Truth in Love: Colossians 1:15-18

Hey, good morning, this is truth and love and I'm thankful to be with you this morning

I'm I'm about 15 minutes late from when I wanted to start and so I Apologize to you anybody that that happened to be

Looking for me this early in the morning I try to be consistent with with when

I get on here so that you know, you know when I'm on here And and when we can spend time together

That's why I apologize that I'm late this morning Quite a few things on my mind this morning

Things that I that I want to share, but I don't know exactly how to share And so maybe

I'll save it for later I Guess let me start off with this

And and I need the Holy Spirit to to give me a clear a clear mind and to Bring back to mind the things that that have been on my mind that I want to talk about Because it's it's not it's not me.

It's not us Who do this who? Grow the kingdom who who teach

God's Word who who sharpen each other? It's the Holy Spirit who does it within us so so I'm fully dependent on him

But I watched I watched a sermon Or actually listen to a sermon yesterday,

I posted it and I listened to it and Yes, it the main overall theme is is going in one direction

But it's so Christ exalting it Points to Jesus it lifts him up and then there's another aspect about of this sermon that that is so wonderful and so important and People don't listen to things

And it breaks my heart. My heart is broken this morning over over attitudes and behaviors of People that we come in contact with and but I realize that that some people don't

Don't look into things don't listen to things because of There's because of the subject matter

They believe it's false they don't want to listen they don't want to hear what you have to say

And it's and it's very sad because within this sermon There's an aspect of the sermon

That speaks to speaks to life and and how we live and how we How we consider our life

What we think about our life and and what motivates us, you know in our living

That that's so important and and I thank God every time

I hear something In a different way in a more understandable way in a different light that that opens my heart that encourages my heart and It would be nice to share if people would listen

I posted the sermon and if you have time I would love for you to listen to it and I think it will encourage your heart

Um the the aspect that I'm that I'm talking about that's Kind of a sub theme a subtopic of that that video is not the main theme

But it's related to the main theme. It's speaking to us. It's speaking to you and speaking to me about Our life and and how we live because because we can be discouraged in our lives

You know, I'm not a lot of times.

We feel like we're we're nobodies. We're we we're not accomplishing Accomplishing anything.

We're we're We're just No good for the kingdom.

We're no good for our family or we're making no lasting impact we and He he makes this point as teachers and pastors

I know that very often We try to encourage each other encourage our listeners to know that what they do is important, but but the pastor that That preached this sermon that I that I just posted put it in such a way

That You can't help but be encouraged by I've never

I've never heard it put this way I've never heard someone in encourage the their listener in this way that you can't help but walk away and and be encouraged in in what you do, whatever it is and and be encouraged that it's

It's worthwhile it's and and that encourages our heart because our our hearts are so heavy sometimes or or Discouraged sometimes because we feel like we're not like I said, we're not accomplishing anything

We're nobody's we're we and we don't even have to be have a heart Of someone who wants to be known or well -known or on stage or on camera, you know

We don't even have to have that type of heart We can just have a heart of You know being discouraged because we're food we feel like we're not leaving

We're not accomplishing anything. Well This pastor and how he related this

Information Anyone can would walk away feeling encouraged

No matter what effort you're putting forth for the kingdom of God and That's that's one of the main reasons.

I would encourage you to listen to this sermon. It's a sermon by dr. James white

At apology at church I Would encourage you to listen to that sermon and and yes, it deals with in times it deals with eschatology

And it and it exalts Christ. It's Christ It lifts

Christ of God glorifying but it also has to do with that aspect of our lives and and living and That that section that point of the sermon is super super encouraging

Hey Roger, hope you're doing well. I just now saw your comment. I had to flip it over there so that I could see the comments

Thank you guys for watching. This is truth in love And I get that from Ephesians chapter 4 verse 15 where Paul tells us

He wants us to speak the truth in love so that we can grow up in all aspects

Into him who is the head even Christ? So that's what we want to do is speak truth in love

Another thing that's been on my heart this morning is And this is where I'm not going to say too much

Because I don't know exactly how to say it or how to word it

But I am Brokenhearted over the attitude of Individuals I come in contact with You can tell

Here's what I know, I know that we all are busy individuals

We we work we have our families we have Our Relationship with God that we work on our ministries that we work on.

