Good morning. Happy Mother's Day once again to the mothers.
It's a pleasure, Lorna.
Let's pray together and let's ask God to bless the preaching of His Word.
Father, we come before you this morning to once again get our lives and our eyesight and our vision restored.
God, we want to see the world as it really is, which means we want to see it through your eyes.
We want to understand who you are and we want to know what you're doing in our world.
And so this morning, God, as we come to your Word, won't you speak to us?
Oh, Holy Spirit, how we need you.
God, come and take the words of your Scripture and apply it to our hearts, we pray.
Come open our eyes to see.
We pray, God, even now, prepare our hearts, Lord, to receive from you, God.
And so we pray these things in your wonderful and powerful name.
Amen. Amen.
This morning, we are in week two of our study of the book of Colossians.
Colossians is one of the most incredible and wonderful books in the Bible.
And so I'm very excited for the next eight weeks, or this week plus six more,
we're going to be going through the book of Colossians together on Sundays and in many of our CGs.
As we get up close and personal with the Bible's teaching about the supremacy of Christ over all things
and what it means for those of us that are followers of Jesus, that we are in Christ.
That's what the book of Colossians is all about.
Now, today's passage of Scripture that Echo read to us is one of the most famous,
one of the most wonderful passages of Scripture for churches like ours that love the teaching of God's sovereignty over all things.
As a church, we love to pray about God's sovereignty and teach about God's sovereignty and sing about God's sovereignty.
The fact that Jesus is not just good, He is Lord of all.
And for churches like us, this passage of Scripture is like poetry to our ears, right?
But the Scripture we read this morning is far more than just a statement or an exclamation about the bigness and the majesty of God.
It is that, but it's also telling us more.
And so in order to understand it, let's just go back and once again look at the context of Colossians and the context of chapter 1.
So Colossians is written, the Apostle Paul is in Rome under house arrest.
He's been preaching the gospel.
He's been arrested.
He's in house arrest in Rome.
And his old friend Epaphras that started this church in the town of Colossae is also arrested in Rome.
And Epaphras tells him about the church in Colossae.
And he says things are going really well, but there's a couple of challenges.
The challenge is the church is being influenced by a bunch of groups.
The one group is saying, Jesus is good, but he's not enough.
You need to add to Jesus a whole bit of religious duties and observations, religious days and Sabbaths and all these festivals.
And another group are saying, look, Jesus is good, but he's not all that he's made out to be.
You need to add to Jesus some secular thinking and modern philosophy and all these things.
And so Paul writes to this church to encourage them around three things.
To encourage them about the supremacy of Christ.
That Christ is over all things.
That Christ is in a category of his own.
There is no one else like him.
He writes to encourage them that the gospel is powerful.
The gospel isn't just another philosophy that a bunch of people believe because we think this is the most appropriate way to address life.
The gospel is the power of God that gets inside of us and changes us.
And then the third thing Paul writes to encourage them is what does our life as a follower of Jesus look like now that we are in Christ and Christ is in us?
And so that's the second half of Colossians chapters 3 and 4.
It's all about what does the life of a Christian look like?
What does it mean for your work and your home and your family and all these things?
And so that's what the book of Colossians is all about.
Now, the apostle Paul was a very brilliant man.
If you've read much of the New Testament, I'm sure you can agree, right?
One of the most outstanding church leaders, church planters, a great apostle, obviously loved God, incredibly wonderful man.
But I have one thing against the apostle Paul.
Do you know what it is?
He writes the longest sentences.
Have you ever found that?
The most incredibly long sentences that are sometimes hard to understand.
And in fact, the passage that Echo read to us this morning is only the second half of one of the longest sentences in the Bible.
In Colossians chapter 1, from verse 9, which is what we looked at last week, all the way to almost the end of what was read this morning is one sentence.
And what that means is to understand the passage we read this morning, we've got to go back a bit, remind ourselves of what we looked at last week and see how that flows.
So last week, verse 9 starts like this.
He says,
We've heard about your love for Christ and your love for all the saints.
And then he says,
Therefore, since the day we heard about you, we haven't ceased praying for you.
And this is what he prays.
That you will be filled with the knowledge of God's will.
That you will have wisdom and understanding.
Okay, so Paul prays for these Colossian Christians that they'll know something of what God's will is.
And we said last week, it doesn't just mean to know the Bible technically, like a tax consultant knows, you know, the tax code.
It doesn't just mean to know what is God's will in every situation, like, should I wear a blue tie today or a red tie?
That's not what it means to know God's will.
