Colossians 1:18-19

Paulosians chapter 1 verses 18 through 20. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the father that in him should all fullness dwell. And 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 or things in heaven. May God bless to us the reading of his sacred and holy word this morning. Our focus this morning will be on verses 18 and 19. There were two Germans who wanted to climb the Matterhorn. so they hired three guides. And they hooked up, you know, they had the guide, one German, a guide, another German, and then finally the third guide as they went up the mountain’s side. When they had gone up a little ways, the last man slipped. And when he slipped, he was dangling there. The others had little niches in the rock in which they were holding on. But eventually, they all let loose except for the guys. at the top. He had managed to put a spike in the ice and was able to hold on and save all the rest from perishing until they all could get their foothold again and they continued their way up the mountain side. With the fall of man, everyone fell, and Christ is the only one who can hold us up, who can prevent us from fall of man. to our death. And so we have here, Paul relating to us, the message concerning Christ, our Redeemer that he’s spoken about, who he is. And we saw that he has related that Jesus Christ is the creator of all things, and verses 16 and 17. And now he is teaching that Jesus Christ is the reconciler of all things in verses 18 to 20. So we have creation, but the then we have in a sense recreation. And of course, as we said, the reason is the fall of man and Adam. This whole world lies in spiritual darkness, according to verse 13. And under the power of Satan, and it is Christ alone who can redeem us, who can restore the world and which we live. So we’re focused here around the salvation of Christ, mystical body in particular, the church, and here not the local church per se, but the universal church, the whole body of the elect, of which he is the head, as we saw in our last study. Let me begin by saying this. You find Christ is the beginning of the new creation here. Who is the beginning? Verse 18 says. Now, some have referred to this. this to the eternity of Christ, but I think we should see this more in light of Christ as the beginning of the church, of which he is, of course, the head and savior. All the faithful in every age have been, as it were, cast in his mold. The scripture says this, for whom he did for now, and that word means for love, he also did predestinate to be conform to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Christ is first, everyone else is now conformed to his image. This implies that the people of God must be made to resemble Christ in some fashion as the elder brother. The Lord Jesus Christ then is the model. after which all the elect of God are formed. He is the perfect man in his role as the mediator. Originally, man was created in the image of God, and then sin entered in and marred that image. And Adam, when he begat a son, he begat him in his own likeness after his own image, which was a fallen image. Thus communicating to his posterity, the corrupt image, and the corrupt nature that he had. But as God had determined to save part of fallen human race, it was according to his good pleasure to renew them in the image of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This was accomplished by the incarnation of Christ. Remember, he is said to be the brightness of his glory and the express image of God’s person in Hebrews chapter 1 in verse 3. then it’s to Christ image that all the elect are predestinated. So in this sense, I think we should see him as the beginning. In Christ you have the perfect man who above all else, there’s no one could compare to him in this, bears the image of God. He is the first as man to enter into the glorified state. All believers are going to follow. follow him in this regard and be just man made perfect. Even those already in heaven are still awaiting the resurrection of their body and still are not complete in this sense. Paul will address that later in this text. Thus, their conformity is not yet complete in the sense that Jesus Christ has said the beginning of their recreation. And so we see that we’re still awaiting the completeness of what Christ is going to do in us and through us. Many years ago, quite a number of years ago, when I was younger, I designed a historical game that you could play of the Napoleonic battle of Bordino with the French versus the Russians. And I entitled it bloodbath at Bordino because there were so many casualties in that particular battle. The map was hand-drawn. The counters were made out of cardboard with numbers on them at brigade level. All the troops were put in their historic position with speed and troop strength and so forth, divided into artillery and infantry and cavalry. Now, when I designed this game, it was the only one in existence. There was not a number. another one like it. There was only one copy in the whole world. Eventually, I sold the game to a game manufacturer in California named Decision Games, and it was published in Strategy and Tactics Magazine. Now, my original game was a prototype, and thousands of games were reproduced after the original that I had made. They were replicated at the printers. In a