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It's Friday, and today we are going to be doing our five-point review of everything that we have read in the book of Colossians over the past several weeks. So thank you for tuning in. Open up your Bibles to Colossians 1, verse 15, because that is where we are going to start understanding Christ as preeminent when we understand the text.
Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text as an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty, visit our website at www .utt .com.
Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.
Thank you, Becky. It is Friday, our five-point Friday, in which we draw five points out of what we have read over the course of the week. Today, we are going to review the entire book of Colossians, all that we have committed ourselves to studying over the past several weeks.
But first, five news items from this week. I don't do this every Friday. I've tried to make it a regular thing. The first news item the week started with a national address by President Barack Obama from the Oval Office in the White House in which he addressed terrorism, but really no major action against terrorism.
Instead, he called for Americans not to react in fear. The Wall Street Journal published an article in which their editors wrote,. Every instinct of this administration, starting with the president, has been to minimize the terror risk on U .S. soil, perhaps because it contradicts Mr. Obama's political belief that all we have to fear is fear of terrorism itself.
Second item on Wednesday, a Southern Baptist event was held in Washington, D .C. regarding the Syrian refugee crisis. Dr. Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, urged Christians to take a different approach than that taken in the media by Donald Trump and Franklin Graham, son of son of Billy Graham.
Both of them urged barring Muslims from entering the U .S. but said Dr. Moore, if we're going to confront radical Islam, we're going to have to have Muslim and Arab partners in this effort and also said that some of those that we want to ban may be our future brothers and sisters in Christ.
Third news item. Can any film generate more buzz than a Star Wars movie? The latest Star Wars installment, The Force Awakens, opens in theaters next week. Actor Harrison Ford, reprising his role as Han Solo, has been using the buzz surrounding the movie to stump for climate change.
He told an Australian news network that if we don't start working together to do something right now, it will have disastrous consequences. Here's our fourth item. According to World Magazine, Kroger is set to become the largest retailer to offer transgender benefits.
In 2002, no major U .S. corporation covered transgender procedures under employee benefits coverage such as gender reassignment surgery and drug therapy. So you're talking less than 15 years ago, there was no major U .S. corporation offering transgender benefits today, less than 15 years later, more than 400 companies do, including Ford, Apple and Coke.
Kroger will join that list in January, offering up to $100 ,000 for gender reassignment surgery and other procedures to their 400 ,000 workers. And here's our final item. Tim Chalies has released his list of 10 most recommended books of 2015.
And among them are We Cannot Be Silent by Dr. Al Muller, The Accidental Feminist, Restoring Our Delight in God's Good Design by Courtney Resig, The Plausibility Problem, The Church and Same-Sex Attraction by Ed Shaw, and A Charlie Brown Religion, Exploring the Spiritual Life of Charles M. Schultz by Stephen Lind.
I singled those books out because I would recommend them, too. I haven't read the one on Charles Schultz, but it does sound interesting. I loved the Peanuts movie that came out recently. And this isn't a news item, but I just want to say happy birthday to one of my deacons, Archie Carpenter.
He turned 80 years old yesterday and still kicking with enough zest and pip like he's 30. Happy birthday, Archie. I love you. All right. We're going to come to Colossians chapter one and use chapter one as our root scripture, but then draw five points to summarize some of the things that we've talked about in all of Colossians.
So before coming to this text here, let's open up with prayer. Our wonderful God and heavenly fathers, we kind of examine some of the things that are going on in the world. I pray that we are filled up with more of Christ and we are emboldened by your word to go and preach the gospel in a crooked and depraved generation in which we are to shine as lights in the world.
So give us your scriptures and illuminate them to us according to your Holy Spirit. And we pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Colossians chapter one, and I'm going to be reading verses 15 through 20.
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, Christ might be preeminent for in him, in Christ, 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.
