Sermon: In Him, Through Him, For Him

Let's pray together.

Oh God, we, we trust in you. We are here to hear from you, to meet you in your word and by the power of your spirit, And Pray that you would transform us by the renewal of our minds and we ask that you would op, give us open hearts and minds and wills to your word and we might hear trust and obey what you have for us. Comfort us Lord, where we are uncertain. Confront us where we are complacent and strengthen us where we are weak.

We trust in the power of your word and we ask that you would do a mighty work through it today. It's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.

Our text this morning is Colossians chapter one, verses 15 to 20. You can find it in your pew Bibles on page 9 83.

Let's read together, uh, Colossians chapter one, verses 15 to 20.

He's the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together and he's the head of the body, the church. He's the beginning, the firstborn from the dead that in everything he might be preeminent for in Him,

all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Amen. Now, you may recall from the earlier part of this chapter that Paul wrote this letter to believers who he had not yet met in Acts 19. During his third missionary journey, Paul preached an Ephesus and a man named Eris was there and was transformed by the gospel proclaimed

and Eris went home to Asia Minor to pass along the good news. Eris testimony seems to have been the instrument for the establishment of a church both in Colossae and nearby od Deia. This region is still known today as the cus valley in modern day Turkey. And it was a cultural crossroads because of trade, roads, et cetera. These were Greek cities, uh, and they had a very large Jewish population. Now, a very diverse church of young Christians

situated in a cultural crossroads is vulnerable to false teaching from differing angles. We can infer from later on in the letter some of these angles as well as well. First there was probably some, uh, legalism coming from the Jewish side of things, as well as some pagan philosophy and mysticism coming from the Greek side. Paul's purpose in writing this letter seems to have been to both encourage this young church as well as

to steer them away from the bad influences and the false teaching. Now it is hardly a controversial statement to say for Christ that for Christians cultural influences can very much pull against right doctrine. We see that in every generation of the church and in every culture. Often it is simple to see it, but not always it is, is so much a part of the Christian life that it is no surprise that so much of the New Testament is actually aimed at correcting

and defending against these attacks. Colossae as a mixed church in the middle of this robust Roman trading route was likely even under more assault in this way than other churches. This is clearly an incredibly relevant question for us. A culture in which false gospels attempt to dethrone or distort the true gospels sounds incredibly familiar to me, where biblical truth is under assault from various directions. And we would be right to ask

in a climate like the one at Colossae where false ideas are coming from everywhere, what should be the apologetic strategy? That is how should one defend the faith? What is the best and most reliable and clearest way to head the devil off at the pass? What's fascinating here is that Paul doesn't begin by dismantling arguments. He does that uh, later, but he begins with the language of worship and the glory of Christ. He begins with doxology.

It would be proper, I think, to call what Paul here does here, not a defense but an offense. He does not begin dismantling the false teaching. Here he begins with what is the most central and important matter at all. He begin of all, he begins by unleashing the most powerful and profound statements about who it is that we worship. He says, allow me to tell you of the transcendent majesty of creation's central being the glorious

incarnate Christ. Let me tell you exactly who he is and what he has accomplished on behalf of his people. And whether you would call Paul's teaching in Colossians, corrective or preventative, Paul's goal is front and center. Who is this Christ that we worship and what has he done? This tells us something important as we, as we defend the faith against the attacks of this world, as as we in our own hearts seek to hold fast to our faith

in light of those attacks as we lament the fallenness of the world around us, as we share the gospel with those who are lost and broken, as we live the Christian life together and seek to minister in any way, there is one priority. There is a central question that matters more than all other questions combined. What, where, when, why, and how are very, very important questions. But for us, for this lost world, the most pertinent

question is who who is this Jesus? What has he done? What will he do? Make no mistake the meaning and purpose of all things. The central figure of the created order, the answer to every one of your most important questions is Jesus Christ himself.

I want to simply put, I think the, the answer sometimes, maybe most times to false teachings is the glorious truth of the person and work of Christ. The gospel is not just good news, it is better news. It is the best news. And when it is he is presented clearly. He himself, his person, his gospel refutes the errors. And most scholars think that our passage this morning, uh, is a hymn, a hymn that is sung in, was sung in worship

to Christ. There is a conceptual and linguistic symmetry in the passage, especially in the Greek, but it's clear as you read through it, as we read through it in the poetic repetition for instance, we have the repeated He is the, we have by him through him for him in him. And we have the concept of the firstborn. The song confesses the sovereignty of Christ over two main domains, the creation that was and is and the creation that is to come.

