let's pray father i ask that by the means of this word and by your holy spirit you would exalt christ in our hearts and in our minds and that we would be protected from false teachings that diminish christ or distort christ and that we would be made joyfully thankful to endure whatever this world throws at us until jesus comes i ask this in jesus name amen so let's begin with the so what question so what that colossians 1 15 to 20 is probably the greatest exaltation of christ in the bible maybe the greatest maybe others are close in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god he was in the beginning with god and all things were made through him without him was not anything made that was made he became flesh the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory full of grace and truth the only glory of the father in the son that's close there are others in these last days he has spoken to us by a son whom he appointed the heir of all things and through whom he made the world he's the radiance of the glory of god the exact imprint of his nature he upholds the universe by the word of his power when he had made satisfaction for sins he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high that's close but colossians 1 15 to 20. is probably the greatest so here i am you're going to watch me for the next 35 minutes or so wave my little expository finger and point it toward this mount everest of christ's exaltation and then you're going to go home or sunday school lunch and the crucial question is so what so i'm going to give you two answers to that to start so that you can be testing yourself as you listen is it happening in me and when you leave did it happen answer number one to the so what question of the greatest hymn to christ in the bible false teaching was beginning to infect the minds and hearts of the believers in colossae you've heard that before and paul intends i'm going to argue that this picture of christ verses 15 to 20. with a clarification and an exaltation of his majesty become a theological vaccine to prevent the disease of christ diminishing and christ distorting error go with me to chapter 2 verse 8.
i'm going to argue that the in every single case where you get a glimpse of the false teaching the issue is is christ big enough is your christ big enough and clear enough okay so verse eight see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to christ so there it is if your christ that you embrace is not big enough not clear enough you will be a sitting duck for christ diminishing christ distorting philosophy empty deceit human tradition drop down to verse 16. let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath these are a shadow of the things to come the substance belongs to christ if you don't have the full big glorious christ you will mistake shadows for reality in this world one more verse 18 of chapter two let no one disqualify you insisting on asceticism and worship of angels going on in detail without about visions puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind and not holding fast to the head if you don't embrace a christ that's big enough and clear enough you will stop holding fast to the head and you will replace the head with sectarian strategies of self-improvement asceticism and the like so answer number one to so what is this hymn to christ this exaltation of christ in 15 to 20 of chapter 1 is designed to prevent all that from happening it's to me it's meant to keep you from falling into errors keep you from being children just blown around by christ belittling christ distorting falsehoods here's answer number number two to the question of so what last week kenny walked us through the prayer of chapter 1 verses 9 following let's pick it up there get the train of thought from that prayer into this text because it's the relationship between that prayer and the majesty of christ that explains the so what so he's praying in verse 11. are you with me he's praying in verse 11 that we would be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience and then comes this little phrase with joy which can go either way right kenny talked about that could could go backward or forward in it what it modifies endurance and patience with joy or with joy giving thanks to the father and as i thought about this i thought experientially i cannot make any difference between those i mean verbally i can but experientially i can't so here we are now enduring with patience pandemic political acrimony war in ukraine church conflicts sexual debauchery in our culture the heartbreak of lost loved ones and we're enduring does it make any difference to say we are enduring with joy and to say we are enduring joyfully giving thanks to the father i can't see it they mean the same thing joy thankful joy marks our endurance it's what it is to be a christian in these days it's what he's praying for now keep going in verse 12 he says the reason that you can have joy while you endure these days is because you've been qualified by the father he has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light your inheritance is not outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth your inheritance is a world in which there's no more need for sun there's no more need for moon because the glory of god is its light and its lamp is the lamb that's your inheritance rejoice eat it that's the point that's the way he's arguing here in his prayer and then verse 13 explains how that's already happened in great decisive measure he has delivered us from the domain of darkness so your inheritance is light it's coming light is coming it's only light coming no darkness at all and you have already been transferred out of the domain the authority the kingdom of darkness into transferred into the kingdom of his beloved son and then verse 14 explains how in the world can sinners like you and me say that about ourselves and notice that little phrase in him at the beginning of verse 14 it's because in christ we have redemption the forgiveness of all of our sins how sweet is that and because we're forgiven he takes us out of the authority and the domain of darkness and he puts us already in the kingdom of his beloved son light you are the light of the world bethlehem you are children of the light now and you will inherit a world where there's no darkness at all now keep following us let's just walk it right into today's text so he wants us to endure with joyful thankfulness in this fallen world the reason we can endure is because we are going to inherit a world of light and the reason we can inherit a world of light as guilty sinners is because there's a redemption that's been paid a ransom and all of our sins are forgiven and we're already in the kingdom of god's dear son now it seems to me that at this point in his praying he has become so full of christ and the absolute essential nature of the greatness of his sacrifice his redemption and the greatness of his kingdom in which we are so so sacrifice and king just so great is christ if this is all going to happen that he is launched into a hymn to christ which means that the way this hymn is functioning is to sustain our joy through enduring whatever this world throws at us till he comes that's the logic that i see so the second answer to the so what question as you go home in a few minutes is is that happening did this biblical portrait of the greatness of christ the majesty of christ have that effect on you i cannot do anything with joy look at my christ so test yourself that's the second so what protection from false teaching and joy while we endure until he comes that's the so what of this passage so let's look at it i'll wave my little expository finger here and hopefully unlike a dog and a six-month-old you stop looking at the finger and and you will look at the mountain the everest of christ right i see five ways that paul exults the supremacy of christ in regard to creation and three ways that he exalts the supremacy of christ in regard to the church let's take the five first number one christ is god verse 19.