And those verses, Colossians chapter one, verses 19 and 20, that's your two verse gospel. That's your one sentence gospel right there. The 10 second gospel is the way that I've defined it before. What is the definition of the gospel in Christ?
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. God is reconciling to himself all things through the person and work of Jesus Christ.
And it has been as we have committed ourselves to a study of the book of Colossians. We have come to understand Christ as preeminent. He is above all things. We need nothing else but Christ and we are completely satisfied in Christ, our savior.
We need nothing else in this world for any additional satisfaction. It's not like Christ fills us up 98 of the way and then everything else that we find in the world can fill us up that other 2%. We can find no other fulfillment in anything than what we have in Christ.
Now, that doesn't mean that we fill ourselves up with Christ and then we just sit up in a corner and we go, oh, Jesus, OK, I mean, we are still called to go out into the world to to work, put our hands to work.
Paul said to the Thessalonians, if a person doesn't work, then he doesn't get to eat. So there's still a calling to do that. Husbands need to love their wives, wives submit to their husbands, an instruction that we read in Colossians chapter three.
We need to submit to our employers and to ruling authorities. We need to take the gospel with us and be bold with it whenever we preach in the places in which we go to, as Paul had asked for those prayers from the Ephesians and also from the Colossians that he would be able to speak the gospel with boldness and clearly.
So we are completely filled up with Christ and then everything that we do in the world, we give glory to God through those things that we experience and what we do, even eating and drinking such menial tasks as that we do to the glory of God, as Paul said to the Corinthians, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.
And we've seen this instruction come up in Colossians as well. Colossians 317, whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the father through him.
So all that we do rolls up into praise to God. But none of those things give us any additional satisfaction because we are already completely satisfied in our savior who is preeminent. And the five points that we're going to draw out today to summarize what we've read over the course of Colossians is basically summarizing this point of knowing Christ as preeminent.
So here is point number one in our five point summary of Colossians. Point number one is this in Christ is our sufficiency. We are filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
This is Colossians chapter one, verses nine and ten that I'm reading to you. And we are strengthened with all of his power according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to God who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son and whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. So really, what else do we need? Christ is our sufficiency.
Christ is our satisfaction. He is the giver of all good things. We have been qualified by Christ to share in the inheritance of the eternal kingdom of God, along with the other saints, all others who have been called in Christ Jesus to be part of his heavenly kingdom.
Now, as I've said to my congregation over and over again, you became a citizen of the kingdom the day that you were saved. You do not become a citizen of the kingdom the day that you die and go to be in the in the kingdom of God.
It's definitely that day that you see God in all of his glory and fullness in a way that you can't see him now because you still inhabit the flesh. But it was not the day that you became a citizen of the kingdom.
You are a citizen of the kingdom now. So what can man do to me? And this is a question that Paul asks in Romans chapter eight. If God is for us, who can be against us? If we have been delivered from this world into his eternal kingdom and we have our citizenship there now and we are held fast in the Holy Spirit, sealed for that day, as it talks about in Ephesians 113, then what can any man do to me?
We are completely satisfied in all that our Savior has given to us, especially the salvation that we have secured in Christ Jesus. He is our sufficiency. So everything that you encounter in this world and all of the trials and troubles that you go through, all of these tribulations, none of these things can separate you from the love of Jesus Christ, which is also talked about in Romans chapter eight.
God is using all of our experiences, everything that we go through to shape us more in the image of Christ. Romans 8, 29, God is working all things together for our good, for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8, 28. So if we know these promises and we hold fast to Christ, there is no reason to fear or doubt anything that is going on in this world because all of our sufficiency is in Christ Jesus. When Paul had prayed to God and asked for him to relieve him of a tormentor that had come to him, God had not answered his request in the affirmative.
Rather, he said to Paul, my grace is sufficient for you for my strength is made perfect in your weakness. And then it was then at that point, this is in second Corinthians chapter 12, by the way, it was at that point where Paul said, I'm going to boast all the more my weaknesses then in all of my struggles, all my hardships, everything that I go through, because where I am weak, there he is strong.
