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Dear
Friends in Christ,
What
pictures come to your mind when you think of Jesus? Do you see him as
the water-walking rescuer who comes to the disciples in the midst of the
storm? Do you envision him in your mind’s eye confidently calling forth
Lazarus from his 4-day slumber of death in a cave-like tomb? Do you
picture a triumphant Jesus striding through the caverns of hell
immediately following his resurrection on Easter morning, showing
himself alive and well, bringing an abrupt end to the premature victory
celebration that Satan and his demon hosts were enjoying down there? If
you think of Jesus in any of these ways, you are focusing upon what we
typically refer to as the divine nature of Christ, the fact that he was
fully God.
Others,
however, prefer to concentrate more on his human nature. So when they
think of Jesus they picture him asleep on a bed of straw in Bethlehem’s
manger or agonizing in the Garden of Gethsemane or suffering and dying
on the cross. One artist has captured the human side of Jesus in a most
delightful series of pencil drawings depicting Jesus interacting with
little children. (Show them on the screen).
Well,
in our text for today the Apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit, presents us with his picture of Jesus. I call it a
picture of the Cosmic Christ. For he portrays a Jesus who is undiluted
deity, an uncreated Creator, and an unrelenting Redeemer. And it is our
privilege today to study these words that some Bible scholars believe
may have been used as a 1st century creed or hymn. We
study them though because a sermon series like the one I’m preaching
right now entitled “The One and Only” would be incomplete without them.
We
begin then by considering the fact that Jesus was undiluted deity.
Our text says: “He is the image of the invisible God…For God was
pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.” Paul’s point is
clear. Not one drop of divinity was lost when Jesus gave up his exalted
position in heaven as the 2nd Person of the Holy Trinity and
came down to this earth to become one of us. So when anyone saw Christ,
they saw God – not just a form of God or an expression of God, but all
of God clothed in human flesh.
There
was a time a few years ago that is etched in my memory when I wished I
could have made a similar transformation myself. It was when my
granddaughter, Maliyah, was about to experience her first day in Sunday
School. We’d done what most parents and grandparents do for that
important day. We tried to prepare her for it. We talked it up big. We
told her how she’d love her teacher, Miss Vendee, and how she’d make all
kinds of new friends and how she’d learn about her best Friend, Jesus.
And when we left her in the choir loft for the opening that morning, she
was a real trooper. She was quiet, but didn’t cling or scream or beg not
to go. I even peeked in a few times before Bible class that morning to
see how she was doing and she looked so small compared to all the other
kids. Finally, though, it was time for Bible class to begin. And it just
so happened that it was a Sunday when one of our former vicars was back
for one of our 75th anniversary services, meaning he was in
charge of Bible class. So while he was talking, I just couldn’t stand it
any longer. I had to see how Maliyah was doing. So I got up like I had
something important to do and walked into the narthex where I could see
the Sunday School children practicing in the front of church for a song
they were doing that day. I tried to be discreet about it, but then it
happened. Maliyah saw her Papa and her little lip began to quiver until
finally the dam burst and the tears flowed.
You’ll
be happy to know that I resisted the urge to run down the center aisle,
sweep her up in my arms, and rescue her from this traumatic day in her
young life. And let me tell you, that wasn’t easy. But what I really
would have liked to have done at that moment was to become another
3-year-old student in Maliyah’s class while at the same time maintaining
the knowledge and experience of an adult. I could have stood next to
her. I could have helped her with the words to the song. I could have
been her friend. And boy, if some bully were to make fun of her for
being the new kid in Sunday School, I could have revealed myself as Papa
the Protector and made sure that child never made fun of her or anyone
else ever again.
Well,
as much as I would have liked to have done that, in essence, that’s what
Jesus did for us. While maintaining all of his deity, he became so like
us that he felt everything we could ever feel. He knew what it was like
to be hungry, to be thirsty, to be lonely, to be misunderstood, to be
hated, to be unpopular, to be fearful, to feel pain. And one reason he
did it was so that he could take on and defeat the biggest bully that
you and I could ever deal with, none other than Satan himself.
But not
only was Jesus undiluted deity, he was also our uncreated Creator.
Paul writes in our text: “For by him all things were created: things
in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers
or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.”
The suction cups on the tentacles of the octopus; the white fur of the
polar bear; the snow-capped mountain peak; each ocean wave that crashes
the seashore; the first heartbeat of a child; the last heartbeat of the
dying…all of these things and everything else that exists can be traced
back to the hand of Christ.
