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Trust in Christ Alone (Colossians 1:15-23)

What does it mean to believe in something or to trust in something or to have faith in something?  Often when we say that we "believe" something we mean that we accept it to be a fact.  Christians often say, "I believe Jesus died for me.  I believe Jesus saved me."  But what if we don't actually believe it?  Or what if we don't actually believe it all the time?  What if those of us who call ourselves "believers" also wrestle with unbelief?

The apostle Paul was a man who followed Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago in the 1st century.  He started off as one who hated and murdered Christians but his life was changed when Jesus Christ met him on one of his travels.  This was life changing because Paul believed Jesus was a fraud and was dead.  This experienced confirmed to him that Jesus was who he said he was.

Paul wrote many letters to other followers of Jesus who either needed correction, further teaching, or encouragement.  One letter he wrote was to the believers in the city of Colossae.  There was a teaching going around that they needed Jesus plus other things.  People were saying, "If you want to be close with God, you need more than Jesus.  If you want to be right with God and accepted by him, you need more than Jesus.  If you want to have a rich and full spiritual life, you need more than Jesus."  Paul's response to that, in essence, is: "Look nowhere else!  Jesus is everything."

In Colossians 1:15-23, Paul quotes an ancient hymn about who Jesus is and what he has done in order to exhort the believers in Colossae to continue trusting in Christ alone.  The big question this passage answers is: why should we trust in Christ alone?  The answer comes in the three parts of the hymn (1:15-20) followed by Paul's exhortation (1:21-23).

Christ Alone Is Our Creator (Colossians 1:15-17)

Christ is affirmed as the image of the invisible God.  Whereas humans are created in the image of the invisible God (Gen 1:26-27), Jesus is the image of the invisible God.  We are like God, but Jesus is God.  In Christ, we see the glory of God - the full weight of his being (Jn 1:14; 2 Cor 4:6; Heb 1:3).

As the exact image of God, equal with him in divine nature and glory, he is the "firstborn of all creation."  Rather than saying Jesus was the first of God's creations, "firstborn" means Jesus holds a privileged status over all creation.  He is Lord of creation.

Why does Jesus have this status of Lord over all creation? Because, all things were created "in him", "through him", and "for him."  In other words, if you make a list of everything that has been created, there would not be a list of things under Jesus and a list of things under someone else.  All things are in the Jesus list, including what we can't see - the angelic or spiritual realm.  Everything owes its existence to him because all things were created through him.  And at the same time, all things were created for him.

The big question this passage answers is: why should we trust in Christ alone?  The answer these verses give us is: Because as our Creator, we can trust him alone for our identity and purpose.  As our Creator, Jesus is the only one who can answer two of the most fundamental questions: who are we and why are we here?

But often instead of believing in Creator Jesus, we believe in "break in case of emergency Jesus."  Those boxes in public buildings that have fire extinguishers in them sometimes say, "Break in case of emergency."  Most of the time those boxes are irrelevant to us and we just walk by them without noticing.  But when there is a fire or other emergency, suddenly we are looking for them.  We can treat Jesus like this.  Instead of being relevant to all of life because he defines who we are and why we are here, we only go to him when we have an emergency.

Christ Alone Is Our Everything (Colossians 1:17-18a)

These verses are at the center of the hymn and are the central message of the hymn.  "He is before all things" sums up who Jesus is as Creator: he is before all things because he created all things and thus is above all things.  "He is the head of the body, the church" summarizes what is about to be said in 1:18b-1:20.  These verses affirm Jesus as the Redeemer who makes new creation possible.  He is Lord of creation and new creation.

The second part of verse 17 summarizes the whole hymn: "in him all things hold together."  He is the center of everything.  Everything makes sense in him, both creation and new creation.  As Creator and Redeemer, he is Lord of all things.

The big question this passage answers is: why should we trust in Christ alone?  The answer in these verses is: Because as our everything, we can trust him alone for everything.  If you want to know who you are, look to Christ.  If you want to know your purpose, look to Christ,  If you want to be saved, look to Christ.  If you want to be changed, look to Christ.  If you want to know God, look to Christ.  He is everything.  Look nowhere else besides to Christ.

