Why We Worship Jesus - Week 3

don't let anyone take you captive by philosophy, empty deceit. human tradition, elemental spirits, not according to Christ.

There's Christ's way of worship by knowing him. And then there's a bunch of other false ways of worship. Their particular problem is that they have a tendency to asceticism. Do not handle, do not touch a false religion. Well, the thing about what true religion looks like, it's first knowing who Jesus is. And it's important here how involved this declaration is in Jesus in creation as Jesus, the creator. Uh, and that is not pure asceticism as if we can just remove ourselves from this creation. Let's walk through and look through these five declarations first under Jesus and his creation. The first thing we see is he is the image of the invisible God. Uh, most of the time in the Bible talks about images. What does it talk about? Idols, images, similar word, what, what a little more specific? False religion. Throughout most of the scripture, whenever you see image, it's usually a warning about a false worship. The reason we are not to make images of God is that God made us his image. He's already put into creation his image and we're not to try to worship him in another way. Here's something. More significant as being said though, and that Jesus is an image and there is something to Genesis one makes Adam the high point of creation as it's told in Genesis one. But as we're going to see, Jesus is an image and in a way that as Adam represents a certain type, Jesus is a fulfillment of that type. But, but truly Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Similar as Hebrews will say, he's the exact imprint. He is the true revelation, the true physical revelation in this earth of the God who cannot be seen by our eyes. This is very similar to John 1, 17 and 18.

No one has ever seen God, but the only God who came from his side, his bosom, he has made him known.

So Jesus, the image of God, And then secondly, we've got this declaration firstborn of all creation. Who was the firstborn Jacob or Esau? Yeah, so both were firstborn. Esau was the first one born chronologically, and therefore he was supposed to have the lion's share of inheritance, which would typically be how you use the title firstborn. But Jacob received the lion's share of inheritance. He is the heir of the blessings here. Firstborn isn't referring to when, as if there was a time when the sun was not this, this refers to a rank. He is the rightful heir of creation. Now, that verse, verse 15, if you wanted to deny the deity of Christ, this is what you just repeat like a parrot over and over again without really analyzing what the words mean, or considering what they mean with the rest of the text, or the rest of Scripture. If you want to be an Aryan, you just want to latch on to verse 15 and keep repeating it. The image of the invisible God. See, he's not the true invisible God, because God is spirit. the firstborn of all creation, as if he was part of a created order from the very beginning. Now, when we look at these declarations, he is the true and final and absolute revelation of God here in creation. More so he's the firstborn that is a place of rank as the true heir of creation. Now notice verse 16, we're going to now see he's the creator. And there's three prepositions that are very important. Well, first we have that for, this is the rationale. This is the basis for how he's the image and the firstborn. By him, all things were created. Drop down, all things were created through him and for him. Those are three important ways to think about how Jesus is in relation to creation. We looked last week, the word became flesh. He entered creation, but here, by him, all things were created. Well, all things means everything. All things were also created through him and for him. Anything that was created is dependent upon him and everything that was created is for him. That's what it means to be the firstborn. He is the heir of creation. So if we go back to Genesis 1, It looks like Adam, everything that was created was for him because he is the high point of that created order. But now we see there's another layer to the story that all of this creation was actually for the son as the rightful heir of all that would be. Notice how he describes all things, heaven, earth, visible, invisible, thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities. That is, Uh, whereas John wanted to say the positive, the negative statement here, he's wanting to make sure he loads it up with every possible. And the important part of this, I believe is angels depend upon Jesus