"Who Is Jesus"

Sermon Outline Secure in a Living Hope! Colossians 1:15-20 Introduction 1. Illustration: The boat was on the point of leaving, and the passengers lounged on the deck and waited for the start. At length one of them saw a cyclist in the far distance, and it soon became evident that he was doing his level best to catch the boat. Already the sailors' hands were on the gangways, and the cyclist's chances did not look good. Then a passenger offered a bet of $20.00 that he would miss the boat. One of the sailors took the bet, and at once the deck became a scene excitement. "He'll miss it." "No; he'll just do it." "Come on!" "He won't do it." "Yes, he will. He's done it. Hurrah!" In the very nick of time the cyclist arrived, sprang off his machine, and ran up the one gangway left. "Cast off!" he cried, to the sailor that had taken the bet. It was the captain. 2. Life: Knowing who someone is affects our view of what they can and cannot do. 3. Need: As Christians we need to know who Jesus Christ is before we can understand how He could do what He did. 4. Text: Today we are going to look at an amazing description of who Jesus Christ is followed by an explanation of just what He did. Turn with me if you will in your Bibles to Colossians 1:15. 5. Context: Paul had just told the Colossians that they had been rescued by the Father who transferred them to the Kingdom of Christ. They had been told they had redemption and the forgiveness of sins in Christ. Now Paul will tell them who Jesus Christ is. I. All Christians should know that Jesus Christ is God.v15-16 Colossians 1:15–16 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. A. Jesus is the same as God.v15 It is important that we see that Jesus.—“Is,” not “was” or “became;” hence we have here defined, not what He became at His appearing in the flesh, but what He is, and is eternally. Notice Jesus IS the image of God. Not that he was made in the image as man was made in the image of God. Image here does not mean merely “likeness,” as in outward appearance, but the exact and full representation of God in character and otherwise. Image does not imply a weak or a feeble copy of something. It implies the illumination of the essence of the thing. Hebrews 1:3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, When linked to the description of God as “the invisible God” we understand that Jesus is the physical incarnation of God. This tells us WHO Jesus is: God, come in the flesh. John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. When we see this term “first-born” We need to read it the way Paul’s audience would have read it. First born is a term used to mean Highest rank, of more importance. This concept is clear in Psalm 89:27 “I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth. “Firstborn” tells us two things about WHO Jesus is: He preceded all of Creation, He is Sovereign over all Creation. B. Jesus created all things. v16a “by Him all things were created” Jesus was the agent of creation, both of the visible and invisible, earthly and heavenly spheres. The Father, of course, has a significant relationship to creation. He is the architect; he determined to bring creation into existence. The Son, Jesus, is the workman who actually brought the plans into existence. Through his creative imagination and power, the created order exists. John 1:3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. The listing of “all the things” as being those “in the heavens and on the earth,”, is important. It expresses absolute universality: “in the heavens and on the earth, the seen and the unseen.” C. Jesus created all spirit.v16b He made all things out of nothing, the highest angel in heaven, as well as men upon earth. He made the world, the upper and lower world, with all the inhabitants of both. Here are some of the things we don’t see: ‘thrones or dominions or principalities or powers’. These words describe the world of angels both holy and evil The effect of this list of what Christ created is to emphasize the immeasurable superiority of who Christ is. HE is over all because he created all. Illustrate: The idea that He created everything from nothing is difficult for us to grasp because we have a hard time with the idea of nothing. See when we say nothing we are not just talking about an absence stuff. Prior to creating everything there was no time, no space and no energy. Whenever we create we start with something, when we write a poem we start with paper and ink. Music we start with notes and Rhythm and things that already exist. But when Jesus created everything from nothing he started with early utterly and completely nothing no space no matter no spiritual Realm there was nothing. Very hard for us to wrap our minds around the idea of nothing. Ultimately it's creation from nothing is what gives God authority over creation. Because of this it is vital that we acknowledge God as the Creator all that exists from nothing. II. All Christians should know Jesus Christ rules over all.v17-18 Colossians 1:17–18 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. A. Jesus existed before anything and holds highest rank above all things.v17a ‘He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together’. Jesus was not part of Creation but he was before it. According to this passage Christ existed “before all beings,” and according to the context the universe was created by Him, the first-born of creation, so that it both consists through Him and exists with a view to Him. This verse emphasizes both the pre-existence of Christ in time and the preeminence as Creator. This is repeated to help us understand clearly who Jesus Christ is: God. B. Jesus holds all things together.v17b Christ is not only the One through whom all things came to be, but also the One by whom they continue to exist. “In him all things hold together.” The work of creation includes the continual sustaining of what was created. The Creator has not forgotten the creation. He daily maintains a balance in the universe. C. Jesus rules over all.v18 Christ “is also head of the body, the church.” Besides being the Lord of the universe He is also the church’s Head. Ephesians 1:22–23 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. The reference here