for in him all the fullness of god was pleased to dwell and if you want to see an underlining of it with greater clarity and specificity look at verse 9 of chapter 2. for in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily now remember in verse 13 christ was called god's beloved son so putting the pieces together the son of god possesses the fullness of the deity of his father there is one god in these two persons and if it were another text we'd talk about the divinity of the holy spirit he's fully god and this divine son came to earth clothed himself with humanity and he has a body don't miss the word in verse 9 of chapter 2 in him the whole fullness of deity dwells say the word bodily he has a body he rose with the body he ascended with the body he is in heaven today with the body he will descend with the body he will never lay down his body that's amazing god has taken not just human nature into union with the godhead he has taken a body which means you can see him when he was on the earth they could touch him and john said we saw him we touched him we touched god if you've seen me philip you've seen the father it's not what it means in verse 15 here right here he is the image of the invisible god you can't see god but you can see jesus he's got a body he is the image of the invisible god so just before i move on to my second to five let me just ask you do you worship jesus muslims don't hinders don't buddhists don't jehovah's witnesses don't when the eleven met him after the resurrection chapter 28 of matthew verse 17 says they worshipped him and they were not idolaters because he's god so is your is your christ big enough and clear enough in your minds and in your hearts so that he is the greatest treasure in your life that's what it means to worship embrace and treasure as supreme is that jesus for you or is he just kind of a little teeny participant in this thing and there's a big god kind of amorphous out there that's heresy jesus is god number two christ is before all things colossians chapter 1 verse 17 first part of the verse verse 17 and he is before all things now why would paul say that i mean that is so obviously implicit in everything he says here like why would you make that explicit paul and i think paul would smile and say there are some implicit glories that ought to be made explicit [Laughter] oh don't let clear implicit magnificent things go unspoken to your children to each other it's what wives and husbands are for you know talk to each other about the glory don't let implicit things just lie there well everybody knows that he's before all things are you kidding me he's before everything we need to ponder the obvious sometimes for example if you ponder this would it not draw to your attention the fact that christ's relationship to all that is not christ is different than your relationship to all that is not you very different we think we're creators right creative we're creators we're not not the way jesus is we rearrange what's there we rearrange molecules and make an atom bomb or we rearrange chemicals and make a vaccine or we rearrange materials make a house if you are before all things and you bring things into being you don't rearrange anything there's nothing there to rearrange i mean this is good to speak to your children about there was nothing there i mean children would get wide-eyed like what did he use to make us nothing he was before everything he is absolute reality everything is secondary i love to talk to myself about the universe being secondary galaxies are secondary supernovas are secondary putin is tertiary i mean low down on the scale of reality christ was before everything and therefore is absolutely real everything else depends on that and it's secondary it's good to say that to yourselves oh my number three christ created everything that is not god christ created everything that is not god chapter 1 verse 15 middle of the verse he is 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 now when you hear that phrase firstborn of all creation you and lots of people say that sounds like he's part of creation firstborn of creation like the best of creation that's not what it means i'll give you four reasons why it's not real quick one he's god we've already said that we've seen that god is not part of what he made number two this is the main one the one paul wants you to see most clearly the logic between the end of verse 15 and verse 16 is connected with this word for tremendously important here oh my these little words listen he is the firstborn of all creation for because by him all things were created okay how's that work how does that work it makes no sense to say he's part of creation because he created all things that does not make any sense and paul makes sense therefore firstborn of all creation doesn't mean he's part of creation argument number three the word of in english genitive in greek good grief means a hundred things depending on the context so when i say david my friend david mathis say is the coach of his son's little league team i do not mean he's 10 years old and plays on the team because everybody knows that's not what of means in that sentence coach of the team doesn't mean member of the team it means he's over the team he's an adult over the team and that's what it means here he is the firstborn over all creation fourth argument the word first born has morphed from biological meaning retaining that meaning to a meaning of highest exalted status and you can see it for example in psalm 89 27 now let's read it to you god says to david as a type of the messiah god says to david i will make him the firstborn the highest the kings of the earth it doesn't mean he was born of the kings of the earth or part of the kings of the earth it just means he's great he's like the firstborn in the sense that firstborns are great they're highest so for those four reasons don't hear the phrase firstborn of creation to mean part of creation but rather force born over creation now when paul fills in just a few things that christ has made he does so in order to help these colossians not push back with some possible exceptions he doesn't want them to say oh no no no no no no not thrones not dominions not rulers not authorities because those include evil powers they're evil lots of them are evil and they might stumble over he didn't make evil so he didn't make them wrong he did make them cesso right there and it the point is they're evil putin is evil what's going on in ukraine is evil god made him made russia made ukraine made you you you escaped the problems of the world by denying jesus his deity that's not the solution so he says no yes they're evil in fact you can see it right here in the text if we if we had a translation it was just a tad more literal because in verse 13 when it says you have been delivered from the domain of darkness that word domain exousia