27.03.11 AM Sermon Christ and the Christian Gospel # 7 The person of Christ (Col 1:15-20)
Christ and the ultimate creation Col 1:19-20
Paul, in what many regard as an early Christian hymn or poem, which he cites in his letter to the Colossians, has been focusing upon Jesus Christ.
He has described Jesus as the image of the invisible God.
The one through whom the whole of the original creation came into being.
The firstborn over all creation, the agent, the goal, the sustainer of creation.
More than this he is the Head, the beginner of the New creation, he is the firstborn from the among the dead.
Now, he widens the description even further, for he speaks of Christ Jesus in the context of the ultimate creation, the culmination of creation, the fulfilment of creation.
Paul uses the wide angle lens which takes the whole of creation into view, from the very beginning to the very end and says that Jesus Christ is over it all and the reason for it all.
He has spoken of the new creation - the creation of the Church, of which Christ is the Head - yet now he speaks of the church as being a step in the much bigger plan of the renewal of all things.
Christ was the Creator of the original earth and the Creator of the new humanity and in time he will be the Creator of new heaven and new earth.
Now, Paul doesn’t speak here about the way in which or when this is all going to happen, for his concern is to make clear why Jesus Christ is qualified to bring about this ultimate form of creation.
Remember he is speaking to a particular church, in a particular situation, for particular reasons, and so feels the need to make Christ clear to them, those reasons we shall remember in a moment.
1. The person he is
If you’ve even been hill walking or mountain climbing, you may have had the experience of reaching a summit, and as you do so, you see a further and much more imposing summit before you.
This is similar to what Paul is doing as he writes.
As we come to verse 18 of this poem or hymn, it seems that he has reached the summit.
Speaking about Jesus : “In everything he might have the supremacy.”
However, Paul has more to declare, a further claim about Jesus - that “God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell within him” (v19).
You see, the Colossian false teachers, it seems had been presenting Christ as one among many and taught that the Colossians had to keep on the right side of this Christ along with other powers and authorities through certain rules and rituals.
They presented Jesus as a Christ with adequate rivals, a Christ who needed help to save, a Christ not displaying fullness, but incompleteness.
But Paul wants to make clear that the Christ is fully God.
God had deliberately chosen to have his divine fullness embodied in the man Jesus.
And this was no mere passing visit – this was a permanent residence.
The totality of divine essence and power has taken up its residence in Christ.
What is more, Paul emphasizes that Jesus is the one mediator between God and the world of humankind.
All the attributes and activities of God – his spirit, word, wisdom and glory are displayed in Christ Jesus.
Paul wants the Christians at Colosse to know that they need not live in fear of other powers or spirits who were supposed to possess some of the divine essence – because they didn’t. Only Jesus had that claim.
Jesus Christ alone was the sole appointed Mediator and he therefore was well equipped to sort out the antagonism between God and his creation, to bring about a complete reconciliation.
He has all the divine power and authority that was needed for the job. He is a sufficient Saviour – for them, and for you and for me. We need not look to or bow down to another.
(Dermot McDonald) “Jesus Christ is the ultimate. There is none before him, nought beyond him and nothing without him. Other than Jesus will not do; less that Jesus will not suit; more than Jesus is not possible. More than all in him we find. Everything of God is to be found in him.”
2. The Plan he has
And what does God want to do through this one who possesses his fullness?
“To reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven.”
The panoramic view from the mountain top is magnificent in its extent.
God’s purpose is to reconcile the whole spectrum of creation.
A renewal of the whole cosmos, not just little bits of it – to have a complete kingdom that covers all.
Paul has both the beauty of the earth and its falleness in view.
Because of the fall of humanity, the harmony of the earth had been ruptured, its functioning distorted, its systems disrupted and its relationships spilt apart.
Paul pointed out to the Christians in Rome about the Earth being subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it. But that this subjection is in hope - He uses the analogy of the pregnant woman experiencing the pains of childbirth with the hope of birth, of new life.
The signs of the times that we are living in of an earth going through its pains and turmoil are not signs of the end, but of a new beginning, of new life on its way.
