Who is Jesus? Pt3 - Head and Hope of the Church

I want to invite you to take out your Bibles and turn with me to Colossians chapter one and hold your place at verse 18. We are continuing this morning as we have been for the last several weeks in our verse by verse exposition of Paul's letter to the Colossians and we are in somewhat of a mini series within the series looking at the subject of who is Jesus Christ.

Because verses 15 through 20 of Colossians chapter one introduces the body of the letter and it introduces us to Paul's concern for what is threatening the church at Colossae. It seems as if based upon the reading through the letter that there are those within Colossae who are seeking in some form or fashion to add something to the gospel.

And the apparent contention of this group is that in some way Christ is not enough. We see in later chapters and especially in chapter two the addition of things like worshiping of angels, asceticism, the celebration of specific days and festivals and Sabbaths as introductions of external things that have been added to the gospel and therefore have made Christ and his accomplishment less than it should be understood to be and put these other things in as additions and again my contention is the Colossian problem is simply this Christ is not enough.

The Preeminence of Christ in Colossians 1

So Paul begins his defense of the gospel with a robust explanation of the person and work of Jesus Christ and we have seen four descriptions so far. In the last few weeks beginning at verse 15 we saw that Jesus is first the image of the invisible God.

This means he is the exact imprint of his nature. He is co-equal in divinity with the Father. Second we saw that he is first born of all creation and this does not mean that he is created but rather that he is in fact preeminent over creation.

He is sovereign. He is king over all. Thirdly we saw last week he is the creator of all things. It says all things in heaven and on earth invisible and invisible whether they be thrones, dominions, rulers or authorities.

He tells us Christ is the creator of all things and he is the sustainer of all things. Our very breath and our lungs, our very beating heart, the cells that we have that hold us together are themselves held together by the power of Christ.

And this expresses to us relationships. In relation to God Christ is the image of the invisible God and in relation to creation he is the sovereign creator and sustainer of creation. Well today we're going to move to verse 18 and we're going to see his relationship to the church.

We've seen his relationship to God. He is the image of the invisible God. We've seen his relationship to creation, creator and sustainer. Today we are going to see that in relation to the church Christ is our head and our hope.

So let's stand together and read just verse, well actually we'll read verses 15 through 20 as to maintain the context of this reading. Speaking of Christ Paul writes, he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation for by him all things were created in heaven and on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through him and for him.

And he is before all things and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead that in everything he might be preeminent for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven making peace by the blood of his cross.

Let's pray. Father in heaven we do thank you for your word. We pray even now that you would take this time Lord and that you would apply this word to our hearts. Lord help us to see Christ as king not only of the world in general but of the church specifically.

That he is head, he is authority, he is governor and he is nourisher of the church. And Lord as I preach your word I pray that you would keep me from error. As you know Lord I am a fallible man and pray that you would forgive my sins, make me a fit vessel to preach your word, open the hearts of your people as only you can to receive your word.

May your Holy Spirit go out from this pulpit. May he apply the truths of the word to the hearts of men and women and children in this room. And for believers Lord that they would understand that the church is a vital part of Christ's plan for this world and that being a part of his church is being a part of his mission.

And Lord we stand as testimony to his rule and authority in the world. But Lord for those who are not yet, who have not yet bowed the knee to Christ help them to understand that one day he will be preeminent over all.

As he already stands as creator and sustainer of all things he will one day put his enemies under his feet and the world will be his footstool. Lord may on that day we have already bowed our knees and not be forced but Lord to do so in love and joy and thankfulness to our Lord Jesus Christ and it's in his name we pray, amen.

It was not too long ago, just a few weeks, maybe a few months now, that I preached a sermon on why all believers should be part of the local church. I truly believe that, I believe that a believer in Christ is not to be a lone wolf, is not to live as it were on an island to himself, but that as believers in Christ we have a responsibility and the blessing of being part of a community of faith wherein we are encouraged, challenged, and held accountable.

Well for us that's not very scandalous because we say that all the time. But for several who heard it outside of the church, and again our messages go far beyond our walls at times and there are those who hear our messages outside of our walls.

