I invite you to turn with me again to Colossians, Colossians chapter one. We come this evening to one of the most beautiful descriptions of Christ, who he is and his work. It follows at the heel of what we were considering this morning. This is in fact, and very typical of Paul, this is in fact a continuation of his thought, a continuation of his sentence that he had begun all the way back in verse three. He caps the prayer with the deliverance that we receive from the father. the transference from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins. And now what he will do is he will then tell us who is this son and what has he done. So Colossians chapter one, we will begin reading in verse nine, but the text of the sermon will be verse 15 through verse 23. Hear now the word of the Lord. And so from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. And 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, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent, For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister." So ends the reading of God's word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this word. We pray that you would apply it in our lives, that we would understand it rightly. and that you would plant it deep in our hearts. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. As we read through this description of Christ, there is a movement to it. And it's something we might not see at first. It's a very familiar passage for many of us. We read through it in our devotions, we read through it when we get to it in the plan of the year, and we know it. but there is a movement. There are certain things that Paul is bringing out to us. And the first movement that you can see is that there are two places where Paul describes Christ as the firstborn. He is the firstborn of all creation. And then Paul will describe what that means. And then there's a little pivot point. There's a point where there is a pivot from creation in general to something more specific. And that pivot point happens around verse 18, where Paul says, and he is the head of the body, the church. And after he says this, he then says that Christ is the firstborn from the dead. Firstborn of creation, firstborn from the dead. That is a very specific way that Paul is choosing to describe Christ. therefore we can see a movement of what's happening. We start very big, the creation of all things, and then Paul is going to bring us down into a specific type of creation in which Christ is also the head, the head of the body, the church. That's one movement. There's another movement. We see the word reconcile in verse 20. through him to reconcile to himself all things, making peace by the blood of the cross." Again, we have a big picture. Christ is reconciling all things. And then, afterwards, he says that you, who were once alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death. And so as we think about this very familiar passage, we want to keep in mind this movement. We want to keep in mind and we want to meditate on both who Christ is as creator, but also who Christ is as the recreator, as the reconciler, what he's doing. We want to see the purpose of what Christ is doing. In other words, this is not just a list of attributes of Christ. This is not a theological list that Paul wanted to put in there for good measure to bolster their doctrine. There is something very important happening in this text. And the after effects of it, the ramifications of it will be filling out the rest of the letter. And so we wanna start then where Paul starts. In verse 15, he tells us that Christ is the image of the invisible God. the image of the invisible God. We might think already, our minds can't hold this, and you're right, our minds can't hold this. What does he mean by the image of the invisible God? Well, it means that Christ is a reflection of the Father's glory, or as the author to the Hebrews says, the exact imprint of the Father's nature. And because Christ is the image of the invisible God, Christ is the fullness He is the supreme, the unbegotten image of God. Remember what Jesus says. He says, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. He is begotten, not made. We confess that this morning in the Nicene Creed. Being of one substance with the Father. What does this mean? It means that Christ is God. We have here the mystery of the Godhead. We think of what John says, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God, all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. Christ is the image of the invisible God. And it's important, therefore, that as we think about this, we think about how, at one and the same time, this goes beyond our comprehension. But it's also the place where throughout church history we have had heresies. We have people, and in fact, as we mentioned this morning, people in this very church were being tempted with distraction from Jesus, taking their eyes off Jesus. Because if Jesus is God, you cannot be distracted from him, and you should not. But if a teaching is saying, well, he is a powerful being, he is the first created being, which was a heresy in the early church, ah, well, now there's room. There's room for expansion. Jesus is one, a great one, but not the only one. And therefore, Paul is saying, no, Christ is the image of the invisible God. And notice, he does not say he is in the image of the invisible God. He is the image of the invisible God. And to nail it home, of course, he will say later in chapter two, for in him, that is in Christ, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. Christ is God, fully, completely, absolutely God. And as God, he is also the firstborn of all creation. Now here again, we have something that sounds to us a little bit dangerous here. What does it mean that he's the firstborn of creation? Does this mean that Paul is contradicting himself? That Christ is actually created? Well, no, Paul is using the word firstborn very specifically here. He's not saying that Christ is the first created being, but he's using firstborn as you would think of a firstborn son. The firstborn son in the Hebrew culture, and of course in many ancient cultures, was the one who inherited all things. He is the inheritor of the father. Everything of the father goes to the firstborn son. All the rights, all the privileges, all the power and authority that the firstborn son has of his father. And therefore, Paul is saying, Christ is the firstborn of creation. All creation is his by right. He's inherited it from the Father. He is the heir and the rightful king of all creation. And as we briefly looked at this morning, it's this inheritance that Christ gives to you. He gives inheritance from His Father to you. We have a share in the inheritance of the saints in light, Colossians 112. So Christ is the image of the invisible God. He is the firstborn of all creation. And now verse 18, Paul will explain more of this, how and why. