Being a Worshiper of Christ — Colossians 1

0:00 Silent Night really, reminded me. A little girl came home from Sunday school triumphing, waving a paper. Mommy, she said. A teacher says I drew the most unusual Christmas picture she has ever seen. The mother studied the picture for a moment and concluded that it was indeed peculiar, a very peculiar picture, Christmas picture.

0:27 This is wonderfully drawn, but why didn't... Why did you make all these people riding in the back of an airplane? The mother gently asked. It's the flight from Egypt, the little girl said, with a hint of disappointment that the picture meaning was not immediately obvious. Oh, the mother said cautiously, well, who is this mean looking man in the front?

0:55 It's Pontius the pilot, the little girl said visibly impatient. I see. Here you have Mary and Joseph and the baby, the mother volunteered. Studying the picture silently for a moment, she summoned the courage to ask, But who is this fat man sitting behind Mary? Little girl sighed, Can't you tell that's round John Virgin?

1:25 I think to myself, that's from John MacArthur's book, God With Us. And I just thought that was really cute when we were singing, round... I don't even know what it is now. Got it so ingrained, it's round John Virgin. July will be the twenty fifth anniversary of the visit to Los Angeles of the Dalai Lama.

1:54 I know that that's a big deal for you, but in the Los Angeles Times, I'll never forget, the Los Angeles Times said that God was going to be in Los Angeles because people worship the Dalai Lama as God. And I thought to myself, I don't think so. I don't think so. And I I just thought to myself, you know, there's only one God, and there's only one savior, there's only one, and the Dalai Lama is not it. And I just...

2:32 I thought to myself, when we look at the passage we're going to look at, I appreciate it being read this morning, by our brother, and I just... I'd like us to look at Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter one. And as we look at Colossians chapter one, we're gonna see two reasons for really worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ, not the Dalai Lama or anybody else, but really worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ. The title of our little message this morning is being a worshiper of Christ.

3:03 When we were breaking bread today, and that's exactly what we were supposed to be doing is worshiping him. I was thinking, recently, I was reading in the in the Old Testament about bringing glory to God, and I thought to myself, how does one do that? How does one bring glory to God? I mean, what does that look like? And so I looked it up in the Hebrew, the word glory, and it means, literally means to bend the knee, to bend the knee.

3:33 And that's really the knee of our hearts, really. I mean, we we can bend the knee. And I was I was raised a Catholic, and and we used to bend the knee all the time, but it was hurt. And I didn't have any real true bending of the heart, of the knee of the heart, and, of the worshiping him with my voice and with all that I have in terms of what he has done for me. But as we look at Colossians chapter one, and we're going to start at verse 15, But I want us to...

4:05 And I had, Scott read verses one through 14 because it's so so important for us to understand who Jesus is. It's so important for us to understand who the Lord Jesus Christ is. There is no one like him. I hope you agree with that. When Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the life, no man cometh to the father but by me.

4:59 It was so pitch black. Can you imagine being in that kind of a setting and then having some crack in the door or some little ray of light coming in. Can you imagine that? It's like putting on a floodlight if it's so dark. All of a sudden, you have this light.

5:23 I like us... We're going to look at Colossians chapter one, but I like us to look at John chapter one as well. John chapter one. Because as we look at this, and it's just so beautiful in the sense of who who this person, the Lord Jesus is. And look at verse three, all things were made by him.

5:42 This is John chapter one. And without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men. He was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness, and darkness overcame it not. And there was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

6:04 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light to all men through that, though that he might... That they might... That him... That all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but that was sent to bear witness of that light.

6:23 Jesus says over and over, I'd like to do a study sometime on the usage of the word light with the Lord Jesus. He said, I am the light of the world. This world lies in the hands of the wicked one. And this is exactly what our... Dave was saying earlier.

6:43 It lies in the hands of the wicked one. There is no light apart from Jesus Christ. There is none. Going back to Colossians chapter one. Paul is writing to the saints of Colossae, and he's telling them about this Lord Jesus who who came into this world to redeem mankind.

