Fullness (2): The Supreme Jesus Christ
- Rev Norman Cameron
There was once a bit
of graffiti on a wall which said “Christ
is the answer. Now what is the question?” It sounds a bit simplistic to say
that Jesus Christ is the answer to everything – is he for instance the answer
to fixing a leaky tap, or is he the answer to a break up of a marriage, or is
he the answer to a car that will not start. In these senses he is not the
answer. The answer might be a plumber for the tap, a counsellor for the
marriage and a mechanic for the car.
But in another larger, grander, ultimate sense he is the answer
according to Paul in this passage in Colossians for as we will see Paul claims
that without Jesus we would have no world, no people, no taps or cars, no
relationships. He is in this sense the answer to everything and every question
for without him there is no life and no meaning.
Paul here is dealing with ultimate
questions and ultimate purposes yet we live in an age which can be so earthly
and material and pragmatic that we do not honestly ask ultimate questions and
look for the biggest answers to the biggest questions of all – why are we here,
is there a God and how can I know him?
This passage is really a hymn of praise to
Christ as supreme. Our overall theme for Colossians is fullness and it
is clear that for Paul God’s fullness dwells in this person Jesus of Nazareth.
This passage is staggering in its implications – it can only be totally right
or totally wrong for in these verses Paul makes claims for Jesus which are astonishing
and we should be in no doubt about what he is saying here. In all of the New
Testament there are few passages which are as bold and clear as this one on the
uniqueness and supremacy of Jesus.
We will see that Jesus is supreme in
two areas: he is supreme over all creation, and he is supreme in the church;
and then we will look at the implications of this supremacy for the individual Christian.
1. SUPREME OVER ALL
CREATION (v.15-17)
Here we see that Jesus
is not just the Son of God but God, the Son. Here we see that God who is invisible
is made visible in the form of Jesus of Nazareth. Sometimes we say of someone,
he’s the spitting image of his father. Jesus is the spitting image of the Father.
Hebrews 1:3 also says “The Son is the
radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.”
As human beings we are told in Genesis
that we are made in the image of God our creator. Being made in God’s image is
more about our ability to think and reason and love and hate than it is about looking like God, but our image is
distorted and fallen. In Jesus we have the perfect image of God. In us God’s
likeness is cracked and distorted by sin but in Christ we see God more clearly.
In v.15 Paul describes Jesus as “the firstborn over all creation.” What
does that mean? That word firstborn sounds like Jesus was the first to be
created and that is how the Jehovah’s Witnesses interpret it. They say that Jesus
was the first to be created therefore he is not God. But in the context of the
passage and what Paul says himself in v.17 we see that Paul does not mean
firstborn as first created. In scripture the word firstborn can have the sense
of pre-eminent, first in status or in rank. This is the meaning here. In other
words Paul is saying he is first in status or pre-eminent over all creation.
Why is this? Well he is pre-eminent over all creation because as it says
in v.16 “all things were created by Him
and for Him.” Something that has been created cannot create other things
out of nothing - only God can create things out of nothing. God and his Son
together created the world. In the words of John 1:1,3 “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus)
and the Word was with God and the Word was God….Through him (the Word)
all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” So Jesus is pre-existent, prior to
creation. Jesus is not created first he is prior to creation, he is first in
status and rank. Indeed as v.16b says “all
things were created by him and for him.” Further in v.17 Paul says “in him all things hold together.”
Now it is not possible to make a
higher or more exalted claim for a person than this. In effect Paul is saying all
this: -
- that Jesus is equal with God,
- he is pre-existent and had no beginning,
- he was a co-creator with God,
- in his earthly form he best shows us what
God is like,
- he sustains and holds together the entire
cosmos,
- everything in creation is created by and for
God and Him.
Now either this is
true or it is utter bunkum. There can be no half way house here. We either say Amen to this or we dismiss it as deluded
and dangerous teaching. Paul certainly believed it and even a cursory reading of
the four gospels bears witness to Jesus being an extraordinary man who can walk
on water, still the wind and waves at a word, multiply bread and fish to feed
five thousand people, cure leprosy, restore sight and raise the dead. This is
no ordinary person. He is no mere human, he is divine.
Paul’s point to the Colossian church
is that if Jesus is who he says he is then you do not need to go elsewhere for any
other saviour, creator, higher spiritual knowledge or spiritual guru. Jesus is
it, Jesus is where it is all happening – they don’t come any higher. He is the
eternal Son, the living God, the beginning and end of all things. As v.19 says
“God was pleased to have all his fullness
dwell in him.” Jesus is supreme in
creation.
2. JESUS IS SUPREME IN
THE CHURCH (v.18-23)
Paul goes on to talk
about the supremacy of Jesus in the church. He is “the head of the body, the church” (v.18). The church belongs to
Jesus. From time to time it is good to remind ourselves of this truth for it is
easy for us to get ahead of ourselves as ministers or leaders and believe that
this is our church or my church. No we are but stewards, servants, or tenants.
The church was here before we came and it will be here after we leave.
