chapter one. Just wanted to get a little audience participation. How many of you are first born children?
Oh, we have a good, we have a good, we have a good group. All right, that's going to play into the passage. One of the things that I always try to understand is the context into which Paul is writing, and particularly when he's writing to the Colossians. Now Colossi is a city that is in from Ephesus. Ephesus was the big city. Colossus was a church plant out of Ephesus, we would say, but it is a city that gets its own letter from Paul. Now, I think that the context in which he writes is something that is important both for our generation as we look back and say, okay, that was the issue he was addressing it, but then how does that issue in dealing with who Jesus Christ is? How does that facing that issue in the first century? How does that face it in the 21st century? Now, one of the things in my studies in looking at this passage, and I'm going to read beginning of verse 15 in a few minutes, understanding the context in which Paul and that early church planted those churches, the religious context, the people that they were evangelizing. In this culture that was very religious, but yet as scholars have pointed out, they were all basically failed religions because at that time, apart from one that I'll mention in a moment, they were all state religions, but all of them had been conquered by the Romans. Their gods had not protected them, their gods had not made them supreme. You think about the area that we're looking at in that part of Turkey, which was part of greater Greece, they had at one time been the top dog. They had conquered Egypt in 1333. They had pushed forward and conquered Persia with something that the Romans never could do. They pushed all the way to the gateways of India. When I was in Afghanistan, there are still people who worship the Greek gods that Alexander and his army left in Afghanistan. That is the power of what they left and what they did, but yet they had lost their own. Now, this passage in dealing with the incarnation, we need to understand, and this is what I think is kind of the uniqueness of this passage. Is it oftentimes Paul and others will write against the counterfeits that they knew they had to deal with? And we have to understand that the counterfeits of an incarnate God were something that had happened throughout the Roman history. It didn't just begin with Julius Caesar who when he introduced himself, he was the son of Venus. Now, I want to connect some historical dots before we jump into the passage. Julius Caesar and then a man named Mark Anthony who was the incarnate of Dionysius, which his scholars say was the first individualistic. Hear me when I say that, individualistic Greek God because the way you got in touch with Dionysius was by getting drunk and by dancing, but you could experience that God individually as opposed to all the other ones were corporate. But Mark Anthony was declared by the Ephesians to be the incarnate of Dionysius. But now we know that the common link other than being in charge of Rome for a while, for those two was a woman named Cleopatra. Cleopatra, Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony were all considered to be incarnates. In other words, God in the flesh, they made that claim. I cannot emphasize enough to you in my mind again how Egyptian theology influenced what we think of as European Greek and Roman theology. We know that that happened both at the time of Moses and at the time of Paul. And so when you see the gospel being formed and being written in the background, or what are the counterfeits they've got to deal with? Because you and I know that we have to deal with counterfeit religions every day, don't we? We have to deal with things that are claims that aren't true. So when we think about the incarnates that were popular that we think about, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra and Mark Anthony, what would be the popular image of an incarnate of God made flesh? Self-centered power, completely about themselves. Think about that. So when Paul comes along and tries to present Jesus Christ, what are we going to see here? We're going to see one, he is the first born over creation, and two, he is the first born of the dead. He comes to sacrifice himself. It's not about us and him. It's what he is giving us initially. He is attacking in the description here that we're going to read a second. The counterfeit images that would have been in what we think of as popular cultural theology of the day, what the person on the street might have been looking for because they hope they had this vain hope that if some God would come down and just take care of things and win the battle and provide for them. Because of the defeat of the state religions, there was a great interest in redemption. But again, we're dealing with in the Greek ideas and the popular image around Colossus and that part of Turkey, what we think of as counterfeit ideas about redemption. So when Paul is writing saying, here is what Jesus Christ really did. So we come to the 21st century in trying to explain into our culture when basically people come up with, you know, that's one of the great things about America with our religious freedoms. We have created a lot of religious ideas that are counterfeits that make people feel comfortable but aren't true. And so we come back to what who is Jesus Christ because as we come to the table, we have to be able to see Christ, not just the elements. We have to see Christ. We have to see through faith what He has done for us. Now let me begin to read in verse 15. He is the image of the invisible God, the first born over all creation, for by Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, what the thrones and powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by Him and for Him. 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 of the first born from among the dead so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all the fullness dwell in Him 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. Now some of the commentators think that this was what we might think of as an early confession of faith. When you look at this, it says quite a bit in a very short amount of space about who Jesus Christ is. It basically answers a lot of questions that you might say, well, what about this and what about that? When I look at this passage, you have two major questions that people are concerned with being answered in the person of Jesus Christ. What do you do with reality that's here? The reality is that something is here and so we have the whole issue of creation and then we have people's relationships so you have the whole issue of a new community. Yes, people could see in the failed states and the failed religion, the broken relationships, the conquering, the slavery, all the inhumanity of men. They knew that community was broken. They long to have that ideal place just like today. People long because they know things are broken and so you have this desire for redemption but what does redemption really look like and that's what the person of Jesus Christ who He is and what Paul is telling us here what He's going to do. So you've got that two issue, creation and community and that community is a redeemed one that is at peace. It is reconciled through the blood of Christ which leads us then to the cup of the covenant which is my blood shed for the forgiveness of many. It gets us ready when we look at who Jesus Christ is.
