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Confused, inconsistent, haphazard. This is what a friend of mine who attends a Unitarian Universalist Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, had to say about his pastor and his preaching. One Sunday the pastor will preach on Christ, another Sunday he'll preach on Allah, and another Sunday, believe it or not, the pastor will preach on the redwood trees in California.
Confused, inconsistent, and haphazard. So I asked my friend, why do you attend this church? And he said, it makes sense. To these people, Christ alone is not sufficient. They are confused. To them, Christ can be the only way of salvation.
You need help from Krishna and the redwood trees in California. To these people, Christ is not sufficient for spiritual growth. They need help from Christ, but they also need help from Confucius, Buddha, and every other element that is out there.
In AD 61, something similar was happening in a place called Colossae. The Colossian world was very complex, with many religious, philosophical, and cultural movements aiming to jostle the attention of the people.
So what happens? The pastor of the Colossian church is panicking. He sees these movements coming into the church and starting to affect the way the Jewish converts and the Gentile converts and others are thinking.
On top of that, the Jewish converts are bringing in rituals and religious rites, and the Gentile converts are bringing in paganism, mysticism. So Epaphras is panicking. He's scared. So what does he do?
He runs to his mentor, the Apostle Paul, who is imprisoned in Rome. And what was Paul's response? The book of Colossians. It's like Pastor Eric Johanson, who just left us to go to Hartford, coming back to Pastor Mike and saying, help, help!
The world is going crazy here in Hartford. How do I defend the gospel? How do I stand firm? Paul knows how dangerous it is to compromise on the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul knows how dangerous it is that if you take Christ out of the equation, you can't grow as a Christian.
So if you look at Colossians chapter 2, 3, and 4, where he talks about the role of husband and wife, the role of people within the church, the importance of the head and the body. Paul has a goal. He knows before he can get to that, you need to understand that Christ is preeminent.
So the main words when you look at the book of Colossians, all-sufficient, preeminent, supreme over. So when you think of Colossians, think of that word. If there is a book in the Bible that I want to meditate on day and night, if there is a book in the Bible that I want my life to model after, it is the book of Colossians.
Christ is all over this book. Christ and Christology is central to this book. By the time I'm done preaching today, hopefully you're not only awake, but you will also have a biblical Christology. You will also know that Christ is sufficient for salvation, that he is sufficient for spiritual growth, and you will also know that if you are redeemed, the universe ultimately has no terror for you.
That your Redeemer is not just creator, he's also ruler and goal of all. He's the end of all. So you can be comforted in that. What is Paul's main goal here? Well, who is he attacking? Look at Colossians chapter 2 verse 8 with me.
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to elemental spirits of the world. And here's the main sentence, and not according to Christ.
Peter O 'Brien makes this amazing statement. Here is the essence of the false teaching, chapter 2 verse 8, the application of the message of Colossians to a wide variety of historical and contemporary teachings.
Any teaching, Peter O 'Brien says, that questions the sufficiency of Christ, not only for initial salvation, but also for spiritual growth and ultimate salvation from judgment, falls under the massive Christological critique of the book of Colossians.
To many scholars, the text I'm about to do today, which is Colossians chapter 1, 15 to 20, is the Christological high point of the New Testament. It is an excellent hymn, the hymn of hymns. It outlines the supremacy of God, not only in creation, but also in redemption.
Now you ask the question, wait, how is this the high point of the New Testament? Let me explain. What was Jewish theology primarily? Was it monotheistic? Very much. We see that in several areas in the Old Testament.
They believed one God and one God only. If you look at 1 Corinthians 8, 6 and Colossians 1, 15 to 20, you see Paul stressing the same monotheism. One God and one God only. But here, in Colossians 1, 15 to 20, Paul redefines Jewish monotheism.
How does he do that? He does that by representing or by talking about a trend that was occurring in the early church. As a result of Christ's powerful work, his life, and as a result of his resurrection.
Do you know what the Christians in the early church were doing? They were beginning to redefine Jewish monotheism by including the Lord Jesus Christ in their understanding of God. Nowhere till this time in Colossians has this happened in the Roman Greco world.
This has no precedence in that time in the Jewish world. That is why this hymn is considered by many scholars as a Christological high point of the New Testament. Let's get to it. Please turn with me to Colossians chapter 1, verses 15 to 20.
The He in verse 15 is the Lord Jesus Christ, explained very clearly in 13 and 14, and the verses before in Colossians 1. 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. From this text, here's three reasons why you must constantly be in awe of Christ.
Number one, Christ is preeminent in creation, verses 15, 16, and 17. Paul talks about how Christ, he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. In Greek, image often meant representative.
Paul is saying here that God is revealed in Christ, that Christ is the perfect representation of God, and that through him humans were created. God is revealed in Christ. He goes on to talk about firstborn.
