Let us now turn prayerfully to the Apostle
Paul's letter to the Colossians in chapter one
and we shall read once again this morning
verses 15 to 20.
We have already considered the opening words of
this passage but there is much else that
remains for our meditation this morning so let
us read it with earnest prayer in our
heart that the Spirit of God will give
us understanding and not only understanding but willingness
to respond to the word as it demands
response from us.
I'm going to read then from the New
International Version verses 15 to 20.
He that is Jesus Christ he is the
image of the invisible God the firstborn over
all creation for by him all things were
created things in heaven and things on earth
visible and invisible whether thrones or 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 then very particularly what's going to be
the focus of our gaze this morning and
he is the head of the body the
church he is the beginning and the firstborn
from among the dead so that in everything
he might have the supremacy for God was
pleased to have all his 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 a cross.
Now we indicated last Lord's Day that we
see our Lord Jesus Christ here in in
three contexts as it were or in three
relationships.
First of all the text speaks of his
relationship to God the Father.
He is the image of the invisible God
and that was where we were most of
the time last Lord's Day and we simply
introduced the second where our Lord Jesus Christ
is is set alongside of creation as a
whole and Paul speaks of his relationship to
the whole creation.
Now it's a very very profound statement that
we have here he's the firstborn over all
creation we considered that he has the rights
and the authority of the firstborn son he's
the heir apparent he has the right to
rule and to dispose of the whole creation
but that is brought out again in these
words for notice by him all things were
created he was the agent whereby creation sprang
into existence and if you want to ask
the question what things well Paul answers before
you ask things in heaven and things on
earth visible and invisible whether thrones or powers
or rulers or authorities all things were created
by him but now notice he ends that
sentence by adding something new all things were
created by him and for him many of
us who champion the doctrine of creation fail
to champion the doctrine that all created things
were made for him as well as by
him now let's put this in a nutshell
this morning because I'm simply referring to these
remaining elements in our Lord's relationship to the
creation let's put this in a nutshell what
have you you have health you have wealth
you have a home you have prospects you
have days and time given you you have
some influence what have you everything that was
made and therefore everything that you have was
made for him now this is before we
come to speak of Jesus Christ as redeemer
we're only thinking of him as creator and
if you acknowledge the Lord Jesus as the
creator of all things as the new testament
insists then even on the basis of his
creative work all things were not only made
by him but for him so that everything
we have is for him there's nothing that
you can call your own which is not
made for him further in this context we
should go on and say that whatever is
maintained in existence and in being your health
for example your financial situation insofar as things
are well and things are being maintained they
are being maintained for who or for me
don't you believe it for him worthy is
the lamb that was slain to receive riches
and power and glory and dominion and much
much much much else everything was made for
him and my friend if our lives and
what we are and what we possess do
not serve his purpose there is no reason
why God should maintain us in life now
it's as it's as it's as challenging as
that there is no earthly reason why you
and i should be sustained in life if
we do not fulfill the purpose for which
we were created namely to serve the son
of God and the father through the son
but that's not all there is one other
thing here he is before all things says
Paul well now he said that already and
in him all things hold together now this
is a very remarkable statement and i have
to say something about it before coming to
the point of his relationship to the church
in him everything holds together we hear a
lot today about the pending disintegration of the
universe morally things are disintegrating but according to
the prophets there is a further and a
far greater disintegration about to take place why
is it that the universe is not disintegrated
a long long time ago history according to
the scriptures history is held together by a
sovereign hand and is moving moving gradually but
decidedly toward a given end and the hand
that steers the history of the world is
the hand of the man Christ Jesus son
of God all things came into
being in and through him and form an
ordered unity in him everything coheres in him
he bears things forward toward the destiny that
he has appointed now this is a tremendous