To know God's will is to have the mind of Christ, to have wisdom and understanding, to see the world the way God sees it.
And I guess it's to answer these questions.
Who is God and what is God doing in the world?
To know what the mind and the will of God is, to have wisdom and understanding, is to know who is this God?
And what on earth is he doing in the world?
And it's amazing how you can have a PhD in theology.
You can understand all the Greek and the Hebrew and know all the stories of the Bible and not know the answer to those questions.
Who is God and what is he doing in the world?
And then Paul writes and says, if you know that, if you get the will of God inside of you, if you understand this gospel paradigm, it will lead to a couple of things.
And what, Mark, if we want to be a church that is bearing fruit, that's the first thing.
If we want to be a church that is walking in the ways of God.
If we want to be a church that is walking in the ways of God such that please him.
And if we want to be a church that Colossians 1 says is strengthened and is steadfast to go the distance when life gets tough and things aren't always easy.
When we are strengthened and because there's something inside of us that can allow us to go the distance.
We've got to be a church that can answer those questions.
And so in light of that, we get to our passage this morning.
Who is God and what is he doing in the world?
And so let's look at Colossians chapter 1 verses 15 to 23 this morning.
Now, I've got three points as always.
Every good sermon has only got three points.
I promised Edwin yesterday I'd have two points.
But I'm sorry, Edwin.
I snuck another one in there this morning.
So three points.
Jesus and creation.
The problem of creation.
Jesus and redemption.
Okay?
So let's dive into our scripture this morning.
Look at verse 15 with me.
Paul writes this.
He, that's Jesus, he is the image of the invisible God.
I'm not sure about you, but when I consider the awesome magnitude of creation, and I don't
even understand a one-hundredth of what creation is all about, when you understand the fact that
there are hundreds of billions of galaxies that we know about, who knows what we don't even
know about, that each one of those galaxies consists of hundreds of billions of stars,
it is all quite overwhelming, isn't it?
When you think of the vast expanse of our cosmos, it all can be overwhelming.
And yet, in the Old Testament, the people of God, as they looked up in the night sky,
and they saw, they understood that God was magnificent.
God was awesome.
He was very different from themselves.
He wasn't just a slightly better version of themselves.
There was something majestic about the God of creation.
And yet, at the same time, they had witnessed his involvement in the world.
They saw his dramatic deliverances from Egypt and their enemies.
They saw his provision in the desert, in the wilderness.
They encountered his appearances to men and women of old.
They saw his demonstrations of power through people like Elijah.
Sometimes they saw and understood God's providence, his leading and his guiding through people
like Queen Esther and Joseph.
And then, of course, his word that he spoke through the prophets.
And so, in the Old Testament, the people of God knew, though God is transcendent, in other
words, he's distinct from us, he's not like us, he is other and out there, he's also imminent,
which means he's close, he's personal, he's involved in our lives.
But still, though the people of God got to experience God and encounter him in so many different ways,
through the priests, through the prophets, through the temple, through dreams, through angels,
through God's deliverance, still, what is he like?
Who is this God?
They got to see glimpses of him, but what is this God really like?
I think of Moses.
Remember, in the Old Testament, God describes Moses as somebody who speaks to God face to face,
like a man speaks to a friend.
And yet, even Moses said, God, show me your glory.
Let me see your infinite worth.
And God hid him in a cave and then passed by him.
Then you cannot see me for all that I am.
And yet, here we see that Paul says Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
In Jesus, we somehow get to see the nature and the character of the eternal God,
perfectly revealed, perfectly made known.
As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians,
in the face of Christ, we get to see the glory of God.
We get to see the infinite worth and the majesty of God in the face of Christ.
In Hebrews 1, it talks about Jesus like this.
It says,
Remember, back in the day,
when you used to travel,
before thumbprints and eye retina displays,
you used to have this thing called the passport, right?
I guess we still have passports,
but they don't really look at them these days.
Remember back in the day,
they used to actually stamp the passport?
When we came to Hong Kong,
we had a piece of paper, employment pass, put in there.
They stamped the passport,
stamped employment pass, you're good to go.
That stamp is the exact representations,
like stamp one, stamp two.
If you're Singaporean, talk about the chop, right?
Chop one, chop two.
Do we talk about that here in Hong Kong?
No, okay.
In Singapore, stamp is a chop, right?
So stamp one, stamp two.
The one image is the exact picture
or representation of the other.
The one is not a drawing,
it's not an artist's impression.
You stamp once, you stamp twice,
the exact same picture.