for their existence. There are no beings equal to Jesus. He is the creator of anything and all things that exist, giving him a great power and preeminence. All right, I'm gonna pause here because someone asked last week about the through language. You gotta still think, right? Semester's almost over. Exams are almost done. Someone asked about the language of John 1, where it's from the Father and through the Son. And well, if it's through the Son, does that make Jesus kind of like an instrument, like a tool? I understand why that would be asked that way, but this is where the names I think are helpful. Beginning point. The only way to know God, his father is to also know his son. Those two names are mutually dependent upon each other. There, there is no way to know the father of the son. There's no way to know the son of the father. Jesus says this in Matthew. We looked at that a few weeks ago. The key of the from and the through or the by the Spirit is to show there's an order in the way God always works towards us. All of salvation comes from the Father through the Son by the Spirit. All of revelation comes from the Father through the Son by the Spirit. It isn't that Jesus is an instrument God uses is that there's nothing that can be created by the Father that isn't also created by the Son. More importantly for us, there's no one who can be saved by the Father who also isn't saved by the Son. What they're doing, they're always doing together. That is the unity side of what we think of the Trinity. So by Him, everything's dependent upon Him. Through Him, we looked at that last week, For him is really one of the more significant declarations. Continuing the passage here, notice there's two more declarations that are significant. He is before all things. I think this is very similar to the John 1, 2, in the beginning was the word, the idea that he is preeminent, he's before, there is a superiority. This last one, though, says something new. For in him, all things hold together. So we actually see two different ways in which he is that son of God, the savior is related to creation first and foremost. He is creator now in verse 17, he's the sustainer. Now, this is where things get a little tricky, I think. The one who holds planets in orbit, the one who's directing the cosmos, The one who is sovereign over every planet, every asteroid, every meteor, every plant, every mountain, every body of water, the one who is upholding everything entered into a womb to depend upon a woman he created for milk she'll produce. That's starting to get into the creator creation relationship that I think this hymn is supposed to really press into us. He is preeminent overall. It's all made by him. It's all made for him. He's sustaining everything. And as we're thinking about Christmas, he who everything depends, but even the order of it, he's still ordering all of creation in the womb as God. while being fully dependent upon the one he created. That's one of the great paradoxes, the mysteries that should lead us into some awe of Christ. So I want to do that because this is just basic Christianity worldview 101. The creator is not dependent upon anything, that is Christ, but everything that exists is dependent upon him. And it's very important, the context, if we go back to verse 13 and 14, the father delivered us from the domain of darkness by transferring us into the kingdom of his beloved son. We were all once under the authority of Satan. And Satan is greater than us and has more authority than us and has more power than us. It's important to see Jesus as the creator because he defeats him who's greater than even us. Everything about creation. All right. Again, this is, this is, this is worldview. The Christian world is not pantheism. That is that God is all there is. It's not panentheism that God is kind of constantly moving and shaking, but we also can't say it's deism as if God is so distant. Now we see here a God who does not depend upon his creation, the God whose creation depends fully on him, but the God who has covenantally entered into this creation because he made promises to save those who sinned against him. We have to have creator creation distinction, but we also have to realize he is fully involved in upholding this world and making promises to save it. So that's Jesus and his creation. We're gonna set that aside for a moment. We'll come back to it maybe if we, we're gonna run out of time, but anyway. Jesus and his church. Jesus and his church. Let me read this. I don't think I read the passage. If we had service review, I would get marks for that. So let me read the whole thing.

