The Glory and Grace of Christ | Colossians 1:15-20

In Colossians 1:15–20, Paul breaks into what many scholars believe was an early Christian hymn or poem celebrating the glory of Jesus Christ. Through rich, worshipful language, the passage exalts Jesus as the visible image of God, the Creator and Sustainer of all things, and the King of both creation and new creation. More than a theological statement, this hymn was meant to awaken awe in the hearts of believers—reminding the church that the One who holds the universe together is also the Savior who reconciles sinners through the blood of His cross.

Colossians 1:15-20

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 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. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 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. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Transcript

Awe And The Need For Reverence

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Colossians chapter one. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever stood somewhere that made you feel extremely small? Like maybe you've stood on the shore of and you've looked out across the you know vast waters of a particular ocean, or maybe you've looked up on the a clear night and you've just witnessed the you know in innumerable stars, or maybe you've looked across the Grand Canyon. There was one time on this stage that I felt really, really small. I think we have a picture. So years ago, this is uh Hunter on on uh my the right here, and uh he's grown like 17 inches since then. And then on the other side is my friend who used to play pro basketball. His name's Chad Varga. And I just be honest with you, I felt like a munchkin uh that day. I was like, hey guys, you know. Um, anyways, in all seriousness, in in those moments, awe is awakened in us, isn't it? We realize that we are standing amidst something immensely bigger than ourselves. And I think it's good for all to be awakened in our heart. Paul Tripp, a wonderful author, said these words. He said, We are hardwired. God has hardwired us for awe. You know, animals, I don't know if you've noticed, but they're never awestruck. Like you can take your little cat Fluffy and you can take her to the Rocky Mountains and say, Look how majestic, and it just is a cat. It will ignore you. All right. We are wired for awe. The wonder awakened in those moments when we look at the vast sea or up in the sky or whatever it is, those moments that all that is created in us was never meant to terminate with creation itself. Do you know what every created glory is for? It's to be like it's one giant finger pointing us upward to the glory, not of creation, but to the creator himself. Listen, the universe itself pales in comparison in glory to our great God.

Stop Shrinking Jesus

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The contemporary church, I think, when it comes to Jesus, we've forgotten sometimes how glorious he is. I think the church has often domesticated Jesus. I've got this little uh Jesus figurine here. Who gave this to me? Somebody, I think it's one of the kids, printed out on a 3D printer or something. But I saw this in my uh office this week as I was preparing, and I thought, you know what? This is how much of the church sees Jesus. They have domesticated him. This, I believe, has caused a lack of awe, a lack of fear, a lack of reverence for the Lord. Oh, we say we love him, but have we lost reverence? Have we missed his majesty? Colossians 1, 15 through 20, it's where we're going to be this morning, is actually a hymn, a song. Now, you don't pick that up in the English, but scholars tell us in the Greek that there's this flow and rhythm, and it's almost certainly a song, a hymn, a poem. And I think here's the reason music and poetry do something that prose can't, right? Just narrative cannot do. Music, it's so interesting. You you know this. It doesn't, you know, if words speak to you, it doesn't just touch your mind, but it touches your heart. You know, I see some of you as we sang this morning. I mean, just your affections were raised. You felt it here, not just here. That's what songs do, that's what poetry does. And Paul uses this hymn here, I believe, because he's gonna talk about the majesty of Jesus Christ. And he wants that information, as it were, not just to reach the minds of the people in Colossae, but he wants it to awaken their hearts to the glory of our great Savior. And that's what I want to talk about today. I want to just uh just kind of revel in the glory of Christ. And if you'll listen today and your heart will be awakened, there's a few things that'll happen. Number one, I think you'll be in awe of him again. And here's what happens when your affections are raised, when your wonder is raised for Christ, that leads to obedience. You know, I've learned, I learned long ago in pastoring that I cannot make you obey the Lord by what white-knuckling the Bible. Here's what I believe. That's why I don't harp on giving or anything else. Here's what I believe. If I can get you to love and to cherish Jesus, to see his majesty and his glory and appreciate his grace, you will be uber generous. You will obey him, you'll want to serve him. That's always my goal. Raise your affections for Jesus Christ. But also watch this. If your affections and your all of Jesus will be raised today, you'll take what we're doing right now way more seriously. I fear that we've become, I'm not high church, but I fear that we've become too lax. You know, we don't care to get up 50 times and serve, I recognize like people have to use a restroom. I realize that babies cry and all that. Thank you for taking them out. But um, but listen, I just, it's just so casual in the contemporary church now. I fear we have lost reverence. And watch this. When we sing songs of praise, it it Bob, it it takes, I mean, it amazes me how many people don't sing. Does God suggest us to sing in the Bible? What's he do? He commands us to sing in the Bible throughout, particularly in the Psalms. Now, I know I get it. Sometimes you don't know a song, but learn it. You know, learn it. Um, and and here's the thing too. Well, I don't like that kind of music. Well, I've got great news for you. It's not about you. We're not singing to you, we're singing to Jesus. So I think I think the reason we don't engage often in young people, I think the reason that if you're like me when I was a kid, I was always goofing off in service. Where's my students at? A few of you in here. Listen, this isn't the time to joke around. This is this is a time to take extremely serious because we are we are here to meet with the Christ of glory. And finally, here's what will happen this morning. If you listen, you'll begin to trust Jesus more. You see, sometimes we go through problems and we think, oh man, I don't know if Jesus can handle this because we think of him like this. But just wait today until you meditate on Paul's words. Your problem, you know, somebody asked a pastor one time, hey, is it all right to ask God for small things? And you know what the pastor said? He said, Sir, everything's small to God. All right, so we're gonna look at two parts of this today. We're gonna

