WEBVTT 00:00:00.900 --> 00:00:08.500 However much you see right now, there's so much more going on. 00:00:10.120 --> 00:00:16.760 When you look at that picture, you can't see what's going on all around until you see the rest. 00:00:18.440 --> 00:00:26.740 However much we see of the person of Jesus Christ now, there is so much more. 00:00:26.739 --> 00:00:43.780 My guess is that most people, when they think of the person Jesus Christ, regardless really of whether they would regard themselves as Christians or not, would probably have certain views of him. 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:45.899 They would probably think, well, he was a good person. 00:00:47.239 --> 00:00:53.179 But dare I say, perhaps a lot of people, most people would say a little bit more than that. 00:00:53.239 --> 00:00:55.060 They say, well, he's somebody who changed history. 00:00:55.060 --> 00:00:58.340 What he stood for was something amazing. 00:00:58.520 --> 00:01:00.179 He certainly changes lives. 00:01:01.120 --> 00:01:03.060 He stands for life-changing values. 00:01:04.700 --> 00:01:07.020 He's a great spiritual, moral teacher. 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:12.520 My guess is that most people would say such things. 00:01:12.519 --> 00:01:22.599 And the people that Paul was writing to when he wrote this letter to the Colossians some 2,000 years ago, actually there was a similar thing going on. 00:01:23.159 --> 00:01:31.979 That Jesus was held by many as, by this time, in the very early stages of Christian history, as somebody really important. 00:01:31.980 --> 00:01:40.240 But for many people, he was very important, but one very important voice among many. 00:01:41.340 --> 00:01:45.240 Effectively, that the way of Jesus stood for a philosophy. 00:01:45.239 --> 00:01:55.679 But Paul was writing to them, and indeed these words speak as much to today as they did 2,000 years ago. 00:01:55.839 --> 00:02:00.399 When Paul says that, yes, Jesus is important, but he's so much more than that. 00:02:01.399 --> 00:02:03.619 There is so, so much more. 00:02:03.699 --> 00:02:10.120 To the extent that no matter how much you look at Jesus, there is so much more that you can't see yet. 00:02:10.120 --> 00:02:20.099 He is, says Paul, the image of the invisible God. 00:02:22.280 --> 00:02:28.640 When we look at Jesus, we see that image of something that we cannot see. 00:02:30.180 --> 00:02:34.120 There is so much more than immediately meets the eye. 00:02:34.120 --> 00:02:43.319 A word, image, the New Testament Greek word is icon. 00:02:44.099 --> 00:02:45.300 And it's multi-layered. 00:02:45.379 --> 00:02:47.460 It would have meant lots of things to its first readers. 00:02:47.620 --> 00:02:49.300 Two meanings in particular, though. 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:52.980 Firstly, it sort of meant something a bit like a portrait. 00:02:53.780 --> 00:02:58.840 There were first century letters written on papyrus in which writers, soldiers would write, 00:02:58.840 --> 00:03:03.620 I enclose, I'm sending you a recent icon, meaning a portrait, a picture. 00:03:03.620 --> 00:03:07.000 I suppose the closest that we would think would be a photograph. 00:03:07.900 --> 00:03:14.039 So a sort of like an image, literally an image of what is not in front of you so you can see. 00:03:14.620 --> 00:03:16.080 It also meant more than that. 00:03:16.340 --> 00:03:19.240 The word icon meant a description. 00:03:19.620 --> 00:03:31.379 So in first century legal contracts, that word would be used to describe the characteristics of parties forming a legal contract. 00:03:31.379 --> 00:03:36.680 So whether it was an IOU or a receipt, you know, in order to identify the parties concerned, 00:03:37.079 --> 00:03:42.599 you would list a brief description of defining characteristics of each party. 