Firstborn here is not talking about in a created sense. It's a title of preeminence. It is very commonly used in those days, having a metaphorical significance, where the firstborn was often had the, was attributed with preeminence.
It means in context of Colossians 1, 15, 16, 17, in particular, that he existed before creation. In light of what we're about to see in 16, where we see the mediatorial role of God in creation, of Christ in creation, the sense we get, what the term firstborn means here, is it means supreme over, majestic.
As my wife and I were jogging a few years, not years, a few weeks ago in our neighborhood, and we met a Jehovah's Witness, guess which passage she brought up? Colossians 1, 15, and I've been meditating on this text for two months, so she had no idea what was about to happen.
Now they say Christ is not God, that he is created. They say that he is nothing but a good example. That is dangerous, and that is untrue, all because they misunderstand the meaning of the word firstborn.
Verse 16 goes on to talk about, 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.
Do you notice the chain? It's a link, it's a very strong link, pointing at Christ. By him all things were created, all things were created through him and for him. While verse 15, when you look at it, it's an axiom, it's a true statement.
Verse 16 is proof of the axiom, it's evidence, it's furthering, talking about why and how Christ is preeminent in creation. Paul states that all of God's creative work took place in reference to Christ, in reference to Christ.
Look at what he's saying, things in heaven and things in earth. It's a merism, it's a figure of speech. Just like we say that I searched nook and cranny for something. What does that mean? That means you searched everywhere for it.
What Paul is saying when he's using the word things in heaven and earth is, he's saying Christ is preeminent over all created things. Heaven, earth, everything in between. And then he goes on to say things invisible and visible.
That's chiastic in structure. You know what chiasm is? It's going to represent here, heaven meaning invisible, earth meaning visible. Again, what is Paul trying to tell us here? Christ is preeminent over all created things.
He then talks about thrones or powers or rulers or authorities. In those days, one of the things the false teachers were saying was, guess what? Angels are not as, I mean angels are greater than Christ or angels are equal with Christ.
There were good angels and those good angels were needed to add to Christ's work for salvation. There were bad angels. The bad angels could destroy Christ's work of salvation. Paul is saying no. He is superior even over them.
If we're familiar with Hebrews chapter 1 verse 4, anybody remember that? We've been going through that in our church. What do we know? Christ is superior, greater than the angels. And here Paul is stating the same thing.
Whether there are good angels or bad angels, nothing is needed in addition to the work and person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing. And Colossians 2 15, turn with me there one minute, we see about how Christ has defeated every spiritual power.
That Christ rules over them. Colossians chapter 2 verse 15, he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them. These forces or darkness or events may, not events, these angels or spiritual powers as some commentators talk about, may exist and they are perhaps powerful in one extent, but they are not greater than the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ is supreme even over them. Paul goes on to talk about Colossians 1 17, and he is before all things and in him all things hold together. Verse 17 is, when he's saying in him all things hold together, it's probably implying holding all things in redemption and in creation.
Now this is a perfect middle point in this hymn. Verse 15 is talking about God's, Christ's role at the beginning of creation. Verse 20 is talking about Christ's role at the end of creation. So guess what verse 17 is talking about?
Christ's role at creation right now, at present. In Proverbs 8 22 to 31, you don't have to turn there, we see that wisdom was the first thing God created. In Colossians 1 17, Paul is making a bigger assertion that Christ existed even before creation.
And he goes on to ask this question, okay what holds up the universe? What is behind it? Is it an ideology? Is it the laws of physics? Is it an abstract theory? No it isn't. It is the resurrected Christ who holds up the universe.
He is the sustaining power behind it. Without him the nuclear fission that takes place in the core of the Sun would not occur. And guess what? If that stopped, solar system is gone. Without him the plants would not grow, the rock cycle would not would stop, the water cycle would stop, and life would cease to exist as we know it.
So that was the first reason why you must be in constant awe of the Lord Jesus Christ. Second point, Christ is pre-eminent in redemption. Verse 18, and he is the head of the body, the church. Now Paul does explain who the body is, okay, and if you look at 13 and 14 he says, he the Son of God has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins.
Now Paul is building upon what he said in, to be honest, in verse 1, 2, and 3 where he mentions the word saints and grace. So there itself he's started to give the gospel. Who is the body? Who are the redeemed?
A saint, as I grew up to learn in the Orthodox Christian Church, is not somebody who is declared righteous because of his own acts. A saint is a title given to a person because of the of Christ's imputed righteousness.
Okay, that's a saint. And then you see the word grace. What is grace? It's, it's a status. It's, it, what it means is that God's, God had to intervene. His, he had to intervene on our behalf so that we could be saved.
Let me redefine that. God, grace implies that a believer's status is ultimately based on God's unmerited intervention on their behalf. So by looking at what grace means, who the, who saints are, and what Paul has told us in Colossians 1, 13, and 14, we understand who the body is, those redeemed by the blood of the Savior, those to whom God no longer counts their transgressions because of Christ's substitutionary work on the cross, and because of his resurrection.