word that you and i need to know
and we need to derive the comfort from
it that we can only find here you
know there is an adaptation in the universe
that saves it from disintegration and that adaptation
is due entirely to the lordship of Jesus
Christ over created things for their perpetuation certain
plants need certain definite insects as some of
you know if not all of you these
insects are always found in the right place
at the right time or take a little
thought like this the polar bear is able
to live where there is ice and snow
as we know full well it is kept
from slipping on the ice by having fur
even on the soles of its feet i
don't know whether i'm terribly simple i guess
i am but i couldn't stop praising God
when i first discovered that that the polar
bear has special fur under the soles of
his feet that other bears do not have
who thought of the polar bear he in
whom everything is held together and he gave
the bear a special pair of slippers the
yucca plant growing in the sahara desert and
in other places can live in the hot
dry desert because not only does it have
roots reaching deeper down into the soil than
any other roots but because it has foliage
and that foliage is is such that the
evaporation is very very slow and prolonged and
the minutest little bit of moisture will remain
for a long long time who put the
yucca plant in the sahara our lungs are
adapted to the air we breathe and our
eyes to the light we see and so
forth who's responsible for this adaptation who holds
us together where we are and where we've
been placed we would die in another atmosphere
who is the lord of all creation this
too of course is also true of daily
events of history here too things are not
what they appear to be we are often
challenged by the confusion that seems to be
rampant but a guiding hand is is there
though nowhere visible instead of seeing a guiding
hand we hear a cry a shriek of
anguish the newspapers are full of accounts of
murder bloodshed rape people crying for their rights
and unaware of their responsibilities one section battling
against another somebody parading for this or for
that and others trampled in the business if
we compare the wheel of the universe to
a machine we might well say that its
gear teeth don't seem to mesh to be
sure one day in the far flung distant
future and many of us refer to this
and it's about our only hope one day
in the far flung distant future all will
be harmony the wolf shall dwell with a
lamb and the leopard shall lie down with
a kid and the calf and the young
lion and the fatling together and a little
child shall lead them they shall not hurt
nor destroy in all my holy mountain for
the earth shall be filled with the knowledge
of the lord as the waters cover the
sea and we rejoice to think of that
but wait a moment my friend is it
true that there is no order in the
universe at the moment is it not right
that we should think of the universe at
the moment and of history at the moment
more as we see well let me give
you an illustration i was visiting someone the
other day and the lady of the house
was making a little carpet by hand a
little rug i should say and she had
it rolled up and she brought it out
to show us and of course the but
the underside was facing us looking at it
from the underside as she was showing it
to my wife first there wasn't very much
to look at in fact it was just
a dab of color here and a dab
of color here and some loose ends here
and some loose ends there it just didn't
make sense when we saw it from the
other side it was quite a different story
true it wasn't completed yet but it was
a thing of beauty it was a thing
of artistry it was it was a beauty
to behold and i believe that that is
what the bible wants us to see there
are many knots untied looking at things from
our human vantage point but there is a
tapestry in process of being made and being
woven together and there's a divine hand of
the divine purpose on yonder side that we
cannot as yet see or if you want
to change the the picture sometimes life looks
to us as if everything's going to pieces
it's just like the experience of standing in
an international airport and the planes are coming
in and going out one every minute of
or often than that and you wonder what's
going to happen next with all the noise
but there's someone in the tower even though
the folk in the tower the controls are
human and frail and fallible nevertheless things are
as they are because they are there my
friends the apostle paul wants us to see
that he the son of god that made
all things is holding the whole cosmos together
and history together so that at long last
when he's put the finishing touches on things
we shall have nothing but order and all
the loose strings and the unrelated strings will
be tied up or done away with and
cast in the fire now against that
background we come to the third main feature
here jesus christ in relation to the church
now i want you to notice paul passes
so naturally from the one to the other
and there's something here there's a principle here
you see we can so easily separate this
material world this present history from things spiritual
