1. Creator of Heaven and Earth all that we see and don t see (vs. 16,17) 2. The head and beginning of a whole new creation (vs.

Transcription

1 St Denys Church Sunday April 17th 2016 Colossians 1 v We've started our study of Colossians and already established that its probably one of the most Christ centred books in the Bible. Colossians focuses greatly on the person and work of Jesus Christ and in the passage we're looking at today the apostle Paul states quite clearly that Jesus is one who has incredible power and authority. Indeed as verses tell us he is 1. Creator of Heaven and Earth all that we see and don t see (vs. 16,17) 2. The head and beginning of a whole new creation (vs.18,20 23) The person of Jesus Christ is unique. There's never been anyone like him, and nor will there ever be again. As verse 15 says... He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. And in verse for it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him The most important question that anyone can ask and explore is Who is Jesus Christ? So much rides on knowing the answer to that question. Jesus Himself, when he walked on this earth turned to His disciples one day and said Who do you say I am? It is a critical question. Now as we've set the scene in the last couple of weeks in that the church at Colossae was coming under attack from different groups. You had what would later become known as Gnosticism and one of their beliefs was that Jesus was not God but was Himself a created being. The enemy was doing pretty much the same job 2000 years ago as he strives to do today... undermine the core foundation of the Christian Gospel which asserts that Jesus Christ is the Son of God sent to save the world. Just think about that in the context of some of the great religions and cults of our day: BUDDHISM Christ is not recognized as Deity. Zen Buddhism also does not affirm the existence of the living God.

2 HARE KRISHNA Jesus is one of their gurus, but Hare Krishna is their god. HINDUISM Doesn't recognise the need for a personal Saviour as each one can become god through attaining "cosmic consciousness". ISLAM Jesus is only a prophet of Allah who was superseded by Mohamed. JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES Jesus created as Archangel Michael/lesser god; Not God, not Jehovah. MORMONS Jesus was born in heaven as the spirit child of Elohim (Heavenly Father) by one of his wives, and Jesus' brother was Lucifer, who became Satan. Jesus was just one of many gods. SCIENTOLOGY L Ron Hubbard taught that Jesus is just one of many good teachers But Paul was in no doubt and starts off by saying that He, Jesus, is the image of the invisible God. This means more than just saying that Jesus was like God; rather he is the exact representation and manifestation of God. This is of course what Jesus said on different occasions during His ministry. In John 8 v 58 for example he says that Before Abraham was I AM! Jesus knew exactly what he was saying and that would provoke a reaction. In fact we're told in this example the crowd try to stone him to death for blasphemy because He was making Himself equal with God! Even the disciples struggled with the idea that Jesus and God were one and the same. Take John 14 v 7 11 for example when Jesus says: (7) If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." (8) Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." (9) Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? (10) Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. (11) Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on

3 the evidence of the miracles themselves. So we no longer need to be in any confusion. He, Jesus, is the image of the invisible God. He who has seen me, has seen the Father, Jesus said. He was and is, God in the flesh! And He is the firstborn of all creation. Firstborn, not first created! begotten not made as the creed would put it. Again in verse (15) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (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. (17) He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. Nobel Prize winning physicist and Atheist Steven Weinberg famously remarked, The more we find out about the universe, the more meaningless it all seems. How uplifting!! It's just as well the Bible tells a different story altogether... Listen to King David in Psalm 19: (1) the heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. (2) Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. Or Job 12: (7) Ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; (8) or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. (9) Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? (10) In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. It doesn t matter what you are looking at whether it is the heavens, the animals, the birds of the air, trees or seeds it doesn t matter what you look at there is a wonder and majesty in all of it. There is a design and there is a designer! And Jesus, Paul tells us, is the one who created it! In his Gospel John puts it like this (1 v 1 3)

4 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. And Paul is saying this to the Colossians because he wants them to know that human knowledge and human wisdom... as powerful as that is... can only ever hope to answer the question 'HOW'. They can never hope to answer the big questions 'WHO' and 'WHY'. Science can never answer the Who and the 'Why Lots of people put their faith in science to tell them all the answers to life s mysteries. Now science tells us many things but science can only go so far. A quick (and rather frivolous) example but I like it because it involves cake: Let s say that you re walking along and you stumble upon a rather nice piece of cake on a table on the side of the road. What can you learn about that cake? A biochemists could tell you about the structure of the proteins. A nutritionist could tell you that it's a chocolate cake and calculate the calories. A chemist could give you a total breakdown of the elements making up that cake. A mathematician could produce a nice set of equations to enable you to work out the total circumference and volume of the cake Now all that's useful stuff... but being human what I'd really want to know is: Who made the cake? Why was it made? For what purpose? Science can't answer these questions by science alone. To answer those questions they would need to somehow find the source of the cake that is, the person who made it. Now I like that illustration because Colossians tells us both the who and the why in chapter 1 verse 16: for by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. We were made by him, and for him. We were created to be in a relationship with Jesus Christ and to find purpose and joy in him. For verse 18 also tells us:

5 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. And when Christ returns to take His bride, His body, the Church, out of this world... or should we pass first from death to life as one of his own... then we will be raised and changed and we shall be like him. That's what Paul was saying to the Colossians. Keep your eyes fixed firmly on Jesus for through the work of the cross we are reconciled to God and are made holy. I'll finish with a quote from Spurgeon: Creation and providence are but the whisper of His power, but redemption is its music, and praise is the echo which shall yet fill His temple.