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. That's pretty comprehensive. Is there anything in this list that Paul is leaving out that Jesus did not create? All things, he says over and over again, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. There is nothing outside of the sphere of Christ's creation. Christ has created all things in the past and he upholds it all through the power of his word. All things have been created through him and for him. Creation is not a one and done event. It's not a grand watch that is laid aside. It's not a bubble that's blowing around in the breeze. This is creation that is created out of nothing and it is upheld. It is shaped and drawn. There's a purpose to creation. There's a purpose to which God is leading all things. And that purpose comes back to the firstborn. The firstborn of all creation. And we saw hints of this in Psalm 89. We saw the power of God in creation and we saw the promise of God to David that he would make him the firstborn. David's son, yet David's Lord. And so all things have been created by him, but now the switch happens. He's not only the firstborn of all creation, but he's also the firstborn from the dead. Now Paul makes this pivot with saying this, and he is the head of the body, the church. Paul will use that language throughout Colossians, the body, the church. The church is the body of Christ. And the head of the body is Christ himself. And so what we see here then is a transition from the big to the small, but why? Or you can think of it this way. If Christ is the creator of all things and all things belong to him and he's the inheritor of all things, then where is it going and why? Is creation made for its own sake? Or is the church somehow separated off from creation? God has a plan for the world. God has a plan for the church. They're pretty separate. Is that what Paul is saying? No, he's saying that the beginning of the recreation, the reformation, the reconciliation of all things doesn't begin with the big outside universe. It begins with the church. Paul says he is the beginning. Not he is in the beginning, that's what John says, that's true. Christ is the beginning, and we say beginning of what? The beginning of the new creation. How? Well, he's the firstborn from the dead. Christ is the first who has broken out of death There have been others raised before. Lazarus rose again from the dead at the powerful word of Christ, but Lazarus died again. There is only one man in the history of the world who has risen in his own power and has not died again, and that man is Jesus Christ. He is the sovereign king over creation, but he's also the sovereign king who conquered and destroyed death, the firstborn from the grave. And therefore something major has happened. Something has happened that didn't happen before and is now awaiting consummation when Christ comes again. Something is different now. Creation is not simply going to be left to its own devices. Creation has not been robbed from Christ the King. When sin entered the world and sin spread and the whole creation groans, God is not just leaving it out there and saying, well, I better try again next time. No, Christ is the King. He who created it will recreate it. And where does he start? He starts with the church. So he's the firstborn from the dead. And there's something very beautiful about this. Firstborn from the dead. Can death capture Christ again? No. Again, we see things that might remind us of Moses and the Exodus. Moses entered the Red Sea and Moses came out from the Red Sea. And all the people of God followed him. The sea could not keep them. Egypt could not take them back. They were free and delivered out of and away from what they used to be. There's no going back. We think of when a baby is born, We've had a few babies in this church born. Until a baby is born, he's held in. That's his world. He's kept in the womb. The womb contains the baby and holds the baby in, but what happens when the baby is born? The moment that the baby is born, when he breaks through and is born into the world, he cannot be put back. That's what made Nicodemus so confused. How can I be born again? Can I go back into my mother's womb? The answer is no. As truly and as surely as a baby cannot be put back into the womb, so Christ cannot be swallowed up by death anymore. Death has lost its hold on him. Death cannot pull him back. Death has no power, no claim over Christ. And so the resurrection, the firstborn from the dead, it marks a turning point in history. There's no going back. And the beautiful thing, of course, is that if that's true of Christ, that's true of us, we will taste death. But we know that one has risen, that death has no more hold over him, and the promise, the inheritance that is promised to us is that death has no more hold over us. We will die death to our sin. We will die. but we know that we'll be raised again. And just like Christ Jesus risen in his body, where death has no more hold over him, that is the same promise for you and for me. Death has died. And so therefore, what's happening now in the church, while our bodies will still die, is a real beginning of reformation, spiritually. God begins inside out. It's a very beautiful thing. That's what happens to each one of us as we're born again, doesn't it? God doesn't start with the outside and work in. He starts on the inside and he works out. It's the same thing for all creation, except this time the inside is the church. The work of God through history is calling believers, saving people from the world. And when every believer has been called and the end of all things will come, then the king will come, his kingdom gathered, and then the reformation for all things will be consummated. So do we see the trajectory of where Christ is leading his creation, all of his creation? There's such a tendency when things are going in the world as they are, that we feel as if we are walking on a treadmill. We're not going forward. The world is getting worse. What difference can we make? But when we see what God is