And these sections, these sovereignties, are connected by a central confession at the beginning of verse 18. And that is that Christ is sovereign over the church. I'd like us to look at these three things in this order. Christ's sovereignty over the creation that is verses seven 15 to 17 Christ's sovereignty over the creation to come verses 18 to 20. And then I wanna circle back to the beginning of verse 18 for to talk about Christ's sovereignty over the church.

And as we go through these sections, you'll notice that these sections are a, a, a series of propositions. So I plan to just meditate a bit on some import, some realities that are in each of these propositions. So first, the first section 15 to 17, Christ Sovereign Over Creation. The first, this first section confesses two main ideas about Christ. First Christ is the perfect image of God and second Christ is the creator.

Sustainer and purpose of all things begins with the idea that Christ is the image of the invisible God. That is, he is, he perfectly shows forth the character and person of God to the world. These words are a clear illusion to the original creation of mankind. In Genesis one to three, mankind was created in God's image and ordained to be his representative, uh, to that creation. So this, this imaging was marred by the sin

of Genesis three, but the incarnate Christ succeeded in presenting the image of God to the world. Jesus, the man has succeeded where mankind in Adam failed. When we think about the sin of mankind, we may not consider that one of the primary failures of Genesis three was the failure to rightly present the image of God to the creation. Not only was that original sin and act of disobey disobedience, it was a subversion of our purpose.

Now this subversion is central to the ongoing reality of the sin in mankind. We are intended to display the character of God to point in all ways to God. What is God like? The creation asks, well look to his created image. And what humanity did in that original sin and ever since was to say, Hmm, look at me. Instead, humanity's defining sin has been to proclaim to each other and to the world. Our sovereignty, our modern culture,

perhaps more than ever before, rejects the idea that an image has been received from God and it promotes the idea that identity is self-determined. This is simply the newest expression of this oldest sin that I'm describing. Who I am in this current cultural gospel is determined by my desires, my inner thought processes, and the values that I cobble together using my desires and my inner thought processes. We still present an image, we can't help it,

but the image is purely one of self and desire. Identity, therefore is purely subjective and as loud as the adherence of this new religion. Want to shout the opposite? This subjectivity has not brought peace and cannot bring peace. How can it? Multiple gods do not coexist comfortably desires compete. And if my desire is sovereign, yours by definition is not sovereign. There can be no relational peace. Even more the things

of this world are not able in themselves to grant the peace and joy that the human seeks. Regardless of how they might try and reconfigure or reconstruct their psyche, they will be left without inner peace and without joy. So it's beautiful. Is it not that in the gospel, in the incarnation and perfect life of Christ, God corrects the subversion that mankind caused. God begins the recreation of all things by coming, by the coming of the son of God to re-image

the the character of God to creation. He, he restored in this way, in the incarnation, the original created purpose of humanity. Beautiful. There is now a human who has perfectly represented to the creation and everyone inside the creation the perfect character of God. And not only this, the Christian, us, redeemed by his blood are called and graciously enabled by the Holy Spirit to look to Christ and to follow him in character.

And in virtue, if I could put it in a, in a more simple way, questions like, who should I be as a human being? What should I try and be like? What is my purpose? How should I live are answered in Jesus Christ? Next we are told that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation. Now this phrase is sometimes falsely interpreted to mean that Christ himself was a created being, but a simple understanding of the logic of the words

that follow rule that out altogether by him, all things were created and we are given a poetically thorough explanation of the logic of the words, all things. If it can be called a thing visible, invisible in heaven on earth, principles, physical laws, angels, demons, et cetera, et cetera, it was created by Christ. In other words, and to paraphrase John one, if it was created then it was created by Christ first born here refers

to Christ's preeminence over all things. He is, first of all, he is the alpha, he is number one on the list and everything else that can be imagined falls under him on the list. Not only were all things that exist created by him, all things that exist were created through him and for him. Now how, how can things be created by for through and four? Because the Godhead is one God existing in three persons, the Father, the Son,

and the Holy Spirit will to create all things and act through the Son to do so in order to bring to him to the Son maximum glory Christ the divine word, the divine means by which all things physical and spiritual were created. And his glory is the reason why they exist. You and I, the whole world, the dinosaurs, the whales, the mountains, the trees, the single celled organisms, the laws of physics exist to give glory to Christ.

Furthermore, we're told in him all things hold together. Now there was a, a school of thought called deism in the 16th, 17th, 18th century, which I think influences our modern thinking here we tend to think that God made all things and then moves on to other business as if things have an independent existence. But as RC Sproul used to say, creation continues to exist because at each moment God wills it to continue to exist.

