Jesus 101
Colossians 1:15-20 (15-18)
March 1, 2015
Well tonight we are going to begin a new study together.
We are not going to be studying a particular book,
But instead are going to look at various texts.
Similar to when we did our study of The Holy Spirit,
Tonight we are going to simply begin looking at Jesus.
And I don’t mind telling you the purpose.
Paul wrote:
Colossians 1:28 “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.”
Paul understood that the best way to help believers be conformed into the image of Christ is to continually show them Christ.
2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”
As believers are continually asked to gaze into the face of Christ, we are “being transformed into the same image from glory to glory”
That makes studying Jesus the most valuable tool possible
In aiding a believer’s quest for sanctification.
If you desire to be like Christ…
(and certainly you should know that this is God’s will for you)
Romans 8:29 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;”
So if you desire to be like Christ, then you can do nothing but benefit
From taking some time to study Him.
So for the next few weeks (and I have no idea how long)
We are just going to look at Jesus.
And tonight we are going to start with what might in fact be
The pinnacle “Jesus” text in all of Scripture.
It is Colossians 1:15-20
In this text Paul gives us what I called “Jesus 101”
It is a simple and yet profound look at WHO JESUS IS,
WHAT JESUS DOES, and WHAT JESUS DESERVES.
To give you just a brief background to the book of Colossians:
The Colossians were facing literally a melting pot of heresy.
• They were a mostly Gentile congregation and so the obvious pagan background and influence was there.
• They were also partly Jewish and so the legalistic Jewish influence was there.
There are shades of
• Paganism
• Gnosticism (a group with a higher realm of knowledge),
• Asceticism (belief that you please God through self-depravation),
• Judaism (with the fulfillment of feasts and ordinances).
They were a melting pot of false doctrine.
PAUL’S SOLUTION WAS TO SHOW THEM JESUS.
Instead of breaking down the flaws in every false belief system,
Paul spends the majority of his time
Showing the Colossians who Jesus really is.
• Paganism said Jesus wasn’t important
• Gnosticism said Jesus wasn’t fully human
• Judaism said Jesus wasn’t God
• Asceticism said Jesus wasn’t sufficient
So Paul sets out to show the Colossians who Jesus really is,
And the reminder to us is so important.
Tonight I just want to break it down into three points for you.
#1 HIS RANK
Colossians 1:15-18
A quick reading of this passage will help you see exactly how to break it down.
Four times Paul uses the same phrase: “He is”
(15) “He is the image of the invisible God”
(17) “He is before all things”
(18) “He is also head of the body, the church”
(18b) “He is the beginning”
That being the case I think it should be clear that
Paul is setting out to show you who Jesus is.
The four “He is” statements of Paul,
Focus in on four different realities about Jesus.
1) HIS DEITY (15-16)
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through Him and for Him.”
First and foremost Paul says “He is the image of the invisible God”
“image” there translates EIKON
It is where we get our word for “icon”
It literally means “a statue” or “a representation”
It can be a “representation” or a “manifestation” of something.
For example.
It is word used of a coin with Caesar’s picture.
Mark 12:16 “They brought one. And He said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.”
It was a “likeness” of Caesar a “representation” of him.
But it can also be a “manifestation” of someone’s nature.
For example, man was created in God’s image.
1 Corinthians 11:7 “For a man ought not to have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.”
Man is not a representation of God, but rather a manifestation of Him.
Man, like God, is a living soul who can think, reason, choose, etc.
The problem with man is that after being created in the image of God,
Man “fell” in the garden and became corrupted by sin,
And therefore cannot claim to be like God, even though he was created in God’s image.
Jesus however is the perfect “image of the invisible God”
He is both a representation and a manifestation of God.
He is in fact God made flesh.
Hebrews 1:1-3a “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.”
The writer of Hebrews doesn’t just say Jesus looks like God, he says that “He is the…exact representation of His nature”
Jesus is the “same substance” as God.
Philippians 2:6 “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,”
Jesus “existed in the form of God”
And of course this was so much the case that Jesus could say:
John 14:9 “Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”
John the apostle said it like this:
John 1:14-18 “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. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”
And when you read those passages
The simple truth becomes evident time and time again.
Jesus is God
And this might seem redundant to you,
But please understand that if you believe that,
Then you are definitely in the minority today.
Muslims, Buddhists, Atheists, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Hindus,
And even many professing Christians do not believe that.
They are content to call Jesus an example, a prophet, a teacher, a good man, but most refuse to call Him God.
And yet, that is precisely who He is.
In John chapter 5 the Jews actually threatened to kill Him
Because they assumed He said that He was equal with God.
John 5:18 “For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.”
Now let’s assume this was said about you.
Someone says they want to kill you because you seemed to make yourself “equal with God”
You’d back up in a hurry.
