Sunday Sermon Colossians 1:19-23
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning and welcome to FCC where we worship God in Spirit and in Truth one verse at at time.
Thank you for that beautiful a-cappella song service!
Let us remember to continue to pray for Jeffey who has Covid, Barbara Nasralla who had her hip replaced and Shelly who had herniated disks in her back repaired. WOW! That’s a lot...
Prayer
Prayer
Read Colossians 1:19-23
Read Colossians 1:19-23
Review
Review
We are currently in the midst of the most Christological passage in Scripture. When you think of Jesus, this passage speaks more on Him than any other passage in the entire Bible.
Christology is simply the study of Jesus Church
That is what we have been doing the past few weeks and we will continue today
The church in Colosse was located in the Lycus Valley, in the area we know today as the nation of Turkey.
The church of Colosse was started by a man named Epaphras who probably came to know the Lord through Paul’s ministry while Paul was staying in Ephesus, about 100 miles to the west of Colosse.
One of the chief reasons for Paul writing this letter was to address heresy.
Strange doctrines were beginning to spring up in Colosse. Before Paul deals with the heresies, he will first clarify some important truths.
We’re now plowing our way through the first section of the letter which deals with the truth of who God is and who Jesus is.
Some of the phrases we’ve looked at:
Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God,
Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God,
If you want a clear picture of what God is like, look at the best picture God has left us – Jesus.
Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created …
Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created …
Jesus is the Creator. He has created everything, the heavens, the earth, EVERYTHING.
Colossians 1:16 All things were created through Him and for Him.
Colossians 1:16 All things were created through Him and for Him.
He not only created everything, but everything was created for Him.
Colossians 1:17 and in Him all things consist.
Colossians 1:17 and in Him all things consist.
He not only made everything, He holds it all together. We talked about the mysterious force that holds atoms together. We talked about how He holds us together.
Colossians 1:18 And He is the head of the body, the church,
Colossians 1:18 And He is the head of the body, the church,
The church is made up of all true believers in Jesus Christ, and He is the head of that organization, not the pope. He’s in charge.
Colossians 1:18 that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Colossians 1:18 that in all things He may have the preeminence.
All these things point to one thing – Jesus is above all.
He is the one who holds “first place” in the Universe.
Jesus needs to be “first place” in our lives as well.
Who’s sitting in the pilot’s seat in your life? Who calls the shots? Who makes the decisions?
For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,
Paul takes a giant step forward in his argument for the Supremacy of Jesus Christ for he declared that “all fullness” dwelt in Jesus Christ!
For it pleased the Father that In Jesus church all the fullness should dwell
And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”
It is important that we re-visit one of the teachings of Gnosticism.
They taught that since God is Spirit, He is good, but matter all matter is evil
Therefore God could not directly create things, but instead God created a being called an “emanations”, who in turn created another “emanation”, and then another … until a bunch of “emanations..” Or we could call these spirits church.
The Gnostics believed that Jesus was a created being, just another emanation from God or even an angel for that matter.
So here, Paul injects the word fullness again which is a Gnostic favorite.
The word translated “fullness” is the Greek word pleroma (pronounced “play-RO-ma”).
It was a technical term or a buzz word in the vocabulary of the gnostic false teachers. It meant “the sum total of all the divine power and attributes.”
Paul uses this important word eight times in the Colossian letter, therefore, we will come to it again and again throughout this power packed epistle
Paul counters that false teaching by stating that all the fullness of deity is not spread out in small doses to a group of spirits, but fully dwells in Christ alone!
“The Gnostics distributed the divine powers among various emanations or spirits. Paul gathers them all up in Christ, a full and flat statement of the deity of Christ.” (Robertson)”
It is important for us to remember that they were teaching that Jesus was not enough, that you needed Jesus plus that secret knowledge that they had....
For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,
The ancient Greek word for dwell is here used in the sense of a permanent dwelling.
There is actually an entirely different word used for the sense of a temporary dwelling place.
Paul wanted to emphasize the idea that Jesus was not temporarily God, but is permanently God.
