Jesus 101 – part 3
Colossians 1:15-20 (19-20)
March 15, 2015
As you know we have started a new series here on Sunday nights.
We’re calling it: “It’s All About Jesus”
That is both the theme and the purpose.
The study will be all about Jesus,
So that you and I will come to understand
That everything in life is in fact all about Him.
And to begin that study we have started with, what I believe to be,
The pinnacle Jesus passage in all the Bible.
Colossians 1:15-20
We have already seen the first two points,
But let me quickly recap them for you to make sure we are on the same page.
#1 HIS RANK
Colossians 1:15-18a
The first thing Paul set out to show us is where Jesus ranks in life.
And He did that by reminding us of four key truths about Jesus.
We said they are easily spotted
If you will follow the “He is” statements that Paul made.
HIS DEITY
(15) “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”
Paul wasted no time in silencing any Jewish naysayers
Who doubt the deity of Jesus.
Jesus is the EIKON of God.
He is both a representation and a manifestation of God.
He is God made flesh, and we know this
Because it was Him who created all things.
Things you see and things you don’t
In fact Paul said, “all things have been created through Him and for Him.”
Paul also showed us
HIS SUPERIORITY
(17) “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
That is to say that when you are talking about order of importance,
Jesus is first.
Nothing and no one in all of creation is more important than Him.
He is literally what holds all things together.
If you remove Him from any equation it falls apart.
That is creation
That is society
That is church
That is life
If you were holding a draft and thought it best
To obtain the most essential piece first,
Jesus would always be the first one taken.
He is higher and more important than any other.
Paul also reminded us of
HIS AUTHORITY
(18a) “He is also head of the body, the church;”
It should be understood (and sadly many times it is not)
But Jesus is the supreme authority in the church.
We are not a democracy
We are a theocracy
Things like surveys and majority rule are absolutely unbiblical.
The only time the whole membership should chime in
Is when they have all collectively sought the will of the Lord
And report back to share what they believe His will to be.
Any “will” of the masses is less than insignificant.
The church’s only concern should ever be the will of Jesus.
He is the supreme ruler.
And finally Paul reminded us of
HIS NECESSITY
(18b) “He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,”
That is to say that in all things pertaining to eternal life and salvation…
It all begins with Him.
Any conversation regarding eternal life
That does not begin with Jesus is a pointless conversation.
What you do with Jesus is what determines eternity,
For He is the only one to ever conquer the grave
And then offer that victory to others.
It does little good to find a savior who can’t beat death,
That is why conversations regarding salvation begin and end with Jesus.
And you put all that together
And we were easily able to discern Jesus’ rank.
(15) “the firstborn of all creation.”
(17) “He is before all things”
(18) “He is the beginning”
(18) “He is…the firstborn from the dead”
First, first, beginning, before, beginning, first
You get the idea
To say Jesus ranks first is a supreme understatement.
Nothing and no one in any area or sphere
Is more important than Jesus…ever
He is first
He is highest
He is most significant
THAT IS HIS RANK.
And that flows easily into Paul’s second point.
#2 HIS RIGHT
Colossians 1:18b
“so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.”
The idea is clearly understood.
Paul wants you to know that Jesus is first
So that you will give Him first place “in everything.”
• Whether that is your time
• Whether that is your money
• Whether that is your future
• Whether that is your reputation
• Whether that is your relationships
• Whether that is your occupation
Jesus deserves “first place”
In God’s book He is first, He should be first in yours as well.
And for an example we talked about
The wonderful example of John the Baptist in John 3.
Jesus had started baptizing and John’s disciples were a little jealous.
John was at a pivotal cross roads.
He either puts himself first or He puts Jesus first.
John made one of the greatest statements in all of Scripture,
Which he concluded in John 3:30 by saying:
John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
And that is Paul’s point in Colossians.
Jesus gets “first place in everything”, and we aren’t talking co-captains here.
It wasn’t Jesus and John the Baptist
It’s not Jesus and Rory
It’s not Jesus and you
IT’S JESUS
He is the undisputed first place in all things.
And He should have first place in all things.