Everyone is busy and so I understand that and There are some people that I come in contact with that that I would like to get to know better and and have a deeper relationship with And I understand that that they are busy and I understand that because we we all are

But it's the the attitude You know one of the qualifications of Of being a pastor that Paul gives

Timothy is is being above Reproach and that's not a person who is perfect It's dealing with character and It's not dealing with someone who who knows it all there there's there's some out there that that feel like they have all their ducks in a row and I Think I Think the type of pastor that you want and an identification that a pastor has his ducks in a row is a pastor that admits that he doesn't have all of his ducks in a row that he may have his ducks, but you know, they they may be

Staggered a little It's a hard analogy to to make a comparison with Because you know, we don't want a pastor.

That's you know, every anywhere and everywhere and doesn't know what he believes and We want a pastor who knows what he believes knows his convictions but a pastor that Is humble enough to admit that he he is not

Perfect in in his, you know interpretations and Is willing to Humbly listen and join together with with other with other ministers with other pastors and and So what breaks my heart is

The attitude that I run across where It It's hard to explain and that and that's why

I avoided it But I'm just sharing my heart and and what breaks my heart and and I know that's not

Not necessarily what you know teachers and pastors should do because our hearts our hearts and your heart everyone's heart as a human as a

Fallen creature is deceitfully wicked Jeremiah chapter 17 Our hearts are deceitful and wicked above all things who couldn't know it but um, but for prayer and And just for sharing.

This is what I wanted to share that, you know, it breaks my heart that that we have

Individuals, you know as leaders who reveal their character to be one that One of disassociation

Rather than one of love if I can put it like that and It's very sad that that these

Types of characters are leading our churches because they're they're gonna be leading Leading their congregation leading their flock to be people who are disassociators

And not Sheep who love and love one another

Everyone is busy and You know there we don't have time to build and grow a relationship with everyone that we come in contact with I Understand that and I completely completely

Am okay with that but it's the it's the attitude that one shares when having to relay that information is

What's revealing and so we need pastors that are not disassociators

But pastors that lead and and communicate with other people with love and Understanding and a humility of mind and heart that says the

Lord is still teaching me and so I hope to continue and I and I do find many and I do find brothers in ministry that that I come in contact with that have that type of heart that still want to be taught by the

Lord and want to Love their their brothers in Christ their fellow ministers and I'm so thankful for them and and We want to pray that our churches are led by ministers

Who still seek to be taught by the Lord and seek to love their brothers in ministry?

of course as Paul did and as he you know as we look at Colossians as we looked at Philippians and The love in which he spoke

For his brothers in the ministry and we need to have that attitude as ministers that type of love so I apologize if I Went on too long with sharing

What was on my heart this morning and how it was kind of breaking how

Kind of what I've been praying for and what I've been Thinking about so Wanted to continue in Colossians We're in Colossians chapter 15 through 18 and I still still feel inadequate of course

And I should feel this way and I feel like we you know We all should feel this way when we approach God's Word, you know

We will never never be adequate to interpret or or understand completely

Every aspect every detail and and definitely to be able to to teach it to other people

What a what a humbling What a

Amazing task My phone was just going crazy.

I didn't know if there was an emergency or something with someone but um What an amazing task and A scary and humbling situation to to think that we can teach or Explain what the interpretation of certain texts or certain passages

Wow and so I Asked myself.

Why do why do I endeavor to do it? But I want to share God's Word. I Want to share

His mercy so with that being said This is a daunting task

Then I'm you know completely unequipped and I think you know We all feel that way as we approach

God's Word but it's his Holy Spirit who wrote it and it's his Holy Spirit who who will teach us as we go along so as We look at this section

I do not believe I didn't feel the need that we should go deep into an interpretation on this section, but keep it kind of simple so that we get a picture of what's going on.