similar, in a greater way, you as a believer are being made in conformity the Christ’s glorious image. He is the original. He is the beginning. Everything is now going to be patterned after him and made after him. And so you have an important reason to study the person of Christ, do you not? Because you are going to have a likeness to him. because that’s what you’re being conformed. And we see that not only true with regard to our spiritual image, but there’s a sense in which our body will be like, glorified body, will be like Christ’s body too. And so we have a good reason to this study, the person of Christ. So you find Christ at the beginning of the new creation. Secondly, you find Christ as the first born from the dead. Now, if you were of a believer, the message of the gospel is that Christ arose from the dead on the third day. You have to believe in the resurrection of Christ. But we have to look at Christ resurrection in this passage in light of Christ in the new creation. In other words, how does Christ’s resurrection have significance for you as part of the church, of which he is the head? In Greek mythology, there’s an old legend about the Greek hero Ulysses. One day Ulysses returns home from one of his magnificent adventures and he finds that the queen has died and the whole countryside is in mourning. And so when he asked he was told haven’t you heard, the queen is dead. So he rushes to the palace and sure enough the lovely queen has died. Ulysses then went out on his most perilous adventure. To take on death and he wants to went out to the queen’s tomb and he wrestled with the ancient enemy death and he fought for the life of the queen. And he snatched from death the life of the queen and took her back to the palace in his arms, handing her over to the king. Of course, this is all Greek myth. But it reflects man’s desire for a hero that will overcome death. What scripture reveals to us is that hero is Christ who has overcome death. He is the first born from the dead, the Bible says. He is the victor over death. He is the first that rose from the dead by his own power and to an immortal life. And we know that others were raised from the dead. Even Lazarus was raised from the dead by Christ. But they all died again. They all died again. The pathway to immortal life as man was experienced first by the God man, Jesus Christ. He pays the way for the resurrection to a glorious new state. Look with me at 1st Corinthians, if you would, chapter 15, verse 54 through 57. The Bible says, So when this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And then if you back up to verse 2. 20, if you would. But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that’s left? And then if you would, jump down to verse 23. But every man in his own order. Christ’s the first fruits. Afterward, they that are Christ at his coming. He is the first begotten from the dead. He’s the first fruits of the dead. There’s an allusion here to the agricultural scene in Israel. Remember the agricultural situation. The first fruits of the earth were required to be offered to the Lord when they came up. The first fruits were what sprang first out of the ground and the first ripen fruit, the first ripen grain, and so forth. And so they were gathered and they were set aside for the Lord. The first fruits were the best of the harvest. And it assured us that there’s going to be a great harvest to come. We can look at the first fruits and see what’s going to happen. Christ is the first fruits of them that slept. The indication Christ is the first born from the dead. The first to spring from the earth to immortal life. He rose from the dead. ascended to heaven, presented himself to God. Christ being the first fruits, he is the best, of course, of the complete harvest. And he sets apart in a sense the rest of the harvest. Now, the Bible says, Christ is the first fruits, and then we, of course, are what comes after. We’re the regular harvest, if you would. His resurrection is an indication then, that of this great harvest that’s going to come. We’re going to be our bodies are going to be harvested from the earth and rise from the ground. This mortal must put on immortality, and in that way, death is swallowed up in victory, we’re told. For our citizenship or our conversation is not, excuse me, our citizenship is in heaven, from whence we also look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. Philippians 3, 20, and 21. And so when we look at death, the Christian should not fear death because it’s been conquered by Christ. And because of Christ’s victory, we shall have victory. We have entrance into heaven. And our body shall be resurrected and glorified one day and reunited. with our soul. And so you find Christ is the first born from the dead, and this is the benefit for the church. He’s the first fruits. We’re going to follow. We’re going to be like him in that sense. Thirdly this morning. You find Christ is the preeminent one. It says here that in all things, he might have the preeminence, the Bible says. The idea is that Christ is the first, the chief of all persons, angels, men, he is superior, nature, name, and place among them. In all things, Christ is the first. He has the primacy, if you would. When we talk about sonship, we can talk about the fact that we are sons of God, but we’re sons of God by