For many people hearing that you are called by Christ to be part of a local church was scandalous. How dare you say that I can't be just as good a Christian all by myself. How dare you say that I need as a believer to be in submission to the authority of a local church.

How dare you say that where two or three are gathered is actually not necessarily a church and that there's more structure and all to it than just that. How dare you say. And the repeated assertion was that the church is unnecessary, the church was never the intention of Christ and in fact some have even gone on to say that the church itself is so corrupt that it's beyond redemption and therefore everyone should abandon the churches.

Several years ago in the 1980s there was a man who gained notoriety for himself because he began to predict the return of Jesus Christ, his name was Harold Camping, he had something called Family Radio and some of you are nodding your heads because you're old like me and you understand, not old, older, you're older like me and you remember Family Radio.

I have to go back and edit that one later. But one of the things that Harold Camping did say was that the church is all wrong, it's all corrupt and you should abandon the church, everyone should abandon all churches.

And you know what you should do according to Harold Camping? You should listen to Family Radio, his radio, you should listen to him, you should listen to his Bible studies because he was the only one who had it figured out and he knew when Jesus was going to return and he set the date and then Jesus didn't return so he set another date and then Jesus didn't return then either and he set a couple more dates and finally he died, Jesus still hadn't come.

The point of all of that is to simply say there are people all over the world who would say the church is unnecessary, the church is irredeemable, the church has so many failures that she is to be repudiated and to be left and to be treated with scorn and again for so many people church is at best optional and at worst detrimental.

And this is the way people see the church. Well in our passage today what we're going to see is that the church actually has an important role to play in the life of the believer and in the proclamation of the authority and the sovereignty of Jesus Christ.

So far we have seen that Christ is the Lord of the universe. Well today we're going to see that Christ is in fact the head of the church. And I have three points today as a good Baptist I have three points.

I have three points today but they're not on the board, I did forget to give the young men the screen so if you want them I can give them to you later. But they are very simple, they're three very short phrases.

Number one, Christ is the head of the church. Number two, Christ is the hope of the church. And number three, Christ's rule begins in the church. So that is our three points that we're going to look at today.

Christ is the head of the church, Christ is the hope of the church, and finally Christ's rule begins in the church. So let's again look at verse 18 and we'll begin looking first at our first point which is Christ is the head of the church.

Notice what it says, it says, and he, speaking of Christ, is the head of the body, the church. You'll notice there that there's not an equal sign in your Bible but in your mind there should be an equal sign between the word the body and the word the church.

He is the head of the body which is the church. That's the way that is to be interpreted, that's the way that is to be understood. And immediately we ought to think in our minds, what is Christ talking about when he, or excuse me, what is Paul talking about when he says that Christ is the head of the church?

Well what is the church? Where does that word even come from? In fact most of us may be familiar, at least in part, with the Greek word which is the word ecclesia, or ecclesia. And that comes from two, a prefix ec which means out of, and kleo which means to call.

And so the word ecclesia means to be called out, or the called out ones, particularly an assembly, those who have been called out of their homes into an assembly. That's what the idea means. But where does the, ecclesia doesn't sound like church.

So where do we get the word church? Interestingly, historically, the English word church comes from the Scottish language. In the Scottish language it's called the kirk. And the kirk has the, has a German designation and that is the kirch.

And the kirch, moving into English, becomes the church. And the word kirk is related to the word kuriakon. The Greek word kuriakon comes from the Greek word kourios. Now again, any of you who are good Greek students, what does kourios mean?

It means Lord. It's the word that we translate as Lord in the New Testament. Every time you see the word Lord, it's the word kourios. It's referencing Jesus Christ. So the kuriakon is that which belongs to the Lord.

So the reason for the word kirk or kirch or church is the idea of that which belongs to Him. That which is His. So the church, in that sense, is the called out ones. It is the assembly of Christ. It is those that belong to Christ.

And the church is mentioned several places in the New Testament. Does anybody happen to know, off the top of your head, the first time the word church is mentioned? Well, it's mentioned by Jesus. It's mentioned in Matthew chapter 16, where Jesus is speaking to Peter.

