The Creator Colossians 1:15-16 Pastor Duane Smets September 30th, 2018

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1 The Creator Colossians 1:15-16 Pastor Duane Smets September 30th, 2018 I. A Relational Creator II. A Purposeful Creator III. A Wonderful Creator Anthony Flew, born in 1923, is one of the most famous atheists the world has ever known. He was a graduate of Oxford University and philosophy professor who built his career on the rejection of the idea and person of God. He wrote extensively to try and convince people it was foolish to believe there is, in fact, a creator God. He said, It just seems inconsistent to say that the universe was created by an omnipotent and perfectly good being. His most famous works, Theology and Falsification, The Presumption of Atheism and Atheistic Humanism made him a champion in the last century in the academic world for those who believe the existence of God is not a rational idea, is not scientific and has no place in educational institutions, either at the collegiate or elementary level. It is in part thanks to Anthony Flew that the public school system in our country and here in San Diego has completely removed God from its curriculum. But in 2004, six years before Anthony Flew died, after studying the human cell and DNA, Flew shocked the world by coming out and saying he no longer felt he could hold to his atheistic claims he built his career upon. In a DVD release titled, Has Science Discovered God? He said this, I now think it [the evidence] does point to a creative Intelligence almost entirely because of the DNA investigations. What I think the DNA material has done is that it has shown, by the almost unbelievable complexity of the arrangements which are needed to produce life, that intelligence must have been involved in getting these extraordinarily diverse elements to work together. I now believe there is a God. I now believe that the universe was brought into existence by an infinite Intelligence. I believe that this universe's intricate laws manifest what scientists have called the Mind of God. I believe that life and reproduction originate in a divine Source. Why do I believe this, given that I expounded and defended atheism for more than a half century? The short answer is this: this is the world picture, as I see it, that has emerged from modern science. What Flew is referring to is the flood of information we have uncovered, which has caused many other hardline atheists like Flew to change their opinions about a creator God and instead of coming to believe in an intelligent designer of the universe. Here s a quick video unpacking the research and thinking of intelligent design. Stephen Hawking, one of the most renowned astronomers who has ever lived said, 1

2 It would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun, except as the act of a God who intended to create beings like us. The whole history of the universe can be said to be the work of God. I think it s very difficult to understand anything, to make any sense of life without believing there is, in fact, a God. Today we are talking about God as the Creator of all things. This is the first presentation of God on the very first page of the Bible. God is introduced as the Creator. And this is what both the Old and New Testament portions of the Bible claim. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. - Psalm 19:1 What can be known about God is plain For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. - Romans 1:19-20 Believing there is a Creator God is not a senseless thing, it s actually a very reasonable thing. This is why the Bible says, "The fool says in his heart there is no God (Psalm 14:1). Today, we re embarking on our fourth week, into our study and tour through the book of Colossians. We spent the last three weeks on the introduction to the book and today we start the meat, really the beginning of the book. And the beginning of the book starts with where all things begin and that s with God as the Creator. Now what s interesting is our text for today actually doesn t try to argue or convince us that there is a God who exists that created everything. It just assumes it. What it does do is tell us some very interesting and helpful things about this Creator God. So why don t you go ahead and stand with me as we read these special words sent from God to us? Colossians 1:15-16 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. This morning I ve got three points from this portion of the Bible we just read together, A Relational Creator, A Purposeful Creator and A Wonderful Creator and what I hope we walk away thinking, feeling and believing today is not only that God exists but that Jesus not only savior but also as our maker deserves all praise. Jesus deserves all praise. Let s jump in. First off, just to tell you, verses really all go together. But they are so packed with rich, deep and helpful truths we wanted to go slow through this section, so we re breaking it up over a period five weeks. Due to the confessional nature of this section, along with using plural and exaltive and rhythmic language, most people think this was actually an ancient hymn the church sang. 2

