The Real Message

Listening to one of the greatest songwriters in human history. Of course, I'm talking about Taylor Swift. And you see, Tay Tay wrote a song called Blank Space. And in this song, there's a line that she sings that says, "I have a long list of ex lovers." But when the song first came out, everyone thought she said, "I get along with Starbucks lovers."

Now, Starbucks is obviously a big coffee franchise in America. The Starbucks lyrics obviously don't make sense in the context of this song, but it sounds so close to what she actually said that you can't hear anything else. You'd listen to that song over and over and be singing along happily like I do about Starbucks lovers, until one day, the truth came out that it was she was singing about heartbreak and about having a blank space for a new boyfriend because she has this long list of ex lovers. And thankfully, the truth came out, because otherwise I would have been having sleepless nights thinking my tea swizzle had fallen off the deep end.

But thankfully, it had. But I would like to hazard a guess that in life, as in Taylor Swift songs, we can hear messages that don't really make sense and aren't really true, yet we believe they are. And we can't for the life of us hear a different message. As Christians, we hear messages that are directly counterintuitive to our faith and what we hope and what we believe. But when we find ourselves experiencing serious and very real strife by having these messages bounce around in our minds, we might even think that these messages are godly and that they fit well with the gospel. And yet these messages will always leave you hungry.

Will always leave you empty. And may even cause you to despair. We might believe a message bouncing around in our head that says if you are not achieving daily successes, you are a failure to your family. You are a failure to your colleagues. You are a failure even to your God.

We may hear messages and believe in that says that the numbness in your heart can only be overcome by hurting yourself physically. We might hear the whispers that you are never wrong, that everyone else in the world is against you, and that you are a pioneer pushing social norms, when in fact, you are sowing destruction into the lives of those around you and even into yourself. As Christians, we hold a truth that says there is one message. There is one truth that will clarify and weed out all other false messages, all Starbucks messages, and prove whether they are worth believing or not.

There is one message that will do that. And that message is the supremacy and the all sufficiency of Christ. That Jesus Christ is king over everything. And this morning we're going to be looking at the most amazing summary of the effectiveness and the power of this message. I'd like to look at a passage where the apostle Paul deals with a church that were cast into a very real confusion with many opposing messages that were rumbling around in their minds.

And so I'd like us to read together, like I said, Colossians 1, and we're going to read verses 15 to 20, which is the heart of Colossians, the first chapter. Colossians 1:15-20. Paul writes to the church in Colossae. He is, this is Jesus, he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

For by him, all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether the thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him, all things hold together. 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. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.

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. So far, our reading this morning. Let's have a look at the situation. Firstly, in Colossae, or the Colossian Christians at that time, Paul was writing to a group that had been inundated with false teachers claiming that faith in Jesus Christ was good. It was good, but it wasn't completely adequate.

The teaching of the gospel that Paul was spreading, of the all encompassing power of Christ as a perfect saviour, was being questioned. Is it really valid? Is it really true? Can belief, simple belief in a saviour who will forgive and reconcile you to God completely, is that really true and is that really trustworthy? And so Paul writes this letter to these new Christians to combat this philosophy that was rumbling around in their heads.

In Colossians 2:8, let's have a quick look at that. Colossians 2:8. He explicitly says and identifies that this is why he is writing. He says in verse 8, "See to it that no one takes you captive." He's writing to the Christians here.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. That is the purpose of his letter: to explain that believing in the power of Christ and his preeminence as a saviour is far more trustworthy than any of these empty, hollow messages that they were hearing. Paul gives a message to combat hollow and deceptive philosophy. That's what he says.

A philosophy that is based on human tradition, human logic, and a worldly understanding of how and why this world is what it is. I wanna ask you this morning, what do you think that looks like for us today? Hollow and deceptive philosophy based on human tradition. What does that look like for us today? Well, I'll put it this way as you think about it.

It's the statements that you find most readily on our lips. It's the statements that you find most readily on our lips. They're the popular philosophies of our day. To use an example, have you heard this? "Don't judge me."