And you'll remember Peter gives that great confession at Caesarea Philippi. He says, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus said, Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

And I tell you, Thou art Peter. And upon this rock, what? I will build my church. That's the first time the word church is used in the New Testament by the apostle, or excuse me, by Matthew, the gospel writer.

But who is he speaking for? Jesus. Jesus said, I will build my church. So anyone who says Jesus didn't come to build a church, well, Jesus says the opposite. He says, I will build my church. Two chapters later, we have the next time the word church is used, and it's used in the context of corporate discipline.

Jesus says, If your brother sins against you, this is Matthew chapter 18. He says, If your brother sins against you, you go and you tell your brother privately, and if he repents, you have won your brother.

But if he does not repent, you go and take two or three witnesses, so that on the basis of two or three witnesses, everything will be judged, and you take your brother, and if he repents, then again, you've won your brother.

But if he does not repent, what do you do? You take him before the church. So the first time the church is mentioned, Christ says, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

The second time the word church is mentioned, it's mentioned in the context of corporate discipline. But the first two times that it's used in the Bible, and in fact, the only times it's used in the Gospel are in the Gospel of Matthew, those two times in relation to Christ building his church and sanctifying his church, because that's what corporate discipline is.

It's an act of sanctification. So Christ does speak of the church, and then we go into the book of Acts, and what does the book of Acts do? The book of Acts shows Christ's mission of the apostles going out into the world, and what do they do?

Do they go make individual believers who all stay in their houses and stay to themselves and become lone wolf Christians, and everybody has a church all by themselves? No. They go from town to town, and they plant churches where people in those towns actually come together for the assembly of worship, and then you have a church in Ephesus, and then you have a church in Thessalonica, and then you have a church in Colossae, and you end up with these churches that are from the apostles proclaiming the Gospel.

Here's the thing people don't often realize. Missionary work is about more than individual salvation. Missionary work is about planting churches, because if all you do is go around and have individuals get saved, that's not what Christ called us to do.

He said, I will build my church, and so we see individuals get saved, and what do they do? They become an assembly, and the assembly is built up. The church matters, is my point. Nine of the thirteen letters of the Apostle Paul are addressed to what?

Churches. So for anyone to say that the church has no place in the purpose or plan of God, they just don't read their Bibles, and that's what they always say. I don't need the church, I'll just read my Bible.

If you read your Bible, you'd know that is hogwash. If you actually were reading your Bible, you'd know that weren't true. So somebody says, I don't need the church. No, you absolutely do, especially you, if that's what you're saying, because someone has led you astray.

Someone has caused you to think that none of this matters, that this is just optional. Let me tell you something folks, if church is optional, you don't understand the church. If you see, if on Sunday morning, your kids gotta wonder if they're gonna show up here because for you it's an optional thing, that's a problem.

Church isn't optional. We are not called to maybe, possibly be part of the church. We are called to faithfully be part of the church. And as I said, there's no doubt that the church has a place and a purpose in the plan of God.

Now, when Paul says in this passage, and he is the head of the body, the church, he is saying something about the relationship between Christ and us. Because we are the body. If we're the church, we are the body.

Again there's an equal sign, head of the body, head of the church. He is the head of the body, he is the head of the church. That equal sign, we are the body. Christ is the head. The word there is kephalae, which I know doesn't matter a lot, but I like to sometimes point it out because we see this word come up in other places.

Like in Ephesians chapter 5, the apostle Paul says the husband is the head of what? The wife, right? And that that is a position that has two important roles. And by the way guys, you have two important roles in your house.

As head of the house, you have the important role of governing your house. But you also have the important role of nourishing your house. Because if you think about what a head does for a body, a head does two things.

One, a head commands the body, but a head also feeds the body. A head has the responsibility of government, it has the responsibility of nourishment. And so that's what Christ is to us. Christ is the head of the church and in that he provides a two-fold benefit to us.

