10/2/2022 - God With Us

Colossians Series  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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(Welcome)

Welcome to Central. If this is your first time, I want to say, “Welcome Home!”
As an expository church, we prioritize preaching and teaching that focuses on a Christ-centered, holistic, and sequential approach to Scripture.
We enjoy preaching through books of the Bible and tackling each passage with a high view of Jesus Christ and an intent to be led into worship and transformation by what we find therein.

(Opening Prayer)

Heavenly Father, be glorified this morning as we open your Word.
Open our ears to hear it. Open our minds to understand it. Open our hearts to believe it. Open our mouths to confess it.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to You today.
In Jesus' Name, Amen.

(Series Introduction)

Today we continue our Colossians series.

(Opening Tension)

Paul is writing to a church he has never visited. He doesn’t know these people.
Paul wrote Colossians between 60-62 AD during his first imprisonment in Rome (Acts 28).
Paul also wrote Ephesians, Philippians, and Philemon during this time.
Pastor Epaphras planted the Colossian church and came to Paul because they had problems that needed to be addressed.
Paul writes this letter in the midst of their many heresies with one solution in mind - Correct Christology.
A low view of Christ was the problem, Paul gave us a high view of Christ.

(Colossians Context)

A few of the heresies that the Colossian believers were experiencing were the belief that:
Jesus Christ was only a man until after His resurrection.
Jesus Christ was only God and never a man.
Jesus Christ was only a man.
Jesus Christ was God before and after His time on earth, but was only a man while on earth.

(Empathy)

Over the last several weeks and months we have been bold about what the Word of God teaches and the false teachings that have infiltrated the Church at large and by virtue have influence here at Central.
I recognize that this has been painful at times and it may seem as if there is no quarter for those who have believed those different heresies and false teaching. But I want you to know that although we preach loudly against these things, we love each of you and desire for each of you to live out the truth that is found in Scripture.
We don’t teach and preach against these things as a vendetta but because the true gospel, the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit demand that we do.
Which is why I feel it is appropriate today to remain consistent in my transparency and honesty to share a little of my testimony of how I came to acknowledge that I had accepted a gospel that wasn’t the true gospel.

(Personal Story)

The church that I grew up in is very special to me.
I became a follower of Jesus in that church.
I grew in my understanding and my faith in that church.
I built life-lasting relationships in that church that I enjoy to this day.
But I also watched false teaching arise in that church.
In the early 2000s there began to arise within our local congregation (and others around the United States and the world) some prominent teaching that seemed harmless at first.
The teachings and music from this movement began to primarily permeate the Pentecostal and Charismatic Church world. This movement has always been shifting, adapting, and evolving ever since it came on the scene back in the days of the early church.
At our church there became an increase in studies and teachings about divine healing, intercessory prayer, prophecy, spiritual authority, and spiritual warfare.
Our church began hosting “healing services” and “revival services,” followed by “all night prayer services.”
These services began to give way to “prophetic services” and “prophetic retreats” that would last for days.
Then there arose teachings on bondage, soul ties, generational curses, open heavens, dreams and the interpretation of dreams.
Things like “Global Awakening” and “Spiritual Hunger Conferences” began to rise in prominence.
We began having conferences and retreats designed to free us from bondage, soul ties, generational curses, etc.
Shortly afterwards we began to hear teachings about fire tunnels, gold dust, jewels, treasure hunts, laughter, and the importance of being “slain in the spirit.”
These teachings led to a greater emphasis on teachings about the “Kingdom of God being brought to earth.”
The focus of everything became the seven mountains of influence in society and how to “infiltrate” society in a way to “bring the Kingdom of God here.” Dominionism and Kingdom Now Theologies began to arise.
As I began interning at the church where I grew up, I was devouring all the teachings and the music I could get my hands on from one particular person. I remember it like yesterday.
I stumbled across many things within his books that began to trouble me. I want to read some of them to you.

(Heresy Quotes from the Author I was Reading at the Time)

“Jesus set aside His divinity, choosing instead to live as a man completely dependent on God”
(Johnson, Face to Face with God, pg. 108).
“He performed miracles, wonders, and signs, as a man in right relationship to God . . . . not as God. If He performed miracles because He was God, then they would be unattainable for us”
(Johnson, When Heaven Invades Earth, pg. 29).
“He laid his divinity aside as He sought to fulfill the assignment given to Him by the Father”
(Johnson, When Heaven Invades Earth, pg. 79).
“For us to become all that God intended, we must remember that Jesus' life was a model of what mankind could become if it were in right relationship with the Father”
(Johnson, When Heaven Invades Earth, pg. 138).