Paul reveals to the Colossians that God’s plan is to overcome all the earth’s pain through the creative power of Jesus Christ – that all will be reconciled to God through Christ.
Now, it is important to realise that Paul is not teaching some form of universalism – that in the end everyone will be saved – No, this would run contrary to the rest of scripture.
It is clear that it is only through Jesus Christ that we can be saved.
Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
Rather, Paul refers to the renewal and restoration of creation, not the salvation of men and women.
He makes it clear that the whole of creation will come under the subjugation of Christ, unable any longer to resist his will or power, they will submit to him.
F.F. Bruce points out that “peace may be freely accepted or it may be compulsorily imposed.”
Jesus will triumph over all that is wrong and so reconcile all things to his Father.
Richard Bauckham points out that this vision of a renewed creation is not merely one where things are put back as they were at the beginning. It is better than that.
God’s salvation is both restorative (repairing the damage done by sin) and progressive (moving the work on to its completion).
The new heavens and new earth will be new in nature and quality and be the very climax of God’s purposes and plan for creation.
It will be the home where righteousness dwells and where sin will not be able to enter.
And where, at long last, men and women will be at home with their Creator.
This is our great hope and grand vision.
3. The peace he achieves.
This new creation will be a place of true and everlasting peace – a place of Shalom.
Shalom: A Hebrew word meaning wholeness and harmony – where all is well, where men and women are at peace within themselves, with one another, with God and with creation.
However, the way in which peace is brought about is anything but peaceful.
It comes through the horrific suffering and death of God’s beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ – through his death on the cross.
Peace comes at the cost of blood being shed.
Elsewhere in his letter, Paul explains a little more how Christ’s death brings about peace.
For the moment though he simply asserts the truth of it.
Creation and redemption are not two separate concerns of God, but they are intricately related.
The Creator is also the Redeemer.
And although salvation is about the redemption of the whole of creation, not just some human beings, those men and women who do receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour have a vital role in the unfolding grand plan of redemption of the whole of creation.
Paul tells the Romans that the whole of creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
They are not the end of his purpose, they are a crucial part of it.
The whole of creation made whole, and in harmonious relationship with its Creator and Redeemer.
There will be no part of God’s renewed universe that will remain unaffected by the cross - nowhere where Calvary is irrelevant.
Eugene Peterson paraphrases it like this :
“All the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe – people and things, animals and atoms – get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood poured down from the cross.”
Paul seeks to present to the Colossians a faithful and all encompassing vision of this Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
He is to be regarded as he is, and nothing less.
John Stott: “To relegate Christianity to one chapter in a book of the world’s religions is to Christian people intolerable. Jesus Christ to us is not one of many spiritual leaders in the history of the world. He is not one of Hinduism’s 330 million gods. He is not only one of the forty prophets recognised in the Qur’an. He is not even … “Jesus the Great”, as you might say of Napoleon the Great or Alexander the Great … To us, he is the only. He is simply Jesus. Nothing could be added to that. He is unique. He has no peers, no rivals, no successors.”
Questions to ponder
27th March 2011.
Read Colossians 1:19-20
1. “God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him [Christ]” (v19). What are the implications of the incarnation for our witness and our worship as individuals and as a church?
2. “The totality of divine essence and power has taken up its residence in Christ. He is the one mediator between God and the world of humankind.” If there is no other mediator (see John 14:6) then what does this say about our mission as a church? What does it mean for those who do not yet know Christ?
3. God is reconciling all things to himself. Why not pray for areas in your life, in the church, in your community and in the world where God’s kingdom still needs to come.
4. Salvation is both restorative (repairing the damage done by sin) and progressive (moving the work on to its completion). What in your life needs repair and progress?
5. Jesus is bringing ‘Shalom’ (complete and lasting peace and harmony). How might you join him in this task? In what ways will you look for his empowering to be a Shalom-bringer.
6. There will be no part of God’s renewed universe that will remain unaffected by the cross - nowhere where Calvary is irrelevant. Maybe you want to reflect further upon the cross (particularly in this time of Lent) and deepen in your appreciation of what Christ has done, is doing and will yet do in your life and in this world.