February 16, 2020
Morning Service

Last week we began our study into the letter the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in the town of Colosse.  Epaphras, perhaps the founder and pastor of the church, had visited Paul in Rome and had informed him of the false teaching that had been confronting them.  In response Paul writes this letter that strongly emphasizes the preeminence and superiority of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  He prayed that they might “be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.”  He then described what these three things will produce in our lives in verses 10-12.  We find the final item, thankfulness, in verse 12 but I would like to begin with the second half of that verse today.

Col 1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

            Think about it, God has qualified you to be a part of all that He has done and is doing.  We are His children and He our Father; thus as His heirs we will receive all the He has to offer us.  As we walk with the Lord it is to be with a heart of gratefulness to be a part of His kingdom and family.  Paul now begins a wonderful, powerful description of what it really means to “be partakers of the inheritance” as he tells us about God’s delivering power.

           

Col 1:13-14 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, (14) in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

            As “partakers of the inheritance” we receive deliverance and redemption through His blood.  Just as God delivered the children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt, Jesus Christ has delivered us from the bondage of sin and darkness. We have been delivered from darkness to light, from slavery to freedom, from guilt to forgiveness, from shame to acceptance, from despair to hope, from turmoil to peace, and from the power of Satan into the powerful hands of God.  Jesus has redeemed us from the wages of our sins (death) through His blood.  The NLT states it that He “rescued us from the ruler of the darkness and purchased our freedom with His blood.”  Paul told the Roman church this and we all need to understand it:

 

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

            Because we are all sinners (Rom. 3:23), what we have earned for ourselves (wages) is death (separation from God).  It is only through the “gift of God” that we are delivered from the fate that we deserve and receive eternal life in Christ Jesus.  Deliverance is part of our inheritance.  Our lives are forever changed once become a member of His family.  We each have our story of when God stepped in and changed our path.  Paul now gives us some insight into the mystery of the part Jesus plays in the Godhead and in creation.

 

Col 1:15-17 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  (16)  For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.  (17)  And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

            This is one of the strongest statements about the divine nature of Christ found anywhere in the Bible.  Jesus is not only equal to God; He is God in the flesh; the visible image of the invisible God.  Jesus confirmed this as He spoke in the Gospel of John:

 

Joh 10:30 I and My Father are one."

 

Joh 14:8-11 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."  (9)  Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?  (10)  Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.  (11)  Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

            When Jesus speaks it is the very voice of God.  He not only reflects God to us but He also reveals God to us.  His life on this earth gives us great insight into His heart and the passion He has to know us and be known by us.  He was born to a virgin in a stable at Bethlehem, lived a perfect life and shed His blood on Calvary that He could offer us a personal relationship with Him.  I can grasp that side of Him, but as the Creator of the universe I sometimes struggle to grasp that.  He is Lord of all not only the physical world He created (thrones and dominions), but also the spiritual one (principalities and powers).  He is both Man and God holding total and complete authority as “all things were created through Him and for Him.”  That can be a little difficult to put our small minds around along with “in Him all things consist.”  To grasp them fully creates within us an awe and a fearful respect of who Jesus really is.  We mistakenly claim that God is part of our story, where in reality we are part of His.  This is a central foundational truth of our faith that we must not waver upon.  Without Jesus fulfilling either of those two roles our faith is in vain and we are still in our sins. This is the point Paul is making to the church at Colosse to dispel the false teaching they were receiving.  He now points out Jesus as the Head of the Church and the Victor over death.

 

Col 1:18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

            Jesus as Lord of all is the Head of the church having all authority over it and using it to be His hands and feet in this world.  We will go deeper into this truth later in this chapter.  He is also “the firstborn from the dead;” being resurrected from the grave just as He had predicted.  His resurrection proves that His Lordship includes both the physical and spiritual world as well as having the power over life and death.  His resurrection also proves His status as “Lord of lords and King of kings.”  He alone deserves our praise and adoration!  I love how Paul explains this to the Philippian church.

 

 Php. 2:5-11 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, (6) who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, (7) but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.  (8)  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.  (9)  Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, (10) that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, (11) and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

            This can be a very difficult point to understand as I believe God is bigger than our understanding, but the one thing I do know is that He loved me enough to die for my sins.  In His vastness, He still has time for me and ask me to “Come unto Me.”  May God receive the glory!

 

Heavenly Father it is with great awe that we come not truly understanding all that You are, but humbly we thank You for loving us.