But often instead of believing in "everything Jesus", we believe in "diet plan Jesus."  Often we commit to diet plans out of necessity and don't really enjoy them.  We submit to them but begrudgingly because it means we have to give up lots of foods we enjoy eating.  Sometimes we declare a "cheat day" when we just do what we want.  We can view following Jesus as giving up all the things we enjoy and so we do it begrudgingly.  Perhaps we will declare a "cheat day" and just do what we want for some relief from the difficulty.  But Jesus is our everything!  We aren’t giving up all the good things in life by following him.  We are getting the best thing in life!

Christ Alone Is Our Redeemer (Colossians 1:18b-20)

Yes, Jesus created everything and it was good, but humanity chose to rebel against God and so we have alienated ourselves from the source of life.  We and all of creation are broken by sin.  We need to be rescued.  All of creation needs to be made new.

Jesus is the beginning of this new creation because he was the firstborn from the dead (1:18b).  Here there is a temporal significance to the word "firstborn" because Jesus was the first to be raised from the dead.  This temporal reality also gives him a privilege status.  He is the Lord of new creation.  He is the one who makes it possible. The result of Christ’s resurrection is that he is preeminent - supreme, the first, the highest, the one who surpasses all - in everything.

Why is this?  Verse 19 gives two reasons: 1) because in him all the fullness of God was pleased (i.e. chose) to dwell and 2) because through him all the fullness of God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things.  Just as God's presence chose to dwell in the temple (Ps 68:16), so God's presence chose to dwell in the person of Jesus.  Jesus was fully God and fully man.  God also chose to reconcile all things to himself through Jesus by making peace by the blood of his cross.  Here is the ultimate juxtaposition: the Creator through him and for him all things were made died by the hands of his own creation in order to bring peace, harmony, and unity (reconcile) to all of creation.  Christ came to make the renewal of the entire cosmos possible.  All of creation is being made new because of Jesus.

The big question we are answering is: why should we trust in Christ alone?  The third answer we receive here is: Because as our Redeemer, we can trust Christ alone for peace and new life.  Only he can make peace between us and God.  Only he can transform us and make us new.

But often instead of believing in "Redeemer Jesus", we believe in "split the check Jesus."  When the waiter brings the check, Jesus asks, "Can we split the check?"  He isn't sufficient or powerful enough to pay the whole thing.  In other words, he couldn't pay the full price for our reconciliation in order to make peace with God.  He isn't powerful enough to make us new.  It requires us to pay part of the cost.  We think in order to have peace with God and new life in him that salvation equals Jesus plus something.  Jesus plus our good works.  Jesus plus our good behavior.  Jesus plus our generous giving.  Jesus plus serving the poor.  Jesus plus sharing the gospel.  None of these things could make peace with God.  None of these things could make us new creations.  The Creator had to enter the story in order to be the Redeemer.

Concluding Application: Trust in Christ Alone (Colossians 1:21-23)

These final verses are an "if then" statement.  "If this is true, then this is true."  Paul says that if we continue trusting in Christ alone, then we have been reconciled to God and are set apart for his purposes and will be found morally blameless and without accusation in God's law court when Jesus returns to judge the earth.

The big question this passage answers is: why should we trust in Christ alone?  The first answer is because as our Creator, we can trust him alone for our identity and purpose.  The second answer is because as our everything, we can trust him alone for everything.  The third answer is because as our Redeemer, we can trust him alone for peace and new life.

Too often, we can diminish and distort who Jesus really is.  We can see him as “break in case of emergency Jesus” where he is mostly irrelevant unless we have an emergency and need him.  The truth is we always need him because he defines our identity and purpose.  We can see him as “diet plan Jesus” who we know we should follow and obey but it’s difficult because he takes all the things away that we like.  The truth is that in him we are getting the best thing in all of life!  We can see him as “split the check Jesus” who covers part of the cost of our sin so we need to pay the rest in order to have peace with God and new life in him.  The truth is that he paid the entire bill!  He alone could make peace with God and transform us and he did it all.

We need a bigger Jesus than these weak counterfeits.  We need to trust in the Jesus that the bible tells us about.  Most people you interact with have one of these distorted views of Jesus.  People believe he is irrelevant, that he takes away all the fun and good things in life, and that he can only pay for part of our sin and guilt and we have to pay the rest.  So people look to other things for identity and purpose, for satisfaction and rest, for salvation from their sin and guilt.  If we believe in these same counterfeits, what good news do we have to offer them?  We need to trust in Christ alone and offer the true Creator and Redeemer Jesus to the world!

If you want to get a good grip on what the gospel is, Colossians 1:12-23 is a great summary of the gospel.  Memorize it and you will know what the good news of Jesus is all about.