7:04 I think of myself of the whole total picture of what God has done since day one, Genesis three fifteen, all the way through, promising a savior, promising that light, promising redemption. The whole theme of the bible is redemption through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the whole theme. The whole purpose of Israel was that they would show how great God is, that all mankind would come to that light. And Jesus is that light.

7:36 Jesus Christ is that light. He is the... That ray, and he is that hope, that ray of hope that he gives us, that God has given to us. Why does God love you and why does God love me so much that he would provide for me a wicked individual who shakes his fists at God and dares God, like the guy in New York City. I mean, it's so stupid.

8:04 I'm going to give you three minutes, and if God doesn't strike me dead in three minutes, God doesn't exist. What do you think about that? You know? Okay, three minutes, and he waits. Three minutes is up, God hasn't struck me dead.

8:17 There must be no God. What a moron. I mean, you know, actually, it's really weird. You know, you look at the word moron, it comes from the... I mean, it's...

8:30 It means fool. And in the Greek, in the New Testament, the word fool is moros, which we get the word moron. What a fool. And he said, why hasn't God done that? If there was a God, why didn't he strike me dead?

8:45 Because he's reaching out to you in love. He's not going to... You know, he's not like a... You know, you parents understand. Come on.

8:55 Your kid challenges you or does something, you know, to challenge you and your strength and all that, and you you refrain from doing it because of incredible love. Well, this is what Paul is writing to the church at Colossae. He's telling them about this one who is so incredible. Notice what he says, verse 11, strengthening with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the father who hath made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints and light. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son.

10:05 Or, you know, and some people say, well, you know, this God of Allah, this guy named Allah, it just means God in Arabic, doesn't it? Isn't it the same God? We worship the same God. No, we don't. Because the Bible shows us in the Old Testament, as specifically in the New Testament, that the God of the Old and New Testament is not the God of Islam because he's a Trinitarian God.

10:36 Let us make man in our image. Genesis one twenty six. Elohim is a name of God. Elohim is singular. Elohim is plural.

10:48 And you have that throughout the Old Testament, and you have this through the New Testament that there are three distinct individuals within the Godhead. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the one God. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. But yet, the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is God.

11:10 The Bible teaches that the Father is God. That's wholly different than the Islamic God. Wholly different. Absolutely not the same. So why should we worship this one who is called Jesus of Nazareth, who called himself God, who people worshiped him in the New Testament?

11:33 You have Thomas worshiping my Lord and my God. He never rebuked him. He accepted that worship. Why should we worship him? Because I'm going...

11:45 I mean, we could talk a long time because there's no one else. And when we focus in on Colossians chapter one verses 15 through 23, we see two reasons why we should worship Jesus Christ. Because of who he is and what he has done. The person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. No one no one will ever, ever supplant him.

12:16 No one can take his place. No one ever. In fact, it's really weird. One time, was in Wall Street, we were preaching in the open air, I was on the side of my van with the sketch board and everything, and all these suits from Wall Street, this is before they shut it, this is way before nineeleven, because now you can't do that. You can't park in Wall Street.

12:36 You can't do that kind of thing. No crowds. They don't want them. So I remember preaching one time, and I was just getting sick of the smug look that they had on their face, you know, these suits, these guys from you know, Harvard and Prince, you know, they're all on Wall Street trying to make a killing. Right?

12:52 And so they're they're standing there around, and I said, I want to ask you a question. In fact, I kind of got mad. I said, what do you got that's better than this? Come on. What do you got that's better than this?

13:06 I mean, that's the biggest mistake in the open air evangelism is to open it up for people. It is a huge mistake, guaranteed. And especially for that crowd, these guys are the best hecklers in the world. Not... Nobody.

13:25 Nobody said a word. I said, what do you got that's better than this? What do you got that's better than the forgiveness of sins, the joy that God gives, the hope of eternal life? What do you got that's better? Your cocaine?