and things eternal and we can often drive
wedges between things that are not separated in
the purpose of god as our wonderful picture
to behold our lord as the lord of
everything of every sphere of the material order
of history here and now and there and
then of the moral and the spiritual as
well as the material he's lord of both
worlds this is a precious gain when our
hearts fail us on the borderline between the
two worlds for one thing it sanctifies nature
to us and it makes its immeasurable heights
and depths at once safe and radiant with
the name of jesus it connects the remotest
age of the past with him it connects
the remotest star in the sky with him
it bids us when we feel as if
we are lost in the enormity of space
and time fall back upon the center with
a capital c the center of both of
them and the source of both of them
and the lord of both of them and
rest in his arms kauper was right all
things are under one one spirit his who
wore the plaited thorns with bleeding brow rules
universal nature with his name the traveler can
rejoice in the glories of the mountain forest
and the flood not worshiping nature but nature's
lord and you and i in our service
of worship as we speak of it on
the lord's day can worship the same redeemer
seeing him very especially in his redemptive ministrations
to the lost sons and daughters of men
and so we come to his relationship to
the church he is the head of the
body of the church the church within the
general creation the creation at large history at
large and beyond history likewise is the church
the church of jesus christ comprises men and
women called out of every kindred and every
age to be messiah's people some were called
out before he ever came into this world
he called them he chose them he made
them his own abram rejoiced to see my
day why because abram received the call in
him he called them out during his incarnate
ministry here upon earth and he called men
and women out after he'd gone back to
heaven by his apostles and he still calls
men and women to himself by the word
of the gospel and the spirit that he
sent forth jesus christ calls men and women
to himself now many of those that he's
called to himself to be his people his
redeemed have passed beyond the realm of space
and time to go to be with their
lord that's the church the church can be
legitimately spoken of and i think is in
paul's mind here envisaged as the new creation
alongside of the natural creation and what he
wants us to see is this that jesus
christ is lord not only of the material
order and of history generally as we speak
of it but but he is lord of
destiny and he is lord of the spiritual
realm he is lord of the church as
well as lord of the world this is
marvelous you see when you have spiritual problems
you don't need to ask your god to
go to another god who is lord over
the universe and try to come to terms
with him the things should be better for
you he can communicate with you because he's
lord of nature and he's lord of life
it's the same lord over both spheres the
church is one foundation is jesus christ her
lord she is his new creation by water
and the word paul thought of the church
as humanity made anew through jesus christ as
the new english bible rendering of 2 corinthians
5 17 makes very clear it goes when
anyone is united to christ there is a
new world the old order has gone the
new order has already begun any man in
christ any woman in christ there's a new
world don't we know what that is brothers
and sisters rejoice in your hearts even if
you don't want to shout about it if
you know what it is to be brought
from death to life rejoice and give thanks
to god in your hearts at this moment
a new creation and christ is the lord
of it he brought men and women into
it he keeps men and women in it
and he will bring men and women to
the ultimate end and goal of the church
as he will bring the material order to
its appointed destiny he's lord of both but
now notice the church is related to jesus
christ in a special way and it's put
here in language that we so easily gloss
over and it's too familiar for us it
blinds us he he says that the church
is related to jesus christ as the human
body the torso is related to the physical
head now i want to do something very
prosaic this morning before we come to that
and i i hope you'll forgive me for
doing it but i just want to read
from the pen of someone who should know
what is this relationship between the head the
physical and the human torso the human body
listen to these words now they're not mine
in a human individual it is to the
head that the body in large measure owes
its vigorous life and growth from the pituitary
gland housed in a small cavity located in
the base of the skull comes the growth
hormone and several other hormones this hormone is
known to be closely related to the health
and growth and of of connective tissue cartilage
and bone consider also the other functions of
the head those related in large measure to
guidance it is in the head that the
organs of special sense are mainly located the
