The Magnificent Christ March 21, 2010 Jesus is Lord, Amen? Amen. Lord of what exactly? Lord of you life? I hope so, but in what ways? When you look at your calendar is Jesus Christ Lord? When you look at your checkbook, or stock portfolio, or 401K, or food stamp assistance is Jesus Christ Lord? How about your entertainment choices, or hobbies; is Jesus Christ Lord? In your marriage; how you treat your spouse, how you respond to conflicts, how you care for and submit to one another out of reverence for Christ as Paul tells women AND men to do in Ephesians, is Jesus Christ Lord? In your singleness or dating, is Jesus Christ Lord? In your parenting; not exasperating your child, training your children in the way they should go, is Jesus Christ Lord? In your choice to not become parents or in the unspeakable pain of barrenness, is Jesus Christ Lord? What about your work; your job or your schooling, is Jesus Christ Lord? What about your cancer diagnosis, your chronic pain or illness, or the simple burden of aging; is Jesus Christ Lord? What about your worries and anxieties about tomorrow, your terrors that keep you awake at night, your fears of the unknown is Jesus Christ Lord? What about your church, your part in belonging to the community of a local church, your engagement in its life, ministry, growth, health, discipleship, values, vision, initiatives, and mission, is Jesus Christ Lord? I don’t know about you, but I often need to be reminded that Jesus is indeed Lord. That He is Lord in the good times of my life, in the troublesome times of my life, in the times when I simply cannot control what the outcome is going to be, in the times when fear is posed to consume me, and in the times that cannot yet be seen or fathomed. I need to be reminded that Jesus Christ is Lord over the things of my life, and that he is Lord over all. In writing to the church at Colosse, Paul has learned that this group of Christians needs to be reminded of and encouraged to believe again that Jesus Christ is Lord. In a poetic hymn of praise to Christ, Paul teaches the Colossian Christians that the Jesus they have entrusted themselves to is Lord of the universe, and Lord of the church. Keep your bibles open or if you aren’t there, turn with me to Colossians 1:15-20 as we look briefly at Paul’s hymn of praise to the Lord Jesus Christ. As we get started I want you to listen again to the scripture and notice something from the outset. Look at your Bibles, and if you write in your Bible like I do, grab something to write with and make some underlines where I emphasize as we hear the word again. Colossians 1, beginning at verse 15, ”He [Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 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 and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” Do you detect a theme developing? Jesus Christ is Lord of all. In these 6 verses Paul speaks of Jesus Christ being Lord over all - over all creation, all things created by Jesus Christ, all things created for Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is before all things, all things hold together in Jesus Christ, in everything (another way of saying all things) Jesus Christ has supremacy. All God’s fullness dwells in Jesus Christ, and God has reconciled, made peace with, all things through Jesus Christ. If you get one thing from what God’s word says to us today, one principle to draw out and apply to you life as you leave here and go about your lives get this -Jesus Christ is LORD of it all. This is the point Paul is making. And he makes this point by looking at two major spheres of life. The first sphere Paul looks at is found in verses 15-17 - The sphere of the universe. Look at verse 15 with me. Paul calls Jesus “the image of the invisible God”. This means that Jesus Christ is an exact as well as visible representation of God, he is the tangible, touchable, sensory experience of God which illuminates God’s very essence. John Calvin comments on this passage that Jesus being the image of the invisible God we see in Jesus “God’s righteousness, goodness, wisdom, power, in short, God’s entire self. Jesus is truly and fully God in flesh”. Paul then says that Jesus is “the firstborn over all creation”. Unfortunately through history, some have taken this to mean that Jesus is the first created being in the universe, that there was a time when Christ did not exist. But this is not true, nor what what Paul is teaching. Paul is not speaking about Christ as created, but in keeping with the rest of the context of the passage, Paul is speaking of Christ as supreme and first over all things. Jesus outranks all things in creation. Jesus Christ is in control of all things in creation. Being Lord means Jesus holds primacy over creation and not just within creation. Verse 16 explains why Jesus is supreme and preeminent over creation. “For by him all things were created”. This means that all of God’s creative work in the universe has taken place by, through, and for Christ. But what things exactly? Continuing in verse 16, “things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.” The things Christ has created on earth are the visible tangible things of this world and by extension the whole tangible universe itself - from an atom to the stars and galaxies we have yet to discover. Jesus Christ is Lord of all visible creation. And Jesus has created all things in heaven or the invisible. To make it more clear as to what Paul means by this, Paul adds four descriptors of the invisible or spiritual world of creation calling them thrones, powers, rulers, and authorities. All of these terms in Paul’s writings are used in contexts speaking of spiritual beings. The Bible assumes the reality of a spiritual world and non-corporeal, non-physical spiritual beings. The Bible takes the existence and activity of an invisible spiritual world seriously and we should too. These invisible things Paul mentions may be good or evil, mediators of divine knowledge, called angels, or malevolent foes in league with the power of darkness, called demons, or simply human patters of authority. The point Paul celebrates is that Christ has power over all of them, whatever shape they take. They like all things were created by Christ and for Christ, which means