Colossians Series 3

Colossians Series 3

Who Is Jesus?

Steve W. Reeves

INTRODUCTION:

A. For many years we have sung a beautiful song, “Some folks may ask me, some folks

    may say, ‘who is this Jesus, you talk about day by day?’” The song, written by Sally

    Ellis, was published about 40 years ago. The question, “Who is this Jesus,” has been

    around since the first century.    

    1. Matthew 8:27 – “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey

       Him?”

    2. Matthew 16:13 – “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He

       was asking His disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’”

    3. This is the question that will not go away. It was asked by those who were

       contemporaries with Jesus and those who lived during the early years of the

       church. It has been asked by emperors and peasants, scholars and skeptics for

       generations. Our calendar is dated on Christ. Today there have been people

       gathered in every part of the earth to worship in His name.

B. This question, “Who is Jesus,” was at the heart of a great heresy that arose shortly

    after the church began.

    1. The Gnostics rejected the fleshly incarnation of Jesus. Gnostics were responsible

       for the second century document known as the Gospel of Thomas. If you saw the

       movie The DaVinci Code this was the document (written only in Coptic) that was

       cited in that novel.

    2. They did not believe it was possible for a Holy God to dwell in a fleshly form.

    3. When Paul wrote to the Colossians he addressed this false teaching by providing              one of the most precise descriptions of Jesus recorded in the New Testament.

    4. This “Christological” hymn is recorded in Colossians 1:15-20. Let us open our

       Bibles to this text and ask the question, “Who is this Jesus?”

I. HE IS THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD.

    A. The word “likeness” or “image” is from the Greek word “ikon” meaning an exact

       likeness. There is a letter from a Roman soldier to his family in which he said, “I   
       am sending you a ‘likeness’ of myself. He used this word, “icon.”

       1. When we look at Jesus we see what God is like. Why did Jesus come?

           a. To fully reveal God.

           b. Redemption – to pay a price He did not owe.

           c. To provide us an example that we should follow in his steps – 1 Peter 2:21.

       2. In John 14:9 Jesus said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.”

       3. Hebrews 1:3 says, “And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact

           representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.”

    B. In Jesus we have the opportunity to see God.

       1. To understand what God is like look at Jesus. 

       2. The baby in the straw in Bethlehem was God taking human form. We see Jesus

           raised in humble circumstances, becoming a teacher, healing the sick, reaching

           out to those who are outcasts, giving hope to hopeless, eating with sinners. What

           does this say about God?

    C. Because of who Jesus is Paul says He is the firstborn of all creation.

       1. In Jewish homes during Old Testament times the firstborn had a place of double

           Inheritance with double honor and double blessing. The firstborn had

           preeminence.

       2. When Paul says that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation He is saying that Jesus

           has supremacy over all things. He is first in position and rank. He is first in time.

           He existed before there was time.

       3. There is no one worthy of higher praise and standing than Jesus.

II. HE IS CREATOR AND SUSTAINER OF ALL THINGS.

    A. John’s gospel begins with a unique approach. In John 1:1-3 we read, “In the

       beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He  
       was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart

       from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”  Later in verse 10, “He

       was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know

       Him.”

    B. Hebrews 1:2 has the same message, “in these last days has spoken to us in His

       Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.”

    C. It is no wonder Jesus had authority over the winds and the waves in Matthew 8.

       He was the one who created them. It’s no wonder Jesus turned water into wine in

       Cana (Jn. 2).

   D. What did Jesus create? Verse 7 says “all things.” What does that leave out?

       1. Paul says Jesus created the things that are visible and invisible.

       2. Look at the mountains, seashore, sunset, and universe. “Have you ever stood at

           the ocean, seen the white foam at your feet, felt the endless, thundering motion,

           then you’ve seen Jesus my Lord.”

       3. He has not only created the visible things but also the invisible. The angels,

           principalities and powers. Look at Philippians 2:9-11 - “For this reason also, God

           highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,

          1⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven

           and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue will confess that

           Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

    E. Paul said, “In Him all things hold together.”

       1. There is a force greater than gravity. There is a power greater than the atom.

       2. That force is Christ. He is our sustainer and sufficiency. When you have a

           relationship with the creator of the universe what do you have to worry about? 

       3. Through Him there is order. Without Him there is chaos.

III. HE IS HEAD OF THE CHURCH.

    A. If Christ is the “Firstborn of all creation,” and is given supremacy in all things it

       stands to reason that when it comes to the church He is the head.

       1. Throughout the New Testament the church is described as the body of Christ.

       2. In Ephesians and Colossians he is called the “head” of the body. He is the

           guiding force, the central focus. The one without whom the body could not

           function. You may lose an arm or a leg and continue to live. You never see

           anyone living without a head!

    B. What gives Him that authority?

       1. He promised to build the church.

       2. He purchased the church.

       3. He rose from the dead. Paul says, “He is the firstborn from the dead.” He rose a

           victor from the dark domain. Deity was demonstrated by defeating death. 

    C. When we wear the name “church of Christ” please do not misunderstand what we

       are saying.

       1. We aren’t trying to be denominational or sectarian.

       2. We are seeking to be Biblical.

       3. Above all we are recognizing the supremacy of Jesus over His church.

IV. THE FULLNESS OF DEITY DWELLS IN HIM.

    A. There were some in Colossae teaching false doctrine that there was no way God

       could dwell in a fleshly body. They reasoned that all flesh was evil and there was no

       way a Holy God could have anything to do with something evil.

    B. Paul makes a special point in this letter to emphasize that the fullness of God

       dwelt in Christ.

       1. In verse 19 he said, “For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to

           dwell in Him.”

       2. Later, in Colossians 2:9 he wrote, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in

           bodily form.”

       3. Avon Malone, loved to preach and teach Colossians. He emphasized the word

           “somotikos: meaning “bodily.”

       4. Jesus was God. The fullness of God. He was man. He had a body like yours and

           mine. He was tempted like we are. He experienced emotions as we do. In Him

           God came to earth.

  

V. HE IS THE ONE WHO BRINGS RECONCILIATION BETWEEN GOD AND MAN.

     A. Notice verse 20 – “through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made

       peace through the blood of His cross; through Him.”

       1. How did He do that – He died.

       2. He did more than die. There have always been people who have died for causes

           in which they believe. Our national cemeteries are filled with the remains of

           heroic men and women who died for our freedom.

       3. Jesus did more than die. He died on the cross. That means He was cursed. The

           cross was not only a means of execution it was a sign of condemnation.

    B. On that old rugged cross Jesus did what you and I cannot do.

       1. He bridged the chasm between God and man.

       2. He brought peace out of hostility.

       3. He brought reconciliation from separation.

       4. He brought hope out of hopelessness.

     C. An estranged couple had a child who became deathly ill. As the child lay in bed

       with parents on either side he reached up and took their hands and joined them

       together across his body while pleading for them to be reconciled. On the cross

       Jesus reached up to heaven and down to earth to bring God and man together

       through His death.

CONCLUSION:

A. Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He

    grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then

    for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never owned a home. He never

    wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to

    college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles

    from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany

    greatness. He had no credentials but Himself. While still a young man, the tide of

    popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him.

    He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was

    nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners

    gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat. When He was

    dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Nineteen long

    centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and

    leader of the column of progress. I am far within the mark when I say that all the

    armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that

    ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of

    man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life. Dr. James Allan 

    Francis (1926),

B. Now, you must decide, “Who is Jesus?”