13.02.11 AM Sermon Christ and the Christian Gospel # 4 - The person of Christ (Col 1:15-20)
Christ and the God of all creation (Colossians 1:15)
This morning we continue our series in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians.
We are currently considering Christ and the Christian Gospel – and over the past weeks we have been thinking about the Church of Christ. This morning we begin to consider the Person of Christ.
Paul was needing to set the record straight for the Colossians and spell out clearly who this Jesus Christ – whom they worshiped and followed and proclaimed was.
They seemed to have lost sight of the real Jesus.
Paul was needing to go back to basics and ensure that good foundations were laid.
The early Christians you see made claims about this Jesus that were extraordinary.
They began during his lifetime and continued after his death.
This Carpenter’s son from the backwaters of Nazareth had some amazing, some would say unbelievable, claims made about him – in fact, he made them about himself.
Colossians 1:15-20 provides us with a concentrated statement of who Jesus was believed to be.
He was to be given the highest status in the universe, the greatest significance in history – past, present and future, and nothing less.
Paul’s assertions to the church at Colosse were believed by him and by the early church to be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about this Man who died a humiliating death upon a cross some thirty years before.
This is the Christ who is at the heart of Christianity. This is the Jesus whom we declare and worship as God.
Now, the style and structure of these verses is poetic, suggesting that Paul may have been using one of the early hymns in the young Christian community – they may have been familiar words for the Colossians to read and affirm together.
They are verses full of doctrine – we could compare this with many modern songs of today which are so full of feelings rather than doctrine – they are all about us, rather than all about Him!
You could say that these words of Paul are more like a creed that the body of believers were able to affirm together – a ringing declaration of the greatness and uniqueness of Christ.
Not something to be recited matter-of-factly, but sung triumphantly.
“In a burst of confessional praise, it arches from the dawn of creation to the restoration of all things, and Jesus as the Son of God is dominant throughout.” (Peter Lewis The Glory of Christ)
So, what does this hymn say about Jesus?
Over the next few weeks we shall be looking at what is says about Christ and the God of creation (v15), the original creation (v16-17), the renewed creation (v18) and the ultimate creation (v19-20).
So this morning, we consider Christ and the God of all creation (Col. 1:15).
The song begins, in the original, with the word who, and immediately tells us two remarkable characteristics about who Christ is before telling us anything about what Christ does.
1. He is the Image of the invisible God
How can we know a God who cannot be seen? Where do we start looking? How do we know when we have found him?
The claim at the outset of this song and throughout the New Testament is that he can be seen in Jesus Christ.
What was invisible becomes visible in him.
The Father is seen in the Son. The God of all the earth is seen in the Man from heaven.
As John puts it (John 1:18) “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only Son, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.”
Men and women are made in the image of God, but Jesus Christ is the image of God – the image of the invisible God.
Paul has already described Jesus as “the image of God” in his second letter to the Corinthians.
Perhaps reflecting upon his Damascus road experience as he encounters the Risen and glorified Christ.
“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” (2 Cor 4:4-6)
The word image that Paul uses here is much more that what we use the word for.
We use it to mean something that resembles something else, like a son resembling his father – “Oh, isn’t he the spitting image of you?”. We use it to mean that the image is different from the real thing – perhaps a poor reproduction of the original - like a rubber stamp leaving an inked image on paper – the likeness is not exact.
However, the word image that Paul uses means an exact representation – like the original in every way – there is no difference.
Jesus is the exact reflection or representation of the Father – a perfect likeness of God as a Man.
There is nothing of God that we need to know what we cannot see in Jesus.
Jesus himself declares “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9)
For those who say “If God exists, then why doesn’t he show himself?”
– God already has – through the Lord Jesus Christ – all that we need to know.
The second characteristic is that this Jesus is …
2. The firstborn over all creation
Jesus’ Pre-existence
Paul is making it clear that this Jesus is not the firstborn of creation – in other words, he is not the first being that God created (as Jehovah Witnesses believe). Rather he is the firstborn over all creation – he is the one who existed before all creation and through him all creation came into existence.
He is before all things. He is the pre-existent one who has no origin in the depths of time.
He did not come into being in Bethlehem.
John states it clearly, (John 1:1-3) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”
Jesus himself testified to his own pre-existence : (John 8:58 ) “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”
This landed him in hot water – the people on hearing this “picked up stones to stone him” – for they knew what he was claiming – he was clearly claiming to be divine – to be the great I AM – a name for God’s use only.
But Jesus was right to make such a claim – for he existed before them, and this whole world. In fact they and we only exist because of him.
The writer to the Hebrews puts it this way : (Hebrews 1) “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.”
Jesus’ Pre-eminence
The word firstborn that Paul uses here is one that refers to Jesus’ honoured place.
He is preeminent over all creation, and he enjoys a special relationship with the father and assumes the right of inheritance.
He has the highest rank in the family – the firstborn in Jewish understanding had special importance.
Psalm 89:26-28 captures what it means when it speaks of David’s relationship with God. “He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Saviour.’ I will also appoint him my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth. I will maintain my love to him forever, and my covenant with him will never fail.”
Jesus has the primacy over all creation.
(Hebrews 1:6) “When God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”.
He is the agent and the goal of all creation.
Jesus is unique in his relationship to God as his perfect likeness and honoured Son.
He is unique in his ability to reveal God.
He makes God the invisible, visible – the distant near, the unknowable known.
God is brought into focus through the lens of his Son.
This is the Jesus whom we worship and proclaim.
Such a Jesus is not to be ignored or treated lightly, rather he is to be acknowledged and obeyed.
May we as a body of believers grasp a hold of this Jesus more and more for ourselves.
May we study the scriptures diligently to grow as deeper disciples.
And for anyone who is listening today who has not embraced this Jesus as Saviour and Lord, I urge you, do not delay but do so today. He is the Lord of creation and recreation!