Christ - the Fullness of God — Stephen Kaung

O Lord, we do pray that Thou wilt make us conscious of Thyself. We pray that Thou wilt remove every or any veil upon our hearts, that we may behold Thee face to face, and we may be transformed by Thy Spirit from glory to glory.

O Lord, Thou does know we are here before Thee, and how we praise and thank Thee that Thou art ever faithful to us. So do come into our midst and lift us up, that we may be conscious of nothing but Thyself.

We ask in Thy precious name. Please turn to the letter to the Colossians, chapter 1. Colossians, chapter 1. We'll read from verse 15 through verse 19. Colossians, chapter 1, verse 15. Who is image of the invisible God, firstborn of all creation, because by Him were created all things, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth, the visible and the invisible.

Whether thrones or lordships or principalities or authorities, all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all, and all things subsist together by Him. And He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, firstborn from among the dead, that He might have the first place in all things.

For in Him all the fullness of the Godhead was fled to dwell. Chapter 2, verse 9 and 10. Chapter 2, verses 9 and 10, the first part of verse 10. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him.

Ye are complete in Him. The gospel according to John, chapter 1. John, chapter 1, verse 14. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have contemplated His glory, a glory as of and only begotten with a Father, full of grace and truth.

John bears witness of Him, and he has cried, saying, This was He of whom I said, He that comes after me, if preferred before me, for she was before me. For of His fullness we all have received, and grace upon grace.

For the law was given by Moses, grace and truth subsist through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father. He has declared Him. We are rejoicing.

The Call to the Fullness of God’s Will

We mentioned yesterday afternoon that Paul's burden for the saints at Colossae was that they might be filled with the full knowledge of God's will. In other words, after Paul had heard of their faith in Christ Jesus, and their love towards all the saints, and the hope that they had in heaven, Paul was very much burdened that these dear people of God should go on to the fullness that God had for them.

Because God's thought concerning His people is the thought of fullness. Anything less than fullness will never satisfy God, even though sometimes we are of such small capacity that we will be satisfied with just a little bit, but that will never satisfy God.

Therefore Paul wrestled, energized, agonized before the Lord in prayer and also in his writing that these people may be brought by the Spirit of God to the full knowledge of God's will. That they may be filled with the fullness that is in God.

And I believe that this burden of Paul is the burden of the Spirit of God. This burden is not limited by time or space. It was true during Paul's time and it must be true today. There should be that burden in the heart of every child of God that we may be filled with the full knowledge of God's will.

Nothing less than fullness. Now this afternoon we feel that we may go a little bit further. That is, we will try to find where the fullness of God is. Scholars tell us that the very word fullness means the totality of divine attributes and power.

It is the field, the condition of a thing. It is a realized ideal. In the Godhead there is a fullness, a perfection, a completeness. Everything is full and complete in the Godhead. It is always in that state, always full.

It is very hard for us to try to grasp the idea or the reality of the fullness that is in the Godhead. Sometimes when something is too big, too vast, too great, it tends to be vague and general in our thinking because it is just too much for us.

God’s Fullness in Love and Light

God is full of love. He is love, yes. But He is full of love. That's why you'll find in John 3, 16, God's full of the world. Not just God's love of the world, God's full of the world. And we remember in the first letter of John, he said, Behold what manner of love.

The Father hath bestowed upon us. It is that marvelous love of God. It is that love that is beyond our understanding, that cannot be explained. Full of love, that is God's love. And God is light, not just a little light.

We find the word tell us that in Him is light and there is no darkness at all. God's light is perfect. There is no variation and no shadow or shade. He dwells in the light that is unapproachable. And we have been delivered out of darkness into His wonderful and marvelous light.

Dear brothers and sisters, when we think of God, we have to think in terms of fullness. Wherever you turn, whether you turn to love or light or righteousness or holiness or glory or power, wherever you turn, when you think of God, it is fullness.