And I think if we, you know, we can study

God's word in steps like that, where we're studying the context, we want to get the immediate context, we want to get the book context, the

Bible context. We want to, and the

Lord's going to speak to us, the Holy Spirit is going to teach us each time we come back to a passage, maybe something different that we didn't see before.

And, you know, the first time, the second time, the third time that we look at a passage, we may walk away with a simple understanding, a big picture understanding, and then we can come back later and dig into it and have a greater, deeper understanding of that passage.

And so be encouraged that as long as we're in God's word, the

Holy Spirit will be teaching us and we don't have to have the deepest, most theological knowledge.

The Holy Spirit will teach us what he wants us to learn. And so with that being said, let's look at Colossians chapter one, verses 15 through 18, and we're just going to walk through this passage together and see what the

Holy Spirit teaches us. Starting in verse 15, it says, and he is the image of the invisible

God and 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 by him and for him.

And 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 of the first, the beginning, the firstborn from the dead so that he may, he himself might come to have first place in everything.

So I'd like for us to remember what is going on in Colossians. If you'll recall that the

Colossians church is not one that Paul himself started. In fact, we don't think that he ever visited the church at Colossians.

His disciple Epaphras was a founder or one of the founders of this church.

And he is also a messenger that comes to Paul to inform

Paul about this church and about what's going on at this church. And so he is seeking for Paul to speak to this church.

And Paul at being in prison writes this letter to this church at Colossae based on the information and by what he's being told about this church.

And this book is also written to not just the church at the

Colossian church, but the Laodicean church. And Paul is giving thanks.

He hears about what God is doing in their hearts, in their lives, their faith.

And Paul in his opening, he is expressing to them his thankfulness for them and thankfulness to God for what he is doing in their church, in their hearts and in their lives.

He offers this prayer in the introduction where he's praying that they will be filled with the knowledge of his

God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And when

I read that, I was thinking how that type of prayer potentially could be offensive to someone, especially someone who's not in Christ.

If you are praying for someone to have something they already think that they have, that's definitely going to be an offensive prayer for that person.

But as a Christian and praying for a Christian, as we are often known to do, to still fall, to still sin, to still be living in this flesh.

And when things aren't as we want them to be, we are tempted.

We are tempted to fall. We are tempted to sin. And I could just imagine how this type of prayer gets right at the heart of our heart, where Paul is praying for them to be filled with knowledge, the knowledge of God's will with all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

And so this gets at the heart of who we are, that you're saying that I need more understanding.

I need wisdom. You're saying I don't know what I'm talking about. And that's kind of the attitude that I was speaking of earlier, that we have, that we can have as ministers.

Someone comes across your path and suggests that there is a different interpretation, a different understanding.

And what is your reaction? And you may have the correct interpretation.

This is the character that I was speaking of. You may have the correct interpretation, but someone comes along with a different interpretation, a different understanding.

Someone comes along with a question or a different teaching, but it's, you know, and consider this in this scenario.

This is a person who says they love the Lord. They love

Jesus and they want to serve Jesus. You know, what is your response?

I mean, this is good heart reflection. This is a great time to say, let me look at myself when

I'm approached as a minister, when I'm approached as an individual who has strong beliefs, and we don't say that much anymore.

And I just, you know, I'm finding these rabbit trails, but I remember growing up and thinking of my grandparents and my great grandparents and my great aunts and uncles, the older generation from when

I was younger. I remember so many of those individuals had strong beliefs and strong convictions about their beliefs about the

Bible and Christianity. And it was known that they had those beliefs and understandings.

Today is so much different than back then. We hold our

Christianity so loosely. I don't know.

I don't know if it's the fact that the Bible is not studied like it used to be.

It seems as if individuals don't hold convictions or have convictions like our grandparents and our great grandparents and our great great grandparents, our great aunts and uncles that we remember from days gone by.

It seems as if individuals today don't have the convictions and stand on their convictions and speak of their convictions as they did in the past.

It's a different day and time. And it seems kind of shameful.

We spend too much time on other things, I guess, that we're not studying and standing on convictions, even having convictions.

But in this particular scenario that we were talking about, it's just a good time, a great time for reflection in our own hearts, in ourselves.