Jesus is the image, the exact representation.
When we see Christ, we see something of who God is.
And remember, as human beings,
we're created in God's image.
We are meant to bear God's image on earth.
And yet, as human beings,
we have a long history of falling short,
of doing that very well.
But not Jesus.
Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
The perfect representation of what this invisible God is really like,
we see it in Jesus.
Because verse 19 says,
in Him was the fullness of God pleased to dwell.
Perfect God.
Perfect man.
All coming together in the person of Christ.
Jesus, the image of the invisible God.
But not only that, look at what Paul says next.
He says,
He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
Now, I think if you are of Asian descent,
you probably understand this better than Western counterparts like me, right?
This idea of the firstborn.
Firstborn doesn't necessarily only mean first in time.
It means first in rank, first in status, right?
First in position of prominence.
I think the Chinese word is something like John T.
Is that right?
Did I get that even remotely right?
Okay, nodding head.
The idea of firstborn.
So in ancient cultures, think about this.
In ancient cultures, your land was your wealth, right?
Your family's wealth was tied up in the land.
Land was so important.
And so you've got a plot of land that your family farms.
And it comes time to hand over the wealth to the next generation,
your inheritance.
Now, in the ancient cultures, they didn't just say,
Listen, I've got six or seven kids.
I don't really, but just imagine.
I had six or seven kids,
and I'm going to split up my land six or seven ways.
Because what will happen?
After another generation of each having six or seven kids,
the land gets split six ways,
and then another 40 ways,
and then the next generation.
Eventually, after two or three generations,
your farm has been split up hundreds of ways.
It's now the size of the piano.
And you're not going to get a lot of farming done on the piano, right?
That's not going to produce a lot of wealth.
So what would happen?
To preserve the family's wealth,
the family would hand on the entire estate,
the whole inheritance to the firstborn son.
And everything went to him,
but then it was his responsibility to look after the family
and to provide for them.
Okay?
So in other words,
the firstborn is not just first in time.
It's also first in status.
It's first in prominence.
In a sense,
the firstborn son is kind of like the dad,
like the father in the family.
Now, look at what Paul says here.
Using this imagery,
he says,
Jesus is not just a billboard
to show us what God is like in human form.
More than that,
he is the firstborn of all creation.
He is first in rank,
first in status.
He has the highest
and the most prestigious stank
in all of creation.
It's not just of all human beings,
in all of creation.
Never has anyone or anything
come close to his supremacy
and his authority.
Jesus,
the firstborn of all creation.
And then Paul explains
why this is the case.
Now,
you may think
the reason why Jesus is firstborn
was because he was the first one
who was made,
right?
Jesus made us,
but he was made before all of us.
And so because he was made first,
he has a position of rank or status.
But that's not what the Bible says.
Look at verse 16 with me.
It says,
he is distinct from all created beings
because he is the source
of all created beings.
Or as verse 16 says,
for by him,
all things were created
in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions,
rulers or authorities,
that's all created things,
angels, demons,
all things were created through him.
It doesn't matter
where you go in the cosmos.
You can go to the moon,
you can go to heaven,
you can go to earth,
you can go to Mars
or to the furthest reaches
of our galaxy,
you'll still be within
Christ's created order.
It doesn't matter
whether you understand it or not.
Things visible and invisible,
even some things
we don't understand,
even things that we have not invented
and have not yet discovered
about the world,
Christ made them.
It doesn't matter
what power or authority
such a thing has,
whether physical power,
emotional power,
psychological power,
spiritual power,
all things in heaven
and on earth,
visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions,
rulers or angels or authorities,
all things were made
through him and by him.
Remember,
at this time
in the city of,
the town of Colossae,
the Colossian Christians
are being pressed
because the people around them
are saying,
yeah, Jesus is good,
you know,
we'll give you that,
but there's also Apollos
and there's,
you know,
Aphrodites
and there's Hermes.
They're the other gods as well.
And Paul writes and says,
no,
Christ is supreme
above every other being
in the entire cosmos
or universe.
Christ is different.
Christ,
the man who died on the cross
just 30 years before,
is different from every other being.
And friends,
whether you're a Christian here or not,
and especially if you're not a Christian,
this question about who is Jesus
is a question you have to answer.
You have to come to the place
of working out who is Jesus.
Who is this man that died on the cross?
What do I make him out to be?
Is he really the name
above every other name?
Is he really the only one
who can ever save?
We sang about it earlier.
Jesus is the name above every name.
Jesus is the most powerful man.