13:39 What do you got that's better? Because in in the epidemic proportions, cocaine was used used in Wall Street. Epidemic proportions. And it's just amazing. In fact, USA Today during that time said that one out of one hundred people in America are hooked on cocaine.

14:02 That's what they said. And I think to myself, I said, what do you got that's better than this? There is no one better. Why should we worship Jesus Christ? We come and we sing Christmas carols and we're going shopping maybe today or, you know, and hoping, you know, that they get their quotas and all that kind of stuff.

14:35 Can we say that? Absolutely, we just did. And notice what he says here about himself. Actually, the word of God says about the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the image. And so we worship Christ because of this person, who he is.

14:50 He is the preeminent one, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. He is the very stamp of God the father as he was before the incarnation. The very stamp who is the image of the invisible God. Do you remember when... Do you remember in the...

15:10 In in your reading or maybe you've heard the story of when they when they came and, the disciples said, hey, Lord, show us the father. Show us the father. Have I been with you so long? If you've seen him, if you've seen me, you've seen him. He's the very exact replica of the father.

15:35 In fact, this is a word used, if you turn with me to Hebrews chapter one, please. Hebrews chapter one, because you see here the image of a signet ring by a monarch, the image of a signet ring by a monarch in terms of when he takes that ring and he places the wax on the document, or the seal of the document, he takes that ring and then puts it into hot wax, and then lets it go there and then brings it out, and there's the exact replication of what's on that ring, is on that seal. And notice what it says, God who had sundry times and diverse matters, Hebrews chapter one verse one, spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son, who is... He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he hath made the worlds, who bring the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person. If you see me, you see the father.

16:41 You want to know how the father is? Look at me. That's what exactly what he was saying. The express image of his person upholding all things by the word of his power, that he by himself had purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, who's made better than the... Being being made better, so much better than the angels.

17:06 And this is this is almost almost verbatim in Colossians chapter one verse verse 15, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. He is the very stamp of the God the father as he was before the incarnation. He is the very stamp. This is this is the God in the flesh. God in the flesh, incarnos.

17:33 This is where we get the word incarnation. It's from the Latin. Carnos meaning flesh. In the flesh. And this is exactly why we say incarnation, and this is it, the firstborn of all creation.

17:48 Now this doesn't mean that he was the first one created. No. He's not the first one created. Jehovah's Witnesses are going to tell us he's the first one created, claiming the same error that was condemned by the Council of Nicaea in three twenty five AD that Arius put forth, a guy named Arius put forth that Jesus Christ was a created being. He was not...

18:13 He wasn't eternal. But I would like to take Arius to Isaiah chapter nine verse six, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And his name shall be called wonderful... Wonderful. Yeah, and...

18:34 And what? Mighty God. Mighty God. How does that work? If he was just created by the mighty God.

18:44 And then they say, it says, everlasting father. The Hebrew, I had some guys tell me, see, Jesus is the father. It says it right there. How about that one? It's...

18:54 The Hebrew says, father of eternity. He's the author of eternity. He fathered eternity. How do I know how... I can't wrap my mind around that.

19:06 Well, you can't because you're not God. And so I can't wrap my mind around it. So what? It's true. He authored eternity.

19:45 All things were created by him and for him. Wow. He created all things. He is the source of all. So not only is he the stamp, the very stamp of God the father as he was before the incarnation, but he's the source of all.

20:03 He's the source of all. He holds all things together by the word of his power. We read that in Hebrews chapter one. He holds all things by the word of his power. He is the source of all.

20:15 He provides everything. He does it for us. And, you know, you might think you're pretty clever. You might think that, and I might think, and this is the thing that was so weird about the evolutionists, you know, it just happened to happen. You know, it just happened.

20:34 How stupid is that? It just happened? You know, that's like you sitting there and never going to work and just saying, I got a paycheck. You'd say, you need a checkup from the neck up. I've got to go to work.