When someone approaches me with a different interpretation, a different understanding, what is my reaction to them?

What is my treatment of them? And this is the character that I was speaking of.

This is the response that I was speaking of. When I come to an individual, when

I go to speak to another minister and how they respond, that's the character that Paul's speaking of to Timothy, not what kind of degree they have.

But what kind of character they have. And character is going to be one of the words that we look at here in just a second.

But moving on, he's praying for them to have wisdom and understanding because there's an issue that has been brought to Paul's attention.

That this church, just probably just like many other churches that were founded at this time, they were, to use a modern word, they were multicultural churches.

You had people who were coming to Christ, but in this scenario, they were coming to Christ from two different places.

They were from the same geological location. But spiritually, you had the

Greeks or the Gentiles who were coming from these pagan religions that were coming to Christ.

And then you have the Jewish people who were there that lived there that were coming to Christ from and out of this

Jewish religion that they had formed, that their forefathers had formed.

And as I was studying and reading, it was written of even by first and second century historians.

They called the Jewish religion a philosophy, the philosophy of the

Jews. That's how they would speak of their religion. So it would become a philosophy. It would become a man -made religion.

What they took out of what God was giving them and created something themselves.

And so therefore, it becomes the philosophy of the Jews. And they were okay with describing it that way themselves, as we'll see as we go through Colossians.

But you had the two different groups. And Paul was getting the information that they were trying to bring in to this

Christianity. They were trying to bring in to Christ as Christ brought them into him.

They wanted to bring in with them things from their past religion.

And that's the things that Paul wanted to address with this church, the

Colossian church and the Laodicean church, that these things that you're trying to bring in are heresies.

They oppose Christ. They oppose Christianity. They oppose the church. And so Paul wants to correct their thinking, their understanding.

He wants to correct their religion because, well, let me just say this so that I don't forget it.

I'm kind of skipping ahead, but I don't want to forget to say this. With these two areas that they were coming from, the

Gentile, the Greek pagan religion and the Jewish religion that they were coming from and coming out of into Christ, these were religions.

And I know this is used quite often, and it's very cliche, even though it's true, it's used so often, it's become cliche, that they're coming out of their religions and they're coming into Christ who is, and they're coming into a relationship.

And the reason they're coming into a relationship is because Christ is a person.

Christ is real. Christ, this is not just a religion.

This is not just the religion of Christianity where you have the religion of this and the religion of that.

This is not just a religion. This is a person and one who is living, one who is real.

And so therefore, that's why it's a relationship. And so it seems that Paul's approach in addressing this serious situation as they leave their old religions, but they're not really leaving them completely because they're trying to bring in some of their old ways out of these former religions and bring them into this relationship and it's not going to work.

And this is Paul's approach. And we have to think about the context to understand what

Paul is saying. We need to understand the context and we need to understand what he's addressing so that we can interpret for ourselves and make application and understand what's going on in the text.

So that's what's going on. That's the background that Paul is needing to address the situation with the two former religions trying to bring in to this relationship that they have now with Christ.

So what is his approach? How does he start? Well, he's giving thanks at the end of his prayer.

He's giving thanks that they have this inheritance. They get to share in this inheritance with the other saints in light because he says verse 13, for or because he,

God has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son.

So you were here in these other religions, which was Paul is calling domains of darkness, which there's other things going on within the domain of darkness.

Your religion, your old religion just happens to be one of those things that's going on within the domain of darkness and you've been transferred.

You've been taken out of the domain of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved son.

So you've not come yourself outside and left this location of darkness and left your old religion and came come into Christ.

It is God who has taken you out and transferred and put you into this new kingdom.

So you're in a different location, completely different.

And so those things that were there basically should stay there.

That's what we need to understand. Those things that you, Colossians, members of the

Colossian church, those things that you are trying to bring into and add to Christ need to stay there because you've been transferred.

You've been taken out and put into a different place, a different religion, a different kingdom.

And so those things need to stay there. And this is where I was getting at when

I was talking about what these religions that they were coming out of, that's what they were.