This afternoon I had the privilege to start the Communicance class and one of the things I told them that when I was in seminary I did was I taught five year olds Sunday school which was probably one of the best parts of my seminary education of how do you take those words and help people understand the words and so with junior high and elementary school today to take those words and help them understand those words because isn't that what scripture is all about being able to confess using words to describe a relationship using words to describe a reality. That's why we believe that this is the word of God and so to take it seriously and to use it and to pay attention and so when he begins this whole area of what I would think of as the first port of all creation he says he is the image of the invisible God. Now from a Jewish perspective you're going to flash back to the 10 commandments because why were we not allowed why were they not allowed to have images in their religious worship because God's invisible he is not part of the creation you can't use the created order to explain them but but here is Christ he is the image he is God in the flesh he is fully God he is that lone image of who God is but yet he is chosen to be described in terms of that image he goes all the way back to the beginning of Genesis the first port of all creation now that word firstborn I was talking to the students about English language and translation one of the things that this year is that we'll see more and more scholarship and articles this is the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible and we're going to learn how that was translated how important was because of the limitation of language then compared to today and the choices to translate words that they couldn't figure out okay how do you translate that one of the articles I read and said that the Jewish people owe the word Passover the people that created the King James created that English word Passover to describe the satyr and to describe that whole thing I mean we used words that were so used to using but we have to remember at some point they began and some translators said okay we're going to use that and we get that in our mind when we look at the word firstborn we have to realize that this is a word that means premiere it has nothing to do with birth the first it's like the first born is the one who gets all the inheritance and see that is different when you think about the incarnates who became the Caesars because they were all adopted whereas Jesus Christ is the first born he is the real thing he is the image of the invisible God over all creation now what we in today's world understand the claims that that's making against a lot of the the opinions of the day to come out and say how is he describing God and he strives God Jesus Christ in terms of the creator for by him it says all things were created now that that's a pretty straight statement is in all things doesn't give you a lot of wiggle room see he is the one who created all things so he is not the one who was created he came into the creation through Mary he was born but he was eternal things in heaven and things on earth visible and invisible now today we we certainly know more about what we think of as invisible when we think about nanotechnology and how small people can look and cut and do things and we can look into atoms and sub at particles and all that kind of stuff but Paul basically reminds us that it really is all things and then you come to this next part or powers or rulers or authorities all things were created by him and for him it's as if he has the sandwich of all things that he wants you to realize you can't get out of this this Jesus Christ is the creator that's who he is presented at and they argue that in the first century we would argue that in the 21st century if you can't buy into that then in some sense you are rewriting who Jesus Christ is not who he is presented to be and that's part of what it means to trust and faith to really say I don't necessarily understand everything because you know what I only understand the visible world I cannot imagine something not existing right when you think of something not existing as soon as you think about it up you've got an image that's doesn't count you know Francis J for used to use the word nothing nothing and it was just try to use something to say okay we can't think that way because we only have experienced the created universe and Jesus Christ the one who is the image of the invisible God created it all that's that little sandwich that's right there in terms of the set and structure he is before all things in him all things hold together he's still involved he wasn't created because that was one of the things about the Roman and the Greek gods and the Egyptian gods they were kind of off in their own world but here is a god who sustains it it is involved in it but then he turns we've looked at the first born over all creation now we're going to look at the first born from among the dead but he starts off talking about the church he is the head of the body of the church think about the creator creating a redeemed community that's what the message is here the Romans would have known about slavery and all the things that went on to create an empire all the extravagance at the top all the suffering at the bottom he is the beginning and the first born from among the dead how many passages would Paul write talking about the centrality and the need to believe in the resurrection the dead is one of those fundamental statements of faith that we have to have
one of the things with our young people in the classes we're creating a vocabulary list so they understand the words and and think about resurrection you know writing out a definition for resurrection is one thing but getting your head around and say that that god really did that that someone who was really dead was raised from the dead and now is it the right hand of the father and think about who we are presenting and how what that's what this is in a statement of faith when we come to the table we believe that it is the living lord who is the host of this table
the first born from among the dead that is one of the greatest comforts for those who have lost loved ones to know that there is a possibility that there will be a reunion both in heaven and at the resurrection because it's not that we're just going to have a resurrected spirit but we will have a resurrected body and when you think about the resurrection that he's the first born of the dead that he's talking about a resurrection body that could be touched that he could eat then was raised up into into heaven so that in everything he might have supremacy you have to understand in his day the political and religious power of that simple claim look at it in everything see again there's no wiggle room he uses a word that he wants you to understand the claim of who Jesus Christ is that he is supreme there's nothing higher see it's not just like being elected president or being elected emperor of the world or something like that it is it is going against with Julius Caesar Cleopatra Mark Anthony and all the other Julian Caesar's did claim to be god and god and he's saying no he is above