adoption. We’re not like the son of God. His sonship is different than ours. We talk about election. We can say, well, we’re chosen in Christ. Yes, but we’re really, he was chosen first as we’re chosen in him. We talk about the covenant. Christ is the surety, the mediator of it, the messenger of it. We may be included in it, but look at his place in the covenant. We talk about human nature. If you can take the most godly man that has ever lived on this earth, none of them can match the perfect life of Jesus Christ as the God man. Not a a sin within him. When we talk about redemption, Christ was alone when he purchased redemption for us on the cross all by himself. In life, Christ exceeded all others in holiness and purity. In death, it was Christ who conquered death. He rose above it first. In short, he died, he revived, he revived, he rose again that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living. This being the case, Christ ought to have the preeminence the first place in your heart and affections. He ought to have the first place in your thoughts, in your mind. And certainly, with regard to praise being on our lips, he should be first. And so you find Christ is the preeminent one, and he deserves that place. Fourthly, you find Christ is the dispenser of all grace from his fullness. Verse 19, for it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Now, you should realize a glorious fullness of grace resides in Christ. I don’t believe that this is speaking of the fullness of the godhead that is mentioned later in chapter 2 and verse 9. Well, it’s true that all the perfections of God are certainly in Christ and he’s fully equal to God. Yet that doesn’t spring from the Father’s goodwill and pleasure. He is that way from the beginning. We’re talking about something here that it pleased the Father that in Him should this fullness dwell. What Christ is naturally and necessarily is not something that it pleased the Father that this should be. but he seems to be talking here about the God man in this particular passage. Nor is the fullness here to be taken as the church as it is in Ephesus and 1 as the fullness of his body. I don’t think that’s what he’s talking about either. But I think that the passage here is related to Christ’s grace and I would refer to that passage in John 116. And all this fullness have we all received and grace for grace. And I think this is what he’s speaking of here in this text. There’s a large supply and abundance of grace that is found in Jesus Christ. Every spiritual blessing imaginable is wrapped up in Jesus Christ. It pleased the Father to place in the mediator of the covenant this fullness of grace to make everlasting provision for the elect of God, His church. I think this is the indication here. As we read in Ephesians 1.3, that God the Father has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. That phrase grace for grace can mean one grace answering to another or even grace upon grace. One grace after enough. It certainly either way we’re speaking about abundance, fullness of the grace that’s in Christ. All this suggests a never-ending supply. It’s never going to run out. If you have a large spring, you can get an exhaustible supply of water from it. You can keep collecting water from that spring year after year after year and it just replenishes. Down through the ages, men have sought grace from Christ at the throne of grace and they can fill themselves up with the grace, as much grace as they can obtain, and even hold, if you would. And it never runs dry. It never runs out. His grace is full and rich, and therefore there’s a plenty of supply of grace in Christ. Now, you’ll notice you have access to this fullness of grace right now. The word dwells here in this text that word dwell, that all the fullness should dwell in him is in the present tax. It’s not like God is saying, well, in some future age, I will endow Christ with this fullness. He is presently full of grace for us to go and obtain from him the grace that we need. And what this means is it’s accessible to us. If anything is lacking, anything that you need, the indication is you can go go to Christ and obtain it. Whatever deficiency we have, if there’s sin to overcome, Christ can give you the grace to bear it and overcome it. If there is some type of trial, physical problem, Christ can give you the grace to overcome that problem. If there is any virtue to be obtained, if indeed we need more love or more hope, or more patience or whatever the case may be, Christ can supply it. He has an abundance to supply for us. Take the most eminent Christian you’ve ever met. And you may admire His holiness and his godliness, but you should never think to yourself while I’ll never reach that level of knowledge or that level of holiness of life or maturity or wherever the case may be. Why not? Doesn’t your Lord have an abundance of grace to give you? Isn’t you the same Lord that gave the grace to this other individual? Yes, the Bible says without me, you can do nothing. But it’s equally true that the scripture says, with Christ, you can do all things. Right? That’s the flip side of that. So you must access this fullness of grace. To obtain the grace that you need in the time of need. Is it not because of our spiritual weakness. Is it not due to our failure to seek the grace, to ask for it? That