THAT IS HIS RIGHT
So we’ve seen His Rank and we’ve seen His Right
#3 HIS ROLE
Colossians 1:19-20
You’ll notice Paul starts verse 19 with the word “For”.
This verse is Paul’s way of telling you
WHY Jesus deserves first place in everything.
And very simply: Jesus deserves first place in everything
Because of what He has done.
It is not as though He is some spoiled little rich kid
Who only gets first place because his daddy is so important.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Jesus earned His status.
Jesus actually accomplished the most difficult
And most important role for all humanity for all time.
It was a role that required a man of impeccable credential, impeccable commitment, and impeccable ability.
In short, if you were to advertise the job Jesus accomplished
None would even be qualified to apply.
Not only did Jesus apply, but He fully accomplished it,
And thus earned the right to be first in everything.
And that is what Paul sets out to show us in these two verses tonight.
We are actually going to break them down into four points to make them easier to see.
1) HIS CREDENTIALS (19)
“For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,”
This was actually a statement of great importance to the Colossians.
“fullness” translates PLEROMA
That was an important word to the gnostics.
They believed the PLEROMA to be the powers and attributes of God
Which were broken up and distributed amongst many beings and angels.
One being might have God’s mercy while another had His holiness,
While another had His power to heal, and another had His power to create.
Paul squashes all those gnostic heresies by saying that
“all the PLEROMA” dwelt in Jesus.
He got it all!
John 1:14-16 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'” For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.”
That is where we get the concept that Jesus was “Fully God”
It all dwelt in Jesus.
And this is absolutely significant as it speaks to His ability to save.
Let me state it simply by saying that if Jesus wasn’t fully God
Then Jesus could not save humanity.
(Incidentally, He also had to be fully man, but tonight we focus on the former)
Jesus had to be fully God.
And this is what makes false religions like Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons so dangerous.
• They may do good deeds
• They may produce moral people
• But they promote a doctrine that will send those moral people straight to hell because they don’t offer the Biblical Jesus.
Why did Jesus have to be fully God?
Well if you will remember our study several years ago (and I’m sure you all do) in Romans 5 about the fall of man and the origin of sin in Adam.
Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned”
In other words, when Adam sinned he wasn’t the only one who fell.
All of Adam’s descendants fell with him,
Because through Adam every man received a “sin nature”.
Therefore no savior was going to come from a descendant of Adam.
This was the dilemma seen in Revelation 5
Revelation 5:1-4 “I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it;”
The scroll was the title deed to the earth.
It contained the means of redeeming the earth back to God.
And as the “job description” and “necessary credentials” were released
The candidates were quickly weeded out.
In fact, “no one was found worthy to open the book”
All had sinned
All had fallen short
All had inherited Adam’s nature
And all were unworthy
Jesus could not be from Adam.
Jesus wasn’t, His Father was God.
And this made Him worthy
Revelation 5:5 “and one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.”
Jesus also had to be fully God
Because He is the mediator between God and man.
Just as He had to be fully man to sympathize with man,
He had to be fully God to reconcile those men with Him.
If you take all that into consideration you realize that
The job God was asking for was one that required
A person with a special set of credentials.
Not just anyone could do this job.
• It required someone holy
• It required someone sinless
• It required someone not carrying Adam’s sin
• It required someone able to mediate between God and man
Jesus alone carried such credentials.
• He alone was sinless
• He alone was perfect
• He alone could die for sins that were not His own
So the first reason Jesus earned the right to be glorified
Was because He filled a role that no one else could fill.
His credentials set Him apart.
2) HIS CHARGE (20a)
“and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself.”
Think about that for a second
If the credential requirements didn’t weed everyone out,
Then certainly the job description would.
What was it that God was wanting accomplished?
Oh just a little thing like “reconcile” all of fallen creation back to Him.
No big deal!
We saw the garden in perfection, and then we saw
The fall of man and the curse that spread over the world.
• We read Genesis 5 and all the death that instantly swept into the world.
• We now see creation groaning and suffering under the curse.
• We see how bent sinful man is on following the lusts of his heart
• We see sickness and death and disease and suffering
And God’s request was for someone to go and “reconcile” all of that.
God and make the unacceptable acceptable…
God and make the wicked righteous…
God and make the fallen redeemed…
In short all God was asking was that people on the outside of the veil be allowed on the inside of the veil.