00:03:42.859 --> 00:03:43.759 And that was called an icon. 00:03:44.740 --> 00:03:50.740 So when the first readers of these words from Paul would have come across, you know, this sentence, 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:55.659 this statement that Jesus is the image, the icon of the invisible God, 00:03:55.659 --> 00:03:58.859 those are some of the thoughts that they would have had. 00:03:59.620 --> 00:04:05.639 That you cannot see God, but what we see in Jesus is something of a portrait, a picture, 00:04:06.139 --> 00:04:09.500 a set of characteristics of the invisible God. 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:16.620 But of course there's always so much more beyond what we see. 00:04:16.620 --> 00:04:21.040 So much more than first meets the eye. 00:04:22.500 --> 00:04:30.220 You see, in Jesus we don't just have a sort of a frozen in time picture of who God is. 00:04:32.899 --> 00:04:38.819 Paul goes on to say that when we look at Jesus, we see something unique. 00:04:38.819 --> 00:04:42.659 We see the fullness of God. 00:04:42.759 --> 00:04:47.060 And that's what another word that Paul uses in verse 19 of that passage there, 00:04:47.319 --> 00:04:50.199 pleroma, literally means the fullness of God. 00:04:50.860 --> 00:04:54.199 In other words, when we look at Jesus, he's not just a sketch of God. 00:04:54.379 --> 00:05:00.240 He's not just a portrait, not just a summary of important characteristics. 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:06.600 Now, when we look at the person of Jesus, we see the fullness of God. 00:05:06.600 --> 00:05:09.420 And yet we cannot quite see that fullness yet. 00:05:10.820 --> 00:05:14.260 Jesus is the supreme revelation of God. 00:05:14.840 --> 00:05:20.760 God has revealed himself in Jesus Christ in a way that he has never, ever revealed himself before 00:05:20.760 --> 00:05:23.620 and never will reveal himself again. 00:05:24.080 --> 00:05:28.460 When we look to Jesus, we see everything, everything that we need to see. 00:05:28.459 --> 00:05:37.759 Notice, when we read through this passage, how many times the word all is used. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:41.639 Because Paul is saying that you look at Jesus, it's all there. 00:05:42.740 --> 00:05:46.419 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 00:05:46.799 --> 00:05:49.039 For by him all things were created. 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:51.679 Things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, 00:05:51.959 --> 00:05:54.759 where thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, 00:05:55.060 --> 00:05:57.579 all things were created by him and for him. 00:05:57.579 --> 00:05:59.759 He is before all things. 00:06:00.120 --> 00:06:02.180 And in him all things hold together. 00:06:02.419 --> 00:06:04.099 And he is the head of the body, the church. 00:06:04.159 --> 00:06:06.599 He is the beginning, the firstborn among the dead. 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:09.419 So that in everything he might have the supremacy. 00:06:09.939 --> 00:06:14.620 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him. 00:06:16.860 --> 00:06:19.120 What does this mean in practical terms? 00:06:20.079 --> 00:06:21.839 Well, in real life terms it means this. 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:25.839 However we stand in relationship to the person of Jesus, 00:06:26.379 --> 00:06:28.919 whether you're just an inquirer and you're not quite sure, 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:31.019 but you're just intrigued by who he is, 00:06:31.119 --> 00:06:35.899 or whether you're a committed Christian and maybe been a committed Christian for many, many years, 00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:41.339 whatever you see of the person of Jesus, there's so much more. 00:06:42.099 --> 00:06:43.299 He is inexhaustible. 00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:44.359 He is infinite. 00:06:44.360 --> 00:06:48.480 Tonight, let me share with you one last image, 00:06:48.860 --> 00:06:53.759 which perhaps helps us to understand how when we look at Jesus, 00:06:53.900 --> 00:06:54.699 we see everything. 