brain receives impulses from the outside world and
from inside the body it that is the
brain organizes and intercepts these impulses it thinks
it reacts and this both voluntarily and involuntarily
thus it guides and directs the actions of
an individual in the cerebrum are located among
other things the areas that control the various
parts of the body the cerebellum has been
called the coordinator and harmonizer of muscular action
unquote the medulla controls such action as winking
sneezing coughing chewing sucking swallowing etc etc here
also the cardiac center regulates the rate of
the heartbeat whilst the respiratory center is in
charge of the activity of the respiratory organs
and all this in the head what's this
man saying what he's saying is this that
the physical body is largely governed and ruled
and guided and directed by the head and
paul takes hold of this image and he
says jesus christ is the body of which
you are the head did he say that
no he did not he said you are
the body the church is the body of
which he is the head he's the ruler
he's the lord he's the guide he's the
director he's the sustainer he's the master that's
how it was meant to be the inspiring
ruling guiding combining sustaining power the mainspring of
its activity the center of its unity and
the seat of its life is in the
head says bishop lightfoot to add another testimony
and all these things reside alone in the
christ whom god has appointed to be the
head of the church now that meant of
course in this particular context that since christ
is the organic and the ruling head of
the church then it doesn't the church is
not dependent on any creature angelic or otherwise
you remember that in colossus they were trying
to introduce the worship of angels or semi
-worship if there is such a thing they
were bringing angels in and wanting to give
them some honor and some prestige not given
in the new testament some kind of angels
unknown save in this in in this kind
of setting you don't need them you don't
need them says paul because everything was made
by our lord jesus christ and he is
the head of the body the ruler the
governing factor wesley was right you see when
he sang thou oh christ art all i
want more than all in thee i find
you don't need to go outside of him
and get some other little angel from here
or somebody else from there and bring them
together to help the lord jesus to do
his work he's enough he's adequate he's lord
now that jesus christ is head and thus
lord of the church is stressed by the
additional statement he is the beginning and the
first born of the dead and let me
hurry here he's the beginning and the first
born of the dead he's the beginning again
we have a technical word here and uh
the clusters and is not theirs though it
is in them the life did not originate
in them it doesn't belong to them ultimately
it is not their life it is the
life of the vine it is in them
but they didn't put it there jesus christ
has given us life and he keeps his
life in us and we say it is
ours and it is right that we should
say that it is ours but it is
only right that we should say that it
is ours because we are in christ in
christ it is life in christ considered as
the beginning then jesus christ is not to
be thought of as simply the first flower
that blossomed in the garden of the church
but rather he is rather the root whence
every other sprig and flower emerged he's the
root of all things he's the beginning in
that sense now jesus christ is the also
here designated to be the first from the
dead and if time permitted i would have
wanted to say a number of things about
that but i must just summarize what i
wanted to say what does this mean what
is really stressed here well it's not quite
accurate to put it like this there are
many things stressed there but i think the
main thing that paul wants to refer to
is this jesus christ is the is the
first born from among the dead in this
sense he's the first born to leave the
territory of the dead never more to go
back oh there were people who were raised
from the dead before jesus was conceived in
the virgin's womb a child of the shunamite
woman in two kings you remember and there
are others maybe in the old testament that
were brought to life before jesus was born
but they died again the dear shunamite had
to see her she if she lived long
enough she had to go to the funeral
of her son he was brought back to
life but he went back again to death
so did lazarus in the days of our
lord he was brought back to life and
you say that's wonderful i'd like a lazarus
experience well all right but i'm not so
excited about a lazarus experience because lazarus had
to die again but our lord jesus went
into the darkness of the grave and was
buried and the royal seal of rome was
on the stone he was buried and done
with and to be forgotten by all and
sundry but up from the grave he arose
with a mighty triumph for his foes he
arose a victor from the dark domain and
he lives forever with his saints to reign
hallelujah christ arose and so the writer of
the epistle to the hebrews is able to
say because he ever liveth he is able