THAT IS A HUGE TASK!
That is an enormous mission.
And yet it was the mission that Jesus Christ undertook.
Hebrews 9:11-12 “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”
God’s desire was for a perfect one to come
And reconcile a fallen world back to Him.
Jesus signed up for the challenge.
• It is the miracle of the incarnation…
• It is the miracle that God would become flesh…
It is unbelievable that Christ would volunteer for this enormous role!
Hebrews 2:14-15 “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”
And you are beginning to see why He has a right
To all the glory we can give Him.
The role He embraced sets Him apart from everyone.
His Credentials, His Charge
3) HIS COMMITMENT (20b)
“having made peace through the blood of His cross;”
And now we take an even bigger step.
So someone wants to hire a perfect person for a difficult job.
• Any number of people might apply, and any number of people might embrace the challenge.
• But how many will follow through on their commitment when they learn that they only possible chance of success will be through a brutal and torturous death on the cross?
• How many will stick with the job and see it through to the end?
It would take commitment.
And yet that is what Jesus did.
When charged with making peace between sinful man and holy God,
Jesus Christ did that by shedding His own blood.
Philippians 2:5-8 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Not just death, but “death on a cross”
The worst possible death
The most painful
The most humiliating
The most cursed
No wonder we find Jesus in the garden the night before His crucifixion
Praying, “Father let this cup pass from Me”
And yet we find Him going through with it anyway.
Luke 23:33-38 “When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One.” The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” Now there was also an inscription above Him, “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
• Jesus Christ filled a role that no one else could fill
• To do a job that no one else could do
• Through a means that no one else would have endured
He doesn’t just deserve first place in everything
Because His Father is the most powerful.
Jesus earned every ounce of glory He could be given.
His Credentials, His Charge, His Commitment
4) HIS COMPETENCE (20c)
“through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.”
• So He alone was qualified for the role
• And He alone was willing to embrace it
• And He alone was willing to do what was necessary to fulfill it
BUT WAS HE SUCCESSFUL?
And Paul reminds us that He was.
He not only reconciled “things on earth” but also “things in heaven”
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
Let me remind you of something the writer of Hebrews said:
Hebrews 10:4 “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
While man has always been justified by faith,
It is important to remember that the presence of faith
Does not nullify the need for atonement.
God responds to faith with forgiveness based on the atoning sacrifice.
The writer of Hebrews reminds us that
There was never a single animal sacrifice that was effective.
So let your mind drift back to the Old Testament saints.
Consider Moses and Abraham and Joshua and Job
All men of faith, but none of their animal sacrifices
Were sufficient to atone for sin.
And yet all these had already died before the time of Jesus.
It was the blood of Jesus that reached back
And atoned for all those in heaven
And reached forward to all those still on earth.
Another way to say it is that no one was ever reconciled to God
Apart from the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.
And He was successful.
He did in fact reconcile God’s children back to God.
Isaiah 53:10-12 “But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.”
• Jesus bore the sin of the elect
• He atoned for “the many”
• He successfully appeased the wrath of God on all of God’s children.
And this is not just true for Israel,
But also for the Gentiles whom God elected to save.
Look on further in Colossians 1
Colossians 1:21-22 “And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach”
Jesus Christ was successful in reconciling God’s children back to Him.
It was a job only He could do
It required a sacrifice only He would do
And He was successful
So when Paul tells us that God has made Christ first…
And when Paul tells us that He should be first in everything…
NOW YOU KNOW HE DESERVES IT
He fulfilled a role that only He could fulfill.
And because of that He deserves the glory.
In fact, look back to Revelation 5 for a moment.
We saw that only He could open the scroll,
But look at the response of heaven when He takes it:
TURN TO: REVELATION 5:6-14
He reconciled things in heaven and so they put Him first.
He also reconciled things on earth and so we should as well.
And that is Paul’s point in this passage that we have called “Jesus 101”
He has the highest rank
He has the right to all the glory
For He fulfilled a role that no one else could fulfill
Those are the basics about Jesus.
So will you give Him first place in everything?
Will you allow Him to be your priority?
It really is all about Jesus.
