HE REIGNS!
Mount Hope UMC
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Colossians
1:11-20 New Living Translation (NLT)
11 We also pray that you will
be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance
and patience you need. May you be filled with joy,[a] 12 always
thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that
belongs to his people, who live in the light. 13 For
he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the
Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our
freedom[b] and forgave our
sins.
Christ Is Supreme
15 Christ is the visible
image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,[c]
16 for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
17 He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together.
18 Christ is also the head of the church,
which is his body.
He is the beginning,
supreme over all who rise from the dead.[d]
So he is first in everything.
19 For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
20 and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,[c]
16 for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
17 He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together.
18 Christ is also the head of the church,
which is his body.
He is the beginning,
supreme over all who rise from the dead.[d]
So he is first in everything.
19 For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
20 and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
Paul
is writing to the church at Colossaē on behalf of himself and Timothy. Biblical scholars believe that this is one of
the letters he wrote while he and Timothy were imprisoned in Rome. For clarification and information, Paul never
visited Colossaē, but like most of his letters, he begins with a word of
encouragement. So, let me try and break
it down for you, Amen? Let’s start at
the beginning of our verses. This is not
the beginning of the letter, but for our purposes, it is the beginning of our
lesson and message today.
Paul writes, “We also pray
that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all
the endurance and patience you need.”
The Colossians were struggling as many of the first Christians
struggled. This was a new normal for
them, a new way of living, worshipping and believing. The Colossian church may have been full of
fire, but the congregation was still worshipping the stars and angels. He encourages the church, much like I do
(although I am no Paul, so let’s get that clear), to stand on the power they
have in Jesus for patience and endurance.
Paul then says, “May you
be filled with joy,[a] 12 always
thanking the Father.” This is a season
of thanksgiving, but we know that in all things in every way, we should always
give thanks to the Father who has supplied us with every good gift in heaven
and on earth. We have to learn to walk
boldly in our giftedness. I look at
Cedric, who knows God has a calling on his life and he takes every opportunity
to encourage and uplift his peers and those around him, and he gives all glory,
honor and praise to God who is at work in his life.
Paul then offers further
assurance that “He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to
his people, who live in the light.” He
is telling them and us that we have an inheritance of salvation. We have our names written in the Lambs Book
of Life and ain’t that good news? We
have our place in eternity and people who live in the light. The light of the presence of God through
Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
Paul explains why we are
people who live in the light when he says, “13 For he
has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom
of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom[b] and
forgave our sins.” We have been redeemed,
purchased with a price. We no longer
walk in darkness but in the light of the love of Jesus. We no longer have no hope, but now our “hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly
lean on Jesus name.” As the song says,
“We were once lost in sin, but Jesus took me in and with a little light from
heaven filled my soul. It bathed my
heart in love and wrote my name above and just a little talk with Jesus makes
me whole.”
We are overcomers. We have the authority to call into being
whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or
praiseworthy - thing about such things and the God of peace will be with you”
and Philippians 4:8 tells us.
Then Paul exhorts on the
supremacy of Christ. He talks about the
nature of Christ in an early Christian hymn that focuses on Jesus. He beings by saying that the name of Jesus is
that he is the visible image of an invisible God. He walked with us and he talked with us and
he called us his own. God had taken his
presence away in Eden when our dysfunctional first family disobeyed. But Jesus, Jesus, Jesus was the sin offering
to cleanse from all unrighteousness and give us the hope of eternal life to all
who would believe. As is says in
Genesis, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. In him all things were made in heaven and on
earth. Paul says this includes things
visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers of powers – all
things were created through him and for him.
Jesus reigns over all!
Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our struggle
is not against flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but
against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this
[present] darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness
in the heavenly (supernatural) places.” WHOA!
The struggle is against the rulers, powers, injustices, and spiritual
forces of evil in supernatural places.
But even in this we can stand firm, because, according to verse Colossians
1:16, says that Jesus created it and Jesus controls it. We don’t need to fight against this for the
battle is not ours, it’s the Lord’s, right?
Are you with me, church? Are you
getting this? Am I making it clear and
plain? Jesus reigns!