Don't judge me. No one has the right to do that. Now, have you ever stopped to ask yourself why? Who made that rule up? And why is that necessarily a good rule to follow?

If you are doing something wrong and it is plain to see that it is wrong, then it's wrong. And by being wrong, it's probably hurtful and destructive, and then it should be labelled as wrong so that it can be changed and it can stop being disruptive and destructive and hurtful. Isn't that logical? Right?

That's logical. But "don't judge me." I wanna continue doing this. You have no right. And in fact, we're at the point that this popular philosophy, and this is just an example, that this philosophy is so strong that anyone who says to someone else their conduct is wrong is committing a far greater social sin than whatever that person was doing in the first place.

Friends, we shouldn't be surprised. We shouldn't be fooled. There is a pop psychology, or at least a few, being transmitted into our brains twenty four hours a day. And you're sitting here with those voices in your mind, just like the teachings that were infiltrating the minds of the Colossians. There are teachings today that also seek to rob us of this one thing.

And that is the ultimate supremacy of Christ and the implications thereof. Whispers that are barely audible but insidiously present, beckoning us, challenging us. Can you really trust the teachings of Jesus? Can you really trust the message of the gospel?

Can you really have life that is satisfying if you follow Christ? And these are the hollow and deceptive philosophies which seek to rob us of the power of Christ. They're like a McDonald's cheeseburger. And I'm very guilty of this. They're like a McDonald's cheeseburger.

Full of empty calories that will always leave you feeling hungry. They just don't fill you up because there's nothing lasting in them. And friends, the terrifying reality is that any philosophy not centred on the unshakable king of all creation and all of salvation, any philosophy apart from Him will always be empty and hollow and a deception. But not simply empty. The more terrifying thing is that it is ultimately self destructive.

And so I want us to have a look this morning at the passage we've just read to understand what Paul seeks to convince us of a much better way, a way that will leave us full and satisfied and at peace. So, having a look at this passage, we see that scholars have actually identified these five verses, which form a unit, as a poem. This is poetry.

And there's a bit of question whether this is actually Paul's words put in poetry or whether this might actually be an older hymn that the churches of that day would sing or recite to one another. And the way we know that this is poetry is because it uses a very characteristic Hebrew form or tool for poetry, and that is called parallelism. And how that works is to basically make one point by repeating it in two slightly different ways. One point is made with two slightly different methods. The one point that Paul or this hymn, this poem is making is that Jesus is supreme, the Son of God.

The Son in the Trinity is supreme. Firstly, verses 15 to 17 in creation. Creation proves that He is supreme. And then secondly, in verses 18 to 20 in redemption. And you can see how they stand amazingly similar to one another.

Verse 15 talks about Jesus being the firstborn of creation. And then verse 18, it uses the same word of Jesus being the firstborn from among the dead, the firstborn of the resurrection. Verse 16 talks from Him all things being created, that He was the agent in creation. And then in the second half of verse 18, that in all things, He has preeminence. That in His exaltation from the grave, ascension to the throne of God, all things that He has created now rightly belongs to Him because He is the king who has won the victory.

And then verses 17, mirrored again in verse 20. Verse 17, that He is before all things and that all things in Him hold together. And in verse 20, and through Him He has reconciled all things to Himself. You can see the parallel, right, standing there. This is Hebrew poetry.

But it has a very significant message. Paul is saying that in fact in Jesus, Paul is saying that, in fact, in Jesus, the glory of God, indeed God Himself, becomes manifest. In other words, Jesus Christ is the invisible God made visible. If you have ever wondered where is God? Paul says look to Jesus and you will find Him.

We should be under no illusion what is happening in this passage, and that is that Paul is affirming Jesus' divine nature. If you've ever doubted, if you've ever felt doubt creeping into you, is Jesus really all that He says He is, all that Christians say He is, read this passage. Because Paul explicitly affirms that when He tells us in verse 17 that the Son existed before all things, He is saying that Jesus Christ is God Himself. And secondly, that God created all things on heaven and earth, whether visible or invisible, powers or authorities or thrones, rulers, or any other thing that exists, that God in Jesus Christ created all these things. And that they were created not simply by Him but through Him with His power and ultimately for His glory.