00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:56.500 We see all of the fullness of God. 00:06:56.580 --> 00:06:58.420 And yet there's so much more. 00:06:59.660 --> 00:07:02.080 For this illustration, I've got here a glass. 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:07.580 And what I really wanted to do was have the ocean in this room. 00:07:07.639 --> 00:07:10.020 But that was perhaps a little bit difficult. 00:07:10.400 --> 00:07:11.740 So I've got the next best thing. 00:07:11.740 --> 00:07:13.079 I've got a bucket of water. 00:07:13.400 --> 00:07:15.259 But for the purposes of this illustration, 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:18.100 that represents the whole of the ocean, yeah? 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:24.259 When you become a Christian, you don't just change your mind. 00:07:24.259 --> 00:07:27.300 You're not just converted to a new set of ideas. 00:07:28.259 --> 00:07:30.420 The Bible says that when you become a Christian, 00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:32.300 something happens to you. 00:07:33.340 --> 00:07:38.800 That God himself somehow comes to dwell in you. 00:07:38.920 --> 00:07:40.500 Now that's an amazing thought. 00:07:40.500 --> 00:07:46.279 That the author of the whole of creation could have a living presence in you 00:07:46.279 --> 00:07:47.959 and that you know him. 00:07:48.220 --> 00:07:51.300 That he's not just with you and by your side, although he is. 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:54.300 But in a real but mysterious sense, 00:07:55.180 --> 00:07:57.000 when you believe in Christ, 00:07:57.100 --> 00:07:59.040 when you accept him into your life, 00:08:00.040 --> 00:08:03.279 he actually lives in you. 00:08:04.060 --> 00:08:06.540 He dwells in you. 00:08:06.540 --> 00:08:11.560 So imagine I'm dipping this glass, 00:08:11.640 --> 00:08:12.220 not in a bucket, 00:08:12.420 --> 00:08:13.140 but in the ocean. 00:08:16.200 --> 00:08:18.020 There's a very real sense 00:08:18.020 --> 00:08:21.200 in which the glass then 00:08:21.200 --> 00:08:22.720 contains 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:24.759 the ocean. 00:08:26.759 --> 00:08:27.920 In this glass, 00:08:28.020 --> 00:08:30.080 there is the ocean of the world. 00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:33.559 And yet, of course, 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:35.000 does it contain the ocean? 00:08:35.179 --> 00:08:35.379 Well, 00:08:36.199 --> 00:08:37.039 no, it doesn't. 00:08:38.539 --> 00:08:39.039 Of course, 00:08:39.100 --> 00:08:40.500 it doesn't contain all of it. 00:08:42.019 --> 00:08:42.639 And yet, 00:08:42.860 --> 00:08:45.319 there's a real sense in which we can say, 00:08:45.460 --> 00:08:45.639 yes, 00:08:45.720 --> 00:08:47.480 this glass contains the ocean. 00:08:47.480 --> 00:08:54.680 When you accept Christ into your life, 00:08:55.399 --> 00:08:56.340 the living God, 00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:57.200 says the Bible, 00:08:57.500 --> 00:08:59.860 the living God comes to dwell in you. 00:09:00.200 --> 00:09:02.000 You actually have the dwelling 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:04.620 of the Lord of the whole universe 00:09:04.620 --> 00:09:06.379 in you. 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:09.360 And yet, 00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:11.920 there's so much more. 00:09:13.060 --> 00:09:14.519 Always so much more. 00:09:14.519 --> 00:09:19.379 We're going to pray now. 00:09:19.559 --> 00:09:20.899 And as we come to pray, 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:24.299 I want to invite all of us 00:09:24.299 --> 00:09:25.819 to ask this question, 00:09:25.960 --> 00:09:26.840 where are we 00:09:26.840 --> 00:09:28.240 in relation 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:30.399 to the person of Jesus? 