(Personal Story)

As I read those statements, and the many that followed that I wouldn’t have enough time today to read to you, I realized that something was not right in what I was reading and believing.
I recognized that this teaching that had infiltrated the church was wrong and I felt a deep conviction from the Spirit of God. My eyes were opened and I knew that I needed to do a few things:
I needed to confess and repent to the Lord.
I needed to cut off those influences.
I needed to get back to the Word and teach what it says and what it teaches.
I needed to stand my ground and acknowledge what is true and what is false.
I recognize what you may be feeling. “Pastor not all of what you went through sounds bad.” I agree, there was some good that happened in the middle of all of that.
I believe that God was gracious to me and was faithful to mold me in the middle of all of that.
An example of that is that I still believe and we teach that God can and does heal today.
But make no mistake about it, I had to wrestle through the wounds that had been caused by the misuse of Scripture and the misunderstanding of Who Christ is.

(Poop Brownie Illustration)

A great problem arises when we convince ourselves that if 90% of what I hear from preachers is right and 10% of it is bad that we just “eat the meat and spit out the bones.”
Sometimes we convince ourselves that these people mean well or “appear to be men and women of God,” so therefore this “little thing doesn’t matter that much.”
What would you say if I told you that I only added a spoonful of poop to my wife’s brownie recipe? Would you still eat it?
There isn’t that much in there, you probably wouldn’t even taste it!
Would you eat it? No, you would not.
False teaching is like that. Jesus said a little bit of leaven works throughout the entire bread.
False Teaching allowed eventually works its way into the foundation that we are standing on.

(Pastoring Story)

I have pastored since 2006 and in some capacity continuously Since 2008. And I could tell stories of all the churches I have served in, led, or been associated with in a very close way that have experienced or in some way been effected by the many false teachings that have arisen from the movement I mentioned earlier.
I have even seen churches close their doors because of it. Make no mistake about it…how we see Jesus Christ and how we handle false teachings about Who He is…DO MATTER!
300 Sermon Illustrations from Charles Spurgeon Scandalized by Jesus’ Humanity and Divinity (Hebrews 7:4)

I have sometimes heard objections made against certain expressions in Isaac Watts’ hymns in which our Lord is spoken of as the God that bled and died, and so forth. I fear that the objection is frequently aimed less at the poet than at the truth of the deity of our Lord. The objector figures as a critic because he does not dare to avow himself a heretic.

Take note that in the Scriptures you shall find frequent confusions of speech on the person of our Lord, intentionally made, in order to show that although the natures were distinct, still they were indissolubly united in the one person of Jesus. Of His one person might popularly be predicated that which in strict accuracy could only be true of his humanity, or only of his deity. To the one person of our Lord will be found to be ascribed what he did both as God and as man, and it is not needful for us to be wise or accurate above what is written by the Spirit of God.

(Kenosis Christology Heresy Context)

So, what was at the core of the false teachings? An incorrect view of Jesus Christ!
Specifically a belief called Kenosis Christology, also known as Kenotic Theology.
All forms of classical orthodoxy either explicitly reject or reject in principle Kenotic Theology.
Most Kenosis Christology comes from an incorrect understanding of Philippians 2:7 which in context reads:
Philippians 2:1–11 (ESV)
1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,
2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied (ekenosen) himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

(Kenosis Christology Definition)

What is Kenosis Christology or Kenotic Theology?
Lexham Survey of Theology Jesus’ Kenosis

The scriptural basis for the doctrine of kenosis is found in Philippians 2:6–8, a passage which was likely part of an early hymn. It speaks of Christ as the one “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself (Greek: ekenosen, the source of the English word “kenosis”), by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Here, the emphasis is on the Lord assuming the “form of a servant,” explained as the “likeness of men” and “human form.” These explanatory phrases then serve as the means by which the kenosis continues further down, finding its culmination in Christ taking upon himself the thing most disparate with his divine nature—namely, death.

Here, the emphasis is on the Lord assuming the “form of a servant,” explained as the “likeness of men” and “human form.”
These explanatory phrases then serve as the means by which the kenosis continues further down, finding its culmination in Christ taking upon himself the thing most disparate with his divine nature—namely, death.
The passage stands in concert with others that speak to the contrasts in the incarnation: 2 Corinthians 13:4 notes that Christ “was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God,” and Hebrews 12:2 contends that the Lord “endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
It is important to remember that the doctrine of kenosis is concerned with the Lord’s assumption of a lower status in the incarnation and not with any diminishing of his divine nature.
In the kenotic act, the Lord remains the one in whom “fullness of divinity was pleased to dwell” (Col 2:9).
Any interpretation of kenosis in which Christ is less than fully God renders our salvation null and void.
Elsewhere in Scripture, human salvation is revealed as the express purpose of Christ’s incarnation.
In 2 Corinthians 8:9, Paul explains to his audience that although the Lord “was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
Those who are united with him, who are buried with him, will likewise be raised with him (2 Cor 4:14), and we who are weak in him will also “live with him by the power of God” (2 Cor 13:4).
God must be affirmed to be changeless; any concept of the incarnation that would imply change would mean that God would cease to be God.