You’d say, “Oh no, that’s not what I meant, I’m not God”
But let me show you how Jesus answered
John 5:19-23 “Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”
The Jews would have expected Jesus to run from their accusation
That He made Himself out to be equal with God.
Instead, Jesus adamantly affirmed that He is.
I SHARE MY FATHER’S PASSIONS
“whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner”
I SHARE MY FATHER’S POWER
“just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes”
I SHARE MY FATHER’S PRAISE
“all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father.”
Folks, those are BOLD statements, if Jesus doesn’t believe He is God.
Consider other encounters.
John 14:13-14 “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”
Jesus just said that you should pray to Him and in His name.
Would anyone who did not believe they were God tell others to pray to them?
John 20:27-29 “Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”
If Jesus didn’t believe Himself to be God,
You have to wonder why He would not have corrected Thomas there.
Matthew 14:33 “And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!”
Matthew 28:9 “And behold, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.”
Matthew 28:16-17 “But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.”
Would you really suppose that Jesus would just sit idly by and let others worship Him, if He didn’t believe Himself to be God?
You get the point.
Jesus is God
And that is precisely what Paul wants you to see as well.
“He is the image of the invisible God”
You will never get a better or more accurate picture of who God is,
Than what you see in Jesus.
Jesus is God made flesh.
And the fact that Jesus is God means something:
Look at what Paul says next:
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”
Well, Jehovah’s witnesses love this phrase.
“the firstborn of all creation”
They take that verse as in indicator that Jesus was in fact created
And therefore cannot be God.
But that is NOT at all what Paul is saying.
The term “firstborn” is not necessarily
A term used of the chronology of one’s birth.
In the Bible “firstborn” was a title of importance and inheritance,
Not necessarily an indication of birth order.
• Both Isaac and Jacob were considered the “firstborn” though neither was
actually the oldest in their family.
• Israel was called God’s “firstborn” though they clearly were not the first
people on the planet.
The term “firstborn” here speaks of Jesus’ importance
And His right to the inheritance.
Psalms 89:27 “I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth.”
In that Psalm “firstborn” was a status, not a description of birth order.
Paul is here telling you that in “creation”
No one and nothing holds a higher rank than Jesus Christ.
WHY?
(16) “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him.”
The reason Jesus has the highest rank in all creation
Is because He is the creator of all things.
Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
That is talking about Jesus.
• He created all things “in the heavens”
• He created all things “on earth”
There is not a star in the sky, nor a grain of sand on the shore
That He did not create.
But His creation is not limited to physical things we can see.
He also created “visible and invisible” things.
You can see birds and dirt and water and trees.
And He did create all of that.
He also created what you can’t see.
• He created wind and gravity and atoms and cells
• He created angels (even fallen ones) who live in the spiritual realm that you
cannot see.
He also created the natural order and authorities of the world.
“whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities”
Paul said in Romans:
Romans 13:1 “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”
There is nothing in all of creation that He did not create.
In fact Paul says, “all things have been created through Him and for Him.”
In short, Jesus is God, the chief creator
And supreme authority over all creation.
He created it all, and one day it will all answer to Him.
That is His rank
Paul wants you to see His Deity.
First His Deity
2) HIS SUPERIORITY (17)
“He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
Paul simply says that “He is before all things”
Certainly in one sense this is redundant since we already established that
He is the most important figure of all creation.
But Paul takes His importance to a whole new level here
When he says that “in Him all things hold together.”
That is to say, not only is He the creator of all things,
But He is also the most important piece in all of creation.
He is the central cog to everything.
If you take away Him, then the whole thing falls apart.
WHY?
Because He is the SUSTAINER of all things.
“in Him all things hold together”
Jesus is to life what a tortilla is to a burrito.
You take away the tortilla and you no longer have a burrito,
You’ve got a mess!
He holds it all together.
• Why does the earth perfectly orbit the sun at the rate of 365 days per year?
• Why does the earth perfectly rotate on its axis at the rate of 24 hours per day?
• Why does the sun continue to rise in the east and set in the west?
• Why does the moon never move any closer and threaten the tide?
• Why does your heart continue to beat?
• Why do your lungs continue to breath?
Someone is behind it all, sustaining it, keeping it running.
He not only began creation, but He sustains it.
If you take Him out, it all falls apart.
Creation would absolutely explode.
And you may not realize this, but consider.
The most lethal weapon on the face of the planet is known as the “atom” bomb.
The nuclear blast occurs when the atom is split.
Now consider the atom, and here is the mystery.
In the nucleus of the atom the scientist finds 8 positively charged protons together
And 8 neutrons which have no charge.
Here is the mystery.
Magnets and elector fields teach us clearly that if you put two positives together,
They repel against one another.