00:09:32.179 --> 00:09:33.360 It may be 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:35.179 that perhaps we feel that, 00:09:35.480 --> 00:09:35.559 well, 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:36.720 we don't really know him, 00:09:36.799 --> 00:09:38.519 but we know bits about him 00:09:38.519 --> 00:09:39.740 and we want to know more. 00:09:40.100 --> 00:09:40.259 Well, 00:09:40.279 --> 00:09:41.079 the good news is 00:09:41.079 --> 00:09:42.539 you can't exhaust that. 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:44.299 There's always more. 00:09:44.519 --> 00:09:47.159 It may be that 00:09:47.159 --> 00:09:48.559 you feel that you've been 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:49.960 a follower of Jesus Christ 00:09:49.960 --> 00:09:51.019 for decades, 00:09:51.799 --> 00:09:54.579 but you just want to sense 00:09:54.579 --> 00:09:56.679 that there is more of him. 00:09:58.059 --> 00:09:59.659 And the good news, again, 00:09:59.740 --> 00:10:00.240 is that 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:02.299 he is infinite. 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:05.579 You cannot exhaust 00:10:05.579 --> 00:10:09.079 the experience of Jesus Christ. 00:10:09.080 --> 00:10:12.180 So let's pray together now. 00:10:22.220 --> 00:10:22.980 Lord God, 00:10:23.080 --> 00:10:24.540 thank you that in Jesus 00:10:24.540 --> 00:10:25.940 you show us yourself. 00:10:27.240 --> 00:10:28.720 Thank you that you have come 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:29.759 to us in him 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:31.560 and that in him 00:10:31.559 --> 00:10:35.019 you show us the image 00:10:35.019 --> 00:10:36.699 of yourself. 00:10:40.500 --> 00:10:42.259 Thank you that there is always 00:10:42.259 --> 00:10:43.719 so much more 00:10:43.719 --> 00:10:44.639 for us 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:46.459 to encounter of you 00:10:46.459 --> 00:10:47.879 than we have so far. 00:10:47.879 --> 00:10:54.559 Lord, 00:10:54.600 --> 00:10:55.639 at this point in time 00:10:55.639 --> 00:10:56.659 it may be that 00:10:56.659 --> 00:10:57.799 we're in that relation 00:10:57.799 --> 00:10:58.740 with you 00:10:58.740 --> 00:10:59.500 that we don't 00:10:59.500 --> 00:11:00.379 really know you 00:11:00.379 --> 00:11:01.399 and we've never really 00:11:01.399 --> 00:11:02.519 accepted you 00:11:02.519 --> 00:11:03.399 as Lord 00:11:03.399 --> 00:11:04.439 over our lives. 00:11:05.639 --> 00:11:06.460 And yet 00:11:06.460 --> 00:11:08.200 there's something 00:11:08.200 --> 00:11:08.939 in us 00:11:08.939 --> 00:11:10.179 that says 00:11:10.179 --> 00:11:11.980 we want to know more. 00:11:11.980 --> 00:11:16.700 Lord, 00:11:16.779 --> 00:11:17.740 perhaps it may be 00:11:17.740 --> 00:11:18.480 that we've just 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:19.980 recently come to faith 00:11:19.980 --> 00:11:20.519 in you 00:11:20.519 --> 00:11:24.920 and we want 00:11:24.920 --> 00:11:25.600 to know more. 00:11:29.560 --> 00:11:30.700 Perhaps it's been 00:11:30.700 --> 00:11:32.060 that we've been 00:11:32.060 --> 00:11:32.860 following you 00:11:32.860 --> 00:11:33.460 for many, 00:11:33.620 --> 00:11:34.200 many years 00:11:34.200 --> 00:11:37.560 and we just 00:11:37.560 --> 00:11:38.680 long to know more. 00:11:41.980 --> 00:11:45.379 Lord, 00:11:45.460 --> 00:11:46.240 wherever we are 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:46.920 in our walk 00:11:46.920 --> 00:11:47.480 with you 00:11:47.480 --> 00:11:50.100 hear our prayer now 00:11:50.100 --> 00:11:52.460 as we ask you 00:11:52.460 --> 00:11:53.080 to come 00:11:53.080 --> 00:11:55.379 more into our lives 00:11:55.379 --> 00:11:57.740 to fill us more 00:11:57.740 --> 00:11:59.539 that we might 00:11:59.539 --> 00:12:00.379 know you more 00:12:00.379 --> 00:12:01.860 and keep on 00:12:01.860 --> 00:12:02.539 knowing you 00:12:02.539 --> 00:12:04.519 and growing in you 00:12:04.519 --> 00:12:06.139 and growing 00:12:06.139 --> 00:12:07.519 in more confidence 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:08.420 in you 00:12:08.420 --> 00:12:10.600 this day 00:12:10.600 --> 00:12:12.600 and every day 00:12:12.600 --> 00:12:15.960 in Jesus' name. 00:12:17.279 --> 00:12:17.720 Amen.