And thirdly, Jesus who is the Son of God, His divine character is emphatically demonstrated by the fact in verse 17 that all things are even right now dependent on Him to hold together like our muscles holding together our skeleton and keeping me upright as I stand here. So Jesus Christ holds the entire universe with all the phenomenal physical forces of gravity and inertia and masses of carbon flying at thousands of kilometres an hour through space. Christ, the supreme creator holds all of these things together like a skeleton without muscles. If Jesus was to, for a second, stop doing that, it would all fall into a quivering heap. And then in the same breath, Paul moves on in verse 18 to say that He is also the head of the church.

This creator is the head of a group of redeemed people who have accepted God's forgiveness and adoption. He is also the firstborn from among the dead. By His triumphant resurrection, Christ laid the foundation of a new sanctified life and He is the example of the hope that Christians have, a hope that can never spoil or fail. In John 14:19, Jesus would say to His disciples, "Because I live, you will also live."

Because I live, you will also live. He is the firstborn from the dead, meaning that He is the oldest child, that He is the path breaker, that He is the pioneer in this blessed hope, that He has gone before us. And I'm the first child, and I know what it means to go before my brothers and be the first one to stack off a bike, and to be the first one to experience the terrifying reality of going to school and being away from Mum and Dad. He is the one that has gone before us. It is He who on the one hand utterly defeated death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, as 2 Timothy 1 says.

In one sweeping statement, Paul declares that Jesus Christ existed with the Father prior to the creation of everything that exists. That He Himself was God's agent in this creation. That in His incarnation, He made the invisible God visible to me and to you. And as the firstborn, eventually from among the dead, God was able to reconcile all of us back to Him. But finally, we have to ask why is this important for us?

All of this is true. Paul says, so that in verse 18, the second half, He says, all of this is true so that in all things Christ might have supremacy. All of this is important to know so that we know that Christ is who He says He is and He belongs to be the number one, to put it plainly. Since Jesus Christ is the firstborn, He is the point of reference for us. Since He is the firstborn, He is the agent, the goal, the forerunner, the sustainer, and the governor of all creation.

Because He is all these things, He has the right to the title of the one who is supreme, the one who is sovereign over all. In all things, Paul says, He deserves to be that. In all things. And that means in all things in our life.

It's like a story of a young boy who bought a model boat kit. I don't know those things. He bought a model boat kit. And the young man was so excited about this model yacht that he spent ages painstakingly putting this boat together piece by piece in between his homework and his school and all his other extracurricular activities. And months went by until he had finally put that last little bit of rigging onto his prized possession, and he gave it that last little bit of lick of paint to his delightful project.

And now he had the joy of taking this boat and putting it on the lake and seeing it do its thing. But his heart was broken that day because only a few minutes of being on the water, a big forceful wind came and caught up the boat and took it very, very far into this massive big lake. And it quickly got past the area of his remote control, and it was lost. He couldn't see it on the waters anymore. And he stood in agony watching until he could not even see the speck on the horizon.

It was well and truly lost. Years later, the boy who had now grown into a man was one day walking to work and he spotted something interesting in a shop window. It was a model boat that looked surprisingly similar to the boat he had built all those years ago. The man went inside and investigated the object more carefully, and lo and behold, it was his boat. And with absolute astonishment, he found his long lost prized possession.

This man gave the shopkeeper whatever he wanted for the boat. He wasn't going to argue. He wasn't going to haggle. The man readily and full of pleasure took this boat home with him that day. And as he walked out of that place, he knew with certainty that this boat belonged to him.

Why? Because he owned it doubly. He had made that boat. He had built that boat. But twice now, because he had bought it back.

And friends, that is the reality with Christ. And that is the reality that we have and the hope we place in Him. When He sees a follower of His, when Jesus sees a child of God, He says, she is mine. He is mine because I own them twice.