Is that really who he is?
And in our day and day,
we may not be tempted
to trust in Apollo
or Hermes
or the other Roman gods,
but we are tempted
to trust in other things
to secure a good future for us.
Things that we expect
will provide us
with a good life.
We get the right boss.
Maybe the market forces.
Things go well in the market
or maybe a relationship.
Maybe the things
that are more nuanced than that.
Things like our intellectual ability.
Our reasoning or our rationality.
Things that we trust.
These things will secure us
the good life.
And Paul's assertion here
is that all things,
visible or not,
material or immaterial,
all things come to existence
because of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And therefore,
he is Lord over all things.
I was talking to a friend
just recently this week
who at work,
there's some challenges,
there's some retrenchments coming,
and some people in the office
are going to lose their jobs.
And maybe his job is on the line.
He doesn't know.
And so there's a lot of tension
and angst in the office.
What's going to happen?
Do we have a job?
And this friend,
who's a follower of Jesus,
was not particularly worried.
And so his colleagues
eventually said to him,
what's up with you?
Why are you not worried?
All of us are worried.
You don't seem to be worried.
And this is his answer.
Do you really think
that my God,
who made the entire universe,
cannot provide for my family?
My God is the Lord of all things.
Friends, you see how practical this is?
I don't know what challenges you're facing.
Maybe you've been to the doctor
and you're waiting for a medical report.
And you don't know
what that report is going to say.
Maybe you are pregnant
with your first child
and you aren't sure
about the health of that child.
Maybe you want to become pregnant.
You're trying for kids.
Friends, God in heaven
is Lord of all things.
And your life is safely in his hands.
But even that is not enough
because look at what Paul goes on to say.
He says,
For by him all things were created
in heaven and on earth,
visible or invisible,
whether rulers, authorities,
dominions or powers,
all things were created through him
and for him.
In other words,
not only is Christ before all things,
before anything was made,
at the end of all time,
when the world is wrapped up,
all things will come down
before Christ,
before all things were made
for him or to him.
We often think
all things were made by him
for us.
And that's not what the Scripture sings.
All things are made for him.
Or another way of saying that
is for the praise of his name.
At the end of history,
when the world is wrapped up,
every created being
will fall down on their knees
and say,
You are God and I am not.
All things were made
for the praise of his name.
And so here we have Christ
before all things,
creator of all things,
and at the same time,
we have Jesus Christ,
the end goal,
the one for whom
all things were made.
And so Paul summarizes this
in verse 17.
Look at what he says.
He says,
He is before all things
and in him
all things hold together.
Christ is before all things,
he's at the end of all things,
and he's currently holding
all things together right now.
And it's a remarkable summary
of the supremacy
and the sufficiency
of the man
who just 30 years before
was being nailed
to a Roman cross
for this remarkable claim
that he really is God.
Jesus hung on the cross,
but he didn't stay there.
And so here,
within one generation,
Paul is saying,
this man who hung on the cross
really is Lord of all.
You see,
sometimes we think,
oh, well,
you know,
Jesus,
the myth has grown
over a couple of generations
and over hundreds of years,
the story of Jesus
grew into this elaborate fable
where now hundreds of years later
people are talking about him
as being the Lord of all.
No.
Within one generation,
within one generation,
the church knew
that this man,
Jesus,
who died on the cross
is who he said he is.
He's the Lord of all.
But what's even more astonishing
is this,
that the apostle Paul,
the man who wrote these words
just a few years before this,
one of the most brilliant
Jewish minds,
one of the most outstanding
intellectuals of his day,
this man who was bent
on eradicating
and destroying
the Christian faith,
a man who had given his life
to destroying
any traces of faith in Jesus,
stands up now and says,
it's true.
It's true.
This man,
Jesus,
who I tried to destroy
with everything inside of me
really is who he said he is.
He is the Lord of all.
He is not just like other gods.
He is not just a good force.
He is not just a man
from whom we can learn
some good things.
He is the supreme
Lord of all creation
for he is before all things
and in him
all things hold together.
Friends,
Christ,
the Lord of all creation.
Secondly,
the problem of creation.
Now,
this understanding
that Jesus is sovereign
over all things
raises a question
because if Jesus
really is the Lord of all,
if Jesus really is supreme
over all things,
why is our world
in such a mess?
Well,
the human world anyway.
You could argue
that the cosmos
and the galaxies
are doing all right
on their own,
but why is our world
in such trouble?