20:47 I owe, I owe. Off to work, I go. That's exactly what you have to do, right? So why are we saying that it just boomed? Right?

20:58 He created it. But here's the beautiful thing. He holds it all together. He holds it all together by the word of his power. So I want to ask you a question this morning.

21:14 How's your life? Seriously. Now, we come to a place like this, but if we were at the mall, can you imagine if we were at the mall, the despair that is in people's lives? And the thing fragmenting apart? How's your life doing?

21:36 Do you feel like you can't hold it together? Do you feel like it's flying apart? Do ever feel like that? Of course you have. Of course you have.

21:48 Am I the only one in this room, this morning that has ever felt that way? Ever felt like it's just falling apart? I just I don't you ever think this like George Bailey does? You know, I'm better off dead than alive. I think that's why we like to watch that movie.

22:05 I think that's why they put it out there. They're to tell the world, don't kill yourself after Christmas. The number one day for suicides, what do you think? December 26. The hope is not in Santa Claus.

22:23 We were watching the Hallmark Channel, you know? There was no hope in Christmasville. No hope in... I mean, the only ray of hope is Jesus Christ. This is why we do this.

22:36 And you know, it would be so great to have these shows that come on and talk about hope, have it founded in that a person would come to know Jesus Christ as their personal savior. And then they look in the camera to all the world and say, I've got now I have hope and there's a reason to live. I wish they would do that. Not just George Bailey and Clarence didn't get his wings. I'm sorry about that.

23:06 And I look at this, he's the one who holds it all together. He's the one that created all things were created that are in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible, whether it be thrones or dominions or principalities of power. All things were created by him and for him. And then notice the next one. He's the sustainer of all.

23:25 He's the source of all. Verse 17, and before, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. Hey, things consist. He sustains your life whether you know it or not. You know what I think Satan's trick is?

23:48 I think Satan's trick is to isolate. He's to isolate you into thinking that you're alone. He's to isolate you into thinking that no one else knows about your situation and no one cares. You ever feel isolated? Sure.

24:12 You're not. You're not. He holds all things even though if you don't know it. He holds all things together. He holds it all.

24:22 By him, all things consist. Wow. Wow. I just want to... We we sang, you know, we sang, hallelujah, what a savior.

24:46 There's that word again, firstborn from the dead. Then in all things he might have the preeminence. So firstborn does not mean the first one created. It means that he is over all. He is dominant over all.

25:01 He is the sovereign God of the universe. He holds it all together by the word of his power. Somebody said to me, are you going to cry today? Are you going to cry today, Newsom? Listen, this is...

25:14 If there's anything worth weeping about, it's this. It's this, how great God is to us. How wonderful our God is to us. He holds it together, he is the source of all, he's the sustainer of all and he's the sovereign God of all. He holds together.

25:36 He is the preeminent one. That's what firstborn means. The one who is the preeminent one. And he cares about me. He cares about you.

25:48 And then look at verse 19, for it pleased the father that in him should all fullness dwell. This is so powerful because if you link this verse with verse nine of chapter two, look at this. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of deity bodily. Now Paul is attacking the Gnostic Gnostic heretics in the sense that they were saying that Jesus could not possibly be God because if he was God, you know, because the body is evil, and so he couldn't be God in the flesh. How does this verse sit with you?

26:31 How does this verse sit with you? Deity bodily. He's the God man, the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. No one, no one will love you more. No one will care for you more.

26:48 But the thing that's so beautiful, I was thinking about this very... The person and work of Jesus Christ, I was thinking about this. You know, somebody can come up and tell you that they love you. And sometimes it gets kind of flippant. Hey, I love you.

27:02 Hey, I see you. You ever hear somebody on the phone, you talk? Love you. Okay, bye. Love you.

27:07 Yeah, love you. It can become trite. It can become empty. Until what? Expressions of that love.