mall now we generally do not have people politically or religiously going around claiming to be god today but we do have people with ideas and things that want to claim supremacy and what this passage tells us what it reminds us as we come to the table so that in everything he might have the supremacy that's why he died that's why he shed his blood that's why we have the cup of the covenant that's why he gives us his body which is broken for us given for us but notice how it's explained in verse 20 when we think about the first born from among the dead so that through him to reconcile to himself all things things on earth things in heaven and how do you make that reconciliation look at the end of that making peace through his blood shed on the cross we come and we proclaim his death until he comes again that death that is his shed blood that is the proclamation that he came to make peace so that things might be reconciled to himself someday we will see the reconciliation of creation back to the creator not just the resurrection of our bodies but someday there will be a recreation a transformation that we can only imagine because we can only imagine the world that we live in the brokenness and fallenness of creation as well as our own lives and our own communities to realize he came to reconcile that he made peace through his blood shed on the cross I asked the students let me see I only have one of my students here what what's the word blood mean there so we had two two young students who said well it's a liquid that carries the oxygen and it's red and then you had another student who was in the eighth grade said well isn't it often used symbolically and I said here is a word that is used both literally because he really did die he really did shed his blood on the cross didn't he that's what we proclaim and say but yet the shedding of the blood had meaning beyond the event because it was for reconciliation it was to make peace and so when we think about teaching young people teaching other people to read the Bible to look at and say yes it is literal but yet it has a meaning beyond the literal that the cross happened that a man died that he had a spear shoved in his side that is reality but what did it mean because of who he was that he was the incarnate son of God that he was the creator that he was made like us except without sin his death takes on a greater meaning that here is described in terms of reconciliation and creating peace so you have both the literal event that then has transcendent meaning and so we think about both the time that that Paul was writing and people that were starving for redemption and we you know you asked my students they can tell you about brokenness in the world and about the need for redemption they understand they get it most people today get it about the need for redemption they see the brokenness they see the need for peace and so when Jesus Christ is presented to us in this passage and in this meal it's the first born overall creation and the first born from among the dead that it's there to stand against the counterfeit claims of any generation any culture it is a clear presentation of who Jesus Christ is because there are counterfeits there are counterfeits in the church and out of the church now because we're thinking about Cleopatra we're thinking about the things maybe that happened in Egypt and we think about the 12% of the people in Egypt that are Christians one of the most powerful images that either side may remember is last Friday not this past Friday but the previous Friday Christians surrounded the Muslims on Friday while they prayed Muslims surrounded the Christians on Sunday while they worshipped that in that quiet revolution or however it's going to be remembered those people on the street protected somebody different than them so they can worship freely in a Muslim country in a Muslim culture that has a deep rooted Christian part of it you have to remember Christians were there for six or 700 years before the Arabs came if you remember the Arabs conquered Egypt's Egyptians will remind you of that
but think about the possibilities but to still go back and into deal with who is Jesus Christ he is the image of the invisible God that is what some people have a hard time wrapping their head around that here he is born of the virgin that he is fully God and fully man and that's what makes this meal so powerful is that it's something he has given to us to proclaim his death until he comes again I want to end with verse 19 for God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him do you see that the Trinity do you see God working together for our salvation that the incarnation is his idea it's his activity we think about Jesus Christ we can't think of Jesus of God light we can't think of a some kind of a second-class deity verse 19 for God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him to tabernacle in him in John's words
so that when we pray to God through Jesus Christ we enter in his presence through Jesus Christ because he's the one who's created the reconciliation he's the one who has created the peace through his shed blood we really come into the very presence of God so to look through all the counterfeits sometimes those counterfeits are emotional when you touch and taste the elements that we're going to give you after we pray after we say the words you know it's not a spell this is not Hogwarts where we say words and things happen we talk about the very presence of God that words have meaning and there are counterfeit words and there are true words and so when we utter the words that were given to us to take a simple meal proclaim his death until he comes again I mean think about the hooks that this gives us of looking back to the cross looking forward to his coming again but yet he is the first born of the dead he is the head of the church he is our head he's given us this simple meal so let me pray and then the elders who are going to help serve can come forward
Jesus we are a struck in awe with the simple description given to us here in Colossians we pray that we would see through the words to see you as you are as you are revealed as you truly are and not as we might want to recreate you help us to see the real you to understand your revelation to know that the fullness of God dwells in you Jesus and that was something that please God the Father Father sometimes today you know when we face the counterfeits the false claims
we know that it seems hard because the false claims seem so heavy and so pervasive and so popular but Jesus when we think about creation we have to remember that that is one of the big issues of who you are it is not something we can sweep under the carpet and ignore because it's it's hard to live with and help us to remember that you are the first born among the dead that you are the resurrected one again in a world that has a hard time accepting that and so now tonight we pray that you would send your spirit use the word of God to strengthen and encourage our hearts help us to touch and taste these elements we pray that you would use them as a sacrament of grace
that we might proclaim the death of Jesus Christ until he comes again we pray these things Jesus in your most holy name. Amen.