He provides us with a leader who cannot fail. And he provides us with nourishment which cannot but nourish us. In fact, I point this out because really if you think about government and nourishment, that's what Christ does.

Think about this. When we come to Christ in regard to government, how does Christ govern his church? You can say it, speak out through the word, right? Because unless you go to a church where the pastor believes that he speaks to Jesus directly, and you don't, just to make that clear.

There are some, but it ain't this one. I don't believe Jesus comes and sits on my front porch and has iced tea with me. And that's the way we get revelation from God. No, that's not what we believe. We believe that God has revealed himself in the person of Jesus Christ and we know Christ through his word.

And therefore, this is how Christ rules the church. By the way, gentlemen, I don't want to get too far off the subject, but this is also how you get to rule your home. It's through this. Because if you're just heavy-handed and heavy-fisted within your home, but you're not leading with the word of God, then you're not an authority, you're in a dictator.

And you're not leading the way Christ has called you to lead. You're leading the way the world shows you how to lead. So the government of the church is that Christ governs his church, and he governs his church through his word.

And therefore, the responsibility of the church is to listen to the word of God. And I'm going to say something very harsh here, and some may get offended, probably not y 'all, but somebody eventually will.

I'll get an email. And here it is, is that a church which is not under the rule of Christ is not a legitimate church. A church that is not under the rule of Christ, where Christ is not the head, you don't have a church.

You say, well, how would you know? They don't listen to this. Now, I will admit there are some areas where we could disagree. We call those secondary matters. But let me tell you something. If you are in a church, and you're not, but let's just say you were to be in another church, and you were to see that the pastor were preaching that Jesus was not divine.

Guess what? You're no longer in a church where Christ is the head, because they're preaching a different Jesus. Or if they're preaching a Jesus that doesn't care about sin, or that he doesn't call us to repentance, or it's preaching a Jesus where the church can be anything you want it to be, then it's not Christ's church anymore.

And Christ is no longer the head. Again, first and foremost, head speaks of authority. It speaks of government. And if Christ is not the head in a church, then that church is being led by someone. Mind you this, there's always an authority in the church.

And it's either going to be Christ, or it's going to be a man or men. And you say, but wait a minute, in our church we have elders. Aren't those men authorities? No, those men have one singular authority.

Preach and teach this, and govern with this. And when we get out of line with this, you have no responsibility to listen to anything we have to say. We have no authority outside of this Word of God. This Word of God is where the authority comes from.

And this is why in the Constitution that we have, we have it set up that if there come a day when I'm not preaching the Word of God, fire me, because I am not too important to be put down. And neither are any of the rest of our elders, or our deacons, or any man in this church that would raise himself up over Christ.

This church is not about Keith's way, or Mike's way, or Andy's way, or the other three Mike's way, or Gary's way, or anything else. It's Christ's way. And that's the way it has to be. Why do you think you end up with churches that preach things like abortion is okay and homosexual marriage?

And I know that those are two hot button topics, but we could go down the line. Why do you end up with churches that way? Because the Word of God is no longer the authority, and Christ is no longer the head.

That's what has happened. Christ is no longer the head in those churches. We should want our church to be His way, amen? Shouldn't that be what we want? A church that is governed by Christ as head, but also a church that is nourished by Christ.

You see, the head not only leads, the head supplies life. By the way, what do you call it when your head gets removed? Dead. Yeah, that's an easy one. Where does the word capital punishment come from, my class?

Decapitation. Thank you. You were in Sunday school this morning. Good, that's right. I taught on that this morning. The idea of the word capital punishment comes from the idea of removing the head. The cap, taking off the head.

And the reason is, is because you don't survive that. You can survive losing an arm. You can survive losing a foot. You can survive losing half your body. We've had soldiers who've stepped on landmines, who've lost half their body, and yet, by God's grace, still survived.

But you don't survive without a head. The head is required for nourishment. The head is required for life. And that's why I said a moment ago, a body without a head is dead. A church without Christ is dead.

Now, it might still be flapping around like those chickens we went at the Bud's house. The Bud's had us over for a chicken killing. And if you've never done that, I don't know if that's what we call it, but that's what we did.

