The Supremacy of Christ
9.30am Sunday 22 July 2007
Readings: Colossians
1:15-23; John 1:14-18
Is there still a place for Christ
in this modern, technologically sophisticated world in which we live? Haven't we grown beyond him? Paul's letter to the Colossians answers that
question. This morning we will consider
Christ's place in the universe.
When God
gave the Ten Commandments
the first two Commandments were about the
supreme position he was to have in the lives of his people. The Commandments were:
"You
shall have no other gods before (or besides)
me." And
secondly,
"You shall not make for yourself an
image in the form of anything in heaven above or earth beneath or in the waters
below."[1]
When we taught these to the children at Bible in Schools we put them
more simply:
God says, "Put me first
always" and
"Put nothing in my
place." Why did God expressly forbid his people from
making any kind of image before which to bow down and worship? What was wrong about it? It was because finite, human hands could
never fashion something that could come anywhere near expressing his infinite
character and being. He had something
far better in mind. Had he revealed this
to his people back in Moses' day they could not have understood it because
their knowledge of him was so limited.
But over the centuries he prepared them for this revelation of himself
through the prophetic messengers he sent, and none more so than through the
prophet Isaiah. One of the clearest
expressions of the gospel in the Old Testament and of God's revelation of
himself in Christ is found in the words of Isaiah 53, where the prophet
describes the sufferings the Messiah would undergo for his people. It begins with the words,
"Who has believed our message...?"[2] which highlights the incredible
and staggering nature of what he was about to do. What God planned to do was beyond
belief. He had to prepare his people for
it. This is why God did not allow his
people to make any image of himself, for he Himself in the fullness of time
would provide an image that would be his true likeness. John in his gospel expressed it like
this:
"No
one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in
closest relationship with the Father, has made him known."[3] Paul recognised this, too, as we read this
morning,
"The Son is the image (icon)
of the invisible God..." This is why Jesus replied to
Philip when he asked,
"Lord, show us the Father and
that will be enough for us," "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father."[4] The only image of himself that would
truly
and accurately reflect his being and character was not an inanimate object like
an idol, but a living person, that of his only Son, Jesus.
"The Son is the
image of the invisible God..." Or as the CEV translates it,
"Christ is exactly like God."
And
as Paul says in verse 19 of Colossians 1,
"For
God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him..."
What this
says is that
Jesus Christ is SPECIAL! The whole of the Christian faith pivots on the person of Christ. There is no one who compares with him in the
universe. In the verses we read from
Colossians 1 this morning Paul identifies three things that are unique about
Jesus Christ.
1.
All
things were created BY him. Paul says,
"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..."[5]
John in his gospel says exactly the same.
"Through him all
things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made."[6]
Seven times in six verses Paul mentions
"all
creation," "all things," and
"everything," thus stressing that Christ is
supreme over all. And everything has his
trademark, his stamp of ownership, on it, and it is
beautiful,
breathtaking. Everywhere we look we see
his
finger prints, evidence of his handiwork, and it is simply
stunning. While cameras help, they cannot capture the
full extent of the beauty and majesty of the world he created. What are the
implications of this
truth, that all things were created by him, for us today? It means
a)
We
OWN nothing!
The Bible
says,
"What do you have that you did not
receive?"[7]
Or as
The Message translates it,
"Isn't everything you have and everything you are
sheer gifts from God?" Sometimes I wonder if we are
not like the man Bob Gass referred to in his
Word
for Today devotional
last Friday. This man's wealthy son
enjoyed buying his father unusual gifts for Christmas. One Christmas he found this unique gift:
a
talking bird that spoke five languages and sang the National Anthem on one
foot. It cost $10,000. But the man did not mind. So he purchased the bird and sent it to his
dad for Christmas. A few days after
Christmas he went over to his father's house to see how he was enjoying his
gift. He said, "Dad, did you get my
present?" "I sure did," his father said.
"How did you like it?" His dad
replied, "It was delicious, we had it for Christmas dinner!" His dad had
obviously missed the point. He had
treated as ordinary a gift that was very special. Everything we have, including the breath in
our lungs, is a gift from God! James
says the same:
"Every good and perfect gift is
from above, coming down from the Father..."[8] If all things are created by
Christ, there is absolutely nothing that we can call our own. The second implication is
b)
We are STEWARDS of all we have, even of the life
we have been given. At the very
beginning God gave to humankind these directions:
"Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue
it. Rule over the fish of the sea
and the birds of the sky and over every living creature that moves on the
ground."[9]
This was the benediction that God pronounced over humankind at
creation. The responsibilities he
entrusted to us are the expression of being made in the image and likeness of
our Creator, and of sharing in his kingly rule.
Note the words that have been underlined -
"fill,"
"subdue" and "rule." These words spell out our
responsibilities as God's representatives in the created order. We are stewards of God's creatures and of the
resources he has so richly endowed the world.
We are not to exploit, waste or despoil them, but to care for them and
use them in the service of God and humankind.
What we are given is given on trust.
We are to exercise wisdom in how we use what we have been given, as one
day we will be called to account for our stewardship. This is the first thing that is unique about
Christ. He created all things. Secondly,
2.
All
things were created FOR him. All things exist to serve his purpose.