(Augustine Quote)

“Christ was and is equal to God by nature. This equality is a possession which He can neither renounce nor lose” (Ibid.).
The seed of those false teachings about Christ produced fruit that was ROTTEN!
At the core of this movement is the truth that they DID NOT and DO NOT see Christ correctly.
All of this brings us to our text this morning when Paul proclaims emphatically:
Colossians 1:19–20 (ESV)
19 For in him(Christ) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
20 and through him (Christ) to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

1. God Lived Among Us

Colossians 1:19–20 (ESV)
19 For in him (Christ) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

“Fullness” (plērōma), a key word in Colossians, is used in 1:19 and 2:9. (The verb plēroō is used in 1:9, 25; 2:10; and 4:17.) The noun means “completeness” and is used of a wide range of things including God’s being (Eph. 3:19), time (Gal. 4:4), and grace in Christ (John 1:16). This full and complete Deity is said to “dwell” (katoikēsai, “abide lastingly or permanently”) in Christ.

While the fine point of syntax may be challenging, the general sense of the verse is reasonably clear: God has ensured that in Jesus is found all that makes God to be God.

Colossians 2:9 (ESV)
9 For in him (Christ) the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
“All the fullness to dwell in him” refers to God being fully present in Christ, parallel with Paul’s statement in Colossians 2:9. Consequently, Christ is sufficient for the Colossians’ salvation.

(Dwelling Context)

This phrase echoes the glory of God filling of the tabernacle (Exod 40:34).
In the ancient world, people believed that deities lived on high places such as mountains (Gen 11:3).
For example, when the Israelites entered the wilderness, God met them on a mountain (Exod 19:3).
But God did not stay on the mountain; He instructed the Israelites to build a tabernacle—a dwelling place for Him to live among His people (Exod 25:8).
God came down and filled the tabernacle with His glory as a sign of His presence among them (Exod 40:34).
The prophet Isaiah interpreted this cloud of glory as the Holy Spirit (Isa 63:11).
This gracious act was God’s extension of friendship to the Israelites (Exod 33:11).
The Gospel of John describes Christ as the tabernacle or the dwelling of God (John 1:14)—demonstrating the continuity between God’s presence among the Israelites and His presence in the person of Christ.
John 1:1–4 (ESV)
1 In the beginning was the Word (Christ), and the Word (Christ) was with God, and the Word (Christ) was God.
2 He (Christ) was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through him (Christ), and without him (Christ) was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him (Christ) was life, and the life was the light of men.
John 1:14–16 (ESV)
14 And the Word (Christ) became flesh and dwelt (katoikēsai)among us, and we have seen his (Christ) glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 (John bore witness about him (Christ), and cried out, “This was he (Christ) of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he (Christ) was before me.’ ”)
16 For from his (Christ) fullness (plērōma) we have all received, grace upon grace.
Christ is Either “God With Us” or He is Not
(The incarnation is at the core of Who Christ is—the God Who took on flesh to save all mankind.)

2. God Reconciled Us to God

Colossians 1:20 (ESV)
20 and through him (Christ) to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Through Christ God will reconcile to Himself all things. The phrase “all things” is limited to good angels and redeemed people since only things on earth and things in heaven are mentioned. Things “under the earth” (Phil. 2:10) are not reconciled. On God’s restoring of nature, see comments on Romans 8:19–21; and on the reconciling of sinners, see comments on Romans 5:10–11 and 2 Corinthians 5:17–20. It is important to note that people are reconciled to God (“to Himself”) not that God is reconciled to people.

For mankind has left God and needs to be brought back to Him. In 2 Corinthians 5:19 “reconciliation” was used by Paul in a judicial (vs. an actual) sense in which the whole “world” is made savable through Christ’s death.
Paul spoke of “the many” (i.e., “those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace”) being “made righteous” through the Cross (Rom. 5:19).
To make peace through His blood means to cause God’s enemies (Rom. 5:10; Col. 1:21) to become, by faith, His friends and His children (Eph. 2:11–19).

1:20 reconcile The Greek word used here, apokatallassō, refers to the act of restoring a relationship to harmony. The purpose of Christ’s death on the cross was to bring all things created by Christ and for Christ (Col 1:16) into harmonious relationship.

Christ is God With Us to Bring Us to Him
(God put on mankind that He might save them!)

(Response)

(Invite Worship Team)

(Closing Tension)

Truly Jesus Christ is Immanuel, “God With Us.” This is Gospel. This is THE Gospel!
God Lived With Us
God Reconciled Us to God
We cannot at any point accept anything less than this: That Christ came and dwelt among us as fully God and fully Man.
Anything that doesn’t not confess this must be abandoned and thrown out.
Paul made has made this case that any other gospel than that which has been preached by him should be thrown out and those that practice it have rejected the truth and were to be accursed (Gal. 1:6-9)!

(Response Card)

1. Would you like to become a believer in Jesus Christ? (Yes/No/Already Am)
2. Do you fully believe that Christ is “God With Us?” (Blank Lines)
3. Have you been reconciled to God? (Blank Lines)
4. In what ways have you misunderstood the Incarnation of Jesus? (Blank Lines)
5. How do you need to respond to the preached Word today? (Blank Lines)
6. Do you have any prayer needs today? (Blank Lines)

(Closing)

(Give Response Card instructions, etc.)
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