And you cut the head off the chicken and the head, the body still moves. But guess what? It be dead. And there's a lot of churches today that are still moving but they're dead because Christ is not the head of those churches.

And you know what you're seeing in those churches? Slow death, just like that chicken that flaps around on the ground. You're seeing churches where the membership just dwindles to nothing because you know what?

If you're not preaching truth and you're not preaching the gospel, all you've got is people that are there for some type of a social cause. And guess what? Social causes die quick. And eventually, it's just going to die out.

And just like that chicken that will finally flap itself to death, that church is finally going to flap itself to death because it doesn't have the head that's Christ. And without the head that's Christ, you've got a dead church.

So again, a body without the head is dead. So too is a church without Christ dead because it has to have the head both for government and for nourishment. Turn in your Bibles very quickly to Revelation chapter 3.

Keep your finger in Colossians because we'll be back. Go to Revelation chapter 3. And you remember the seven churches? There's seven churches and Christ is writing, or John is writing the book of Revelation to these churches.

And one of the churches beginning in verse 14 of chapter 3 is the church of Laodicea. Now what's interesting is in the book of Colossians, Paul mentions the church at Laodicea. He actually mentions that he wrote a letter to the church at Laodicea.

That's Paul. We don't have that letter. Actually, we might because that actually might be the letter of Ephesians. We're going to get to that later. Possibly that's the letter that he's talking about.

But here, this is talking about something that happened later that this church has become lukewarm. I want you to hear what it says. And to the angel of the church of Laodicea write, the words of the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation, I know your works.

You are neither hot nor cold. Would that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say I am rich. I have prospered and I need nothing.

Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich. And white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may be not seen.

And salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love I reprove and discipline. So be zealous and repent. Here's the important verse, verse 20. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me.

The one who conquers I will grant to sit with me on my throne as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne. Okay, for a moment, just for a moment. A lot of people take verse 20 and apply this to salvation.

And you'll hear this, especially in like evangelistic crusades. Behold, Jesus is standing at the door of your heart and he's knocking and if you will let him in, he will come in and he will save you. You've heard that, right?

And there's even a painting of Jesus standing outside of a knobless door. The door doesn't have a knob on the outside and the idea of the painting is Jesus would never barge in. He stands there waiting for you to open the door and they base that on Revelation 3, verse 20.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Beloved, would it surprise you if I told you that the immediate context of this is not individual salvation. The immediate context of Revelation 3, verse 20 is a church that has abandoned Christ and Christ is outside the church and he knocks upon the door of the church.

He says, if any man would open this door. You see, Christ has been put out. We get upset. Here's the thing that bothers me. Everybody gets upset because they say, oh, we took prayer out of schools or oh, we took the Ten Commandments out of the government.

You should be vastly more upset that Christ is not preached in the churches. You should be absolutely more offended that there are churches that preach a false Christ or no Christ at all than whatever happens in Washington.

Because this country will not fail because of Washington. It will fail because pulpits are filled with weak-wristed men and women who shouldn't be there to begin with preaching a false gospel to false Christians who call themselves a church.

Christ has to stand at the door and knock because he's not in that church. All right, go back to Colossians and take a sip of water. So Christ is head as governor, Christ is head as nourisher and any place where he is not the head is not a church.

Christ the Firstborn from the Dead and the Hope of the Church

Number two, Christ is the hope of the church. We said first he's the head of the church. It says, and he is the head of the body, the church. And then the next line says this. It says, he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.

That word beginning is the word arche. It refers to having priority over something. It refers to being first or foremost. It says he is, in fact, the foremost. Where? Where is Christ foremost? Should be the church, right?

Because this is where he's the head. This is where he is the head of the body and therefore he should be first here. He should have first place here. And one of the reasons why he has priority here is because this church is established on the promises that he gave.

Not just this church, but all churches are established on the promises that he gave. And the promise that we have from Christ, the most important promise that we have from Christ is that when we see the risen Christ, we know that one day he will return.