Our
text says, “He is…the firstborn over all creation.” Don’t let
that term “firstborn” throw you there. We need to understand that this
is a technical Greek term that Paul is using here. It does not refer to
order of birth as though Jesus, the 2nd Person of the Holy
Trinity, was born at some point in the distant past before the world
began. Rather the term “firstborn” refers to order of rank. It refers to
the fact that he is supreme over all things. That’s why one translation
renders this verse like this: “He ranks higher than anything that has
ever been made.” He has authority over everything. The mother-in-law
of Peter has a fever so Jesus rebukes it. The brother of Mary and Martha
dies so Jesus calls him back to life. A crowd of thousands needs to be
fed so Jesus takes a little boy’s lunch and turns it into a bottomless
buffet.
And you
know what, my friends? Things haven’t changed one bit since then. In
other words, Christ still has ultimate authority over all things. You
thought Ben Bernanke, the president of the Federal Reserve, ran the
economy. Wrong! Christ runs Ben Bernanke and the economy. You thought
the moon affected the tides. It does, but Christ runs the moon. You
thought the United States was a superpower. It is, but only for as long
as Christ allows it to be.
Exactly
how big and awesome is Christ? 2 Chron. 6:18 says: “Behold, heaven
and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him.” In other words, he’s
bigger than the universe. He transcends the universe. Now think about
that for a moment. How big is the universe? We don’t know, but one
article I came across on the Internet suggests that it might be as wide
as 156 billion light years. That’s 156 billion times 6 trillion miles!
Astronomers have suggested that there may be as many stars in the
universe as there are grains of sand on all the seashores of the world.
And some of those stars are absolutely mind-boggling. I’m going to show
you a series of 4 PowerPoint slides that I show my Confirmation class
whenever we study the creative power and handiwork of God…Yet Jesus, the
Cosmic Christ, is bigger than all of them put together.
And if
he’s bigger than the universe, don’t you think he might just be bigger
than any problem you may encounter in your life? What are you facing
right now? Illness, financial problems, marital problems, unemployment,
problems in school, loneliness, depression, anxiety. Trust me, my
friends, the One who is our uncreated Creator can handle them. In fact,
he’s even invited you to give them to him. I Peter 5:6-7 says:
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift
you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for
you.”
How can
you be sure he cares for you? For that we need to look at our 3rd
and final point about the Cosmic Christ. Not only is he undiluted deity
and our uncreated Creator, he is also our unrelenting Redeemer.
Our text says: “When you were dead in your sins…God made you alive
with Christ. He forgave us all our sins…And having disarmed the powers
and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over
them by the cross.” Put simply, Jesus went to bat for you. He went
head to head and nose to nose and toe to toe with that big bully Satan.
And though it meant that Jesus would have to shed his blood and give his
life in a most cruel and shameful way, like I’ve said so many times, he
would rather go through all of that for you so that he would never have
to spend eternity without you. He is truly your unrelenting Redeemer.
And the only thing that could ever get in the way of his love for you,
the only thing that could ever prevent his wonderful plans for your
eternal well-being from being fulfilled is…YOU.
Jesus
once told a parable about a king that was giving a wedding banquet for
his son. The invitations were sent out, the banquet was prepared, but
many failed to respond. They felt they had other things to do that were
more important. So they failed to make the king’s invitation a priority
and allowed other activities to take precedence over it. Consequently,
they missed out on all that the king had to offer them.
Sadly,
that is an all-too-accurate description of what so many people have done
in our day and age. They have cluttered their lives with an endless
array of activities, with what Dr. James Dobson calls “the tyranny of
the urgent,” and in the process they have pushed Jesus into the farthest
corners and recesses of their heart, I’m sure in many cases without even
realizing it. They have rejected the invitation that the Cosmic Christ
extends to them in Rev. 3:20 where he says: “Here I am! I stand at
the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will
come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Could anything possibly
compare to that, my friends? Could that television show or that computer
game or that soft mattress on Sunday morning or that recreational
activity really be better than enjoying fellowship with our unrelenting
Redeemer? I believe you know the answer to that question.
So you
know what I think? I think it’s high time that we all did some serious
soul-searching, that we all take a good honest look at our lives and
with God’s help start to get our priorities in line. I think it’s time
that we ask ourselves some tough questions like, Where does Jesus really
fit in my life? If my life were a ladder, which rung of the ladder would
he occupy – the highest, the lowest, or somewhere in between? I know
those are tough questions. But only by being honest with ourselves can
we begin to be honest about something as eternally important as our
relationship with our Savior.
So
there’s an invitation out there just for you, my friends. It’s got your
name on it. It comes from One who is undiluted deity, who is our
uncreated Creator, and our unrelenting Redeemer. My prayer is that you
won’t have to think twice about accepting it for the One who extends it
is eager to have you as his guest for all eternity.
Amen.
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