There's wars,
there's hatred,
there's fighting,
there's oppression
of ethnic minorities,
oppression of children,
oppression of women,
there's hurts,
there's hatred
in our hearts,
and not only that,
there's disease,
our bodies are aching,
and not only that,
the physical world itself
seems to be taking strain.
There's floods,
and there's earthquakes,
and all these things.
If Jesus is Lord
of the whole world,
what's he doing about it?
How's he looking after it?
Remember,
Paul was writing this letter
at the time
when Nero
was emperor of Rome,
which was not a good time
for Christians
to be in Rome.
And so,
the Christians
might have been thinking,
well,
you say that Jesus is Lord,
but it doesn't look like
he's doing a very good job
because things aren't going
so well for us.
Nero's persecuting
the Christians,
he's about to set fire
to Rome,
the church is under persecution.
Where is this Lord of all
that we're supposed to worship?
Who is this Lord of creation,
and what is he doing about it?
Well,
before we get there,
we need to understand
the reason for this mess.
And what's caused
the problems
that we encounter?
And the Bible's answer
is that we have.
We have.
The problem with the world
is the problem of humanity.
It started off
with our very first ancestors,
the very first moral agents
made in God's image
that God made
for us to reflect him,
to love him,
and serve him.
And they went off
on their own.
And we,
as humanity,
have followed
in their footsteps.
We want our own autonomy.
We want the God
that made us
to serve us.
We want to be
our own masters.
We want to be
our own lords.
We want to be
our own gods.
And while this takes
a million different shapes
and forms,
and it looks different
in different ways,
the essence
of all of this
is what's wrong
with the world.
That is,
human beings
were made to love
and serve the God
that made us
in his image
as an act of worship
and instead
we've loved
and we serve ourselves.
And we've asked God
to join our plans
and to love
and to serve us.
And the problem of this,
what the Bible calls sin,
is it's a distortion
and a breakdown
of everything in the world.
It means our relationship
with the God
that made us
is broken
and distorted.
It means our relationships
with one another
are broken
and distorted.
That's why you have
things like racism
and sexism
and oppression
of people.
It means our relationship
with our physical world
is broken
and distorted.
We now use the world
to serve us
rather than serving
our world
to the glory of God.
But also,
it means our relationship
with our very selves
is broken
and distorted.
We are conflicted inside.
We don't even
understand ourselves.
And so the problem
of sin is that
all our relationships
with God,
with each other,
with the world,
with ourselves,
is distorted
and broken.
And verse 13
of chapter 1
talks about
being captured
by the domain
of darkness.
One author said it
like this,
In other words,
while Christ
is the supreme one,
the one in whom
all things
find their origin,
on whom all things
depend for their
very existence,
to whom all things
belong,
he does not now
seem to be
the head of all things
as he ought to be.
All powers
do not presently
recognize his supremacy.
There is sin,
there is darkness,
there is death.
And so the question is,
what is this sovereign,
majestic,
or supreme God
going to do
about his world
that is out of order?
Third thing,
Jesus and redemption.
You'll know that
Claire and I
have two wonderful children,
and they love Claire's cooking,
as you heard earlier.
And our children
are four and six,
and our children
love drawing pictures,
coloring in
and drawing pictures.
I'm sure all children
that age do it,
but our children
especially love it.
And they love
drawing pictures
for other people,
writing cards
for other people.
I'm sure some of you
have received their cards.
They are forever
writing letters
for others, right?
But seldom do they
get it right first time.
Very often they start
and something
invariably goes wrong.
They spill water over it
or they draw out
of the lines
or something goes wrong,
and there's big tears.
There's big drama
in our household, right?
And Shiloh's got this line,
my youngest daughter,
the four-year-old,
who says,
it's all ruined,
and she'll scrunch it up
and throw it on the page
and put her head down
and cry, right,
when she's messed up
her precious Picasso drawing.
Well, friends,
is that what God does
with our world?
When God,
the Supreme Creator,
looks at this world
that He made
and sees it gone wrong,
does He just scrunch it up
and go,
it's all ruined,
time to start again?
Is that what He does?
No.
What Paul is going to show us
is that just as it pleased God
through the power of Christ
to create the world,
so in the same way
it pleases God
through the power of Christ
to recreate the world
or to redeem the world
or to heal His broken world.
In other words,
what is God doing right now?
He is sovereignly restoring
His supremacy.
He is becoming
what He already is
by renewing creation.
But He's not going to do it
the way that we think
He might do it.
He doesn't do it
by scrunching it up
and throwing it aside.
