"Christ in You, the Hope of Glory" -- Colossians 1:24-2:5

The Fourth in a Series of Sermons on Colossians

Paul is under house arrest in Rome awaiting his appearance before Caesar.  During this time, he will write letters to the churches in Philippi and Colossae, a circular letter to the church in Ephesus, and a personal letter to a man named Philemon–all of which are included in our New Testament.  Paul has heard from Epaphras–the pastor of the church in Colossae who is with Paul in Rome–that the church in Colossae is doing well, but that it is now facing a serious challenge from false teaching.  An unnamed false teacher (or teachers) was contending that the key to finding spiritual fulfillment is found in a mixture of pagan and Jewish practices, which, from what we glean from Paul’s response, included keeping Sabbaths, observing rigorous dietary laws, worshiping angels and seeking visions.  Paul describes this as a philosophy, a human tradition, and an extreme form of self-denial (asceticism).  Paul’s response is to affirm the supremacy of Jesus over all things.  As we have seen, and will see again, there is much in this letter which speaks to our own situation today–Christians in the midst of an increasingly pagan culture, with false religions and false teachers on every side.

We are continuing our series on Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians.  Last time we took up another of the so-called “Christ hymns” cited by Paul in the opening chapter, this time the hymn in Colossians 1:15-20.  Our study of this hymn happened to fit perfectly with the fact that it was also the first Sunday in Advent.  As we saw, this particular Christ hymn reveals a great deal about the person and work of Jesus, who, as the hymn affirms, is the very image of God and the creator of all things.  As firstborn from the dead, Jesus begins his work of new creation when he conquers sin and death in his resurrection.  It is Jesus who reconciles rebellious sinners unto God and then incorporates those reconciled into his church.  Since the Sundays in Advent focus upon the Incarnation of Jesus (his supernatural conception) leading up to Christmas (Jesus’ birth) it was quite appropriate to begin Advent by looking at one of the most important Christological passages in all the New Testament.  Just who it is who came to save us from our sins–Jesus, the very image of God, in whom God’s fulness was pleased to dwell, who is also firstborn from the dead, and head of his church.

This time out, we will see another similar (if unintended) connection between Paul’s discussion of Jesus as “the hope of glory,” and that one in whom hidden mysteries are revealed, and this, the second Sunday of Advent.  Traditionally, the second Sunday of Advent is devoted to John the Baptists’s role in pointing Israel to the coming of the Messiah–focusing upon the expectation and hope that the promised redeemer would finally come to save his people.  And so, when in Colossians 1:27 Paul speaks of Jesus as the hope of glory, and then in chapter 2:3 points out that in Jesus the wisdom and knowledge of God are revealed, we are directed by Paul to consider the incarnation as the revelation of God’s glory, and whose return at the end of the age is the hope of all believers in Jesus.  Such hope is a good thing to consider, especially in light of the fact that this is the second Sunday in Advent.

As we turn to our text, Colossians 1:24-2:5, we come to a new section of the Colossian letter in which the Apostle Paul describes the nature of the mystery revealed to him–that in Jesus’ incarnation and messianic mission to Israel, God has fulfilled his promise to redeem his people from sin’s guilt and its power.  To accomplish this, Jesus (who is the creator of all things and the very image of God) took to himself a true human nature in the womb of the virgin and came to earth to reconcile sinners to God through his once for all sacrifice for sin–his blood shed for us upon the cross, reminding us of the difficult but obvious truth that Jesus must suffer and die to save us from our sins.  As that one entrusted to preach this message to the Gentiles, Paul explains the hardships he has endured for the cause of Christ and his church–including the Christians in Colossae.  As Paul told the Colossians (v. 23), it is to this work of preaching that God has called Paul as a minister of the gospel.

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This Week at Christ Reformed Church (May 28-June 3)

Sunday Morning, June 3:  We continue our time in the Book of Habakkuk, with the prophet's declaration that "the righteous shall live by his faith" (2:4).  We will pick up in Habakkuk 2:1, and then survey the balance of the prophecy.  Our worship service begins at 10:30 a.m.

Sunday Afternoon:  We will be discussing Article 16 of the Belgic Confession, dealing with the doctrine of predestination.  Our catechism service begins @ 1:15 p.m.

Wednesday Night Bible Study (May 30 @ 7:30 p.m.):  We continue with our series, "Apologetics in a Post-Christian Age."  Our topic, "The Acquired Knowledge of God."  

The Academy:  On Hiatus until the Fall   

For more information on Christ Reformed Church you can always find us here (Christ Reformed Church), or on Facebook (Christ Reformed on Facebook).

"The Oracle That the Prophet Habakkuk Saw" -- Habakkuk 1:1-17

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon on the Minor Prophets from Habakkuk

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This Week's White Horse Inn

Christianity & The Culture of Marketing

In today’s consumer culture, the customer is king. But do all our consumer preferences end up determining our identity? Are we merely the sum of our choices? And what if it turns out that many of our preferences have been formed and shaped by a culture of marketing? Who are we then? On this program, the hosts will explore these issues and will also discuss the ways in which churches in our time have bought into various manipulative strategies from the culture of marketing (originally aired Sept. 6th, 2015).

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Apologetics in a Post Christian Age (Audio) -- The Knowledge of God (Part Two)

Here's the audio from our Wednesday night Bible Study:  The Content of the Innate and Acquired Knowledge of God--A Biblical Catalogue

Previous lectures in this series can be found here (scroll down): Apologetics in a Post Christian Age

My Wife and I Are Thrilled to Announce . . .

My wife Micki and I are thrilled to announce the engagement of our youngest son, Mark Thomas, to Ms. Brianna Lynch.

