The Supremacy of Christ Kelly
Durant (3-15-08)
A study in Colossians
Funny cartoon: Most everyone
knows the song by Frank Sinatra, “I Did It My Way”.
On day there were 2 bums
(homeless) getting warm by a fire they had made in the back alley in a lonely
street downtown, and one proudly said to the other, “You know I am a self-made
man, I did everything my way.” The other
replied, “Well, doing it my way has gotten me nowhere, next time I am going to
do it Frank Sinatra’s way!”
How do we as Christians want
to do it? We want to live life Jesus’ way! If not, we are doomed to lament in some dark lonely
place! John 14:6
6 Jesus answered, "I am
the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
me.
The way we think and the
things we believe about God and others make us who we are! They determine our
future, fate, and everything!
In the New Testament there
are many references to Christians being followers of “the Way” and this is referring
to the way of life of the Christian.
What is in focus today is
“The way” of the ones from the city of Colossi. Paul writes his letter to them
already knowing how they the think and where they are wrong. They were Gnostics
and they had let those beliefs corrupt the true message of the power of Christ.
What was their problem? Their
culture and old “ways” had changed the way they understood the faith. Verses
15-20 are actually a hymn, maybe one Paul wrote to help them to sing their
doctrine so they get it right. The Salvation Army has many hymns with their
doctrine too.
Col 1:15
15 He is the image of the
invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Firstborn: What does Paul
mean by this? The Gnostics believed there was a heavenly world where the angels
were and when they heard of Jesus, they thought Jesus must only be another
angel that came to our world. The people of Colossian did not believe Jesus was
superior!?
Firstborn does not necessarily
mean born first from God amongst all the angels. This cannot be because Jesus
had always been with God, and the Holy Spirit in the Trinity. Firstborn means
in the Jewish culture the firstborn who had all the rights to inherent all the
power from the Father.
Go to Col 1:18
18 And He is the head of the
body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in
all things He may have the preeminence. In Jesus case He was the firstborn back
from the dead too and that gave Him all authority over all creation! He has
supremacy over all those that are dead so he can raise them up or not according
to those who worship and honor with a holy life His Majesty.
Again, let’s see how Paul
corrects their misguided beliefs, their cultural way of seeing things that
Jesus is not just another ordinary angel.
Jesus is superior over
everything, or “all things!”
Col 1:16-17
16 For by Him all things were
created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were
created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all
things consist.
Paul makes it clear Jesus
created seen and unseen worlds, and controls them all; He is over “all things”.
Paul says “all things” in almost every verse!
Why is it so important to
look at this? It is because we may not fully see the power of Jesus. I can tell
you each of you are influenced by your culture, your world, in many ways.
Let me tell you a little bit
of my testimony. When I was 20 and in the University of Oklahoma it was time in
the American culture when many gurus from India were influencing youth away
from the churches giving seminars and teaching transcendental meditation, and
other oriental philosophies. This influence of the early 1970s corrupted me as
I started believing that Buddha, Krishna, Confucius, and all the old wise
teachers were all equal as they all contributed wisdom from God.
Can you see it? The problem
was I had become like the other youth around me who were agnostic because I put
Jesus in the same mix as a wise teacher. Just think, I had grown up in the
Baptist church too! My faith was corrupted and it took the conviction o the
Holy Ghost of the Word shared to me by a friend to wake me up from my religion
of works and prideful false spirituality!
What the Word declares to you
and me today is:
There is no allowance for the
cultural compromise of Jesus authority, either He is supreme and “all things”
or you are not a Christian!
Col 1:19-20
For it pleased the Father
that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all
things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having
made peace through the blood of His cross.
All of us are condemned to eternal
separation from God unless we find peace and reconciliation through the blood
of His cross which brings
forgiveness and a new
relationship with God. Only Jesus has the authority to connect us to God and
mend our broken communication with Him.
Col 1:21
21 And you, who once were
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled
Col 1:22-23
2 in the body of His flesh
through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His
sight -- 23 if indeed you continue in
the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the
gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of
which I, Paul, became a minister.
What is the condition here to
be to not be alienated, or like a foreigner to God?
To continue to be holy,
blameless, strong in the faith, never moved away from hope!
I want to ask you to ask God
today, Have I been influenced by my own culture to the point that I may not be
worshipping and adoring Jesus as the Supreme One over all things?
Is Jesus really “all things”
to you? He created you, do you honor Him?
Do you feel alienated from God? You can be reconciled
today. It is all by faith…just approach Him in prayer and confess your sins, be
holy, be blameless today: let His blood, being what God gave you by grace be
the restitution to clean you! It works! You will notice a new way to live and
it will give you wisdom, peace, and eternal life
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