Only opposites attract.
And yet, inside the atom there is no negative,
Only positives and there are 8 of them.
SOURCE
MacArthur, John [The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Colossians & Philemon; Moody Press, 1992] pg. 49
WHAT KEEPS THE ATOM TOGETHER? WHY DOES IT NOT FLY APART?
And the answer?
JESUS
You think Russia is a threat for nuclear war,
All Jesus has to do is quit holding the atom together
And the whole of creation becomes an atom bomb.
Do you see why He is the most important part?
Not only is He the creator, He is the sustainer of all things.
His Divinity, His Superiority
3) HIS AUTHORITY (18a)
“He is also head of the body, the church:
Certainly He is creator and sustainer of the church as well,
But here Paul has something entirely different in mind.
HE IS THE CHIEF AUTHORITY OVER THE CHURCH.
You would think this would be a “no brainer” in church today,
But I promise you it is a forgotten concept.
Thanks to the American constitution and our preoccupation with our own personal rights.
Someone decided that the church was supposed to be a democracy.
And it wasn’t long before “majority rule” began to hold more weight
Than “Biblical revelation”
And people started to follow what the majority wanted
Even over what the Bible mandated.
And in some ways this was absolutely blatant
As we saw churches ordain women pastors or homosexual deacons.
But we also saw less than blatant examples as well.
Churches actually substituted surveys of the membership
For seeking of the Lord in prayer.
So long as people were happy, we were content,
Despite what Jesus may or may not have wanted.
But I remind you again.
The church is not a democracy, it is a theocracy.
Jesus the undisputed King with absolute authority
Over all things that relate to the church.
If He wants it, He gets it.
And that means that no one’s opinion or will
Matters more than Jesus’ opinion or will.
His Deity, His Superiority, His Authority
4) HIS NECESSITY (18b)
“and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead”
The final “He is” statement calls Christ “the beginning”
Now certainly we understand that in the sense of whatever it is we are talking about, IT ORIGINATES with Jesus.
But when you take the statement as a whole
You understand exactly what Paul is saying that Jesus began.
“He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead”
Again, Jesus was not the first person to ever rise from the dead,
But He was the most important.
WHY?
Because in His resurrection He conquered death
And gave us the opportunity to gain eternal life.
• Jairus’ daughter rose from the dead, but she didn’t give it anyone else
• Lazarus rose from the dead, but he didn’t share it
Jesus not only rose, but He then offered that same life to others.
He said:
John 11:25-26 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
John 14:19 “After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.”
Jesus is the beginning of eternal life.
It all starts with Him.
He is the beginning of salvation.
That means that in regard to salvation
There is nothing more important than what you do with Him.
You can follow the Bible to a “T” and never fail a command,
But if you fail to come to Jesus, you miss the whole point.
Jesus said:
John 5:39-40 “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.”
It’s all about Jesus.
Consider the end and the final judgment.
Revelation 20:11-15 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
It wasn’t just sinners who were thrown into hell.
If that was the case, everyone would go there.
It was sinners whose name was not written in the book.
It was sinners who hadn’t come to Jesus.
Nothing matters more than what you do with Jesus.
When it comes to life and eternity, Jesus is not a luxury, He is a necessity.
There is nothing in life more important than Him.
And if you miss Him, you miss everything.
Jesus said:
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
Peter said:
Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
And you get the point.
Jesus matters!
“He is the image of the invisible God”
“He before all things”
“He is also head of the body, the church”
“He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead”
We are talking about someone important.
Now I told you that Paul here was giving you His rank.
Well, look at it.
(15) “firstborn of all creation”
(17) “before all things”
(18) “head of the body”
(18) “the beginning”
(18) “firstborn from the dead”
Can you see His rank?
There is no one and nothing in any sphere of creation
That is more important than Him.
• He is God in the midst of creation
• He is sustainer in the midst of chaos
• He is authority in the midst of confusion
• He is life in the midst of death
If you take Jesus out any single area of life, it will fall apart.
Take Him out of creation and it will implode
Take Him out of the church and it will fall
Take Him out of life and it will end
He is the most important and central cog to all things.
So His rank?
#1 seems to be an understatement.
He rightly has the name that is above every name.
Philippians 2:9-10 “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,”
That is Jesus 101
You simply cannot overstate His importance.
Now, I want to simply introduce you to the second point,
Which we will dive into next Sunday night.
His Rank
#2 HIS RIGHT
Colossians 1:18c
“so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.”
Paul showed you who He is, here Paul shows you what He deserves.
He has rightful claim “to have first place in everything.”
We’ll talk about this next week,
But spend the week examining all the areas
Where Christ does not have “first place” in your life.
Because I promise you He deserves it.