And when we see him as he is, we will be with him as he is. That's the promise, right? The promise of the New Testament, the hope of the Christian is that this life is not all there is. Amen? That this, that the death that you look forward to, and by the way, every one of us does.

Every one of us is looking forward to a day where something's going to happen. Heart's going to stop. Brain's going to aneuryse. We're going to find out we have a disease we didn't even know about and it's metastasized to the point of not being repaired.

One day it will end. And the question becomes, what do we have to look forward to after? You ask the atheist, they'll say it's nothing. They'll say what you have to look forward to is what you had before you came.

You came out of nothing, you're going back to nothing. No judgment and no eternal life. You ask some religions, like those of the Hindu persuasion, they say you're going to come back and do it all again.

And maybe next time you'll do it better and you'll evolve into something even better. Maybe you'll come back next time as a prince or a queen. Or maybe you'll come back as a beggar because of your karma from this time.

But the Bible says that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And when he rose from the dead, he became the first fruits of all who fall asleep. That when he died and was resurrected, he showed what is going to happen to those who believe in him.

You understand, Christ is the firstborn from the dead. That's the word here, praetotikos. It's the same word that was used earlier. It doesn't mean first created. And in this sense, doesn't even really mean first in line.

But what it means, it means to have the first place. Remember we said he's firstborn over creation. It means he has first place over all creation. He's the head of all creation. In this sense, he's the firstborn from the dead.

Let me ask you this. Was Christ the first one to raise from the dead? No. We could go back through the line. We could say the widow's son at Nain, right? Jesus said this widow's walking along with her son.

He just walks up, raises him from the dead. What an amazing day that must have been. And then you have Jairus' daughter who had died. Jesus walks in. She's not dead, but she's sleeping. Everybody laughs at him.

He raises her from the dead. Says, give this girl something to eat. One of the most spectacular events in history. Four days dead. Lazarus, by now he stinketh. I just always like that verse. He said, take the stone away, but by now he stinketh.

That's okay, because Jesus is not run off by flesh that is rotting. And he is not able to not overcome those things. And he goes up to the tomb and he says, Lazarus, come forth. And Lazarus came forth.

But you know what Jairus' daughter and the widow's son and even the man in the Old Testament who was raised by the prophet and Lazarus all had in common? They all died again. Their resurrection was temporary.

Because all of them had to face death a second time. But Christ, when he rose from the dead, became the first fruits of a different kind of resurrection. Because Christ didn't raise back into this mortal flesh.

He raised into immortal glorified body. And he says, if you trust in him, we will see him like he is because we will be like he is. Not God, but we will have immortal glorified bodies. So that's the hope.

Christ is our head. He's our governor. He's our nourishment. And he's the source of our hope. I want to read from Findlay's Greek commentary. I like this. It's Findlayson. I said it wrong. Findlayson.

Christ is the first to raise from the dead and the first to be clothed in the new resurrection body. He is the first of the new creation. Yet as above, it is possible that priority is intended because Christ is the founder of God's resurrection community.

So when it says he's first, it's saying he's the founder of this new world. He's the founder of the new heaven and the new earth whereby we are resurrected into that world. To you, our citizens of a different kingdom.

Yeah, you're citizens of the United States and God bless all the blessings that come with that. We can be thankful for that. But more importantly, we are citizens of a resurrection kingdom. And if you trust in the Lord and you die, we will mourn losing you.

But we will also celebrate that one day you and your glorified body and me and my glorified body and Gary and his glorified body are going to be together in the new heaven and the new earth. And that is the hope that we have in Christ.

So Christ is the head of the church. Christ is the hope of the church. And last thing and this one, this one here is a little bit of a little different thought. But I want you to notice this because the sentence doesn't end there.

It doesn't end. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. But it says that in everything, he might be preeminent. And what I've called this section, I say this says Christ's rule begins in the church because it has what's called a Hinnah clause.

A Hinnah clause is simply a Greek clause. It's a conjunctive clause. And it simply means that this occurred in order that something else would occur. And what has happened is that Christ is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead in order that he will be preeminent in everything.