27:18 Right? Expressions of that love. Let's look at the work of Christ, the expressions of God's love. God demonstrated his love towards us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. You want to know how much God loves you?

27:35 See what God did in sending his son on the cross to pay the penalty for you and for me. You want to know how much God loves you, look at the cross and the empty tomb. And the empty tomb. Look at all of the history of the Old Testament and the New Testament. It culminates in the person of Jesus Christ.

27:57 They speak of me, he said. The law, the Psalms, and the prophets speak of me. Luke chapter 24. And it says in this, having made peace, verse 20, the work of salvation, what was the work that he has done? We look at the person who he is, the preeminent one.

28:17 The work and what he has done, the all sufficient one, the all sufficient one, having made peace through the blood of his cross. By him to reconcile all things unto himself. By him, I say, whether they be things in earth and things in heaven. And you who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he hath reconciled. Wow.

29:14 What he did on the cross for you. Somebody said, you want to renew your love for God? I want to renew it. Review his love for you. You want to renew your love for God?

29:32 Review his love for you. And this is a review. What he has done. Now, we have an airman first class here, and you probably have seen a lot of stuff. And what's your MOS?

29:45 Cryptological linguist. Say again? Cryptological linguist. Cryptological linguist. We'll have to talk about that.

29:53 But I had a friend of mine that worked on the nukes in North Dakota Air Force. He worked on those silos. He worked on the warheads. He worked on all that. He saw some power there.

30:05 I mean, those things, multiple tags. In other words, you send that missile up, the thing goes over the intended target and then deploys six to eight missiles, six to eight warheads. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Talk about a nuclear winter. These are nukes.

30:26 These are not... This is no, you know, mad, mutual assured destruction. That was the doctrine that they had. You think to yourself, oh, this is really this is really powerful, the power of the nuclear weapon. And it is.

30:41 But nothing's more powerful than Jesus Christ's death, burial and physical resurrection. Nothing's more powerful than this. Nothing can change the human heart. Nothing. That's destruction.

30:56 He gives life. The atom is destruction. The, you know, the splitting of the atom, the nuclear weapon is destruction. But Jesus Christ gives life. He breaks the hardened soul.

31:11 And notice what He's done for us. And He did it through the death of Himself on the cross. Wow. This one who came into the world, who was sinless, who knew no sin, became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. What what words of life to people who have never heard it?

31:38 Act like you've never heard it before. Act like you've never ever heard this before and understand the darkness. Understand how awful the darkness is, and we start to think that the darkness is a normal type of situation until we see the light. And Jesus said, I am that light. And he paid with his own blood, and then died, was buried, three days rose again, that when we believe on him, we have everlasting life.

32:09 And that's why Paul says, and that light that shone out of darkness has shown in our hearts. Sorry, bro. Has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We have this light in us. He indwells you.

32:35 The God of the universe who spoke the worlds into existence indwells you. We talked about this last time when we talked about Psalm one thirty nine. He indwells you. Think about that. Think about how great...

32:49 And the next time that Satan wants to isolate you and tell you that you're alone, think on his word, and he tells you that you're not. I have written these things and admonished you, these admonitions that you don't think isolation, you think I'm with him and he is with me. Man, no one, no one will do this. Islam is not going to do this for you. I guarantee it.

33:40 The work that he did for us on our behalf, it's unspeakable. How can we possibly really, really explain? We do our best when we have the word, we have the living word indwelling in our hearts, we have the written word, we want to have it in our minds, we want to think about it, and we want to gestate it in our minds. But it's tough to it's tough to handle, isn't it? And then not only the work of salvation, but now now the moment we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the moment we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is the moment he starts to work in our hearts in terms of sanctification, setting us apart, that progressive sanctification, making us more like him and helping us to reflect him to other people.

34:41 I was thinking of the purpose of Israel. You know, people talk about God's chosen people. Have you ever thought about why God chose Israel? Why they are the chosen people? He didn't choose them to go to heaven.