Mark is a graduate of CSUF (B.A.), has completed his graduate degree (M.S.) in emergency management at CSULB, and currently works for California State Parks.  Brianna is a graduate of Biola University, and is currently completing her Master of Medical Science, Physician's Assistant Studies, at Marshall B. Ketchum University in Fullerton.  Brianna was a lifelong member at Delta Oaks OPC in Pittsburg, CA., before transferring to Christ Reformed Church earlier this year.

Mark pulled off a surprise proposal at Crystal Cove with the help of a couple of friends. Now the hard work of planing a wedding begins.

Mark and Brianna (Bee) are a great match!  We are thrilled and praising God!

"The Image of the Invisible God" -- Colossians 1:15-23

The Third in a Series of Sermons on Paul's Letter to the Colossians

Whatever the Colossian Heresy was exactly, Paul’s answer to it is to show forth the supremacy of Jesus over all things.  To do that, Paul utilizes an early Christian hymn which speaks of Jesus as the very image of God and the creator of all things, who, in his work of new creation, delivers his people from the consequences of Adam’s fall–sin and death-reconciling them to God and calling them into his church, of which, He, Jesus, is the head.  The content of this hymn provides Christians with some of the most important teaching about Jesus found anywhere in the New Testament–a so called “high” Christology–and sets the stage for much of what follows in the balance of Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae.  Paul utilizes this hymn to set forth Jesus as the only one in whom true spiritual fullness is found (contrary to the false teachers promoting the Colossian heresy), as well as to make the point that because Jesus is creator of all things, he is that one who delivers his people from the realm of darkness (vain philosophy, human traditions, religious legalism).  

As we continue our series on Colossians, we will take up a passage loaded with doctrinal content about the person and work of Jesus.  In his incarnation, the second person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus, takes to himself a true human nature in the womb of the virgin, conceived by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit.  While the gospels focus upon the events surrounding the miraculous conception and birth of Jesus, the New Testament epistles often focus upon the meaning of Jesus’ person and work, including a discussion of Christ’s two natures–one human, one divine–yet which exist in one person, Jesus the Christ, along with detailed reflection upon his saving work on the cross and in his bodily resurrection from the dead.  All of this is found in the “Christ hymn” of Colossians 1:15-20.  
No sooner had the apostolic churches been founded, these churches soon encountered those who either misunderstood, or else intentionally distorted, what was revealed about Jesus in the gospels, and which was proclaimed and taught by the apostles.  The Colossian heresy is one of those instances in which false teaching arose in one of these newly-founded churches in the Lycus Valley in Asia Minor.  When this false teaching was brought to Paul’s attention by Epaphras, the founding pastor of the church in Colossae, the apostle responds with this letter, the Epistle to the Colossians.  As F. F. Bruce puts it, “the intelligent appreciation for the doctrine of Christ is the best safeguard against most forms of heretical teaching and certainly against that which was currently threatening the peace of the Colossian Christians.”  The same holds true today.  The more we know about the person and work of Jesus, the more successful we will be in our witness to others, the greater our personal devotion to him, and the better our response to those who challenge our faith, much as the Colossians were experiencing.

In Colossians 1:15-20, part of our text this morning (we will get as far as verse 23), we come to another of the so-called “Christ hymns” found throughout the writings of Paul.  We recently covered a similar Christ hymn, the so-called Carmen Christi of Philippians 2:6-11, which, you may recall has a similar literary structure as well as similar content which uses highly exalted language of Jesus drawn from the Old Testament.  We do not know if these hymns were used in Christian worship before Paul incorporated them into his letters.  It is certainly a possibility that Paul composed them when writing the letters in which they appear, but they do seem to predate Paul.  Both Christ hymns identify Jesus as one with YHWH (i.e., Jesus is God), both speak of his incarnation (Jesus taking to himself a true human nature), and in both Philippians 2 and here, Paul draws heavily upon Old Testament passages which foretell, or prefigure the coming of Jesus as Israel’s Messiah and the Son of God.  If we wish to be good students of Paul, we need to train ourselves to look for these echoes and allusions to the Old Testament (especially from the Psalms) which are found throughout his letters.

To read the rest of this sermon:  Click Here

This Week at Christ Reformed Church (May 21-May 27)

Sunday Morning, May 27:  We move ahead into the Book of Habakkuk, as part of our series on the Minor Prophets.  We will take up Habakkuk's lament about unanswered prayer and YHWH's response (Habakkuk 1:1-17).  Our worship service begins at 10:30 a.m.

Sunday Afternoon:  We are going through the Belgic Confession.  We will be addressing Article 15, and the doctrine of original sin.  Our catechism service begins @ 1:15 p.m.

Wednesday Night Bible Study (May 23 @ 7:30 p.m.):  We continue with our series, "Apologetics in a Post-Christian Age."  This week our lecture will address "The Innate Knowledge of God and Its Biblically Defined Content"

The Academy:  On Hiatus until the Fall   

For more information on Christ Reformed Church you can always find us here (Christ Reformed Church), or on Facebook (Christ Reformed on Facebook).

“The Lord Has Taken Away the Judgments Against You” -- Zephaniah 3:1-20

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon on Zephaniah, from our series on the Minor Prophets: Click Here

This Week's White Horse Inn

The Rhetoric of Love

Too often in our media-saturated culture, political opponents are invited to spar with each other on radio and television news segments, not in order to actually work through their differences, but instead as almost a kind of blood-sport. The fact that these exchanges frequently produce “more heat than light” is actually part of the entertainment value. But how are we being shaped in the process? Do we belittle our political and religious opponents, and talk over them as if their views don’t matter? What does the New Testament have to say about our rhetoric? On this program Michael Horton discusses this subject with Doug Jones, author of A Rhetoric of Love.

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