They were religions. And what Paul is going to drive at next, which is our text for today.

What he's going to drive at next is that it's not this kingdom, this religion that you've been brought into, you've been taken out of one and you've been brought into, you've been transferred into another.

Yes, it is a different kingdom. You are in a kingdom, but you are in a kingdom of his beloved son.

It is about a person. So therefore it's no longer about a religion.

It's about a relationship because it's about a person, the person of Jesus Christ.

And so by explaining who this person is that we now have a relationship with, who is the head of this kingdom,

Paul begins to explain who this person is that we now serve because we are in his kingdom.

And by explaining who this king is, by explaining who this Jesus is, he attacks their old ways, their old religions, the things that they wanted to bring into this new relationship with Christ.

So by describing who he is, he is putting away their old ways of religion, the things that they wanted to bring into, if that makes sense.

It's like those who are trying to identify a counterfeit, they say the best way to identify or train yourself to identify a counterfeit is to study the original.

And that seems to be something similar to what Paul is doing here. He is describing and he is lifting high the original, the only, so that you can identify what does not belong.

Oh, I'm bringing this in from my old religion. I'm bringing this into this new kingdom, to this new relationship, but it's not working.

It doesn't fit. Because it doesn't fit with the character of this person that Paul is describing.

So I need to let it go. And I think that's what's happening here as Paul is teaching the church at Colossians.

So starting in verse 15, and what I think is going on, which is very helpful, and it will, it will provide us an opportunity to dig in a little bit deeper into what their beliefs were.

If you look at chapter two, verses six through 23, Paul seems to address some of those things that, that they wanted to bring into from their former religions into this relationship.

And as we look at how Paul describes our

King, as how he describes Jesus, the authentic, he is going to be addressing, you know, many of these things that he reiterates in verses six through 23 of chapter two.

So as, as you hear Paul describe who Jesus is, keep in mind that he is addressing heresies.

He's, he is addressing beliefs that the

Colossian church had, that he wants them to get rid of. So when, when they hear this description of Jesus and they think about this contradicts this other belief that I have, what they should be realizing is that I need to get rid of this, this former belief, this old belief.

But verse 15, and he is the image of the invisible God. And what we understand about that is being, being the image here is the exact representation.

And the, the analogy that's given is like a King's signet ring where he, he's sealing, he's sealing a letter with wax and he, and puts the impression of his ring in that wax.

So that, so we take the word impression and, and can apply it here to, to image.

And we get the word character here is what's, what's drawn out character.

So what Christ is revealing to us, what impression that he is leaving with us is the character of who

God is, the character who God is. And I, and I was, as I was reading and studying this verse when it says, and he is the image of the invisible

God. It made me think of creation, the creation account where God tells us that at that time, it was said, let us make men in our image, kind of the same language there.

But the difference, the difference is, is that man was made in the image of God.

And what does Colossians chapter one, verse 15 say that he, Jesus is the image of God.

And we were made in the image. Jesus is the image of God and we were made in the image of God.

I hope that's an accurate translation, but that seems to be an amazing thought and that we were made in the image.

And the image is a title here, which is given to Jesus Christ. The firstborn of all creation, and it, it doesn't speak of order because Christ was not spiritually, you know, he was not created or born.

So he does not have an order, but in their culture and in their understanding, firstborn was the preeminence or priority.

So as the firstborn, you would have had the greatest inheritance and you would have been, you would have taken over as head of household, head of household.

So that's what this is speaking of. That's what Paul is trying to explain here, that Christ has preeminence.

He has a priority over all things being the firstborn here is a position.

And that's the position that Christ has. And one thing that I wanted to mention about this section, this section is often called the teaching on the supremacy of Christ.

And that's very accurate. It's a teaching on and a revealing of and explaining of the supremacy of Christ.

He is supreme over all things. In verses 15 through 17, he is, he is supreme.

He is over creation in the universe. Verses 18, he is, he is over the church.

He is supreme over the church. And so, yes, that's accurate. But, but as I've looked at it, it's not the only description of Jesus that we can get out of this passage to be, to be supreme, to have supremacy over something that there has to be something there to be supreme over, to have supremacy over.