Two Themes: Glory And Grace

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look first at Christ's unmatched glory, the unmatched glory of Christ, and then we're gonna look at secondly the undeserved grace of Christ.

Jesus Is Divine And Supreme

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Number one, I want you, I want to point you to verse 15. He, Jesus, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. So the first thing that I see here as we consider the glory of Christ is that Jesus is divine. He is not just a prophet, as some thought. As some even say today, other religions. See, well, he, yeah, I believe in Jesus. He was a prophet. Well, yes, he was a prophet, yes, he was a priest, yes, he was a king, but he's more than that. He's not even just the son of God, he is the he is God the Son. He is the second member of the triune Godhead. We have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus is divine. And so Paul here says he is the he is the perfect reflection of God's glory. He's the image to us of the invisible God. Oh my goodness, I love this. We were made in the image of God, right? We're supposed to reflect his glory. How are we doing at that? How are you doing at that? Let's just be honest. Listen, we're not divine, and we imperfectly reflect God's glory, but Jesus is the perfect embodiment, the visible embodiment of God's glory. Well, why? Because he is God in the flesh. Amen. So Jesus is divine. And then it says here that he's firstborn of all creation. It's like, well, what does that mean? Well, there are some heretical teachings that call themselves Christians that say that, see, Jesus was created. He was the first one created, the first one born. That is a and it denies the eternality of Christ, if you will. And so it says that see, Jesus wasn't with God from the beginning. God, you know, he was the first thing that was created. That is a gross misunderstanding. The problem is, you know, we we've got to read this, and many people don't within historical context. So here's what Paul means: Jesus, who is the perfect image of God, is by right the firstborn. In ancient Jewish culture, the firstborn was a kind of a title, if you will, received the rights and the authority of the Father. And so this passage does not suggest that Jesus was the first creature to be created, but instead it is a term of rank and authority. So when when Paul says, oh, he's the firstborn, he's talking about he is in control. He has complete authority. Complete authority. Let me give you another example in the Bible. God calls Israel in Exodus 4.22 his firstborn. He, you know, the firstborn son collectively. Israel is my firstborn son. Was Israel the first nation to exist in the world? No, that's not what it means. But they held first place in God's sight amongst the nations. So this phrase points to Jesus' right to rule over all creation. Listen, this is not the Jesus we serve. We serve the Jesus who is Lord of the cosmos. Okay? Now watch this. Look at verse 16. For

