ROOT word “Christ” … that is the Christ of our salvation! In Scripture we read that we are called Christians because we are seeking to live our lives as ‘little Christs’… Everything we do as a church IS SUPPOSED TO BE focused on Christ and based IN our relationship with Him!

Now there are many [even some who claim to be Christians] who will try to argue that fact and say that Jesus isn’t our only focus, BUT the whole of Scripture discounts this argument in that all lead up to Christ on the Cross and now all points back TO the Cross of Calvary… Scripture gives Jesus the title of “the author [creator if you will] and perfecter of our faith…” It is only IN Him are we truly Christian! It is Christ Jesus that draws us together today to this place! Amen!

And today is really a special day as we have come together to give Him praise, honor and glory that He deserves BUT also today we come together to celebrate!... To observe what we refer to as the Lord’s Supper OR Holy Communion!

This celebration today is based in our acknowledgment and remembrance of the selfless sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the Cross of Calvary… We celebrate this today because Jesus is our risen Savior, and it is only thru willingly His shed blood that we can know eternal salvation and life in Heaven!

For the Christian, there is NO other person or thing in our belief system that holds the position of royalty as Jesus does for us!

From the Apostles…

to the church fathers of the 2nd and 3rd centuries,

to Martin Luther of the Protestant Reformation,

to the revival preachers of the Great Awakening,

to the great revivalist of the 20th century (Billy Sunday and Billy Graham)…

all these men who are recognized as stalwarts of the Christian faith and they ALL exalted Christ to a very high and proper place!

Today in our world it is Christianity alone where Christ is elevated and worshipped as God! He is the MASTER of our creation, salvation and eternal deliverance. There are many other religious organizations who claim to be a part of the Christian experience… but they attempt to add to Jesus! In doing so they TAKE AWAY from His ‘enoughness’… from HIS centrality and sufficiency!

Scripture is very clear in that Jesus is sufficient! He is ENOUGH for all our spiritual needs and IS the sole provider of salvation to those who surrender their hearts to Him. Jesus is alone…ALL ALONE… when it comes to the role of Savior and Deliverer…in Acts 4:12: Speaking of Jesus, Peter says…

12 There is salvation in NO ONE ELSE, for there is NO OTHER NAME under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.

You see, from the eternal perspective to the everyday living of this life…Jesus IS what it is all about! As believers, we know this intellectually! We say this all the time… we sing about how Jesus is all we need, BUT how often do we truly dig down in Scripture to understand the true nature of this belief that Jesus is our everything?

The Apostle Paul had a very HIGH and proper view of Jesus! And we too MUST have that same view of Jesus! As a pastor I have found thru 12 yrs of experience and 25 yrs of serving the Lord that Jesus is so much more than I could EVER know.

In fact, I could stand here all day today…hrs upon end, and extol the greatness and wonders of Jesus, and I could give you but a glimpse of who Jesus truly is! All we can see is in this life is the unfinished portrait… It is not that Jesus is an unfinished portrait… it is that we cannot comprehend ALL of who He is… not now!