Dwell-katoikeo- to settle; inhabit; to be at home permanently.
Church, all divine attributes are at home in Jesus, not in other emanations that the Gnostics were teaching about!
Church, all divine attributes are at home in Jesus, not in other emanations that the Gnostics were teaching about!
Jesus is fully God church! This is what Paul is teaching us.
There are well over a hundred verse alone in Scripture that teach about the Deity of Christ.
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
The truth that Jesus is fully God is not a “negotiable” truth.
There are some things we believe that we aren’t too sure of, and yes we can agree to disagree.
The truth that Jesus is God is not one of those truths.
It is an absolute, necessary truth.
Why is it necessary to believe that Jesus is fully God?
It is because the complete payment of your sins depends upon it church!
and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
Here we come to another power packed passage of Scripture.
At some point in all of our lives, we have offended someone, or someone has offended us. When this happens church, we are at odd with one another, literally as our next text teaches us alienated form each other.
The passage is clearly not talking about us being alienated from each other, but rather from God, look at what our next verse says:
And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled
There is a great theological word here! Reconcile, but what does it mean, is there anything that we can do to enter into this state?
The word reconcile is one of the most significant and descriptive terms in all of Scripture. It is one of five key words used in the New Testament to describe the richness of salvation in Christ, along with justification, redemption, forgiveness, and adoption.
In justification, the sinner stands before God guilty and condemned, but is declared righteous (Rom. 8:33).
In redemption, the sinner stands before God as a slave, but is granted his freedom (Rom. 6:18–22).
In forgiveness, the sinner stands before God as a debtor, but the debt is paid and forgotten (Eph. 1:7).
In reconciliation, the sinner stands before God as an enemy, but becomes His friend (2 Cor. 5:18–20).
In adoption, the sinner stands before God as a stranger, but is made a son (Eph. 1:5).
You just took a flash course in soteriology which is the study of salvation.
However, A complete understanding of the doctrine of salvation would involve a detailed study of each of those terms.
Here in Colossians 1:20–23, Paul gives a concise look at reconciliation.
Reconcile- katallassō - means to change, or exchange.
Its New Testament usage speaks of a change in a relationship.
But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife.
Here we see a woman being reconciled to her husband...
And then we can see it in tow other places in the Word:
For if when 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.
Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
We can see here in these two passages that they speak of God and man being reconciled!
When people change from being at enmity with each other to being at peace, they are said to be reconciled.
When the Bible speaks of reconciliation, then, it refers to the restoration of a right relationship between God and man.
But there is another term for reconcile that is used in Colossians 1:20, 22—apokatallassō. It is a compound word, made up of the basic word for reconcile, katallassō, with a preposition added to intensify the meaning.
Reconcile- apokatallassō- it means thoroughly, completely, or totally reconciled
Paul no doubt used this stronger term in Colossians as a counterattack against the false teachers.
Because they held that Christ was merely another spirit being emanating from God, they also denied the possibility of man’s being reconciled to God by Christ alone.
In refuting that denial, Paul emphasizes that there is total, complete, and full reconciliation through the Lord Jesus.
Inasmuch as He possesses all the fullness of deity (1:19; 2:9)
Jesus is able to fully reconcile sinful men and women to God (1:20).It means thoroughly, completely, or totally reconciled.
The root idea of both words comes from the idea of “exchanging coins”. When you travel to a foreign country, if you are going to pay cash for anything, you might need to “exchange” your currency. You exchange your “dollars” for the currency of the land.
So you probably thinking where you going with all this on the word reconcile Pastor John?
Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
Church, here is the exchange:
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
God’s great exchange goes like this – you come to God with your sin and God comes to you with the righteousness of Christ.
You stick out your hand with all your sin, God takes your sin, and in exchange gives you the righteousness of Christ.
But Paul doesn’t use the simpler word, he chooses to use a stronger, more intense word here. Adding those three letters to the front of the word makes it more intense.
Not just to “reconcile”, but to “reconcile completely”.
There is no room for debate on this. Jesus makes you absolutely right with God.