is the same word as authorities right here in verse 16. he made the authorities from which you've just been delivered it's just as clear as day god made the evil powers of the world so colossians don't make any exceptions i've given you a few examples of the things that he made just to keep you from doing that you did any wonder that jesus as the maker and creator walked through this world and just said to a fever go and it went he said to a storm be flat and the waves went flat he said to wind stopped blowing it stopped blowing that's what creators do and he's the same yesterday today and forever number four christ holds everything together verse 17 chapter 1 he is before all things in him all things hold together he doesn't just bring all that is into being he keeps all that is in being that fact if you believe it really believe it might have a greater personal effect on you than believing he made you because you can sort of feel like well he made me but he did that 70 how old am i 76 years ago he does that's that's that's ancient history but right now these wisdom old fingers they're just gone if he doesn't say fingers reign remain hold together and and guess what he is not taxed by this god is not worn out by keeping everything together in the universe galaxies he is holding together the metal on the tanks rolling into ukraine he is holding together the cell phones in ukraine connecting the resistance he's holding together the pew that you sit on he's holding together the clothing that you are wearing he holds together the food that you eat he holds together the skin that covers your bones as your creator he's not distant he's very very close and you are millisecond by millisecond absolutely dependent on him for your existence if he decided that you should not be you would fly into a billion fragments and disappear yes you would you are personally and radically dependent on christ even if you don't believe on him i'm saying that to the unbelievers in the room who don't embrace christ and you're listening to these words and we just want you to know whoever you are we're so glad you're here listening to this crazy talk and we are praying oh god grant them to see there's nothing greater than jesus and he's real number five last one in relation to creation all things were created for christ i suppose for me personally this is the most important one it's shaped everything i've done for the last 50 years it lies behind what i call my christian hedonism i love to think that christ made everything for christ and when you say it like that's like verse 16 at the end of the verse i want you to see it for yourself all things were created through him and for him underline that for him what's that mean it doesn't mean he created everything to meet his needs he's god god has no needs acts 17 25 god is not served by human hands as though he needed anything god doesn't need you jesus doesn't need you he didn't make you to meet his needs so what does it mean then for him wouldn't you say that the clue is found at the end of verse 18.
that in everything he might be preeminent so my interpretation putting those two verses together is that he made everything so that he could display his preeminence in everything for him means for his preeminence for his excellence for his glory for his supremacy to make known to to lift up the heavens are telling the glory of jesus because all things were made through jesus for jesus to which i have found over the years people stumble and think that's egomania jesus made everything to exalt jesus yes that's what it says so let's turn to the final three and i'll just deal with these very briefly the the final three statements of paul as to the supremacy of christ in relation to the church because it's it's these three that solve the problem of the egomania that's left over from the first five if you get the next three you won't accuse jesus of egomania in making everything for jesus first verse 18 he is supreme as the head of the body verse 18 first part of the verse he is the head of the body the church let me just name them and i'll come back and say a word about them number two he is supreme as the beginning of the new creation as he shatters death and comes out the first of millions okay that's verse second half of verse 18 he is the beginning of what man did i wrestle with that hours some time ago like why why did he say that the beginning beginning he's already talked about creation he's in the middle of church stuff here resurrection here what what's the beginning and my conclusion is beginning of the new world the beginning of the new creation he's coming out of the grave death is history and he's the first of many so when he came out to be preeminent in coming out first those who are coming out after are not begrudging he's coming out first because you're out i get out that's fine number three we've already looked at verse 19. i'm going to skip verse 19 and go to 20. and say this he is supreme as the one whose blood you see that at the end of the verse whose blood secures a new heaven and a new earth in which everything is reconciled and there's total peace with god so i'll read it again through him to reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven making peace by the blood of his cross now here's what changes the whole idea of egomania when we say that christ has created everything for the glory of christ which he did the apex the highest point of that glory is the glory of grace and that's what he's unfolding in relation to the church it's the glory of being the head which is supreme in the body it's it's the glory of being the head that supplies and supplies and supplies it's got the mouth in there it's got the ears and it's got the eyes and the head it's giving guidance it's giving wisdom it's giving knowledge it's giving sustenance the head is everything if you lose the head you lose life this is love it's not egomania this is love i'm going to be supreme your head supplying every need yes number two it's the glory of being not the only one to rise from the dead it's not he didn't say hey i roasted the dead not you not you i'm number one you stay in the grave that's exactly the opposite of what it says he's the first of millions upon millions of undeserving people coming out in his train in due time this is not egomania this is i rose from the dead first to be preeminent at all things and i get to have you coming out with me that's why i did it and we're very happy i'm very happy to say you're number one first in to kill death first out i'm happy with that and then number three it's the glory of shedding blood i wish i had a whole sermon on verse 20.
you might have noticed that i didn't ask pastor john on that verse on monday that total accident that was scheduled months ago if you want to know the details of how i got here go there but here's my conclusion for verse 20.