to make intercession for us and that's why
he says he's able to save to the
uttermost those that come to god by him
you see he lives evermore in the power
of an endless life death has no claim
upon him he's not going back into the
grave again my lord will not go under
six feet of sod again he'll not be
buried again he's come out never more to
go back and he stands according to the
language of saint john in his apocalypse with
the keys of hell and of death dangling
to his loins did you ever see another
with those keys never men and women young
men and young maidens there is none other
like your lord jesus christ get to know
him you will travel the world over and
you will not see anyone worthy to be
a shadow of him thus our lord occupies
a place of unique headship and lordship in
relation to the church he's the beginning and
the end the creator and the perfecter the
donor of eternal life to begin with and
the pattern of the perfect redemption with which
our eternal life will conclude in due course
and lastly the fact of our lord supreme
and sovereign relation to the universe and to
the church has a purposeful end in view
so what you say you've talked about all
this well now one could apply it in
a myriad ways but there is one way
in which it is applied here so that
in everything he should have the pre-eminence
in everything what do you mean we'll start
with the individual in the way we think
of him in the way we talk about
him in the way we pray to the
father through him in the way we worship
him in the way we represent him to
other people that in all things as individuals
and as groups of people he should have
the pre-eminence he's the icon of god
the image of god in his essential nature
he's the lord of the universe it began
in him and it will end with him
and he keeps it moving until it comes
to its destiny and he's the lord of
the church the head of the body now
paul does something here i i don't know
whether this fascinates me more than it would
anybody else but you know i like to
see paul unable to stop he's quite unable
to stop here the language the grammar makes
it absolutely clear paul's thoughts seem to be
able seem quite unable to stop because logically
his argument reached its climax with those closing
words in verse 18 that in all things
he might have the pre-eminence now logically
and grammatically everything was leading up to this
climax what for for this that in everything
he should have the pre-eminence well now
you've stopped you've come to the end of
your subject start with a new one you
know paul couldn't i like that i like
that you see he was no cold calculated
uh armchair philosopher or theologian but he was
a worshiper the late bishop handley moon was
quite right when he said of the apostle
paul he is more an adoring theologian than
anything else and perhaps this is something that
theologians need to learn how to adore unfortunately
when some of them have gone through their
disciplines there's very little left to adore but
the apostle paul adored and in his adoration
the subject he's already finished comes back again
and he adds this i want you to
see it even though he can't stay with
it for god was pleased to have all
his 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 a cross
now really that's an afterthought that that he
puts in after putting the period in its
place it's a recapitulation now let me just
say two or three things about it and
we are through this morning all the fullness
of god was pleased to dwell in him
can i just make these statements with a
minimum of comment god dwelt in jesus christ
dwelt in him the fullness of god dwelt
in jesus christ not a bit of him
not a shadow of him but the pleroma
and that's a special word the whole fullness
of god all the fullness of god dwelt
in him now when you've used the word
pleroma there's no need to add any adjective
but all is tautology the word all because
pleroma means everything nothing left out but you
see paul no new our our temptation we
wouldn't see it and so he brings in
his tautology and yet tautology and he repeats
and he says all the fullness you people
open your eyes not just i want you
to get it you see all the fullness
of the god had dwelt in in him
wait a moment there's one other thing i
haven't said god was pleased that all his
fullness should dwell in him god was pleased
jesus did not rob anything of the fullness
of god to have it in himself and
squeeze it into himself as it were and
get a some sort of an outpost of
rebellion against the father that was not him
he didn't cry for his rights let me
have this or use intrigue let me have
that no that was not him at all
but the father was pleased that all his
fullness should dwell in him and there's one
other thing to say i nearly forgot that
word to dwell means taking up permanent residence
we have people come here and they change
their addresses so often dear people we love
to have you however often you change your
addresses but it's difficult to keep up with
some people's addresses but i want to tell
you that my lord jesus christ is the
repository of all the pleroma of god and