3 You guys ever heard of Pliny the Younger? San Diego is the top beer city in the country and beer enthusiasts all know of the Pliny the Younger beer, a really good beer that is only released one time a year. It s named after the author and magistrate of ancient Rome in the first century who wrote about stuff that happened right after the church got started. One of the things he wrote about Christians was this, "They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god. This section could very well be the hymn Pliny was referring to. Let s jump into the first thing we learn from it that God, the Creator God is A Relational Creator. I. A Relational Creator Where we re starting off today is with the line, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. So the first question we have to answer is who is the He referring to? All we have to do is look to the last person that was mentioned in the immediately preceding sentence in verse 13 which tells us the He is God s beloved Son and the verses before that tell us that this Son is the Lord Jesus Christ who s Father is God (v.3). So Jesus is God, the Father s beloved son and He is the image of the invisible God and the firstborn of all creation. There are two different things to recognize here. One, Jesus is God, the creator of everything. Our passage for today says it three different times in three different ways. He s the image of the invisible God. By Him, all things were created. And All things were created through Him. If you read through the accounts of Jesus life and ministry this is exactly what He said about Himself and what people saw and heard in the things He did. In John 14:9 Jesus said this, Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. Which is why the book of John starts out saying, Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known (John 1:17-18). This is the universal view of the Bible, that Jesus and the Father are one, that Jesus is one-hundred percent, fully-god. Hebrews 1:2-3 is another passage that states it real clear. [God] has spoken to us by his Son through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. When you look at the ministry of Jesus you see Him exercising the power of the Creator God healing people left and right. One time He s on a boat with His disciples and this storm overtakes them and they all think they re going to die. But Jesus gets up, putting His face into the and wind and waves 3

4 splashing over the bow and speaks to them saying, Peace be still (Mk 4:9). And the wind and waves immediately stop, obeying the command of their Creator. So Jesus is the Creator and one hundred percent fully God. Yet, He s also called the Son. When He first started His ministry, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan river and the voice of the Father spoke from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased (Matt 3:17). He s fully God and one with Father we then have to ask what kind of Son is He? Some have thought because of this word firstborn in our text that He was somehow birthed from the Father, perhaps sharing some of His divine DNA, being part God but not fully God. This is what an ancient group called Arians believed and what the Jehovah s Witness group today believes. The problem with that is the Bible goes out of its way over and over again to say Jesus is fully God, never created. In our passage today He is clearly identified as the eternal Creator. Which means we have to ask what this word firstborn means, what kind of Son Jesus is and why that s significant and important. On the word firstborn, when you look it up you discover something very important. You find out firstborn doesn t mean he was the firstborn of many children but is rather a title referring to His sovereign rank and rule. Psalm 89:27 explains it in context saying, The firstborn is the highest of the kings of the earth. So the firstborn is a special place of privilege and power. Jesus as the firstborn has rank, privilege, and power over all creation since He made it. So then why is it important for us to recognize Jesus as the Son and what does that mean for us? Perhaps the most famous verse in the Bible is John 3:16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. Older translations used to say only begotten Son. The reason is that that word only is a complex word in the original Greek it was written in that we try to translate into English. It s the word, mono-genes. Mono, meaning one, only one, one of a kind. Genes, where we get the word genes. So Greek experts say monogenes is a very special word meaning one of a kind only unique. Jesus is the Son of God but a one of a kind only unique Son, because He s at the same time fully divine, one and the same as the Father. It s from understanding these Christians have said for thousands of years, almost from the start, that God is a Holy Trinity, a triune God. One God who exists in three persons as Father, Son, and Spirit. If that s true then we have to ask ourselves why that matters, why God tells us this, why this is good for us to know? Our passage from Colossians today is clearly telling us Jesus is the Creator God who created everything and is at the same time a special one of a kind of Beloved Son who has firstborn rank and rule. 4