Once because I made you. But twice because at one time you were lost to me, but I brought you back. And that is the power of this passage this morning. That is the hope that we have to celebrate. William Hendriksen, in his commentary on Colossians writes, "Colossians 1:15-20 pictures a Christ who holds in His almighty hand and embraces with His loving heart both the realm of creation and the realm of redemption.

He who is the firstborn of all creation is also the firstborn from the dead. He who died on the cross knows by name the most distant star, but He not only knows it, He guides it. Still better. He controls it in such a way that it works in the interest of His child on earth. Since the Christ of Calvary," he goes on, "rules the heavens and the earth in the interest of His kingdom and to the glory of His name, always overruling evil for good, it means that neither automation nor bomb, nor political menace, nor depression, nor economic unbalance, nor fatal accident, nor gradual decline in mental vigour, nor hallucination due to nervous disorder will ever succeed in separating us from His love."

What a comfort, isn't it? Friends, as we combat the hollow and the deceptive philosophies that wage war against our thoughts, as we hear the voices of doubt in our hearts and our minds, of guilt laden critique, of voices of self harm, of fear of loneliness. As we hear these voices whisper to our hearts and minds and drive us to despair, these hollow and deceptive philosophies, although at one time perhaps even beautiful, perhaps even attractive, they cannot stand against the burning light of the truth of Colossians 1:15-20. That we are twice owned and supremely loved.

Loved more than any other philosophy can offer us. Like long lost treasured possessions fashioned by a loving creator who finds and buys them back, so we have the undeniable assurance that what Jesus Christ has created and bought back, He will not lose again. The empty, deceptive messages that rumble around in our thought life on those lonely mornings at three a.m., those Starbucks messages that sound so real but are so shallow and dissolve like the mist.

They will dissolve against the light of Christ. These messages that will always seek to rob us of the joy and the security of a good and healthy life, the Christian life. We must seek to return our minds to the love of Christ who doubly loves us because He doubly owns us. His words, therefore, will always be for our benefit and we must trust that. Why?

Because He created us and He knows what's best for us. We must trust that He knows what is for our benefit because He's been the pioneer who has tried and lived out this life that He's encouraging us to live. And He has proven that it is a good life. Don't believe the Facebook articles. Don't believe the Instagram photos.

Don't believe the trash on talkback radio. Don't believe the nonsense on a current affairs shows. They are empty and hollow philosophies if they do not align with the supremacy and the all sufficiency of Christ. Like a cheap and nasty cheeseburger, they will leave you empty. You will not find a lasting peace there.

And so we say in all things, Christ has supremacy. Believe it, own it, reflect on it. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this timely message. It is a message that we need to hear often.

It is a message that we need to take to heart. Father, it is so difficult and we are so oppressed on either side. Father, guard our hearts against philosophies that would seek to rob us of the joy it is of knowing that Christ is all in all, that He has our best at heart, that He knows what we need before we even need it, before we can even identify it. Thank you, Lord, that you not simply created us, but that you also found us and redeemed us. Thank you, Lord, that you do not simply stand far away and call us back to a time long lost, to a blueprint that was terribly damaged and scarred.

But Lord, that you went and made it possible. Lord Jesus, that you not simply created the heavens, but that you made it possible for us to reach for heaven. Father, I pray that this may so permeate our lives, that it may so soak our thoughts and our minds that whatever else comes, that it may be filtered through this grid. And whatever is not true, whatever is not pleasing, whatever is not resulting in maintaining your supremacy in our lives, that it may be cast off as rubbish and chaff. Lord, let us find the wholesomeness that you desire for us.

Let us find the joy that you wish to give us. Let us find the peace that will make us sleep like babies. And, Father, we are here to say again that we accept your sacrifice on the cross, that we will live and we choose to live in light of that, that we will be good people, that we will love mercy, that we will walk humbly with our God, that we will seek justice for ourselves and for those around us. We offer these things to you in Jesus' name and by the strength and the empowering of the Holy Spirit. Amen.