Very full. It is full and complete and perfect. One day I was meditating upon the fullness that is in the Godhead. And I look up to Him and say, Lord, how can I understand this fullness? It is just too vast, too big for me.

And then a phrase came to me. The fullness of the earth. And I remember that passage in Deuteronomy chapter 33. Probably it is good if we refer to it. Deuteronomy chapter 33. We know it was Moses, the man of God, blessing the children of Israel before his death.

And he mentioned the different names of the sons of Israel. When he came to Joseph, in verse 13, and of Joseph he said, Blessed of Jehovah be his land, by the precious things of the heavens, by the dew, and by the deep that lies beneath, and by the precious fruit of the sun, and by the precious things put forth by the month, and by the best things of the ancient mountains, and by the precious things of the everlasting hills, and by the precious things of the earth and the fullness thereof.

And let the goodwill of him that dwelt in the bush come upon the head of Joseph, upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. Here we find Moses, blessed, Joseph, and in that blessing he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land.

And he mentioned many things, the precious things of the heavens, by the dew, by the deep that lies beneath, the water, the sea, the ocean, by the precious fruit of the sun, and the things put out by the month, and also the precious things of the ancient mountains, of the everlasting hills, the things of the earth and the fullness.

Well dear brothers and sisters, I think of the fullness of the earth. I'm thinking of the fullness of the heavens, of the earth, and of the sea. How vast, how big is the heavens, and the land, and the sea.

And yet, these are all fully inhabited. When you look up into the sky, you see the stars inhabiting the heavens. Countless, numberless, billions of stars there. And when you look at the land, you find that it is filled with things.

Not only the mountains and the hills, and the precious things in the hills and the mountains, but you find there are people all over, and many microscopic things that we cannot see. It is just teeming with life, and filled with things.

And also this is true of the ocean, of the sea. Maybe, when we think of the fullness of the earth, it may give us a little idea of the fullness that is in God, and of God. The fullness that is in God is of spiritual, and moral, and divine nature.

It is of a far superior quality. The fullness that is in God. How full must be our God. How complete and perfect must be our God. But still you know it is very hard to grasp the fullness that is in God.

We are very limited, even in the physical sense. Our ear can only hear certain sound waves, and if it is shorter or it is longer, we cannot hear them. Because our ear is so restricted and limited. And because we cannot hear them, we consider these sounds as unreal, as non-existing.

But actually they are there, only that our capacity is too small. It has to be brought within our range of hearing. Then they become real to us. And dear brothers and sisters, in the great mercy of God.

Because His heart is so full towards us, He knows our limitations, our small capacity. And yet His love towards us is so great. So in His marvelous love, He brings the greatness, the fullness of the Godhead within our range.

That we, as little beings, may be able to not only appreciate, but to apprehend the fullness that is in the Godhead. And we all know God has done this. For in Him, that is in Christ, dwells all the fullness of the Godhead.

Christ as the Visible Fullness of God

And this Christ we know. So the Apostle John, when he wrote the Gospel, he said the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Now who is the Word? The Word is the one in whom dwells the fullness of the Godhead.

That is the Word. And the one in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwells, now dwells among us, full of truth. And John said, we have beheld His glory. The glory as of the Son, the only begotten Son to the Father.

We have seen Him. We have heard Him. We have touched Him. The Word of life. Dear brothers and sisters, we will never be able to understand the fullness of the Godhead, until Christ came to our midst. And Christ being our midst, He is the fullness of the Godhead.

Christ Alone Contains the Fullness of God

When Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians, we know that these beloved children of God were in great danger. Because some false teacher had entered into their midst, and began to give to them some philosophy, some kind of teaching, implying that it is true that Christ is the first and the foremost in the manifestation of God.

But God is so great, He is so full, that He has distributed His divine attributes and powers to many other things, other created beings. Christ inherits most of them, but there are others being distributed to the other beings, such as angels.

So these false teachers began to tell these beloved children of God in Colossae, that aside from Christ, there are other intermediate, partial manifestations of the fullness of God. And on that basis, they began to worship angels, and other intermediates.