Jesus Creates Everything For Himself

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by him, Jesus, 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. As we're talking about the glory of Christ, yes, he's divine, and he is also creator. All things were created by Jesus in the heavens, that is the cosmos, and on the earth. And Paul breaks it down. He says he's creator on the earth of the invisible, the unseen spiritual realm. And Paul wrote this to the church in Colossae. And in Colossae, people were captivated by spiritual beings. It's very mystical like people are today. There's a great difference between religion or Christianity and spirituality. I don't like that word. Are you spiritual? Because it's usually connected to this kind of mystical religion. Paul is saying here, why be enamored with these spiritual beings when you could be captivated by the one who created them? Then he created the visible things. Jesus created and rules the earth and galaxy and plants and animals, the winds and the waves and human beings and kingdoms and nations. Now your argument, you might be questioning this because you go back to the very first page of your Bible, Genesis 1.1, and you go, wait a minute. Doesn't it say that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth? Yes. And that presumably is talking about God the Father. Not a trick question. So wait, did is there a contradiction here? Did Paul not, was he not familiar with Genesis 1.1? I think he probably was. Here's what I want to ask you. How did God create the heavens and the earth? What did he do? He spoke. Look at Genesis 1.3. I think we have it on the screen. And God what? Said, Let there be light, and there was light. He spoke. Now this is really cool. I'm going to take you to John chapter 1, John's gospel. This is his version of the Christmas story and might be my favorite. In the beginning was the word. Now this John is echoing Genesis 1. In the beginning was the what? The Word, the Logos. And the Word was what? With God, and the Word what? Was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him. There it is again. And without Him was not anything that was made. And you're going, wait, the Word of God, what is that? Well, go with me down to verse 14. And the Word became what? Flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory. Glory is the only what? Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. This obviously is Jesus. Jesus is the living word, the living logos. In the beginning, here's how you put this together. Paul says in our text, he says, all things were created through him. Here's what happened in creation. The Father willed creation. The Son mediated creation. And in Genesis, you read down just a little bit further, it says the Spirit hovered over the waters. Remember that? The triune God, Father, Son, Spirit, all played a role in creation. All things were created by Jesus. What a glorious Lord we serve. But not only that, all things were created for Jesus. Second part of verse 16, all things were created through him and what? For him. News flash: the world was not created for you. How many of you have told your kids before the world, the universe doesn't center around you? Beloved, we ought to tell ourselves that sometimes. Come on. God created the world for the glory of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Everything, first, your even your salvation is first and foremost about the glory of God. Why did God create anything? It's for his glory. Everything in creation, it declares it, it's like again that finger pointing us upward to the glory of God. Isn't this what Psalm 19:1 says? The heavens declare the glory of God, and the earth proclaims his handiwork. Listen to this. Our sun, the nearest star, is just under 93 million miles away. It is a million times the size of Earth. It takes light traveling at an average speed of 186,000 miles per second, about 8.5 minutes, to reach the Earth. There are hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy alone, not to mention that the astronomers estimate that there are billions of other galaxies besides the Milky Way, and the universe is ever expanding at speeds we cannot comprehend. Now, Jesus is the creator of it all. And if you ever thought why all this, like this seems a little excessive. Let me tell you why. It is a display of God's glory. The earth is not enough to display the glory of God, as fascinating as it is. The Milky Way, not enough. Every star, every planet, every galaxy far, far away, is meant to display the glory of God. And I love what John Piper said. It's a vast understatement. Just let that sink in. Christ created all things. All things were created for him. And watch this everything is sustained by Jesus.

