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How do you describe Jesus? I mean really, we have a relationship with Him yet, how do we describe Him. It’s hard isn’t it. Usually we attempt to describe Him through His characteristics such as Jesus being loving, caring and being there for us.
But look at how Paul describes Him.
COL 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 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. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 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. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 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.
That is some description. Let’s read it again. Close your eyes if you want, let your mind go and imagine all this.
COL 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 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. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 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. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 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.
Oh yeh, that’s who we worship.
Let’s unpack it a bit.
- Firstly, this is written as a piece of poetry or perhaps a hymn.
The purpose of it is to make it a bit size chunk for people to remember.
It may have already been a type of creed that the early disciples already knew. Remember that most people didn’t read and they learnt their theology by listening and learning by rote or off by heart.
Paul’s purpose here is to present truth in a memorable, learnable format.
Try it this week – learn verses 15- 20.
Actually in Paul’s writings there are heaps of these little creeds to learn. And they usually summarise in a nutshell what He wants to teach the people about Jesus from his correspondence or letter.
2. Secondly, see how significant Paul infers Jesus is.
COL 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
- The image of the invisible God.
This does not mean a copy of God or some facsimile. It is not a photocopy God or even a digital photo. The term in the greek infers that He is God – kind of like this Jesus is God in body.
b. Paul goes on to say that Jesus isn’t just like God but is God.
16 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.
Genesis tells us that God created. Paul is saying Jesus created in other words - He is God!!!! Got that Jesus is God, not some watered down, nice imitation, but the real thing.
c. Paul says Jesus is different from us.
Now we know, we have been taught it that Jesus is God, but making that make sense in our heads is pretty difficult. Jesus was/is human like, had a body that could be touched, eat and drank, and God is such a vague concept in our brains. God is supposed to be spirit, and to us in our culture spirits are like ghosts or at least a little like smoke.
Isn’t God clever. He gave us an image of Himself we could get a handle on. Jesus in the flesh. If the Godhead, or the trinity whatever you call it is one then we can envisage God in flesh. God uses terms we can grasp
about Himself. Father, Son, we understand those things. We understand those terms. We can understand God because of how He describes Himself. But here Paul points out how different Jesus is.
Get a grip on this. Jesus was around before He was born.
That is a bit of a spin out.
I have some pretty weird thought processes sometimes. And when I was preparing this sermon I go to thinking. Did Jesus have memory about creating the world when He was born. Just imagine this – he is being born and He thinks – hey I created this process –I wow, clever aren’t
17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
d. Even his description of His leadership over us is in a way we can grasp it. He uses body talk – Jesus is the head of the church. In other words – the top bit.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church;
I heard a testimony once where the guy said “Jesus is my buddy, I talk to Him each day and he soughts out all my problems.”
While this may be a truth statement it is not a full picture. Jesus is bigger than that.
Lets keep going with this description.
18.he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
This verse is a bit funny. Really what it is saying is that Jesus is the first and last of everything. The beginning speaks for it self, but the death bit is a metaphor for finality. Death here is used as a picture of the end. So Jesus is the first bit and has control of the last bit. He is bigger than death. Oh yeh, that’s a big Jesus.
But the image gets bigger. It is like the author is pilling on the ideas and the image of Jesus in our heads is getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Yep that’s the idea.19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
God was pleased to have the full bit of Himself in Jesus. What all of God in Jesus – yep. How’s that work? Dunno, but that’s what it says.
But get this – the passage continues and gives God’s purpose in Jesus.
20 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.
Through Jesus the world was to be fixed up. Was to be, is to be fixed however you put that. God provides a way for people to sought out their lives with Him. He makes the whole reconciliation, dealing with sin, working out salvation thing possible
God Himself is the facilitator in fact the originator of all of that. Jesus Himself was and is not only part of the solution but part of the planning. Jesus was part of the planning process to have Himself killed – now that is a bit huge. But yes, that’s right.
Then, How much does He love us, how much does He think of us? That is huge love.
Now Paul reacts to all this. Look how He does it.
COL 1:24 Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness– 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Too much to go into now, but look at a couple of reactions.
- I have become a servant. Response in action and commitment.
- We proclaim. Response in words. Verbalising.
What is our response to Jesus hugeness. It should be the same as Paul’s.
- Become a servant
- Proclaim what you know about Jesus.
Isn’t it great God has given us a way of formalizing that response. We do it through obedience and we can do it officially through participating in communion. Participating in communion we place ourselves in a place of obedience and recognition of who Jesus is and where we place Him in our lives. So lets respond to Jesus – first in verbalising our worship and then through participating in communion.
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