I think this is one of the good things about being part of a long
established denomination, it helps us to get our perspective right. A more
recent church fellowship could struggle with this truth and the temptation is for
some leader or church planter to see that I have founded this church in my
strength and on my skill. Christ is the head and supreme commander, at best we
are under-shepherds and corporals. The invasion of
Paul goes on to say why Christ is
supreme over the church – he gives three reasons.
a) he is the
beginning and the firstborn from among the dead (v.18). Here is that word “firstborn”
again. Jesus is first in rank and status in the church because he has been
resurrected with an eternal resurrection body. He has led the way in that the
body that he was raised with is the body he has in heaven today that will not
decay. The mortal skin he had has been clothed with immortality, the perishable
with the imperishable.
He is supreme in the church because he was the first to be resurrected
in glory never to die again. The tomb of Jesus became the womb where his body
was born again unto eternity. Out of the tomb of Good Friday came the womb of
Resurrection Sunday. Without the resurrection there is no church, if Christ is
not raised we are still dead in our sins and without hope. If there is no
resurrection our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
Jesus is supreme in
the church for he is resurrected, he has led the way.
Jesus is supreme in the church secondly for:
b) God’s fullness
dwells in Christ
Verse 19 says “For God was pleased to have his fullness
dwell in him”. If as a church we want God’s fullness to be in our lives
then the sourcing or the tapping of that fullness of God is through Jesus. This
is why churches have to be Christ centred and why we have an obsession if you
like with Jesus and why we end our prayers in Jesus name and we call ourselves
Christians and we make such a deal of Him. For God was pleased to have his
fullness dwell in him. Note that word pleased.
God takes so much pleasure in His Son and therefore he delights in us taking
pleasure in him just as we get delight when someone delights in our son or
daughter.
In Matthew 3 at Jesus’ baptism we
hear a voice from heaven saying “This is
my Son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased”. The Father has a delight
in the Son. Father, Son and Holy Spirit had an eternal, sufficient, pleasing,
satisfying relationship between themselves. The Father takes pleasure in the
Son, and the Son in the Father. So when we delight in the Son that gives
pleasure to the Father. When we make Christ supreme in the church we please God
for the fullness of God’s pleasure is in the Son and something of that fullness
will flow through the Son into our lives. When we obey Jesus we hear the
Father’s pleasure; when we obey Jesus we are obeying the Father’s will, when we
obey Jesus we are getting to know God and all that he has for us.
Jesus said to his disciples “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father,
and no-one can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14). You see if we are to know the
fullness of God we need to have a relationship with Christ. This is why Christ
must be supreme in our church and in our lives. God’s fullness dwells in him
and it is through Jesus that we have access to this fullness.
c) thirdly Christ is supreme
in the church for in Christ we are reconciled to God
Verse 20 says that “all things on earth and in heaven are
reconciled to God through Christ”. He is the mediator, the bridge, the way
back to God. If we are to be the
In my place condemned he stood,
sealed my pardon
with his blood, hallelujah, what a saviour.
So Paul reminds the
Colossian church that Jesus is supreme in creation and he is supreme in the
church.
3. CHRIST IS
SUPREME IN THE CHRISTIAN
Can I finish with some
words of application. If Christ is supreme in creation and supreme in the
church what does that mean for individual people and individual Christians. The
implications are huge for our lives.
If Christ is
supreme over all creation we must worship him. We must worship Jesus, give him the glory, exalt him to the level of
God and serve him as long as you have breath in your body. In worshipping him we acknowledge that he is
from the beginning of time, indeed he stands outside time; he is the saviour,
he has created us and he sustains us. Worship in this sense does not just mean that
we gather to sing a few hymns on a Sunday and put a few pounds on a plate. Worship
in this sense means as we have it in Romans 12:1 that we offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and
pleasing to God. We place our whole selves on the offering plate each day,
not just on a Sunday. We live, eat and drink Christ. From when we get up in the
morning to when we go to bed at night we are driven by how God wants us to live
our lives in such a way that they glorify him. This is what it means to worship
him. It is no trifling thing, it is our life. If Jesus is the creator then we
must worship him.
Finally if Christ is supreme in the church we must obey him, for He is
Lord. In verses 22 and 23 Paul says that we are reconciled to God and presented
to God as holy “if you continue in your
faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.”
That word if is a small word
but again with big implications. If
we continue in the faith we will be saved. We need to hold firm, growing in our
faith and pressing on in a close walk with Christ. That is a battle, it is not
easy. We must intentionally make efforts to keep close to Christ for Satan is alive
and well and inventing ways to discourage you in your Christian walk. There may
be some here this morning and your walk with Christ was once a lot closer than
it is today and you know it but have not faced it. Christ is not supreme in your
life because another relationship is supreme, or things are supreme, or worries
are supreme, or an habitual sin has one again mastered you.
Today you need to face that obstacle to your walk with God, confess it
and determine that Christ will once again be Lord before you make complete
shipwreck of your life. Jesus is Lord – three little words but with huge
implications for your life. If last time we said that thankfulness was a key to
receiving the fullness of God, today we close by saying that an obedient spirit
is also needed if we are to experience the fullness of God. May God help us to
be obedient and to acknowledge Jesus Christ as supreme in creation, in the
church, and in our lives.