they are subject to Christ’s rule and authority. Verse 17 summarizes Paul’s comments about Jesus Christ’s Lordship over the universe saying, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together”. This means that Jesus has precedence over all things in terms of time and status and is if you will a kind of divine glue or spiritual gravity that holds creation together. Jesus Christ has not just started things in motion in creation and left us to our own devices. Christ has created the universe and sustains the creation. Jesus Christ is Lord of all creation. And because this is true, when the creation was corrupted and disastrously damaged by sin, the Lord of creation entered into his creation to redeem it and reconcile it to himself. This is the second sphere of life Paul reflects on in speaking of the majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ; the church. In verses 18-20, the cosmic Christ literally comes down to earth, where blood will flow from a body strung up on a cross. Verse 18 begins, “And He is the head of the body, the church;”. Throughout the New Testament, whenever the image of the body is used to describe the church Jesus is always only referred to as the head. This word picture helps us understand that Jesus is supreme over the church and the source of the church’s life. This means that as important as the community of the church is, the church does not exist to meet the needs of its members or to insure institutional survival, the purpose of the church is to fulfill the redemptive purposes of the head - Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters this is what it means to Impact the world through service. It is not self-service we are looking for, but Christ-service, service and impact that builds not merely Grace Church but primarily Christ’s church. Jesus is Lord of his church, and verse 18 also says that Jesus is, “the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy”. Saying Jesus is firstborn from among the dead, is a reference to Christ’s resurrection and this points to the resurrection as the source of new life for those who are the community of faith in the church. How is this new life imparted to the church? Look at verse 19. “For God was pleased to have all his fulness dwell in Him”. To have all the fullness of God dwell in Christ means that Jesus Christ is the full permanent embodiment of God. Jesus Christ replaces the temple as the place in which God resides and represents God in person. With the coming of Christ, believers experience this fulness as they receive the indwelling Holy Spirit, the Counselor, at their conversion. Jesus promises the Holy Spirt to his followers when he says in John 14:16, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever - the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you”. New life is also imparted to the church through the reconciling and atoning death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Verse 20 states, “and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross”. It’s tempting to think that Jesus simply does not understand our plight or the difficulties, hurts, challenges, and fears that we deal with. But as the writer to the Hebrews reminds us, “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need”. Jesus sympathizes with out struggles, our anxieties, our relational conflicts, our financial insecurities, and our physical maladies. Jesus Christ has known all of this and more, the cross is real, tangible testimony to this. Jesus Christ is Lord of the universe, and Jesus Christ is Lord of the church and her people. So what? Why does it matter that Jesus Christ is Lord of all - things in heaven and on earth, and over the church? How does understanding, how does embracing and living our lives within this truth make any difference? Allow me 5 brief applications from Colossians 1:15-20. Application 1: If Jesus Christ is the image of God and the fullness of God dwells in Him, then we will not fund fullness in anything or anyone else. As Peter reminds us, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness”. Jesus Christ is sufficient to meet all our needs. Application 2: If all the “things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or powers, or rulers, or authorities” were created by Jesus then Jesus brings to nothing all supposed threats posed by these powers. This means we have nothing to fear. But hear me carefully it does not mean we will not experience pain or discomfort or loss. Satan is still the enemy, sin is still to be combated - but because Jesus is Lord over all we can be steadfast and secure that Jesus the Lord not only will prevail but has prevailed. Application 3: God’s plan from before creation was to reconcile all things through Christ, and that design has not been revised. We do not need a supplemental salvation plan what we need is to receive, believe, and act upon the gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible. As Paul answers the jailer who asks him what must I do to be saved, Paul says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved”. Application 4: Christ is supreme over all, but that supremacy manifests itself on earth most visibly in the church. Christ is the head of the body, the church, and those who lose connection with the head will wither and die. You can cut off any extremity on the body except the head and live. The church is a gift from God to believers. We need to respond to his church with gratitude, love, and action. And Application 5: If Christ as Lord of the universe can sustain the universe, then Jesus Christ can sustain the Christian believers for whom he was crucified. If Christ can sustain the energy of stars, the course of comets, and gravitational and axial alignment of planets He can sustain, he can be trusted with your calendar, your finances, your marriage, your singleness, your parenting, your barrenness, your work your schooling, your illness, your pain, your worries, your anxieties, your terrors, and your fears - all of your life. We are left then with one final question. What is it that motivated Christ to tangibly demonstrate to us his reconciling Lordship over everything by coming to earth to die for sin? Come back next week to find out. Jesus Christ is Lord, amen? Amen!