Verse 17 says that “He
(Jesus) existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.” He was and is and always will be. He reigns in glory and will lead heaven’s
army at the apocalypse to win the final battle and defeat the enemy once and
for all and then he will come with the sound of a trumpet and descend to claim
his sisters and brothers and his bride, the church. Until then, he reigns over all and holds it
all together. It may seem like the world
is going to hell in a hand basket, but be encouraged, church. Have you ever heard a song called “All In His
Hands”? I believe the Mississippi Mass
sang it many years ago. The lyrics
are: “All in His hands, I put it all in
his hands, all of my burdens, problems, if I have a question, I put it all, yes
I put it all in His hands. Whatever the
problem, I know that he can solve it, I put it all in his hands. This and that, I put it all in his
hands. He can handle it; that’s a fact,
I put it all in his hands. No matter how
great or small, He’s the Master of them all, I put it all, yet I put it all in
his hands.”
We have a tendency to take
on burdens and problems that are not even ours to bear. Family and friends try and transfer their
burdens to us. It’s not ours. We dragging around and running around trying
to be everything to everybody – I know, I’m #1 guilty! But it’s not ours. God is a wonder to my soul! I can sing that because He has brought me
from a mighty, mighty long way and I know he’s not finished with me yet ‘cause
he could have called me home 2 weeks ago when my sugar level as 1100 and my
eyesight was blurred and I was walking like a
Zombie, but he didn’t. I don’t
know about you, but I thank God I’m still on the battlefield for my Lord.
Paul
reminds us in verse 18 that “Christ is also the head of the church, which is
his body. He is the beginning, supreme
over all who rise from the dead. So, he
is first in everything.” Before him
there is no other, without him, there is no other. He is the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end. We are the Body of Christ. He is the head. We are his appendages – his arms, legs, feet,
heart, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, core, hips, chest – all of that. He needs us to be ready, willing and able to
be a strong, efficient, effective and MATURE body. As Eugene Peterson so eloquently says in
Ephesians 4:14, “No prolonged infancies among us, please.
We’ll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for
impostors.” In other words, grow
up! Don’t be hearers of the word
only. Put your faith in action. We have to step out of our area of comfort
and don’t be Christians just on Sunday in worship. We can’t transform the world with the Gospel
of Jesus Christ, if we’re not living it in every aspect of our life. We can’t just talk the talk, you gotta walk
the walk. Folks gotta see Jesus in us!
In verse 19
Paul tells the Colossians “For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in
Christ.” Just as God was pleased to live
in Christ, Christ now is pleased to live in us who have professed him as our
Lord and Savior. So our lives as Christians
should be one of contentment knowing that Christ now lives in us and as a
result, our lives are complete. We have
to stand on the promises that are part of our inheritance into the Body of
Christ that, “We can do all things through Christ which strengthens us” that we
“are MORE than conquerors in Jesus Christ who loves us,” and that “No weapon
formed against us shall prosper.”
I’m almost
finished, church. In verse 20, Paul
concludes the hymn by writing, “and through him God reconciled everything to
himself. He made peace with everything
in heave and on earth y means of Christ’s blood on the cross.” See God was no pleased with his
creation. He had destroyed most of it
with Noah in the flood. And he continued
to send humans who he found favor with to bring the word of salvation and to
woo his people back to obedience and dependence on him, but they kept doing
what they thought was right in their own eyes.
Truth be told, we still doing the same thing. But God is not going to send another Savior. He sent his one and only Son so that “whoever
shall believeth on him shall not perish, but have everlasting life” (John
3:16). He promised this in John 12:32
when Jesus said, “And if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw ALL men (not
some men, ALL men) unto me.”
This is
Christ the King Sunday, church. I assure
you that no matter what it looks like, He is still on the throne sitting high
and looking low. Regardless of the
turmoil, pain, grief, illness, trials and tribulations, Jesus still reigns.
I leave you
with one last song that I has been on my heart for months now. It does a little like this,
“All is
well. All is well. No matter what my eyes my see, I know His
grace is covering me. All is well.”
Ride on King
Jesus!
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