doing, that in his time, in his way, he is on the move. He is marching on. He is walking on, he is using his church, his body, to accomplish his purposes. What kind of purpose do you have then? A housewife at home, raising kids. There can be a lot of discouragement there, can't there? There can be a lot of discouragement. What am I doing with my life? Am I making any difference at all? What is God using through all of this, through these kids? But if we understand that Christ has this vision in mind, that everything, every day is full of purpose and meaning, then we understand that what you do in the home matters a great deal. Raising a child, an image bearer of God, Every day is a battle against sin. Every day is a battle to shepherd that little one's heart. Because God cares about their inside, their heart. And one day that member, that child will be a member of the church, and as the church grows and as it reaches out, and as people are brought in, the church continues its work. It serves neighbor and community and one another. It worships God. And the movement of the church goes on and it goes on and it goes on through persecution and not persecution. The kings of the earth think that they control everything and are doing all they can to enrich themselves with power and authority, but Christ is on the throne and he has a purpose to which he's leading everything. What kind of purpose does that give your life? Working as an electrician. All these buildings will be destroyed one day anyway. Why am I doing so much work as the electrician here? No, you're serving God. You are serving God faithfully, wonderfully with the gifts you've given, and you're witnessing through your work to all those there. Who knows whether God might bring that person out from just interaction with you? We don't know. The sovereign plan of God, he starts from the inside out. And therefore, he is pulling all the threads of the universe. He's pulling all the threads from all of time, and he's weaving them together. And you don't even know how you're being weaved, how you're being used. Everything you do and are in Christ becomes eternally and beautifully significant. There is not one moment wasted. Not one moment of discipline with your child. Not one moment in the job that is meaningless or insignificant. Everything is full of the purpose that Christ is weaving throughout all things. And therefore, this is the Lord of glory that we worship. This is the Christ that we worship, the Christ that we love. He's not an inactive savior. He's not an apathetic Savior. He is a Savior on the throne who is working through the church and in the world. The Jesus who lifts up the unimaginable weight of all things visible and invisible is the same Jesus for this purpose to call many brothers to salvation who came to earth, who took on flesh and died naked and bleeding on the cross. In the eyes of the world, foolishness. In the eyes of God, wisdom and power. And so Paul shows us that Christ is the firstborn of creation. He shows us Christ is the firstborn from the dead. And now he goes into what this means for us. verses 21 to 23, and you who once were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. This is the hope, Colossians. You're living in a backwater city. What does it matter what you do? You're not in Rome. You're in little Colossi. Spurned by the world, meaningless, nothing by the world's standards, and yet what is God doing in Colossi? The gospel is growing, bearing fruit, The church is filled with faith, hope, and love. And therefore, the little town of Colossae is coming under the scope of the devil. Because what does he hate? He hates God and he hates the church. And so he says, remember where Christ has brought you from. Remember who it is that you're worshiping and serving. You are serving the Christ, the firstborn, and he has reconciled you in the body of his flesh by his death. You once were estranged and alienated, but now he has delivered you. But this little word, reconciliation, it's very important and we need to look at it because it's one of the words that we can read very quickly. We say we must reconcile with one another, that's good. But what Paul is saying here is something that is unique to the New Testament before this time. Paul actually invents this word more than likely. So before Paul uses it, this is not a word that is used. He's pulling different words together and he's making this word, reconciliation. And the way that Paul uses it in his letters is that when speaking of salvation, this word always has God as the one who acts. This always has God as the one who acts. The way that Paul uses this, God reconciles you to himself. God reconciles you to himself. That's the action. Not that you reconcile yourself to God. God reconciles you to himself. It's the work of God, and you respond to it. It means that your actions do not go, God, into acting. In other words, you don't repent of your sin enough and then God says, I'll be reconciled to you. It means that God is not waiting for you to repent and confess your sins in order to reconcile himself with you. No, God acts. Christ Jesus, through his death on the cross, pays for your sins, and you are reconciled. And in time, because Christ has done this for you, even when you were yet a sinner and unbelief and an enemy of God, God calls you to himself, and he gives you a new heart, and he gives you faith, and he gives you repentance, and God reconciles you to himself. You were once aliens, hostile, estranged. God reconciles you. The world through the instigation of the devil is full of sin. God is going to reconcile all things to himself. And why has God done this? Why does he reconcile you? He has done this, Paul says, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. In other words, you're not reconciled in name only. Our God is too loving of a God to do that. He doesn't reconcile you in name only. You are not reconciled legally, but still remain an enemy of God. You are not a prodigal legally brought back to God, but actually still left in wickedness and guilt and pollution. God reconciles you in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach. God declares you righteous and then he makes you so. That's the promise of our sanctification. Slow sanctification, perhaps. Sometimes it feels as if you're not making any progress at all. Back on that treadmill. but he who is in you is greater than the world, even yourself. And the promise is, therefore, he will make you holy. You will struggle with