And so you have creation. He's over that. You have the church. He's over that. But in the context of what

Paul is trying to teach the church at Colossians, another, another thing, another way that we can describe

Jesus in this section is that he is not only supreme or the supremacy of Christ, but the word soul,

S -O -L -E, soul only. So he's trying to correct their theology and keep them from bringing in their old ways, their old thinking, their old rituals from their old theology from these other religions.

And what Paul is trying to teach them through the, through and by describing who

Jesus is, is that he is the soul. So it's to be supreme over other religions means there has to be other religions out there, other, other theologies.

But in reality, on earth, amongst the men, they exist, but they are not real.

If you see what I'm saying, there's only one God, and there's only one way to salvation.

And so therefore Jesus is the soul, the only real truth out there.

And so while they may exist materially, they don't exist in reality because they are not real.

They cannot give you what you need because they're empty.

They don't exist. It's just air. But Jesus is real.

So he is the only, he is the soul. And then the third way that we can describe Jesus is sufficient.

That which you need, Jesus can provide completely.

And so he is, he is supreme. Christ has supremacy over all things. Jesus is soul or only, he's the only one because he's the only real one, the only one that exists.

And Christ is sufficient. He's the only one that can satisfy completely and fully.

Going on to verse 16, for by him, all things were created.

And of course, that reminds us of John. The first chapter of John, that all things were created, that were created by him.

And I've always been intrigued by how John worded that, that all things that, all things created that were created, were created by him.

So I have to draw a circle and put everything that was created inside that circle.

And so anything that was created is inside this circle. And it was created by Jesus.

So Jesus has to be outside the circle. Jesus has to be something other than something that was created.

And that's what John is speaking of in chapter one. And that's what Paul was speaking of here for by him, all things were created.

So everything that was created was created by Jesus. He's outside of the circle. He is other than what we are.

He is God and we are the created beings. We are the creation. Completely outside the circle.

And this, and Paul goes on, he gives this further description because he's addressing, of course, the old religion of the

Colossians at the church at Colossae, coming from the two different groups, both in the heavens and the earth.

So he's given location. He's created all things, the heavens and the earth, both visible and invisible.

So we've got location and we've got essence, whether thrones or dominions, rulers and authorities, all things have been created by him and for him.

And Paul repeats this. John says the same thing. It's by him and for him. He's outside of the circle and it's for him, by him and for him as God.

He's created these things. And as Paul is describing these thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities.

He is, of course, specifically addressing their deal with angels.

They felt like they needed angels as a mediator to help their relationship with God.

They went through angels. They worship angels. So what

Paul is describing and reiterating and repeating is that, and it's like he doesn't, he doesn't want to miss a thing in his description that he's speaking of authorities, thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities of any kind, of any place in heaven and on earth, whether it be man, a king on a throne, a government or an angel or a fallen angel, a demon.

It doesn't matter where they're located or who they are. What their essence is,

Paul is telling the Colossians that they are insufficient and they are in submission to the one who has created them because they were created by him.

And the reason they're in submission to him is because they were created for him.

Does that make sense? They were created for him, verse 17.

And he is before all things. That speaks of his, the quality of his existence.

He was before all things. He is outside of time. And in him, all things hold together without him.

And I know as we look out in the world, we see how there's a lot of bad things in the world, which is always been the case.

Sometimes it's been worse. Sometimes it's been better, but there's always been because since this, since the curse, since the fall, there have been bad things in the world.

But as a creation, as a universe, because Jesus holds all things together, we've got cohesion and not chaos.

If Jesus didn't hold, and if Jesus wasn't holding all things together, there would be complete chaos in the universe.

He holds the atoms together. He is sovereign over all of the universe.

There would be no way that we as a people could send a rover to Mars to study

Mars. If Jesus wasn't holding all things together, because there are rules of science.

There are rules of logic. There are, there were things that we have to follow ways that things work because Jesus is holding all things together.

If we weren't, we would not be able to do a science experiment and come up with vaccines.

If Jesus wasn't holding all things together and he is doing that as God.