5 I think the answer is it shows us that God is a relational God. God has existed forever, in eternity in relationship. God is not a solo, all alone, by Himself God. He has always existed in a loving relationship that is kinda like the love a father or mother has for a son or daughter. The other night I was having dinner with some of my best friends in the world, my fellow pastors and I were talking about our ethnic heritage and we re saying how we wanted to get the DNA test to find out the whole history of our families. Have any of you had that done? DNA had a profound impact on Anthony Flew, the atheist and what DNA is telling us is that all of human reality is relational. We are all connected to a mother and father and the mothers and fathers before them. To be human is to be born into a relationship that either turns out good and healthy or not so good and healthy. From the moment a baby is born it is reaching out longing to be held, longing for connection, longing for relationship with his or her makers. All of reality is relational and God our Creator and maker created us to be in relationships, not only with one another but ultimately with Him. I think there is something deep within each and every one of us that longs to know our maker. What God has done for us in sending us His only Son and in telling us about the Father and Son relationship within God s being, what that does is tells us that wants to know us. He s a relational Creator who longs to have relationship with us. Jesus the Son tells us we have God as our Father. Today, do you know God? He longs to know you. It s an incredible thing about God. That among all the thousands and millions of people on earth and among all the other things He has created and watches over that He can and longs to know each and every one of us. Through Jesus, we come to know and experience relationship with God, the one who designed us and created us. In last week s text, we learned about all the good things Jesus does for those who turn to Him. He forgives them, redeems them, delivered them and all these wonderful things basically, Jesus saves. What we learn in the first part of this week s text is Jesus is not only our Savior but our Maker. So Jesus truly deserves all of our praise. Let s move on to our next point for today, A Purposeful Creator. II. A Purposeful Creator In this point, we re looking at the part of verse 16 in our text that says, 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. There are three groups of twos given here, which are all generally referring to the same thing: Heaven - Earth Invisible - Visible Dominions - Thrones 5

6 Authorities - Rulers The realm of heaven is the invisible realm, where there are spiritual forces, dominions and authorities at work. Most think the dominions and authorities are God s powerful angels who exercise His will. Jesus is the Creator and Lord they serve. The realm of earth is the visible realm, where there are human thrones and rulers who come and go. These are kings, emperors, presidents and prime ministers who all lead for a time under the purview and purpose of the ultimate and sovereign Lord, Jesus Christ, the Creator of all things. These divisions make sense. They re not dissimilar to the modern classifications we make: Physical - Metaphysical Natural - Supernatural Material - Spiritual Biological - Psychological What these categories show us, teach us and what we re increasingly discovering is that these are not two totally disconnected groups, spheres of knowledge or two different realities. Instead, we re learning that there are deep connections. We ll dive into this more next week when we look at verse 17, which says in Christ all things hold together. For today, I ll explain it this way. What has lead many to beliefs of atheism, saying there s no God is they have only used what s called inductive or empirical reasoning to understand what is true about us and the world. Empirical reasoning says only the things I can test according to the five senses, what I can see, feel, taste, smell and hear are reality and truth. The problem is to process the data we uncover with empirical tests require us to use non-physical realities, like math. I ve never held a number one in my hand, smelt one, heard one or tasted one but numbers are the reality of the universe we see at work everywhere and they are by definition, nonphysical realities. Another thing is psychology. We are learning more and more that the what drives us as human beings, our feelings, and our experiences, what makes each one of us who we are is a non-physical, supernatural reality. Where is Duane? I m not just my brain, my personality is a metaphysical reality. Persons are beings. In identifying these two categories, however, you want to break them up, what our passage in Colossians says is Jesus the creator is over and above both of them. JESUS Heaven - Earth Physical - Metaphysical Invisible - Visible Natural - Supernatural Dominions - Thrones Material - Spiritual 6