sin the rest of your life. But what God is doing over the years, over the decades, as he works slowly and steadily and quietly and hiddenly in your heart, is that he makes you holy. And one day, when he comes again, Not only your soul, but your body will be holy and perfect, blameless and above reproach. But Paul also does have a warning here, doesn't he? In verse 23, if indeed you continue in the faith, or it can be translated, if indeed you persevere in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard. Paul is issuing a warning to these believers. The danger of apostasy is real. The danger of turning back to idolatry is real. The Colossians are facing a real and present temptation to shift away from Christ. And Paul says, this is serious stuff. You need to refute this, you need to run from it, you need to reject it. We think maybe of the way Jesus himself taught about the parables of the seeds and the soil. Some seed falls on the hard ground and though it springs up for a time, it is choked out by the cares of the world or snatched away by the devil who takes away the word from the heart so that they may not believe and be saved. The devil is a roaring lion and he is active. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. That's what Paul is saying. Hold fast to the word. Remember the gospel, the hope that you have. Cling to that. Resist the devil. And you will bear fruit with patience, even though the trial and the temptation of false teaching is right there in your church. How did false teaching come? It didn't necessarily come from the outside. False teaching, especially in this time and still today, comes from the inside. Be strong, be steadfast. And so in the beginning, Christ, the image of God, the firstborn of all creation, created all things visible and invisible. And Adam and Eve, created holy and righteous and good, were created in His image and the image of God to reflect Christ the King, to worship, to fill creation with other image bearers, to rule creation as under shepherds of all creation to the Lord God. There's a story to this creation. The devil tempts mankind to fall. Sin enters the whole world. What was beautiful became twisted. What was good became evil. What was living became dying. The crown of creation, mankind himself, in the image of God became enslaved. Twisted, corrupt, perverted, perverse. Enemies of God utterly lost. And we must think that Satan most likely thought that he had won. How could he not have thought that? What'll happen if I get this man to fall? Well, I've got God in an impossible decision. Either he destroys the image bearers that he stamped his image in, and he must destroy what was good. or he doesn't punish sin. Either God is not just or God is not loving. It seemed as if there was no possible way that God could be both just and holy and reconcile all things to himself. But as Paul was saying, Colossians 2, in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The firstborn of all creation would himself enter his creation and be born. The firstborn of all creation would not give his glorious creation into the rule and power of the devil. The king of kings would not leave his creation or destroy it. Instead, through eternal and boundless wisdom, the power of his eternal Godhead, the firstborn of all creation, took on flesh." Weak, suffering humanity. The Son of God took on flesh and dwelt among us. That is something that even angels long to look into, and we must we must think that Satan was baffled by that. The Son of God took on flesh. And he did so in order to gather his lost and condemned people. He humbled himself, betrayed by his friends and abandoned. He was beaten. He was whipped. He was stripped. He was humiliated, shamed and scorned. The eternal son of God was nailed on the cross in order that God therefore might manifest his justice against his son. When he laid our iniquities upon him, and to pour out his mercy and goodness on us who were guilty and worthy of damnation. God poured out his mercy and his goodness on you out of perfect love, God gave his son unto death for us. He raised him for our justification so that through Christ Jesus, we might obtain life eternal. And so by doing this, the firstborn of creation became the firstborn from the dead. Christ Jesus' work is not done at justification. His work is to see all his people sanctified and glorified, and all creation made new. He created all things, he upholds all things, and Jesus Christ is crowned the king right now. And he rules on his throne. Horatius Bonner, who wrote a number of the hymns in our hymn book, says this. It's quite beautiful. It was God's purpose from the beginning, Horatius Bonner says, not merely to redeem for himself a people out of a world of sinners, but to bring that people into a special relationship to himself. It was his purpose to draw them nearer to himself than any other of his creatures, to establish a relationship of the closest and most intimate kind between them and the Godhead. And therefore, the purpose of God from the beginning in creation and now in recreation and now in reconciliation is the relationship of family, father, son, and all of his adopted children. And this family made the kingdom of God will one day dwell in the recreated perfect and glorified creation, dwelling in the presence of our Lord and our King and the Lamb seated on the throne, we will take our crowns and we'll cast them down. We will cry, crown him with many crowns, the Lamb upon his throne. Crown him the Lord of life who triumphed over the grave. Crown him the Lord of love with rich wounds yet visible above. Crown him the Lord of peace. Crown him the Lord of years. Crown him crown him not that he needs a crown he has a crown but the hearts of the believer will say in heaven crown the king hail Redeemer for you have died for me and thy praise shall never never fail throughout eternity amen let's pray together oh father we We are so thankful for all that you have done, all that you are doing, all that you will do. Oh, Father, we pray that we would apply this word in our hearts, that we would take courage, that we would take comfort, take strength, knowing that you know all things and you know the end from the beginning, and that the church and all creation is moving onward, forward, to the day of consummation. We pray that you would be with us, keep us, direct us this week as we seek to serve you and do your will. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Please rise as we sing our hymn