All things that exist were created by through and for Christ and by His power. All things continue to exist now as we, as we approach the advent season. What an incredible reality upon which to meditate. What an awesome and beautiful and wondrous thing that the incarnation is the one who created the human body with its all of its intricacies for love's sake condescends to inhabit such a body, the strongest possible being voluntarily becomes a vulnerable human child.

The origin of life inhabits mortality. The only independent being willingly chose physical dependence upon a mom and a dad. The one for whom all things exist is born into those things. I don't think we can, we comprehend this supreme condescension that Christ has made and I'm not sure that we can fully understand,

but brothers and sisters, this this reality, this coming is what sets Christianity apart from every other religion in the world, every other religious system, every other worldview apart from biblical Christianity, uh, says that the human must work their way toward heaven or toward salvation. They must accomplish by their good works or sacrifice the salvation that the divine may give. In worldly religion, the human being is on a quest

to accomplish favor. The story of biblical Christianity is that God himself has condescended, that God himself has come and may took, taken the initiative and came to us. You are not delivered from what is corrupt in this creation because of what you do, you are delivered by God, by what God has done in Christ. Brothers and sisters, biblical Christianity is the only religious system, the only worldview that has any right to the title.

Good news. The good news is that the one who has made all things, the one in whom all things hold together, the one for whom all things have been created is the one that has intervened on behalf of his people, the one who has acted to save them from the doom that they deserved. It is not only good news, it is better than the human mind could have imagined. News. Next, let's look at the the second section verse 18 to 20,

the second section of the hymn to Christ. And here Paul looks forward to the renewal of all things Christ sovereign over the creation that is to come. We have seen that all things were created through Christ and for Christ and now we see that all things find their reconciliation with God through Christ. The hymn confesses that he is the beginning. We should ask here what beginning is is being referred to here in verse 18.

We've already seen he's the the creator of all things. I don't think that's what's being said here in 18. What's being said here in 18 is that the creation has been corrupted by sin and is without hope. But here we see in Christ a new dawn will come a new beginning. Consider for a moment the amazing hope that is presented for us here in these three verses. No one is far from the effects of sin. The pain that sin causes relationally, sometimes the pain

that lasts across generations. No one is far from the effects of the curse, toil, sickness, death. Here the phrase he is the beginning means that those things toil, sickness, death, sin have and end. Christ is the beginning of hope for a lost and broken world. Christ is the beginning of peace between God and man. I can't help but think here of John's vision of the throne, room of God in revelation of and six in his vision, John Weeps

because no one can be found who is worthy to open the scroll. What does the opening of the scroll represent? The curse of death that hangs over all of creation which cannot be undone. It the it cannot be satisfied, it cannot be resolved unless that scroll is open, unless that seal is broken. The unrolling of the scroll represents the satisfaction of justice and the resolution or the beginning of the resolution of this curse.

And John representing mankind. Despairs, there is no one who can open this. This scroll is there. No one who can redeem creation is there no one who can save us. And John reports in Revelation five, verse five, and one of the elders said to me, weep, no more behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll in its seven seals. And immediately John sees this being, this lion,

this root whom he tells us in. Verse six appeared as a lamb who had been slain, but who also possesses all power and all knowledge. This all powerful lamb has conquered, conquered what sin and death. Our passage this morning tells us that the man in whom the fullness of God was pleased to dwell has made peace between God and man by the blood of his cross. The creator of life pours out his life to accomplish peace, to put the infinite offense of sin to rest.

The all powerful lamb pays the infinite debt of his people by his infinite worth. You cannot pay the debt that you owe because of sin. Your debt is infinite because it is an offense against an infinitely holy and infinitely undeserving God. So justice requires either infinite punishment or an atonement that is in itself of infinite worth. How could we possibly find a sacrifice of enough inherent worth to pay the infinite debt?

We can't. You can't. You won't find that sacrifice brothers and sisters. But just as our father Abraham prophesied up on that mountain, God himself has provided the lamb.

The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ. The atonement on the cross pays for his people's sin, but the Christ's resurrection from the dead begins the undoing of the curse on his people's behalf. In order for God to redeem all things and bring them to the greatest of all outcomes, he must first with perfect justice reverse the curse for his people. The wages of sin is death with the free gift

of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. Our Lord. We're told here in verse 18 that Christ is the firstborn from the dead. This means that his resurrection paves the way. It opens a path to something greater, something so marvelous that we might not have been able to hope for it, which is the eternal blessed life in the presence of our creator brothers and sisters. What does first born mean except that there will be a second born, a third born, a fourth born,

a fifth born, a 10000000th born brothers and sisters in Christ. One of those numbers is yours. The death and resurrection of Christ bought for you a place in that line. Verse 18 says, he is the first born from the dead that in everything he might be preeminent so is there is no con confusion so that there may be no confusion about who accomplished this victory. Ephesians two tells us that salvation is by grace so that no one may boast.