And their hearts were being enticed from Christ. They did not hold fast ahead. And because of that, their growth was arrested. They did not grow as they should. So dear brothers and sisters, Paul, in writing to these beloved children of God, he emphasized again and again to them, that in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead.

In other words, God has not distributed any of His attributes or powers to any being except Christ Himself. Christ in Christ dwells all the fullness, the totality, the sum total of the attributes and the power of God.

Everything is in Christ. You cannot find anything that is of God in any other place than in Christ Jesus. It is all in Christ. All the divine attributes and powers make their home, their permanent home, in Christ.

And if you want to know anything of God, you have to get it from Christ. Because it is in Christ. You cannot find it anywhere else. You do not need to look anywhere else, because they are not there. All the fullness of the Godhead is in Christ.

He is the fullness. And I believe most of you may have heard that story about a man, a very rich person. Oh, he had lots of land and lots of property and many businesses. He had so much that it was out of account.

He himself did not know how much he had. And he had only one son. He sent his son to a foreign country to study. But while his son was in the foreign country, he got very sick. He was approaching death.

So he called a lawyer and he consulted with that lawyer to make a will for him that after he passed away, how his property should be inherited. And he desired very much that his only son should inherit all that he had.

But it was very difficult, because he could not remember all that he had. So that lawyer advised him and he drew up a will. Of course, they sent telegrams to his son and asked his son to come back immediately.

But when the son returned, the father had passed away. So there was nothing left but that will. So the day came. Everybody was gathered in the house. Everybody, including the son and all the servants and the slaves, everyone was there.

And the lawyer took out that will and read it. And it was a very simple will. The will goes this way. I gave all my property, everything, to my children. But I allow my son to choose out of my property just one item.

And that should be his. And that's all. So when the son heard that will, he was very much distressed. He thought his father must be out of his mind. How could it be that he left everything to the steward?

His slave. He who took care of all the property and just left one thing to him. That was impossible. He was very much disturbed. So he went to consult that lawyer and wanted to know why his father drew up such a will.

And that lawyer whispered a few words to the ear of the son and his face just changed. He was very happy. So he started to say, now, according to my father's will, I'm going to choose one thing out of all his property.

I honor and respect my father's will. I will not challenge his will, but I will do what he says. And everybody was waiting to see what he would choose. Whether he would choose a piece of land or a house or a business or what it may be.

And he said, now, I will make my choice. I choose my steward, who is my slave. And we all know that in choosing the steward, he gets everything. Now, the father was very wise or the lawyer was very clever.

You see, the father could not put everything on the paper. And he was afraid that something might be missing. And the steward was in charge of everything. He knew everything. And if something was not there.

Now, the steward might be able to have that. So in order that his son might have everything, he put it this way. Now, dear brothers and sisters, this is just a story. But it, in a sense, shows us the heart of our Heavenly Father.

Abraham, Isaac, and Rebekah as a Picture of Union with Christ

How our Heavenly Father desires that we may apprehend, inherit his fullness. And in order that we may do so, he put all his fullness in his son. And God said, now, choose my son. You know, our understanding of God's salvation.

Is usually in pieces and bits. When we were convicted of our sins, we felt the need of the forgiveness of our sins. And then we came to God and said, now God, look upon the cross of our Lord Jesus. There he has died for us.

He has shed his blood for us. And because of that, forgive me. Allow me to be atoned. We came to the Lord and we got the forgiveness of our sins. And that makes us very happy. And maybe after a few days or a few months, we discover that we have another need.

And then we come to God again and say, now God, you have to supply that need again. And somehow, God points his son to us and says, now go to my son. There is what you need. And again, we find our need supplied in the son.

But we still do not understand. And again, after a few days or a few months, we discover we have still another need. And there we go to God and ask the Lord to give us that need. As if we can find the supply elsewhere.

We can find the supply apart from the son. But God said, I have nothing left. It's all in the son. If you want your need supplied, go to my son. Otherwise, I have nothing. And this is almost like the story of Joseph.

