Morning Message Text: Colossians 1: 15-23
The Supremacy of the Son of God
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
17 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 and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.
22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—
23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Morning Message:
I wanted to continue with Paul’s letter to the Colossians this morning in order to hopefully give us a better understanding of our faith. Paul sums up, in the last sentence of today’s scripture, the change that has taken place in him through his conversion and acceptance of Jesus. He says that he has become a servant to the gospel. How many of us can make that statement? This is not something that comes easily to us. I will always contend that the most difficult thing a person can do; even a follower of Jesus, is to humble one’s-self. Proverbs 27: 1-2 says: Do not boast … Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth. Two men were talking, and one said, “I don’t mean to brag about my financial skills, but the bank calls every week to tell me my debt is outstanding.” The other man said, “Well, I don’t want to brag either, but my psychologist says I have the biggest ego he’s ever seen.”
There’s something about bragging that displays immaturity and a lack of self-confidence. Paul had plenty to brag about – his heritage, his pedigree, his zeal, and his accomplishments. But he chose to live in humility and not allow pride to overtake him. Bragging comes to us more naturally than humility, just like weeds grow in a garden easier than vegetables. A garden needs to be cultivated, and God wants to cultivate our hearts so we brag less and worship more. The Bible says, “‘Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.’ For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one who the Lord commends.” (2 Corinthians 10: 17-18). The surest mark of true conversion is humility.
True conversion is the subject that I want to expound upon today. True conversion, whether you have truly accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, is a good thing for us to wrestle with. It is the Holy Spirit that puts that question on our hearts and if the Holy Spirit is speaking to our hearts in this way, then we can be assured that God is working in our lives. The time to worry is when you are not wrestling with these important questions. Questioning your own faith is a good and healthy Christian thing to do. In the perfect church, after worship, there would be a line of people waiting to ask me questions. I don’t have all of the answers, but believers should have questions, and I think that you do, but you keep them buried deep inside, maybe afraid to ask or not wanting to deal with the truth. Most people think that the role of Pastor is to preach, baptize, bury, and marry, not necessarily in that order, but the true role of a pastor is to shepherd, to lead, to be a spiritual sounding board for their congregation to talk to.
It is a question that started me thinking about this message. I could tell you who asked the question but be assured I would never do that. I strategically chose the first scripture reading so that we could compare what Jesus is saying in Matthew to what Paul is saying to the Colossians. Let’s dig into the scripture. The sheep and the goats. At the end of time, every person who ever lived, every soul will be gathered together before Jesus. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and he will judge all. He will separate the sheep from the goats. Those who have accepted him, and those who have not. I want you to remember what we preached last week, “Jesus Is Enough.” Jesus doesn’t put it that way, but we have to set the scene and put this into context. This is the end of time. The opportunity to accept or reject Jesus is past. So, Jesus is welcoming the saved into his kingdom and commending them for their work. They served Jesus by taking care of the least in this world and they didn’t realize that to Jesus they were serving him. Did they get into heaven because of their works? No, but they are being commended as followers who served.
Now to the side that none of us want to find ourselves on: the goats. Unfortunately, their fate is now sealed, and it sounds like they are being judged for not serving. That is not the case at all. God is loving, God is fair, but he is also righteous. His righteousness dictates that his Word must be kept and anyone who suffers this fate was given amble opportunities to accept Jesus. Jesus is simply stating the obvious, you didn’t serve anyone except yourselves because your hearts were never changed; you never accepted the pardon I offered. It’s not popular today to preach about hell and damnation. The devil and the evil in this world want that message stifled. It is not meant to scare anyone; it is the reality of mankind’s sin.
In Colossians last week and this week, we heard about the supremacy of Jesus, and we focused on Jesus being enough and that nothing else matters when it comes to salvation. That statement is true, but as you can see there is a place for good works. They come as a result of you giving your life to Jesus. They can not get you to heaven on their own, but I will concede this, to be a Christian and not serve others and love others doesn’t seem reasonable or maybe even possible.
I want to add one more scripture today that I believe pulls this together. Scripture cannot be read in a vacuum. What I mean by that is that you can’t just take part of God’s Word and proclaim it without backing it up with the rest of God’s Word. Matthew 7: 21-23: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ As a pastor, that one weighs on me. It is really quite simple. You must know Jesus if you want to be known by him. To know: to perceive or understand as fact. The Bible uses the word know in the most intimate sense. To know and be known by Jesus is to have a very intimate relationship with the Savior. We should all question that within our hearts. When you truly know Jesus good works will follow, not the other way around.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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