He doesn't do it
by sending in the armies
to go and destroy His enemies
that have destroyed the world
and eliminate all His enemies.
He doesn't do it
by taking all the Christians
out of this horrible,
puffy,
physical world
up into heaven
to a spiritual,
ethereal world
where we can just
live in this
on the clouds
and play harps.
That's not how He's
renewing His world.
He's doing it
by entering His world.
He's doing it
by taking on human flesh.
He's doing it
by recreating it
from the inside out.
He's doing it
by changing
one individual life
at a time.
Look at verse 18 with me.
Jesus came not
to eliminate humanity
but to fix it.
Not to destroy humanity
but to free it.
to take that
which is lost
and broken
and recreated
in His image.
Look at verse 18.
So we've just heard
about how Christ
is supreme
over all things.
All things are made
by Him
and through Him
and for Him.
He upholds all things
and now verse 18 says
He is the head.
But this time
not just the head
of creation,
not just the head
of all things
in general,
He's the head
of something specific.
He's the head
of His body
which is the church.
The English
gives away
the punchline
there.
The Greek just says
He's the head
of the gathering,
the head
of the assembly
of people.
So Jesus is now
the head
of a body
of people,
some kind
of gathering
or assembly.
But who is this body?
What's so special
about them
that Jesus
is now the head
of this body?
Well,
let's keep reading.
It says He's the head
of His body,
the church.
He is the beginning
or more specifically
the new beginning.
We know He was there
at the beginning
of all creation
but now He's the head
of a new kind
of beginning,
a different beginning,
a recreation.
He's the head
of a new beginning,
not just a scrunch
it up and start again
kind of beginning,
not just a destroy
His enemies
and repopulate
the world
with new people
kind of beginning.
There's something
different about
this beginning.
It's the kind
of beginning
that someone,
it's the kind
of new start
someone experiences
when they've been
enslaved
and they're now
set free.
It's the kind
of new beginning
that you get
when someone's
been declared dead
and then the doctors
resuscitate them
and bring them to life.
It's the kind
of new beginning
that I think
Nelson Mandela
from my country
experienced
after being set free
from being in jail
for 27 years
as a political prisoner.
Set free.
There's a new beginning
and this is what Jesus,
this is what He's saying.
This is what
this new creation involves.
Jesus taking
that which was lost,
that which was empty,
that which was imprisoned,
that which was enslaved,
that which was dead
and He gives it
new life
and that makes sense
because the next line
says He is
the new beginning,
He is the firstborn,
there's our word again,
the chief,
the preeminent one,
amongst those
who were dead.
You see what Jesus
is doing here?
Jesus is creating
a new humanity,
a new people,
a new body,
a new beginning
but this body,
this new people
is not made up
of those who have
got it all together
and are faithful.
It's not made up
of those who have
always obeyed
all the rules.
Jesus is not
some political leader
that's been kicked
out of power.
He's now retreating
to His faithful constituents
and regrouping
and re-forming
a new political party
to take on the rebels.
That's not what's happening.
Jesus is going off
to the very people
that asked at Him.
Jesus is going off
to the very rebels
that put Him
on the cross.
Jesus is going off
to the very people
who cried,
crucify Him.
Jesus is going off
to sinners
like you and me
and He's changing us
on the inside.
He's recreating us.
He's going off
to the thing
that went wrong
in the first place
which is our heart
and He's giving us
a new heart
and then He's welcoming us
into His family
as a new body,
as a new people,
as His church.
Remember that old
wonderful hymn?
It says,
Behold the man
upon the cross,
my sin upon His shoulders.
Ashamed I hear
my mocking voice
crying out
amongst the scoffers.
It was my sin
that held Him there
until it was accomplished.
His dying breath
has brought me life.
I know that it is finished.
Jesus is the head
of His body.
He's the head
of the new beginning.
He's the head,
the firstborn
of those who were once dead.
And look at verse 21
with us.
Verse 21 says,
Don't you know you
who were once alienated,
who were once hostile in mind,
doing evil deeds?
He is now reconciled.
He is made new.
He has restored
the relationship
by His death
in order to do what?
To present you holy,
to present you blameless,
to present you above reproach
before Him
if indeed you continue
steadfast in the faith.
Friends,
this body of people,
this new creation
is made up of those
who were once dead
in their sins
but are now alive again.
Made up of those
who were once broken
by sin
but are now being made new.
Of those who were once
slaves to the domain
of darkness
but are now being set free
on the kingdom
of His Son.
And this body of people
Jesus calls
His church.