People came and cried to Pharaoh and gave us bread, gave us grain, gave us food. And Pharaoh said, don't come to me. Go to Joseph. He is the supply. Go to him. There is one illustration in the Bible, which I feel is very, very appropriate.

You remember the story of Abraham. God blessed. Oh, God gave him cattle and sheep, silver and gold and camels and assets. God gave him in his old age. He wanted to get a bride for his son Isaac. And you remember that lovely story.

He called his steward to him and said, now you swear to me that you will go to my native place and get a woman, a girl out of that place and bring her here to be my son's bride and wife. And that steward said, now, if he does not want to come, shall I bring your son back to your native place?

Abraham said, no. God will talk to him. And you remember that steward. He took, loaded with good. And he traveled back to Canaan, Adam, to his native place. And there he met Rebekah. And you remember the beautiful story.

He asked Rebekah for some water. And he waited before the Lord to see how it would turn out. And it turned out as he had prayed. So he took out a golden ring of copper and two golden bracelets of ten camels weight.

And he put them on Rebekah. And he bowed down and worshipped God. Because God has led him to his master's kingdom. And then you remember how they received him to their house. And he would refuse to eat until he had told them what had happened.

And this was what he said. He said, God had greatly blessed my master. Oh, he had given him so much. Cattle, sheep and children, gold and camels and everything. And in his old age, God had given my master a son.

And my master has given all to his son. And this is my to get his son alive. Now, will you allow this woman to go and be my master's son's bride? You have to decide that first before I sit down and eat.

And they said, now it is of the Lord. Nothing can be said. So he began to give some more things to Rebekah. And the next morning, they got up and said, now we are ready to leave. Oh, they say, no, you have to stay there eight to ten days.

That's a shortage. Allow the girls to stay a little while with us. No, we have to leave. And they said, now ask Rebekah. Very strange. But actually, it is not strange. That's what is written. When they asked Rebekah and said, now will you go?

She said, I'll go. I'll go. Right away. I'll go. Dear brothers and sisters, here is your final gift. Abraham gave all that he had, a little bit of the richest, a golden ring, half a shekel. Two golden bracelets, ten shekels worth.

Some clothing and some silver. But these were just a little bit. A token, a pledge. These show how rich he was. I'm not saying that Rebekah was captivated by the wealth of Isaac. Now, if that's the case, that's just too bad.

But I'm just saying that here you'll find a little token, a little token. And that little token means a lot. And Rebekah's answer was, I'll go. Dear brothers and sisters, what we have seen, what we have experienced, what we have tasted of our Christ is just a little token.

It is just a ring of half a shekel. Yes, we are redeemed. We have a ring. It's just a bracelet of ten shekels. It's just a little clothing, a little silver. What we have experienced of our Christ is just a pledge, a little token.

But dear brothers and sisters, that little token ought to capture our heart. We should not just stay here and say, now, this is very good. We all say we can go to heaven. One day we can see him. That is very good.

That is good enough. Oh, dear brothers and sisters, is not your heart captured by Christ? By the fullness that is in Christ? Oh, that little bit of Christ that we have tasted have already, in a sense, overwhelmed us.

And yet, it is just a little that ought to exorcise our heart. I do not believe Rebekah could sleep that night, even though she had not seen Isaac in person, and yet she had seen Isaac in these little tokens of love.

She couldn't sleep. She was anxious to go and meet Isaac and be joined with him into one, to be joined as Oh, dear brothers and sisters, this is exactly what God is doing with us. It is not just out of his love, a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

But by this little token, he is to capture our heart, that we may go and be united fully with him into one. In that union, we enjoy and feel the fullness. Oh, dear brothers and sisters, this is God's purpose.

This is God's will for us today. Now, can we just think back and say, now, just play with this ring and this bracelet and admire, admire, admire them and say, now, how, how, how precious this is, how good this is, and yet stay back and not go and meet her.