We are not masters of our own destiny.
Since you did not create yourself, there is no way you can tell yourself
what you were created for. Only the One
who created you can tell you that. That
means life is not about discovering yourself, or realising your potential, but
discovering what God created you for, and letting him use you for
his
purposes. Paul says here in Colossians
1,
"He is before all things, and in him all
things hold together."[10]
The word Paul uses for
"hold together" is a word that means 'to place
together,' 'to have been permanently framed.'
Various versions of the Bible capture the sense of this word better than
others. For example in
The Message it reads:
"Everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him." The translation I have found most helpful is
the Today's English Version, which translates it like this:
"Christ existed before all things, and in union with him all
things have their proper place." Life
is like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Every
piece has its correct place in the picture.
Often it is by trial and error that we find where a certain part
belongs. Some bits are very obvious,
especially the edge pieces and those that have distinctive colouring or
shape. But there are many pieces that we
have to try in various places and positions before we find the right
place. It is only by experimenting that
we eventually find where it belongs.
When we do find that place, it is very obvious that that is where it is
meant to be. I often think it is like that
for many people. They do not know
exactly where they fit in to God's plans and purposes and they have to
experiment with a number of positions before they find their niche in
life. Paul in Ephesians expresses the
same truth like this:
"It's in Christ that we
find out who we are and what we are living for.
Long before we first heard of Christ ...he had designs on us for glorious
living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and
everyone."[11]
This verse is particularly helpful because it tells us three
things.
Your life's purpose
a)
is
only discovered through a relationship with Christ. It is in relationship with Christ
that we find out where we fit in
to God's scheme of things, and it is that that gives life meaning and purpose. Bob and Debbie Gass in the Radio Rhema Daily
Devotional tell of how God got the attention of Andrei Bitov, a Russian
novelist, who grew up under an atheistic, communist regime. Bitov recalls, "One dreary day while riding
the Metro in St Petersburg, I was overcome with a despair so great that life
seemed to stop at once, pre-empting the future entirely, let alone any
meaning. Suddenly, all by itself, a
phrase appeared:
"Without God life makes no sense." Repeating it in astonishment, I rode the
phrase up like a moving staircase, got out of the Metro and walked into God's
light." Jesus Christ gives your life
purpose, and if you are looking for a greater sense of purpose in your life
today, then give your life to him. As
Paul says here in Colossians,
"Everything got
started in Him and finds its purpose in Him." He
will show you where you belong. The
second point Paul makes is that
Your life's purpose
b)
God
determined before you were born. That means, of course, that you
had no input into it. God gave you the
personality and passion, the gifts and abilities that you would need to
accomplish what he wants you to do. It
is not a mistake that you are the person you are. As David wrote in the Psalms,
"your eyes saw my unformed body."[12]
You may have been a surprise to your parents, but certainly not to
God. He knew you before your life began
and determined what your purpose would be.
Paul says,
"For we are God's handiwork,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance
for us to do."[13] God determined
"in
advance," that
is before you were born, the purpose for your life. That puts quite a different slant on the
significance of every human life.
The third
thing that we learn from Ephesians is that
Your life's purpose
c)
fits
into a much larger purpose. If the created order has been
created by Christ and exists for him, then life can never be meaningless. There is an over-arching purpose in it all. History is not just one thing after another;
it has a purpose and is moving somewhere.
Again quoting the Apostle Paul:
"In all
his wisdom and insight God did what he had purposed, and made known to us the
secret plan he had already decided to complete by means of Christ. This plan, which God will complete when the
time is right, is to bring all creation together, everything in heaven and on
earth, with Christ as head."[14] God's plan and purpose for creation is to
unite everything in Christ. So it is not
just individuals that God is concerned with but whole societies and the
international community. How will this
be? We find the answer to that question
in the third truth that makes Jesus Christ special in the universe.
3.
All
things have been reconciled to God THROUGH him. Nature may be beautiful at times; but it can also be cold and harsh,
offering little comfort in times of mourning.
God's revelation of himself in nature could be described at best as
ambiguous. He can only be fully known in
Christ. For in Christ we see that our
destiny is not determined by capricious, fluky chance, but by a God who is
loving and gracious, a God who has acted on our behalf even though we do not
deserve it.
"For God was pleased ... through him to reconcile to himself all
things ... by making peace through his blood shed on the cross."[15]
This does not mean that Christ by his death has saved all people. Scripture makes it clear that one must
believe to be saved, and that one can by the way they live end up being
separated from God for eternity. What
this verse means is that God's salvation is universal in scope, and when Christ
died on the cross, he made peace possible between God and humankind. He restored in principle the harmony in the
physical world that had been destroyed through sin at the very beginning, though
its full realisation will only come about when Christ returns.
[16]
This
passage in Colossians affirms
the supremacy of Christ, that
he has
priority, pre-eminence and sovereignty in the world because all things were
created by him, and for him, and have been reconciled to God through him. On the personal level it means that your life
will be devoid of meaning and purpose until you have a real relationship with
the One who created you for himself, and have made your peace with him, for his
desire is
"to present you holy in his sight,
without blemish and free from accusation" - which will be so
"if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not
move from the hope held out in the gospel."[17]