we don’t have it because Christ has it in abundance. We have not because we don’t ask for it. And so you have access to this gracious fullness right now. Now, how this available fullness should affect you? I want to think about this a moment. We should believe great things. And by that, I mean, why can’t you be a better Christian? Why can’t you overcome the besetting sin you have? The grace is available. Why can’t God sustain his church and work in people’s lives to save them? Why can’t Christ change a bitter spirit and make it joyful? make it delightful to be around? Of course he can. Why can’t Christ provide you with assurance of salvation? Why should we sit there and I don’t know. I don’t know if I ever know. Yes, you can know. Christ can give you the grace to know. Why can’t you endure hardness and be a good soldier of Jesus Christ when the trials come along if Christ gives you the grace to do it? And the grace is available for you. Why can’t Christ build a church based upon the preaching of his word instead of all the gimmicks that modern church wants to say we have to have to get people in. Isn’t it built upon the work of grace? Is the Lord’s hand short that it cannot save? Has the Lord become weak and feeble? Is the supply of grace shut off to us? We need to have more of the spirit of Elisha. You remember Elishan the Old Testament was the servant of the prophet Elijah at first. Right before the older prophet was taken up, to be with the Lord and the chariot of fire. To reach the destination where he’d be taken to heaven they had across the Jordan River, remember. And Elijah gets to the Jordan River and right beside him he’s Elisha. Elijah takes off his mantle and he smacks the edge of the waters and they part and they cross over on dry ground. And they get to the other side and of course the waters come back again and the next thing we know Elijah is taken up into heaven with his charity of fire. And there is Elijah. And there’s the mantle of Elijah laying there on the ground and he picks it up. And he walks to the River Jordan and what does he do? He picks up that mantle. He smacks the edge of the water and he says, where is the God of Elijah? And the water’s part and he goes across on dry ground just like Elijah did. He did. What I’m saying is when we address these issues, we have to be like Elishia and say, where is the God of Elijah? Are we serving the same God as we read about in the scriptures? Can he not do these things that he says he will do do for his church? God is capable of doing these things. And so we need to have that attitude of, yes, I believe God can do this. We should be encouraged to attempt great things. Does not the Scripture say that God is able to abundantly do above all that we ask or think when we pray, according to Ephesians 3? Friends, perhaps we don’t attempt great things because we don’t expect God to do great things. It’s the person who says, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheth me who attempts to do great things. Remember Nehemiah in the Old Testament went to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall which nobody thought could be done. His enemies laughed at him and ridiculed him. Even the Jews that he engaged in the building, some of them, the Bible says, did half-hearted work. King James puts it, they didn’t put their shoulder to the load. They weren’t trying very hard. They didn’t think it really could be done. And yet, God’s empowerment and help, Nehemiah built the wall and raised the hopes of the people of God. We see that happen. Now, not everyone is going to be given a task like Paul or like Nehemiah, but my friends, what I’m saying is aim higher. If we believe our God is great, we believe that a supply of grace is available, we should try to do more for the kingdom of God. God may never call you to be a missionary in foreign field. You’ve got your own mission field. There are people you come in contact with every week that you run across who need the gospel of Jesus Christ. Whether we pass that Christian literature, whether we can get a word of witness into them in some way or another, God will bless those efforts if we believe that we’re serving the same God as the God of Scripture. Here we are. We’re just a little church. We have a website. You have an opportunity through the website to reach even more people throughout the world. Who knows what God is going to do? God is capable of doing great things with few people. You can ask Jonathan or Gideon, and both of those stories provide examples of that. Christ isn’t short on grace, so why don’t we attempt to do greater things? That’s my encouragement to you. you this morning as the people of God. It’s to think about how we can do more for God’s kingdom on this earth. Well, those two Germans attempting to climb the Matterhorn were thankful. They had a skilled guide that was secure at the top because otherwise they would have all perished. My friends, when it comes to the reconciliation of all things, it is Christ that upholds us all. And because we’re attached to him, survive the fallen out only because of our attachment to him. He is the head and savior of the church. He is the beginning of the new creation. He is the firstborn from the dead. He is the preeminent one. And he is the dispenser of all grace to his people. Let us close with a word of prayer.