7 Authorities - Rulers Biological - Psychological Since Jesus is not just over the heavenly spiritual realm but over the earthly physical realm then He is not detached but involved and at work in them guiding them with purpose. This is an important point because where rejecting the existence of God leads you a to a place of meaninglessness. Donald Crosby is a philosophy professor at Colorado State University and a wellknown proponent of what s called, nihilism, which is the belief in nothing. Crosby says this, There is no justification for life, but also no reason not to live. Those who claim to find meaning in their lives are either dishonest or deluded. In either case, they fail to face up to the harsh reality of the human situations. Crosby is right. I think when you get rid of God, when you reject Him as the Creator and Lord over both the heavens and the earth, you lose purpose. I wonder if that is why so many today feel lost? Why many today are simply losing and looking for purpose in life? Sir John Templeton put it this way, Would it not be strange if a universe without purpose accidentally created humans who are so obsessed with purpose? Lee Strobel used to be an investigative journalist for the Chicago Tribune, who studied journalism and law at Harvard. He too, like Anthony Flew was a hardened atheist until his wife became a Christian and he set out to prove her wrong. Instead, as he interviewed expert after expert he ended up becoming a believer in God and then eventually a Christian and now has written several books about it. One of his books is titled, The Case for a Creator. In it, he interviews Dr. Stephen Meyer and says this, The six feet of DNA coiled inside every one of our body's one hundred trillion cells contain a four-letter chemical alphabet that spells out precise assembly instructions for all the proteins from which our bodies are made. Cambridge-educated Stephen Meyer demonstrated that no hypothesis has come close to explaining how the information got into biological matter by naturalistic means. On the contrary, he said that whenever we find a sequential arrangement that's complex and corresponds to an independent pattern or function such as books and computer code, this kind of information is always the product of intelligence. "Information is the hallmark of a mind," Meyer said. "And purely from the evidence of genetics and biology, we can infer the existence of a mind that's far greater than our own a conscious, purposeful, rational, intelligent designer who's amazingly creative." Purposeful. What Colossians is telling us today is that Jesus is Creator and Lord over everything and that as such He has purpose in all things, even down to our very cells. There is design and purpose at work in our very bodies. God has a purpose for your life. 7

8 I like how God says in Jeremiah 29:11-14, I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. You will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD. Do you know your purpose? Have you sought God about His plan for your life? God is a purposeful God. He s the Creator who has a purpose in everything. I like these categories Colossians gives us, heaven and earth, visible and invisible. They go together. It s been said that sometimes we re too heavenly minded we re of no earthly good and sometimes we re too earthly minded we re of no heavenly good. What Colossians calls us to is to see Jesus as the Creator and Lord of all of life, who has a purpose for us in all things. He created us for life, life with Him and one another and means us to flourish. How that happens is by looking to Him and trusting Him. Often at night when we put our kids to bed we remind them of this. We ll sing this little song, He s got the whole world in His hands. He s got the whole world in His hands. He s got the whole world in His hands. He mommy and daddy in His hands. He has Adina, Skyla, and Chloe in His hands. He all of our family in His hands, He s got the whole world in His hands. Today, maybe you re here and you re going through some things that just don t make sense? Maybe for you where you re at it seems like God is just the God of heaven and not of earth, the visible hard thing that s right in front of you? I want you to know today, He s got you in His hands. He s at work. He s not gone. He s got a purpose for you in what you re going through. If things are going well for you in this season of your life, the message is the same. He s got you in His hands. He is blessing you right now, thanks be to God. Jesus is a good God who truly deserves all of our praise. Well, let s move on to our last point for today, A Wonderful Creator. III. A Wonderful Creator In this last point, I just want to spend a couple minutes on two words, the last two words, for him. It s a striking end to this all-encompassing statement. He created all things and all things are for Him. 8