Friends,
do you see what God
is doing in the world?
What is Jesus doing
in the world?
Who is God?
He's the sovereign supreme one
of all the world.
And what is He doing?
He's recreating the world.
He's recreating,
but He's doing it
one life at a time.
One individual at a time.
He's moving in
and He's recreating us
from the inside out.
Jesus is not recreating
the world
by making new stars
and galaxies,
by making new planets
and new cosmos,
new ecosystems.
He's not doing it
by making new countries
or tribes
or ethnicities,
but He is making
a new people.
He's making a new Israel.
He's making a new nation.
He's making a new body.
He does it
by recreating
the very thing
that caused the problem
in the first place,
by recreating our hearts,
by giving us
a heart of flesh
that we will be included
in His family.
He is the head
of His body,
the church,
the beginning,
the firstborn amongst the dead,
that in everything
He might be
what He already is,
which is preeminent
over all things.
And how did He do it?
How did Jesus do this?
Well, verse 19 tells us.
It says,
For in Him
all the fullness of God
was pleased to dwell
and through Him
to reconcile all things,
whether on earth
or in heaven,
making peace
by the blood
of His cross.
Friends,
the way that Jesus
is reconciling the world
to Himself,
the way that Jesus
brings about a new creation
is that He went to the cross.
He went and He hung there.
He took our sin
upon His shoulders.
He took the very thing
that was destroying us
upon Himself
and let Himself
be destroyed on the cross.
It is the only way
that Jesus could destroy
the sin inside of us
without destroying the people
in whom sin dwelt.
And so Jesus went to the cross
and He took our sin
and He took our shame
upon Himself
and allowed that
to be destroyed.
And then Colossians 2 says,
In doing so,
He overcame His enemies.
He triumphed over the very ones
that were causing this mess
in the first place.
Jesus died on the cross.
In verse 16,
we saw that in Him
all things were created.
Verse 19 tells us,
In Him the fullness of God
was pleased it will.
In verse 16,
we said,
We saw that through Him
all things were made.
And now we see that through Him
all things are being reconciled.
In verse 16,
we saw to Him
all things are made.
And now we see to Him
all things will be reconciled.
Friends,
the great rapture
in the unity of the world,
the great discord
of the whole created existence,
the great dissonance
in the totality of all things
has been put right
to Christ's sacrificial death
and resurrection
because He has made peace
by the blood of His cross.
See, friends,
Jesus is Lord of all creation,
but He's not just Lord of creation.
He's Lord of redemption as well.
He's the Lord of the new creation.
Just as God,
it is through God and God alone
that the whole world was made,
through God and God alone
is the whole world to be saved.
Just as God needed no help
with His creation plan,
God needs no help
with His redemption salvation plan.
Just as you and I
didn't contribute a single thing
to the creation of the world,
so we don't contribute
a single thing
apart from our sin
to the salvation of our hearts.
Friends,
this is the amazing promise
of Colossians 1,
that Jesus truly is God
and He's Lord of all creation.
And while it may not always seem so,
while it may seem
that the world has fallen
and things are out of control,
the promise of Colossians 1
is that God is gloriously
and majestically
at work in His world,
restoring and recreating
all things.
He is as much Lord of redemption
as He is of creation.
Well,
let's bring this to a close.
I want to close with
asking this question,
so what?
Very briefly,
two things.
What does this mean?
What does this mean
for the Colossians
and what does it mean
for us in Hong Kong?
What does it mean tomorrow
as you go to work?
What does it mean tomorrow
as you're at home,
as you parent your kids?
What does it mean
as you are retrenched
or you need to do the retrenching?
What does it mean
as you receive that medical report?
Two things it means.
First thing is this.
The Colossian Christians,
2,000 years ago,
in their head they knew
that Christ is Lord of all.
They had been told,
they understood
that Jesus is the supreme
God of all creation.
And yet every day
they were constantly being told
that Rome is their security.
Rome is what will provide
their peace.
Rome will look after them.
If they are just faithful to Rome,
Rome will be faithful to them.
And so while in their heads
they knew Jesus was Lord,
in their hearts
that truth was being challenged.
And friends,
that's just as true
for you and I.
If you're a Christian this morning,
you probably know
that Jesus is Lord of all.
But every day
as we go into our city,
that truth is being challenged.
You're being told
that your boss
has your future in your hands.
Your education
holds your future in its hands.
The market forces
hold your future in its hands.
But friends,
this is the most liberating thing,
that in all the world
there is not a single iota.