34:57 He chose them that they would reflect him to a world, that those people who saw him, saw them working in their lives, would want to believe on him. We see this, we see people who have done this. We see Rahab, we see Ruth. We see these different peoples who have who have looked at the god, that god, Naomi's god, I want your god. I want your god.

35:26 Your god is my god. I will follow you. I will do whatever you want. Your God is my God. That's exactly what we're to be to people.

35:35 We're salt and light that people will become thirsty and they'll see him reflected in our lives. So that light is in us that we can reflect him. That's exactly what sanctification is. And if you continue, verse 23, if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you have heard and which was preached to every creature that is under heaven, of which I, Paul, am made a minister. Preaching the word of God.

36:15 To change life. One of the beautiful things about being a Christian, one of the most beautiful things about being a Christian is that we have an opportunity to reflect him. Think about that. You know, some people say about my son. Well, somebody came up to me today and said, I don't know who was preaching today, JC or you?

36:39 Because you both got jackets and suits on. You got... Well, I got the blazer, but he's got the cool suit. You know, who's preaching today? And some people have actually said to me, and you might want to pray for JC, is that he looks like me.

36:58 Actually, he's got to look more like his mom. That's definitely, you know, just pray for him. And if you think that that's the case, you know, he looks like me, you know, he said, wow, you know, you just look just like... I've had people come up to me that knew my mother, and you look just like your mother. I don't have the long hair, though.

37:23 And I'll take that as a compliment. My mom was beautiful. I'm not saying I'm beautiful, I want to be handsome. But I tell you, when somebody says you look just like somebody, the better compliment is when somebody comes up to you and said, you know what? You would remind me of who Jesus, what I think of who Jesus would be like.

37:49 You remind me of that. Wow. That's the better compliment. I want that. I want to reflect him.

38:01 How about you? And this is exactly what sanctification is all about, the changed life, the changed life of an individual who is out of darkness and in the light, and there's just tremendous, tremendous rest for that individual and reflection for people who are seeing him in you? The person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do we see the work of Christ that it is all sufficient? Do we see that the person of the Lord Jesus Christ as preeminent?

38:44 I think to myself, and I saw the books upstairs, You have a number of books, and they've got them stacked up there. True Discipleship by Bill MacDonald. Somebody asked me one time, Chris, aside from the Bible, what book would you read? What book do you recommend? Just give me one book that you recommend.

39:12 And it's that book, True Discipleship, without hesitation. Just kills you. You start to realize that when you love the Lord, when you first receive Jesus Christ as your personal savior, that's totally free. But when you live for him, it's all consuming. And I want to tell you something.

39:38 There's nothing sweeter than that. There's nothing sweeter than living for him. Because to live in this world and to follow its dictates, it's like going back into the dark room and trying to close the door and thinking that you're doing something significant instead of coming out into the light. Because when we follow anything, aside from this book, we follow anything in terms of our heart affection, we're just like going back into a dark room and pulling that light shut, closing the light out. And we would say, wouldn't we say how foolish that would be?

40:36 I hope you say that's foolish. I hope you'd say that that is foolish because there is no other light than what he has given us, the person and work. Why should we worship Jesus Christ? Because he's the only one. He's the only one worthy of that.

40:57 And wait till we see this when we get to heaven. We are going to kick ourselves. We will kick ourselves and say, how foolish I have been to pursue other pursuits than him. Do you know that song? I don't know if...

41:16 It's not in the Red Hymn book, but could you sing with me? I know you can, but would you? Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Hallelujah. He has asked us to do that.

42:00 So why don't we covet in our hearts right now to do that and worship him? Bending the heart, the knee of the heart, and bending our mind to him and focusing on him. Do you remember, I love that quote that somebody wrote, To renew your love for God, review His love for you. Father, we do want to do that, and we thank you for your son. At this time of the year and at every time of the year, at every moment of the year, that we would just...

43:11 Thank you so much. Help us to live and reflect him. And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.