Jesus, Our Hope in Christmas, part 1

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Christmas: December 22, 2013 JESUS: Our Hope in Christmas Colossians 1:15-23 Introduction: How we think about and view Jesus is everything, not just around Christmas time, but for every time and in every way. Christmas, however, brings Jesus to the forefront, which is a good thing, but often that forefront is cluttered with misunderstandings, misrepresentations, or flat out lies. Jesus is sanitized at Christmas, a helpless baby in a neglected town in a lowly cave, sleeping in a stone trough designated to feed animals. Some people like this pink, helpless Jesus because he is not threatening, demanding, or powerful. Others like this Jesus because it creates a quant story that goes along with so many other stories at Christmas. Others still don’t give much thought to Jesus at all, and this time of year is marked by family, good cheer, and fond memories. Make no mistake, however, what we do with and understand about Jesus determines everything, not just in this life, but also into eternity. This is because Jesus is the only way to be reconciled to God, the only means by which our sins can be forgiven, and the only pathway to future glory. This little, seemingly safe baby is truly the preeminent LORD of the universe, the true and exclusive Savior of the world. This culture and time is not the only time that has a hard time coming to grips with who Jesus is. In Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae, Paul spent time clarifying to the believers there who Jesus was and why it mattered. There was false teaching that had infiltrated the church and threatened to break down the true teaching of the gospel. You see, without a proper view of Jesus, there is no such thing as the gospel. The church at Colossae struggled with:  Teaching that Jesus was an emanation, something less than God  That there was secret knowledge, and this higher knowledge was greater and beyond Scripture, and was necessary for enlightenment and salvation  Ritualistic legalism was necessary for righteousness  They were tempted by the teaching to worship angels  They were convinced they needed mystical experiences over the objective truth of Scripture. The truth of who Jesus is changes everything. In the section previous to the one we will look at, Paul reminded the church that believers had been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of His beloved Son (literally the Son of His Love) and that it was in Jesus that we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. What is at stake in the person and work of Jesus is whether or not we can and are forgiven. So understanding Jesus does not heighten our experience at Christmas, it actually is necessary for life. So who IS JESUS, and who is it that you are worshiping at Christmas:

I.

Jesus is uniquely & unequivocally God (15a)

Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God,

A .He is the exact representation of God Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, What we celebrate at Christmas is what we celebrate each day: the Jesus Christ was willing and able and to enter into sinful humanity in order to redeem sinful man, as a man. However, what cannot be lost in His humanity is the fact that He is the image of the invisible God. He always is God very God and never stopped being God. Jesus is preexistent, which means He always was. He did not become God at any 1

Christmas: December 22, 2013

point, but always was, is, and is to come. The idea of image or imprint was that of an exact representation, like something stamped into a mold. Jesus and God are One (John 10:30), and there is no difference in nature and character between the two. Because of this, Jesus is no lesser emanation, not simply a good person, and not a moral teacher, but HE IS SUPREME overall, because He is God.

B. He is the perfect manifestation of God John 1:18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. The reason this understanding of Jesus’ preexistence and representation of God is so important is that Jesus allowed the invisible to become visible. Jesus made God known to us in Himself. Jesus is the way that we are reconciled to the Father, the way we see God, and the way we know God. There is no way to the Father EXCEPT through the Son (John 14:6), no other, secondary, or end around way. Jesus is the means by which we get to God because He is God’s way of getting to us. Though Jesus entered humanity His and was always distinct and distinguished from it, because He is God.

II.

Jesus is absolutely supreme over creation (15b-17)

Colossians 1:15b-17 (He is) the firstborn of all creation. 16 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. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Not only is Jesus uniquely God, making Him supreme, but He is also unique in His supremacy over creation. Paul gives four unique ways that Jesus is supreme over all creation:

A. He is the firstborn This reference to firstborn often is misunderstood. In fact, it seems like Paul was playing into the hands of the false teachers, making it seem like Jesus was a created being, happening to be the first of supposed others. But the idea of firstborn does not have to do with birth order here but with rank or priority. Jesus has a distinguished and supreme rank over all creation because He has a unique rank with God. The idea of firstborn carries with it the idea of having a special place in a Father’s love. This is seen of Israel in Exodus 4:22 (Israel, my firstborn son), of David with future reference to Christ in Psalm 89:27 (I will make him the firstborn, the highest of kings on the earth), and notice what was already referenced about Jesus in Col. 1:13, that we were transferred to the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. NOTE: Think of the immensity of the humility of the One who is supreme over His creation, yet entered into humanity in the most humble, inglorious ways: a baby in a stone trough on a simple night without earthly fanfare (although the angels and heavens rejoiced!) That is what humility truly is, and that is what we are called to emulate (Phil. 2:5)

B. He is the Creator There were those who believed that Jesus was simply a low level emanation, a phantom, almost mythical. However, this could not be further from the truth. Jesus is supreme OVER creation because He is the author OF creation. He is the agent by which creation came into being (by Him and through Him God created). And He did not simply create those things that we can see, He created the vast unseen world of angelic and spiritual forces, to the unseen micro-biotic, atomic level of creation. Jesus is supreme because He is the author of all things that exist.