He is 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. And 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, 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 the cross.

Christ is the head of the church. I'm sorry. He's head of the body of the church. This is one of the more significant metaphors we see repeated throughout scripture being the head. He's the source. There's a, there's an authority of Christ being the head. He is the source of life for the church. He, he unites the church, the people who belong. Now, what, what I think is happening in 18 to 20 was really new creation. Christ, the creator is the head of a new people. a new creation because of what's next. He's the head of the body, the church, that is the people who have believed in him and are united with him. He is the authority. He is the source of life. He is a source of unity. Notice again there, he's the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. Again, there's an inheritance aspect here because he died and rose again to purchase a people for himself. There's an end by which he has saved us for himself. He is the firstborn from the dead and there we can say, yes, he is the first to be raised. In his resurrection, everyone else receives new life. And what does it mean that he's been raised other than, well, he did die. Christ on the cross experienced a full death Well, death is defeated in the death of Christ. He who is the origin and the source of life came down to bring new life. As much as it's important for Christ to have the authority over demons to deliver us from their domain, here, Christ must have the very power of God to give life, to bring new and eternal life. these two declarations of who he is are important for our assurance of what he's accomplished for us. He's the head of the body of the church. He's the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. That is, he's the head of a new creation. He's the first resurrected one who now gives us his own new life. Notice the purpose, that in everything he might be preeminent. He's the creator. Now of a new creation, he's a sustainer, now savior as well. All of this is to make him preeminent, the name above all names. Verse 19, for in him, that is he who created, he who is the head, he who is the firstborn of the dead, for in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. I believe here what we're seeing is he's fully God and fully man. That dwelling language is just the word became flesh. The fullness of God fully dwelt among us as he took on human flesh. And now we see why that's so significant. It's through him, again, that from and through language, were redeemed by the Father through the Son. Here, it's through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether in heaven or on earth, making peace by the blood of His cross. Jesus had to come and become just like us, yet without sin, so that He could pay the penalty fully for our sin. The Creator had to come and exercise His power in such a way that He covenanted with us experienced the birth, experienced all aspects of human life, experienced the suffering, experienced the death and the cross so that he could reconcile all things to himself. Notice verse 20, it says on heaven and earth, if there is a salvation plan for angels, this is the only passage that could possibly allude to it, but it doesn't. We have no plan of salvation for the angels. Those angels who rebelled, they are held up for their own destruction. I believe the way that he reconciles some is that he puts them in their proper place. He puts them in the destruction. There's a way in which we see he's now removed us from their power. But the most significant thing there is he makes peace by the blood of the cross. The enmity that we once had with God because of our sin, that is now in his place, peace. The enmity we once had because of our rebellious God, Christ by his blood has made peace. The angels are significant for the Church of Colossae because they seem to be one of the sources of their false religion. And as we think about how we relate to this creation, there's two typical ways we're going to go wrong in false religion. It's either by avoiding too much or indulging too much. We're going to fall off that donkey one way or the other. Their problem is they don't want to touch. They don't want to taste. They don't want to handle. And they, they believe the solution for the lust within is by avoiding and going into asceticism, which, which Paul makes it clear is very false. The other way some people want to go is, is, is full on indulgence, which is more like our culture, but let's just deal with the tax where we are and what Paul's addressing. Internal lusts are the problem. The uncontrollable sin that indwells our hearts and infects every desire, that's the problem. The solution is not to stop touching. The solution is to look up to Him who created you, died for you to bring peace, rose again and is now at the right hand of the Father. Look up. The solution is not to find some clever idea that helps you think through how to relate to this world according to some elemental principle or some human tradition. No, it's to look to Him who created you, who died to actually provide peace, who rose and is ascended. We see in this hymn two very significant relationships of Christ. We could say one really represents maybe the common grace. As the creator, he gives common grace to all people at all times and sustaining all things that exist. And then we see saving grace. He's the head of the church. We also see maybe two lies of Satan. Satan's lies in the garden are God isn't good enough and God isn't authoritative enough. Well, he who has all authority is he who shows he is also all good in the way he saved us. we at least see two important things about Jesus. He is the creator worthy of all worship, and he's the savior worthy of all worship. When we talk about who Jesus is, we can think about him in a number of ways. You have the mission of Christ. He was born, he died, he rose, he ascended, he will come again. God reveals himself most clearly in his names. And in those names, I wanna say also in his actions. God who created us, he's showing us who he is. God who saves us in all the different ways he saves us, shows us who he is. We must think about who he is in his actions towards us by his covenant promise in order to know who he is more. Notice he is these things, But all these things are action. He's not a dormant God. He's not a distant God. He's not a God who's blind or deaf. He is a God who is holding up this entire world that's rebelled against him and has come to save it. The last thing I wanna look at here as we conclude is verse 20,

and through him to reconcile to himself all things, making peace by the blood of his cross.

The reconciliation is especially for us, Christian. I believe that that's important as we just kind of see where he goes next in verse 22. He is, he is, he is, he is. And you, you once were alienated and hostile, doing evil deeds. We once were distant from God because of how we behaved. We who were once alienated, he has now reconciled in his body of the flesh by his death. He has transferred us from the domain of darkness. He has transferred us from the mind that's dark, From the mind that's hostile, from the heart and the alienated relationship, there once was not a knowing of God who he truly is, but now are reconciled in his body by the flesh. And I want to end this there, the end of verse 22,

in order to present you holy and blameless.

What a wonderful promise to uphold. Christ has come, he is the creator, he is the savior. He has delivered us and he will present us. And we can trust that he's able to do this as he has intended because he is the great creator and he's a great savior. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you made promises that led to you sending your son to become like us, to die for us. Lord, as we think about that this Christmas season, as we sing of his birth, as we meditate upon all the scene of what is happening there and the creator coming down to his creation, to enter it, to redeem it. Lord, I pray we would be stirred up to know who Christ is. Our creator whom we can know and glorify and worship and trust and our savior who we can know and glorify and trust. And he has, let me pray. Amen.