You will not just run. And when you meet her in union, now, Paul, in writing to the people at Colossae, he tried to convey to them a little bit of the fullness that is in Christ. How full is Christ? How perfect is Christ?

How complete is Christ? Now, he tried to communicate to them something of the fullness that is in Christ. And he tried in this way. He said, Christ is the image of the invisible God. Actually, Paul tries to tell us of three different, of Christ, his fullness in relation to God, his fullness in relation to creation, and his fullness in relation to the new creation, to redemption.

Christ as the Image of the Invisible God

And first, he said, He is the image of the invisible God. God, no one has ever seen God as an image. He is something that can be seen of the invisible God. No one has ever seen God, but in seeing the Son, we have seen the Father.

Oh, you remember, towards the end of the earthly life of our Lord Jesus, He gathered with His little company, those who were very close to Him, and He began to share with them of what was going to happen, that He will go to the cross, that He will leave them and go back to the Father.

And you remember, these disciples were grieved in their hearts. And Philip began to ask the Lord, Lord, show us the Father, and our hearts shall be satisfied. Just show us the Father. Oh, I do not know how this grieved the heart of our Lord Jesus.

The Lord turned to Philip and said, Have I been so long with you, and you still haven't seen the Father? He who has seen me, dear brothers and sisters, no one has ever seen God, but the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

You know the word, seen me. Those who know the language tells us that the word image carries with it two ideas. One is representation. Image means representation. Christ is the representation of the invisible God.

He is the exact copy, the reproduction itself of the invisible God. It is not like a child. Sometimes a child tries to draw a picture. And in China, when a child starts to learn how to write, now this is the way they write.

Now in this country, you have that too, copy, copybook. When I was there, I remember how I copied these letters. You have a book with the letters printed on it, and then a child will take a pen or pencil and try to follow it and try to copy it.

But of course, the skill, the hand of a child is not steady, and his eye is not too sharp. So sometimes you'll find in copying this, it goes out of the frame, and it doesn't look very much alike. Now this is not the meaning of an image.

Not copying by imitating in such a way. No, the word image means a copy that is reproduced. You have something you put in a print, and then it is reproduced and reproduced, and what comes out is the exact copy of the original.

Not just something you try to formulate from outside, but it is something that is derived from within. It's just like when you look at a child, he or she bears some image of his or her parents. It is by birth, by birth.

Now dear brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus is the exact image of the invisible God. He's not an imitation. By trying to copy from outside, but he is the only begotten. He represents, he comes through.

He is anything, but he manifests it. That is the second idea of it. But Christ, the Son, has made the invisible God visible. We have heard him. We have touched him. We have known him. He is the image, his divine attribute of anything that you can think of God.

You'll find it is in Christ. Exactly, nothing left, nothing missing, but it's completely there in Christ Jesus. He is the exact image of the invisible God. For sure. And secondly, you'll find that he is relating to creation.

Christ’s Supremacy over Creation

He is the firstborn of all creation. To be very clear, and it helps us to get away from the wrong impression we have. And that means he is the firstborn over all creation. Of the word, firstborn in our faith.

Well, he is the firstborn, and then there's the secondborn, and the thirdborn. In other words, we cannot think of Christ, the Son, as the firstborn that is the first created, and then the other created beings are saying, just follow him.

He is the firstborn over what any creation. Finally born of all creation. This word, firstborn, is the original priority of all creation. Now, if you read on, you'll find this is another verse in the Bible.

Of what I mentioned this psalm this morning. And in that psalm, you'll find God's kiss of David. How God has anointed David. You'll find God said, I will make him my firstborn. The power among the kings.

David, his firstborn. Now clearly, David, in the human sense, cannot be the firstborn you want to complete. In the human sense, maybe Adam. He cannot be the firstborn. But God said, I will make him the firstborn.

The priority of all the kings. So here you'll find the word, firstborn. Not in our human sense. That pulls him into among us and become one of us as we are. No. The firstborn here means that he is prior to us and he is over us.