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Christmas: December 22, 2013

C. He is the Goal This next understanding is distinctive, even in Jewish literature concerning the Messiah. “Paul’s teaching about Christ as the goal of all creation finds no parallel in the Jewish Wisdom literature or in the rest of the extant Jewish materials for that matter.”1 In other words it was audacious to think that this recently crucified, criminally charged man was the goal by which all of creation was created. And yet, that is exactly what Paul says. Creation was created FOR CHRIST. The creation was to bring Christ glory, and by His death and resurrection, He could bring many sons to glory with the Father (see John 17:5, 24). Jesus did not simply play a part in the creation and does not simply receive some of the glory, He IS THE GOAL, the end by which all things were created. NOTE: This is why Romans 12:1-2 flow so logically from Romans 11:33-36 – the last verse that says, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen”, and then a call to present bodies as living sacrifices. In other words, it is out of a living doxology that we seek to place every part of our lives under the supremacy and Lordship of Jesus, to His glory.

D. He is the Sustainer Because all of creation is His, because He is supreme, He is also sovereign and in control over the created order. The word for hold together is in the perfect tense, which means it happened in the past but has ongoing action. Jesus held and is holding everything together, and if He would stop, we would cease to exist. This world is Jesus’ world. He controls all things, and even delegates that authority to others (see Job 1-2 for an example). NOTE: Is this how you see Jesus? Is He minor in your thinking? Is He minor in your planning, or do you see Him as the supreme, preeminent One over all? To do, think, or plan anything without a thought of glorifying Jesus in this world means we do not understand Jesus or His supremacy. We must work to see Him, savor Him, treasure Him, delight in Him, and depend on Him in ALL THINGS.

III.

Jesus is completely head over the church (18)

Colossians 1:18 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.

A. He has ultimate power & control Moving from Jesus relation to the Father and creation, Paul now shows how Jesus is sovereign over the Body, or His church. This contains all believers who follow Him, and His headship denotes that He has control over the body. Without the head, a body lies limp and lifeless and cannot function. I like to play the game with my girls of putting them on my shoulders, allowing them to put their hands over my eyes, and steer us in whatever direction they want to go. Where my head points, the body follows. He is the author of a new humanity in His body. NOTE: He is the beginning, but He is also supreme from the dead. If He is supreme over creation, He is also supreme over the resurrection. His headship of the church is not simply for this life or this place, but it signals the fact that He has power and control over our eternal destiny, and we know that if He is the firstfruits of the dead, we are secure in our own resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20)

B. We are absolutely dependant on Him in everything His headship means that He is graciously in control, but it also means we should be dependant on Him for everything. Our life is not our own, we were bought with a price. This means that our life on this 1

Peter T. Obrien, Word Commentary, 1982, p. 46.

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Christmas: December 22, 2013

earth is NOT about us, but about Him, His glory, and His gospel. That is what we must recognize about Jesus: HE IS SUPREME, and WE MUST YIELD TO HIM IN ALL THINGS. NOTE: This is the culmination of the description of Jesus supremacy: so that He would be preeminent in all things. This is of utmost importance because it is in His unique, supreme, and complete personhood and role, He was the ONLY ONE who could ever reconcile people with God. His supremacy is not some sort of artificial pride or forced condescension against other religions, it is simply the truth: that there is only ONE WAY for God to accept sinful humanity back to Himself without compromising His holiness and glory, and that was through the man Jesus Christ. If Jesus was less than God, less than holy, less than supreme, there is NO WAY that He could redeem us, and NO WAY that we could ever be reconciled to God. When we talk about Jesus’ Lordship, it is not about mere servitude, it is upholding the unique and only one who could reconcile us to God. But what did that reconciliation look like? That is what Paul continued with, by defining not just who Jesus is, but what He does.

IV.

Jesus exclusively reconciles man to God (19-23)

If we did not have that first part of who Jesus is, we could never have the glorious part of what Jesus did. THIS IS THE HOPE OF CHRISTMAS: THAT WE WERE RECONCILED TO GOD FROM A POSITION OF WRATH AND DEATH.