Notice that if you have been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ and the blood that he shed on Calvary, you now have responsibility.
God has given us the ministry of reconciliation
This means is your saved, if you have surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, then your in the ministry
Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
When is the last time you went fishing church?
Illustration
Illustration
Often, we will pray for opportunities to share the gospel, that the Lord would put people right in our paths.
Some of you know this past week that we were able to get away skiing at Mt Hood for 3 wonderful days
We were riding on ski lift headed to the top of the mountain when a 14 year old boy named Sage sat with us.
EXPLAIN more....
So pray for opportunities church, but remember, it will take faith to leap out and share. Just be lead in the Spirit and the Lord will give you words to speak!
in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.
It was Jesus death on the cross that gave us the option to be reconciled to God church
For remember, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.
Jesus sacrificed his life for you, for me, for your family, for your co-workers, for your neighbors, for your enemies, for the whole world so we could be reconciled to God!
Church, a desire to be saved means a desire to be made holy, a desire to be blameless, and a desire to live above reproach.
We see here God’s Sovereignty, but yet mans responsibility...
If we have personal relationship with the Lord through spending time in prayer, in the Word, in fellowship with other believers, Jesus will make us like this, not ourselves!
Remember church, that sanctification is progressive>>>>
There will be a day when Jesus will present us to His Father as His Bride. Three things will be noticeable about you at that time:
holy – hagios – a word usually used for God, separated to God, morally clean and pure
blameless – amomos (“not” + “blemish”) – without blemish; faultless
above reproach – anegkletos (“not” + “accusable”) – that cannot be called into account
Sound too good to be true?
Anyone can become right with God. Anyone.
In closing:
There is a condition to being “holy, blameless, and above reproach” before God.
You must continue in the faith from the hope of the Gospel which you heard!
We must be grounded and steadfast in the Lord
Paul doesn’t say that if you went forward at a Billy Graham crusade twenty years ago, but have backslidden, that you have nothing to worry about.
It doesn’t sound to me as if Paul is saying that “once saved, always saved”.
Paul clearly lays out a condition, that you continue steadfast in the faith.
This isn’t the same as saying you have to earn your way to heaven.
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Four: Crown Him Lord of All! (Colossians 1:13–20)
If Jesus Christ is only a man, or only an emanation from God, He cannot reconcile God and man. The only arbitrator who can bring God and man together is One who is both God and Man Himself. Contrary to what the gnostics taught, Jesus Christ was a true human being with a real body. He was God in human flesh (John 1:14). When He died on the cross, He met the just demands of the Law because He paid the penalty for man’s sins (1 Peter 2:24). Reconciliation was completed on the cross (Rom. 5:11).
Have you been reconciled In Christ ? Have you surrender your life to Jesus Christ? Are you being made holy, blameless, and above reproach in His sight? Today, is the day of salvation church!
Prayer
Prayer
Announcements
Announcements
Are there any announcements?
If there is anyone interested in packing the MFMA Christmas boxes, please let me know. They will be packing boxes in a Covid compliant way. There is also Christmas Caroling event.
1. Each Church will need to provide their own trailer & vehicle to pull it.
. Meet at the Yantis Park at 4pm to decorate your trailer.(Bring your own decorations.)
Bring Hot Chocolate , Hot Cider or coffee for your group.
. Parade route will be determined and run from 5pm-7pm ish.
Please continue to pray for:
Barbara Nasralla- Hip replacement recovery
Jeffey Armstrong- Covid
Shelly James- the mother that comes with her two kiddos had herniated disks in her back repaired, for continued recovery
I asked Shelly if we as her church could do anything for her and she mentioned she planned on raking her leaves, but then her back went out and she can not rake right now.
How many would be interested in raking her large yard next Saturday, weather permitting start at 9-10am??? Or we could do it on ???
This is an opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus to one of our own!
It does not need to be men only, but women as well??
Benediction
Benediction
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
The Lord Bless you! Your Mission Starts Now!
The Lord Bless you! Your Mission Starts Now!