There is only one person that deserves all glory. All thanks all praise for paying the debt of sin and overcoming the curse of death. And considering this whole second section of this hymn, I'm reminded of the words of Sam wise Gaji at the end of return of the King, upon seeing Gandalf again, is everything sad going to come untrue? Yes, yes. For those who belong to Christ. Exactly. So everything sad becomes untrue because of Christ.

The beginning, the firstborn, the preeminent, the lion, the root, the lamb who was slain, he has reconciled to himself all things accomplishing peace by the blood of his cross. I want to end on the beginning phrase of verse 18, Christ sovereign over the church because in this passage we have seen the glory and power of Christ in the creation of all things and the glory and power of Christ in the redemption of all things.

We've seen the past and we've seen the future. But you and I live in verse 18 A, he's the head of the body, the church and our hearts should sing at the glorious working of the plan of salvation in Christ. Our awe should be great about what he has done and what he will do. And we should not miss that we are sitting in this moment, in this room at the linchpin between those two glorious realities. Christ is sovereign over creation.

Christ is sovereign over creation's, redemption and consummation. And it is no accident that the transitional state between the two is Christ is sovereign over his church. Verses 18 to 20 describe the glorious hope to come but that hope that renewal has already begun. While the world is still suffering under the dark evil of the curse, the kingdom of Christ has broken in and shines a light that will never go out. We, we Christians don't ask the question, well,

when will he begin this work of renewal? Because if you are a believer in Christ, you know that it's already begun in you. There is a glorious kingdom, a glorious life described in verses 1820 and it began when he Christ came to earth and he planted the unshakeable foundations of this glorious kingdom when he died and rose again. The reconciliation of verse 20 has begun and we'll be con consummated at the end of all things.

Here's what this means. This means the power that created the stars, the power that raised Christ from the dead, the power that will renew all things and bring a new heavens and a new earth. The is the same power that speaks today through the word preached. It's the same power that mysteriously strengthens your soul through the sacraments, through the Lord's supper today. It is the power that makes your prayers effective.

The power that transforms hearts by the proclamation of the gospel is the power that can heal your broken relationships. It is the power that can bring back the prodigal. It is the power that heals your diseases, the power that can sustain you till the end. I think I fear that sometimes we, our lives reflect a belief in both section one and section two, but not so much in this middle part. God certainly has made an awesome creation.

Christ saved us and we'll be with him in the end. But in this middle part we maybe we're kind of on our own. No one is gonna say that, but I'm saying that we, we can act as if we do not expect the power of God here. We do not expect that he will work by the ordinary means that he has given to us to accomplish the extraordinary purposes he has in our lives. Let me ask, are you in a fight with abiding sin? Do you ever feel hopeless about it?

Like because you can't seem to let it go, it's never going to go. Let me ask this. Is there anyone in your life that you maybe have just given up hope on, given up hope that they will ever come to faith in Christ? Maybe you've stopped praying for them. Maybe you've stopped praying with conviction. Maybe you've stopped telling them about your hope in Jesus. Are there relationships with those in the church about whom you have given up?

Hope. When you come to corporate worship, what do you expect? What do you pray for before you come? Do you pray for anything? Might you pray in faith that God would transform you by the renewal of your mind? Might you pray in faith that he would meet you and stir your affections toward him? Might you pray that you would be driven strength to fight anxiety or depression or to fight the sin that abides in you or addiction

or to reconcile with the the people whose relationships are broken, uh, with whom you have a broken relationship? Might you be given this power through the preaching of the word, the reading of the word, the prayers of God's people and through the sacraments. 'cause whether or not you have reflected upon this yet today, Christ is here.

He is listening. He has loved you with the deepest love and has granted you. If you are a believer in Christ, an irrevocable mercy, his arm is not too short to heal you nor to deliver the one that you love. Is love for you is not lacking. His is the power that begins and renews all things. His is the power that has created your heart and his is the love that cares enough for you to answer your prayers. Are you praying these things? Let's pray together to close

Lord who you are and what you've done is beyond compare. We are in awe, in awe of your power, perfection, your holiness your beauty. We are humbled beyond measure that you have chosen to place your favor, your love upon us. Help us. We ask to rest in what you have accomplished on our behalf. And help us to pray as those who have peace with you by the blood of Christ cross. We thank you and praise you in the name of Christ.

Amen.