A. God was pleased to reconcile through Him (19) Colossians 1:19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, Though not stated in this context, there is a presupposition that something that needs to be reconciled means that there is a rupture, a dislocation, a breaking in relationship. When there is a breaking of unity and harmony, it causes enmity, strife, war. We know that there was a rupture in the earth God created in Christ with the onset of sin, a groaning in creation itself (Rom. 8:20-25), but mankind is also subjected to this breaking of relationship, which causes us to be under the wrath of God (Rom. 2:5, 5:9). In other words, there is no peace at Christmas without Christ. Peace on earth, good will toward men could only be accomplished by God through Christ. Christ is the One in whom God, in all His fullness, was pleased to dwell. All of His attributes and nature were perfectly displayed in Christ. This was so because it brought pleasure to God to reconcile sinful people who were deserving of wrath back to Himself, to make peace with them. God is a God of peace, restoration, and reconciliation. God is wrathful because He needs to uphold His nature, but He is redemptive and reconciling because He needs to uphold His nature! This is why Jesus was willing to give up glory to become a man. This is why the God of the universe took on flesh, suffered, and died, so that we could be brought back to God and that He could be the just and Justifier of our faith (Rom. 3:26)

B. God was satisfied through Jesus’ death on the cross (20) Colossians 1:20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? This next verse explains the answer to the longing question: how does God welcome back sinful humanity who deserved wrath? He made peace through His blood. He made peace with Himself, 4

Christmas: December 22, 2013

because there was no other way we could. He had to pay the price to satisfy His own wrath. This is exactly why Jesus had to be God, He had to be supreme, He had to be unique, and Had to be sinless. He made peace with God through the price and cost of His blood, because that is the only payment that would do. Why is this all so important and glorious? Paul turns the attention to the believers themselves, to remind them and ignite them as to why this should be a motivating impetus for their life of worship and ministry.

1. Reconciled those who sinned perpetually Colossians 1:21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,

 We were hateful in our thinking toward God We like to think that we and others are neutral toward God, but it simply is not the case. We were alienated (separate from) God because we HATED Him in our thinking. Sinful man loves the darkness and the light is offensive. We must understand that people in their pre-conversion state cannot simply be ok with God because the very nature of God is offensive. God is NEVER NEUTRAL toward us, and mankind hates God because we want to do what we want.  We were sinful in our actions toward God How we think always leads to how we live, and it is no different in our spiritual condition. Why does mankind act sinfully in this world? Because they are alienated from God. Why are men condemned by God? Because they are alienated from God and live wickedly. Understand that our evil deeds were not small but were perpetual, and continued to put us under the wrath and judgment of God. NOTE: Please remember, this is where ALL OF US STARTED, and some of us still may be. We remember this in humility, joy, and thankfulness that God saw fit to save us while we were still sinners.

2. Reconciled to make sinners presentable Colossians 1:22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

 His death produced life Christ died to present us to God, but the only way He could do that was to make us presentable. God could not allow us in His presence while we still lived in our sin. That is why Christ died, literally taking our place on the cross, dying the death we deserved, and giving us HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS (Rom. 3:23-26). He death produced life in us, and made us acceptable to God.  His life produced holiness The way we are made acceptable is that with Christ’s righteousness, we are made holy (righteous) and blameless. This is a positional reality for every follower of Christ. When God looks at us, He sees the finished work of Christ and it is on account of THAT work that God welcomes us as sons. Christ presents us to the Father as His own, that He purchased for and by Himself, so that we could be His and give Him glory, and that we could ultimately share in His glory (John 17:24). 3. Reconciled to empower to persevere Colossians 1:23a if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard

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Christmas: December 22, 2013

We are not only positionally holy, but we are called to be practically holy. That is why Paul said “if” we continue in the faith. That “if” is not a cross my fingers, close my eyes tight and blindly hope for the best, it is a rugged assurance of the active nature of God’s work in our life. The faith that is given to us for salvation is given for sanctification. The work of grace that saves us is the work of grace that sustains us. Our works of faith and our stedfastness in life DOES NOT save us, but saved people will continue on. It is unfortunate that at times we want desperately to believe or give hope to people who do not continue on, who made a profession at a young age and then we hope they are ok with God. However, we must never miss opportunities to explain the gospel often to people who have “fallen away”. The gospel calls us to initial salvation but calls us also to continue in that salvation. That is the assurance that we have, that God will keep us and empower us to the end, He will not let us go, and will receive us back someday as holy and blameless.

4. Reconciled to be proclaimers Colossians 1:23b which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. This is the message that goes out at Christmas, that is to be proclaimed and has been proclaimed to all creation. This is a message for everyone, all nations, tribes, and tongues. It is God’s glorious gift to mankind in the form of His Son Jesus. Concluding Thoughts:   

Christ is Lord. He is supreme over all things. Does He have supremacy over every aspect of your life? Are there areas that you are holding back, thinking that they are yours? What are the areas that you need to yield to Christ? Have you come to grips with Jesus on this Christmas? When you think about Him, what comes to your mind? Do you know Him as Lord and Savior, or something else? Are you alienated from God, or have you placed your trust in Jesus who died in your place, have you repented of your sin, receiving the forgiveness of sin, and have you trusted Christ, following Him with your whole heart? This is the essence of Christmas because this is the treasure of Christmas: Christ is preeminent over all things!

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