Jesus Holds All Things Together

SPEAKER_00 17:41

Look at verse 17. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. You know why you're held together right now? Some of you, you may say, well, barely, but you're here. You've got breath. You know why? Because Christ is holding you together. The lost and the saved alike. You know why the world is as it is right now? That it's uh a planet that we can live on? Because Christ is holding it together. You know why the universe continues to exist? Because Christ is holding it together. There's this ancient thought. Um, actually, many people hold to it today as well. It's called deism. Some of our founding fathers were deists. So deists believe that God did, there was a God that created the world, but here's what they believe: they believe that God, after creating the world, has never and will never intervene. Okay? Let me illustrate it like this. They view God like the clockmaker. The clockmaker builds the clock, winds it up, and then just lets it run on its own. Like he doesn't come to your house when you hang the clock on your wall, right? And you know, it runs on its own. And that's how deists see God. Built the world, wound it up, and just left it. That is not what the Bible teaches. So erroneous. He holds all things together. Throughout the Bible, God, the Holy Spirit, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, they're listening they're hyper-involved in everything. And if for one second Jesus stopped being involved in this world, we would cease to exist. It's not this Jesus we serve, it's the Jesus of the Bible, the all-glorious one. Do you see the unmatched glory of Christ? The divine creator for whom all the world was created for, and the sustainer of all things. Do you know, compared to him, you know, again, you stand on the seashore and you just feel so small when you look out upon the vast waters. When you stand next to Jesus and you recognize his glory and majesty, here's what you realize: you and I, we're not even the size of a grain of sand. And yet, this glorious King left the splendor of heaven to come to us. Who am I, Lord, that you are mindful of me? To give his life for us and he bids us to come to him. We've looked at his glory. Let's look at the second part of this at his grace, the undeserved grace of Christ. God's

New Humanity Under Christ The Head

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good creation brought about through Jesus has been marred by sin. Have you noticed? But God, out of sheer grace, has not abandoned creation. By grace through Jesus, he is renewing it. Let me point you first to the first part of verse 18. And he, Jesus, is the head of the body, the church. Jesus is the head of the church. What's Paul talking about? He's just been talking about the majesty of Christ, the creator. And he says, by the way, uh, same, it's this is still a hymn. And Christ is head of the body, the church. That seems a little bit underwhelming after you just talked about he's creator of all things. What he's saying here is this Christ created humanity in the beginning, and Christ is the creator of new humanity. This is so good. He's bringing about a new humanity. The church, his people, not just real life, the Capital C church, all who are in Christ, we are redeemed and we are when we're saved, we're brought into this new life, and we become part of this new humanity. And the image of God that we are to bear is being restored. This is so amazing. So amazing. Listen, the kingdom of God, I talked about this Wednesday, is not just some future reality like a lot of Christians think. It is already and it is not yet. Jesus inaugurated the kingdom and he'll come back to consummate the kingdom. But when you come to Christ by faith, you're brought into his kingdom now and you become part of this new humanity. Oh my goodness. I'm not a fan of gospel presentations that just say, well, let me tell you how to get to heaven. How about, yeah, heaven's a great place. Let me tell you how to have life now. Let me tell you how to be part of this new and better way to be human. Let me tell you how to come from go from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. This is a reality now. And then the second part of verse 18 says, he is the firstborn from the dead. So that in the everything he might be preeminent. So Jesus is the king of new creation, the firstborn from the dead. Death was a result, you know, of the fall, right? It's part of the curse. But Jesus defeated death. And through him, watch this dead sinners are spiritually raised to life right away. And then his bodily resurrection is the guarantee of our future bodily resurrection. Let me just read you Ephesians 2.5. Even when we were dead in trespasses and sin, God made us alive together with Christ. If you are in Christ right now, you are alive. If you're not, you're dead. Becoming a Christian is not just about some future blessing. Christ is the Lord of new humanity. And you're already, if you're in Jesus, a part of that new humanity. What a gift. The very end of verse 18 says that all this, that in everything, he might be preeminent. Jesus is the center of creation, and he's the center of new creation. When you become a Christian, you know, we've talked about Christ being the head of the church, the head of new humanity, the head of the new creation itself. When you become a Christian, you submit to Jesus as Lord because He is at the center of new creation, not you. You get off the throne of your life. By the way, a pastor is not the head of the church. The Lord is. We are under-shepherds. And listen, I know, I know, there's a new pastor that falls every day. I get it. And by the way, beloved, I'm not above it. Let him who thinks he is above falling take heed lest he fall. And I I have heard this story over and over, and it makes my heart sink. That, well, I don't go to church anymore because I looked up to this pastor and he fell. Let me tell you how to overcome that. Don't look to the pastor for your hope. Come on. Look to Jesus, who is the head of the church. I'll fail you. Jesus never will. So by grace, Jesus is creating a new humanity, and then he's also creating a new world. Look at