And then verse 18, he, he is also the head of the body, the church. And so therefore we transitioned from creation universe to he is the head of the body, the church, his church.

We need to make a point here that as we try to have a consistent theology throughout all of the

Bible, our understanding of this needs to match our understanding of this.

We need to move away from, as Paul is calling these, these new members of the body.

He's calling them away from their old ways and to leave their old ways in that domain of darkness and not bring them into this kingdom of his beloved son.

One of the things that we need to leave behind is this dualistic thinking.

Where Jesus has authority. Jesus has rule. Yes, yes,

Jesus is spiritually reigning over the church.

He is the head of the church, but you know, he doesn't, he doesn't yet have full authority over, over the earth, over the universe, over creation.

We have this, we have this dualistic type theology where Christ reigns and Christ rules in one area.

He's the head of the church, but he's not head of anything else. And that is what

Paul is dismissing here. And Paul continues to dismiss it in, in this book and other books.

First Corinthians chapter 15. Paul dismisses that idea over and over that we should have a dualistic theology of who

Jesus is and where he reigns. In this section, the supremacy of Christ is over all things, creation and the church, physical and spiritual.

And I don't, I don't know how much more Paul could reiterate that. Listen to what he says again in verse 16, both in heaven and on earth.

Jesus says himself in Matthew chapter 28, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

Then he says visible, invisible thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities, all things have been created by him and for him.

And they're under submission to him because they've been created for him. He's before all things.

And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the head over all things.

He is the ruler over all things. He has authority over all things.

Right now, as he is reigning, has authority over all things. And then the last, the last point that Paul makes here is that he is, he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.

So again, using that title there, firstborn doesn't indicate order of birth, but indicates position.

He is the prince of life. He has been resurrected. And Paul speaks of that in other places too, that we can't deny that the resurrection has happened because it has happened in Christ.

The resurrection has happened in Christ and he is the firstborn. He is the preeminent one in the resurrection.

So therefore we can believe in it. It has happened. It is real. And so there, there is

Paul's description of who is king over this kingdom. And he is defeating these false ideas, these false theologies, these false religions that were, that were around Colossae, that were, that the church was trying to bring in from their, from their past.

And he is doing that by pointing to Jesus. And I think, and I think that is good for us to remember.

If we're thinking about apologetics, if we're thinking about evangelism, if we are thinking about discussing our differences with someone else,

Paul's argument, I mean, this is, this is chapter one. Paul is trying to defeat, he is trying to get rid of these old religious ideas that they're trying to bring into the church.

And what's the first thing that he does? He describes who Jesus is.

Doesn't that speak to us in our approach and in how we have discussions with people who disagree with us?

Let's look at who Jesus is. Let's describe who Jesus is. As we look at his character, his image, his impression on us, he will reveal to us who he is.

And then as we, as we study the authentic, the counterfeit, the things that don't belong will fall away.

I think Paul is giving us an example here of what our approach should be to examining our own theologies.

And how we discuss our differences with other people and apologetics and evangelism and whatever we may be up to.

So I hope that was encouraging. I apologize for the long introduction there.

Sometimes we talk about things that maybe could have been left out.

And maybe I could have left out that first part this morning, but it was, I just wanted to share with you.

So that we can pray for one another. And if I can pray for you, I'd love to be able to do that. All you had to do was tighten me.

If this was an encouragement for you, I would ask that you would pray for me as I attempt to reach our community in this way.

And I thank you for your prayers and your support. So let's pray as we wrap up this study this morning.

Father, thank you for giving us this opportunity to spend time together. Father, thank you for letting us be a part of your kingdom work.

No matter what, no matter what small part we are playing, we can be encouraged that it is glorifying to you and it's pleasing to you.

And it is, it is making a difference in what you're doing. Thank you for you is using us despite who we are.

Thank you for your word. And thank you for teaching us. And thank you for Jesus. And father, help us to look to him so that we can drive away false ideas.

And we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for watching. Really appreciate you guys.

Remember that Jesus is king. Go live in that victory. And let's continue to go out there and proclaim the gospel.