So that this is the meaning of the word, firstborn. Because in verse 16, Paul said, because. Because. Now why is he called the firstborn of all creation? Firstborn of all creation. Because. For these reasons.

He is called the firstborn over all creation because. First, in him were created all things. The preposition by is not to everything. In him were created all things. All things. In heaven and earth. Politics and mythologies.

And all things were created in him as his people, the faith, the truth, the bondage. And everything is created in him. When you pass by a deity. Whether it is a very big one or noble one or whether it is a less noble one.

When you pass by any construction. You know that this building is actually designed, created, first from seed. From that mind, from the wisdom and the knowledge of this architect. So when the building is finished, it reflects the architect.

The wisdom, the skill of the architect. We may say that now in similar manner. All things of heaven and earth and everything is created in the sun, the eternal sun. Because everything takes its path into the sun and is designed by the sun.

All things are created in him. Jesus Christ. And not only in him. But the scripture goes on and says all things have been created by him. It is not only the designer, the thought, the originator. Also the one who created.

It is by his agency, by his power that all things come into being. It is through him, by him. And again it says, and for him, for all things. Comes out from him, through him, and goes back. So dear brothers and sisters, because all things were created in him, by him, and for him.

Therefore he is the firstborn over all creation. He has the right, the birthright over all creation. He has the control, the sovereignty over all creation. This is a whole together by him even today. Now this is the full of God creation.

Christ as Head of the New Creation

We find Paul tries to tell us of this fullness in the third aspect. And he is the head, is not only the eternal son, is not only the creator of all things. The cause and effect of all things. The beginning and end of all creativity.

But we find he is also the head of the body. The first, the supplier, the controller, controller, the body. Now we move into another realm. We move into the realm of redemption. Into the realm of the new creation.

And there you find in the new creation, his fullness is manifested in being the head. Oh dear brothers and sisters, he is the head. The head of everything, in relation to the head. He is the king, the lord, over everything.

The body, for those who are redeemed. They are those who are called out. That called out one, assembled before him in the garden. God says it is not good for man to be alone. But the man cannot find his sanctified, his life.

So finally God put that man to an hour of his time. God build a woman with that son. That woman to the man. And immediately that man said now this is bone of my bones and flesh of my bones. Here you'll find Adam in a sense is the beginning of him.

Into existence. Out of society into being. He was built with that which we all know that this is just a title. Christ and his son. Out of his sleep, out of his death, uncarried thought. God has taken out something.

All out of his heart flows out blood and wrath. And with that God builds the body, bone of his bones. Brought back to him and he united with him. So dear brothers and sisters here you'll find Christ is the beginning of the church.

The church begins with Christ. With something that comes out of him. It's built with him. He is the material for the church. Do not try to believe he does not belong to you. For the body. The beginning.

And he is the first born from among the dead. Born from among the dead. Our Lord is not the first one who is raised from the dead. Even in the Old Testament you'll find some people were raised from the dead.

Our Lord Jesus is the first born from among the dead. Because in his resurrection the real nature of resurrection is all the others may might be raised from the dead before him but they went back to the church.

But in his resurrection you'll find the life of God. He is the first one. He gives the chance to resurrection. And dear brothers and sisters he gives this resurrection life to history. It characterizes the church as a living church.

Because it lives by the resurrection life. The church is not a dead church. You know one thing I dislike very much. Maybe that's my prejudice. Somehow in the western world you always connect the graveyard with the church building.

And not only that but but when I was in England I visited Westminster over and I was so mad it's full of tombs and graves in the church. Do you call that the church of the living or the church of the dead?

First born from among the dead is marked by the resurrection life of Christ. And that is the nature of the church. The first born from among the dead that we might have the first church. Oh dear brothers and sisters all the fullness of the gospel makes its home.

Entering into the Fullness of Christ

You are complete. You are perfect. Full. Full in the Godhead. We are like that morbid fish. You know Ruth came to Israel with her mother-in-law Naomi. And when they came back they were very poor. They did not have any means to live.