So Christ is our sufficiency and we need nothing else but the grace of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. That is point number one. Point number two in Christ. All of these points start that way, by the way, in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
As we go on in Colossians chapter two, God's mystery is Christ Jesus in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And we read previously that God had revealed his mystery hidden for all ages and generations now revealed to his saints.
That's Colossians chapter one, verse twenty eight to them. God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles or how great among the pagans. You could read it that way as well are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, him we proclaim Christ Jesus.
We proclaim warning everyone and teaching everyone. And we see this come up again also in Colossians chapter three. The word of God has filled our hearts so that we might teach and admonish one another in all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ for this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works in me.
So Paul was not just concerned with the conversion of the person, but also that they would grow in maturity, in knowledge and wisdom of God so that they would be presented mature in Christ. So it wasn't just enough that a person was converted and became a Christian, but that they also grew in the knowledge and understanding of God.
So this mystery, Christ Jesus has been revealed to his saints and it is in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And Paul goes on to say, I say this, I tell you that all wisdom and knowledge is found in Christ so that no one may delude you with plausible arguments.
That's Colossians two, four, verse six. Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught abounding in thanksgiving.
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ. Because if we are completely satisfied in all that our savior gives us, we are less likely to be wooed by any plausible arguments or by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition and the elemental spirits of the world.
If we are abounding in thanksgiving, thankful for all that God has given us through Christ Jesus, we are less likely to be wooed away by any false doctrines in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
And because Christ is eternal, we never come to the end of that knowledge. We will always be exploring Christ as long as we are alive in this world. Point number three in Christ is fulfilled all of the law and the prophets.
All of the prophecies that were made in the Old Testament, all that was written about in the law, all of this was leading up to one thing, and that is Christ Jesus. Knowing that, then, we can look at this in Colossians 2, 16,.
Therefore, since in Christ he has fulfilled all of the law and the prophets, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by a sensuous mind and not holding fast to Christ. Okay, now, we don't have enough time for this.
I'm just going to have to encourage you beyond this, but definitely explore and come to a knowledge of how Christ has fulfilled all of the law and the prophets. How do the Old and New Testaments interweave together?
How are we supposed to understand the Old Testament in light of the New Testament? Study those things and know that Christ has fulfilled all of the law and the prophets so that no one would disqualify you and you may be confident in all things that are in Christ Jesus.
Point number four, in Christ we are raised from death to new life. If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is. Colossians 3, 5, Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you.
Verse 12, Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts. Take off the old self with all of its practices and put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
Colossians 3, 10. So let us no longer live in the ways that we were in when we were dead in our faith, but let us live in new life that we have been given in Christ Jesus. And finally, point number five, in Christ there is perfect harmony.
As Paul goes on to mention in verse 14, above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And then on that note, we get to the instructions of how wives are to love their husbands, how husbands love their wives, how parents love their children, how we are to conduct ourselves in a secular society, in a working world, in a working environment, and how we are to conduct ourselves even among unbelievers and among the saints with whom we worshiped.
And I kind of opened the lesson today with that. So I think the point has been made. There are our five points summarizing our reading of Colossians. Christ is our sufficiency. Christ is the treasure of wisdom and knowledge.
Christ fulfills all the law and the prophets. Christ has raised us from death to life. Christ binds everything together in perfect harmony. Our gracious heavenly Father, we thank you for the love that you have shown to us through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who is preeminent.
And I pray that as we've come to a knowledge of that understanding and reading this book of Colossians, that it has made us better worshipers and we give you the glory that you deserve, that you are continuing to work in us by your Spirit, perfecting us for this worship that we lift up in praise to you.
And it is through the name of Christ Jesus that we pray, that we can pray to our heavenly Father. Amen.
This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.
Join us again next week as we grow together in God's Word when we understand the text.