that pleroma will never change its address it
will only be in him for all eternity
last of all there is reference here to
all the vastness of the reconciliation that was
accomplished by him now i can't start with
this through him to reconcile to himself all
things whether things in earth or things in
heaven by making peace through the blood of
his cross can i just say one thing
and one only and it's perhaps not the
most important but it gives you a picture
our lord jesus christ brought angels and men
together things in heaven and things on earth
this is not everything there are many other
things perhaps more important left out jesus christ
took upon him the nature of men but
he originally enjoyed what we may perhaps speak
of as the condition and state of angels
is that not what paul had in mind
when he said the first man was of
the earth earthy the second man was the
lord from heaven the savior was a native
of the world where the angels have their
home thus though men may claim that the
reconciler of sinners took upon himself their nature
the angels might claim with equal propriety that
he hailed from their country but in him
angels and men have their meeting point more
specifically angels and men are reconciled by his
blood and appear in the same kingdom in
the same spirit and this is the picture
i live with you you can read it
when you go home in revelation chapter 5
verses 8 to 10 and you come into
the very sanctuary of heaven and in the
center is the throne of god and of
the lamb and around the throne of god
and of the lamb you see redeemed men
and women of every nation clime people tongue
etc and there they are blessing god and
praising and worshiping ah but didn't you see
i hope you've seen it before if you
haven't seen it before see it today around
the circle of the redeemed is the circle
of angels and archangels and they're in the
same place they have the same center of
gravity their hearts and their eyes are moving
in the same direction what's more they sing
the same song though the saints sing something
they do not but what i want you
to see is this that angels and men
have been reconciled and are united in the
same place singing together the glories of the
lamb their song is one here it is
thou hast redeemed us to god by thy
blood and thou hast made us kings and
priests to god say the saints but there
then is something there is something in the
song of the saints which is not in
the song of the angels worthy art thou
cry the angels worthy art thou to take
the book and to open the seals thereof
the seven seals thereof for thou wast slain
the angels lead in the chorus worthy is
the lamb that was slain to receive power
and riches etc their song is one their
song is one they dwell together around the
same object but the saints have this one
note to their praise that angels have not
what is it this thou hast redeemed us
to god by thy blood and has made
us kings and priests unto god and his
father reconciled and prepared to take their places
that's heaven they're all there they're all rejoicing
and they're rejoicing to take their stations according
to god's appointment and not argue with the
divine appointment that angels should serve men as
they serve god in the glory you know
this makes me feel so ashamed of myself
and so ashamed of many of my fellow
christians that we cannot take the humble position
that god has anointed and appointed for us
oftentimes we can't be the messengers the angels
we've got to be next to the throne
or nothing may god have mercy on us
but here he has reconciled all things to
himself and here in the glory they're all
prepared to take their place and this is
heaven and that heaven came into being only
by the redeeming work of the one who
was the image of the father the lord
of creation the head of the church so
what that in all things he might have
the preeminence that we should trust him that
we should worship him that we should represent
him and count it the privilege so to
do even to suffer for his name's sake
oh may the lord thus enable us in
this confusing age to his glory and to
his praise amen almighty god our father your
word finds its way into our deep most
souls and its principles has a way of
barbing our consciences that have sometimes got very
dull in particular oh lord do we feel
this morning the need to have such an
understanding of the person and the greatness and
the glory of our savior that we can
trust him and see that we can trust
him and realize that when the purveyors of
other alleged deities or messiahs come and knock
at our doors we have him who is
the first and the and in the knowledge
of him we have a salvation that is
both past present and future covers everything and
we are filled to the full in him
oh lord enable us as a people and
as individuals today enable us we pray to
begin to see things clearer so that our
lord may fill the horizons of our lives
satisfy the deepest yearnings of our souls and
drawing from him such grace as you have
promised we may come to know the reality
and authenticity of the faith which is in
him lead us on our way with this
in mind for jesus sake we pray amen