Now we don't use the term head and body much in our language, in our modern-day language, do we? But in the old days they used it a lot. It was understood very clearly that the head was the governing member of the body.
That the head not only controlled the body, it provided life and sustenance to it. Very well known back then, and so it's good for us to understand why Paul is using this. So he's using this intentionally, because the false teachers were saying, Christ is not sufficient.
That in order to grow spiritually, you need to go to other places other than Christ. Deepak Chopra, you may have heard of the name, is an Indian guru to the celebrities here in America. You know what he says about Christ?
He's a figment of your imagination. He can be anyone you want him to be. And we have Christians listening to this. And then we have Sarah Young, who talks about Jesus Christ as a cloud. When you look at her introduction, and you look at, I've read both her books, You Ask Me Why?, because I'm trying to protect my wife and my kids.
She introduces Christ, and she talks about Christ almost seemingly as it looks as if in the Bible, but it's not the same Christ. It's a different man. It's a different, it's not even God. It's not the resurrected Christ that Paul mentions in Colossians.
It's not. Beware of such distractions. Remember the Colossians were distracted by all that was happening in their culture? Why? Because they did not, they could not behold the majesty of Christ. So what's the cure if you're constantly distracted by culture, and by ideologies, and philosophies, and by people like Deepak Chopra, and Sarah Young?
You need to have a higher view of Christ. You need to have the right Christology, and you won't be distracted by these things. Paul emphatically and clearly proclaims that the resurrected Christ is the true and only source of life for the body.
He's saying that just as Christ is preeminent in creation, Christ is also preeminent in new creation, which is the assembly of the saints, also the church. And here's this, how do you know that Christ is sufficient for spiritual growth?
Colossians 2 18 to 19, let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the head from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
Here is the exclamation point in the New Testament around spiritual growth. Here it is. Paul expands on what he says in 1 18, that Christ is the head of the body. Here in 2 18 and 19, by saying, don't separate from him, you have no identity, you have no power, you have no strength, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the final reason why you must be in constant awe of the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ is a source of cosmic restoration. We looked at how he is preeminent in creation, he is preeminent in redemption, and here's a final point, he's the source of cosmic restoration.
Colossians 1 18b, he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. The term beginning here means founder, and what Paul is saying here is, he is the founder of the eschatological resurrection.
I can't develop the point more, but we know that the Jews believed that when God would return, in his finally-earthly kingdom, there would be a literal, physical resurrection. We see that in Daniel chapter 2, sorry, chapter 12 in Ezekiel 37.
And we see that even in the New Testament, in 1 Corinthians 15 20, where that is stressed, it was known to the Old Testament and the New Testament, in the New Testament, that Jesus Christ alone was a founder of the new resurrection.
What he's saying here is, he's not just the first one to experience resurrection in one sense, he is the founder of it, the initiator of that last, or the new order of resurrection. And as we sum up, 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, by the blood of his cross.
There was an old Jewish question, where does God dwell? In the Old Testament, God's representative dwelling place was the temple. In the New Testament, post Christ's life and death and resurrection, that dwelling place, that representative dwelling place was Christ.
When false teachers were attacking that you need to find fullness outside of Christ, in addition to Christ, Paul is saying, no, it is found in him and him alone. And then the last verse, it talks about reconciliation.
This isn't talking about reconciling sinners, and once only talking about reconciling sinners to God, this is talking about cosmic reconciliation. Yes, Paul talks about particular redemption in verses 21, 22, and 23, but I won't get to that today.
In verse 20, he's talking about how the world as we know it, as we see in Romans chapter 18, Romans chapter 8, sorry 19 to 22, is in rebellion. Even though Christ is preeminent over creation, they're not in a good relationship with their Creator.
There is chaos, there's no peace in between God and his creation. And what we see here is that they need reconciliation, and God will bring that reconciliation when he returns. Some people misread this verse and say that this is talking about universal salvation, but that's where if you get your word wrong, you get the whole text wrong, and you get the whole hymn wrong.
What he's talking about here is that while it is secured in principle by Christ's crucifixion and available in preliminary form to believers, universal peace is not yet established. It will be, it has begun, but it is not yet established.
In a hostile world filled with evil and chaos, believers can live in peace and in joy because their Savior is preeminent, because their Savior is supreme over all things. Let's pray. Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for you are supreme over all things, over all created things.
We praise your majesty, we praise you because you are the only one who could appease the righteous wrath of God that was pointed against sinners. You are the only one who could bring peace between a holy God and sinful man.
We thank you for your word. Help us to continue to stay focused on you through your word, through the gathering of the saints. May we never forget that. May we never move away from it. May no matter how much and how badly our culture may try to redefine our Savior and our God, help us, oh Lord, by your spirit and by your power to stay faithful to you and your word.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.