is to the universal church into which all believers are baptized by the Holy Spirit the moment they believe in Christ. “Christ is the Beginning and the Firstborn from among the dead” Not that he was the first who ever rose from the dead, but the first and only one who rose by his own power, and was declared to be the Son of God, and Lord of all things. Revelation 1:5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood— All this is “so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.” Christ is given first place over all Creation. He is preeminent. Illustrate: In 1715 King Louis XIV of France died after a reign of 72 years. He had called himself "the Great," and was the monarch who made the famous statement, "I am the state!" His court was the most magnificent in Europe, and his funeral was equally spectacular. As his body lay in state in a golden coffin, orders were given that the cathedral should be very dimly lit with only a special candle set above his coffin, to dramatize his greatness. At the memorial, thousands waited in hushed silence. The Bishop who performed the ceremony began to speak; slowly reaching down, he snuffed out the candle and said, "Only God is great." Only God is great and Christ is God. Only God could do what Christ did. III. All Christians should God wanted the incarnation and reconciliation to occur.v19-20 Colossians 1:19–20 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. A. God desired the incarnation.v19 “Father’s good pleasure” God the Father wanted The Christ to take on flesh and dwell with men. He wanted “the fullness to dwell in” Jesus. What is this fullness? Colossians 2:9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, This was a startling statement to describe a carpenter from Nazareth who was executed for treason! There is nothing that can be added to Jesus Christ to make him a ‘better’ or a ‘greater’ All the fulness” pleased to dwell in Christ, not only a part of it, not only most of it. No domain is left in which the absolute supremacy of Christ and of his work is not fully effective. B. God desired to restore peace through the cross.v20a It is important to note that people are reconciled to God. Not that God is reconciled to people. For mankind has left God and needs to be brought back to Him. “reconcile all things” The term meant “to change from hostility to peace” especially between persons. Sin has caused a separation between the creator and the created. God acted in Christ to restore the fellowship. The reconciliation was not without great cost! The blood of a man is a great cost, the blood of God in the form of man was the greatest cost. Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. C. This peace was with everything.v20b The peace achieved through the death of Jesus is an objective peace. It is the peace of relationships, not feelings. Although the human heart cries for feelings of peace, the deep need is for a relationship of peace. When relationships are correct, feelings follow. The Fall affected the whole of creation, but Christ’s death restored the universe to its proper relationship with God. The cross affects “all creation.” Each part of it is not affected in the identical way but according to the nature, the condition, and the relation of each part to the whole. This does not mean that everything affected by sin will be redeemed into a state of grace. It means that every category of creation will be restored and that those areas left in a state of sin will be put into their proper place by the power of Christ. Illustrate: There was a father and son that lived on adjoining farms, but they had a deep quarrel. They had often shared their resources, but that practice stopped; and there was nothing left but bitterness. One morning there was a knock on the son’s door. It was a carpenter. The carpenter asked if there was any work to do. The son said that there was something he could do. He took the carpenter to where the two properties met and showed him a creek that divided the farms. The land on the other side of the creek was much richer, the crops grew taller, there were no weeds at all. The son said, “I can’t stand to see how much better he is doing. I want you to help me get even by building a big fence so I won’t have to see him or his property ever again.” So the carpenter worked hard all day, then he reported back to the son. The son walked out to where the work was done. He noticed there was no fence. The carpenter had used his skill and built a bridge over the creek instead of a fence. The Father saw the bridge and was quite moved by the bridge. The father and son met in the middle and embraced. The son saw the carpenter packing his tools and asked him to stay a while and do more work. The carpenter replied, “I’m sorry, but I have other bridges to build.” What Jesus Christ did was build a bridge between us and God. Conclusion It is vital that we know who Christ is. We need to know who Christ is so that we can understand how He could do what He did. Paul has given us an amazing description of Christ. Jesus Christ is God, who is sovereign over all creation. He has authority over creation because he crated He created all of it, time, space, mater, spirit. He not only created it, he holds it together. He is also the head of the Church He is highest rank and first place in all things. When we understand who Christ is we can better understand exactly how He could reconcile all things to the father through His blood on the cross. We enter into this reconciliation when we place our faith… our trust in Jesus Christ and His work on the cross. That it was sufficient to pay for our sins. When we know who he is we can see why it would be sufficient. If there is anyone here who has not trusted in Christ, anyone still trying to earn Heaven, in a moment I am going to pray a prayer and we are going to sing a song. During that song I would invite you to come forward and place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior. Additionally if there is anyone who is in need of prayer I would love for you to come forward so that I can pray for you. And Finally if there is anyone here who wishes to be a member of this Church this is the proper time to come forward and receive membership in this church.