Peace Through The Blood Of His Cross

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verses 19 and 20. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And through him, watch this, to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. In many forms of Gnosticism, matter, i.e., the material world, was thought to be and is thought to be bad, and the spirit, spiritual things good. This kind of dualistic thinking has crept into the church. You know what that's led to? Some of you have, you don't know it, but you have this way of thinking right now. You're sitting back praying every day to Jesus to take you away from this earth. Believing in some kind of rapture, Lord, that your goal I know is just take me out of here. It's called escapism. In Jesus' priestly prayer, when he prayed for his disciples and he prayed for us, what did he pray? Did he say, Lord, get my disciples a uh airplane, get them out of here right now? No, he said, Lord, I pray you keep them in the world, but keep them separate from the world. We pray every day. We're supposed to pray this daily prayer. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Where, Dr. Busky? On earth, as it is in heaven. Oh, we ought to look for uh the return of Christ, but understand the end of the story is not about us going to heaven to escape a world uh that is bad. God's creation is good, and in the end, it's been the the world has been tainted to be sure, but watch this. In the end, just go to the last pages of your Bible. You don't have to take my word for it. It's not about us going to heaven, though I believe heaven is a real place, it's a temporary place. The end of the story is heaven coming to earth, and there's gonna be a new and better Eden, and this world will be free of sin and sickness and natural disasters. Jesus is bringing about a new creation. Why? This new creation, it is a gift, it is a grace gift. God, listen to me, He's under no obligation to fix what we what we've broken. He didn't break it. Have you ever bought your kids a gift and they break it like as soon as they open it? Let me ask you, have you ever gone out and bought them another one right after that? You'd be under no obligation to. That would be an act of grace. They probably break that one. Watch this. Jesus was under no obligation to come and to renew this earth or to renew humanity. He did it out of grace for his glory and our good. How did he do it? Look at the very end of this. Making peace by the blood of his cross. This new creation, this rescuing of you and I and the world itself. It's only being rescued, freed from the curse, brought on by sin, by the blood of this glorious, majestic savior, King of kings, King of the cosmos. Humbled himself, left glory. Like, think of this next Christmas, which seems like it's around the corner. When you look at that little nativity scenes that Christy always has up here, you see that little baby in a manger, understand that little baby was the and is the king of glory, the king of the cosmos who came down born to a humble Jewish family. And he came not to be served, but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. And the world, you know, in the beginning, the world was chaotic and God brought order to it, and because of sin, it's like chaos again. Just watch the news. But through Christ, God is bringing order again to the world. And when Christ returns to consummate his kingdom, it will be better than it was even in the beginning, if you can imagine it. What a savior. The all-majestic Lord of the universe gave himself as a ransom for us.

Not Safe But Good

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It's undeserved grace. In C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch in the Wardrobe, the children ask if the lion Aslon is safe. And the reply comes, Safe? Who said anything about safe? Of course, he isn't safe. He's a lion. But he's good. That kind of captures something that many modern Christians have forgotten as they attempt again to domesticate Christ. Is he safe? Not so much. He's the lion of the tribe of Judah. He's the all-powerful king of the universe. He's the king who is coming to judge the world. Is he safe? I wouldn't call that safe. He's a force to be reckoned with. But he's good. Good enough to lay his life down for sinners. Good enough to fix what we've broken. Good enough to make all things new. Good enough this morning to invite you to come to him. And when you come to him in faith and repentance, you become safe in him. You don't have to worry about the roaring lion coming, because in Christ there's no condemnation. You don't have to worry about the wrath of God when you come to Christ in faith. Oh, the Lord is not safe, but he's good. Praise him for that today. May you and I be awestruck by Jesus, the Lord of unmatched power, who has showered us with undeserved grace.