9 I sort of get the family perspective of this. As a father of three young children I think I could say, in the words of Bryan Adams, Everything I do, I do it for you. I m still kinda selfish, so I know that s not fully true. But I would do anything for my kids for them to know how much I love them and how much God loves them. So God doing everything for His Son sort of makes sense. But how does that work in light of what we talked about earlier, that this isn t a normal father-son relationship like we think of it but this Son is fully God, the Creator Himself? If that s true then essentially He s doing all things for Himself right? Right? I think so. In fact, this is what God says about Himself in other places in the Bible. Here are a couple passages. Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made I, I am the LORD and besides me, there is no savior. - Isaiah 43:7,11 God created us for His glory. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another. Listen to me I am he; I am the first, and I am the last. My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens. - Isaiah 48:11-13 Once again, God is the Creator and He wants all of the credit, all of the glory for it. To not give Him the credit and glory is to profane His name, which is bad. I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose. - Isaiah 46: 9-10 No one is like God, He created everything and Has a purpose in everything. No one else deserves the praise, the credit or the glory for it. None are like Him. God wants to be recognized as God and worshipped for it. How does that sit? Does God seem extremely egotistical and selfish? Yeah. He does. What I want us to see today is how wonderful and glorious and good that is. I ll try to explain it this way. If right now I said, Hey everybody. I m glad you re here. What I want you all to do today is worship me. Give me your praise. Give me your adoration. Everything I do I do for myself and you should do everything in your lives for me too. Would that be okay? No! I feel sick even pretending to say it! But why. Why is wrong and wacky for me to say something like that? 9

10 It s because I m not that great. I mean I look sort of okay. I m kind of good at a few things sometimes. But I fail a lot. I m not that good, I m sort of an alright husband and dad. I m not that successful and actually haven t accomplished much with my life. Actually I kind of suck come to think of it. But if you re God You created the heavens and the earth You watch over all your creation with tender care supporting it and sustaining it You constantly are pouring out your love and your Spirit upon your people.you send your only unique Son to earth to relationally connect with human beings and then died on a cross so they d know the extent of your love for them. I mean if you re that good. Man, then your the one person, the one being in all of existence for whom it s the most right things for you to worship yourself and tell everyone else to worship you too. You follow me. Our passages say that God created and cares for all things and does so for Himself. It s because He s a wonderful God. What He does is wonderful and who He is, is wonderful. I like the word wonderful. When you stop and think about God, who He is and all He does it moves you to wonder. All you got to do is go to the Sunset Cliffs and sit there for twenty minutes looking at the water and the waves and the birds and the sun and your mind can t help but start to give God praise and gratitude for being so wonderful. In Jesus, our Creator and Redeemer we have a wonderful God. He s so good because He not only created us but redeems us in His death and resurrection. So we end up belonging to Him twice, He doubly deserves our praise. All of us were created by God and yet all of us have turned away from Him in our lives. It s not God s fault. It s ours. And yet the created came to earth to die for our rejection of Him in order to win us back. Such love and grace only amplify the praise, credit, glory, and worship He deserves. One Bible commentator put it this way, Christ illuminates God s presence. He brings clarity to our hazy notions of the immortal and invisible God, who lives in unapproachable light. In Christ God shows us His entire self, His righteousness, His goodness, His wisdom, and His power. What gets you excited in life? What produces wonder in you? I think we were made to wonder that God loves to astound us and make us think, Wow! I believe when we look into the glory of Christ as Creator and Savior we find the one being, the one person in all of existence who simply blows our minds because of how good He is. In Christ Jesus, there is a wealth of wonder. All things are for Him. He does all things for Himself. When we see how good He is we will want nothing less than to do all things for Him and His glory. Jesus truly deserves all of our praise. Conclusion 10

11 I started out the sermon telling the story of the famous atheist Anthony Flew. The truth is I think all of us have lived as functional atheists. We have and often still do live as though there is no God. God knows that and loves us anyway and has shown that to us in sending His Son. Jesus died on the cross to deal with all of the guilt, fear, and shame we heap onto ourselves. Because Jesus both our Creator and Savior, we are forgiven, have nothing to fear and we have extreme value in His sight. The way we acknowledge that and express that here is each week is by coming to one of these tables that has some bread and wine at it. We take the bread as Jesus' life and dip it in the wine or the juice as His blood. When we do this what we are acknowledging and saying is My maker died for me because He loves me. I hope today you ve heard how much God cares for you and wants to have a relationship with you. He s the Creator, a relational Creator, a purposeful Creator, and a wonderful Creator. 11