There is not a single atom
in all creation,
not a single day
in the future
which is outside
of God's sovereign hand.
For Christ is supreme
over all things.
There is not a boss
in all the world
that has more say
over your life
than what Jesus has
over your life.
There is not a market force
that can rob you
of your future
more than God wills
or God will allow.
There is not a single
job promotion qualification
that can secure
your future
more than Jesus.
He is the supreme one.
But the second thing
it meant for the Colossians
is this.
It meant great patience
in the midst of trials
and difficulty.
So think about this.
Epaphras and Philemon,
we read about them
last week,
they hear about
the gospel in Ephesus
and they go back
to Colossae
and they tell their friends
and their neighbors
and their colleagues
and they say,
we've found the Messiah.
Jesus is Lord of all.
Christ is the King.
Caesar isn't King.
Jesus is King.
And Jesus is coming back.
He is the supreme ruler
of all.
And they preach this
and the people believe it
and they believe in their hearts
and they become followers
of Jesus.
And then a few years go by
and things don't seem
to be changing
and life is hard
and Nero becomes emperor
and things become difficult
and this church
is still a small church.
It doesn't grow.
And after a while
they're starting to think,
is Jesus really Lord?
He seems to be taking his time.
He thought he was coming back.
Where is this Jesus?
And as things go wrong
they can start to wonder.
Is Jesus really at work
in this world?
Friends,
but Paul writes to tell them
that Jesus is establishing authority.
Jesus is becoming
what he already is.
But he's doing it
through his body,
through his church.
He's doing it
one individual at a time.
Reconciling sinners to himself
so that in everything
he might be preeminent.
Friends,
isn't that true for us as well?
We read the news,
things go wrong.
We read how the church
is being persecuted
in various countries
around the world
and we think,
where is the Supreme Lord?
Jesus,
if you're Lord,
what are you doing about it?
Where are you?
Are you coming back
anytime soon?
Friends,
the truth of the gospel
is that God is at work
in the world.
God is at work
here in Hong Kong.
He's reestablishing
his supremacy
one life at a time,
one reconciled sinner
at a time,
one dead person
made alive again.
And so Paul writes
in Colossians,
he says in verse 23,
therefore continue
in the faith,
stable and steadfast.
Don't shift
from the hope
of the gospel.
This Christ Jesus
is Lord of all
and he's coming
to prove it.
Friends,
this is God's word to us.
Just as Paul wrote
to the Colossians
to remind them
that Jesus is supreme
over all things,
so God would remind us
this morning.
I don't know
what challenges
you're facing,
but Christ is supreme
over all things.
And just as Paul wrote
to remind these Colossians
of the power
of the gospel,
often understated,
often not with a lot
of fanfare,
often not with a lot
of glamour
and glitz
and bright lights,
but Jesus is at work.
The power of the gospel
is changing people's lives
so God would remind us
that the same,
that God would encourage us.
He's at work in the world.
He's at work in Hong Kong.
He's at work in our city.
And this is our hope,
that while the world
is reeling from the effects
of sin,
while the world is broken,
we are not without hope,
because Christ is Lord,
reconciling all things
to himself,
whether on earth
or in heaven,
making peace
by the blood
of his cross.
Let's pray together.
Jesus,
we,
for many of us,
we know this truth
in our heads.
We understand,
or we think we understand
the wonderful teaching
about your sovereignty
and your supremacy.
And yet,
God,
we need that truth
to drop from our heads
to our hearts.
As we go to work tomorrow,
as we travel,
as we look after kids,
as we look after
our aging parents,
as we look for work,
Father,
won't you remind us,
God,
that there is not
a single atom
in all creation,
there's not a single day
in the history of the world
which is beyond you,
which is outside of you.
And God,
while we don't always
understand these things,
while the world seems
to sometimes be reeling,
God,
won't you remind us,
won't you open our eyes
to see the supremacy
of Christ over all things.
Won't you show us,
God,
that you are
not just like
one of many gods,
but you are
the one and only
supreme God
and you are
wholly sufficient.
Lord,
I pray,
come and open
the eyes of our hearts.
God,
for those of us
that are feeling hurt,
for those of us
that are feeling
the pressures
of the world
in which we live,
God,
won't you come
and minister to us?
Won't you come
and fill us
with your spirit?
Won't you come
and remind us,
God,
to keep our eyes
steadfast on you.
Jesus,
we sang this morning,
come and be the center.
Help us to fix our eyes
on you,
we pray.
Christ,
come and take
the throne of our lives.
We pray these things
in your name.
Amen.